3Ô2

THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE

ment  has  never  interfered.  The  aim  in  establishing  the
Inspectorate  was,  momentarily  to  secure  from  foreign
traders  a  revenue  which  the  disturbed  state  of  the  country
might  otherwise  render  precarious,  and  permanently  to
secure  to  the  central  Government  the  advantages  of  Western
system  and  organisation  in  one  branch  of  its  revenue  ;
and  at  the  outset  it  was  recognised  that  it  was  “  impossible
for  the  Chinese  Government  to  form  an  estimate  of  the
merits  of  the  different  .  .  .  foreigners  employed  in  the
public  service.”  The  Outer  Barbarians  could  only  be
controlled  by  one  of  themselves,  and  the  Chinese  Government ­
  having  for  that  function  found  a  man  they  could
trust,  trusted  him.  The  appointment  of  a  Commissioner  in
charge  of  a  port,  or  his  transfer  to  another  post,  has  always
been  reported  to  the  higher  authorities,  with  the  reasons
influencing  his  selection  ;  but  apart  from  this  the  Inspector
General  has  been  left  to  the  exercise  of  his  discretion  in  the
appointment,  promotion,  and  discharge  of  all  placed  under
his  orders,  keeping  in  his  own  hands  movements  affecting
foreigners,  and  leaving  to  the  Commissioner  at  each  port
much  of  the  control  over  the  Chinese  staff.  During  the
period  covered  by  the  I.G.'s  tenure  of  office  there  has  pr°'
bably  nowhere  in  the  world  been  any  servant  of  the  state  so
unfettered  in  the  exercise  of  so  large  a  patronage  ;  and  th e
general  testimony  is  that  his  rule  has  been  a  benevolent
despotism  tempered,  at  times,  by  Legation  representations*
His  rule  has  in  general  been  marked  by  conspicuous  fairness-Probably
  of  no  other  man  in  the  world,  with  so  much
personal  power  and  such  extended  patronage  at  his  disposalcan
  it  be  said,  as  it  can  of  him,  that  his  appointments  0
men  connected  with  himself  by  ties  of  friendship  or
relationship  have  been  so  few.  In  general,  under  the
administration  of  Sir  Robert  Hart  (he  was  knighted  in  188^1
there  was  developed  a  strong,  loyal,  honest,  well-organised,
and  cosmopolitan  service.
The  Customs  Service  is  now  (1906)  organised  in
departments,  the  “  Inspector  General  of  Customs  and  Posts
being  the  directing  head  of  all.