The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-27 00:00:00

THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE.
EXAMINATION OF THE EARL OF
CLARENDON.

Yesterday on the meeting of the Diplomatic and
Consular Service Committee, Mr. Bouverie in the
chair, the Earl of Clarendon, Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs, was called and his Lord-
ship, in reply to questions from the chairman, said :
I am quite satisfied with the present system f admis
sion to the service, and I think that the class of men who
are admitted under it is a good one. At the same
time I think it would be better if they were paid some-
thing like £3OO or £4OO a year, instead of being unpaid
attaches. I can hardly compare my position when I was
first unpaid attache with the present unpaid attach4s, be-
cause I was lodged and boarded in the ambassador's
house. There was at that time no restriction
of the number, and young men were appointed
more because they were personal friends of the ambassa-
dor than anything else, and it followed that many of
them returned, and did not pursue diplomacy as a pro-
fession. I should rely much more upon the knowledge
which a young man acquired at the Embassy,
and therefore I should not be disposed to
attach much importance to a second examination,
but I have no objection to it. I think that there ought
to be a fair list examination. The promotion is certainly
very stagnant, but it seems to be a very wholesome and
healthy profession, and that is perhaps the
reason why promotion is stagnant. Stagnation does
not arise from any increase in the number
of attach& which have in fact greatly decreased.
In 1850 there were 53, and in 1860 44 ;. and since then
they decreased to fourteen. I have appointed seven since
I have been in office, but that was only at the
urgent request of the heads of the different
missions. It is necessary to have a stock in
hand, and I certainly do not think the subordinate staff
can in any way be reduced. lam always looking only to
see what reductions can be made. Many of the consulates
have been reduced. In the Foreign Office during the last
eighteen months there has only been one vacancy, which
I have not filled up. In point of fact, wherever there has
been any opportunity of reduction without impairing the
efficiency of the service, I have endeavoured to reduce. In
my opinion it would be impossible that the head of a mis-
sion could copy his own letters, and he certainly ought
not to pay for such assistance out of his own pocket. I
do not think that you can make the staffs of the missions
much lower than they are. The secretaries of legation are
employed every year in making reports of an extremely
valuable character, and it could not be expected that the
mere drudgery should he imposed upon them. When the
Irish Land Bill was about to be introduced, I sent
out an instruction to the Secretaries of Legation to obtain
information respecting the land tenure of other countries
and the result was that there had been a series of the most
important reports sent home, which had been acknow-
ledged to have been of the greatest service, and the total
cost of the whole of those reports did not exceed £lB5, and
I was perfectly rejoiced when I heard of the appointment
of this committee because it is the only way in which
there could be any public knowledge brought to hear in
regard to the labours of the secretaries. In my opinion
the secretaries are hard worked, moderately paid, and the
services they render are very valuable. I was myself
six years in Spain, and I spent exactly £l,OOO a year
more m dispensing hospitality, &c., than the pay I received,
and the pay of the mission is now precisely the same as
it was then. The pay of most of the missions except
where they have been reduced is about the same as it
was. lam of opinion that it is very hard upon those
who come from a distance that they should not have more
leave than they have; and I do not conceive that there
would be any great inconvenience in allowing the two
years' leave of absence to run into one, that is to say,
that I should like the last two months of one year's
service and the first two of the next year to be together,
so as to make a four months' leave of absence. At the same
time I am of opinion that the head of a mission should
not be too long absent. A certain time is absolutely neces-
sary.

