suggestions on Chinese affairs under the title of 'What a Bystander says.'
Until he finally left China — nominally on leave — in 1908, he only twice revisited Europe, the first time for six months in 1866, when he took with him some Chinese to see the world, and again in 1878, when he went as President of the Chinese commission to the Paris Exhibition. Though not the first originator. Hart was the practical creator of the imperial maritime customs service of China, 'one of the most striking monuments ever produced by the genius and labour of any individual Englishman' {The Times, 10 Jan. 1899). The working of the system was largely dependent on his personal exertions. To his labours he brought great power of work and organisation, a strong memory and mastership of detail, thorough knowledge of Chinese methods and modes of thought, together with tact and Irish kindliness. As more ports were opened to foreign trade, the scope of Hart's duties extended, and owing to the efficiency of the service other than customs duties passed into its charge. The service included the lighting of the coast and inland waterways of China. The imperial post-office, which was formally established in 1896, became, too, one of its branches, and Hart's title was then changed to inspector-general of Chinese imperial customs and posts. Hart's department proved the one branch of Chinese administration which followed Western lines and was at once efficient and honest. It was worked scrupulously for the benefit of China. Hart's European officers were not drawn exclusively from British subjects, and he never subordinated Chinese to British interests.
Rarely absent from Peking, and taking, in the opinion of some, too exclusively a Chinese view of affairs, especially in later years. Hart long enjoyed the confidence of the Chinese government, and was entrusted by it with many negotiations affecting China's relations with other countries. In 1878 he, acting with Li Hung Chang, settled at Chefoo with the British minister at Peking, Sir Thomas Wade, the difficulty between China and Great Britain arising out of the murder in 1875 of Augustus Raymond Margary [q. v.], the result being the Chefoo convention of 1876. To Hart's co-operation was due the settlement of China's troubles in Formosa and on the Tongking frontier with France in 1885. France acknowledged his services by making him grand officer of the Legion of Honour. He was no less active in dealing with difficulties over the delimitation of the Burmese frontier and China's relations with Thibet. In May 1885 he was appointed by the English foreign secretary. Lord Granville, British minister at Peking in succession to Sir Harry Parkes, but he recognised that the Chinese wished to retain his services as inspector-general, and in August he resigned the position without taking up the duties. He had indeed identified himself too fully with Chinese interests and points of view to fit him for diplomatic work on behalf of another country.
Hart did not anticipate the collapse of China in the war with Japan of 1894-5; but after that war had been concluded by the Treaty of Shimonoseki, he used all his efforts to induce the Chinese government to introduce necessary reforms. He foresaw the Boxer outbreak in 1900, but he held that the movement was 'a purely patriotic volunteer movement, and its object is to strengthen China and for a Chinese programme' (These from the Land of Sinim, p. 52). The crisis came sooner than he had contemplated. He showed gallantry and endurance when the rebels occupied Peking, but his house and papers, including his diary of forty years, were burned (June), and he had to take refuge in the British legation. When the legation was besieged, false reports of his death were circulated in England (July), but he was unhurt. As soon as the rebellion was suppressed by an international force (14 Aug.) Hart resumed his office (21 Aug.), and became as before the friend and adviser of the Chinese government. He organised in 1901 a native customs service at the treaty ports, and he played a large part in the re -establishment of the Manchu djnasty with the empress dowager at its head. Although it was an 'alien government,' he insisted that it had been 'part and parcel of the nation for three hundred years' (ib. p. 96). In 1901 he published, under the title 'These from the Land of Sinim,' essays on the Chinese question, part of which he had written during the Boxer rising. There, while dwelling eloquently on the populousness and fertility of the country, he explains the people's exclusiveness and distrust of foreign races. He optimistically looked for reform, he had written to a private friend in 1896, not from any individual action but from 'the healthy interaction of the forces now coming into play.'
Hart's unchallenged authority was rudely
