that can promote the commerce and navigation of this country, and the interests of its citizens.

27. Consular officers are particularly cautioned not Contentions to to enter into any contentions which can be avoided, be avoided. either with their countrymen or the authorities of the

by

observed consular offi

men.

towards

country in which they reside; referring questions of Conduct to be that nature to the ministers to whom they are respectively subordinate, or to the Department of State; cers using every endeavor to settle in an amicable man- their countryner all disputes in which their countrymen may be concerned; and countenancing and protecting them before the authorities of the country in all cases in which they may be injured or oppressed, but withholding from them support when they have been willfully guilty of an infraction of the laws, particularly in any attempt to defraud the revenue. In this last case they will aid the proper officers in checking such practices.

from participa

side.

28. All consular officers are forbidden to partici- Consular offipate in any manner whatever, directly or indirectly, cers to abstain in the political concerns of the countries by whose ting in politics governments they are severally acknowledged and in the countries recognized in their public character; and they are to where they rebe on their guard against the enlistment of their feelings upon the side of any of the political or sectional parties which may exist in those countries. In their Limits to be obdespatches upon such subjects, even to the Department of State, they will confine themselves to the communication of important or interesting public events, as they occur, in a clear and concise form, avoiding all unnecessary reflections or criticism upon the character or conduct of individuals or governments; and they will not give publicity, through the press or otherwise, to opinions or speculations injurious to the pub

served in consular Correspondence.

Prohibitious in

sular Corre

lic institutions of those countries, or the persons concerned in the administration of them; but it is, at the same time, no less their duty to report, freely and seasonably, to their own government, all important facts which may come to their knowledge, through authentic channels, touching the political condition of these countries, especially if their communications can be made subservient to, or may affect, the interest and well-being of their own.1

29. All consular officers are prohibited from correregard to con- sponding in regard to the public affairs of any foreign spondence, re- government with any private person, newspaper, or commendation other periodical, or with any other person than the foreign offices, proper officers of the United States; and from recomacceptance of mending any person, at home or abroad, for any empresents, etc. ployment of trust or profit under the government of

of friends for

the country in which they are located; as well as from asking or accepting, for themselves or any other person or persons, any present, emolument, pecuniary favor, office, or title of any kind, from any such government.2

Assumption of 30. As consuls, excepting in some Mohammedan diplomatic States, are not invested with diplomatic powers, they hibited. are not entitled to communicate directly, except under

functions pro

special circumstances, with the government of the country in which they reside. Consular officers are prohibited from exercising diplomatic functions, or holding any diplomatic correspondence or relation on the part of the United States, in, with, or to the government or country to which they shall be appointed, or any other country or government, when there shall be in such country any officer of the 1 De Clercq, tome ii. pp. 34, 35.

2 Statutes at Large, vol. i. p. 15.

United States authorized to perform diplomatic functions therein, unless expressly authorized by the President.1

eign govern

ments.

31. When an application is to be made to such Mode of adgovernment, it must be done through the minister dressing forof the United States, if there be one; if not, and the case should require it, the consul may address the proper department, but in respectful terms, stating the exigency of the case, and that an application to the subordinate officers could not be made, or that it had proved ineffectual.

versant with

con

32. It is the duty of a consul to be conversant with Consular offiall treaties, and with all commercial and consular cers to be conconventions; he should possess a thorough knowledge treaties, of the law of nations, and of the maritime and mer- ventions, and regulations afcantile laws of his own country, as well as those of fecting their the country in which he resides, and also an acquaint- own functions. ance with its history and language, its manners and customs.2

1 Statutes at Large, vol. xi. p. 56.

2 Kent, vol. i. p. 44; Opinions of the Attorneys General, vol. i. pp. 41, 77, 406; vol. ii. p. 725; De Clercq, Formulaire, tome ii. pp. 32, 33; Dall. vol. ii. p. 297; "Animo consulem esse oportet, consilio, fide, gravitate, vigilantiâ, curâ toto denique munere consulatûs omni officio tuendo, maximèque id quod vis nominis praescribit reipublicæ consulendo." Ciceronis Oratio in Pisonem.

2

#

When diplo matic duties

CHAPTER II.

EXTERRITORIAL AND OTHER PRIVILEGES OF CONSULS.1

33. THE United States may, with consent of the may be dis- government of another country, superadd to the regucharged by lar duties therein of consul, any of those of a minister. consular offi- There are two great classes of such cases, which might well be systematized; or the principle might be more explicitly recognized, in consular stipulations with foreign governments.

cers.

Consular privileges in colonial or other de

34. One is that of the transmarine possessions of sundry of the States of Europe. Here many cogent pendencies of reasons urge that the concession should be granted foreign States. to our consuls, by such States, of the right to address the colonial or provincial governor. There is nothing in the law of nations to prevent this; it is convenient for all parties; it is a consular right exercised by treaty in the great pashalics of the Turkish empire. The United States have recently made provision to the same effect in treaty with a Christian power, namely, the Netherlands; and that government having thus wisely relinquished its long subsisting scruples on this point, we may reasonably expect similar liberality in future commercial negotiations with other countries of Europe.

35. The other class of cases of this nature is that

1 The remarks contained in this chapter are mostly extracted from an opinion of a late Attorney General, dated July 14, 1855, Opinions of the Attorneys General, vol. vii. pp. 342–349.

2 Statutes at Large, vol. x. p. 1150.

there is no dip

States.

of a consul residing near a metropolitan government Consular where there is no minister, either because of tem- ties where porary cessation, or because inducements have not lomatic repreexisted for the interchange of diplomatic represent- sentatives of atives between such government and the United the United States. In this case it becomes the office, perhaps it may be said the right, of the consul to place himself, with the permission of his own government, in direct communication with the political authority of such government. Here, as in the other case, the fact occurs, and is of common convenience; it is not inconsistent with public law; and so far as regards the United States, it has example in treaties,—for instance, in our last consular convention with France.' It is a thing of manifest necessity as between the United States and some of the countries of Germany, Consular duwith which our relations are entirely amicable, with- ties out calling for permanent diplomatic representation. The German Bund, though in some features resembling our own federal republic, yet differs essentially in this, that, in the former, the federal authority, in matters of peace and war, acts on States, not individuals, and of course each State retains the power of foreign representation and negotiation. Hence, if we do not see cause to interchange ministers, we may yet well reciprocally enlarge the consular functions, in our relations with such States as Bavaria, Saxony, Würtemberg, Hanover, the Hessen, the Mecklenbürgs, or any other of the members of the Bund.

many.

in

Ger

36. Meanwhile, it would not in either of these Derivation of classes of cases follow, because a consul of the United exterritorial privileges by States in Bavaria, or one of Bavaria in the United States, may be admitted to address the government,

1 Statutes at Large, vol. x. pp. 992, 1000.

consuls.