Tibet in Anglo-Chinese Relations: 1767–1842

Alistair Lamb

doi:10.1017/S0035869X00116624

Tibet in Anglo-Chinese Relations: 1767–1842

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 March 2011

Alistair Lamb

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The Macartney Embassy failed to bring about a significant improvement in Anglo-Chinese relations; the correspondence of 1795–1796 was equally fruitless. The reasons for this failure lay rather in the nature of the Chinese conception of foreign relations than in any misunderstandings about the British role in the Himalayan crisis of 1788–1792. The Chinese Emperor could have no relations with foreign powers on terms of equality; to the Chinese foreign ambassadors were bearers of tribute, coming to Peking to recognize the supremacy of the Son of Heaven. On such terms no properly accredited embassy from the King of England to the Emperor of China could have had any result other than that achieved by Macartney. Only a mission of the type envisaged by Bogle and Hastings, opportunist and flexible, ready to sacrifice dignity to commercial advantage, stood any chance of success. Tibet and the Himalayas played little part in the failure of the first British Ambassador to China. But the reason why this should be so was not fully understood by the British at that time. The memory of a causal connection between the crisis of the Tibeto-Nepalese War and Lord Macartney's failure remained, and it was to affect subsequent British policy.

Type: Articles
Information: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 90 , Issue 1-2 , January 1958 , pp. 26 - 43

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0035869X00116624 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1958

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^{page 26 note 1} Auber, P., China: an outline of its government, laws and policy, etc., London, 1834, pp. 214–218Google Scholar. Eames, op. cit., p. 129. There was a further exchange of letters between King and Emperor in 1805–1806. The Chinese reply pointed out that there was no need for a repetition of such correspondence.

^{page 26 note 2} The younger Staunton, for example, writing in 1813, thought that Macartney's Mission could have been followed up with profit. SirStaunton, G. T. Bart., Miscellaneous notices relating to China. London, 1822, p. 238Google Scholar.

^{page 27 note 1} Marquess of Hastings. Summary of the Administration of the Indian Government, etc. Edinburgh, 1825, p. 13.

^{page 27 note 2} BM Add. MSS. Vol. 39, 892, ff. 22, 26. Two plans of proposed campaigns against Nepal are preserved among the papers of Warren Hastings.

^{page 27 note 3} MajorRoss-of-Bladensburg, . The Marquess of Hastings. Oxford, 1893, pp. 57–59Google Scholar. Short account of the immediate causes of the war.

^{page 28 note 1} Papers relating to the Nepaul War. Printed in conformity to the resolution of the Court of Proprietors of East India Stock of the 3rd March, 1824, pp. 84–6. Moorcroft to J. Adam, 14th Sept., 1814. For an account of Moorcroft's life and travels, see: Wilson, H. H., (Ed.), Travels in the Himalayan Provinces of Hindustan etc., by Moorcroft, W. and Trebeck, G., 2 vols., London, 1841Google Scholar.

^{page 28 note 2} Home Miscellaneous. Vol. 646. f. 747. Papers relating to Nepaul War, p. 45. Buchanan to Adam, 9th Aug., 1814. Dr. Buchanan, who later changed his name to Hamilton, was the author of Buchanan, F., An Account of the Kingdom of Napaul, London, 1819Google Scholar.

^{page 29 note 1} Papers relating to the Nepaul War, p. 556. Secret Letter from Lord Moira, 11th May, 1815.

Fraser, J. B., Journal of a Tour through part of the Himalaya Mountains, London, 1826Google Scholar. Quotes letter to the Emperor of China from the Raja of Nepal, 2nd March, 1815.

^{page 30 note 1} Papers relating to the Nepaul War, p. 551. Secret Letter from Lord Moira, 11th May, 1815.

^{page 30 note 2} Papers relating to the Nepaul War, p. 721. Secret Letter from Lord Moira. 2nd Aug., 1815.

^{page 31 note 1} Papers relating to the Nepaul War, p. 258. Adam to Scott, 26th Nov., 1814.

^{page 31 note 2} Papers relating to the Nepaul War, p. 924. Letter to Adam, 19th Dec, 1815.

^{page 31 note 3} Morse, , Chronicle, op. cit., vol. iii, p. 258Google Scholar. Lord Moira to Select Committee at Canton, 15th June, 1816.

^{page 32 note 1} Home Miscellaneous. Vol. 650, f. 72. Scott to Monckton, 20th Jan., 1815. Papers relating to the Nepaul War, p. 430. Scott to Adam, 12th Jan., 1815. The account of Bose, K. K. is in: Political Missions to Bootan, Calcutta, 1865Google Scholar.

^{page 32 note 2} Papers relating to the Nepaul War, p. 673. Secret Letter from Lord Moira, 20th July, 1815.

^{page 32 note 3} Papers relating to the Nepaul War, p. 272. Supercargoes to Lord Moira, 5th Oct., 1814.

^{page 32 note 4} Morse, , Chronicles, op. cit., vol. iii, pp. 281–282Google Scholar.

^{page 33 note 1} Morse, , Chronicles, op. cit., vol. iii, p. 258Google Scholar.

^{page 33 note 2} Martin, R. M., China: Political, Commercial, and Social, London, 1847, p. 25Google Scholar.

^{page 33 note 3} Ellis, H., Journal of the proceedings of the late Embassy to China, London, 1817, p. 196Google Scholar.

^{page 33 note 4} Papers relating to the Nepaul War, p. 272. Supercargoes to Lord Moira, 5th Oct., 1814.

^{page 33 note 5} Papers relating to the Nepaul War, p. 996. Lord Moira to the Chairman of the East India Company, 6th Aug., 1816.

