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836 THE LEADER. [No. 439, August 21, 185...
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BRITISH CONSULS AND BRITISH COMMERCE. Tu...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Position Of The Derbyite Administration....
which , though vehement ly resisted by the Liberal opposition' -was supported only by one section of the Government , the other , including some men of foremost mark and merit , refusing openly to lend it their sanction or approval . If this be done ia the green tree , what may be looked for in the dry ? It' in the first exultation of ministerial safety for the rest of the Parliamentary year , the gentlemen now holding office could not be brought to act in consort even so far as to save appearances at Westminster , what ¦ will happen after they have had twelve months of
official impunity , and a whole long vacation's habit of acting , talking , and thinking , every man as he listeth ? If on a minor electoral question like that of paying travelling expenses , Lord Derby and his associates cannot agree , what are we to look for when they come to deal with the reconstruction of our entire representative system ? We confess frankly we do not expect to see the Liberal minority give way ; neither do we expect to see the more dogged and fanatical members of the majority abandon their conscientious scruples . We believe Lord Clielmsford , Mr . Walpole , and Mr . Henley to be upright obstinate men , as worthy individuals in private life , as they are wilful
andunvrise in the conduct of public affairs . Lucky is it for the administration to which they belong that none of them can in any sense be considered as essential "to its existence . The Chancellor , it is even said , now that his ambition has been gratified by having occupied the Woolsack , and attained the honours of the peerage , desires to descend if opportunity serves to the safer and more lucrative dignity 6 f Chief Justice or Chief Baron . The precedent has been illustriously set by Lord Lyndhurst , who after holding the Great Seal from 1827 to 1830 , accepted the office of Chief Baron of the Exchequer , and continued to discharge its judicial duties from that year until the end of 1834 . ^ The President of the Board of Trade is a man not insensible to the distinctions and advantages of office ; but he lias always been what is called stiff-necked in his adherence to the old
Quarter Sessions school of Toryism . In bis party he has always been accused of being a ^ grumbler . If either Sir J . Pakington on education , nor Lord Stanley on church rate , nor Sir Fitzroy Kelly on Jaw reform , could ever get any help from the veteran , member for Oxfordshire . * He is heartily persuaded that the great duty of a constitutional statesman in these days is to stand fast , " hold hard , " and not to submit to be bullied into going ahead in any direction . Mr . Henley had got so
thoroughly out of humour at the yielding and trimming of bis colleagues towards the close of the session , that , before it had actually terminated , he rushed out of town and betook himself to the quiet of a German watering-place , far from faithlessness and compromise . We should not be at all surprised to hear any fine evening that Mr . Henley had resigned : and we mean no disrespect or disparagement when we say that we do not think Tib withdrawal from the Cabinet would diminish its chances of longevity . Mr . Walpole lias also shown strong disinclination to go cordially onwards in the liberalising path which other members of the administration indicate a readiness
to pursue . We regret this for wo believe the Home Secretary to be an extremely useful as well as an amiable and upright man . His family traditions do not lead him . to espouse the unpopular side ; and the judicial character of mind ought not to permit his adoption of violent opinions . Office , it is well known , is acceptable to him , inasmuch as he abandoned his practice at the Equity bar in 1852 to become Secretary of State under Lord Derby in his short-lived administration of that year , and the
etiquette of the profession doea not permit a privy counsellor to go back to the bar . Still we incline very much to the suspicion that Mr . Walpole does not feel very happy or contented in his present distinguished position . ; and that lie , too , would rather retire than become a party to any very decided measure of progress . Were sncli defections to occur , from what quarter would the vacant p laec 3 be supplied ? A . little time may throw additional light upon the matter .
836 The Leader. [No. 439, August 21, 185...
836 THE LEADER . [ No . 439 , August 21 , 1858 .
British Consuls And British Commerce. Tu...
BRITISH CONSULS AND BRITISH COMMERCE . Tub Select Committee on the Consular Service and Appointments , moved for and obtained by Mr . MTonckton Milncs last session , has published a report of its proceedings , and the result of its deliberations is the suggestion of an entirely new
organisation of the consular semee . It is not without good reason tliat the committee has come to the conclusion ? upon which this important suggestion has been based . The consular service has long be « n in a most unsatisfactory state , incompetent , in fact , to discharge with auything like proper efficiency the grave duties which pertain to it . Strange as it may appear , the * tact seems to be that the importance of the consular service has hitherto not been thoroughly understood ; the system , therefore , which controls it has remained so Ions unmodified
amid multiplied changes of circumstances immediately affecting it , that it has ceased to be equal to the requirements of the present tiinc . A glance at the chief duties of the consul , as laid down under the present system , will show something of the importance of his post . The office of consul originated with one of the great Italian trading cities m the twelfth century ; its commercial character is , therefore , marked from the very first . In later times , a gradual modification has taken place in the character of the consular duties , the consul being required , under certain circumstances , to take the place of the diplomatist . His first duty , however , is . still to watch over the commercial interests of the state or country by which he is appointed , more particularly to sec that the letter of all treaties be observed . He is to
protect the subjects of the country for which he is acting from any kind of oppression by the foreigners with whom he is residing ; and , on the other hand , he is to use active endeavours to prevent them from carrying on any contraband trade , or committing any violation of the laws of the country . with which they are dealing . To this end , he must be acquainted not only with the laws of the particular country , but with the law of nations , and he must have a ready knowledge of all the commercial arrangements that have been entered into between the two countries
the tariffs of duties on all articles of import and export . His knowledge in these respects , indeed , must be multifarious . He has also a w ~ orld of business to perform in connexion with the arrival and departure of trading ships . He is a sort of standing counsel for the subjects of the country for which he is acting , in the event of their being accused of the commission of any offence against the laws of the foreign country , and in certain cases he is invested with magisterial functions . He is in sonic places the sole representative of his Government * as at Jeddah ; and under such circumstances , he is called upon to act in a double capacity , being the political as well as commercial guardian of the interests-of'the country he represents . To he
