3 6 6 T T B E T .
brother, Regent Chanjoo Gooshoo, Punjun Irtinnee Nimoheim, arid his
confidant Soopoon Ghoomboo, Gooshoo Shapie, who entertain not the
shadow of a doubt of the Emperor’s receding from his word, but assure
me of their belief, that he will ratify the promises made to the former
Teshoo Lama, the moment the present Lama is capable of renewing
the application, when the proposed regulations will immediately take
{dace.
The success of your designs is too obviously, and too intimately,
connected with this event, to need any comment. If Teshoo Lama shall
be made to resume the plans projected by him in his presumed pre-
existence, for the recovery of the prerogatives annexed to the office of
Lama; the same consistency of conduct will certainly prompt him to
look back to the negotiations of 17*5, to the proposal of a free intercourse
of trade between Tibet and Bengal, which then coincided with
his desires, and which seems at last to have been one motive, and. object,
of his solicitude for the extension of his privileges.
I am aware that it may be asked, why the agents of government
under Teshoo Lama, were not dismissed with the promised powers?
and this omission, I think, may be satisfactorily accounted for, from
the consternation, and confusion, in which his sudden death necessarily
involved all his attendants, depriving them of the ability to
pursue proper measures, for the accomplishment of their designs. I
believe the fact is, that they were incompetent to the attempt; for,
being merely the agents of Teshoo Lama, they rightly reflected, that
their intercessions with the Emperor would have little weight, when
their superior was no more. Prudence therefore enjoined their silence.»
And probably, their nearest eQpcera was a speedy return to Tibet,
fearful, lest so great an event should produce, a revolution in the government,
injurious to thei»interests, or, subversive of M power..
If they were deterred from a personal application to, the; Emperor,
when present at his court, other considerations have since influenced
them to suspend, for a time, all further , solicitation, which can only be
-urged with propriety arid effect; by Teshoo Lama himself;; and, they
say, that at the age of three years, he wilL.be, perfectly' qualified to
exert the psaper means, for accomplishing this design. I have found in
the Regent, the best dispositions forjpncouraging, and-assisting,.by the
authority he possesses, the; proposed, plans ,o£ comnaeiGial intercourse;.
btthbei*j*§;neither so able, nor so decided in his character as the former
Lama, he is cautious of avowedly and publicly sanctioning a measure,
which might possibly raise up sorae mveterafce enemiesagainst him, in
the Chimse administration.
Teshoo Lama, from his respectable character, and superior' talents,
was peculiarly well qualified to obviate popular prejudices against new
schemes, to reconcile the Tibetians to an alliance with Europeans, and
to remove those jealous apprehensions, which» in a greater o®,leader
gree, are cherished by every Asiatic state,.in. consequence of the, Vast
and accumulating power of the English.
AsTartary, until it became united under the Chinese dominion, was
constantly harassed by foreign invasion, by religious; feuds, and. by
intestine broils, its. ijffiabltants arelstimi&ited from entering into new
connections, as affording, in their apprehensions, an inlet to war and
devastation. Haying» by repeated revolutions, been accustpmed to