Tue telegram recently published in our columns to the effect that Sir Robert Hart has been presented with the freedom of the City of Belfast is " gratifying indication of the high esteem which his distinguished career in China has won for him in the Home land, from which he has been absent for nearly thirty years. no doubt, be the other honours in clu time, and it may be satd predicted. that his counsel and ice will he sought by many who have to deal officially or otherwise with the affairs of the Far East. That Sir Robert Hart is qualified to speak with authori Chinese subjects cannot be denied. The unsurpassed integrity, tact and energy. with which he has for very many years served the Peking Government, in the unique and advantageous positions he has held, have afforded him unrivalled opportunities for studying the Chinese character and of estimating at its proper value the attitude assumed on various important occasions by the Chinese Government. That he is able, after such a prolonged and intimate acquaintance with all classes of the Chinese people, to speak in such a eulogistic way of their character and ability and to hold such optimistic view: their future, should go far to spread a better comprehension of their real character and of the part they are destined to play in the future history and development of the world. Tt cannot be forgotten, however, that Sir Robert Hart has sometimes expressed himself in a somewhat more emphatic way than the exigencies of the case demanded. The conflicting interests of the East and the West in China have to be carefully handled, if delicate susceptibilities are not to he wounde A strong man is, oni this account, always xposed to the danger of expressing his views in a more forcible way than prudence es, when the best interests of lered. ion of the optimistic way in which Sir Robert Hart rds China and future he prospects is afforded by his speech at the China Association banquet recently given in his honour in London when His_ Excellency, Wang Tah-sich, Chinese Special Commissioner to study the British Constitution, i Fitz-maurice, Unde for Foreign \ffairs, were among the guests. Mr, J. H. Scott, the President, in proposing the torist of the ever ing, said that the i Sir Robert Hart, in rep that he was confident that that China had hee quietly storm up energy for ages meet her new environ was prepared to face th lems of the future and would ultimately show herself among the front Powers of the world. She would prove a great or history. He begged for a continuance of sympathy and mot support for the Chines modest] claimed that the Customs Department had achieved any good for China in the world, much of it was due to the harmony and loyalty of the Chinese. On home Sir Robert Hart was' interviewed by correspondents at the different ports at which he touched. At Genoa, referring to the future of China, he said, am a great believer in its future. China is a very big country and it has everything it needs within its own ring fence. The Chinese are 'a most industrious, intelligent, law-abiding and easily-governed people, and, individually, they respond with wonderful reciprocity reasonableness. The world can, therefore, form its own opinion as to what 400 millions of -people may do, once they are organized after European ideas. China is certainly destined to be a very powerful nation; but with such an nse mass the work mast very slowly, and by the time they are organized on modern lines will have learnt a great deal more thun they know at present. Then, even if they were aggressive are not—they will know how to temper their strength with wisdom." There is nothing in this temperate statement of the subject to differentiate it from the views of many other careful observers of the Chin ple who have had opportunities of stadying the question.
In thus expressing his views it is interesting to note that while Sir not have made a some of his former opinions very considerably. Only eight he wrote, for example will be only at the call of the Government. There is not the slightest doubt of that." He appeared to he, at that time, wiily convinced that nothing ition of China, or the miraculous spread of Chr y in its best aspect, could avert ssu lamitous consummation, It in evident, however, that at present he regards the matter in a different light and it would prove an interesting study to trace the extent to which modi tions in the Customs Service ba with thi opinion. now, are 1 introduced pari passe ble change of The Chi he thinks no longer a warlike ed, who are makin nations to overawe but they to become formidable competitors in industrial and trad~ ing matters. They will not cause the world any Special trouble. They will be quite strong enough to hold their own against all comers, but T do not believe their ambitions are of a warlike character. The occurrences of the past fifty or six have taught them that they ought to be strong enough to defend themselves, and since 1900 they have certainly been moving in that direction. Their aim is to develop the country commercially Original from
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.