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
Robert Hart therefore went quietly on with his work in the Customs (1885), setting personal ambitions calmly aside, and finding--let us hope--his reward in the satisfaction which the Chinese and the service generally expressed at his sacrifice of the British Government's tempting offer.
The very year after it was made, an important piece of business, safely, even brilliantly concluded, added greatly to his reputation. This was the settlement of questions relating to the simultaneous collection of duty and likin on opium--two of the burning questions of the day in the south. China had long desired to levy both taxes at one and the same time, but without an arrangement with the Hongkong and Macao Governments this was impossible, as clever smugglers usually contrived to hurry the drug safely into either British or Portuguese territory before the Chinese authorities could lay their eyes, much less levy their duties, upon it. Moreover, once it had crossed a frontier, redress was impossible.
To remedy this unfortunate state of affairs, the I.G., together with a certain Taotai, was sent on a mission. Great pourparlers were held with the Hongkong authorities, who finally agreed to the concessions he asked--provided the Macao authorities should do the same. Luckily they did with readiness--even with enthusiasm--as they themselves were anxious for a _quid pro quo_ from China.
The Portuguese position in Macao had always been a peculiar one--unofficial is the word which best describes it--for though they had quietly occupied the place since the far-away days of the Mings, the Chinese had tolerated the strangers without recognizing them, only now and then murdering one by way of protest. Here, then, was their chance to obtain official status, and the Governor, a shrewd man, seized it. The matter went through without a hitch; China, in addition to getting her own way on the likin question, was given the right to open her Custom Houses at Kowloon (Hongkong) and Lappa (Macao), while Portugal on her side agreed never to sell or cede Macao to any other Power without China's consent.