Page:Narratives of the mission of George Bogle to Tibet.djvu/108

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EDEN'S MISSION TO BHUTAN.
[Intr.

and aggressions, and controversies about boundaries, ending in a small war. "The whole history of our connection with Bhutan," says Dr. Campbell,^ "is a continuous record of injuries to our subjects all along the frontier of 250 miles, of denials of justice, and of acts of insult to our Government." In 1839, the Bhutanese carried off twelve British subjects, which showed that Pemberton's mission had had no effect upon them. In 1841 they seized five British villages, when Colonel Jenkins, the Commissioner in Assam, proposed the despatch of a mission, but this measure was not approved. The Assam dars were then occupied.^ In 1842, outrages were commenced on the side of the Bengal dars, and continued at intervals until 1856. Sir Frederick Halliday, the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, then proposed that the districts of Ambari Fala-kottah and Jalpaish, which had been given to Bhutan in 1784 and 1787, but which had formerly belonged to the province of Julpigori, should be occupied; but the measure was prevented by the mutinies. Further outrages followed; and in 1863, the Honourable Ashley Eden was appointed envoy to Bhutan, to obtain a treaty. He was accompanied by Major Godwin Austen, of the Topographical Survey Department, Captain Lance, and Dr. Simpson.

The time selected for this mission was unfortunate. Bhutan was in a state of anarchy owing to a rebellion. The Jungpen of Punakha had closed its gates against the Deb Rajah. The Paro Penlo, or Governor of Western Bhutan, had taken part with the Deb; while the Tongso Penlo took the other side, and besieged the Deb in Tassisudon, who surrendered and was sent into retirement at Shiptoka. At the same time, the Paro Penlo and his subordinate, the Jungpen of Dalim-kotta, were carrying on a private war on their own account.

Mr. Eden's mission left Darjiling in 1864, crossed the Tista,

'Oriental,' Jan. 1874, p. 25.

Seven in number, namely, Buri Gumah and Kalling, bordering on the Durmng district; and Shurkolla, Banska, Chapaguri, Cbapkahama, and

Bijni, bordering on Kamrp.