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HART, SIR ROBERT
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See also:HART, See also:SIR See also:ROBERT , See also:Bart. (1835– ), Anglo-See also:Chinese statesman, was See also:born at Milltown, Co. See also:Armagh, on the loth of See also:February 1835. He was educated at See also:Taunton, See also:Dublin and See also:Belfast, and graduated at See also:Queen's See also:College, Belfast, in 1853. In the following See also:year he received an appointemnt as student. interpreter in the See also:China consular service, and after serving for a See also:short See also:time at the Ningpo See also:vice-consulate, he was transferred to See also:Canton, where after acting as secretary to the allied commissioners governing the See also:city, he was appointed the See also:local inspector of customs. There he first gained an insight into See also:custom-See also:house See also:work. One effect of the Taiping See also:rebellion was to See also:close the native custom-house at See also:Shanghai; and as the corrupt alternatives proposed by the Chinese were worse than useless, it was arranged by Sir See also:Rutherford See also:Alcock, the See also:British See also:consul, with his See also:French and See also:American colleagues, that they should undertake to collect the duties on goods owned by foreigners entering and leaving the See also:port. Sir T. See also:Wade was appointed to the See also:post of See also:collector in the first instance, and after a short See also:tenure of See also:office was succeeded by Mr H. N. See also:Lay, who held the post until 1863, when he resigned owing to a disagreement with the Chinese See also:government in connexion with the Lay-See also:Osborn See also:fleet. During his tenancy of office the See also:system adopted at Shanghai was applied to the other treaty ports, so that when on Mr Lay's resignation Mr Hart was appointed inspector-See also:general of See also:foreign customs, he found himself at the See also:head of an organization which collected a See also:revenue of up-wards of eight million taels per annum at fourteen treaty ports. From the date when Mr Hart took up his duties at See also:Peking, in 1863, he unceasingly devoted the whole of his energies to the work of the See also:department, with the result that the revenue See also:grew from upwards of eight million taels to nearly twenty-seven million, collected at the See also:thirty-two treaty ports, and the customs See also:staff, which in 1864 numbered 200, reached in 1901 a See also:total of 5704. From the first Mr Hart gained the entire confidence of the members of the Chinese government, who were See also:wise enough to recognize his loyal and able assistance. Of all their numerous See also:sources of revenue, the See also:money furnished by Mr Hart was the only certain asset which could be offered as See also:security for Chinese loans. For many years, moreover, it was customary for the British See also:minister, as well as the ministers of other See also:powers, to consult him in every difficulty; and such See also:complete confidence had See also:Lord See also:Granville in his ability and See also:loyalty, that on the retirement of Sir T. Wade he appointed him minister plenipotentiary at Peking (1885). Sir Robert Hart, however--who was made a K.C.M.G. in 1882—recognized the anomalous position in which he would have been placed had he accepted the proposal, and declined the proffered See also:honour. On all disputed points, whether commercial, religious or See also:political, his See also:advice was invariably sought by the foreign ministers and the Chinese alike. Thrice only did he visit See also:Europe between 1863 and 1902, the result of this See also:long See also:comparative See also:isolation, and of his See also:constant intercourse with the Peking officials, being that he learnt to look at events through Chinese See also:spectacles; and his work, These from the See also:Land of Sinim, shows how far this affected his outlook. The faith which he put in the Chinese made him turn a See also:deaf See also:ear to the warnings which he received of the threatening Boxer See also:movement in 1900. To the last he believed that the attacking force would at least have spared his house, which contained See also:official records of priceless value, but he was doomed to see his faith falsified. The See also:building was burnt to the ground with all that it contained, including his private See also:diary for See also:forty years. When the stress came, and he retreated to the British See also:legation, he took an active See also:part in the See also:defence, and spared neither See also:risk nor toil in his exertions. In addition to the See also:administration of the foreign customs service, the See also:establishment of a postal service in the provinces devolved upon him, and after the See also:signing of the See also:protocol of 1901 he was called upon to organize a native customs service at the treaty ports. The See also:appointment of Sir Robert Hart as inspector-general of the imperial maritime customs secured the interests of See also:European investors in Chinese securities, and helped to See also:place Chinese See also:finance generally on a solid footing. When, therefore, in May 1906 the Chinese government appointed a Chinese See also:administrator and assistant administrator of the entire customs of China, who would See also:control Sir Robert Hart and his staff, See also:great anxiety was aroused. The Chinese government had See also:bound itself in 1896 and 1898 that the imperial maritime customs services should remain as then constituted during the currencyof the See also:loan. The British government obtained no satisfactory See also:answer to its remonstrances, and Sir Robert Hart, finding himself placed in a subordinate position after his long service, retired in See also:July 1907. He received formal leave of See also:absence in See also:January 1908, when he received the See also:title of See also:president of the See also:board of customs. Both the Chinese and the British governments from time to time conferred honours upon Sir Robert Hart. By giving him a Red See also:Button, or button of the highest See also:rank, a See also:Peacock's See also:Feather, the See also:order of the See also:Double See also:Dragon, a patent of See also:nobility to his ancestors for three generations, and the title of Junior See also:Guardian of the See also:heir apparent, the Chinese showed their appreciation of his manifold and great services; while under the See also:seal of the British government there were bestowed upon him the orders of C.M.G. (1880), K.C.M.G. (1882),G.C.M.G. (1889), and a baronetcy (1893). He has also been the recipient of many foreign orders. Sir Robert Hart married in 1886 Hester, the daughter of See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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