The record-union., 1897-08-04

has been the career of Raphel Borg,
the British Consul at Cairo; of Bill
otti. the British Consul at Crete, and of
O. dozen others of the same stripe.
Here in the United States England is,
for the nonce, if not efficiently, at any
rate respectfully represented as far as
her consular officials are concerned, al
though some of them are shaky about
their aspirates, and a few years ago
man was appointed to look after the
commercial interests Of Great Britain
in a Southern State mainly because
having failed in business at home, and
having failed to get a discharge from
the Bankruptcy Court, it was consid-
cred advisable to get him out Of the
country. Another Consulate is held to
the present day by a gallant gentle
man whose fortunes in England pre-
Vious to his appointment had fallen TO
SO low an ebb that he had been COM
PEELED to accept the humble position of
warden in penitentiary to keep him
self and his wife from starving That,
however, the English Consuls in Amer
lea fulfill their duties better than the
majority of their colleagues elsewhere
is shown to a certain extent by the fact
that, whereas most of the British mis-
sions in the old world are now being
furnished with commercial attaches for
the purpose of making reports of some
practical use concerning the industry
and commerce of the country in which
they are stationed, nothing has as yet
been heard about providing Sir Julian
Pauncefote's Embassy at Washington
with any such official.
1t has frequently been urged in Eng
land that the Chambers of Commerce
should be consulted by the Government
in the selection of its Consular repre-
sentatives, and the same recommended
ton might be suggested in the case of
the United States. For it is the manu-
facturers and merchants who are now
more particularly interested than any
others in the choice of a capable and
efficient man. By SO doing the Presi
dent would place the mercantile COM
munity under obligations to his admin
istration. And when such a man has
been found and appointed he ought to
be permitted to hold his office as long
as he fulfills his duties in a satisfactory
manner and to be made to feel that
his removal will only come to him in
the case of neglect of duty or miScon-
duct 1t takes some little time to
learn the mere routine of a Consul's
office, and still longer to become ac-
quainted with the economic peculiari-
ties and the industrial as we'll as the
commercial problems of the districts in
which he is stationed. Some conscien-
tious United States Consuls go to the
trouble of endeavoring to acquire this
knnNVlp1rn md haUa tha10 tao a
for their successors just at the moment
when they have at last succeeded in
mastering the details and when they
were beginning to be really useful to
their country. Others do not think it
worth the while to put themselves to so
much trouble, knowing full we'll that as
soon as the administration TO which
they owe their appointment goes out of
office they will have to Vacate their
Consulship. The result is that there is
no inducement and no encouragement
to do anything else but ones bare
duty in the most perfunctory manner;
in fact, as little as one possibly can.
ConSulships, indeed, are looked upon
by their holders to a great extent as
mere means of passing a few years
abroad at the expense of the Govern
ment, and in the enjoyment Of what
they believe to be an official position
with social opportunities. 1t is only
when they reach the other side that
they find out to their dismay and dis
gust that the status of a Consul is not
that of an ambassador, of a Secretary
of Legation, or even of an attache
and that most people in the old world
are disposed to view a Consul much
in the same manner as Lord Palmers-
ton; that is, as mo gentleman. Elk
Attaehe, in New York Tribune