Journeys to Empire Gordon T

Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-51502-3 — Journeys to Empire Gordon T. Stewart Frontmatter More Information

Journeys to Empire

This fascinating study of two British missions to Tibet in 1774 and 1904 provides a unique perspective on the relationship between the Enlightenment and European colonialism. Gordon Stewart compares and contrasts the Enlightenment-era mission led by George Bogle and the Edwardian mission of Francis Younghusband as they crossed the Himalayas into Tibet. Through the British agents’ diaries, reports, and letters and by exploring their relationships with Indians, Bhutanese, and Tibetans, Stewart is able to trace the shifting ideologies, economic interests, and political agendas that lay behind British empire-building from the late eighteenth century to the early twentieth century. This compelling account sheds new light on the changing nature of British imperialism, on power and intimacy in the encounter between East and West, and on the relationship of history and memory.

GORDON T. STEWART is the Jack and Margaret Sweet Professor of History at Michigan State University. His previous publications include The Great Awakening in Nova Scotia 1760–1791 (1982), The Origins of Canadian Politics (1986), and Jute and Empire: The Calcutta Jute Wallahs and the Landscapes of Empire (1998).

Frontispiece Hoisting the British ﬂag at the top of the Tang La. As the British forces crossed the Tang La in January 1904 they paused to raise the Union Jack. It was scenes such as this that convinced Tibetans, and observers in other countries, that the British intended to occupy parts of central Tibet. C Royal Geographical Society.

Journeys to Empire Enlightenment, Imperialism, and the British Encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904

Gordon T. Stewart

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Cambridge University Press is part of the University of Cambridge. It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit of education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence. www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521515023 © Gordon T. Stewart 2009 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2009 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data Stewart, Gordon T. (Gordon Thomas), 1945– Journeys to empire : enlightenment, imperialism, and the British encounter with Tibet, 1774–1904 / Gordon Stewart. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-521-51502-3 (alk. paper) – ISBN 978-0-521-73568-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Great Britain – Foreign relations – China – Tibet. 2. Tibet (China) – Foreign relations – Great Britain. 3. Younghusband, Francis Edward, Sir, 1863–1942. 4. Bogle, George, 1746–1781. 5. Great Britain – Colonies. I. Title. DS786.S787 2009 327.41051´509033 – dc22 2009005582 ISBN 978-0-521-51502-3 Hardback ISBN 978-0-521-73568-1 Paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Thou art in the Ka’ba at Mecca as well as the [Hindu] temple of Somnath. Thou art in the monastery, as well as the tavern. Thou art at the same time the light and the moth, Thewineandthecup, Thesageandthefool... Dara Shukoh, “The Compass of Truth,” in K. R. Qanungo, Dara Shukoh (Calcutta: S. C. Sarkar, 1952)

Contents

List of illustrations page viii Acknowledgments x Maps xiii–xv

Introduction 1 1 An Enlightenment narrative 1774 13 2 Wives, concubines, and “domestic arrangements” 58 3 Imperial eyes in “the Golden Territories” 108 4 Enter Younghusband 139 5 From Enlightenment to empire 186 6 Tibet lessons 240

Bibliography 265 Index 276

vii

Illustrations

Frontispiece Hoisting the British ﬂag at the top of the Ta ng La . C Royal Geographical Society. 1 Tilly Kettle’s painting of Warren Hastings, c. 1772. National Portrait Gallery, London. page 98 2 View of Phari [PRM 2001.35.26.1]. The Tibet Album. British Photography in Central Tibet 1920–1950, from the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and The British Museum. 99 3 Chomolhari mountain from Phari [BMH.A.38.1]. The Tibet Album. British Photography in Central Tibet 1920–1950, from the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and The British Museum. 100 4 Chomolhari mountain from Tuna [BMH.G.46.1]. The Tibet Album. British Photography in Central Tibet 1920–1950, from the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and The British Museum. 101 5 Tilly Kettle’s painting of the Panchen Lama and George Bogle. The Royal Collection, Windsor. 102 6 Lobsang Palden Yeshes (1738–1780), the Third Panchen Lama. From Sarat Chandra Das, Contributions on the Religion and History of Tibet (1882). 103 7 Shigatse Dzong and Tashilhunpo monastery [BMR.6.8.205]. The Tibet Album. British Photography in Central Tibet 1920–1950, from the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and The British Museum. 104 8 Johan Zoffany’s painting of William Palmer and his family, 1785. Oriental and India Ofﬁce Collections, British Library. 105 9 Daldowie House. Glasgow University Library, Department of Special Collections. 106

viii

List of illustrations ix

10 Hugh Richardson on horseback in Tibet [PRM 2001.59.7.96.1]. The Tibet Album. British Photography in Central Tibet 1920–1950, from the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and The British Museum. 107 11 George Curzon, painting by John Cooke, after John Singer Sargent, 1914. National Portrait Gallery, London. 178 12 Thomas Jones Barker’s painting “The Secret of England’s Greatness,” 1863. National Portrait Gallery, London. 179 13 Francis Younghusband and members of the Tibet Mission Force C Royal Geographical Society. 180 14 Khamba Dzong [BMH.M.19.1]. The Tibet Album, British Photography in Central Tibet 1920–1950 from the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and The British Museum. 181 15 Lobsang Chokyi Nyima (1883–1937), the Sixth Panchen Lama. Getty Images. 182 16 British column crossing the Tang La C Royal Geographical Society. 183 17 British bayonets in Lhasa C Royal Geographical Society. 184 18 Thubten Gyatso (1876–1933), the Thirteenth Dalai Lama [BMR.86.1.23.3]. The Tibet Album. British Photographs of Central Tibet 1920–1950, from the Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford, and The British Museum. 185

