Consulship

“ You are seeking the consulship, an office of which no one thinks you unworthy, but of which there are many who will be jealous. For, while by birth of equestrian rank, [5] you are seeking the highest rank in the state, and yet one which, though the highest, reflects much greater splendour on a man of courage eloquence and pure life than on others. Don't suppose that those who have already held that office are blind to the political position you will occupy, when once you have obtained the same. ”

“ A restored power of jurisdiction is indeed one of the features of their position during this time, and it is probable that the civil appeals which came to the senate were delegated to the consuls. They also acted for a time as delegates to the princeps in matters of Chancery jurisdiction such as trusts and guardianship (Mommsen, Staatsrecht, ii. p. 103) . The consulship was also a preparation for certain high commands, such as the government of certain public and imperial provinces (see Province) and the praefecture of the city. ”

“ Did they imagine that the men who had been accustomed to fill all the eight places when consular tribunes were elected would of their own free will consent to share two places with the plebs, or that they would allow the path to the consulship to be opened when they had so long blocked the one to the consular tribuneship? The people would have to secure by law what they could not gain by favour, and one of the two consulships would have to be placed beyond dispute as open to the plebs alone, for if it were open to a contest it would always be the prey of the stronger party. ”

“ King Theodahad to the Senate of the City of Rome.
The same subject.
'We do not think that the fact of a man's having received the Consulship early in life should shut him out from holding office of lower rank in his maturer years [649] . As the Tiber receives the water of smaller rivers which merge their names in his, so a man of Consular rank can serve the State in less conspicuous ways, yet still be Consular. ”

“ Vet. xi. [x.] 2.) This exalted idea of the consulship is borrowed from an oration (iii. p. 107) pronounced by Julian in the servile court of Constantius. See the Abbé de la Bleterie, (Mémoires de l’Académie, tom. xxiv. p. 289,) who delights to pursue the vestiges of the old constitution, and who sometimes finds them in his copious fancy]
The proudest and most perfect separation which can be found in any age or country, between the nobles and the people, is perhaps that of the Patricians and the Plebeians, as it was established in the first age of the Roman republic. ”

“ Do you who can with indiscriminate pleasure rejoice in both the blessings of the Republic [in the Consuls of the East and West] join your favouring vote. He who is worthy of so high an office as [Pg 172] the Consulship may well be chosen by the judgment of both' [Emperor and King] .
[An important letter, as showing the extent to which concurrent choice of Consuls was vested in Rome, or rather Ravenna, and Constantinople.]
2. King Theodoric to Felix, Vir Illustris, Consul Ordinarius, a.d. 511 (4th of the Indiction) . ”

“ Tenth consulship; gives the people 400 sesterces each.
731. Eleventh consulship; twelve times supplies food for citizens, XV, cf. V; Ethiopian expedition, XXVI.
87
732. Consulship of Marcus Marcellus and Lucius Arruntius; refuses annual and perpetual consulship; also the dictatorship; accepts the administration of grain supply, V; dedicates temple of Jupiter Tonans, XIX.
733. Refuses consulship? V.
734. Receives embassy from India, XXXI; ninth time imperator? refuses a triumph, IV; recovers standards from Parthia, XXIX; gives Armenia Major to Tigranes, XXVII.
735. ”

“ As the magistracy was far more powerful than the people at Rome, the body that exercised the whole of the highest prohibitive power through the tribunate, and monopolised half of the highest positive authority in the consulship, was bound to be supreme. Even the purely patrician privilege of the patrum auctoritas was no great disturbance to this power. It became more a matter of form, the more the plebeian element entered into the Senate. ”

“ Not only did they lack the courage to claim their share in the chance of preferment to the consulship, but even in the election of consular tribunes, which was open to both patricians and plebeians, they never thought of their tribunes or their party. They need be no longer surprised that no one interested himself in the welfare of the plebs. Toil and danger were incurred for those objects from which profit and honour might be expected. There was nothing which men would not attempt if rewards were held out proportionate to the greatness of the effort. ”

“ The system of French foreign consulships, for instance, all but died out after the crushing of the independent life of the south and the incorporation of Provence and Languedoc under the French crown; while, with the establishment of Venetian supremacy in the Levant, the baylo developed into a diplomatic agent of the first class at the expense of the consuls of rival states. ”

“ To accept any of several of our Oriental consulships, a man must either have a private fortune or an unscrupulous knack of living by his wits. The English name is almost universally respected in the East, so far as my limited experience goes, in the character of its consuls; the same cannot be said of the American. ”

“ Pierre, Martinique
Oh, these comfortable American consuls of the tropics! They live among flowers and palms, arise late and go to their town offices by noon; then “business” grows dull and they bolt the office at three or four o’clock and take flight to a gardened home, in some cool mountain suburb, to rest from the wearisome grind of diplomacy. Would that we all might rise to the dolce far niente of an American consulate! But after all we need them; for if our flag is now seldom seen in out-of-the-way ports, who but the American consul will protect the wandering American? ”

“ The consuls and vice consuls respectively shall have the exclusive right of receiving in their chancery, or on board of vessels, the declarations and all other acts, which the captains, masters, seamen, passengers, and merchants of their nation would make there, even their testaments and other dispositions of last will, and the copies of the said acts duly authenticated by the said consuls, or vice consuls, and under the seal of their consulate shall receive faith in law in all the tribunals of France and the United States. ”

