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9 called consulates of the second class, 17 called consulates of the third class (includ

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56 called consulates of the sixth class,
28 called consulates of the seventh class (in-
cluding five commercial agencies), .

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1,000 28,000 $327,000

168, that is, 162 consuls, 6 commercial agents,

All of these officers receiving salaries, with the exception of those in class seven and also those at four small commercial agencies, are prohibited from engaging in trade.

The changes proposed in the bill which passed the House of Representatives involve a very general reduction of the salaries thus stated: the abolition of the first and second classes of the established scheme, changes in the classes, and the withdrawal of this mode of compensation from about forty consulates; the effect of the whole being to reduce the appropriation by about $100,000.

The statute authorizes the appointment by the President of thirteen "consular clerks," who receive salaries of $1,000 each per annum from the time of their appointment until they have been in service continuously for five years, and thereafter $1,200 per annum. It was originally proposed to call these officers" consular pupils," after the elèves consuls known in the service of continental countries; we mention this circumstance because it aids to distinguish them from the "office clerks" employed, appointed and paid by such consuls as enjoy an allowance for clerk hire. The provision for consular pupils to be appointed by the President to the number of twenty-five, was originally made in a section of the fundamental act of 1856, of which we have already spoken; but this section was repealed within six months after the passage of the act, before any appointments had been made. It was revived in an act passed in 1864, still in force, and re-enacted in the Revised Statutes, the name of the officers being changed to "consular

clerks," and the number being reduced to thirteen. We have heard it said that more than one hundred applications for appointment to this position were on file, awaiting the executive approval of the act of 1864; but Mr. Seward was ready for them, with a sufficiently severe schedule for the examination, which the law expressly required; and upon sight of this schedule nearly all the applicants withdrew. At any rate, only two were appointed in that year (1864) and no more during the next year. In the course of the year 1866 the authorized number of thirteen was filled up; but that the appointments have been made with sparing hand, and that no resignations have been forced, is proved by the fact that no more than thirty-two appointments in all have been made in the eleven years that the system has been in operation. These consular clerks, after a limited period of service in the Department of State at Washington, where they acquire an experience of great value to them afterwards, are assigned for duty at the consulates at which, in the opinion of the Secretary of State, they will prove most useful; and from time to time their positions are changed. The statute expressly provides that no consular clerk shall be removed from office, except for cause stated in writing and submitted to Congress; and in fact no vacancies have occurred, except by death or voluntary resignation. Several of them have been appointed to be consuls as occasion has arisen, and two at least have arrived at the rank of consul-general.

The excellent provision of law, authorizing the salary of these consular clerks to be increased to $1,200 after five years' continuous service, took effect in July last, when it was applicable to two only of the number; but, if we mistake not, it becomes applicable to three more in the course of the present year. We may therefore compute the annual expense of the salaries of this class of officers as follows:

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We have, then, as the aggregate expense of salaries allowed to consuls-general, consuls, commercial agents, and consular clerks, the following:

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salaries, but are allowed to We have already remarked

There are also about fifty-nine consuls and fourteen commercial agents who receive no retain the fees received by them. that heretofore there were sometimes posts of this class where the amount of fees received has been considerable, yielding in fact, in a few cases, a larger remuneration to the consul than the average of the fixed salaries. But this is no longer the case; under the existing revision of the laws, a salary is attached to nearly all posts where the fees exceed trifling amounts, and the provision of law remains in force which requires the return to the treasury by consuls thus compensated of the surplus of fees, if any, above $2,500, together with the sums expended, with the approval of the Secretary of State, for office rent and clerk hire; so that no consul paid by fees can have a personal compensation exceeding $2,500. But very few of them enjoy a compensation approaching that sum, or exceeding a few hundred dollars.

