The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-24 00:00:00

[THE FOREIGiV SERVICE, BILL.

Among the bills introduced and passed over till
the next Session of Congress was the Foreign Ser-
vice Bill by Mr. DAVID T. PATTERSON, of Tennes-
see, Chairman of the Joint Committee on Retrench-
ment. Being designed to effect a radical reform,
as it was only read for the first time on the 2d
July, it was impossible to settle so important a sub-
ject on a stable foundation at the fag end of a
session, and therefore it was wisely reserved for
future debate. It proposes to assimilate the Ame-
rican to the European system. Candidates are to
be educated expressly for the Consular service, and
to be only admitted after examination, when their
promotion will mainly hinge on their qualifications,
the advancement to each grade being prefaced by an
examination. A board is to be appointed, consisting
of the President, Secretary of State, and three
Commissioners, who are to conduct these examina-
tions and to settle by this test the priority of mem-
bers of equal standing with the power in cases of
necessity to delegate that duty to competent per-
sons at home or abroad. The further duties of this
Board are to be acquainted with the capacity,
character, conduct, and natural aptitude of each
member of the service, to be minutely informed of
the importance of the diplomatic relations with the
various nations, of the value of the United States
trade at all ports, and of the prospects open in new
or untried quarters. It can advise promotion or
degradation, or change of any kind in the represen-
tation at Foreign Courts or ports. No appropriation
shall be made for the salary of an official unless he shall
have passed theprescribed examination. The members
of each grade shall be equal in rank and pay ; the
promotion shall be step by step under the ordeal of
examination, but of every grade the senior takes
precedence. Posts may be raised or lowered in the
scale according to the increase or decrease in im-
portance in their political or commercial relations
with the United States. Payment is to be by sala-
ries ranging from $l,OOO for a consular clerk to
$7,500 for a Consul-General of the first grade; and
from $l,BOO for an Assistant-Secretary of Legation
to $17,500 for an Envoy or Minister of the highest
grade. Advancement will depend on seniority,
ability, and experience ; a certain proportion of
promotion may be made irregularly for service
of special value, unusual ability, or other good
cause, and it is not rigidly confined to the
service, as any citizen peculiarly qualified might be
selected. At the same time ample power is re-
tained to degrade or dismiss incompetent members.
The bill provides that when an American school
has been established in China or Japan in which to
study the languages, literature, laws, and customs
of the inhabitants, graduates from it may be ap-
pointed to positions in China, Japan, and else-
where in the East. The bill further provides for
retrenching, by uniting missions such as those to
Belgium and Holland, to Spain and Portugal, to
Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. These, we are
given to understand, are the main features of the
Foreign Serviceßill now awaiting discussion, many
of which will doubtless be modified or wholly changed
before it becomes law. The chief objection antici•
pated is, that the principle militates against the
spirit of American institutions. Anything savour-
ing of the creation of a caste is opposed to the grand
Republican doctrine that all men are equal, and
therefore equally qualified for all posts, and they
can best show their qualifications by securing the
posts which is in itself proof of their smartness.
However exquisitely beautiful may be this theory,
it is not found in practice to work well in any branch
of public employment, more especially in such as
the Diplomatic and Consular Services which re-
quire peculiar aptitude and training. The report
dwells earnestly and at length on the injurious
effect of the present system on the commerce
of the United States, and furnishes startling
facts and figures. It is stated that British, French,
and Dutch commerce owe more than the people
would readily believe to the Consuls of those coun-
ptitude, un-
dtreiresst.andier el
aselectede
off for
es
pineehiaablitaants amongst
Theyng t ha
whom they sojourn, and not only knowing how to
construct a report, but how
i to gather the informa-
tion which can alone make t valuable. Those who
who do not understand the work are duped by de-
signing natives, and have to compile from State
reports, newspapers, and such old or unreliable
sources; while they ought to search out their facts
from their own, and from utilizing the observations
of others, being thoroughly acquainted with the wants
as well as the productions of the people of whom they
write. Thus only can they direct their researches
in the right direction, and their country's commerce
into the best channels. IVhen full and reliable
intelligence is procured, Americans will act quickly,
and it is calculated that the trade of the country
has lost incalculably from the want of such data.
Generally the people are ignorant of the duties and
value of Consuls, and they have not as yet learned
to associate these officers with the national trade.
Nor is this surprising, when the vital necessity for
a radical change has become imperative in home
branches of the Civil Service, and yet the Bill
to effect this is tossed contemptuously aside.
Washington is the focus of corruption ; there
may be seen the wheels within the wheels ;
ring within ring, in confusion so confounded that
"no feller can understand." The Press has inces-
santly urged the necessity of a sweeping and gene-
ral Civil Service Reform ; but it appears impossible
to arouse the people to a full sense of its importance.
They are too new to taxation to do more than the
dog does that bites at the tongs that pinch him in-
stead of the man who thus applies them. Though
they feel the effects of the machinery, they have
not as yet investigated the motive power,
which, when they do, they will find a clumsy
engine capable of vast improvement, and well
worth their while to improve. Hitherto they have
left reform to be originated and effected in Wash-
ington, but they might as well employ the whisky
ring to put a stop to Revenue frauds. There are
two classes involved—the one the politician, who
gains ; and the other the vast body of the people,
who lose by the present system ; and the people
who lose leave the politicians, who gain, to abolish
the abuses on which they fatten, while the citizens
show their indifference by taking no interest in the
subject. If the politicians of Washington were
something angelic, patriotic, self-sacrificing, and
pure, then after a hard struggle with all that
is good in them, honesty might come out
victorious, and the reforms be effected.
But is this the character of the politician ? To
whom does America owe a corruption which is
rapidly exceeding all hitherto known quantities.
Others of the same kidney have been restrained
within some bounds, however wide the latitude,
either by a glimmering of conscience or an idea
that it was unwise to kill the goose that laid the
golden eggs, but the Washington politician would
not only kill, but gobble up the bird, feathers and
all. The people look on rather amused at the
smart genus they have generated, and apparently
wholly unconscious that they arc the "goose."
They begin, however, to feel disagreeably the
plucking proc s, and doubtless they will wake to a
livelier sense of the position when they fully re.diz3
the fact.—Anglo-American Times.

While a number of labourers in the employment
of Anthony Trail, Esq., Ballylough, were making a deep
excavation on the borders of a bog, they came upon a fine
specimen of the ancient Irish canoe. It is hollowed out of
a single oak tree, and measures about 24 feet by 3 at the
widest part.

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