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lars for each certificate of an invoice of

goods, the consular service might, upon the same theory, be called highly lucrative. To talk of self-supporting departments, is sheer nonsense. The fees exacted by consuls from exporters are, like all other fees, part of the revenue of the country; and the salaries and contingent expenses of consulates are parts of the public expenditure. To represent it under any other light, is to claim a supernatural merit for the consular service. Since consuls are paid by the state, like all other public officers, there is nothing self-supporting in that service. If taxes are imposed upon commerce in the shape of fees upon consular certificates, for no other purpose than to make credulous Congressmen swallow the selfsupporting dodge, it is simply unfair to commerce, and somewhat savoring of duplicity. The question then simply is as to a proper adjustment of salaries, without regard to fees, and to have the accounts so adjusted as to have the fees go to the credit of the revenue, and the salaries and contingent expenses to the credit of the consular officers.

A great number of consulates might advantageously be abolished; and the system of appointing deputies, or viceconsuls should be abrogated altogether.

The bill prepared by Mr. Patterson, of New Hampshire, provides for the manner of appointing consuls and ministers, and for the system of examination and promotion to be adopted.

At present, consuls are virtually appointed by Congressional delegations. They urge them upon the Executive and the State Department, and attend to their confirmation in the Senate. In most instances these delegations know nothing of the man they recommend, except that he is recommended by somebody they know, and that the political church requires his nomination. After the nomination and confirmation have duly taken place, the new-fangled consul is informed by the Secretary of State of his good luck. The fellow jumps in the cars, and all of a sudden an altercation takes place between the doorkeeper of the State Department and VOL. II.-16

some rough-looking customer, who insists upon seeing the Boss, and claiming to have come all the way from Kankakee or Ashtabula to get "them " papers. The officials of the State Departmentsome of whom gravitate toward the Virginia and Maryland old-fashioned style of good breeding, while others luxuriate in all the stolid placidity of the countrymen of Rip Van Winklegive to the new consul a rather chilling reception. Of course, he is not admitted to the presence of the "Boss," who reserves himself for a few foreign ministers, and for cabinet meetings. He has about half a second's interview with Fred. Seward, who, with a smile of imperturbable sweetness, hands him over to one of the gentlemen of the office, who hands to the consul a handsomelybound volume, which contains the consular regulations. Very soon after this episode, a flaming article appears in the Liberty Bell or Bungtown Bugler, announcing the fact that "the Hon. Jeremiah Napoleon Ezekiel Jupiter Jones, so eminently popular in this district, and remarkable for his diplomatic talents, has arrived at Washington; had a lengthened interview with the Secretary of State, who gave him official instructions of the highest importance, and then departed in hot haste for his post of destination, it being rumored that on his way to Saurkrautenthal he is to meet Count Boum, at Mr. Seward's special request." In the meanwhile, Jones passes a miserable evening at the Seaton House, in a most unsatisfactory tête-à-tête with his "instructions." The book which the gentleman of the State Department handed him with such a bland smile, simply contains the general consular regulations applying to all countries of the world, and without any particular reference to the particular duties which he may have to fulfil in the particular place to which he is particularly appointed. He soon gives the book up in despair, but has the happy inspiration to buy a "Bradshaw." After having discovered the latitude and longitude to which he is assigned, he is next seen stalking about with a most

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consequential air on the deck of one of the cheap Inman steamers. He is never again seen at the State Department. All they know is, that he regularly draws for his salary, and occasionally he copies, from one of the local papers of the place in which he resides, extracts of commercial statistics, with great flourish of trumpets, as if he had been their original compiler. If any language excepting the Ashtabula or Kankakee dialect is spoken at the post of his destination, he holds himself rather "aloof" from society. He is generally taken for an Aboriginate American, and sticks to his post through thick and thin, until, one day, Brown steps in, and says: "Jones, you are smashed!" Jones does a little swearing, invites Brown to take a drink, picks up his traps, and the next we hear of him is through our old friend the Liberty Bell or Bungtown Bugler, in the following strain : "We are happy to announce the safe return to this district of the Hon. Jeremiah Napoleon Ezekiel Jupiter Jones, from his mission to Saurkrautenthal. After having spent several years abroad, he speaks, of course, the different languages of Europe, and has had access to the most exclusive circles of the nobility and gentry, and is versed in all the arts of the statesman and the diplomat. Our best citizens paid their respects, last evening, to the honorable gentleman, at his quarters at the Tomahawk House, where, with his wonted urbanity, he treated his friends to a handsome supper.