“ After having been a distinguished minister, how many things more must be known to make a good consul! For there is no end to the variety of a consul’s attributions; and they are perfectly distinct from those of the other persons employed in foreign affairs. They demand a vast amount of practical knowledge which can only be acquired by a peculiar education. Consuls are called upon to discharge, for the advantage of their countrymen, and over the extent of their jurisdiction, the functions of judges, arbitrators, and promoters of reconciliation ”

“ During my former Administration I took occasion to recommend a recast of the laws relating to the consular service, in order that it might become a more efficient agency in the promotion of the interests it was intended to subserve. The duties and powers of consuls have been expanded with the growing requirements of our foreign trade. Discharging important duties affecting our commerce and American citizens abroad, and in certain countries exercising judicial functions, these officers should be men of character, intelligence, and ability. ”

“ The Emperor shall have the supervision of all consular affairs of the German Empire, and he shall appoint consuls, after hearing the committee of the federal council on commerce and traffic. No new state consulates are to be established within the jurisdiction of the German consuls. ”

“ You know that a consul is the creature of treaty. No nation without an agreement, can place an officer in another country, with any powers or jurisdiction whatever. But as the States have renounced the separate power of making treaties with foreign nations, they cannot separately receive a consul; and as Congress have, by the Confederation, no immediate jurisdiction over commerce, as they have only a power of bringing that jurisdiction into existence by entering into a treaty, till such treaty be entered into, Congress themselves cannot receive a consul. ”

“ To avail ourselves of our good native citizens, when we have one in a port, and when there are none, to have yet some person to attend to our affairs, it appears to me advisable, to declare, by a standing law, that no person but a native citizen shall be capable of the office of consul, and that the consul's presence in his port should suspend, for the time, the functions of the vice-consul. ”

“ This regal power of the consuls, however, was gradually curtailed by various laws, especially by the institution of the tribunes of the plebs, whose province it was to protect the plebeians against the unjust or oppressive commands of the patrician magistrates. Nay, in the course of time, whole branches of the consular power were detached from it; the reason for which was, that, as the patricians were compelled to allow the plebeians a share in the highest magistracy, they stripped it of as much of its original [115] power as they could, and reserved these detached portions for themselves. ”

“ Should any question arise between a foreign consul and any of the citizens of the United States, however remote from the seat of empire, it is to be heard before the judiciary of the general government, and in the first instance to be heard in the Supreme Court, however inconvenient to the parties, and however trifling the subject of dispute. ”

“ It is true, that where treaties of commerce stipulate for the mutual appointment of consuls, whose functions are connected with commerce, the admission of foreign consuls may fall within the power of making commercial treaties; and that where no such treaties exist, the mission of American consuls into foreign countries may PERHAPS be covered under the authority, given by the ninth article of the Confederation, to appoint all such civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States. ”

“ The law of nations does not of itself extend to consuls at all. They are not of the diplomatic class of characters, to which alone that law extends of right. Convention, indeed, may give it to them, and sometimes has done so; but in that case, the convention can be produced. In ours with France, it is expressly declared that consuls shall not have the privileges of that law, and we have no convention with any other nation. ”

“ But in a large state there arise many men of various dispositions. At some other period, and under another consul, who, like the present, may have an army at his command, some false accusation may be credited as true; and when, with our example for a precedent, the consul shall have drawn the sword on the authority of the senate, who shall stay its progress, or moderate its fury?
Our ancestors, conscript fathers, were never deficient in conduct or courage; nor did pride prevent them from imitating the customs of other nations, if they appeared deserving of regard. ”

“ Independently of law, consuls are to be considered as distinguished foreigners, dignified by a commission from their sovereign, and specially recommended by him to the respect of the nation with whom they reside. They are subject to the laws of the land, indeed, precisely as other foreigners are, a convention, where there is one, making a part of the laws of the land ”

“ Four of them were from citizens in various parts of the United States who seemed to regard the consul at Coralio as a cyclopædia of information. They asked long lists of questions, numerically arranged, about the climate, products, possibilities, laws, business chances, and statistics of the country in which the consul had the honour of representing his own government.
“Write ’em, please, Billy,” said that inert official, “just a line, referring them to the latest consular report. Tell ’em the State Department will be delighted to furnish the literary gems. Sign my name. ”

“ By no means, for the principal part of that reform, the introduction of the competitive merit system for the filling of consular offices, can be compassed without any legislation by Congress. It is simply in the hand of the President alone. He can say: “The Constitution confers upon me the power and the duty to nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint consuls. The business of nominating—of selecting suitable persons for examination—rests with me. I consider it my duty to select for nomination the fittest persons I can find. ”

“ A fair amount of common-sense, some acquaintance with the United States Statutes, an insight into character, a tact of management, a general knowledge of the world, and a reasonable but not too inveterately decided preference for his own will and judgment over those of interested people,—these natural attributes and moderate acquirements will enable a consul to perform many of his duties respectably, but not to dispense with a great variety of other qualifications, only attainable by long experience. ”

“ Though consuls have not in strictness a diplomatic character, yet as they are the public agents of the nations to which they belong, the same observation is in a great measure applicable to them. In cases in which a State might happen to be a party, it would ill suit its dignity to be turned over to an inferior tribunal. Though it may rather be a digression from the immediate subject of this paper, I shall take occasion to mention here a supposition which has excited some alarm upon very mistaken grounds. ”