properly qualified for the discharge of his duties , he should have a thorough knowledge not only of the language of the couutiy to which he is appointed , but of the dialects of that language in common use by the lower order of inhabitants . The qualifications of a consul , it will be seen , are of a very special kind . Under any circumstances , it is necessary that he should be a man of commanding influence , of unquestionable integrity , whose means obviously place him above temptation . In dealing with the peoples of the East , it is especially requisite that the worldly position of the consul should be such as to secure him against derogatory comparisons on that score , loss of influence " being the inevitable result of all such
comparisons . Now it is made only too clear that , under the present system , few of our consuls come up to the requirements of tlie service . In the first place , it is not micommon for the consul to he ignorant of the language of the country to which he is appointed , particularly as to the countries of the tar East . This ignorance necessitates the employment of native interpreters , who again may be very imperfectly acquainted with the language of their employers . The interpreters are olteu Greeks—a class not too well trusted by either Mahometans or Christians . Under such circumstances , the bare
discharge of a consul ' s routine duties is made difficult , and when his di p lomatic or magisterial functions are called into action , the difficulty is immeasurably increased , the danger of absolute failure being always imminent in cases where delicate handling is required . In many of the less important places abroad , the office of British consul ia discharged by some foreign merchant or trader of standing , But possibly not of first-rate position ; in the latter case thero is the double disadvantage of having tho consular duties performed by a man who cannot be expected to oavo very warmly for llritish interests , and who , moreover , is not in possession of a com
mandhig influence But even where the appoiu ? ment is of a direct kind , the salary given is not iff ficieut to support the British consul in anything like a fitting manner ; he is therefore permitted to add to his income by engaging in trade , in which ]>* may cither be unsuccessful , or may take such a low position as will cause him to appear unimportant ; ,, the eyes of other traders in the place where he re sides , and even in those of the consuls of other m * tions who are above the necessity of trading
The disadvantages under which our consular service was carried on by trading consuls , led to tW passing of Mr . Canning ' s let in 1 S 25 , restraining consuls from engaging in any kind of trade In IS 32 , however , in answer to cries for rctniiiclihicut it was determined to cheapen the consular service and three years later a select committee <* ave Its sanction to a wide departure from the provisions of Mr . Canning ' s Act . Mr . Monckton MOues ' s committce-would , go back to the prohibition of the Act of 1825 , and it may be taken for granted that this is the view which would have been taken by Sit obert Peelwho
R , , as a commercial statesman greatly resembled Mr . Canning , if he had fallen upon the time to attend to the subject . Of course such a prohibition is not to be carried into effect without providing for the consul an increase of salary something like proportionable to the loss of his income from trading sources . The increase of his pay , however , only to the extent of a reasonable per-ccutagc on the increase of our commerce , would not make up to the consul the difference between the cost of living now and at the time when bis allowance was first , fixed The committee has no hesitation in advising a considerable increase of
pay . . - . •¦ ¦ ., - ... : , - .,. . . - ;¦ . -. . : . The : grand object is ^ efficiency ' : to secure this , the committee proposes an entire reorganisation of the service , by which it ' would be raised to the rank of a profession . It is . proposed that the consular service shall be divided into six ' classes—namely , Gousuls-Gene . ral , First-class Consuls , Second-class Consuls , Vice Consuls , Consular Students , ai \ d Consular Agents . Of these classes , the fifth is the most novel and important , for it is the basis upon-which the consular edifice would in future be built . The consular students would be young men of fair education , who , in the first instance , would be attached to the offices of the various consuls as
clerks ; they would be assisted in the study of the languages of the ' countries' to which they were appointed , and assisted also in acquiring a knowledge of the laws and duties of the consular profession , with a view to being ultimately appointed to viceconsulates , with a prospect of subsequent promotion to the higher posts , By these means ' a class of men would be specially educated to discharge the duties of the service with the highest . efficiency . The consul-general , under rise lrom
the new system , would , m authority his freer , intercourse -with all classes of the people with whom lie would reside . "Unfettered by personal interests , he would he in an infinitely more advantageous position for developing the commerce of his country , which , it is to be remembered , is one of his first duties ; while his improved knowledge and facilities for intercommunication witli the authorities of the country , would enable him to carry on all ordinary diplomatic business as well as a man of higher title , or better . Tor there need he no concealment ot
the fact , that a consular system , such as that suggested by the committee , would to a great extent take away the business of more formal dip lomacy . No result could be more desirable ; business would then be conducted by skilled men of business , instead of being thrown iulo the hands of poor lords , younger sons , and men who , having shown no capacity for'business at home , arc about the last men that we could expect to show any particular business aptitude abroad . Such appointments as these would be prizes for which the middle class would compote , we have not the smallest doubt , with distinguished success ; nud to no class could the ( lutjr of watching ov cr the commercial interests of fcng mm in . foreign lands be more safely entrusted , seeing u »« no class of the nommunitv hus so deep tin mtcresi
in the protoction and extension of British commerce . The plan of tho committee is , indeed , in every v ' . JJ worthy to bo carried out ; but it will bo met w i " every sort of impediment Hint can be thrown in iw way ' by tho vested interests of diplomacy , liiS " the friends of commcrciul progression to sec tna so fair an opportunity is not lost . Blue-books w nothing of themselves , and Mr . Monckton Milnes 8 committee cannot enforce tho adoption ol u ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 21, 1858, page 836, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_21081858/page/12/
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