CONSULS, Mercantile

CONSULS, Mercantile, are appointed by the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and are under the direction of the Foreign Office. They are sent to the various countries that have commercial relations with Great Britain. The office of consul seems to have originated in Italy about the middle of the twelfth century; and after the establishment of the various trading companies in England and France they were generally established over Europe. The duties assigned to British consuls are these:—To make themselves acquainted with the laws that regulate commerce, to give advice and assistance to British subjects when required, to make annual returns of the trade with the principal ports of their consulate, and quarterly returns of the prices of agricultural produce, to attend to the interests of the British navy, take charge of wrecks, to watch, protect, and promote British interests generally, and to see that justice is dealt to British subjects. A consul has also to report to the government any attempts at illicit trading made in violation of the laws of his own country, or of the country in which he resides, and to keep them duly informed in regard to the appearance of infectious disease within the limits of his consulate. Consuls occasionally partake of a certain kind of diplomatic character; and in Turkey, according to an ancient treaty and certain bye-laws of the Levant Company, they enjoy extensive judicial powers. Various opinions have been expressed in regard to the propriety of such an arrangement; but in the peculiar circumstances of that country it seems indispensable that justice should only be administered to British subjects by a responsible British officer. Similar judicial powers, however, are guaranteed in Sweden to the American consulate, but this is an exception to the general rule.

They nominate vice-consuls where they consider it necessary; but before these are permitted to act, they must receive the sanction of the Secretary of State, and after their appointment they can only be dismissed with the same sanction.

All the consuls holding a royal commission are British subjects, but many of the vice-consuls are not such.

The emoluments of the consuls arise from salaries from the crown, and fees fixed by act of parliament,—these arising principally from notarial acts, certificates connected with shipping, &c. An account of the amount of these receivable by each consul is transmitted to the Foreign Office annually or half-yearly. In most cases it is small; but in some, such as at Constantinople and New York, it is very considerable, being in the first L.1700 for the year 1847, and in the latter L.1230,—the salaries being L.1600 and L.800 respectively.

The whole consular establishment was revised by Lord Palmerston in 1831. In 1852 it consisted of 241 consuls and vice-consuls, exclusive of the consular staff in China, receiving salaries the aggregate amount of which was L.101,199. There were also 257 vice-consuls discharging their duties without salaries.

Previously to the general peace in the year 1814, the greater part of the British consuls abroad, who held commissions from the crown, were merchants at the respective places of their consular residence. Many of such consuls had no salary from government. Their emoluments consisted of fees, which they levied upon the tonnage of British ships, and upon the value of their cargoes. This mode of remunerating consuls having created dissatisfaction amongst the commercial classes, a new system was introduced in 1826, and an act of parliament was passed to abolish all consular fees on tonnage and cargoes, and to enable the crown to give remunerating salaries to consuls. According to the system founded upon the act of 1826, it was determined "that British consuls should not be in any way concerned, directly or indirectly, in commercial pursuits." This system was acted upon, with some few exceptions, until 1832, when a very considerable reduction was made in the salaries assigned to the consuls, and "permission was given to engage in mercantile pursuits," in order to indemnify them for the loss occasioned by the reduction of salary. This permission, however, is not indiscriminate, and the principle on which it is granted is somewhat arbitrary; but the practice is sufficiently prevalent to enable us to regard the act of 1826 as reversed—restriction "to engage in mercantile pursuits" being made the exception instead of the rule.

The advantage in permitting consuls to trade is this, that in consideration of the profits accruing to them as traders a lower salary may be given to them as consuls. This is met, however, by the obvious disadvantage, that if they have any political duties to perform, those political duties are not so well performed by a person who is liable to the imputation, however unfounded, of making his political actions subservient to his personal and commercial interests. In many cases jealousy has likewise been expressed by other traders and merchants in the same place, who, suspecting that the consul-merchant reaps undue advantage from information derived through his office, use means to deprive him of the information to which for statistical purposes he is entitled. It is therefore only in cases where these disadvantages are not likely to be in formidable proportion, that liberty may be granted to the consul to engage in trade; but it were better, to prevent the interests and honour of his country from being endangered by his commercial character and fortunes, that this liberty should in every case be refused. The repeal of the act of 1826 is, therefore, very questionable in point of commercial policy.