he country
of the religion of the Lord of Heaven, does it not lead directly to the
destruction of the sanctuary of the Buddha-La, and consequently, to the
downfall of the Lamanesque hierarchy and of the Thibetian government?
"I," said he, "who am here to protect the Tale-Lama, can I permit, at
Lha-Ssa, men who propagate such formidable doctrines? When those
doctrines have taken root, and it is no longer possible to extirpate
them, who will be responsible for such a misfortune? What shall I reply
to the Grand Emperor, when he shall reproach me with my negligence and
cowardice? You Thibetians," said he to the Regent; "you do not
comprehend the gravity of this matter. Because these men are virtuous
and irreproachable, you think they are harmless--it is a mistake. If
they remain long at Lha-Ssa, they will spell-bind you. Among you, there
is not a man capable of disputing with them upon religion. You will not
be able to keep from adopting their belief, and then the Tale-Lama is
undone."

The Regent did not enter at all into these apprehensions, with which the
Chinese ambassador endeavoured to inspire him. He maintained that our
presence at Lha-Ssa could not in any way be prejudicial to the Thibetian
government. "If the doctrine which these men held," said he, "is a false
doctrine, the Thibetians will not embrace it; if, on the contrary, it is
true, what have we to fear? How can the truth be prejudicial to men?
These two Lamas of the kingdom of France," he added, "have not done any
harm; they are animated with the best intentions towards us. Can we,
without good ground, deprive them of the liberty and protection which we
extend here to all strangers, and particularly to men of prayer? Can we
make ourselves guilty of an actual and certain injustice, through an
imaginary fear of some possible evil to come?"

Ki-Chan reproached the Regent with neglecting the interests of the
Tale-Lama, and the Regent on his part accused Ki-Chan of taking advantage
of the minority of the sovereign, to tyrannize over the Thibetian
government. For our parts, in this unfortunate contest, we refused to
acknowledge the authority of the Chinese Mandarin, and declared that we
would not quit the country without a formal order from the Regent, who
assured us that they should never extort from him any such thing.

The quarrel became more and more exacerbated every day. Ki-Chan resolved
to take on himself to expel us from the country. Matte