On the skirts of creation, 1810–1816

Abstract

Eventually, Manning decided to try and get into China from British India, and in spring 1810 he arrived in Calcutta. There, he prepared his journey to Tibet, eventually setting off as an independent traveller, accompanied by a solitary assistant, a Chinese Catholic. In order to conceal his English identity, Manning assumed the guise of a Buddhist pilgrim. He was the first Englishman to visit Lhasa, capital city of Tibet and home of the Dalai Lama; no other British person saw the city for almost a hundred years. Manning hoped to get permission to continue into the interior of China, but this was refused, as he was suspected of being a Catholic missionary or a spy. Nevertheless, Manning met the Dalai Lama several times. Though Manning was a religious sceptic, his diary shows that he was profoundly moved by these meetings. He was deported in spring 1812, and his Chinese assistant was arrested and exiled to Xinjiang. Instead of returning to England, Manning bided his time in Asia, hoping that Britain might send a diplomatic embassy to Peking, and that he would be recruited as a translator. This eventually took place in 1816, and Manning was duly employed. But the Amherst Embassy went badly, and in retrospect has been interpreted as something of a watershed in Anglo-Chinese relations. For Manning, its failure was a cruel anti-climax to his lifelong ambition.