BRITISH IN TIBET.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 47, 24 August 1904, Page 5

BRITISH IN TIBET.

THE TREATY NEGOTIATIONS. RUSSIAN AGENT WITH THE DALAI LAMA. [rRESS ASSOCIATION.] (Received August 24, 9.14 a.m.) BOMBAY, 23rd August. The Tibetans havo agreed to one clause of the treaty. Tho negotiations at Lhnssa aro progressing ttmoothly, but the Russian agent, Al. Dorjieff, who was supposed to have loft the country, is with the Dalai Lama. The Tibetans released in open Durbar two Sikhs and a Chinaman, British subjects, who had been imprisoned for over a year as spies. Dorjieff is tho agent of Russia in Tibet. The London Tunes says of him : — "Between twenty and thirty years ago ono Ghoinang Lobzang, a Mongo.ian from A7.0ch07.k1, arrived in Lhassu. Showing unusual ability he ultnnate.y became professor of metanhysios in tho Da-bung Monastery, and for many yours hu seomed destined to spend the autumn of his life in this capacity, peacelully and not without credit. He had reached the age of 52 \\ hen ho entered, more by chance than design, upon tho udventurous career of intrigue which has niudo his nume notorious in the Chancelleries of Calcutta, London, and St. Petersburg. There seems no reason to doubt that his fiiJ>t journey from Lhansa to Kussia in 1898 was undertaken for the snflple purpose of collecting subscriptions iiom the southern districts of that Empire, where many professing Buddfajsts havo their residence But' Russian officials wero not slow to seizo tho opportunity, und Lobzang found h.niself returning to Tibet with a largo number of exceeding.}' valuable, presents to the Dulni < Lama, a brand-new Russian nanio, Dorjieff, by which ho is now generally known, and the ' position of unoiiicial agent of the Russian Government In Lhtussu. "His policy wus clearly outlined for him, aud ho carried his negotiations through with consuininato taut. Not the least remarkable argument' ho brought foiwurd to etl'ect a rappiochemeut between his two masters was the insidious plea that if thu Dalai Lama would bub consent to visit St. Petersburg ha would not only secure for Tibet the va.uublo alliance and pi election of Knssia, but might oven convert to Buddhism Iho Tsar'B wavering faith in Christianity. The methods employed on Iho banks of tho Neva aro beyond thu pale of praise 01 blame, but surely no shrewder or more during bait was ever offered in the annals of diplomacy. The project was vetoed in Lhaesa in spite of the earnest advocacy of the .Grand Lama himself. A year later Russia asked for an envoy to be sent, and this was done. DorjielT promised that a small body of Uut>siun Cohsaclm would arrive in Lhossa at an uncertain date, aud did not spare his promidos of Russian assistance. The receipt of Russian nllos lent colour to bis words, and he was given the most influential positions in tho gift of tho Da'.ai Lama, tho mastership of the mint and the arsenal, and tho Trensurcr.ship of tho kingdom." Tho Times, concluding, Hays: — "If his influence be left'undisturbed at LhoMw. tho labour nnd endurance and cost of the expedition will go for naught, and tho work will havo to bo begun a^ain and completed at »omo futuru date and at some incalculablo coat."