The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-09 00:00:00

an end to the operation of a public Act which had given
general satisfaction.
After a few words from Mr. MANNERS SUTTON,
the second reading of the Bill was postponed to this day
week.

We had three Consuls-General, twelve Consuls of tB,
a consular establiShment of the ;m costly costly kinae.
first class, and eighteen salaried Assistant-Consuls,e!
a cost of 12,000/. per annum. Now, at no time .07
v
what were called the commercial duties of the Levant'
Consuls at all heavy. The commercial systen? b
the Ottoman Empire had always been characterised. l,
the simplicity which must be the result of direct taxat_too.:,
but no one could say that the duty of the Turkish
t(-.; I,
sul had been a sinecure. He need only refer to the 41
volumes of correspondence, which • was the last °l6c id
tribute of the late Secretary of State. The House you
~t
find in those volumes a vast mass of correspondence, a 9,1:'
`.- ld
portion of which was furnished by Consuls. 'They w
...,i%.
fmdcommunications with the Consul-General a Eg.2l;
from Consul Hodges, Consul Waring, and Consul Ncivi
They were communications directed to the Secretar?;
State for Foreign Affairs. They contained specahl:llo,B
on the fortunes of war, and he believed on *ll,l red
matters which - hitherto had been conseleved
as unimportant, but which • were now haw.)
to be matters of the highest importance.—( 11„1.
He might remind the Noble Viscount who NN as the ati,:,
to
of the expedition, and he might remind the House) :00
individual who visited Africa on a secret expediiinittet
issued a proclamation, formed treaties of the :1"„ed
character which no Plenipotentiary could d 'broke
he did what no Plenipotentiary dred to doe bore
treaties. The gentleman to whom she referre,t not
the name of Wood, an English name, hued 95
an English subject. This Gentleman Wear tie
Vice-Consul of her Majesty at Beyroutr wood,
was only referring to the case of Mr• misted
to prove that a Vice-Consular agent was e,_ll ater,
with diplomatic duties of the highest . cli''.f. they
If they looked at the other side of the glebe--,1 Attie'
directed their attention to the republics of Sotit',oolll
rice, they would find the state of affairs of a`• that
different kind. The House would recollect into
when Mr. Canning called the New
ht
existence, his preliminary operation was ie. 111
out consular establishments on a great sea co
all the capitals of the South American Republics,
with'
suls-General and Vice-Consuls were established' ores
salaries of a large amount. At all the Princirs ,r,fEer
Consuls of the first class were established. Shortly 10
the final recognition of these States had taken toe
there followed a diplomatic establishment on the
etico
large scale. In every capital of South An/retarY
they found a Minister Plenipotentiary and a Seer'otesi'
Worldto
of Legation established in addition to the "'pod,
General and the Vice-Consul already °s tab loose
Now as our diplomatic relations ' with di 10.
States, were never very complicated, tbese,.,„tioes
matic agents assumed, with one or two e%c`.ri, si
very soon a character altogether commeec.iiiciest
there was really not public business sLiontstic
for the two bodies. The result was, that the (UP overei
body in each capital, aware that if it were disc might
that they were doing nothing, their services seise;
be dispensed with, monopolised to 0°25- til'
that •
all the commercial business of that country, 5° e.' id
Consuls-General and the Vice-Consuls held
fact sinecures, while the Minister PleldP°if s ill
and the Secretaries of Legation, occupied thetert.: de;
fulfilling the duties which ought to :11'001,7
volved on the Consular bodies. ne,,curre"
refer, as an instance, to what had '"'i,;nb 0,
during one of those transatlantic blockades, ti-ti de'
few years since had been but too numerous. Th4',..",,e, CO.,
Monte Mining Company the blockade of v e' use °`
were anxious to land a cargo of machinery for the hod'
their mines.' As machinery did not pay a duty, th`stnte,
ing of it would not be adding to the resources of the.crencll
and, therefore, the Company had hoped that theo;toye
Admiral Baudin and the Mexican Governmenttoiehoded'
agreed in permitting the machinery to be age°
The Company directed their commissioner or sub'
in Mexico to enter into negotiations on tP,e, the
ject ; he immediately applied to Mr. Pakenhaffe'stie,"
Minister Plenipotentiary at Mexico, and that all) t (1)0"
led to a correspondence, which the Noble Visc°3/111c05e.
