Have you any idea of the rate of salary that

should be paid to Consuls ? — It is difficult for me to specify any amount ; they should be proportioned to the extend of the duties, and to the expense of living in the place.

17. — 456. Do you consider there should be allowances for outfits, or any allowances on the appointment of Con-

BRITISH CONSULAR ESTABLISHMENTS 1835 241

sul, independent of his salary ? — Î think there should ; on a first appointment there are considerable expenses, which

must otherwise be met from the private resources of the Consul.

18. — 507. For assistance when your representations do not succeed ? — Ves ; but in many instances I have, with the sanction of His Majesty's représentative at the Hague, communicated direct with the different Boards at the Hague, by which delays have often been avoided, and matter much more easily settled ; but this requires a personal knowledge of the heads of these departments, and it is obvious that in proportion to such personal influence, the information will be more or less easily an effectually gained. À Consul not trading, with a hberal allowance from His Majesty’s Government, must stand upon a better footing than a merchant Consul.

19. — 658. You would define the duties of a Consul as being political, magisterial and commercial ? — I have always understood that there was something of a political character attached to it, but it has always been disavowed at the Foreign-Office that there was anything of the kind : I can only say there must be something political attached to it; for in a cireular sent out by Mr. Hamilton, it was stated, that the Vice-Consul should be a

man of « known sentiments. »

20. — 660. What power has a Vice-Consul to arrest and imprison a British subject ? — By the laws of Genoa they will not interfere between two Britsh subjects ; if a seaman is guilty of any riot, hais brought before the Consul ; the mode is this, if a man has been guilty of any ille-

Stowell, 16

gal conduct on board a vessel, the Consul issues his order to take this man to prison ; he is handed over to one of the sbirri, or gens d’armes, who never enters the consulate and he takes the man to prison

01. — 661. It is the Genoese magistrate that commits {he man, and not the British Consul ? — The British Consul issues a warrant addressed to the gaoler, and the magistrate does not interfere in it.

99. __ 797. Are not the cases, for instance, in which, you have to protect the rights of the British subjects against the violation of treaties, rare, compared with the ordinary every day interference by the Consul in ordinary affairs ? — Not so very rare:

93. — 798. What duties belong to your office as Consul which you consider purely diplomatie ? — Acts of oppression or infractions of the treaty existing between the Brazils and England, compel the Consul for the time being to act In a kind of political character, to assume an importance that at other times does not'attach to him. This arises from his post bemg so widely distant from His Majesty’s envoy at Rio Janeiro. In cases of emergency it would ill become him to remain passive, to neglect matters of magnitude, and to shelter himself from the reproach of indifference and the risk of responsibility under the plea of « want of instructions. »

24. — 808. Supposing the captam was saved, and the vessel saved, and the cargo saved, would the Consul have a right Lo interfere ? — Î conceive it would be his duty as Consul to interfere for he benefit of all parues concerned ; for the absent parties whose interests he alone is authorized to espouse and maintain.

BRITISH CONSULAR ESTABLISHMENTS 1835 243

25. — 924. Have you not known cases where Americans employ English persons as Consuls ? — I have not, but I believe there are several instances where the British Consuls have acted in the absence of an American Consul, so far as the protection of the citizens ot the United States was concerned,

26. — 930. Would you not report them home ? — I would not ; because they were ultimately settled by His Majes‘y’s minister. The last instance I recollect was, when a British subject was refused to be made a burgher, and not allowed to clear ships ; after much trouble, [ succeeded, through the minister, in obtaining for him the right of clearing ships, without his becoming a burgher.

27. — 999. Are you aware of any instances in which the powers with which the laws of this country had armed thé Consul were restrained, or disputed ? — [I remember one case where the power of administering oaths was disputed ; where they were forbidden to administer oaths.

28—. 1.000. Where ? — In East Prussia; the case that I have most particularly in mind occured in Memel. The old navigation laws were then in operation, under which the Consul had the power of ordering a survey upon a stranded vessel. This power was exercised by Mr. Fowler, then Vice-Consul of Memel, and the fiscal authorities commenced proceedings against him, with a view to fine or imprisonment. Mr. Fowler pleaded his instructions and the law of England but neither plea was admitted ; and it was with the utmost difficulty that the envoy at Berlin and myself procured, as a matter of favor, that the proceedings should be quashed. They afterwards pro-

posed that instead of allowing foreign Consuls to administer oaths themselves ,a person belonging to one of the tribunals should be adjoined to them, and administer the vath in the presence of the Consul. That arrangement I thought it my duty to refuse acceding to, and the matter rested there, until they subsequently allowed that British subjects might have oaths administered to them by the Consul for purposes connected with, and to be operalive in this country.

