To-day is another day of glorious frontier weather—brilliant sunshine with clear blue sky over-head: an cal regatta day and these woolly. Tibetans will persist in disturbing the peace of this border community. If they were fighting for Justifinble cause—freedom or liberty we might understand their prerent attack, but they are simply. fighting in the attempt to reinstate several hundred old border warriors as masters of the Tibetan Marches, The Third Army are willing accept General Sen and Han Dao-vain and the hundreds of old frontier troops who with them they will conditionally lay down their arms.
We sincerely hope they. will and thus no further involve the Tibetans in unnecessary warfare with the Chinese.
Should the Tibet-the present attack suffer defeat and be unable to justify their conduct, we are afraid General Lan, should he invade Tibet, wi the tibetans pay for their present! hostile attitude, Dec, 17.
But for a few shots fired early: this morning the night passed sith out riy og The oeple Ith The two civil officials, Ma and "n, who were sent along the north and south roads as peacemakers, have been foreed to give up their peaceful mission and join in. the attack on Tachienlu. We believe the intentions of these two men when they left Tachienlu were to speak peaceful words and if poss use conciliatory methods in inviting the old border warriors to join up with the Third Army. Their peaceful mission has so far not met with suees and the old troops have apparently forced them to join arms the present attack.
The old frontier soldiers, of whom there are some 5,000, maintain that the present Third Army has no right to usurp authority on the Tibetan border. They are asking some very pertinent questions. Whose command are you obeying when you come on to the frontier? To what} army do you belong? Who is financing the new army? Is. the old army under General Sen unable to maintain peace on the border Are your marching orders from Po king, Chengtu, or where? Until a factory answer can be given to these important questions the old border warriors are going to hold together and fight if neces maintain their position on frontier.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.