merston) had laid on the' table of the 100°
The whole transaction was attended to by the diP os v°,,
and not by the consular body. In Mexico there „. all'
diplomatic questions regarding border or bounder'tea at'
there was nothing which could produce 'diploilfeeicolj
rangements. But when commerce increased, the the
merchants thought it better to apply teneatise
diplomatic body and not the consular herb', ti 1,,,, the,
commercial affairs were better attended to
nn, Ode'
diplomatic body. He might also refer to the gees"
published by Mr. Henderson, the Consul at `-',...-blibb"
in Spanish America, who said that the double es -100 P
ment was ridiculous, and of no benefit to the c°.dence
on the subject, who, in
The Noble Viscount opposite was himself the best evid out
the year 183 ,
2 Pointe and
the impropriety of the double arrangemeat, tee.
that one of them was of very a little ,cable
He called the attention of the House to what theffordej
Viscount did 'on that occasion, because it u f tl3
an illustration with regard to the conduct °soble
Noble Lord on the same occasion. The i.reeo'
Lord exposed the impropriety of the double a _f die
ments in Mexico, and the appointments
iu.,,,,0e
Consul-General and the Vice-Consul-Genera '
done away with ; and it was • not, F-,,,e t` •
v - s
necessary the Consul should be left. He n°‘ i
ts 1
the State of Colombia and the arrangelneledes'
Bogota, a town in the bosom of the ~ see'
and which had no communication with t"-,.,ipt
Nothing could be more ridiculous than to aPP",i for,
Consul-General at a town like Bogota, as had bt)e.ait
merly the case, and to give that Consul a large ''',,f
as well as to give him the assistance '
clier •
Vice-Consul, who was also inithe receipt of a c°/1-elieg
able salary. He (Mr. D'lsraeli) had never read a11),,.;1ai5.
more ridiculous than that in the writings of 33a`le in
The Noble Lord, therefore, had acted very profcr'ipt
putting an end to such an establishment' the
there were circumstances connected wit"„! diet
state of Colombia, which rendered it necessary and
a political agent should be retained there,ooler
such an agent was therefore left in that
yorted,
try. The Noble Lord (Lord Palmerston) e,°n,ffaire:
therefore, the Consul-General into a Charge a'`%rviee'
and recognised the principle that one of the two se ser;
was inexpedient and unnecessary for the Pik" :scoot'
vice. That was a sketch of what the Noble v.., that
had done in 1832. It might, however, be saTnreef
these illustrations from ours establishments da,,,opt s°
and South America were drawn, the We dealt'
ancient empire, which was in a state ofd tila
and the other from a new country ; all:gettie4
that
inovel
one
in each instance our relations with those 'e-- state;
Butwere hlelaefolndina
civilized societies in Europe—he allude- was at
Hanse sthile:
Hanse Towns, we had a Consul-General wh° Agent;
the same time an accredited diplomatic Afriee i
We had pursued a similar system jo, Gencl:7
and in Tunis and Algiers our Coon's- ti AVi":
were also Charge d'Affaires. Again, in Servia an oar
lachia the Same principle was adopted. It,_,1":00 apt
fest that the principle for which he contentle.::nteedee,
proved of by Mr. Bidwell, the Super Them
of the Consular Department at the Foreign-oe''coesei
Gentleman had defended the appointment of a Conseil
General in Lombardy on the ground that thTscharge.
had also important political duties to `kith". fr
The same principle was alleged by Mr. Bidwell nt 04
Bard to the Consul at Warsaw, which appointree vierrj
defended on the ground that the dun v.°ll
political and diplomatic. The name of Warsaor 0
lig, A 0a
recal the name of a city where they nto_A,
Consul, but he had no wish to ei?„.teti IP'"Eh°
discussion of the merits or defects of the -0,°,-;°,e ""ee
policy in that respect, nor to critic.-- t se.r
os tile
conduct of the Great Powers. But he men ',.