^{page 34 note 1} Markham, , Narratives, op. cit., p. clviiiGoogle Scholar.

^{page 34 note 2} Markham, , Narratives, op. cit., p. 218Google Scholar.

^{page 34 note 3} For further details of Manning, see: Markham, , Narratives, op. cit., pp. clv–clxi and 213–294Google Scholar. The latter reference is to Manning's journal of his Tibetan journey of 1811–1812, which Markham printed for the first time in 1876.

See also: Auber, , China, op. cit., pp. 218–223Google Scholar. Auber implies that Manning failed to get as far as Tibet.

^{page 35 note 1} Morse, , Chronicles, op. cit., vol. iv, pp. 18–41Google Scholar.

^{page 35 note 2} This correspondence is in Board's Collections, vol. 843, No. 22,566. Bengal Political Letter, 10th Sept., 1824, Supracargoes to India, 26th Dec., 1822, E. Gardner to India, 5th April, 1823, D. Scott to India, 24th March, 1823. Also: Despatches to Bengal, vol. 103. Commercial Dept., 24th Oct., 1826.

^{page 36 note 1} Jaquemont, V., Voyage dans L'Inde, vol. ii, Paris, 1841, p. 340Google Scholar. Jacquemont met Inglis in the Sutlej Valley while he was engaged on a similar, and equally abortive, attempt. Jaquemont's account gives a good picture of the difficulties met with by would-be Tibetan travellers at this time.

^{page 36 note 2} The Marchioness of , Bute, (Ed.), The Private Journals of the Marquess of Hastings, 2 vols., London, 1858. Vol. ii, pp. 137–148Google Scholar.

^{page 37 note 1} On the correspondence between the British and the Chinese in Tibet during and immediately after, the Gurkha War see: Martin, , China, op. cit., pp. 24–28Google Scholar. Ross-of-Baldensburg, , Hastings, op. cit., pp. 82–83Google Scholar. Prinsep, H. T., History of the Political and Military Transactions in India during the Administration of the Marquess of Hastings: 1813–23, 2 vols., London, 1825. Vol. i, pp. 209–213Google Scholar. Wilson, H. H., The History of British India from 1805 to 1835, 3 vols., London, 1846. Vol. ii, pp. 79–80Google Scholar.

^{page 37 note 2} Parker, E. H., Nepaul and China, op. cit., p. 78Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 1} Hastings, , Journals, op. cit., vol. ii, p. 146Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 2} It is probable that Indo-Tibetan trade if not Indo-Tibetan diplomacy was an important factor in the acquisition of Darjeeling. See: Bayley, H. V., Dorje-ling, Calcutta, 1838Google Scholar. Appx. A.A.

^{page 38 note 3} Bogle and Turner both refer to Tibetan shawl wool. In 1799 the Bengal Government were requested to obtain specimens of the shawl sheep of Western Tibet with a view to their being bred in England. Bengal Despatches, vol. 34. Bengal Commercial Despatch of 31st Oct., 1799. Moorcroft's journey to Gartok in 1812, published in 1816, gave much publicity to this industry. Asiatic Researches, vol. xii, Calcutta, 1816Google Scholar.

^{page 38 note 4} The site was selected in 1815. Trade does not seem to have started until 1820–21. Punjab States Gazetteer, vol. viii, Lahore, 1911, No. 2, p. 8Google Scholar. Enclosures to Secret Letters from India, Vol. 89, No. 38, Enclosure No. 114. Cunningham to Clerk, 30th July, 1842. Davies, R. H., Report on the Trade and Resources of the Countries on the N.W. Boundary of British India, Lahore, 1862Google Scholar. Appx. XXIV, pp. ccxxi–ccxxii.

^{page 38 note 6} For example: Major SirLloyd, W. and CaptGerard, A., Account of a Journey from Caunpoor to the Boorendo Pass, etc., 2 vols., London, 1840. Vol. ii, pp. 91, 125, 155–156, 178Google Scholar.

^{page 39 note 1} Board's Collections. Vol. 1181. No. 30, Bengal Political Letter of 3rd July, 1828. See also: Cunningham, J. D., History of the Sikhs, revised edition, London, 1918, p. 183nGoogle Scholar.

^{page 39 note 2} Pemberton, R. B., Report on Bootan, Calcutta, 1838, p. 90Google Scholar. India and Bengal Despatches. Vol. 15, f. 654. India Political Despatch No. 18 of 28th March, 1838.

^{page 40 note 1} Cunningham, J. D., Notes on Moorcroft's travels, etc., Journal of the Asiatic Society, Bengal, vol. xiii, pt. i, 1844, p. 208Google Scholar.

^{page 40 note 2} See: Cunningham, Sikhs, op. cit., for a general account of this war.

^{page 41 note 1} Enclosures to Secret Letters from India. Vol. 79, No. 76. Thomason to India 4th Sept., 1841.

^{page 41 note 2} Enclosures to Secret Letters from India. Vol. 78, No. 65. Hodgson to Clerk 2nd Aug., 1841. Parker, , Nepaul and China, op. cit., p. 80Google Scholar.

^{page 41 note 3} Enclosures to Secret Letters from India. Vol. 79, No. 76. Clerk to India 4th Sept., 1841.

^{page 41 note 4} Enclosures to Secret Letters from India. Vol. 89, No. 38. Clerk to India 31st Aug., 1842.

^{page 41 note 5} Enclosures to Secret Letters from India. Vol. 90. Secret Dept. Confidential News Letter No. 3 of 22nd Jan., 1842.

^{page 42 note 1} This was J. D. Cunningham, the future historian of the Sikhs.

^{page 42 note 2} SirDavis, J., Chinese Miscellanies, London, 1865, pp. 47–48Google Scholar.

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