CONSULAR REPORT AND THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE.
Tin inquiry of Mr. Monckton Milnes's Select Committee on the Consular Service and Appointments has resulted in the sketch of a new organization, which would effect a very material improve- ment. The Service would to a certain extent be consolidated, offering, simply by that process, a field for the working of three grand improvements,—the opening for an education of the young men entering the Service, a freer range of promotion, and cense- guently a much higher authority for the superior officers in the Service. The consolidation, however, would not be slavishly car- ried out, for there would still remain some striking distinctions between the different sections of the Service, corresponding with certain regions on the map of the world,—the Mahomedan Levant, the Mongolian countries, TEurope, and America. In some respects the East presents the Consular character in its most complete developement. From the time of Charles the Se- cond " capitulations " have been agreed upon with the Govern- ment of the Sultan, investing every Consul and Vice-Consul with magisterial power ; and although that authority has in more re- cent days been somewhat restricted, the character in general is !till maintained, and has indeed received an accession of support in the establishment of the Consular Court at Constantinople
under an order of council issued in 1844. In many places—and. Jeddah is in every respect a striking example—the Consul is the sole representative of his Government, bearing heavy responsi- bilities, and exercising diplomatic functions, or rather those du- ties of international representation which are at present somewhat arbitrarily and not very definitely divided between the di- plomatic and Consular Services. Under such circumstances, the Consul standing for the Crown and power of England, ought to be a man of high position, above every kind of suspicion' and in the enjoyment of a commanding influence. If we turn, how- ever, to the existing facts of the case we do not always find the Consul thus selected. In too many instances he is evidently a person of small account; an unpleasant fact which may arise either from an original unfitness in his character, or from want of training. Sometimes his connexion with trade exposes him to jealousies, and he is accused of employing his official duties to the detriment of commercial rivals. In other oases, more par- ticularly among the Vice-Consuls' the officer is not only in trade, but does not occupy a very high position as a commercial man ; he is looked down upon even by traders of a second rate standing, and even where his business is not without its importance, he is looked down upon again by the Consular offices of other countries, who are not drawn from the trading classes, and not drawn into the embarrassing relations of trade. As we approach the remoter of these eastern countries, where the authority of the Consul is peculiarly wanted, he is subjected to new complications and obstructions. Imperfectly versed in orien- tal languages, he is obliged to employ in secretarial or interpret- ing duties some native who will consent to take office with a Gitiour. Probably, if we were to inquire, we should find that offices of this kind are, sometimes, filled by Greeks, a tribe not much respected either by other Europeans or by Mussulmans, while the Greek repays the contempt by regarding either Christ- ians or Infidels as equally his prey. More to the East, probably, we should find some Arab or Persian who consents to do duty at the legation, and expects to be repaid, not only by his salary, but by some immunity protecting him against the lex looi, and even against that over-ruling authority of which all despots are so jealous and tenacious. A case of that kind constituted one of the most embarrassing elements in our long, and our untermi- nated dispute with Persia. In the East, therefore, where the Consul has, from the capitulations which we have mentioned, so much opening for the developement of his authority, where his power and influence, and moral independence, are so much needed, we find him impaired by lowering connexions with trade, cramped and obstructed by his ignorance, and embarrassed by the generally incomplete state of his own profession. The Committee propose to grapple with these difficulties direct- ly, and to make the remedies exactly correspond with the exist- ing evils. They would relieve the Consul from every connexion with trade by prohibiting him from trading. This would of course entail a loss all the more serious, since there is no doubt that within the century prices have been very generally and con- siderably enhanced all the world over. In the instances men- tioned by the Report, the enhancement ranges from 40 or 50 per cent to 200, 300, or 400 per cent. This range of prices may be ascribed to two causes,—partly to the generally enlarged supply of precious metals, especially in the remoter countries of the world, which in days of restricted commercial intercourse were so short of that article ; and secondly, to an undoubted improvement in the general condition of the middle and humbler classes, which occasions a larger consumption of general commodities, and there- fore a price ranging nearer to the level of that which could only be given by the upper classes for their own peculiar comforts and indulgences. The net effect upon the Consuls has been that their command of the comforts of life has been positively as well as re- latively diminished, and that their enjoyment of certain luxuries and dignities, which are vulgarly taken to indicate a man's "po- sition in the social scale," has been abated, with some mortification to the individual, and no doubt some moral injury to the influ- ence of his office. At the same time, therefore, that the Commit- tee propose to cut off a source of income for Consuls and Vice- Consuls they recognize the necessity for increasing the salary. The distinct proposition that the employment of natives, and especially of infidels, is detrimental to the efficiency of the service, suggests the appointment of new classes of officers, young men of good attainments' who would be admitted as Consular Students," to act in the first instance as clerks, subsequently as interpreters or Vice-Consuls, and in the meanwhile to employ themselves in the acquirement of the Eastern languages and the study of consular duties as a "profes- sion." As these young men advanced in their training, oppor- tunity would be taken of suppressing the Vice-Consulates at pre- sent held by foreigners ; and in a period of time not too protracted we should see in the East a Consular Service consisting, at the base, of the students acquiring the requisite attainments in the active life of their profession and gradually advancing to be in- terpreters, vice-consuls, consuls of the second class, consuls of the first class, consuls general. For amongst the improvements sug- gested by the Committee is the opening of the higher offices of the Consular Service to those members of the newly constituted "pro- fession" who should distinguish themselves in active life, and thus, like officers in the army, earn their promotion. The descriptions and suggestions which apply to the Levant, apply more or less to the other sections of the consular map.. In China and Siam the principal want at present is instructed mter-
preters, as substitutes for the native interpreters ; but already there are students in this section, who promise well. In Europe the trading jealousies and disparagements of the Consul are scarcely less baneful and injurious than in the East ; though in some eases, where the business is not sufficient for a consular es- tablishment, it is but reasonable to entrust certain purely minis- terial offices to any merchant of high standing who will accept them as a "Consular Agent." In America, and especially in the disordered countries of Central America, the duties of the Consul are almost purely political ; the office is easy and lucrative, and here it is that the Report especially proposes to open promotion as a reward for Consular Service, instead of reserving these higher posts of the profession for retired members of the Diplomatic Ser- vice who wish fer ease and profit.