"Vice consul-general" and "deputy consul-general" are uncouth expressions that have been permitted to creep into the nomenclature of our service, unknown to that of other countries. In any system of regular gradation, the prefix "vice" indicates a rank below, and the suffix "general' indicates a rank above, that of "consul" to which they are attached. By combining the whole in one expression, however, it would seem that an effect is produced gratifying to the feelings of somebody. The officers enjoying these titles do not differ from simple vice-consuls and deputy-consuls, except that they serve at posts where the principal officer is a consulgeneral. It is contrary to our system to have a consul-general and a consul in service at the same time at the same post.

Vice-consuls and deputy-consuls, whether with or without the suffix of "general," receive no salary or other emolument from the government, but are compensated, if at all, out of the salary of the principal officer to whom they are respectively subordinate, according to such agreement as may be made be

tween him and them. The number of these officers should be about the same as the number of consuls-general and consuls, that is to say, two hundred and forty, as it is expected that there should be one at every consulate, to act in case of a vacancy, however temporary; but, in point of fact, the number is rather less, not exceeding, we believe, at the present time, two hundred and two. The deficiency is owing, no doubt, to the difficulty experienced at many posts of finding a suitable person to be invested with the responsibilities of the position and able to give the bond required by law. The technical distinction between a "vice-consul" and a "deputy-consul" is this, that the former is to act in the absences of the consul, or after his death or resignation, while a "deputy" may assist in the performance of the business of the office, even when the consul is present at his post. Sometimes both offices are held by the same person, and it rarely happens that separate appointments to both are made for the same post. Practically, at many posts, vice-consuls act as deputy-consuls. This being so, the distinction seems hardly worth preserving. All of these officers are appointed by the Secretary of State on the nomination of the consul-general or consul, under the power which the Constitution gives to Congress to "vest the appointment of such inferior officers as they think proper, in the President alone, in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.' These remarks with reference to vice-consuls apply to "vice commercial agents," of whom there are about seventeen in service.

The post of vice-consul, however, derives an importance from the circumstance that when a vice-consul is in full charge of a consulate, he is entitled by law to receive the whole, or such part as the President may prescribe, of the compensation established for a consul at that post; and the usage has been to allow the whole. But as the vice-consuls very frequently are not citizens of the United States, they were, by another provision of law, until recently, prohibited from receiving any salary; or to state the fact more exactly, the officers of the treasury were prohibited from paying them. This system worked unequally, for some of them were able to conceal the fact of their noncitizenship, and the unfairness was so palpable of accepting a

man's service to the extent of allowing him to act for the country, often during a considerable interval of time, and yet denying him any pay for the service thus rendered and accepted, that their accounts sometimes passed if the fact of non-citizenship did not appear on the face of the papers. The anomaly has now been set at rest, by a special enactment that "any vice-consul, who may be temporarily acting as consul during the absence of such consul, may receive compensation, notwithstanding that he is not a citizen of the United States." It would of course be desirable, if suitable persons could be found to accept such appointments, to have a vice-consul who is a citizen attached to every consulate; but this will obviously be impossible at the great majority of posts, until the government shall be prepared to establish a scheme of salaries for such officers. At the same time, in a service of at least two hundred and forty persons, it is clear that the chances of mortality will occasion five or six vacancies every year by reason of death. Upon the death of the consul, his effects, including the seal of the consulate, which, with a supply of blank official forms, may become a dangerous utensil in dishonest or mischievous hands, must fall into the hands of somebody; to say nothing of the archives and records of the consulate. In these days of open and frank dealing in matters of diplomacy, these things may be of little intrinsic value, but they certainly ought to be cared for. It is important that there should be on the spot a vice-consul, already known and recognized as such (whether formally or informally) by the local authority, prepared to take charge of the consulate without a moment's delay, to communicate with the Department of State, and to perform, at least such of the duties of the consul as may be within his competence, and necessary for the convenience of merchants, ship-masters, and travellers. The minimum interval before a vacancy can be filled and the new consul can arrive at his post will of course vary with its remoteness; and it happens that the more distant places are generally those at which the presence of an authorized and recognized gérant, in such cases, is most important. In point of fact, the interval, not unfrequently, extends over several months. A vice-consul, rendering as far as he is able the full service of a consul in

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