Washington telegraph., 1863-07-08

= 4 A"oi"1iFc, IL mas no ulpl0mdtlc importance
Consuls are mere mercantile agents, appointed
by one government to reside in the seaport
. and large commercial places of another They
have no political authority, nor Except in spe.
clal cases by treaty. civil jurisdiction. They
do not, according to Kent, enjoy the protection
OF the law of nations any more than other per.
sons who enter the country under safe con
duct. They are amena BILE to the criminal laws
Of the country in which they reside, and may
De punlshed without cause of offence to the
government from which they were sent Upon
arriving at the place for which they are in
tenoed' they receive from the government of
that country written recognition of their
character, called in technical language an ere
q"dtur, under which they reside and exercise
their consular duties. But no government
| although friendly one, has a right to force
| Its consuls upon another. The exequatur may
| be refused without cause of offence, or after
wards revoked for improper conduct, without
any disturbance CT harmony between the re-
| spective governments.
At the time of our secession, it was the policy
of the Southern people to cause as little dis
turbance of established civil rights, and the
! course of trade and commerce, as was compa-
tible with the object. Whilst the political
separation was to be complete, we were care
full to protect all rights acquired under the old
government, and to preserve all the old friendy
commercial relations with foreign countries
Hence the laws and treaties of the United
States were continued in force, and these COM
mercial agents, the consuls, were recognized
as properly exercising their Offices having re-
celved their erequaturs from the power autho-
rlzed at the time to grant them. Every one must,
on reflection, recognize the wisdom and dig
nifty of this. 1t was mere grace or conces-
sion extended to foreign countries, for the
benefit of trade and commerce, and involved
no political or international trucking to
foreign powers. 1t was similar to the adop-
ton of the old mail contracts of the United
States, for the general good of the community.
Hence, We think, those politicians and editors
err, who urge that We should dismiss all foreign
consuls until their governments may recognize
US automatically. The consular offices have
no concern with this question
At the same time there is no doubt that, ac-
cording to the law of nations, we have the
right to revoke the ezeguaturs of one and all
of them, and our own dignity requires that it
should be done, upon proper cause. President
Davis has, for the first time, exercised this
authority, for causes fully explained in the
Letters Patent, and the communication of the
Secretary of State, to be found in another
column. The cause is eminently proper. The
British consul, with sort of besotted AFRO
gance peculiar to his nation, has taken upon
himself it seems the office of Minister Plenipo-
tentiary, and, treating with contempt the
notice to submit his authorities to the proper
officer of our government, has endeavorcd to
interfere with the action of our government
with regard to matters far removed in place
and character from his legitimate consular
dutres. His attempt to influence the Secretary
of War is piece of insufferable impertinence
in mere commercial agent appointed for
Richmond, with no manner of authority either
by right or courtesy, in the State of Missis-
sippi 1t seems that the fellow must have
acted on the somewhat favorite doctrine of
necessity, and supposed that as his government
had no minister resident at the capitol, it de-
volved upon him to assume the powers.
What may be the result of this gives US only
so much anxiety as one should feel about the
consequences of an act in which he has the most
perfect consciousness of right. The British
Government clearly has no right to object to
revocation of her consurs exequatur. What
she may do is uncertain. We can no longer
calculate upon the course of a nation whose
mysterious conduct has violated all her former
principles and practices. She is enigma,
although by no means a scarecrOw. We are
left to speculation about the future.
If really disposed to be neutral, as her gov
ernment pretends, she will take further
notice of the transaction than to reprove her
officer for his unwarrantable assumption. This
we rather think will be her course But, if
disposed to be hostile TO US, and only waiting
some prete1t to Justify her to France and other
nations, she may adopt some such plausible
argument as this. That she does not know
any such person the President of the Con-
federate States, any such government.
That she knows the United States, in whose
boundaries Richmond is included That the
United States have granted her consul an exc
quatur for Richmond, which has never been by
her revoked. That her consul has been pre-
vented from exercising his duties there by per-
sons acting in opposition to the United States
and forcibly expelling him. That in all revo-
lutions the consular flags have been wont to
be respected by insurgents, and that such is
the common acceptation of the laws of war
amongst belligerents. That although she re-
cognizes the fact that there is civil war in the
United States, and belligerents there, those
belligerents are not empowered to do violence
to her consuls and expel them from the coun-
try, whilst their ersquaturs exist, and are re-
cognized by the United States. And, to con-
clude the whole matter, she may claim that it
is Just and proper that she should interfere to
assist the United States Government to re-
establish her consul in Richmond, and comnel
the Insurgents to let him remain there in peace.
AS the whole force of this argument depends
upon her own conduct in refusing the recocni-
&c o,- cannot ha