ment investing such agent with the necessary authority. This power of appointment is frequently conferred upon consuls-general, with or without limitation or modification, but is not necessarily or uniformly attached to their office." Mr. McLane, Sec. of State, to Mr. Lederer, Austrian consul-general, Feb. 28, 1834, MS. Notes to For. Legs. V. 168. See, to the same effect, Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Mr. Horner, Dec. 29, 1853, MS. Notes to Arg. Rep. XI. 35; Mr. Fish, Sec. of State, to Mr. Garcia, Jan. 23, 1872, id. 100. "In all cases of application for an exequatur for or in behalf of a foreign consul, a commission emanating either from the head of his government or from a functionary known to possess the power of appointing consular officers, should be submitted to the President and recorded in the Department of State." Meanwhile, provisional permission for the exercise of consular functions may be given, and information of the fact duly furnished to the collector of customs at the proper port. Mr. Forsyth, Sec. of State, to Baron de Mareschal, Austrian min., March 21, 1839, MS. Notes to German States, VI. 51. "I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 9th instant, informing me that your government has authorized its legation here to confer diplomas of appointment, in a certain prescribed form to consuls and vice-consuls, the object of which is to enable such officers to act provisionally, which commissions are to serve in lieu of the imperial commissions granted to such officers when definitively appointed. The President has accordingly directed me to transmit to you his act recognizing Mr. Daniel J. Dasmond as provisional vice-consul of Austria, for Philadelphia, with which I have the honor to return the diploma which accompanied your note." (Mr. Webster, Sec. of State, to Mr. Hülsemann, Austrian chargé d'affaires, Aug. 18, 1842, MS. Notes to German States, VI. 73.) As to the power of Russian consuls "missi," under the Russian consular regulations, to appoint subordinate officers, see Mr. Evarts, Sec. of State, to Mr. Shishkin, Russian min., Nov. 14 and 29, 1879, MS. Notes to Russ. Leg. VII. 290, 292. Mr. Evarts, in the note of Nov. 19, refers to the similar powers of Italian and Portuguese consuls. Consular agents are appointed by consuls as deputies at places within their respective consular districts. They correspond with and make returns to the consuls by whom they are appointed; and, although it is in some cases expressly provided by treaty that they shall be permitted to reside in the ports for which they are designated, "exequaturs for that purpose are never applied for or expected There is no instance in which this government has granted an exequatur to any officer below the grade of vice-consul." Mr. Forsyth, Sec. of State, to His Highness Prince Metternich, Dec. 26, See, to the same effect, Mr. Forsyth, Sec. of State, to Sir C. R. Vaughan, See, also, Mr. Forsyth, Sec. of State, to Baron Lederer, Austrian consulgeneral, Feb. 3, 1838, id. 38, stating that, while an exequatur could not be issued to a person appointed by Baron Lederer to act as "agent" at New York in his absence on leave, yet, if he would appoint him as “acting consul-general, or consul," an exequatur would be issued to him in that capacity, it satisfactorily appearing that power for the purpose was expressly attributed to Baron Lederer by his official instructions. "With a view to avoid obvious uncertainties and inconveniences, it is deemed indispensable that this Department should be promptly apprised of any appointment of consular officers of foreign powers in the United States, whether such appointments be occasioned by the death, illness, or absence of a consul or vice-consul, duly recognized by exequatur of the President, or whether the person appointed be a vice-consul or consular agent, expected to exercise functions in that character subordinate to a consul. "Information whether the person appointed is a citizen of the United States, or a subject of the government who may appoint him, is also desirable." Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Mr. Stuart, British chargé, circular, June 25, 1862, MS. Notes to Gr. Br. IX. 208. This circular was prompted by the circumstance that persons had in some instances been placed in charge of consulates at ports in the Southern States, without notification to the Department of State. See Mr. Seward, Sec. of State, to Lord Lyons, British min., June 4, 1862, MS. Notes to Gr. Br. IX. 196. Where provisional notification is given of the appointment of a consular officer pending formal presentation of his commission and application for an exequatur, no exequatur or certificate of recognition issues, but the Secretary of the Treasury is requested to cause the officers of his Department to give temporary recognition to the acts of the appointee. After the lapse of a reasonable time, if no further action is taken confirmatory of the appointment, it is dropped from the record. Mr. Blaine, Sec. of State, to Sir Edward Thornton, British min., May 27, 1881, MS. Notes to Great Britain, XVIII. 