An Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet - Prajna Quest

TIBET. 367And probably, their nearest concern was a speedy return to Tibet,fearful, lest so great an event should produce a revolution in the government,injurious to their interests, or subversive of their power.If they were deterred from a personal application to the Emperor,when present at his court, other considerations have since influencedthem to suspend, for a time, all further solicitation, which can only beurged with propriety and effect hy Teshoo Lama himself; and, theysay, that at the age of three years, he will be perfectly qualified toexert the proper means for accomplishing this design.I have found inthe Regent, the best dispositions for encouraging, and assisting, by theauthority he possesses, the proposed plans of commercial intercourse jbut being neither so able, nor so decided in his character as the formerLama, he is cautious of avoAvedly and publicly sanctioning a measure,which might possibly raise up some inveterate enemies against him, inthe Chinese administration.Teshoo Lama, from his respectable character, and superior talents,was peculiarly well qualified to obviate popular prejudices against newschemes, to reconcile the Tibetians to an alliance with Europeans, andto remove those jealous apprehensions, which, in a greater or less degree,are cherished by every Asiatic state, inconsequence of the vastand accumulating power of the English.AsTartary, until it became united under the Chinese dominion, wasconstantly harassed by foreign invasion, by religious feuds, and byintestine broils, its inhabitants are intimidated from entering into newconnections, as affording, in their apprehensions, an inlet to Avar anddevastation. Having, by repeated revolutions, been accustomed to