PATER'S CHAIS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2983, 17 May 1911, Page 89

PATER'S CHAIS WITH THE BOYS.

lII.—SIR ROBERT HART. WAR AVERTED BY MOVING A SEAT TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE. Sir Robert's niece, in writing his biography, gives prominence to a great number of trifling incidents which influenced great events. Here is one. On one occasion the British and the Chinese were at a deadlock over a murder and an outrage, and the Chinese representatives were asking the question, Will the English fight unless we make reparation? They would have had to had not an incident which happened 12 months before intervened. Through some cause or other the Chinese Customs pew in the British Legation Chapel had been moved from the front to the back, and as a protest the 1.-G. remained away from the service for more than a year. "Just when the political atmosphere was most electric, Bishop Russell, an old friend of Ningpo day? and a charming and genial Irishman, caane to Peking <zn a visit. As he way going to preach Hart could not resist

tho temptation to bear him, so ho went. Russell, unconventional and spontaneous m his ways, changed the usual order of the service, and said "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform ; and this happened to be one of Hart's favourites. When he was going out Hart noticed that Sir Thos. Wade, the British Minister, was absent, a rarity unless something unusual had happened, so he called to see the reason and ask if there were any news. News! Black war-clouds had gathered, for a misunderstanding of Chinese despatches had occurred. Hart asked for permission to explain them in their proper light, and two or three hours later the crisis had passed. When Russell and Hart met the next day the former said jocularly: "D'ye know, Hart, my converts have grown to have such faith in me that they believe I can not only show them the way to heaven, but arrange matters on this earth as well. They told me I was coming to Peking to prevent war with England." "Well," said Hart solemnly, "so you have. If you had not come to Peking I should not have gone to church. If I had not gone to church I should not have known of the Minister' a absence, and therefore should not have gone to see him. Consequently, I should never have known of the difficulty which then threatened the negotiations, and might not have been able to help to remove it. Truly, Russell,

God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perforin.

The difficulty cropped up again, but how Wade started oil pcet-haste to Shanghai "to await orders from his GoveAment," and how the Chinese sent the Inspector-general with swifter haste to overcome him, war, like the sword of Damocles, hanging over the nation the meanwhile, is another story I haven't time or space to relate. "KUNG KWEI YIH KWEI." Double Dutch, isn't it"? Listen to the little story attached to it. Hart, one time, was working hard to bring about the signing of a treaty between the French and tne Chinese, concerning the Tonquin frontier. But though he could not make headway, and though he was harassed by rebuffs, he didn't ''gloom." He did an unusual thing; he went into one of hia secretary's offices and talked about indifferent matters. Then by some strange impulse he went up to a bookcase in the corner and, purely at random, picked oat and opened a volume of the Chinese classics. The first word that caught hia eye as he mechanically opened it were, "Kung Kwei Yih Kwei," liberally, "The work wants another basket" and the phrase is a part of one of the sayings of Confucius, "If a man' wants to build a wall so high, he must not refuse it the iast basketful of earth." At the time he Jiad in his hand a telegram for Paris aattouncing his failure to bring about a decision, a telegram that probably meant war. The phrase "the work wants another basket" heartened him, and h?. went home determined to hold back the wire another day to see if anything more could be <kme The next day the Chineee officials ifid thought better, and asked anxiously, "Have you sent that telegram?" With profound relief they heard him say No, and negotiations were renewed. The telegram Hart was eventually able to send to Paris was "Sign the treaty-" The tension being over, he had his little joke when he told his secretary to send the news through. "Don't send it on the Ist of April," he added; so when handing the message to the French Minister his secretary added to the wire "Sign the treaty" the words, "Don't, sign on, the Ist of April—parce que c'est jour nefaste —because it'is an unlucky day." Was the secretary a Scotchman? HART BECOMES "1.-G." Perhaps I should have mentioned this before. When Hart went to China it was to enter the Consular service, but in 1859 he resigned to enter the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs. When he asked permission to resign his position in the one service to enter the other, he was told he oould do so, but must not expect to be allowed to enter the Consular service again when he pleased. Hart's work as Inspec-tor-General of the; Customs would require a volume to detail, but in later years the Consular service asked him to be "Her Britannic Majesty - Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary at Peking." He accepted, but when the Chinese Empress said she would like him to be Minister, but preferred him to remain as Inspec-tor-general, he elected to remain a servant of the Chineee Government. He had another reason, tod: he said that as Minister he would be tied down to remain five vears in was in 1885. He remained until 1908! ACTS XXIII, 31.

Five years passed from 1885, and another five, and vet his work seamed unfinished. Now 'Hart, like his father before, was—and is, for lie is still alive—a religious man. In 1896, lie was very undecided., and. as he often did when beset with doubt, he took down his Bible and opened it fit random. There was the answer to his indecision, clear and unmistakable: "Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, Except these abide in tho ship, ye cannot be saved." There was no more indecision. AN IRON-HATTED DUKE, In 1889,. the Chinese Government desiring to pay him a compliment never before paid to a foreigner, gave him a unique honour. And here I'll quote : "Without precedent and without warning, the Emperor issued an Imperial Decree raising him to the Chinese equivalent of the peerage. Henceforth he belonged to the distinguished company of Iron-hatted Dukes —at least, not he, but his ancestors, did, for this was no ordinary father-to-som patent Of nobility. The topsy-turvy honour reached backward instead of forward, diminishing one rank with eacl succeeding generation. "The Chinese reason as follows: ' If a man is wise or great or successful, it is

becar.se his forbears were studious or temperate or frugal. Therefore, when we give rewards, shall we not give them where they are justly due?' . "The strange feature of it is that the very night before the edict appeaied--wlien the 1.-G. had not the slightest hint of what was in store for him-he dreamt of hk father's fatter-a thing he had not done for years. Dressed in a snuff-eolcured St with knee-breeches and shining shoe buckles, he appeared walking, down the little street of Portedown, leaning heavily upon a Sackthorn stick and murmuring Eadlv 'Nobody cares for erne, nobody notice of me.' Nobody, mdeThere is a great deal more I should like to refer to, such as the siege of the Legation at Peking, about whicli such horrible and blood-curdling accounts were cabled all over the world, accounts which were lies in wholesale quantities; the pedition ; the looting and other acts which were a disgrace to civilised nations. But all these I must pass By, for three Chate are as many as I can devote to one subject • ,U j ll l igoß after serving China more disinterestedlv than most of her own statesmen, and at the same time> carryingwith him the respect and confidence of the European nations and America, he put down his pen and returned to Great Britain to spend the late evening of has life in desk, written in a fantastic hand, you will see the following : 1844-1908. If than hast yesterday thy duty done, • And thereby cleared firm footing for to-day, Whatever clcuds may dark to-morrows sun, Thou shalt not mias thy solitary way.