Mode of addressing foreign governments. Consular officers not entitled ministers; when 19. Whenever application is to be made to such government, it must be done through the minister of the United States, if there be one; if not, and the case should require it, the consul may make the application to 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. 20. A consul is not such a public minister as to to the privi- be entitled to the privileges appertaining to that leges of public character, nor is he under the special protection of not otherwise the law of nations. In civil and criminal cases, provided, sub- where not otherwise provided by treaty stipulations, of the country he is subject to the laws of the country in which he resides.1 ject to the laws in which they reside. Consular officers 21. It is the duty of consuls to be conversant with to be conversant all treaties, conventions, and consular conventions, with treaties, conventions, and also, with the laws and commercial and other regu regulations af fecting their own lations relating to their consular functions. functions. 1 Kent, vol. I, p. 44; Opinions of 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. CHAPTER II. CONSULS GENERAL. to be guided by the general in by specific instructions. 22. Consuls general of the United States will, like Consuls general other consular officers, be guided in their official duties by the General Instructions. Inasmuch, however, as structions, and the duties which consuls general are required to discharge are often highly important and involve much responsibility, they will receive, from time to time, from this Department, as occasion may require, specific instructions for their information and guidance. 23. Consular officers residing within the jurisdic- Transmission of tion of a consul general will transmit their official correspondence. correspondence and reports through him, unless otherwise instructed, and in cases of emergency when the delay in communicating with the Depart ment would be prejudicial to the public interests. to give advice 24. Consuls general will, when requested by a Consuls general consular officer, give their advice and counsel to to consular offihim in all cases of difficulty, and in respect to all cers. subjects affecting the interests of their own government or their countrymen. consular agents. 25. Whenever the interests of the United States Appointment of require the appointment of a consular agent at any port or place within a consular district, the consul general of the United States, if there be such an officer in the country, will communicate to the Department of State the name of the individual whom the consul proposes to appoint, with the consul's reasons therefor, and also for the establishment of the agency, together with his own views on the Mode of com with a consular agent. subject. All the papers relating to the case must likewise be transmitted to the Department. 26. Whenever a consul general has occasion to municating communicate with a consular agent on official business, he will do so through the medium of the consul All consuls gen- to whom such agent is responsible. All consuls general prohibited from trading, eral, whether specified in schedule B or appointed in accordance with the 4th section of the act of August 18, 1856, are subject to the prohibition in regard to trade mentioned in the 5th section of the same act. &c. Office of consul general. 27. The office of consul general may be given, as a mere titular designation, to imply rank; but it more properly signifies an office with special functions, well defined by the law of nations and public usage. Such an officer possesses utility and particular application in foreign countries of extensive but definite circumscription in which there is no proper diplomatic representative of the government, such as the several great European colonies, or other governments of that order, in Asia, Africa, and America. In the foreign dependencies of European powers, many of which are in themselves great states, with all the mechanism of local authority, and in some cases enjoying semi-independence under the administration of a governor, a captain general, or a pacha, it becomes necessary that some consular person should have power to communicate with the supreme colonial or feudatory chief, in behalf of his colleagues and his countrymen; and on the consul residing at the seat of such government will naturally devolve the functions, if not the title, of consul general.1 1 Opinion of Attorney General, June 2, 1855; De Cussy, Règlements Consulaires, p. 70; Moreuil, Agents Consulaires, p. 18; De Clercq, Guide des Consulats, p. 22. CHAPTER III. CONSULS AND OTHER CONSULAR OFFICERS. sular officers defined. 28. Under the 31st section of the act of 18th of Principal conAugust, 1856, consuls general, consuls, and commercial agents, are deemed and taken to denote full, principal, and permanent consular officers, as distinguished from subordinates and substitutes. 29. The first class of consular officers are those Consular offi cers of the first terested in or consuls general, consuls, and commercial agents, who class prohibited are appointed to the ports and places designated in from being inschedule B section three of the above mentioned from transactact, who, while they hold the consular office, are ing business. prohibited by the 5th section of the said act from being interested in, or from transacting any business as merchants, factors, brokers, or other traders, or as clerks or other agents for any such persons, to, from, or within the port, place, or limits of their consulates or commercial agencies, directly or indirectly, either in their own names or through the agency of any other persons. 30. Consuls of this class are entitled to compen- Compensation. sation for their services, respectively, at the rates specified in said schedule B. offi 31. The second class of consular officers are those Consular consuls and commercial agents appointed to the cers of the secports and places designated in schedule C of the same section. ond class. Compensation. Consular class and their 32. Consular officers of this class are entitled to compensation for their services, respectively, at the rates per annum which are specified in schedule C, and are not prohibited from being interested in or transacting business. offi- 33. The third class of consular officers are those cers of the third consuls general, consuls, and commercial agents, who compensation. are not embraced in schedules B and C, and who are entitled, as compensation for their services, to such fees as they may collect in pursuance of the provisions of the act of 18th of August, 1856. Consular offi- 34. The President is authorized by the 15th seccers subject to tion of the said act to subject any consul or comas regards busi-mercial agent contemplated by the 4th section, and the prohibition ness. any vice consul, vice commercial agent, deputy consul, or consular agent, to the prohibition as to trade contained in the 5th section, and to require from them such bond as is provided for by the 13th section, whenever he shall think the public interests will be promoted thereby. |