The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-17 00:00:00

THE DIPLOMATIC SERVICE.

EXAMINATION OF THE EARL OF CLARENDON.
The Right Hon. the Earl of Clarendon, the Foreign
Secretary, attended before the Select Committee, now
sitting, on the Diplomatic Service, and was examined at
considerable length by Mr. Rylands and other gentlemen
on Thursday.
His lordship stated that he was aware that considerable
dissatisfaction had been expressed in certain quarters
kmong diplomatic servants with reference to the appoint-
mentof Mr. Layard to Madrid, which it was possible
might not have existed if the appointment had been given
to the Chief Secretary of Legation. In answer to ques-
tions,
Lord Clarendon said: I think there isno doubt that every
man who enters the diplomatic profession looks forward
with hope to get at the top of it, just in the same way as
one who enters at the bar looks forward to becoming
Lord Chancellor. Certainly their ambition is not limited
to the post of secretary of an embassy, and no
doubt, when other circumstances concur, it is more
desirable that the Foreign Secretary should appoint
men of public 'character and position in the service
to the highest positions in it. I do not see
that it is necessary that you should go out of your way to
appoint an outsider to an important mission, but there is
no objection, in my opinion, when you see a man practi-
cally fitted for a particular post to take an
outsider. As a general rule, however, I should
prefer appointing to heads of missions from within
the service, and although some dissatisfaction may
have been made with respect to Mr. Layard's appoint-
ment, it must be borne in mind that it is the practice of
the Foreign Office that an under-secretary who has served
some time as a political under-secretary should go out as a
Minister. There have been several Ministers, though
their names are not at this moment present to my mind,
who have been under-secretaries in the Foreign
Office and who have afterwards gone out addendem
to a mission. There was nothing contrary
of the well known rule of the Foreign-office in appointing
Mr. Layard. It was the rule some years ago that a senior
Foreign-office clerk should be eligible to be raised to the
situation of permanent Under-Secretary, whicb is one of
the very best appointments under the Government ; but
it is not unusual that the Secretary of State should give
it to one of his political friends as an agreeable appoint-
ment, but at the time it fell to my lot to make that
appointment I thought that Mr. Hammond, who
was in the Foreign-office at the time, was a,
better person to fill that post than any friend of mine out-
side, and I accordingly appointed him. But he was not
the oldest in the office. There were clerks there his
seniors, but I appointed him because I thought that he
was the best man for the public service, and the most
fully qualified to perform the duties, so that the rule of
seniority, though adopted where it can be, is never allowed
to stand in the way of the proper performance of the pub-
lic service. His Lordship was then asked whether he
should not consider that a good economy could be effected
by the suppression of the small missions in Europe, and
said that by them he supposed Mr. Ryland alluded
to the German missions, but Germany was now
divided into two parts, which were probably
likely to have a very different political signifi-
cance in future. He thought that the North
German Confederation would play a very considerable
part in the future history of Europe. They no longer had
a Minister at Homburg. In his opinion it would be
very inopportune to do away with the two small mis-
sions in Southern Germany. In the first place, it would
be considered as an affront to the sovereign of the country
and it would be regardedin Europe as an indication that we
cared less for the interests of Germany than we formerly did.
In his opinion he thought they had better not lower the
dignity of the missions to Germany. No doubt it was
clearly understood that the policy of England was to
interfere as little as she could with European politics. We
certainly supported the policy of non-intervention. We
did not threaten. We did not bark, neither did we intend
to bite, but if they thought that it was not necessary to
retain a moral influence in Europe, they were vastly
mistaken, and the best -means of retaining that moral
influence was to maintain their missions in Europe on the
same footing as those of other nations.
Mr. Rylands : In some capitals of Europe there are
consulates as well as missions. I wish to ask you lordship
whether there is any objection to an arrangement under
which one of the secretaries of legation should not under-
take consular duties as welL
Lord Clarendon : There are some capitals—St.
Petersburgh, for instance—in which the duties of the
secretaries are so constant and of such various kinds that
you could not attach any others to them. It would be
altogether impossible for them to undertake the duty of
consuls. Did not say whether it might or might not be
done at Lisbon or Stockholm, but at Vienna the consul
acts more as a lawyer than in any other
capacity. •He was not anxious to mention
any particular report from the consuls as being
more valuable than another, and, in fact, it would be
invidious to do so, but he could not help saying that the
reports which had been sent over to this country, with
respect to the rearing of silkworms, the manufacture of
silk, and of hair, in other countries, were full of infor-
mation of the greatest use to our people at
home. With respect to these reports going
through the heads of missions, he did not consider that a
very important point, although it might be advisable that
the hands of the mission should look through them, so as
to secure that there should be be nothing in them which
would be offensive to the foreign nations in respect to
which they were made. He decidedly refused to give
any answer to Mr. Rylands on the question of the
disposal of the secret service money.
The committee then adjourned.