'Volume II. MEMORANDA REGARDING OTHER EXTERNAL AFFAIRS. 1905.' [‎100v] (205/228)

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reference was not official, but that the Amban
bad been ordered by the Chinese Government
to issue proclamations to the effect that, owine:
to the poverty of the people of Tibet which
had arisen out of the recent British expedition,
the Emperor of China had taken upon himself
the payment of the indemnity. Sir L. Dane
thereupon said that, if Mr. Chang desired to
address him officially on any subject as Secre
tary, Foreign Department, his letter would
receive full consideration, and that the
Viceroy’s orders would be taken on it.
On the 26th November, His Majesty’s
Secretary of State wired, asking for the views
of the Government of India on Sir E. Satow’s
communications, and stating that His Majesty’s
Government were disposed to inform the
Government of China that their offer to pay
the Tibetan indemnity could not be enter
tained, unless China accepted the Adhesion
Convention in the form in which it has recently
been presented, and that, if His Majesty’s
Government accepted the offer, they must not
be understood to have abated anything from
their right to enforce fulfilment of the terms
of the Convention by such means as might
be found convenient in the event of non-
observance of any Article of the Conven
tion by the Tibetans. His Majesty’s Secretary
of State admitted that the payment of the
indemnity by the Chinese would in a manner
secure the Tibetans from the punitive effect
of payment of it by themselves, but he pointed
out that the moral effect of exacting pay
ment from the Tibetans would probably be far
less valuable to the Indian Government than
the relief from the necessity of attempting to
enforce direct payment of the tribute annually
for 25 years. It was added that, in the event
of non-observance of any Article of the Con
vention by the Tibetans, it would be in the
discretion of the British Government to take
steps as might be found convenient either
directly against the Tibetans or through China.
On the 30th November, the Government
of India replied to His Majesty’s Secretary of
State that, from the point of view of local
political effect, the annual payment by the
Tibetans of the indemnity in Tibet, even
though with money provided by China, would
be preferable to lump payment direct by China,
and that they were disposed, therefore, to
prefer that the Tibetans should be notified,
under Article YI of the Treaty, that the Gov
ernment of India desired that payment of the
first instalment should be made at Gyantse.
They also suggested that Sir E. Satow should
then reply that the Chinese Government
not having adhered to the Convention, their
right to intervene could not be recognised.
It was pointed out that it wuuld be open
to the Chinese to offer to regularise their