A document was found at Balla stockade addressed by the Wangdu Phodrang Dzongpon to the Bhutanese official at Balla. The following is a translation of the letter:

 

A document was found at Balla stockade addressed by the Wangdu Phodrang Dzongpon to the Bhutanese official at Balla. The following is a translation of the letter:

“I have heard that you are prudently acting, by building a strong stockade at Tazagong, for the protection of our country from the attacks of the ambitious and all-country-destroying English. As the hot season is at hand, you have requested permission to leave the position. I am aware that the place is getting warm, but if you return without gaining a decided victory, the great Chiefs and Lamas will surely hold you in great disgrace. So resolve never to come back but die in war. If you now come back, then what avail the hardship you have undergone so long in fortifying the position? What was the good of your undergoing labour so hard that you have reckoned one day as ten? What is the consequence of your lying in the open air whole nights, and sleeping upon the grass, having only a stone for your pillow? Certainly the old Penlow of Paro will be highly displeased with your conduct, in spite of all the troubles you have undergone. In fact, in that case you will have no excuse to offer to the same. I am informed that the old Zimpen, instead of accompanying ~011, went to the Lama. I am also informed that four men were killed in a battle. Do not be afraid on account of it, but remember that they were killed for the sake of their country. Resolve that we must take vengeance for it, by punishing the ambitious English, the expense of our own Lives. It is better to have our bodies cut into pieces than to come back without punishing the enemy. He who is the most prudent and careful can never be defeated. The Paro Penlow is determined to fight at all hazards, and retain one side of the country. Resolve that we should work hard, so as to cut the hardest stones and iron to pieces. Balla cannot be very hot this season, so do not fear sickness; and in the hot season there is a cool place for you at Tazagong. In the hot season the troops will fight, and if they get sick we cannot help it. Buxa, Chamoorchee, and Tazagong, are cool places; we shall therefore be able to fight from there. I alone have considered the propositions from head to foot. You make a committee and consider the ways of keeping our country. I am ready to accompany you, but as there is a festival held by our Lamas, I am obliged to remain with them. It will be finished on the 10th. I shall answer the letters from the East and the West on the 11th or 12th.-come home on the 13th, and start to join you on the 15th. Most probably I shall arrive at your place on the 18th or 10th; but do not be sorry if I do not join you at the time I mention."

 

Source: Rennie, David Field (1866, 2005)