The late Mr. Tong Mow-chee was born n December, 1827, at Canton, and was he eldest of three brothers, his second brother being the late Mr. Tong King-sing, known to foreigners in China as the founder of the China Merchants' Steam Navigation Company and of the Kaiping coal mines, or Tongshan colliery, in Chi The third and youngest brother was the Into Mr. Tong Ying-sing, for many years the popu-Mr maunger of the China Merchants at Foochow. At an early ago the brothers joined the American missionary Brown's school at Canton, where they studied English several years and obtained a pretty fair education. At this time, Hongkong being newly ceded to Great Britain, and the need of men understanding ' both English and Chinese being urgent, Tong Mow-chee saw his opportunity, and at the early age of seventeen joined the newly-established Registrar General's department,—which had control over the El interpreter. Five years later, seo more of the world and po fect his knowledge of Western mannersandeustoms, which he had the foresight t" seo would carry everything before them in his native country as time progressed, Tong Mow-chee seized the chance of 'a trip to the Cnited States and in 1849 went over to San Francisco. The gold fever was then just commencing, and large numbers of Chinese had also crossed the Pacific in search of their fortunes. ing Mow-chee's connection with the Rexistrar-General's department stood him in good stead here, for many of the Chinese in San Francisco who had been registered at the department, previous to going over to California, at once ised him when he arrived inside the Golden Gates of San Francisco, and, owing to his perfect knowledge of the Rnglish Language, unanimously voted him to the seat of head of the Chinese Merchants' guild there This wasa very responsible position fora young man of twenty-two, but his compatriots apparently had confidence in his al ies, and courage to fight for their rights if anything happened, for Ton Mow-chee had shown this when he had the charge of Chinese interests in the Registrar General's department in Hongkong. This was soon exemplified by an incident. Even at that early day a movement was set on foot to expel Chinese from San Francisco in order, probably, to prevent them from carrying gold out of the country; but Tong Mow-chee exerted unself so successfully with the State officials' that the attempt was shelved for the time. He evidently made his mark beth amongst the Americans as well as with his own countrymen. for when about twenty-five years Inter his eldest and only surviving son, Mr. Tong Kidson, was in America as a government student—Chinese Educational. Mission—his father's name was still a household word with old Chinese residents of San Francisco, and when the son visited the New York Museum with some American friends, he saw his father's portrait hung on the walls and marked '4° prominent Chinese merchant," or words to that effect.
expulsion of Chinese feom California, there Soon after the spisole of attempted was another movement to try to stop immigration from Chins by wu attempt to sanction the- collection of a poll-tax from all Chinese arriving xt San Francisco. This, also, Mr. Tong Mow-chee staved off for the time, and he was invited to go to Washington by the State Department to arrive at some settlement of the matter. At this juncture, unfortunately, Tong Mow-chee could not make the journey to the East, and after a sojourn of twelve years he returned, on account of family affairs, to his native country, having attained an unique fame in the Pacific Coast amongst both Westerners and Orientals. The followin; year (1862) he arrived in Shanghai an joined the T.-M. Customs as hea linguist, ing determined to serve his country in some capacity. But the mandarins were then, as now, full of jealousy and suspicion of foreigners and foreign-educated Chinese, and Tong Mow-chee at once saw that as a commoner, without any official rank or button, he could never advance himself in the public service of his country, while he was anxious to influence his' countrymen to accept Western ideas, having self seen how affairs were' managed in Western countries. So taking advantage of the chance offered by the impoverished government, almost crushed by foreign and internecine wars, to purchase an official rank, he bought that of a sub-prefect or mandarin of the 5th ra Tt will be interesting to note in this connection that Tong Mow-chee cleared the first British vessel in the then new quarters of the LIN. Customon the Bund. In the autumn of this year Tong: Mow-chee's father died, ani he had to retire into mourning for the usual period.
In 1870 Messrs. Jardine, Matheson, and Ca., having established the Indo-China Stexmship Company, Tong Mow-chee was invited to go to Tientsin to manage the Company's affairs there, In 1873 his younger brother, the late Tong King-sing, who had been for some years the head compradore of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson Ca. in Shanghsi, was appointed by Li Hung-chang, then nessly appointed Viceroy of Chihli, in succession to the late Marquis Tseng Kuo-fan, to organise the now well-known China Merchants Steam Navigation Company. ° The elder brother was then called back to Shanghai and was appointed the younger brother's successor in the foreign firm, a post which he held up to the time of his death. For the past few years this was, however, nominal, for the ability shown by Mr. Tong Kidson soon enabled the father to leave his and the firm's shipping affairs in the hands of the son, while he himself embraced the opportunity-of taking a well-earned rest.
But to return to the period referred to above. When Tong Mow-chee got settled in Shanghai as Messrs. Jardine, Matheson Go's head compradore, his public spirit soon came to the fore again, and not long afterwards, he was unanimously voted not only President of the Canton Guild, but also head of the Canton-Swatow Opium Guild. While holding these two positions he obtained the gratitude of his fellow provincials by the courtesy which he displayed in the most dificult matters, and his astuteness in settling disputes amongst them prevented many a case from going to Court and lining the pockets of the mandarins. At this' time Tfong Mow-chee having subscribed a large sum to the Imperial exchequer for raising foreign drilled regiments, he was rewarded with the Decoration of the Peacock's Feather.
Tu 1875 the coal beds at Kaiping, a town nearly 200 miles north of Tientsin, had
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.