The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-06-23
OUR CONSULAR SYSTEM.


now come up before Congress. We have become q
great commercial people We occupy the second
place in the rank of nstionsi and il we press on,
in few years more will take our position alongside,
If not in advance Of the mistress of the seas The
termination Of our difficulties with England, and the
acquisition Of prominent ports the Pacific, opens
up to our vision vast trade in that ocean, and
honorable and, we believe, successful competition
for the Trade and commerce Of Asia.
To preserve the advantages we now enjoy and 10
push our enterprise into new and profitable chan
nels, il is important that we have well regulated
consular system. The defects in our present sys-
tenn are radical and have been often pointed out by
those whose duty il has been TO exercise a super
vision over this branch of our commercial policy.
Early IN March last the attention Of the House
of Representatives was called to this subject by Mr.
w, w. Campbell, of New York, and on his motion
select committee of five raised, and authorized
to report by bill or otherwise. This committee have
recently submitted to the House a unanimous report
accompanied by a bill. From the report Of the com.
mittee it appears that our consular system stands
now substantially upon the basis laid down by such
legislation as was had upon the subject Immediate
ly after the adoption of the federal constitution. BY
the law Of 1903 the powers and duties Of consuls
were in some respects extended in relation to the
discharge of American seamen in foreign ports
Some further modification of consular powers and
duties made by the law of 1910; but the pro-
visions Of this statute also were chiefly confined to
the regulation of discharges, &C., OF seamen. In.
deed, 1t is not too much to say that both these stat
utes look rather to an Improvement in the legal con-
duon Of the seaman when abroad, than to any
ellectual amelioration Of our consular system.
The consequence of this state of our law is, that
our present consular system can hardly he called
system. 1t has-and notwithsand the ability
and accomplishments Of many of our consuls at the
chief commercial cities abroad-it can have as q
general arrangement for the protection and exten.
sion of our commerce, neither regularity nor eff
cheney. Yet our present system, such as it is,
probably costs the commerce of the country Tin
Guiding the salaries paid to our onsuls-residen,
with the Barbary powers) not less than one hun
dred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The pres
ent bill, providing for expenditure of the public
money not much larger than this, organizes the sys-
tenn completely, and places it upon such basis as
to insure, from its working, the most important and
useful results.
We have space only to glance at the general fea-
lures of the BILL 1t enlargss and defines the powers
and duties ofconsus in various matters pertaining to
the protection and encouragement of our commerce
1t provides for consular bureau, through which the
useful information collected and transmitted by the
consus may be, from time to time, arranged and
condensed, and laid before the country in an avaa-
Die shape. In word, the object of the bill
seems to be to make the consul, wherever he
may be stationed, truly and effectually an ac-
tive and responsible officer of the government,
with important duties to perform and constant SUI
pervsion in their performance. The two most
prominent and striking provisions of the bill are
those which prohibit the consus from engaging in
trade, and which compensate them by fixed salaries.
These provisions are entirely new in our system,
and they of great importance to its due eicien-
oy. The consul, as the representative of his coun-
try, should have no private interests which may
come in any way in conflict with the duty which he
owes to his countrymen. The opinion of the able
and accomplished scholar and statesman, Edward
Livingston, when Secretary Of State under General
Jackson, was, that no consul should engage in trade;
and he expressed himsef in strong terms in a COM
municaon which he made to the President on the
subject of consular reform.
He also of the opinion that the consuls should
be salaried officers. According to the present sys-
tenn" says Mr.. Livingston, tour consus, with very
few exceptions, commission merchants, anxious,
like all other merchants, to increase their business
and obtain consignments. In many-perhaps in
the greater number Of caseshe place is sought for
chiefly for the advantage and the influence it will
give to extend the commercial affairs Of the officer
Can it be believed that this official influence will al
ways be properly exercised, The
consus at least, therefore, if not the vice consus,
ought to be salaried officers. They will never then
by their countrymen be suspected of acting towards
them as their commercial interest," not their duty,
requires and their complaints in behalf of their fell
low-citizens will be attended to, because they will
be liable TO the suspicion of advocating their own
interest. Consular Offices would no longer be held
in contingencies, nor the consul himself called
from defending the of injured American citi-
zen TO sell barrel Of sugar, to despatch the set
clement Of an account"
We may add, that for these reasons none but
merchants and traders are under our existing law
and mode OF compensation, employed by the
government, thus limiting appointments to small
portion Of our citizens. Nor it be expected
that merchant, who, by his position as consul,
acquires knowledge of the resources and profitable
trade of the country where he resides, will be over
anxious to make his knowledge public for the ben
fit of all his countrymen, to the detriment Of his
own individual interests. ....
The consular establishment is one of great inn
portance. The facilities oftrade, it's extension, and
the safety and success of our citizens abroad depend
very much upon its proper organization. Thegovern-
ment seems to U.S. should be liberal in its provisions
which operate more especially upon the great COM
mercial policy of the country-upon those vast and
growing interests which afford the chief source Of
it's revenue, and through the extension of which the
manufacturer and the agricuturist find markets for
the productions Of their labor
We may renew the consideration Of the subject