Acknowledgments

Let’s begin with libraries and librarians, archives and archivists. Most of the research for this book was done in the Manuscript Reading Room and the Asian and African Reading Room in the British Library. It is hard to imagine a more congenial place for researchers than this won- derful repository of historical and contemporary information. The staff in the Asian and African Room, which houses the India Office and Ori- ental Collections, were unfailingly courteous and efficient in spite of the heavy demands placed upon them. I particularly wish to thank Burkhard Quessel, the Curator of Tibetan Collections, who kindly helped a Tibet neophyte like me track down Albert Grunwedel’s 1915 German translation of the Third Panchen Lama’s treatise The Way to Shambhala (1775). The staff at the Public Record Office at Kew (now the National Archives) and the Mitchell Library in Glasgow were also considerate and helpful. In India I spent many useful hours at the National Archives in New Delhi being supplied with the records of the East India Company and the For- eign Department of the Government of India in connection with the two British missions to Tibet in 1774 and 1904. The British bibliographer in the Michigan State University Libraries, Agnes Widder, proved once more to be inventive and indefatigable in meeting all my requests. The financial support provided by the Jack and Margaret Sweet Endowed Professorship in the History Department at Michigan State University helped support some of my research travel to these libraries and archives in England, Scotland, and India. Research trips to India were made even more pleasant by the warm hos- pitality in Delhi and Chandigarh of Justice and Mrs. Manmohan Singh Gujral and their extended family and many friends. Their introduction to contemporary India and to the recent history of India was a most infor- mative and enjoyable complement to my academic endeavors. During my stint as a Visiting Scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University I was very kindly received (and entertained to a memorable dinner) by Professor Sabyasachi Bhattacharya. There is surely no more pleasant place to stay in India’s capital than the International Center, nestled against the Lodi

Acknowledgments xi

Gardens. In delightful surroundings that are normally the perquisites of only the rich or privileged, relatively penurious academics can survive very nicely indeed on dal, tea, and biscuits. All the staff in the Annexe Building of the Center were exceptionally kind and considerate. In connection with travel matters, I would like to thank Dr. Lilianet Brintrup and other organizers of the “International and Interdisciplinary Confer- ence on Alexander von Humboldt and Zheng He” held at Xian in China in 2006. The invitation to present a paper on the ﬁrst British mission to Tibet helped me make an early test of some of my ideas in a stimulating international setting. Many people were kind enough to read and comment on the manuscript at various stages in its development. Professor Jyotsna Singh was invariably patient as she tried to keep me abreast of the rich variety of work being done by literature scholars on travel narratives and imperialism. Amrita Sen from Kolkata provided helpful insights on Bengal in the 1770s in the course of her work in an interdisciplinary graduate seminar on cultural encounters in the medieval and early modern eras organized by the College of Arts and Letters at Michigan State University. Sev- eral of my colleagues in the History Department provided sound advice after their reading of the manuscript. I would particularly like to thank Donald Lammers, Lewis Siegelbaum, and Lisa Fine for their thorough readings and occasionally trenchant comments. Other colleagues, Kristie Macrakis and Karrin Hanshew, advised on a translation issue; Peter Knupfer and Shawn McBee helped me with computer-imaging matters. Warren Cohen, now at the University of Maryland, and Linda Johnson helped on matters Chinese. Mark Kornbluh has provided unstinting support and encouragement throughout his tenure as Chair of the History Department. In a work of this kind my debt to a whole host of other scholars and writers is obvious. I have attempted to acknowledge that fully not only in the footnotes and bibliography but within the body of the text as well. This was particularly the case in connection with the Tibetan side of the story. While the notes will record many of my obligations to scholars who have written on Tibet, I single out here the three-volume collection of articles (with introductions and commentary) compiled and edited by Alex MacKay. For beginners like me this overview of modern history writing on Tibet was invaluable. In his Preface MacKay noted ruefully that friends had warned him that editing such specialized tomes would be a thankless task because no one beyond the small community of Tibetan scholars would take notice. These volumes are of immense help for anyone trying to build up an understanding of Tibet’s complex history. I made extensive use of the information and insights provided.

xii Acknowledgments

The lifetime of research and writing by Alastair Lamb on India’s northern borderlands and British policies towards Central Asia has also been of inestimable help for my understanding of British involvement in these regions. My greatest debt is to J who acted as an exacting but loving editor through several versions of the manuscript. She has also been my help- mate and steadfast companion not only on trips to faraway places, and on mountain trails, but in the other more challenging journeys that make up life.

Maps xiii

1 George Bogle’s route from Calcutta to Tashilhunpo 1774

xiv Maps

2 Younghusband’s routes to Khamba Dzong (1903) and to Lhasa (1904)

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