CHAPTER III

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE IMPERIAL CHINESE CUSTOMS—­A VISIT TO SIR FREDERICK BRUCE—­THE SHERARD OSBORNE AFFAIR—­APPOINTED INSPECTOR-GENERAL

When Robert Hart joined the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, the service was already four years old. 1854—­the very year he passed through Shanghai on his way to Ningpo—­saw its beginning as an international institution.  A Chinese Superintendent had hitherto collected duties for his Government, but, owing to the capture of Shanghai by the rebels, affairs became so disorganized that he appealed to the three Consuls of Great Britain, France and the United States for help, and they responded by each appointing one of their nationals to assist him in securing an honest and efficient administration.

As far as the Chinese Government was concerned, the triumvirate gave immediate and entire satisfaction.  Duties increased, smuggling diminished—­all as a result of the new system, which was continued, by the express desire of the Chinese officials, even after the city was recaptured by the Imperial troops.

But the merchants on their side had no praise for an arrangement that cut large slices off their profits.  They found it exceedingly annoying to be obliged to give the correct weight of their tea and silk under penalty of forfeiture; as for calmly landing and shipping their goods without permits, this was now out of the question.  Yet what could they do to circumvent these innovations?  Nothing—­but put every conceivable difficulty, large and small, ingenious and obvious, in the way of the new inspectors.

The Frenchman presently withdrew, the American, a consular official, resigned in 1856, and the Englishman, Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) Wade, a sensitive man, unable to endure the social boycott imposed on him, did likewise.  Mr. H.N.  Lay, Vice-Consul and Interpreter in the British Consulate at Shanghai, was then appointed to succeed Mr. Wade, and, as the two other Powers concerned did not appoint successors to their original nominees, he thereafter managed Chinese Customs business alone.

Such, briefly told, is the history of the service which Robert Hart joined as Deputy-Commissioner at Canton in 1859 at the suggestion of the Canton Viceroy, Laou Tsung Kwang—­which he was to build up and in which he was to make his great name and reputation.  From the first he did better than well.  He set to work at once on a series of regulations for Custom House management.  They were greatly needed—­all the internal arrangements of the infant service were in a chaotic condition—­and they were also greatly praised.  The Viceroy himself was delighted.  Here was his own young protege, by his diligence, by his practical business capacity, by his unusual willingness to accept responsibility and by the promises of administrative ability he was giving, proving himself the very man to make the newly organized Customs a success.  The Viceroy had chosen better than he knew.