The record-union., 1897-08-04
The CONSUL'S STANDING.
A NECESSARY FUNCTIONARY,
BUT NOT DISTINGUISHED.
Lord Palmerston's Characterize
tion-English Consu1s and
Their Services.


Although many years have elapsed
since the late Lord Palmerston, speak
ing in his capacity as Secretary of State
Tor Foreign Affairs, informed the Brit
ish House of Commons that Consuls
We're not gentlemen il may be ques-
toned whether either the official or
social status Of these estimable and
most useful functionaTies has been i'm
proved TO any extent since that date.
They are still treated as sort, of poor
relations of the members of the reg
ular diplomatic service, are despised
as such by the youngest of attaches,
and are usually referred TO as those
damned Consuls." In some monarch
lcal countries their office is sufficient to
oebar them from presentation at court,
Il being held that the acceptance of a
consulship is equivalent to an admis-
SION by man that he is not "hoffae-
mig chat is to say not enough of a
gentleman to consOrt with Princes and
nobles), while it is rare to find Con-
SUI dining at the table even of his own
ambassador or Envoy, save on State
occasions, and then only as an act of
particular coTGdescension.
1t is not the consular service of anv
particular country that is meant. but
the consular corps as a whole. 1t is
profession which during the last fifty
years or SO has become of such vital
Importance to the welfare and pros
pe1ity Of the nations by which it is en-
ployed that it has frequently been ar
gued Of Late that it might be of polit
lcaI as Well as economic advantage to
abolish the diplomatic missions and
TO devote the money thus saved TO the
ueNeIoprnent and extension of the con-
suiar service. The usefulness of EN-
bassadors, of their Secretaries and of
tflelr attaches, except for ornamental
purposes, is open to discussion. where
as there can be none as to the value
OF the Consuls-providing Of course.
they do their duty
tor Consuls are indispensable factors
IN the Intercourse between all countries
mat are in commercial relations with
one another The greatness, the pros
perity, the power and the welfare of
nations depend not so much upon the
area of their territory or on the num-
Der of their cruisers and soldiers as
upon the extent of their trade and in
dustI'y. By none can these be more
developed and fGstered than by their
ConSuIs, and it may be pointed out that
precisely those ambassadors have been
regarded as the most capable and sue
cesSfm who, treSpassing, so to speak,
upon the consular sphere, have endeav-
ored to secure facilities and advantages
Tor the commerce of their native lands
Ihus an Envoy who induces his Gov
eminent to which he is accredited to
abolish restrictions imposed upon the
importation of the products of his
country unquestionably renders a more
valuable service to the latter than an
ambassador who for instance. presents
eloquently worded notes to the Sultan
urging the introduction of reforms in
the internal administration of Turkey
notes which are never acted upon,
and which are merely filed away among
the archives Of the Sublime Porte.
LORD PALNERSTON'S MEANING.
When Lord Palmerston made his
sweeping assertion to the effect that
Consuls We're mot gentlemen, he did
not, of course, mean to imply that there
were no gentlemen among the Consuls;
for there are many men of birth and of
breeding among them. But What he
evidently did mean to say was that
II was not indispensable that a Con-
sui should be a gentleman, as is the
case with an officer of the army or
navy, with a member of the bar or of
the diplomatic service. Moreover, it
cannot be denied that so little care is
taken in making the appointments to
the consular service that it has become
endowed, so far as social status is con-
cerned, with an exceedingly bad name.
Probably the best organized and most
efficient consular service in the world
at the present moment is that of Ger
many. Yet even there the nobility ele-
ment is conspicuous by the paucity of
its members, the vast majority of the
members of the corps being, unlike the
diplomatic profession, of bourgeois
birth, and recruited from the middle
classes. Certain of the latest offices
of Consul General are held by import
ant and titled dignitaries of the For
eign Office at Berlin, whom it is de-
sired to give a brief spell of service
abroad for the sake of broadening their
minds. But the ordinary consulships
are llAleQ DN ldGfl W IIO bCS1A Lis IId1ilSS
that are plebian and unknown save in
commercial circles. The few aristocrats
among the number are eX-oficers of
the army who, having run through their
money TO such an extent as to render
the retention of their commissions i'm
possible. have made use Of what infiu-
ence they possessed to secure Govern
ment employment, and above all live
lihood, abroad.
Yet no matter how the German Con-
sular Service is composed, it is sim
gularly efficient. and is kept with its
nose to the grindstone by the constant
demands that are being made upon
it from Berlin. It's officials are ex-
pected to have their eyes open and go
on the watch for every new opportuni-
" of pushing German trade. They are
required TO keep the merchants and
manufacturers at home fully posted as
TO the changes in the economic condi-
ton of the country and districts in
which they are stationed, and wher-
ever possible to induce local traders
and manufacturers to opn up commu-
nications with the German markets
They advise their countrymen as to the
best way of presenting their wares
they secure contracts for them when
ever possible, and furnish them with