29. — 1.002. Do you apprehend that foreign governments would generally object to grant privileges Lo our Consuls on the principle of reciprocity ? — No, I do not. At the same time there are some governments that would have no benefit from such a reciprocity, and therefore, perbaps, would not yield it ; for in such cases the benefit would be unilateral. Such governments as I allude to, do not send stipendiary Consuls, but employ local merchants, who could not assert privileges because of their civic relations.

30. — 1.043. You received more communications than an ordinary Consul would do, because you were partly a political agent, and had branch correspondents unrecoenized by Government ? — Yes ; active and capable as the Prussian employes are, [ have sometimes been enabled to anticipate them, and had such means of information that our envoy at Berlin was apprised by me of the Emperor Alexander’s death, and what followed upon it, several hours before the Prussian government heard of those events, Of course this was not conveyed by the common post, but by estaffette, and I could charge an expense

BRITISH CONSULAR ESTABLISHMENTS 1835 245

of that kind if the occasion were admitted to be of such importance as justified the cost.

31. — 1053. Besides having a more defined jurisdiction, is there any advantage which Foreign Consuls have by which British Consuls suffer in the comparison ? — Taking the French Consuls for an example, I should say that they have several advantages over the English. In the first place, the French Consul is, virtute officü, chief of his nation where he resides ; the English Consul has a rank assigned to him, by an arrangement with the Admiralty, that places him between the major and lieutenantcolonel ; every captain of a rated ship-of-war ranks before him, and his local consideration must necessarily suffer by that. In some countries, Consuls have a corporate kind of disconsideration instead of a comparative one ; they cannot (qua consuls) be received at court. At Naples and in Denmark no British or other Consul-general could be presented, though the junior attaché to any mission would, of right, be received. Probably there are other courts where the same regulation excludes.

32. — 1077. Do not British Consuls exercise a magisterial authority in case of disorderly seamen and under what sanction ? — That is by prescription ; in most places they exercise a sort of petty-police authority, but TI believe it 1s of very questionable legality. [ have been threatened with actions for damages in two instances : one was in France, where a gentleman required his pretended ward to be sheltered from the designs of a young officer, and I caused gens d’armes to be placed at her door to prevent the elopement. In the other instance, the mate of a ship

had beaten his captain, incited the crew to mutiny, and carried weapons with the avowed purpose of stabbing. I required him to be kept in custody until there was a ship ready to send him home in, which caused an imprisonment of nine days at my cost for his subsistence. Proper as such a jurisdiction would be, I think if it had come to a trial here, I should have been cast in damages ; and the fact of the local authorities having left the parties to be dealt with by me, would hardly have operated in mitigation.

33. __ 1169. Will you mention any instances ? — Amongst other instances in the public instructions, we are required to settle disputes between masters and mariners. Now the agreement entered into im this couniry between the master and the mariner if broken in a port of Spain, does not necessarily involve either party in a transgrèssion of the law of that country ; therefore, I conceive that the Consul ought to be vested with a power to compel the parties to fulfil their agreement. If in this country a seaman chose to break the articles of agreement with his master, I being a magistrale of the county of Lincoln, if the offence occurred in that county, could commit that seamen to the house of correction to hard labor for 30 days, and compel him on coming out to fulfil that agreement ; and if the captain did not wish to have the refractory seaman again, there would be no difficulty in getting a substitute ; but in Cadiz, where there are no spare British seamen, and where the breach of an agreement made in England, is no transgression of the law of Spain the Consul has no control. 1 will state a case which formed a despatch of mine in 1825, upon this very subject. The whole crew of

