[B]
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]
379
C.O.
AFFAIRS OF CHINA.
CONFIDENTIAL.
[39559]
No. 1.
45640
[November 26.15 || DFC 06
1
SECTION 2.
Sir A. Nicolson to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received November 26.)
(No. 770. Confidential.) Sir,
St. Petersburgh, November 19, 1906.
M. ISVOLSKY informed me to-day that he desired to mention to me, privately and confidentially, that M. Dorjieff, the former Agent or Representative of the Dalai Lama, was at present in St. Petersburgh, and had been in communication with certain officials in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. M. Isvolsky said that he had not himself seen M. Dorjieff, and did not propose to do so, as he did not wish to give that gentleman an undue sense of his own importance. He wished, however, to acquaint me with the fact of his presence here, and also to mention that he was in consultation with officials, but chiefly on matters pertaining to Mongolia. He desired to inform me further that the Dalai Lama was at present at Gurabum, and that the Russian Government had let him understand that, in their view, it was undesirable that he should return to Thibet, in any case for the present. The Russian Government could not, of course, control the movements of the Dalai Lama, but they had taken all possible steps, in the event of that personage moving towards Thibet, to prevent any Russian official or any one over whom the Government had any control from accompanying him. At the same time his Excellency said that he had received information, for the accuracy of which he could not vouch, that the Chinese Government were urging the Dalai Lama to return to Lhassa as they found him an inconvenient guest.
M. Isvolsky said that the Dalai Lama exercised great influence over all the Buddhists, both Russian and Mongolian, and it was, therefore, of interest to the Russian Government to keep in touch with him, presumably through M. Dorjieff, not as the Grand Lama of Thibet, but as the spiritual Chief of so many Russian subjects. He wished to be quite frank and open with me; and therefore gave me the above information in a private and confidential form.
M. Isvolsky proceeded to say that the measures which the Chinese Government were taking, and those which they were apparently contemplating, in Mongolia, were causing some uneasiness to the Russian Government. The project which the Chinese Government had in view was evidently to replace the ancient feudal system of more or less independent Principalities by a centralized Chinese Administration, and one result of this proposed reform had been already to induce many Mongols, who disapproved of these changes, to seek a refuge in Russian territory. The Japanese also had numerous Agents in Mongolia who were actively furthering the aims of the Chinese Government, and he thought that this action on the part of Japan was unnecessary and irregular. M. Isvolsky wished to impress on me the great importance which any change in the former political status in Mongolia had to Russia, and he feared that the action of China would necessitate the strengthening of the Russian frontier posts and garrisons.
From the observations of M. Isvolsky in regard to the influence of the Dalai Lama over the Mongols, it is possible that the Russian Government would be willing that he should remain at his present domicile, and that they would endeavour to utilize him, with the assistance of M. Dorjieff, who, I understood, had left a secretary with his Eminence, either as a source of information or as an Agent in hampering the policy of the Chinese Government.
I reported in my telegram No. 296 of this day's date the information as to M. Dorjieff's presence here and the present domicile of the Dalai Lama.
I have, &c. (Signed) A. NICOLSON,
[2220 cc-2]