The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-06 00:00:00

EMBASSIES ABROAD.

(Prom. the Times.)
It has been observed with some surprise that in
the course of the last Ministerial arrangements,
when there were avowedly more qualified candi-
dates for office than offices to be filled, no fresh

appointments have been made in the diplomatic
service, although some of the principal embassies
and missions abroad are in a condition not unde-
serving the serious attention of the Foreign Secre-
tary. We do not by any means intend to recom-
mend that the representatives of her Majesty's Go-
vernment abroad should be subjected to the vicissi-
tudes of party warfare, and displaced by every
change of Government at home. On the contrary,
one of the greatest services rendered by Lord
Aberdeen while he held the seals of the Foreign
Department was his determination to resist mere
party claims for diplomatic promotion, and to
grant advancement in that branch of the public
service mainly upon the ground of professional
merit. The same principle has been professed,
to a great extent, by his successors, and, accord-
ingly, Ministers like Lord Cowley and Sir H.
Bulwer have continued to hold office under
different Administrations, without reference to
their private political connexions. But without
prejudice to the undoubted claims of those distin-
guished persons, and of others who might readily
be named, it cannot be denied that the personal
qualifications of the members of the English diplo-
matic body might bo much higher than they now
are, and that the consideration and influence of
this country abroad would be raised if it were re-
presented by men of higher station in some in-
stances, and of greater ability in others. Whether
we obtain the best services that can be procured or
not, it is certain that the country pays handsomely
for them • and though the foreign Ministers of the
United States, according to their own statements,
invariably serve their Government at a loss, their
political efficiency may be favourably contrasted
with that of many of the Queen's largely remune-
rated envoys. If the diplomatic service held that
rank in intelligence and political dignity to which
it is fairly entitled, it would have been impossible
for Lord Malmesbury to close his inglorious career
at the Foreign-office by thrusting two members of
his own family into considerable appointments,
to which they had certainly no teiable
claim but their relationship to the late
Foreign Minister. In what other depart-
ment of the State would any member of Lord
Derby's Government have dared to commit such
' an act of nepotism in the short interval between
judgment and execution ? The Harris family owe
everything to the diplomatic talents of their grand-
father, but their descent constitutes no claim to
diplomatic employment ; and the recent nomination
of these gentlemen is not so much an honour to
their family as it is a stigma on the diplomatic pro-
fession. If our envoys and agents abroad are
chosen from such motives as these, how is it possi-
ble that they should have the weight which their
position requires ?
Although we are reluctant to reflect on men who
must be supposed to have laboured according to
their ability, we cannot but think that under the
present Government Lord John Rnssell might
select some foreign ministers better qualified to
transact the business of the country than those
who now represent it ; and in some instances the
want of abler men is glaring and urgent. Lord
Stratford's long acquaintance with the East, and
well-established reputation at the Porte, probably
render him the fittest man we possess to be the
Queen's Ambassador at Constantinople. But Lord
Stratford absent from his post on leave, and was
supposed at one time to be destined for other employ-
ment.
It would therefore be highly desirable to ascer-
tain either that he is soon to return to his duties, or
that a successor will be appointed. Already dur-
ing his absence several occurrences of more than
usual importance have taken place in Turkey. The
contest between French and Russian influence,
under the names of the Latin and Greek churches,
with reference to the holy places in Palestine, is
flagrant. The financial condition of the Porte is
precarious, and the temper of the present Ministers
of the Sultan may lead to dangerous acts of indis-
cretion. Hostilities are going on upon the Albanian
coast against a tribe in which the Court of Russia
has always asserted a peculiar interest, and the
intentions of France both on Tunis and on Syria
are by no means clear. But under all these peculiar
circumstances, the embassy has remained for some
months under the sole care of Colonel Rose.

At Vienna Lord Westmorland is deservedly
esteemed, by the Government to which he is accre-
dited, but the frequent recurrence of scandalous
outrages on the persons of British subjects in the
Austrian dominions, and the absurd misconceptions
evidently entertained by Austrian statesmen on
many points of British policy abroad, are not credit-
able to that mission. In fact, when such things
happen without the fault of the person who suffers
by them, we are inclined to regard the British
Minister under whose protection that person is
living as fairly open to censure. He is sent

