THE  INSPECTORATE  OF  CUSTOMS  353
the  merchandise  imported  and  exported,  and  deposited
at  the  Consulates  bonds  for  the  duty  leviable  thereon,  which,
be  it  noted,  was  on  a  moderate  5  per  cent,  basis.  This
was  found,  for  many  reasons,  to  be  irksome  to  the  Consuls  ;
and,  with  the  approval  of  the  British,  American,  and  French
Ministers,  then  at  Shanghai,  an  agreement  was  made  on
June  29,  1854,  between  the  Shanghai  Taotai,  Wu  Kienchang,
  who  was  a  refugee  in  the  English  concession,  and
the  three  Consuls,  the  British,  (Sir)  Rutherford  Alcock,  the
American,  R.  C.  Murphy,  and  the  French,  B.  Edan,  the  first
article  being  :—
“  Rule  i.  The  chief  difficulty  experienced  by  the
superintendent  of  customs  having  consisted  in  the
impossibility  of  obtaining  custom-house  officials  with
the  necessary  qualifications  as  to  probity,  vigilance,
and  knowledge  of  foreign  languages,  required  for  the
enforcement  of  a  close  observance  of  treaty  and
custom-house  regulations,  the  only  adequate  remedy
appears  to  be  in  the  introduction  of  a  foreign  element
into  the  custom-house  establishment,  in  the  persons
of  foreigners  carefully  selected  and  appointed  by  the
tautai,  who  shall  supply  the  deficiency  complained  of,
and  give  him  efficient  and  trustworthy  instruments
wherewith  to  work.”
Under  this  agreement  a  board  of  three  Inspectors  was
nominated,  British,  Captain  (Sir)  Thomas  F.  Wade  (afterwards ­
  British  Minister  to  Peking),  American,  L.  Carr,  and
French,  Arthur  Smith.  Only  one  of  the  three,  Captain
Wade,  had  any  knowledge  of  the  Chinese  language  or  any
aptitude  for  the  duties  of  his  post,  and  on  his  shoulders
fell  the  chief  burden  of  organising  the  new  office  ;  and,  on
his  resignation  a  year  later,  his  place  was  filled  by  Mr.
Horatio  Nelson  Lay,  who  had  an  equal  knowledge  of
Chinese  and  equally  good  powers  of  organisation.  The
board  of  three  continued,  but  the  actual  control  came
into  the  hands  of  the  working  member  of  the  board.
The  attitude  of  the  foreign  merchants  toward  the  new
Inspectorate  is  shown  by  the  representation  addressed  by
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