Sir Robert Hart

Sir Robert Hart

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Title: Sir Robert Hart The Romance of a Great Career, 2nd Edition
Author: Juliet Bredon
Release Date: May 14, 2004 [EBook #12344]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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ROBERT HART ***

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[Illustration: _Sir Robert Hart, G.C.M.G._]

SIR ROBERT HART
THE ROMANCE OF A GREAT CAREER TOLD BY HIS NIECE
JULIET BREDON
SECOND EDITION
1910

CONTENTS
A WORD OF INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER I
EARLY YEARS

CHAPTER II
FIRST YEARS IN CHINA--LIFE AT NINGPO--THE ALLIED
COMMISSION AND SIR HARRY PARKES--RESIGNATION
FROM THE CONSULAR SERVICE

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

CHAPTER IV
ORDERED TO LIVE AT SHANGHAI--FIRST MEETING WITH
"CHINESE GORDON"--THE RECONCILIATION BETWEEN
GORDON AND LI HUNG CHANG--THE TAKING OF
CHANG-CHOW-FU--DISBANDMENT OF "THE
EVER-VICTORIOUS ARMY"--REWARDS FOR GORDON

CHAPTER V

ORDERED TO LIVE IN PEKING--"WHAT A BYSTANDER
SAYS"--A RETURN TO EUROPE--MARRIAGE--CHINA ONCE
AGAIN--THE BURLINGAME MISSION--FIRST
DECORATION--THE "WASA" OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY

CHAPTER VI
BIRTH OF A SON--THE MARGARY AFFAIR AND THE CHEFOO
CONVENTION--A SECOND VISIT TO EUROPE--THE PARIS
EXHIBITION OF 1878

CHAPTER VII
YUAN PAO HÊNG SUGGESTS PROHIBITION OF OPIUM
SMOKING IN CHINA--NEW BUILDINGS FOR THE
INSPECTORATE--THE FIRST INFORMAL POSTAGE
SERVICE--THE FRENCH TREATY OF 1885--OFFERED POST OF
BRITISH MINISTER

CHAPTER VIII
AN IMPORTANT MISSION TO HONGKONG AND MACAO--THE
BEGINNING OF A PRIVATE BAND--DECORATIONS, CHINESE
AND FOREIGN--THE SIKKIM-THIBET CONVENTION--FORMAL
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE POST OFFICE--WAR LOANS

CHAPTER IX
THE PROLOGUE TO THE SIEGE--BARRICADES AND SCALING
LADDERS--THE SIEGE PROPER--A MESSAGE FROM THE

YAMÊN AND AN IMPORTANT TELEGRAM--RELIEF AT
LAST--NEW QUARTERS--NEGOTIATIONS--THE CONGRESS OF
PEKING--AN IMPERIAL AUDIENCE

CHAPTER X
SOME QUIET YEARS--A CHANGE OF
MASTERS--INSOMNIA--A FAREWELL AUDIENCE--AN
HONOUR AND ITS ADVERTISEMENT--AH FONG AND
OTHERS--DEPARTURE FROM PEKING--"A SMALL,
INSIGNIFICANT IRISHMAN"

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
SIR ROBERT HART
THE CANAL: THE ROUTE BY WHICH SIR ROBERT HART
FIRST CAME TO PEKING
A VIEW OF OLD PEKING SHOWING CONDITION OF ROADS
A ROAD IN OLD PEKING DURING THE RAINY SEASON
SIR ROBERT HART ABOUT 1866
UNDER THE PEKING CITY WALL TOWARDS
TUNGCHOW--ALONG THE GRAND CANAL
A PICNIC IN OLD PEKING--TOWARDS YUEN MING YUEN
WELL NEAR THE CANAL, BRITISH LEGATION, BEFORE 1900
SIR ROBERT HART IN 1878
OUTSIDE SIR ROBERT HART'S HOUSE BEFORE 1900
PEKING: A MESSENGER CARRYING MAILS IN THE RAINY
SEASON
A SECRETARY GOING TO THE INSPECTORATE OFFICES
DURING THE RAINY SEASON
STABLES OF SIR ROBERT HART IN THE RAINY SEASON
THE INSPECTORATE STREET BEFORE 1900
ENTRANCE TO THE INSPECTORATE OF CUSTOMS BEFORE
1900
SIR ROBERT HART'S BAND IN THE EARLY 'NINETIES

SIR ROBERT HART'S CHINESE BAND
SIR ROBERT HART'S STABLES IN 1890
SIR ROBERT HART'S PRIVATE CART
THE IMPERIAL CHINESE POST OFFICE ENTRANCE ON A
RAINY DAY IN THE 'NINETIES
A GARDEN PARTY GIVEN BY SIR ROBERT HART TO
GOVERNOR TRÜPPEL (OF KIAOCHOW) AND PARTY
LADY HART
SIR ROBERT HART IN HIS PRIVATE OFFICE
SIR ROBERT HART AND A GROUP OF CUSTOMS PEOPLE
SIR ROBERT HART AND MISS KATE CARL
PEKING PEACE PROTOCOL, 1901
A CORNER OF SIR ROBERT HART'S GARDEN: A WINTER
VIEW
ANOTHER WINTER VIEW OF SIR ROBERT HART'S GARDEN
TING'RH, OR CHINESE PAVILION, IN SIR ROBERT HART'S
GARDEN, PEKING
SIR ROBERT HART AND HIS STAFF (FOREIGN AND CHINESE),
PEKING, 1903
SIR ROBERT HART WISHING MISS ROOSEVELT "BON
VOYAGE" ON HER DEPARTURE FROM PEKING, SEPTEMBER
16, 1906
FRONT DOOR OF SIR ROBERT HART'S HOUSE, PEKING
FRONT VIEW OF SIR ROBERT HART'S HOUSE

A WORD OF INTRODUCTION
Seventy-three years ago a little Irish boy lay in his aunt's lap looking
out on a strange and mysterious world that his solemn eyes had
explored for scarcely ten short days, while she, to whom the
commonplaces of everyday surroundings had lost their first absorbing
interest, was busily engaged in braiding a watch-chain from her
splendid, Titian-red hair. These chains were the fashion of the hour,
and the old family doctor, friend as well as physician, paused after a
visit to the boy's mother, to joke her about it: "You're making a
keepsake for your sweetheart, I see."
"No, indeed," she answered gaily with a toss of her bonny head, "I'm
making a wedding present for this new nephew of mine when he

marries your daughter."
It was a long-shot prophecy. The doctor was even then a man past his
first youth; the neighbours looked upon him as a confirmed bachelor;
he seemed as unlikely