We may add, that the honorable gentleman is proposed as the member in the seventyfifth Congressional district, the intention being, in the event of his election, to make him chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, for which post he is so pre-eminently fitted by his familiarity with the history and laws and systems of foreign nations."

-The so-called Consular Commercial Reports are printed, in extracts, in volumes annually presented to Congress. In 1868, the merchants, manufacturers, and industries of the United States are faithfully informed in these reports what their chances were in the sphere of en

terprise in 1865 or 1866. If, at the time of the receipt of these reports, the commercial world had been informed of the cultivation of certain roots, or the progress of certain crops, or the invention of certain new models and patterns, in one or the other country, some advantage might have been taken of it, and the consular report might have achieved some practical result. But by the time they reach the parties whose interests are affected thereby, the reports have become flat, stale, and unprofitable. The commercial and industrial facts to which the reports refer have then become things of the past, and lost all practical value and interest. It is overlooked that the consular, like all other public departments, are only agencies for the promotion of the public interest, to be sure, invested with specific functions, but yet utterly failing in their mission if they neglect to take every possible opportunity to further the commerce and industry of the country. While this should be the principal aim, and the routine-work with sailors' certificates, passports, and the estates of deceased Americans, only an accessory, nothing is generally done with any degree of ability or system, excepting the indispensable routine labor of the office, which must be done. Probably this will continue to be the case as long as the consular service is controlled by the State Department, instead of being placed under the auspices of a ministry of commerce, as is the case in many European countries.

Under the present circumstances, consuls do little or nothing for the promotion of commerce. At a stated annual period they are called upon to make a report to the State Department, and in most cases their mental activity finds its climax in this annual report, and which, moreover, is generally copied from other reports, and but rarely the result of painstaking, original, and exhaustive investigation.

By raising the character and qualifications of consuls, as proposed in the Patterson bill, it is probable that a better class of men will devote themselves

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to this branch of the public service, and make it, as it ought to be, an auxiliary to the commerce and industry of the country.

As regards diplomatic posts, the country has been rather fortunate, since the accession of Mr. Lincoln, in 1861, when Mr. Motley was sent to Vienna, Mr. Marsh to Italy, Mr. Adams to London, Mr. Dayton to Paris, and Mr. Joy Morris to Constantinople. For other places the selections were less felicitous, and Mr. Motley has been ousted from Vienna. Mr. Dayton is dead, and Mr. Dix is at present at his place; and, to make up for the temporary withdrawal of Motley, at Vienna, we have Mr. Bancroft at Berlin, Dresden, and Munich. Within the last year Admiral Farragut has, in reality, been the principal American representative at the European courts. It is surprising that naval commanders are not permanently invested, in times of peace, with foreign missions. They generally make admirable impression abroad, and, as has been shown by Commodore Perry, in Japan, succeed in the most delicate missions when civilians generally fail. There is something upright and straightforward in a sailor's bearing and address, which inspires confidence, and the very magnetism of his simplicity acts as a tacit rebuke toward those American diplomatists who make themselves ridiculous by attempting to mimic the worn-out style of diplomatic craft and mummery.