this, that no one could have read the debate ge°"of I
subject without feeling that there was :ale Tit
ral neglect both on the part of the Pe glee
Cracow, of the great powers of the .T.Ger`liateeliti;
at home, and of both Houses of 23-eed *itb
the individual who was sent there, ied ar';.J
title of Consul, while he really Was inv,,Tengelo Iles
a political character. The language of the 'i trento
on that occasion was, that the violation of
fore ,i,
had been great and flagrant, and tbegi sl (~;
was determined to vindicate the P°7;:,:thett 3a
nity of his country by sending a Consul• rn-rodec"ite
this was a curious mode to adopt. He could
„' but
~,it
variety of proofs in favour of this posit'eloo 0", s
was afraid they would accuse him of proviogi root 3'.,e
Whea they were convinced that a public ,stab lia It be r' c,
founded on a vicious principle they shotild 111° instelocl
vented .from condemning it hey
any Pni.,tit have lf•
of its beneficial operation,. which lolga-t„ie itske, i
curred from a violation of the tolif` quesit:-
This brought him to the heart ot t'ent -by 0,
because he could show to the House, IL- 00,5 co
guments, but by facts, that the sYstenl onvel'ellio-
tablished had occasioned great 'II:F- in ac° 0(
and injury in a political
point of view, ivliyievision ice.
mercial respect, the adopting the `; lic serv;be
duties had proved mischievous to the P"" r Of '
He must revert for a moment to that region gets,.
world which hadof ied 5° ego
late °COUP .
ed SO ed
of their cousideration, and .Cl 6
exei . beglo
an influence over the affairs of Eurore• teethe' ;100
the House to recollect the position of EgYPt ln"'
k office. ell-
when the Noble Viscount (Palmerston) too con 0
our only public functionary in Egypt, was be tak.e,
General, and this individual mght f,evalitine
the 900
as a very fair specimen of
Consuls of that time. The House was, perhapa'„,,, gell",
ef the mode by which in the good old
_"l".",egyPl
tlemen were appointed Consuls-General
ao„orteral
tv
The Consul- General of that period be b . .
been the travelling tutor of a noblemaciilsed 1114
nobleman on his return to this country excl. 004'0,
the res
_..,4
influence on behalf of his travelling tutor ; ortto' Yi
he became Consul-General, and enjoyed the ognaeiii 0,
of sending to his patron some very choice c
81)09:ry: coasteo
Egyptian antiquities. These were the nece.o
w_loa
quences of a system, the fullness of which
.ohn
_,!)gyr,
point out to the House. In 1831 the situation °rinier
il
was a most delicate and critical one. Il ; v
Constantino. '_et
Egypt was at that time negotiating at .01_, , vast
on behalf of the Porte ; but, at the same ti rita it
til in
force was assembling at Alexandria'
_red
had aPPell, The
became the largest army that
Hear') 1-
the East hi modern times.—(Hear' t Co/
' Porto a , so-
Pacha, whilst negotiating for the' Porto
lacier.
1 stantinople was all the while threatening
.5
deuce of Syria. Now, he had reason to thatbelicynevasurof srl.
influence possessed at that time in Eg}pt, the !
.1n
tir
say ~111
particularly depended ; it was impossible fog in
___i_Geriell
the ,-. °b„e
the Noble Viscount had communicated to the Cee9u Iv
or what the Consul-General had communicated
to the
Pe r--
I Viscount; all he (Mr. D'lsraeli) could state was.
can °oars
presentation reprobating the conduct of those EgYgt ,übiect.
had been made to the British Government upon de by proper
If such a representation had been made, and ma e occurredi
authority, the invasion of Syria would never have
er___tende _
The commercial 'interests of the country were Eutp_fn, sod
by clerks, but the po'itical interests were more pa
.r,"r wise
were superintended by Viscounts. Ile asked t"'
Test dieY
to consider the effects of the invasion of Syria. bad dis-
turbedy , be
were very perilous all would admit, the, was. -
those relations which allit,
statesTenif„to of tluo
anxious to encourage none could deny.
The
6'7.1 t nco of coy'
nvasion every one knew. He would give ea ins a