The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1910. TIBET—A TRIGGER?

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14144, 2 March 1910, Page 4

The Timaru Herald. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 1910. TIBET—A TRIGGER?

Shortly after the Boxer rising in j China, which was put down hy the i allied forces of Britain, France, and i Germany, with some co-operation ■of Russia, and before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese war, there was published in France and translated into English, a book by a French author, of which yesterday's cables concerning Tibet contained a strong reminder. The purpose of the author (who wrote J as one who knew his subject) was to ! demonstrate—as far as a political situation of great importance, of profound secrecy, can be demonstrated—that Russia was endeavouring to undermine the authority of the Chinese adminis-tration,-with the view cf adding China to tho Russian Empire. This design, to follow the author's argument, is bassd upon the fact that the Chinese do not possess a Government, but only an administration, a body of officials directed by a central coterie, the members of which , belong to the alien Manchu race —very much as is the case with the British in India, save that in China the great majority of the lesser officials are of the. native race. Ths inner coterie, tho writer says, is not popular, and it would not be difficuit to induce the- people at large to acquiesce in their removal and the substitution of an Imperial Court of native Chinese race, if the change could be effected. How Russia went about her purpose of poisoning the minds of the Chinese against the Imperial party, and imbuing them with respect for and faith in Russia, is fully . described; and it was certainly ingenious. The Chinese are in their way a religious people, and they maintain, in a fashion, an army of "bonzes," or Buddhist priests, whose chief duties relate to domestic affairs, especially to burials, the ceremonies connected with which necessarily bring the bonzes from time to time into contact with every family and with gatherings of people. The head or heads of the Buddists of China are the Dalai and Tashi Lamas of Tibet; in Tibet are the sacred places to which good Chinese Buddists endeavour to make pilgrimages; there too are the colleges where the higher ranks of the priesthood must graduate. According to the French author Russia made friends with the Dalai Lama, by a timely interference in his behalf against attempted encroachments of China; and was further enabled to strengthen this friendship by treating with especial favour the highest of the Mongolian Buddhists outside Tibet, a functionary whose headquarters are in Russian Mongolia. This action was particularly effective, because the Mongolian representative of the Grand Lamas was changed every now and then, and it is stated that one of them, who was in office at or just before the Boxer rebellion, was a Russian subject of that quarter who had been sent to Tibet for training. The bonzes have nothing to do but talk. They wander about the country a good deal, are the disseminators of news, and therefore sure of audiences; consequently if they are given from their headquarters a commission to praise the Russians and vilify the existing Imperial administration, ignorant as they are, it is quite as easy for them to better their instruction as to fall short of it. The remark that the Chinese have not a government, but only an administration, applies still more completely to Tibet and its Chinese suzerains. Sven. Hedin, who has recently spent some time in the country, shows this very clearly. The Chinese are there, in military occupation, and their chief concern seemed to be to collect taxes and keep out Europeans. It must not be supposed that the Tibetans as a people have been concerned in the expulsion of the chief Lama. According to the cables he is charged by the Chinese with disobedience and intrigue, ignoring (Chinese) Government authority, and entering into agreements with Russia and other nations without consulting the (Chinese) Government. The special mention of Russia in this connection is significant, in view of what is'stated by the French author; so too =is the statement that England and Russia are acting jointly in the matter. England has the claim of a next-door neighbour to have some say. Russia is geographically. separated from Tibet, or at all events from the inhabited part of it, by the breadth of the Chinese Empire, but through the bond of Lamaist Buddhism Russia's Mongolian Territory is more closely connected with Tibet than even the next-door neighbour. If the French writer's account of Russia's secret intriguing is correct, there may be some remarkable consequences ensue from the Chinese attack upon the Dalai Lama, unless the latter has been too precipitate, and has touched off the political mine before Russia was ready.