_
out to afford protection to British subjects, and
if he cannot obtain that amount of respect for the
rights of his countrymen abroad, or even keep
innocent men out of the common gaol, it is time
that the mission should be altogether withdrawn,
or filled by a more resolute envoy of the Crown.
In diplomacy, to fail in attaining any just and
proper object, when a man speaks in the name of
England, ought to be an unpardonable offence.
Meanwhile, however, we continue to receive fresh
evidence of the unparalleled ill treatment to which
Englishmen are exposed in the Austrian dominions.
The case of Mr. Newton will be found, as related
by himself, in another column,—and many other
instances have occurred within our own knowledge,
of most offensive interference with the personal
liberty of travellers against whom no shadow of
suspicion could be directed. Upon demanding re-
dress from the Imperial Government the Ministers
of the Crown invariably affect ignorance of the
whole transaction, and lay the blame on the police
or the military authorities ; but, whoever the
authors of these outrages may be, the authority
thus abused is that of the Sovereign, and it is im-
possible to doubt that an absolute Government has
the means of terminating them altogether. In the
case of Austria there would probably be some ad-
vantage in reverting to the old practice of appoint-
ing an ambassador to that Court whose rank gives
him personal access to the Sovereign for the Em-
peror Francis Joseph is his own Prime Minister,
and nothing is more important in absolute countries
than to be able to appeal to the highest authority.
tiu'psz, Lord Cowley has very properly been
con rmed by the present Ministry,
,for, he has dis-
charged thepifies of in—unPleasant,positivl with
great tact; and has received expressions, of un-
bounded confidence and regard from Louis Napo-
leon, witholit- allowing his 'min judgment to be
warped by the external aspect of affairs. Of the
respective legations of St. Petersburgh and Berlin
we shall only say, that at the present time the
highest political capacity would not be misemployed
in cementing our relations with those Courts and
in sounding their views on the present state of affairs ;
but the highest political capacity cannot in reason
be attributed to the gentlemen who fill those offices.
We wish to deal lightly with such shortcomings, if
there be any, for nothing is more remote from our
purpose than to give these observations the sting of
personal animadversion. They are intended to apply
to the inadequate power of some of those agents
who are engaged in conducting the affairs of the
country abroad, and who are, therefore, removed
from the habitual control of public criticism. But
they are also intended to urge upon the Govern-
ment the necessity of energetic ameliorations of the
system, if the interests of our countrymen are to be
thoroughly protected, and if this country is to
maintain its position in the general transactions of
Europe.

FUNERAL OF TILE PROVOST OF ETON.—ETON, TUES-
DAY.—The mortal remains of the late Francis Hodgson,
8.D., Provost of Eton, were this day interred in the
--
same vault in which lie the ashes of the late Marquis of
Wellesley and Provost Goodall. The funeral obsequies
were of a strictly private character, in compliance with
the expressed wishes of the deceased. The procession left
the Provost-lodge at twelve o'clock, passed through the
quadrangle and by the Long-walk to the east entrance of
Rev.
s Coke, the Hon.
the College Chapel. The chief mourner
George Coke, and the other relatives and Was the
inirollalinecin, Henry
deceased who followed were—Mr. Francis friends of the
als othateteHndoend.
CGaepetragienDDenemnmana,noapthtae
Mr. Thos. A. Soley. The procession Taylorwas gerivall'
and
by all the officers of the college.
thedral it was met at the entrance On arriving at the ca-
Francis Plumptre, M.A., the _ ranee by the Rev. John
John Dupois, M.A , and the Rev. John Wilder,
the Rev. George Rowney Rev. Thomas Carter, M.A.,
Green, M A , the Rev. George
the Rev. Charles S. 'II M.A.,
fellows of the college • the Rev. Stirling F. Mea,,l;he.;'. Ad-
the
a d
ward Craven Hawtre arrirn, conducts ;th d-n,
Edward Coleridge, M.A.,D.D.,
the Hon. and
Rev. Henry. C. „C
ust and the Rev. William Canning,
canons of 'Windsor. The Rev.
head muster, the Rev.
William Griffin Cookesley,
M.A., the Rev. Stephen Thomas Hawtrey, and other as-
sistant masters were also present. The service was im-
pressively read by the Rev. John Francis Plumptre,
assisted by the Rev. Stirling Frederick Marshall. The
following is inscribed on the plate of the coffin :—" Fran-
ciscus Hodgson, 5.T.8., hujusce collegii prwpositus,
natus die Novembris decimo sexto, A.D. 1781 ; obit die
Decembris vicesimo nono, A.D. 1852."
CARLOW.—A Mr. John Alexander has accepted the
invitation of some of the ultra-Tories of Carlow, and
offers himself as their champion in opposition to Mr.
Sadher in that borough. That the Tories are serious in
their opposition would appear from the selection they,
have made, Mr. Alexander enjoing some share of popu-
larity as a good Protestant landlord, and being, therefore,
a man who might be able to decoy a few Liberal votes ;
but he has not the slightest chance mind Mr. Sadlier.