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Some of our foreign ministers are excessively sweet upon Congressional men and women at Washington, and get up for them sumptuous dinners, and try to make themselves all things to all men and to all women. But, lo! no sooner have they caused to be inserted in the official gazette of the capital to which they are accredited, that his excellency, Mr. S-, or Mr. H—, has returned, from his leave of absence, to his post of duty, at his palace in the Avenue des Snobs, than a complete change takes place in their attitude and deportment. They cut everybody excepting the Duchess of Superfine, whose salons are con

sidered inaccessible to everybody else. Their American excellencies are accordingly shunned by all really well-bred people. Enamored while at home, with all the excesses of the wildest social levelling, they are enamored as soon as they are abroad, with all the excesses of the most silly social pretensions. They actually belittle, by their sneakish manners, the great country whose strength is the only bulwark of their position. Instead of making European people feel how much grandeur there is in freedom, they cringe before persons of title and rank, as if they were thankful even for being snubbed by a duke.

Those who have a genuine regard for the genuine gentlemen and gentlewomen of America, cannot but feel sickened at the sight of these sycophants; and to think that some of these miserable creatures are ministers, is positively revolting. Fortunately, their number is very limited; but if there is only one of them in the whole list of the United States ministers, he should be removed, as if he were a felon. He really brings more discredit upon the American name than a downright rascal. With the exception of London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid, Florence, St. Petersburg, and Constantinople, Brazil, China, Japan, Mexico, Chili, Peru, foreign missions are altogether superfluous, and most of them are more or less sinecures.

The Minister to Holland might be also accredited to Belgium; the Minister to Spain to Portugal; Sweden and Norway to Denmark; and in South America, five missions might do all the work for which there are at present twenty missions. Mr. Patterson's report will no doubt make appropriate suggestions for the greater retrenchment and efficiency of the diplomatic service.

While we sent.some of our best men abroad, as Everett, Motley, Bancroft, etc., foreign governments are still treating this country de haut en bas, by accrediting to Washington second and third-rate diplomatists. While we send a first-class mission to England, England sends only a second-class mission to the United States, such as she would

not send to France or Russia, or even Austria. Napoleon sent the consul of New York as minister to Washington, and then he sends a gentleman who had never been in any foreign mission, excepting, for a short time, in China, and whom he would not send to London or to Berlin.

No greater compliment can be paid by one nation to another, than by selecting a representative from the most illustrious citizens; and in this respect America is still treated gingerly by foreign powers, as if she still were a small English colony, instead of being the most powerful nation of Christendom.

We have no doubt there will be more discrimination in future in regard to the confirmation of foreign ministers. By reserving foreign missions for the bestcultured men of the country, and by

making ministers give more comprehensive reports of and take a more lively part in the resources of foreign countries, and of their own country, the sinecures, and dining out, and gala element which now pervade, more or less, all foreign missions, might at last find an invigorating, counteracting influence.

The reforms to which we have pointed, all-important as they were at all stages of our history, are particularly so at the present time, when the Southern members return to Congress, and clamor for their share in offices, and when the new cyclus of States clustering round the slope of the Pacific assert more and more their supremacy in the control of patronage upon what they call the decayed old Atlantic States; just as some of our Atlantic publicists speak of the effete old European countries.

CRADLE SONG.

ALL by the sides of the wide wild river
Surging sad through the sodden land,
There be the black reeds washing together-
Washing together in rain and sand;

Going, blowing, flowing together

Rough are the winds, and the tide runs high

Hush little babe in thy silken cradle

Lull lull, lull lull, lull lullaby!

Father is riding home, little baby,

Riding home through the wind and rain;
Flinty hoofs on the flag stems beating
Thrum like a flail on the golden grain.

All in the wild, wet reeds of the lowlands,

Dashed and plashed with the freezing foam-
There be the blood-red wings of the starlings
Shining to light him and lead him home.

Spurring hard o'er the grass-gray ridges-
Slacking rein in the low, wet land,

Where be the black reeds washing together-
Washing together in rain and sand.
Down of the yellow-throated creeper-

Plumes of the wood-cock, green and black—
Boughs of salix, and combs of honey--
These be the gifts he is bearing back.