BRITISH CONSULAR ESTABLISHMENTS 1835 241

a vessel walked into my consular-office one morning, headed by a sea lawyer, a clever Scotchman, who said, « Mr. Consul, we have come to tell you that none of us mean to go home in this here ship. » [ said, « What is the reason ? » He said, « Sir, I do not consider the ship to be seaworthy. » [ replied, « [ am sure you ought not to go home in her if she be not, and as I happen to be an agent for Lloyds », as well as His Majesty's Consul, I willtake care to ascertain whether those defects in the ship of which you complain really exist, and if they be such as you state, of course neither your lives nor the properties of the parties must be endangered ; but as I know that you came round Cape Horn in this ship to Gibraltar, (a long and boisteroux voyage), where you were paid your wages, and where you re-entered to perform the voyage to England, how was it that you did not find out this unseaworthiness before ? » I however appointed three competent persons to survey the ship, and they reported that she was seaworthy. The crew, however, were not saüusfied with this, and I took occasion to appoint another survey, composed of three other surveyors, upon this express condition, that the crew should go with the new surveyors, and point out those parts of the ship which they said were defective ; they could not point out the defects complained of, and the consequence was that they turned round upon me, and said, « We know the law as well as you do ; you have no control over us in this country, we have only our month’s wages to forfeit for breaking our agreement, and there is an American in the bay that will give us 16 dollars a month, and a slaver that will give us 40 ; and therefore, as you cannot compel us, we will not go to England

with the ship. » The name of that ship was The Garland, of Poole, and the name of the master was Muxunthy. This occurence formed the subject of a despaich of mine to the Foreign-Office, No. 38, in 1825, in which I asked that magisterial powers might be given to Consuls abroad ; but the reply was to the effect, that it would not be convenient for His Majesty’s Consuls to be vested with the power of magistrates at home. The French government give their Consuls that power. When there is no ship of war in the bay the French Consul exercises the duty of police. The reply from this despatch was on the 20th. of February 1826 : there is a great difficulty in setthng disputes between the masters and mariners, both parties require the occasional services of the Consul, who has no power lo summon either ; no power lo correct refractory seamen ; who has no power to compel the ssaman abroad to fulfil the articles of his agreement made at home ; and hence, from this single case (and there are many of a si milar sort that have occured), your Committee will observe that I have been obliged to ship foreigners on board of English ships, because the English seamen refused to comply with the conditions of the articles of their agree-

ment.

34. — 1170. From what nation do you consider we may take an example ? — I think the most perfect sys-

tem is the French upon this point.

30. — 1188. Are there many duties which devolve upon you in consequence of that ? (Chaplain). — A great many, and some of them of a most painful nature ; such as visiting the sick, going through the hospital where an

BRITISH CONSULAR ESTABLISHMENTS 1835 249

infectious disease is ; being obliged to pass through wards where there are hundreds of people ; visiting such sick and dying persons, and burying the dead, are not consular duties ; yet no Consul would shrink from the exercise of them, if he felt the assurance that his presence adminis tered comfort to the sick and the afflicted of his country : IE, moreover, read the prayers of the Church of England, and a sermon within the consulate every Sabbath-day, to such Protestants as choose to attend.

36. — 1293. Have you any other papers, Mr. Bidwell, to put in ? — Yes ; papers which will show the Committee that Consuls are very frequently called upon to make representations to the local authorities upon the construction of our trealies with foreign countries. These papers, from the Consul in the Canary Islands, have reference to the case of a vessel which had arrived at one of those Islands, and having landed a part of her cargo, proceeded to the principal Island, Teneriffe, with a Spanish customhouse officer on board. One day, when the master and crew were below at dinner, the custom-house officer remained on deck, and when the master and crew came up from below, he had disappeared. On the arrival of the vessel in port the master and crew were arrested, and put into confinement, to account for the disappearence of the custom-house officer. The question turned upon the right of the British Consul under treaty to be present at the examination and trial. The right was at first admitted by the Spanish authorities, but afterwards was withdrawn, on the ground that the treaty gave that right to the Consul in commercial cases only, and not in criminal cases. À long correspondence ensued, which terminated by the Consul

being instructed to insist upon being present in such cases. Here are other papers which have been printed by order of The House : one set contains the correspondence with His Majesty’s Consul-general at Hamburg, on the subject of the alleged complaints of British subjects ; the other, the correspondence on the subject of the arrest and execution of Mr. Boyd at Malaga, in 1831.

Reports relative to British Consular Establishments 1858 and1871.— Parts 1,2,3,and.4. — Parliamentary Papers. Session 4872, vol. LX and. LXI.

(These reports were sent in to the Foreign-Office by British Consuls in Answer to a list of carefully prepared questions Ed.).

