CHAPTER III.

OUR CONSULAR SERVICE

Consuls are business or commercial agents of the government as distinguished from diplomatic representatives, who are political agents.

They are stationed at the commercial centers of the world, to facilitate trade, watch over the national shipping and navigation, prevent fraud on the revenue of their country, and furnish information on matters of concern to the commercial interests of the nation. They are also charged with the important duty of protecting their fellow countrymen.

The system of consuls is believed to have had its origin in the selection by Italian merchants who had established themselves in the East, of some of their number to act as judges or arbitrators and settle commercial differences arising between them in the foreign country in which they were doing business. The institution was later introduced in the commercial towns of Southern Europe, where the officer, taking his title from that of the domestic Roman magistrate, came to be known as judge-consul or consul-judge. These officers were at first selected by mercantile associations, but the right of appointment soon passed to the govern

ment of the country to which the merchants belonged. It is said that the first consul appointed by England was to Pisa, Italy, in 1175, the government acting at the request of a British commercial organization in Pisa, which was unable to agree in the selection of one of its own members. The advantages of this practice being demonstrated, it became the custom first for England and then for other governments to appoint consuls to act in foreign countries. With the extension of the jurisdiction of courts of law, these officers lost in a large degree their judicial functions, except in nonChristian countries, but their general powers and duties were greatly enlarged. It was an easy transition from the name of consul judge to that of consul. Consuls were not formally named in treaties, however, until those entered into between Great Britain and Turkey in the latter part of the 17th century.

In the United States the first law relating to consuls was the Act of April 14th, 1792 (1 Stat. 255). But the Constitution recognized consuls as existing officers, and the right of consular representation had been formally recognized eleven years before the government under the Constitution went into operation, by the 29th article of the Treaty of amity and commerce with France, which granted to each government the liberty of having consuls in the ports of the other. The first consul of the United States was William Palfrey, who was chosen by Congress in November, 1780, as our consul in France at a salary of $1,500 a year. Palfrey never reached France, however, the vessel on which

he sailed being lost at sea. Without any express provision being made for their appointment, sixteen other consular officers were appointed before the law of 1792 was enacted. They received no compensation but were allowed to engage in trade.

The Act of 1792, which was passed to carry into effect the consular treaty of 1788 with France, undertook to define to some extent the duties of consular officers.

It authorized them to receive the protests or declarations of American captains, crews, passengers and merchants; to take charge of and act as provisional conservators of the personal property of American citizens dying within their consular districts and leaving there no legal representatives; to take measures to save stranded American vessels and their cargoes; and to relieve and provide transportation to distressed AmeriThis law required consuls and vice-consuls to give bonds; and authorized them to receive fees for certain specified services.

can seamen.

The Act of Feb. 28, 1803 (2 Stat. 203), required masters of American vessels on their arrival at foreign ports to deposit their ships' papers with our consular officers, and to discharge and pay seamen before them.

The Act of Apr. 20, 1818, made it the duty of consular officers to administer oaths to owners of goods exported from their consular districts subject to ad valorem duty in the United States.

Law of 1856

With the exception of consuls in the Barbary States, no salaries were provided for consular officers. They were generally merchants or shipping agents, receiving fees for consular services performed. As merchant consuls, by reason of their office, enjoyed peculiar advantages over the other merchants, friction frequently developed, and the practice did not work well. There was a tendency for the consul to neglect his official duties to attend to his private business affairs, and as few of the fees for consular services were fixed by law or regulation, there was a constant temptation to charge large fees, and this was the occasion for bitter controversies.

Repeated efforts were made by the Department of State to secure legislation to remedy these defects in the consular service, but without success until 1856, when a law (Act of Aug. 16, 1856,-11 Stat. 52), was passed, defining more clearly the rights and duties of consuls, classifying the offices and substituting salaries for fees at the more important posts. This law prohibited consular officers receiving a salary of $1,500 or more a year from engaging in business.

The law also contemplated the establishment of a regular consular corps in which men should be trained for the consular service, and authorized the President to appoint after examination, twenty-five consular pupils at a salary not to exceed $1,000 a year, and to as

sign them to such consulates, with such duties, as he might think proper. But Congress failed to make any appropriation for this purpose, and at its next session repealed the provision. Eight years later a law (Act of June 20, 1864,-13 Stat. 139), provided, however, for the appointment of thirteen consular clerks with like salary and duties, who were to be subject to removal only for cause stated in writing and submitted to Congress; and in 1874 (Act of June 11, 1874,—18 Stat. 70), it was provided that the annual salary of consular clerks remaining continuously in service for five years should be twelve hundred dollars. The designation of these consular clerks was changed to that of consular assistants and their number was increased to twenty by the Act of May 21, 1908. The original object of securing, by means of the consular corps, trained men for the higher posts failed because the consular clerks preferred a permanent post at a small salary to a larger salaried position with uncertain ten

ure.

The law of 1856 authorized the President to prescribe a tariff of fees to be charged for official services, and provided for a proper accounting by consular officers for the fees collected by them. It required consular officers to keep lists of all vessels arriving at or departing from their ports and of all seamen shipped or discharged before them; and authorized consuls to retain the ships' papers until all demands and wages and consular fees should be paid.

While the law of 1856 was a big step in advance