The delegates replied that if we went on to Lhasa there was no chance of a settlement being arrived at; that they had come here with the sincere intention of making friendship with us and securing peace, but if we sent troops into the jong they did not see how they could be friends with us; they were the two biggest men in Tibet next to the Dalai Lama, and it was both against their religion and disgusting to them to have soldiers in the same place where they were staying. I said they must, after all, allow that this could not be half so disgusting to them as having their soldiers firing into my camp at Gyantse, while I was asleep, was to me. They continued one after another wrangling and protesting against our occupying the jong. After listening for an hour to their protests, I asked them if they would now care to hear the terms we intended to ask of them. They replied that they could not discuss any terms till we returned to Gyantse. I said I had no wish now to discuss the terms, but merely desired to know if they wanted to be acquainted with them. They continued to protest that they would discuss nothing here, and it was only after considerable fencing that I got them to admit that they had heard the terms from the Tongsa Penlop.
I then said that I wished them to understand that if we were further opposed on the way to Lhasa, or at Lhasa itself, these terms would be made stricter. I said the British Government had no wish to be on any other than friendly terms with Tibet, that we had no intention of remaining in Lhasa any longer than was required to make a settlement, and as soon as a settlement was made we would leave. But I had the Viceroy’s orders to go to Lhasa, and go there I must. I desired, however, to give them most earnest advice and warning. They were the leading men of Tibet, and upon them lay a great responsibility. I was quite prepared on arrival at Lhasa to live on as friendly and peaceable terms with the people as I had at Khamba Jong, and as I had when I first arrived at Gyantse; to pay for everything, and to respect their religious buildings. It rested with them now to decide whether our stay at Lhasa should be of this peaceable nature and of short duration, and whether the settlement should be of the mild nature we at present contemplated, or whether we should have to resort to force, as we had been compelled to do at Gyantse, to impose severer terms, and to prolong our stay.