The Lhasa General replied that all the people of Tibet had a covenant that no Europeans were ever to be allowed to enter their country, and the reason was that they wished to preserve their religion. The monks here chimed in, saying that their religion must be preserved, and that no European, on any account, must be admitted. The General then went on to say that, if I really wanted to make a friendly settlement, I should go back to Yatung.
I told him that for a century and a half we had remained quietly in India, and made no attempt to force ourselves upon them. Even though we had a treaty right to station an officer at Yatung, we had not exercised that right. But of recent years we had heard from many different sources that they were entering into friendly relations with the Russians, while they were still keeping us at arm’s length. One Dorjieff, for instance, had been the bearer of autograph letters from the Dalai Lama to the Czar and Russian officials at the very time when the Lama was refusing letters from the Viceroy of India. We could understand their being friendly with both the Russians and ourselves, or their wishing to have nothing to do with either; but when they were friendly with the Russians and unfriendly with us, they must not be surprised at our now paying closer attention to our treaty rights.
The General assured me that it was untrue that they had any dealings with the Russians, and the monks brusquely intimated that they disliked the Russians just as much as they disliked us; they protested that they had nothing to do with the Russians, that there was no Russian near Lhasa at that time, and that Dorjieff was a Mongolian, and the custom of Mongolians was to make large presents to the monasteries. They asked me, therefore, not to be so suspicious.
I said it was difficult not to be suspicious when they persistently kept us at such a distance. I then addressed them in regard to religion, and asked them if they had ever heard that we interfered with the religions of the people of India. They admitted that we did not interfere, but they maintained, nevertheless, that it was to preserve their religion that they adhered to their determination to keep us out.