Yester morning four sweet ground-doves
Sung so gay to their nest in the wall-
Oh, by the moaning, and oh, by the droning,
The wild, wild water is over them all!
Come, oh, morning, come with thy roses,
Flame like a burning bush in the sky-
Husb, little babe, in thy silken cradle-
Lull lull, lull lull, lull lullaby!

MONTHLY CHRONICLE.

UNITED STATES.

CURRENT EVENTS.

THE month of June has been chiefly marked by important legislation by Congress relative to reconstruction, by the consummation of the readmission of Arkansas into the Union, and by the passage of an Act readmitting the six States of North and South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, which await only the election of Senators and Representatives to resume their seats in Congress. The Act admitting Arkansas to the Union passed the Senate by 34 yeas (Rep.) to 8 nays (Dem.), on the 1st day of June, was vetoed on June 20th by the President, passed on the 21st over his veto, and on June 24th, by yeas 101 (Rep.) nays 27 (Dem.), the members from Arkansas were admitted to their seats in Congress. A protest against their admission, signed by forty-five Democratic members of the House, was received, and entered of record. It asserts that the laws of Congress for reconstructing the South are unconstitutional, that the new governments have been forced upon the Southern people at the point of the bayonet by military satrapies, and that the States should be reconstructed on the white vote alone. On June 25th, both Houses of Congress passed, by the full vote of the Republican party, over the President's veto, the Bill readmitting into the Union the six reconstructing States above mentioned. It now only remains for their legislatures to meet and adopt the XIVth Constitutional amendment and elect their Senators, and the States will be restored to their "proper practical relations to the Union." Some question arose in Louisiana and elsewhere as to whether the newly elected State officers should supersede the Provisional governments and enter on their duties immediately, or should wait until the admission of the Representatives of the new governments to seats in Congress. In Louisiana the Board of Registration issued a proclamation ordering the new officers to assume their duties on the 15th. Gen. Buchanan issued a counter order forbidding the above, and arrested the President of the Board. Gen. Grant sustained Gen. Buchanan's order, but discharged the President of the Board of Registration, and subsequently, on the passage

by Congress of the Act admitting the six States, ordered Gen. Buchanan to remove Gov. Baker and Lieut.-Gov. Voorhies, the Provisional State officers, and appoint in their stead Gov. Warmouth and Lieut.-Gov. Dunn, who were elected by universal suffrage at the recent election. On the 28th the new officers were installed and the new legislature met. Gov. H. C. Warmouth was colonel of a Missouri regiment in the Union armies during the war, and became a citizen of Louisiana near the close of the service. Lieut.-Gov. Dunn (colored) is a native citizen of Louisiana. Gen. Grant has issued orders to the officers commanding in the other reconstructing States that as soon as their legislatures shall comply with the requirements of Congress, the Provisional State officers shall surrender their offices to the new State governments. The only effect therefore, of the interference of Gen. Buchanan to delay the inauguration of the new State officers is, that they enter upon their duties somewhat earlier than in the other reconstructing States.

-The thirtieth day of May was, by designation of the Grand Army of the Republic, and by general consent, devoted throughout the Northern States, and in a few cities of the Southern, to strewing with flowers the graves of the nation's dead, fallen in subduing the late rebellion. The solemn memorials were accompanied by poems, addresses, prayers and other exercises appropriate to the occasion.

-James Buchanan died at his residence at Wheatland near Lancaster, Penn., on June 1st. He was born at a secluded place called Stoney Batter in the Kittatinny range of the Blue Mountains in Franklin County, on April 22d, 1791, and was therefore at his death in his seventy-seventh year. His parents were Scotch-Irish pioneers, poor and Presbyterian, with a high respect for learning. James graduated at Dickinson College, and was admitted to the Lancaster bar in 1812, when but little more than 21 years old. He volunteered in the war of 1812, and marched to Baltimore, but saw no service. At 23 (in 1814) he was elected to the legislature, was re-elected in 1815, and in 1820 entered Congress for the district now

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