There can be no doubt that the plan which the Report sketches would be a vast improvement, and would indeed place the Con- sular Service upon a footing consistent with good sense, with the interests of the country, and. with the progressive advancement of the profession itself. Not many years hence, the Consul-General, sustained by confidence in his own knowledge of the profession, its law, and its practical working, treated with a just respect by the representatives of other countries, wielding an acknowledged power in the place of his residence, would be competent to speak for our Government with complete authority on all ordinary mat- ters which can arise between two countries. He would evidently be a person to whom might be referred any practical questions respecting the arrangements of commerce and navigation, whether in explanation of previous conventions or new adjustments ; to whom might be referred all ordinary questions respecting per- sonal grievances, or even any injuries sustained by one Govern- ment or the other ; any question respecting the behaviour of natives belonging to a third Government at a foreign port. He would obviously be a person who might be con- sidered as thoroughly representing abroad the permanent exe- cutive of this country. The Consuls of both classes and the Vice-Consuls would be able to assist their chief in their several districts ; and the Consular Students would form the lower grade of Civil Service out of which the superior minis- ters would naturally rise. But with this vastly improved orga- nization of the Consular Service, it would necessarily draw into its own hands many of the duties which are now reserved for a service technically considered higher, the diplomatic ; and in that event the question would necessarily arise. How far is it necess- ary to maintain both services in foreign countries ? The diplo- matic service is considered to be purely political. In a sort of rough v it is understood to represent, not the Board of Trade, but the Foreign Office, A great convenience is supposed to arise from this direct communication of our Cabinet with the interior of foreign countries. The assumed convenience, however, is un- doubtedly accompanied by some very serious inconvenience. The ease of Naples is but a minor instance ; yet we have had rea- son to observe that the residence of an agent, supposed peculiarly to represent the political executive of this country, with its poli- tical shades of opinion, not only excited jealousies that might not otherwise have existed, but exposed that Government to direct slights and insults which a department with less pretensions would not have been capable of receiving. But there is another much more cogent form of the same ques- tion. Our Cabinet wields the power of the Crown under a direct accountability to Parliament; and in all branches of its adminis- tration it is actually and directly called to account by Parlia- ment, with one exception, that of the Foreign Office. Now, con- sidering the imperfect control which the representatives of this country necessarily exercise over affairs transacted in foreign countries' it might have been thought proper to obtain for those representatives almost an increased control over the department engaged in foreign transactions ; yet it is the Foreign Office exclusively which not only stands exempt from Parliamentary control, but which commands a civil service acting in the closest contact with foreign executives, sometimes, it is to be feared, in sympathetic contact with the most despotical admin- istrations. It is this department which is allowed to post its creatures—not using the word offensively,—in every part of the globe, and to defy Parliamentary control, or to put it off with the promise of explanations after the fact. During this present
ear we have had many reasons to know that in proportion as the
iplomatic Service is a convenience to the Foreign Office it is an -injury to the Commonwealth. The same train of reasoning will lead us to the conclusion that the affairs of this country abroad would be better conducted, without the close and covert con- nexion between our Foreign Office and Foreign Executives, through a more permanently organized staff, transacting business more after the manner of our own permanent domestic depart- ments. While, therefore' we might question the economical ex- -pediency of maintaining two distinct Diplomatic and Coneular Staffs, where the Consular could do The permanent work, political considerations would somewhat more than reconcile us to the dis- continuance of the Diplomatic.
It does not in any degree follow that the Crown or Executive of this country would be precluded from appointing special repre- -sentatives to conduct peculiar missions with foreign courts or go- vernments. On the contrary, since that idea was first broaohed, many events have occurred which tend to strengthen the supposition that, not only would a special mission be well suited to special occasions, but that it would derive a peculiar importance and several strength from the very fact of its specialty. Nor would
the special nature of this political legation imply a very brief ex- istence. Obviously such a department would be kept in exist_ ence so long as the peculiar, and it may be casual, nature of the circumstances which called for it should continue. For instance, the state of the Porte and of our relations with it has for some years demanded the residence of a special minister at Constanti- nople ; and from what we can see it is probable that a special re- presentative of our Sovereign and Cabinet—almost an off-lying member of the Cabinet—would. have to reside at the Ottoman capital for some time to come. The Report of Mr. Monekton Milnes's Committee does not enter at all upon this half of the field, in fact barely mentions the Diplomatic Service ; but one question naturfdly and inevitebly arises out of the other. We have no desire for any abrupt or arbitrary measures to "sun. press" this or that department; we are quite content simply to see the Consular Service developed to a state of complete effi- ciency, avowing, however, a strong impression that when it shall arrive at MI maturity the Consular Service will eat up the Diplomatic Service, to the great advantage of this country, its political administration, and its tax-payers.
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