established. We recall that Dr. Franklin was driven from England because of the use he made of letters irregularly obtained, and so recent an authority as Lecky, the historian, holds him guilty of fraudulent and corrupt conduct. This I regard as an unjust judgment, but it shows the strength of public sentiment on the subject. On the eve of the Spanish war in 1898 a letter, supposedly purloined from the Havana post-office, came into the hands of the Department of State, signed by the Spanish minister in Washington. It spoke in contemptuous terms of the President and of the motives influencing his conduct. The minister was confronted with the letter by an official of the department, and unhesitatingly admitted its genuineness. Whereupon all intercourse with him ceased, and he was given his passports. The action of the department was criticised in some quarters as a breach of the inviolability of the postal service.

The ancient method of secret cipher for concealing correspondence is still followed in the Department of State as well as in all other civilized governments. This cipher is furnished to the embassies and legations, and is in frequent use between them and the home government. It is scarcely possible to construct a cipher which cannot be translated, and governments understand this fact. Its use is resorted to mainly for the purpose of concealing official messages from the telegraphic operators who handle them and from the general public. In time of war they are fair game for the enemy, and in critical periods they are a great temptation to a not over-scrupulous government.

CHAPTER XI

THE CONSULAR SERVICE

THE establishment of consuls as a permanent class took place several centuries before the practice of maintaining embassies or legations became general. As a class of international officials it had its origin after the Crusades and when the Eastern Roman Empire was in its decay, at the period when Venice and other Italian states were assuming commercial importance. It arose, in fact, out of the differences of law and religion in the cities of the Levant, where the Italian commercial states maintained colonies or had large mercantile interests, the affairs of which were administered by consuls or consuljudges, and at that time their functions were largely of a judicial character, the name being traced back to the Roman consuls. With the check given to the power of the Ottoman rulers and the development of commerce in Western Europe the character of the service was materially changed, and the custom of appointing consuls was extended to the reciprocal exchange of such officials among the Christian nations. Their judicial powers were much restricted, their commercial functions became greatly enlarged, and they assumed the character by which they are now recognized in international law.

The United States early in its history accepted the system as established under the practice of nations, and has done much to bring order out of the confused state

in which the system existed when this country entered the family of nations. Its first treaty with a foreign power ratified after the adoption of the Constitution was a consular convention with France, and it has been the most active of the nations in negotiating such conventions, and in securing for consuls recognized place and functions under international law. Although no law of Congress had been passed creating the system at the time, the Federal Constitution recognized the international character of consuls, and President Washington had appointed fifteen such officials before the enactment of the law of 1792 on the subject. While the executive department has been so efficient, Congress has been slow to adopt the necessary legislation for a proper organization of the system. This was left entirely to the discretion of the Department of State until the law of 1856 was passed, which was the first attempt by the legislative department to provide an organic act for its regulation.

The government began by appointing unpaid consuls from American merchants residing abroad, or, if they were sent from America, they were allowed to engage in business as an equivalent for salary. Although this was found to work badly, no change occurred, and up to 1856 the consuls were paid in fees received by them. Under the acts of that and later years most of these earlier abuses have been removed and the system established upon a better basis.

The principal grades in the consular service of the United States are as follows:

Subordinate to these are:

Vice and deputy consuls-general.
Vice and deputy consuls.

Consular agents.

Consular clerks.

In addition to these, the Fifty-ninth Congress provided for the appointment of five inspectors of consulates to be designated as consuls-general at large.1

Consuls-general of the United States have usually a supervising jurisdiction over the consuls in the country to which they are accredited, but to this rule there are some exceptions. Of recent years more than one consulgeneral has been appointed in China and some other countries, rather to secure equality of treatment with other foreign consuls than on account of the exigencies of commerce. Consuls-general and consuls are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Vice and deputy consuls-general and consuls are recommended by their chiefs, and are commissioned by the secretary of state; the first-named act only in the absence of their chiefs, but the deputies assist their chief in a subordinate capacity in the place where the latter's office is located, and have no power to perform a public official act. Consular agents are nominated by the consuls, are commissioned by the secretary of state, and act as the representative of their chief at other commercial places within their district. Consular clerks are appointed by the President; they are by law limited in number to thirteen; they cannot be removed from office except for cause; and are assigned by the secretary of state to such consulates as he may think the service requires, to act subordinate to the principal consular 1 Act of Congress, April 5, 1906.

officer at the post. There are also what are termed merchant or commercial consuls, being those receiving a salary not exceeding $1,000, the limit at which a consul can by statute engage in business. In most countries vice-consuls are included in the regular consular grade, and not merely acting during the absence of the chief, as in the United States.

When a consul-general, or consul, is appointed, he is required to take the prescribed oath of office and file with the department a bond, in a sum fixed by the secretary of state, which in no case shall be less than his annual salary. A diplomatic officer is not required to give a bond when he enters upon his duties, but it is made necessary in the case of a consul because of the receipt by him of public moneys and of his control of the property of citizens. Like an envoy, he is granted not exceeding thirty days' time awaiting instructions and preparing for his post, and a liberal allowance for "traveling time."

It is the policy of the government not to appoint foreign subjects as consular officers, and this is rarely done, and then only at places without fixed salaries and where the services of citizens of the United States have not been available. It is also the policy of the government not to appoint naturalized citizens to consulates within the country of their nativity, although it has not been invariably observed. The conclusion of Secretary Fish was that the experience of the government had demonstrated the inconvenience and often serious embarrassment resulting from such appointments.1 1 Wharton's Digest, 761.