The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-08-19

watched the Germans, the Germans kent
sharp eye on the French, the French
noted what was done by the Italians and
Americans, all the whites watched the
Chinese and vice versa, so that pecula-
ton was rendered impossible save by the
connivance Of large numbers of men of
different races, languages and national
tiles. Employment in the service has al
ways been considered extremely desirable,
hundreds of applications from well quail
fed men were constantly on file in the
Office of the director, the applicants be-
ing the sons of foreign minister's the
friends and relatives of consuls and not
a few from the families of missionaries
who had gone to China to evangelize the
heather and did not mind receiving
little assistance from the government.
No mean assurance of the honesty of
the customs officials was found in the
fact that there was no fixed tenure of
office; no man could be sure that On any
day total stranger to himself might not
enter his office, show his credentials from
Sir Robert, and take charge of the en-
tire establishment, at the same time pre-
Sent1ng. an order to the former incumbent
to proceed. to a port thousand miles
away and administer, to- some. one else
dose similar to the4.on he had just
received. 1t was a fundamental principle
that all accounts must be in such shape
that any official of the service In that
particular. grade might, be able to take
hold of the business at any moment, and
thus every man of the entire force was
kept on the tenterhookss Of expectation,
for his tenure of office might be three
days, three months or three years; no one
but the director knew, and he kept his
own counsel
During the early. part of his administra-
ton Sir Robert made frequent visits of
inspection to the great ports Of the en-
pire, but during the last nine years he
did not leave Pekin. For thirty-two years
he thus held one of the most responsible
positions in the gift OF the Chinese gov
eminent. He was more than the manager
of Chinese finances for the unbounded
confidence reposed in him by the govern
i ment led to the employment of his serv-
Ices in many ways, so that for years he
i was a secretary for foreign affairs. 1t
was he who conducted the negotiations
which resulted in the establishment of
| foreign embassies; it was he who made
the Burlingame mission an accomplished
fact; his efforts averted war with Eng
land in 1876, and he closed the war with
France in 1885. In that year the British
government, in acknowledgment of his
services, offered to appoint him ambas-
sdor to China, an honor which he de-
clined, regarding the position he held as
one of greater influence and usefulness.
The value of his services has been rec
ognized by orders and decorations con-
ferred by nearly every court in Europe,
but as might be expected, he priced most
highly the titles of nobility granted by
the Chinese emperor He was Mandarin
of the Red Button and was entitled also
to wear the insignia of the Double
Dragon and the order of the Peacock
Feather He also received from the en-
peror the very high honor Of having his
ancestors for three generations enrolled
the honest miller of Armagh, after his
In the ranks of the Chinese nobility, and
the honest miller of Armagh, after his
death, was constituted a Mandarin Of
the empire. His English title of nobility
is that of a baronet and dates from