Page:Sikhim and Bhutan.djvu/319

 The country had now a recognised head; Sir Ugyen Wang-chuk; the Tongsa Penlop, had been unanimously chosen by the lamas, headmen, and people as their Hereditary Maharaja. Sir Ugyen is a man of particularly strong character, who has during the last eighteen or twenty years piloted Bhutan through a series of revolutions to a state of peace and prosperity, who has the welfare of his country at heart and thinks of it before all things. He is a man universally liked and respected, and is peculiarly fitted to be the first Maharaja, and should he live long enough I am certain his rule will be entirely for the benefit of his people and their country. What he lacks to strengthen his hands are funds with which to carry on the development and improvements. The opening up of the country he has already commenced, and it is sincerely to be hoped that the Government of India may see its way to giving him the necessary assistance in the shape of a substantial loan on easy terms, or, better still, an increase of his annual subsidy. The aid is required now, not in the distant future, and I hope the fact that I am no longer on the spot or able to press the matter on Government will not mean that the proposals made will be allowed to fall into abeyance, but that the Indian Government will give, and give generously, what is required. I cannot pass over the fact that the present time is a critical one for relations between India and Bhutan, and that if we do not support the new Maharaja openly and generously grave complications, may be the result. At the present moment Bhutan and its people are thoroughly and entirely friendly to the English, and wish beyond everything to enter into close relationships with them, but since the withdrawal of the Lhasa Mission Chinese influence is more active than ever on this frontier, and Bhutan, from lack of active help and sympathy on our part, may, against her will, be thrown into the hands of the Chinese by sheer force of circumstances, for China, as we know, is not likely to lose such an opportunity, when the expenditure of a few thousand rupees will gain her