The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-01-27
CONSULAR SERVICE
TO BE EFFECTIVE CONsULs MUST
HAVE TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE.
An American whose Attachments
Commercial knowledge Needed.
Paris CORRESPONDENCE New YORK Egeninr


office the qualifications needed for the
advancement of his country's commerce..
AT least an English authority on the
subject, at a grave conjunctuTe OF
affairs threatening International COM
plications, declared in the Nineteenth
Century Review August, 1892: There
are certain civilized powers-the United
States, for instance-whose interests in
Morocco are purely commercial. and
who are particularly anxious to pre-
serve existing arrangements as against
the possible Intervention of some pow-
er with a poiitica. stake in the destiny
of this corner o. the dark continent
Now, any particular connection OF
American commerce with the rule Of the
late Muley Hassan must have been
largely due to one of the few foreign
representatives honored with that
Oriental despots acquaintance-Mr.
Felix A. Mathews, who was for so many
years our consul-general at Tangier.
In fact, find his memoir, printed in
the bulletin of the American Geograph-
zeal Society for 1885, cited as the lead-
ing authority in recent Spanish works
on the commercial products of the
tains Those who witnessed the ava-
ton given him by all the multi-colored
population of Tangier when new adj
ministration sent him back after an
awkward attempt to replace him wilt
easily believe that his influence corre-
sponded with his knowledge. 1t is
doubtful, however, if his peculiar capa-
bilities would have existed in another
country, or even in another man than
himself. Such gifts are the result OF
no training in consular schools With
the Belgians facility for picking UP
dialects and languages and with the
experience Of the wild life of Cali
fornian of 40, Mr.. Mathews made on
me the impression of one near of kim
to the Berber chiefs themselves. He
spoke the court Arabic and six other
dialects of this 1ittle-known country.
/ have been curious to compare his
undoubted attainments with those OF
the representatives of the European
nations at the same post The Portu-
guese minister. who was also consul-
general, our own consul of Tangier
is equivalently minister to the court
of Fee, is native of the town where
members of his family have represented
their country for four generations
Naturally he spoke the language, but
I found him also fluent and diplomatic
In French and Spanish, as well as his
native Portuguese. Had he lived long
er in Lisbon he would probably have
known English, which is a common ac-
ourement there in his class of society.
Inside his house, which was Outwardly
that of any well-to-do citizen, looking
blankly on the narrow and dirty street.
| there were everywhere dazzling treas
| ure troyes of every branch of Moor-
ish art I doubt, however, il even an
| American consul could be expected to-
advise on such subjects his enthusiast
| ic fellow-countrymen and women who
| buy here during their winters tour tina
most extraordinary Moorish wares
made in Paris.
OTHER METHODS.
| The Spanish influence was chiefly ex~
ercised unofficially by pious marques
| who supported the Dominican friarss
and set up glazing electric lights in
front of the native novels. The En-
| glish authorities, as usual, had for their
| chief mission to bully the Sultan while
| backing up any commercial initiatives
| of British companies. 1t should be re-
marked, even of the English consular
service in more civilized lands. that
both the initiative and the information
necessary to success in the national
commerce are left to the merchants
| themselves. This still leaves use for
special training in diplomatic usages
and International rights and wrongs.
which are sure to make uD, along with
| the execution of legal documents. the
| chief business of every consul.
The French undoubtedly take their
consular service seriously from the
merely commercial side. In Tangier at
the time I speak of the routine work
| of the consulship was done by ''dra-
| CONAN" of the first class, dignity
which has its proper place In the
French Oriental service, and which re-
quires special attachments and promo-
| ton in line of order and capability.
He had begun at the age of eighteen
| as an auxiliary dragoman in Alexan-
| dria. Egypt. Six years later he was
| chancellor of the second consulshiD in
| Morocco, at Mogador, and there he won
| medal of honor for his conduct dur
| ing the epidemic of 1877 and 1873. The
following year he was promoted 10 be
| chancellor at Jerusalem. then at the
| important post of Bayreuth, in Syria.
as dragoman of the third class, and
| in 1885 as first dragoman in Tripoli-
Five years later he came to Tangfers
| having already lifetime OF acquaint-
ance with Arab and Berber usasess
| language, religion and the varied CONS
| merce from the Soudan down to the
| coast.
| The utility of such a man was. OF
course on the side of the natives and
| of Frenchmen actually in the country
| For the information of the governments
| and the French chambers of commerce
| or merchants and manufacturers the
| minister himself was at hand This
| was M. Jules Paternotre, who Is now
| the French ambassador at Washington.
/ His career in it's successive stages is q
| good sample of the routine advance
| ment always warranted by showing
| fitness in each subordinate post. al
/ practiced in the French diplomatic
| service A comparison with the career
| of a consul proper will show similar
| state of things, substituting always
| commercial for political affairs. Ii IL
/ understood that the training and the
subsequent career. except in rare cases.
| are kept separate for the diplomatic
/ and the consular services.
| PATERNOTRES CAREER.
| M. Paternotre entered on his dipio-
| matte career after taking a high degree
/ in letters and having followed the
/ courses of the highest professional
| school in France, the Ecole normale
superieure, and exercised for four years
/ the functions Of professor of the uni-
| versity In 1872, at the age Of twenty
/ seven, he went as an attache mot paid
1 to Athens. and the following year to
/ Teheran Two years later he first be-
/ gan receiving a salary for work in the
1 nolifical department of the Ministry