It is a remarkable coincidence, in this connection, that while the Russians were making protests and representations upon a move of ours which was not within a thousand miles of their frontier, the Chinese Vice-Minister, when Sir Ernest Satow informed him[32] that we intended to advance to Lhasa, received the news with perfect equanimity, raised no objection, and remarked that the Dalai Lama was ignorant and pigheaded.
I reached Chumbi on June 10, and spent the next few days in discussing details of the advance with General Macdonald. The change from the monotony of the investment at Gyantse and from the barrenness and high altitude of Tibet was refreshing in the extreme. I met old friends again: Colonel J. M. Stewart, who had years before relieved me when I had been arrested by the Russians on the Pamirs; Major Beynon, who had been Colonel Kelly’s Staff Officer in the Relief of Chitral; and my brother-in-law, Vernon Magniac, who was to accompany me now as private secretary, and whose companionship was the greatest relief in the midst of a host of the usual official worries. The drop from 13,000 feet at Gyantse to 9,000 feet in Chumbi, and the change from constant risk to absolute security, all eased the tension on me; and the joy of being once more amidst luxuriant vegetation, with gorgeous rhododendrons, dense pine forests, roses, primulas, and all the wealth of Alpine flowery beauty, was a softening and welcome relaxation.
At Phari, on my way to Chumbi, I had met the Tongsa Penlop, now the Maharaja of Bhutan, who had recently come to interview General Macdonald and myself. Mr. Walsh, who had been in political charge of Chumbi, had interviewed him on June 3, and to him the Tongsa Penlop had admitted the unreasonableness and folly of the Tibetans, but argued that it was due to the bad advice of the Councillors, who had, in consequence, all been put in prison. He said, though, that nothing could be gained by our going to Lhasa, as the Dalai Lama and the Government would all leave before our arrival, and we should find no one there with whom to negotiate. He had written to the Dalai Lama, informing him of what I had told the Trimpuk Jongpen at Tuna we wanted, and the Dalai Lama had replied that the Sikkim boundary must be as it was, that no trade-mart could be established, and that no communication from the Indian Government could be received by the Tibetan Government. The Tongsa Penlop added that the rumour in Bhutan was that Mr. Walsh had been killed at Guru, that I had been killed at Gyantse, and that Russians had landed at Calcutta, defeated the English, and set up five banners.