N° 1. — BRAZIL. (Rio de Janeiro). — IV, p. 143

15. — The text books on international law are extremely vague as to the privileges and jurisdiction which may be claimed by Consuls.

N° 2. — PORTUGAL (Lisbon). — IT, p. 43-45.

The duties which I am called upon lo perform are partiallyÿ enumerated in the General Instructions to Her Majesty’s Consuls, and in the voluminous Board of Trade Instructions ; and a full statement of those duties would involve a recapitulation, paragraph by paragraph, of both sels of Instructions. Among the more important of them, however, I may mention the following : —

To perform marriages.

To register the births, deaths, and marriages of British subjects.

To intervene in the management of the temporal affairs of the British Church and Burial Ground at Lisbon, and to audit and forward to Government periodically the accounts of those Establishments.

To take charge of, relieve, and forward to their own country, British subjects (not seamen), under very stringent and difficult conditions as Lo the rermbursement of the money expended by me in doing so.

To administer oaths.

To take evidence on oath, whether orally or in the form of depositions.

To report to Goverment all alterations in duties on British sh'pping and changes in legislation affecting shipping and trade.

To furnish annually to Government a full Report, for my Consular district, on shipping and navigation, trade, population and industries, agriculture, public works and general subjects.

To furnish Reports whenever required, upon any special subject that may be selected by the Foreign Office or the Board of Trade.

To keep and forward Quarterly Accounts of Receipts and Payments with (1) The Foreign, (2) The Board of Trade, (3) The Admiralty, (4) lhe Treasury, (5) The War Office, these duties comprising, as regards the Board of Trade, a very elaborate, complex, and multifarious system of accounts, abstracts, and vouchers.

To keep a Fee Cash Book (of which a copy is forwarded quarterly to the Foreign Office).

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To keep, (1) À book of Protests, (2) À book of Protests Extended, (3) À book of surveys Extended, and to grant copies, when required, under my hand and seal, of all such Protests noted or extended, and of all such Surveys Extended, (4) A full register of all correspondence to and from the Consulaie under five or six different heads, (5) À Letter Book, into which are copied all my despatches and letters to the Foreign Office, Board of Trade, other Government Departments, Her Majesty’s Mission, my Vice- Consuls, and to all other persons.

To administer, in certain cases, the property of British subjects dying within my district.

To issue certificates for passports.

To grant certificates in regard to various matters of fact.

To perform a variety of other Notarial acts, such as attestations of signature, legalization of power of attorney, etc.

To superintend, direct, and correspond with nine subordinate Vice-Consuls at the outports of my district.

To wait upon the officers commanding Her Majesty’s ships upon their arrival in the Tagus, to correspond with and render them every assistance in my power as to the maintenance of discipline ashore, as to the purchase of coals and provisions, and the execution of repairs, etc., to certify rates of exchange and prices current. To pay pilotages for, and issue bills of health to, Her Majesty's ships. To decide all slight police cases in connection with seamen belonging to Her Majesty’s ships. These cases, which are very numerous when the Channel Squadron winters, as it mostly does, at Lisbon, are referred to me by the courtesy

of the local authorities. To identify and forward to their respective ships, stragglers and deserters from the squadron, keeping the local police informed of the rewards which are issued for their apprehension-

To furnish annually to Government a full Return of British shipping frequenting the ports of my district.

To keep a Register of every British merchant-vessel staying forty-eight hours in the port, in which are specified a variety of particulars in regard to the ship, master, owners, consignees, inward and outward cargo, etc.

To intervene in disputes between masters and consignees of British merchant-vessels, and more especially between such masters and the consignees of the cargo ; and generally to advice and assist the master in all his relations with the port authoritiss in case of collision or infraction of harbour, police, or sanitary regulations. These functions (and those connected with the settlement of disputes with the crew, hereafter referred to), are amongst the most onerous of those discharged by the Staff, involving as they do, unlimited demands on time and patience, and interruting, often for hours, the heavy celerical work of the office.

To note and report immediately all Quarantine measures adopted by the Portugese Government.

To intervene, if required, in all questions respecting the sales and mortgages of British ships abroad.

To report to the Board of Trade, with a series of minute particulars, every casualty happening to a British merchant-vessel within the Consular district.

To take charge of the ship's register and other papers