ABSTRACT
The treaty concluded between the Chinese and British was repudiated by the Dalai Lama, who, with some reason, refused to acknowledge it, on the plea that they had not been a party in the making of it. The suspicious interchange of missions with Russia, combined with the sullen hostility and deliberate discourtesy and rebuffs received by people from a weak and semi-barbarous Power as Tibet, was the last straw on the patience of our Government. The Lhasa Lamas, taking advantage of their spiritual influence over the Buddhist Raja and his Tibetan wife, excited him to hostilities. The Grand Lama of Tashilhumpo then sent a letter to Governor-General, Warren Hastings, interceding for the Bhotanese, and the outcome was Bogle's commercial mission of 1774. The Lamas effectually neutralised the opening of Yatung by preventing any Tibetan traders from coming to or settling in it, and by barring the valley beyond by building a strongly loopholed wall across.
