hosea ballou morse (18 july 1855 – 13 february 1934) was a canadian-born american british customs official and historian of china. he served in the chinese imperial maritime custom service from 1874 to 1908, but is best known for his scholarly publications after his retirement, most prominently "the international relations of the chinese empire", a three volume chronicle of the relations of the qing dynasty with western countries, and "the chronicles of the east india company trading to china, 1635–1834".