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Reports of the consular agents appointed under section two of the act of July 11, 1870, “making appropriations for the consular and diplomatic expenses of the Government for the year ending June 30, 1871, and for other purposes."

DECEMBER 20, 1870.-Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States:

I transmit herewith a report of the Secretary of the Treasury, made in compliance with section two of the act approved July 11, 1870, "making appropriations for the consular and diplomatic expenses of the Government for the year ending June 30, 1871, and for other purposes." U. S. GRANT.

EXECUTIVE MANSION, December 19, 1870.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C., December 9, 1870. SIR: In compliance with section two of the act approved July 11, 1870, entitled "An act making appropriations for the consular and diplomatic expenses of the Government for the year ending June 30, 1871, and for other purposes,” I have the honor to transmit herewith the reports copies) of the agents appointed under said section, as follows, namely: William J. Armstrong, dated Christiania, Norway, September 14, 1870. William J. Armstrong, dated Stockholm, Sweden, November 8, 1870. R. B. Dennis, dated Manchester, England, October 1, 1870. De B. R. Keim, dated Kanagawa, Japan, September 30, 1870.

The above comprise all the reports made to this Department up to the date of this communication.

I would further state that the dates of appointment, terms of office, and compensation of said agents are as follows, namely:

William J. Armstrong, July 19, 1870, until December 1, 1870, at $5 per diem and expenses.

B. B. Dennis, July 19, 1870, until December 1, 1870, at $5 per diem and expenses.

De B. R. Keim, July 19, 1870, for one year, at $5,000 per annum and

expenses.

I am, very respectfully,

GEO. S. BOUTWELL,

Secretary.

The PRESIDENT of the United States.

CHRISTIANIA, NORWAY, September 14, 1870. SIR: I have the honor to report to you my presence in the kingdom of Norway, having arrived yesterday in Christiania from London. I was detained in the latter city one week waiting for a steamship direct for this port. During that delay I received instruction from the office of the American consul in London, and made, as much as possible, studies for an extended tour of inspection of consuls over the extreme countries of Northern Europe.

I begin my work in these remoter countries by reason of the remoteness of the countries making their commerce and the business of our consular officers located in them less known to the Government than the commerce of the nearer European states and the business of our consuls located in these latter states. To-morrow I leave Christiania for an overland ride to Bergen, on the western coast of Norway. Our consulate there is made important by reason of that port being, next to Christiania, the most considerable in Norway for emigration to the United States. The trip to Bergen and return to this place will occupy twelve days. Unless otherwise directed by you, I shall then visit the consulates of Denmark, Sweden, and Russia in the following order, namely: Gottenberg, Elsinore, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsingfors, St. Petersburg, Riga, Moscow. I shall comprise my observations of these states and consulates for your Department in two reports, the first embracing Norway, Denmark, and Sweden; the second, Russia. I think that I can already perceive that many facts relative to the commerce of Norway and emigration therefrom to the United States, important to be understood by our Government, have never been sufficiently presented to its attention, but I reserve the statement of them for better consideration in the first of the reports I have named.

I shall keep Messrs. Clews, Habicht & Co., of No. 5 Lothbury, London, promptly advised of my movements, and they have agreed to forward my mail with the best dispatch. The earliest address by which letters dictated by you can reach me directly is, perhaps, in care of our legation at St. Petersburg. I think the London address is better. I will state that the steamship on which I arrived from London stopped at Christiansand, where we have a consular agency. Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

WILLIAM J. ARMSTRONG,
Consular Agent.

Hon. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL,

Secretary of the Treasury,

Washington, D. C., United States of America.

STOCKHOLM, November 8, 1870.

SIR: I have the honor to inform you that I have completed the examination of the consulates of the United States in Sweden.

The management of these consulates appears to me to be and to have been insufficient and irregular, and, in essential respects, unprofitable to the Government. Upon this subject I will forward to your Department a detailed report from St. Petersburg, for which point I start today. Facts of which I am informed here indicate that, in order to make a proper examination of our consular affairs in Russia, it may be necessary to push on as far as the large seaport of Odessa. This extended journey will consume the remainder of the month of November, and, in

undertaking it, I must, for reasons stated in the letter accompanying my report of November 20 upon the consulates of Denmark, be in some measure dependent for the thoroughness of my final report to the Department upon your recommendation to the President and his authority for one month in addition to my present term of service, for the purpose of consular inspection in the German states.

