New-York tribune., 1908-06-22
EMPRESS DowAGBR's NEW ADVISER.


Sir Walter Hitler is apparently destined to take
the place of Sir Robert Hart mentor OF the Chi
nese government. For he has Just received from
the latter the appointment to be its adviser Sir
Robert Hart Inspector general OF customs
his place at the head of the latter having been
taken by a couple of Chinese dgnitaries But in
addition to his duties head Of the customs
vice his counsel constantly sought by the
Empress Dowager, who. in order TO show the con-
fdence which she placed in him, appointed him
Junior guardian of the heir apparent and, not
content with making him mandarin OF the high
est class, with the peacock's feather, bestowed
upon him nobility OF the first class, and at the
same upon three generations of his ancestors
He has returned TO England, shattered In
health after half century Of continuous
service in the Far Orient and over seventy years
of age, so that II is improbable that he Will ever
go back to China.
Sir Walter Hitler has had no connection with
the customs service. and the office which he is
appointed is altogether far the
Peking administration Is concerned, for its title
is adviser 10 the Chinese government, and It is
expressly stated that the nomination, for which
there is no precedent in China, has been made by
the imperial government its own initiative and
without any previous consultation with the Eng
nsh Foreign Office.
Sir Walter Hitler is one of the best known fig
ure. in the Orient. and will be recalled as having
served political officer to the international
pedition for the relief OF the legations at Pekng
eight years ago. Passing through the United States
that occasion his way to join the expedi-
tionary force, the interviews which he gave here
contributed In no small degree to allay the terrible
anxiety which prevailed just then concerning the
fate Of the imprisoned Americans at Pekfng be-
sieged in the legations by the Boxer insurgents
Sir Walter Is supposed to know more about the
Par East than any other European. He wes born
ont there at Bangkok, where his father repre-
sented Great Britain at the time consul general.
and eighteen Joined the English consular service
in China with which he continued for the fonow-
ing thirty years. winding up consul general and
.be-zs d,a4Yaires IN Corea While there he had
the misfortune TO lose his first wife, not through
death. but through her elopement with man OF
the name Of Sanderson. A divorce suit ersued IN
London which narrowly escaped coming TO grler.
For at the very moment when the London news
papers were printing the legal reports of the pro
ceednss In the divorce court between his wife and
himself she appearing in person and he being rep
resented by counsel dispatches arrived from China
and were published the foreign news page or
the same Journals. relating in a sensational man
ner an attack by japanese soldiers in the Corean
CITY of Seoul upon the British charge danalres'
TIIllier and his wife, the dispatches being par
tculerly eloquent IN the description of the indfgr
ties 70 which the wife Of the British envoy had
baen spbiecte6 Fortunately Hitler was able TO
furnish q satisfactory explanation as to the iden-
tity of the lady who was with MIN at the une
% the Japanese attack. For he managed to secure
hts divorce after some delay, while, when imnedi-
a+e,,- efterward he had to return home and TO go
on the retired list account Of grave trouble with
his eyes-now cured-he was knighted by queen
Victoria and received from her the star or a COM
,o,5.r of the Order of ST. Michael and st. George
Since the conclusion Of his temporary mission In
with expedition for the relief of the
foreign legations Peking, he has been professor
Of Chinese at Kings College, In London, and since
the death of the late Sir Halliday Mccartney mas
acted as an unofficial adviser and trusted counsellor
"a the Chinese Legation in London. Indeed. 1t has
been his usefulness in that capacity which has led
TO the Chinese government engaging MS services
as its only foreign adviser at Peking.
MARQUISE DE FONTENOY.