Suzerainty

In forwarding this despatch Lord Milner made the apposite comment that the propriety of employing the term suzerainty to express the rights possessed by Great Britain is an "etymological question," and Mr. Chamberlain, replying on December 15th, accepts President Krüger's declaration that he is willing to abide by the articles of the Convention, reasserts the claim of suzerainty, declines to allow foreign arbitration, and demands the immediate fulfilment of Article IV. ❋ Unknown (1898)

'The word suzerainty,' he said, 'is a very vague word, and I do not think it is capable of any precise legal definition. ❋ William Edward Hartpole Lecky (1870)

A suzerainty is a vague term, but in politics, as in theology, the more nebulous a thing is the more does it excite the imagination and the passions of men. ❋ Arthur Conan Doyle (1894)

Hence, they only acknowledged China's 'suzerainty' - as opposed to sovereignty - over Tibet.

It would be an error both strategically and morally to accept that Russia is entitled to exercise this kind of suzerainty over its neighbours. ❋ Unknown (2008)

But it meant that in the British view China’s control over Tibet was limited to a condition once known as suzerainty, somewhat similar to administering a protectorate. ❋ Unknown (2008)

The annexation of 1877, so bitterly condemned by him, followed by the treaty of peace of 1881, with its famous "suzerainty" clause, was, I think, but a stepping stone to the war which was said to have embittered the last years of the life of Queen Victoria. ❋ Catherine Helen Spence (1867)

Unable, however, to maintain this unity very long, they appear to have set up in the country an Assyrian dynasty, over which they claimed and sometimes exercised a kind of suzerainty, but which was practically independent and managed both the external and internal affairs of the kingdom at its pleasure. ❋ George Rawlinson (1857)

The Rajah, Syud Ashruf Allee Khan, of Mahomdee, claims a kind of suzerainty over all the district, and over this pergunnah of ❋ William Sleeman (1822)

The British, at the time, insisted on a distinction ­between China's acknowledged "suzerainty" over Tibet and full sovereignty, but the picture was further complicated last year when the Foreign Office abandoned the distinction, for current policy at least, as "anachronistic". ❋ Unknown (2010)

A week before the People's Liberation Army (PLA) marched into Tibet, India's ambassador in Beijing, K M Panikkar, consciously changed the word "suzerainty" to "sovereignty" to define the status of Tibet vis-a-vis China. ❋ Unknown (2009)

Realists will appreciate that India currently does not possess a relative advantage in offensive military capabilities to replay British India's policy that sought to reconcile the symbolism of China's "suzerainty" over Tibet while simultaneously buttressing Tibetan autonomy under the cover of British power.

But that, in fact, is rather reminiscent of some definitions of "suzerainty". ❋ Unknown (2008)

"suzerainty" in 1884 was intentional, and designed to permit the ❋ Louis Creswicke (N/A)

"suzerainty", but only on the basis of the region's political autonomy. ❋ Unknown (2008)

Their mission was to exact from our Emperor the empty ceremonial of acknowledgment of China's ancient suzerainty. ❋ Unknown (2010)