The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-28

spun VA 0iilSSuCS dA0 CSOAOihys VI |
what noD, winch every assistant owes
to the prestige of the service and to the
articles signed on his appointment.
Commissioners are hereby requested TO
call the attention of their ASSISTANTS to
paragraphs so and SO of Circular No.
-, VOL -, IS, and promptly to report
any derelictIon of behavior to the l. G., t
reminding their staff that dtsobedience
to the rules entails immediate dis
missal," &c.
These circulars referred to form the
library of every Custom House in
scores of volumes, and represent in |
themselves an astounding literary out
put for single brain, consisting as |
they do of long printed letters on every |
conceivable subject, numbering a |
score or more tor each OF the forty |
years during which Sir Robert has |
ruled; they are annually reindexed, |
and every sort of technical question is |
decided by rules there laid down, often
without need of further reference to
headquarters. Some of these volumes,
the early ones especially, are OF alb
sorbing personal interest, and were it
not contrary to the unwritten law ever
to dIvulge their contents, it would be
a labor of love to the present writer
to reproduce some of their passages,
which betray the man behind the
sphinx who dictated them. Sir Roberts,
lot course, has been frequently beSieg-
ed by large publishing houses to write
his memoirs: and should the present
misery at Pekin result In the loss of
this invaluable life also, the world Will
have missed a true internal history of
i China during the vital last half Of the
nineteenth century which no other man
than Sir Robert can possibly tell. AL
though half a century of finance and
official documents has locked the l.
G.'s style of it's early vigor and self
revealings, the bare record of his UNI
known struggles at Pekin would make
history far more absorbing than any
novel.
This brings me to the question
which, alas, may be fatally solved be-
fore these words are printed-is Sff
Robert safe in the midst Of the tumu.t
at Pekn? We have already heard thai
the Customs mess (the quarters of tne
score Of Juniors a.-nua4y sent up to
come under the chiefs cold eye') have
, been destroyed and ramor has it thai
these young assistants have been mas
sacred along with the rest. / do not,
however, think that The /. G. himself
runs much risk unless he has personal
enemies in Prince Tuan's faction; al
though it must not be forgotten that t,
foreigner in such a position canno.
avoid bitter and inve,era,e enemies
among mandarlns whose counseis lie Is
often compelled to oppose. SIR Roper.
Is not a Iorelgn Min.sLcr, he Is Nai-
| neSe Manualll, OF The H. st Cas-, enaued
: Win the yeliow ja~kel, his ancestors
t posthumously honoreu by Imperial
: eaIct, ms loyal ana nonol abe record
!, second 10 none Oh lh- h-gn oIncIaiS o.
the Empire; man Whon the mos,
Il bigoted Manchu knowS to be the pro-
d OF the dynasty, whom none would dare
e to accuse OF secret partialitieS or SuS-
> pect OF political intrigue; ana further
: more, the intimate trlcnu OF many OF
: the most powerful Officers. ADD 10 this
e that Sir Robert is surrounded by a
If small native staff absolutely devoted to
:. nm ana splenoIuly IRA NED in watching
and reporting everything that goes on
n and you can see that the only risk he
Is runs is that incurred by the native
- mandarins themselves, of having his
house burned over his head by the Ia
:, natical and indiscrImI4.atIng raop.e
is which appears to have taken command
d of Pekin.
Sir Roberts death would mean much
mere than the Shaping OF tn main
II spring of the great civil SSrvIoe he mas
d organized. 1t would mean tie loss o.
, positively the only man who is tit, BY
= experience, by position, by genius, tl
\ undertake the task of reorganlzi.4g the
70 wnoie administrator OF china as the
a mandatory of the Powers sho~ld the.
a decide eventually to take over the Gov.
+ eminent of China. Sir Robert has Otter
!, haaT hpp0aH IN fua
a vice for the office of Great BRAINS
Minister. but he knew that his poten
n tialities for Chinas good would be fal
% less as such. Also, his nea tn mas sui
y fered much from his prolonged resi-
:, dence In reklng, ana siAce the fata
Is vacillation of the British Governmel
ia after the Japanese war, and Russia
~ consequent performance, his in.4uenc,
n has Waned. None the Tess, he is tn
"A only man who stanoS as an individua
Ia in the competent but neutral position
~ in which the United Slates Sand a
&c nation, and he is the man on whom
IS the reorganization of China must de
voive. his life's wo4k IS already done
IN all his ambitions are already satisfied
10 and an earidom awaits HIM wheneve
n he cares to accept it-w hich cou-d oni
w be on his retirement. Since Births
m honorS conferred on him now woul
~ seem to intimate a british claim to tn
RI customs But the keynote of Sir Rob
ertS life has been duty, conscientious
ness, self-sacrifice, TIE good of China
and he would not shrink E. ON the bur
den-if his conditions We're accepted
These conditions would be the same a
n he demanded when he consent d to or
ganize the. revenue de yartm2nt: i'm
plicit confidence, absolute indepen
of dence, free hand.
hi The employment of foreigners to col
lect the customs rsyel4ue began infoI
eh mally at Shanghai in 1888, when M
We (afterward Sir Thomas)' Wade assiste
oil the native collector for a year durin
of the occupation of the city by the Taip
- ings, being replaced the next year b
VI h. N. Lay. In 1858 the system was ex
rs, tended to tie five ports enen open t
en- trade. In 1853 Horatio Nelson Lay &c
in into trouble over the Lay-Osborne tic
tilla fiasco and was replaced by M
NC Hart, who had been in charge sine
ito 1861 Thereafter, the service was fasl
ened upon China by the war indemn
"a ties. for which the Customs revenu
ID, was hypothetical. The indemnitie
paid off, the service remained as til
as only instrument the Government coui