THE CONTROLLER OF; THE CHINESE CUSTOMS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVI, Issue 14, 9 April 1908, Page 19

THE CONTROLLER OF THE CHINESE CUSTOMS

RETIRES AFTER FIFTY YEARS

Like many noted singers and actors who have ' rettred from the public stage at least half a dozen times ere they take the fm a l step, Sir Robert Hart ?K^£T^ of the CMnese Customs, has been crel S?- W l? ? av * m f Permanently ' retired * several times within the last few years. Now, however, the Home papers definitely announce his retirement, and also that he Us on his way to Europe. During Ms fifty years' connection with Ch'ma Sir~ Robert Hart has done much to improve the. financial position of the country and set it forward on the road of progress and civilisation Incredible as it seems, this Irish-born immigrant rose to be a power greater than the Dowager-Empress in the management of Chinese affairs. For a quarter of a cen- * y «.?v Wa £ a dlctator - No treaty of importance was ratified by the Tsungli-Yamen until his counsel had been sought. ISo foreign loan was contracted without his sanction. No improvement in the finances of- the land was perfected unless his was the guiding hand And not until he had established China on a firm commercial footing among the nations of the earth did there arise m the Empire a faction strong enough to threaten his position seriousls'. • - • His Great Work. Out of nothing (says an EngKsh magazine) the Irish reorgamzer built up a system unsurpassed by any machine of its kind in the world. When he went to China m 1854 as a student interpreter in the Hongkong consulate, just after he had been graduated from Queen s College in Belfast, only the single port of Shanghai was included in the customs service Nine years later, when he became Inspectoi-General at the age of twenty-eight, there were but five ports under the department. The foreign commissioners, appointed at the request of tho merchants of Shanghai after the Taipuig rebellion of the early fifties, had hardly made a start toward rescuing the service from the chaos of native control. _ Having mastered the Chinese language and familiarized himself with local conditions during four years of work as a- deputy in the service, which he had entered after obtaining special permission to resign his British consular post in 1859, the Inspector-General set about the gigantic task of creating a modern business organisation amid surroundings of superstition, ignorance, prejudice, and dishonesty. The results of his labors are known. How he accomplished them has not been explained, for his modesty 5s proportionate to his achievements. Adviser to Empress. In 'less than two decades he had become necessary to China. The Government recognised him as the helmsman of the only branch from which it could expect revenues honestly collected and sure to materialize. He was rewarded with decorations of rank that made him equal to the highest mandarins. Gradually his authority extended beyond the customs. He became the financial pilot of the empire. In mattors of foreign policy and trade, his word was law. The Dowager-Empress, Tsi-An, despot of the Imperial Court, bowed to -&is judgment. When the Tsungli-Yamen authorised a treaty or instituted a public improvement, although its decrees nrade no mention of the Irish censor's name, the author of the treaty or the inventor of the innovation was Sir Robert Hart ; and when some one must be found to put into effect the new plan, the InspectorGeneral of maritime customs was the only man fitted for the responsibility. Wiitihout relaxing his watchfulness over the customs service, which grew rapidly untiMt embraced a-U the ports -of. entry aleng the 4000; miles of coast line, he undertook and perfected the Government's system of lighthouses on , ocean and rivers, organised and directedan armed fleet patrolling the waters of the 'empire^for protection against smugglers, -arranged: the big loans that were to link the Flowery Kingdom with the western world, and finally established " $he , national postal system of wiMch he became Inspector-General in 1896.

x .' Highly Honored.r> ~ -• v : -\j From every nation of the West, as well as from his native Oriental employers, he received- '. the highest honors. In Great Britain he was created a baronet in 1893, having already become a Knight of -the- ■ • Grand* S^ s « of the Order of St - Mi chael and 'St>' 'George' (G.0.M.G.) in 1889. To those" who know - China, a mention of the native titles conferred upon him 'is enough to show bis standing. After being decorated with the Civil Kank of the Third Class in 1864 and of the Second Class %n 1869, he received' the Red Button of the First Class in 1881, an& the'Peacock's..Featherand Double-- Dragon four years later. -Then, in -1889 .< he was elevated to the .Ancestral Rank of " the First Class of the First Order for Three Generations, which 'signified that the Emperor of China ennobled* fi'is ancestors for three generations, thus making of him" a mandarin and a companion of the princes. His last elevation, in 1901, involving the brevet title of i- Junior Guardian of the Heir- Apparent, followed the Boxer trqublesftdur- < ing which, although reported in TLondbn de'spa/tonel - £sT among the dead, he continually -risked his- life" in helialf of Peking's foreign, residents, refusing Prince Ching's repeated offers to promote .his escape from "the apparently doonred colony. • ' ■ - ,".„'*' European Nations Do Him Honor. Along with his new honors in - China;* he was -the recipient 'of decorations year by year , from the , sbve-! reigns of Europe. So great -had his fame become,, "and so much were his' services in demand as a diplomatic arbiter and financial go-between, that they, -vied" ,with- • one another in - doing him honor. The King.^of, Sweden: and Norway made him a Chevalier, of the Order of Wasa. Belgium appointed him a Grand Officer 'of ' thY Order of Leopold. The Vatican named him a Commander of the Order of Pius IX. The Kting of Italy conferred on hinx the badge of the Of dear of. the Crowns France elected him to the Legion of Honor. ' Germany, Austria, and Portugal awarded him similar decorations. Educational institutions of Europe and America gave him honorary degrees. Scientific societies. votj^dC him their fellowships. - Mercantile associations " sent Mm testimonials in every, language spoken' by , tradersthe world over. At the height of . his power Great. Britain offered to make him her Envoy . Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to. Chii'na. - That wast, in 1885. It was at the personal solicitation of the Dowager-Empress that he declined the position, choosing once for all to lay aside any ambitforivhe'miglit,, have had in the line of active politics and to remain behind his desk 'in the little office in Peking. 1 " '*

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