It had been estimated that, if our forces had all left Tibet by October, the cost of the expedition would not be less than £648,000. The contingency of such an early withdrawal was remote, and it seemed probable that the operations necessary to assert our treaty rights and to exact reparation from the Tibetans would cost us not less than a million sterling.
The Indian Government were, therefore, of opinion that, as a guarantee for the fulfilment of the Convention, and as a security for the payment of the indemnity, that they proposed to require, as well as in the interests of the people of the valley themselves, the occupation of the Chumbi Valley for such period as might be necessary for the due protection of our treaty rights, and international interests would become inevitable.
The next point to be considered was this question of demanding an indemnity.
Now that it had become necessary to send a regular military expedition to Lhasa, Government submitted that they had a good claim to be recouped the expense to which they had been put. It was obvious that the retention of the Chumbi Valley would not, from a monetary point of view, be an adequate return for the outlay in which they had been involved, and Government thought it well to put forward a claim to compensation against the Tibetans. Further, they considered that, having regard to the recent attacks upon their Mission at Gyantse, and as a measure calculated to increase the security of their representative in Tibet, they should follow the precedent of the demands presented by the allied Powers to the Chinese Government after the events of 1900, and should insist on the razing of all fortified positions which might impede the course of free communication between our frontier and Lhasa, and on the prohibition of the importation of arms into Tibet or their manufacture within the country except with their special permission.
Finally the Government of India discussed what might be done if His Majesty’s Government declined to agree to the appointment of a representative at Lhasa. In that case they would urge that a Resident Agent should be posted at Gyantse, whose functions would primarily be to supervise and maintain the trading facilities which we must undoubtedly secure. Although the duties of such an agent would be mainly commercial, they would necessarily comprise that of seeing that the Convention or treaty which we should eventually conclude with the Tibetan Government was observed in all respects. The agent should, therefore, have the right of proceeding to Lhasa, as occasion might require, to discuss matters with the Chinese Amban or with the high officials of the Dalai Lama.