WHAT AN IRISHMAN DID FOR CHINA.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 72, 8 November 1911, Page 2

WHAT AN IRISHMAN DID FOR CHINA.

Gir Rcbsrt Hart’s Semantic Story. Sir Robert Mart, Ilia distinguished Irishman, died at Marlow recently, nirod ile made a groa t reputation in China as l uspoctorGenor.d of Customs and Ports. ino Chinese have already home testimony to their appreciation ot his work hy tiie quaint honour of appointing him to he “Senior Guardian ot the Heir .Apparent.” 'i he Chinese do not believe that with this life cuds all. His Gsoat Quality. “Sir Robert Hart was not only a great man, Out lie had a very rare and singular quality of greatness,” says the “Daily .News.” “He built up practically from its beginnings the Cuiucso ’Customs service, a feat of organisation which sets Inin high upon the foil of distinguished administrators. But to think of him as an eminent’ hiiieaucrat is to see him in the wrong perspective. His tile’s work vas done 111 China, in a land and among a people as remote as the world admits from' the land and tho people of his birth; it was done among a people whom men of European descent are accustomed to treat as belonging to an inferior race. An Astonishing Tiling. “The astonishing thing in the life of Sir Hubert Han is mat lie shook off completely this aloofness and this affectation of superiority. He governed the Chinese not as a demigod sprung from a race of demigods and allotted by a capricious providence the task of civilising barbarians; he governed them as one of themselves. If complete and perfect sympathy between the Oriental and Occidental lie impossible, yet no Occidental has over got as 1 deep into the spirit and the Heart of China as did Sir .Robert Hart. He was penetrated with Chinese philosophy and culture; he tried to see through Chinese eyes, and to labour with a single-minded desire for China’s interests; arid in process of time ho became more of a Chinaman than an Englishman, or rather Irishman. This closeness of sympathy opened for hint a way into the confidence of the people and tiie rulers in China. 'They realised that in him they had, not the agent of avaricious foreigners, blit a faithful and understanding friend. A Notable Contrast. “Sir llohcrt Hart was the exact opposite of the type of administrator which modern Imperialism has made fashionable. Remoteness, insistence upon superiority, philanthropy without love or understanding, trust in tho iron hand of military power—these are marks of the orthodox representative of Imperialism among subjects another colour or race. it may be that these characteristics make tho substance of popular verso or magazine stories, but the can be little doubt that the school of which Sir Robert Hart was the most eminent representative makes the most successful rulers. It is lack of the qualities which distinguished him which lie’s pretty near the root of the difficulties of British rule in Egypt and in India, and the blunders of British poliev in Turkey and Persia. A generation or two ago tho Englishmen who rallied to Mazzini and Garibaldi understood the truth better. Unfortunately, there is no clear hint of a return to that older and saner appreciation.” A Happy Accident, “Sir Robert Hart’s Career,” says the “Telegraph,” “is a stimulating example of valuable administrative talents which wo are glad to think are not unusual among onr countrymen in dealing with other nations. What, in their various ways, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe was in Turkey, C. J. Rhodes in South; Africa, .and Lord Cromer in Egypt, so, when wo make all the proper deductions owing to difference of conditions and character, was Sir Robert Hart in China. Probably, in most of these cases, the qualities which were to ensure success remained undiscovered until a happy accident brought about their employment. “Many and many a young Englishman who seems to bo leading an idlo and useless life at home suddenly develops hitherto unrecognised gifts when he is transferred abroad and confronted by Colonial problems. In tho case of Sir Robert Hart, who obtained an appointment as student interpreter in the China Consular Service at the ago of nineteen, there appears to have been a fortunate harmony between natural tastes and instincts and the duties of his position, which at a very early period fixed in essential lines his future career. At all events, ho rapidly rose from post to. post. An Unimpeachable Honesty. “Few men have had greater honours showered upon them, both by their own native country and other Powers,” adds the “Telegraph.” “Few men, also, coidd have better deserved such distinctions. For, combined with the greatest capacity for controlling and organising an important department of State,' wore found in him qualities of unimpeachable honesty, rare common sense, a wide outlook of affairs, arid that judgment of men and character without which no success would have been possible in his difficult tasks. His very belief in China and the Chinese, although, as wo have seen, if now and again led him into tragic disappointments, was an enormous strength to the man whose business it was to inspire the world with .his own trust in the commercial virtues of an Eastern race. With a faith like that which belonged to Sir Robert Hart, a man can move mountains—even such hoary fastnesses of internal corruption and extortionate cruelty as have for centuries environed the Land of Sin ini.” Sir Robert anti tin Cftincso. “Fir Robert looked forward to the time when China would be one of the most formidable military nations of tiie world—not because tin’s was their natural ambition or inclination, but ■iecaii.se the position would lie forced upon tiie,Jii,” says the “Westminster.” “He was fond of quoting the words littered to him forty years ago by one of China’s most famous statesmen. Wen Hsiang:—, “ ‘You are all too anxious to awake os and start us qn a new road, and roii will do it. Hut .you will regret it; for once awake, and started we will 40 further than you think, much furliher than yon want.’ “In tne result, was Sir Robert's •oneiusii'ii, China might wadi bp rendered i.omissible fair outsiders, for the Chinese would be strong enough to expel /all foreigners from their 'orders, and to keep their own strange •ountry entirely to themselves. “As to their good qualities, he wrote:— “ 'Tiie Chaine.se possess quite as large a si 1 a re as others of admira-m----i.u.’ditb' . They are- weil-beliaved, law-abiding, intelligent, economical, and indnsf rlous ; they a re pnneil imesly poiit'-; they worship talent, and tliov believe in rigid so lirml.v that they scorn to think that it requires

to bo snnportcd and enforced by might they are generous charitabsi, and iomi of good works; they never forget a favour, they make rich return for any kindness, they are wonderfully gifted with common sense, and in tea country has the commandment, “Honour thy father and thy mother,” been so religiously ohayed. .In no other country is education so honoured, so prised, so utilised, and so rewarded. Voluminous encyclopaedias and dictionaries were published and republished ages before Dr. .Johnson appeared or Hie French “Academy’’ was heard of.’ ” His Birthplace. “While tiie whole civilised world united in praise of Sir Robert Hart, it was v,itn peculiar pride Unit we in the .North of Ireland reflected that he was one of, ourselves—-an i I,sternum born and bred," says the “Northern Whig." “It was the late Archbishop Alexander who observed that in the whole of the Tinted Kingdom there was no area which had given so many men to the public service as the North-Fast of I Ister. Upon tiie roll of British fame Ulster names abound, and among those which stand highest is that oT Sir Robert Mart. Ho was born at Portaclown.”