The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-22 00:00:00

UNI7ED STA7ES CONSULATES.

An article has recently appeared in leading
American journals which gives the amount of fees
received at several of the principal Consulates in
Europe. It is understood that the amounts were
stated on official authority. The annual receipts
at Paris were put down at over $40,000, those at
London at over $30,000. Many journals seem
to have reached the incorrect conclusion that
the emoluments of the Consuls at the places
referred to are measured by the amount of fees
received, and the Consulates referred to have been
regarded as rich places for expectant office seekers.

No one who has read the law will need to be in-
formed that the fees received at the Consulates
named, and at all others, except a few of little im-
portance, are not the property of the Consul, but of
the United States, and must, by law, be paid into
the Treasury, with a statement thereof, under oath.
The salary of the Consul at Paris is $5,000, and
this is his sole source of remuneration. Out of this
be is required to pay $1,500, or thereabouts, for
clerk hire and incidental expenses. The real salary
of the Consul is less than $3,500. Mr. Bigelow,
the late Consul, in an elaborate report to the Go-
vernment, in which the subject of salary and ex-
penses was fully discussed, declared that a Consul
at Paris, living only moderately well, would be re-
quired to expend $3,900 per annum more than his
salary.
The salary at London is $7,500, beyond which
the Consul has no source of remuneration. Out of
this he pays three clerks, and he is required to pay,
moreover, the incidental expenses of his office, as
fuel, lights, &c., &c. His net salary is less than
$5,000. Any one at all familiar with the cost of
living in London knows that that sum is not
adequate to the support of a family living as the
family of an American Consul at a great capital
should live.

Until recently many Consuls were allowed to
establish agencies near their Consulates, and to ap-
point agents to transact business, who divided all
the fees received with their principals. If, as
turned out to be the case in many instances, the
bulk of the business by any means centred at the
agencies where the fees were the property of the
Consul and agent, instead of at the chief Consulate,
where they were the property of the Government,
Consuls found themselves, in comparatively small
districts, in the receipt of greater emoluments than
their neighbouring Consuls at the great capitals.
By a judicious enactment Congress at the last ses-
sion put an end to this system.
As a rule, the Consuls of the United States are
inadequately paid, and there is no Consulate which
yields an adequate support unless the incumbent is
content to live in a style unbecoming the country
he repreauto.

The principle of a high slide and low carriage, insteadof
the usual plan of a low slide and high carriage, is to be'
tested at the Woolwich Arsenal butts, to-morrow, ,The
advantages claimed for this carriage and its various new
features, by Captain Scott, are-1. That the leverage:
strain thrown upon the deck will be reduced by ones
.
half or more, and consequently that Is-ton Out
may be fought upon decks prepared for 12-ton guns
also, that guns of sufficient weight to pierce ironolads may
be safely worked upon the decks of our present wooden
ships. 2. That there will be complete self-action of com-
pressor, both for checking the recoil and for holding the
gun securely at every point in running it in or out;
and that the
.compressor can also be worked by hand.
3. That the slide is sufficiently high to enable the men
to apply their strength to all the working parts; and that
its height off the deck admits of the usual washing down
ithou'i; drenching the gear. Lastly, that the quantity
of gear is greatly reduced, and that the buffer arrangement
affords a plan of absorbing any surplus recoil without over-
straining the compressors or any part of the carriage.
If these results are achieved, a further great step will
have been made in working the heaviest guns upon the
broadside. The carriage about to be tested at 'Woolwich
is one of the eight made foi the Hercules, and will be tried
with its own big guns, firing GOlb. of powder and a shot of
4601 b. weight. _

THE LATE CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE CAPE.,

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The Cape Standard (August 19) gives the following par-
ticulars of the last illness of the late Sir %V. Hodges,
Chief Justice of the Cape Colony :—" Sir William had
been slightly unwell at the beginning of last week, and
was unable to take his seat in court, but the public—,
and, we believe, his family—had no idea that his illness
was of a serious nature, or that any danger was to 'be
apprehended. During Saturday night, however, and Sun-
day, the symptoms became more decided in their character;
and early on Monday morning the illness terminated in
death. The direct cause of death was congestion of the
lungs aggravated by generalphysical weakness. The late
Chief Justice was the eldest son of NV. Hodges, Esq., of
Weymouth, Dorsetshire, and was born in 1808. He was
called to the bar in 1833, and joined the Western Cir-
cuit, where he enjoyed a fair practice, and some years
afterwards was appointed Recorder of Poole. His chief
contribution to legal literature was a well-known work on
railway law. In 1857 he accepted the appointment of
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Cape of Good
Hope. Both in this position and in that of President of
the Legislative Council Sir William Hodges succeeded in
winning the regard and esteem of all those with whom he
came in contact."