From the facts met with already, I am induced to believe that the laws of the United States controlling consular officers, especially in their action toward seamen, should in many particulars not be continued as they at present exist. For the purpose of placing this opinion before the Government upon a broader basis of facts than the countries already visited, I am extremely desirous of visiting, before the close of my work for your Department, some of the larger consulates in Germany and the Netherlands. It would be of much advantage to me to be informed of the determination of this matter, by means of telegraph to Berlin, as early as the 1st of December.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

Hon. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL,

WM. J. ARMSTRONG,
Consular Agent.

Secretary of the Treasury, Washington, D. C.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND, October 1, 1870.

SIR: I have the honor to state that, under instructions contained in your letter dated July 22, 1870, I am now proceeding with an examination of the consular officers therein named, and that a full report of the condition and management thereof will be made so soon as the neces sary investigations, now in progress, can be completed.

Your obedient servant,

R. B. DENNIS,

Agent United States.

Secretary of the Treasury.

Hon. GEORGE S. BOUTWELL,

No. 2.]

KANAGAWA, (YOKOHAMA,) JAPAN,
September 30, 1870.

SIR: In my dispatch (No. 1) dated at San Francisco, California, August 26, 1870, I had the honor to inform you of my proposed departure on my tour of consular inspection on the Pacific mail steamship China, from San Francisco for Yokohama, Japan, advertised for September 1, 1870. Before leaving the United States I deliberated carefully upon the object, as I supposed, of my mission. I not only wished to satisfy myself how I could secure to the Government the most efficient service in eradicating any irregularities in the consular service of the United States, should such be found to exist, but aimed also to assure myself in the beginning how I could be able to furnish the Government with such information as would be of assistance in suggesting or making any future commercial policy that might be considered advantageous in extending American influence upon the ocean, and to enable American enterprise, capital, and nautical skill and adventure to obtain an unimpeded or fostered career in competition with the other maritime powers of the

globe. With regard to the first subject of consideration, the only means which pointed out to me some prospects of success were a thorough examination of not only the affairs of the consulates, strictly speaking, but free communication with persons whose business relations threw them in frequent intercourse with consular officers. It also appeared to me that a general report, after my return, upon the consular system and commercial relations of the United States, might look to the accomplishment of something with respect to the other proposition. In this view of the question, I hope I did not unduly assume to my mission more importance than it deserved, and I felt that in the future I should certainly rest better contented with my intentions, to say the least, and perhaps, in time, might be permitted to entertain a thought that I had contributed some additional service out of the favorable opportunity which circumstances had placed in my way, and had supplied desirable material from other sources than our own. I might probably have thought that the nature of my authority was merely that of inspection, but I found it impossible in my mind to see any durable benefits to accrue from my visits to the consular ports of the countries named in my instructions, except that I should presume my duties to embrace not only an examination into the consular affairs of the Government with a view to improvements, which I might be expected to suggest, but also everything relating to our commercial relations with such countries.

The promotion of our commercial interests, next to wise and compre hensive legislation at home, unquestionably depends upon the ability, integrity, and dignity of our consular representatives abroad. In my estimate of the qualifications of the individuals who fill the offices, I shall be governed by these three very essential elements of efficiency. As I received no specific instructions on the subject of my duties in detail, I am in hopes that I will not find myself at variance with your own views as to how far I should extend the range of my investigations. In the examination of the affairs of the different consulates, there will of necessity be a great diversity of material to be written upon, and of a consequence, will reach you in a very crude shape. I can only hope that you will find the facts set forth in terms sufficiently concise and lucid to enable you to take such corrective measures as you may deem advisable, without the necessity of too much of a tax upon your valuable time and much-tried patience. As far as these transient communications are concerned, I will suppose them to have as their object information requiring prompt conveyance to the Government. general conclusions, that could hardly be expected until the entire ground has been compassed.

As for

Your instructions, based upon the President's letter of authority, dated July 19, 1870, (under the provisions of the second section of the act of Congress approved July 11, 1870, making appropriations for the consular and diplomatic expenses of the Government,) direct me "to make an examination of the consular offices in China and vicinity, East Indies, Coast of Africa and South America, as far as you may find it practicable to visit the ports of the countries named." As nothing is said as to the route I shall pursue, nor what particular points I shall visit, except as given in the inclosure from the Fifth Auditor of the Treasury, to which you refer in my instructions, "in which he gives a list of the consulates which, in his judgment, appear most to need examination," at the same time adding, "it is not likely that you will be able to visit all these ports, but such as can be reached without too large an expense you will visit and examine," thus leaving this to my discre

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