By Mr. Rylands :—I certainly think that its being
necessary for a parent to pay out £3OO or £4OO a year for
some years for his son does operate to prevent many ap-
plications, but there is no restriction on such applica-
tions on account of the appointment being in the hands
of the Foreign Secretary. I do not like unpaid attaches at
all. I think that anyone who is rendering a service
ought to be paid, but the system exists. If attaches were
paid, I do not think that it should form a reason for
opening the service, because you must look for a certain
social standing among diplomatists, and above all, you
must look to character. I think open competition would
lead to lowering the standard of the men who enter the
service. It is only men of a certain class who wish their
sons to enter into a profession in which the best period of
his life—from 24 to 30 years of age—would be passed
without their earning anything. Even if it were open you
want a a particular class of men accustomed to mix in
good society here, and who would be called upon to mix
with good society abroad, and I do not think that such a
class would be got by open competition. I know that it
has been proposed that a certain number should be chosen
after examination by,the Civil Service examiners, that out of
that number the Foreign Secretary should make the ap-
pointments, and that they should be university men ; but
I do not think it would be an improvement on the present
system of selection. It may be that in certain missions,
such as China and Japan, such persons should be chosen ;
but so far as the general European missions are concerned
I should prefer to take on myself the responsibility of
personal appointment. Now that diplomacy is a profes-
sion we require certain peculiar qualities, which may
be different at different missions, and that may cause
a block in the service, but I am not _prepared
to say that, as a whole, the Diplomatic Service is stagnant ;
nor do I think that the service is over manned. No doubt
the block arises from the number of juniors in the line
of promotion. If there was a clerk appointed at the
mission to act as secretary to the head, he would have
quite as much as a Secretary of Legation. • He would be
placed in a position of confidence. Under the present
system, at the Foreign-office, you get men of whose ante-
cedents you have some knowledge, and there is no doubt
that the clerks there are persons who have proved them-
selves worthy of all confidence. It might be better for
the juniors in the diplomatic service to have such a person
as you suggest ; but it would not be so good for the
public service.
Mr. Rylands then called the attention of the noble earl
to the despatch of Lord Frome in 1860 with reference to
the question of the subordination of the attaches to the
chief, and to the statement that the chief had little prac-
tical control in the matter of discipline ; and also to the
expression in a despatch of Earl Cowley's on the subject,
and asked his lordship whether he was aware that com-
plaints had been made in the matter to the Foreign
Office,
Lord Clarendon said that there were hypothetical cases,
any insubordination was entirely attributable to the head
of the mission, and he could control it. I have never
himself heard of any insubordination in a mission, he
should certainly address himself more to the head of a
mission than to any attache. It would be exceedingly
difficult, and tire all the ingenuity, not only of the com-
mittee but of Parliament, to make two gentlemen like
each other who did not. (Laughter.) I have not
heard of any quarrelling or differences on any mission
though there are of course differences in human nature,
and there are some natures which, like oil and water,
would not mix, but I have not heard of any case in which
the public service has suffered, With respect to
promotion in the missions, I think that cateris
paribus it is best to promote by seniority, but if I
found a man particularly qualified for a particular post,
I should not hesitate to pass over examined men ; but such
necessity does not often arise. The plan I
should go on would be to put the right man
in the right place, and if the public service
required it, I should not hesitate, on my own responsi-
bility, to appoint any particular man to a particular
place.
The committee then adjourned,

The bill introduced by. the Solicitor-General for
Ireland and Mr. Chichester Fortescue for the disfranchis-
ment of Sligo and Cashel, has been printed.
RITUALISM AT BRIGHTON.—The sitting of the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council will be resumed
on Friday, June 17. The case of Elphinstone v. Pur-
chas will be brought forward on an application to name
another promoter, Colonel Elphinstone having died since
the appeal was lodged. The case itself cannot be heard
for some time, and must take its turn in a heavy list of
appeals.

- -
THE DUKE OF GRAMONT.—The Eastern Budget
says that the appointment of the Duke of Gramont as
Foreign Minister of France is regarded at Vienna as an
important guarantee of peace, it being considered certain
in official circles that so long as he remains at the head of
the French Foreign Office no important step will be taken
in foreign affairs without the concurrence and participa-
tion of Austria.—The elections will take place next
month, and the various Austrian Diets will meet in
July. It is expected that the new Reichsrath will com-
mence its sittings in August. The measures taken for
this purpose by the Potocki Ministry have been very
favourably received, as they shew its determination to
adhere to the Constitution, .
DISTURBANCES IN ITALY.—The Florence cor-
respondent of the Eastern Budget says that private ac-
counts do not coincide with the official reports as to the
complete suppression of the Mazzinian revolt. The pro-
vince is still disturbed by several detachments of the
principal band, and a new band has since appeared in the
province of Pisa. It is hoped that this band will speedily
be surrounded and rendered harmless ; but such occur-
rences throw great discredit on the Government both' at
home and abroad, and by necessitating the maintenance
of a large military force, prevent that relief to the finances
which the country requires so much. There is reason to
believe that the revolutionists counted on an insurrection
in France during the plebiscitum.

THE COST OF WAR.—M. Leroy-Beaulieu, in his
Recherches sur les Guerres Contemporaines, supplies some
very curious statistics about the cost of war. It is really
surprising to see how much money is spent for every man
killed on the field or sent away to die of his wounds or of
some sickness of the camp. The thing was done with corn-
paractive cheapness in the Crimean War, where a vast num-
ber of men was got together at very close quarters. Between
the Russians and the allies there were more than three-
quarters of a million men killed, eaph of them at the price
of £433. On the other hand, the maximum of cost was
reached in the American Civil War. Each one of the
281,000 deaths (though this is small estimate, we should
imagine) was purchased by an expenditure of £32345.
The belligerents in South America did the business
more cheaply, not spending more than £OOO
per man. Small wars are generally costly.
The Danish war extinguished 3,500 lives at an average cost
of about £2,000. The campaign which ended at Sadowa
must be reckoned, considering its brief duration, to have
been expensive. Every life cost nearly £1,560. It is a
strange necessity which makes civilized societies expend
what would be a comfortable maintenance to three or four
men on the destruction of one.—Pall Mall Gazette.