519. It formerly was the usage of none of the European governments grant exequaturs to consuls residing in their colonies. Neverthe3s, consuls were in some cases duly commissioned and sent to such places, on the supposition that, being unobstructed by the local authorities in the exercise of their consular functions, their services might be of use to their countrymen resorting thither; and the law, which recognized commercial agents of the United States in foreign ports, was considered as applying to such American consuls in the colonies as were not regularly acknowledged, and as conferring on H. Doc. 551-vol 5—2 -2 them the same official character and rights as were enjoyed by those agents. Mr. Adams, Sec. of State, to Mr. Pitman, Nov. 8, 1821, 19 MS. Dom. Let. "without As to the refusal of Spain to receive a United States consul at Ponape, As to the refusal of Germany to recognize foreign consular officers at The practice in the United States, on notification of the appointment by a foreign consul-general of a vice-consul, or a consular agent, is for the President to require a formal certificate of appointment by the government represented by such vice-consul or agent, though it will be sufficient if it appear that the appointment was made by the consul-general in conformity with the laws of his country. Mr. Evarts, Sec. of State, to Mr. Shishkin, Nov. 14, 1879, MS. Notes to No person holding an office under the United States will be recognized as a consular officer of a foreign state. Mr. Frelinghuysen, Sec. of State, to Mr. de Bille, March 5, March 23, On the appointment by the United States of a consul-general, consul, or commercial agent, his commission is retained at the Department of State till he has taken the prescribed oath of office and his bond has been filed and approved. His commission is then sent to the proper diplomatic representative of the United States with instructions to apply for an exequatur. The consul may, however, when so directed, proceed to his post and enter on the discharge of his duties on receiving permission from the proper local authorities to act in his official capacity till his exequatur arrives. If there is no United States legation in the country to which he is sent, the commission of a principal consular officer is sent to him directly with instructions to transmit it, on arriving at his post, to the proper department of government and request an exequatur. It is customary to transmit to the diplomatic representative the certificates of appointment of all subordinate consular officers of the United States, except those of consular clerks, interpreters, and marshals, for the purpose of obtaining recognition from the government of the country or permission from the local authorities to act. It is the practice, in the colonies or dependencies of a country, to instruct the consul-general or other principal consular officer of the United States to apply to the proper colonial authorities for permission for a newly appointed consular officer to act provisionally, pending the result of the request for an exequatur. Consular Regulations of the United States (1896), §§ 48-54. Revocation of exequatur. 3. REFUSAL OR REVOCATION. $ 700. If a consul be guilty of illegal or improper conduct, he is liable to have his exequator revoked, and, if his conduct is criminal, to be punished according to the laws; or he may be sent out of the country, at the option of the offended government. Coppell r. Hall, 7 Wall. 542; Butler, At. Gen., 1835, 2 Op. 725. The exequatur of Mr. Duplaine, French vice-consul at Boston, was revoked, in October, 1793, for the reason that he had, " with an armed force, opposed the course of the laws of the land. . and rescued out of the hands of an officer of justice a vessel which he had arrested" by judicial process. Mr. Jefferson, Sec. of State, to Mr. Duplaine, Oct. 3, 1793, Am. State President Washington's order revoking Duplaine's exequatur, with the Under Jay's treaty each government had the right of dismissing consuls for such reasons as it should itself think proper. But this did not preclude a dismissal based on special reasons of policy to be specially assigned. (1 J. Q. Adams's Memoirs, 157.) "The President of the United States requests the Secretary of State to give directions for preparing letters to the consul-general and all the other consuls and vice-consuls of the French Republic throughout the United States, revoking their exequaturs, and a proclamation announcing such revocation to the public; the proclamation to be published, and the letters expedited, as soon as the law shall be passed declaring the treaties and convention no longer obligatory." President Adams to Mr. Pickering, Sec. of State, July 7, 1798, 8 John By a proclamation issued Jan. 4, 1850, President Taylor announced that The Portuguese consul-general at New York having declined to appear as a witness in the prosecution of certain persons charged with fitting out vessels in the United States for engaging in the African slave trade, the Department of State complained to the Portuguese minister at Washington. It seems that the consul-general based his refusal upon a claim that he was privileged from giving testimony. The Department of State took the view that he was not so privileged; but maintained that, even if he was, his use of his privilege for the purpose of obstructing the administration of justice and of shielding from punishment persons charged with an infamous crime would render his continuance in the office of consul inexpedient and the revocation of his exequatur proper. Such conduct on the part of a consul of the United States would, said the Department," most certainly insure his removal as soon as it was made known to the President." Mr. Marcy, Sec. of State, to Commander Figanière, Portuguese chargé d'affaires, Feb. 19, 1855, MS. Notes to Portugal, VI. 143. See, also, same to same, March 27, 1855, id. 145. The Spanish consul at New York having insisted upon "unlawful, unnecessary and unfriendly conditions for his certificate of bills of health for vessels clearing for New Orleans and Havana," and the Spanish government having taken no measures to correct the inconvenience, Mr. Seward stated that if the consul should persist in his course he should deem it to be his duty "to advise the President of the United States to withdraw his exequatur." (Mr. Seward, Sec of State, to Señor Goni, Dec. 16, 1868, MS. Notes to Spanish Leg. VIII. 234.) In August, 1861, a Mr. Mure, of Charleston, South Carolina, was arrested at New York when about to embark for Case of Mr. Bunch. England, and was sent to Fort Lafayette on a charge of being a bearer of despatches from the Confederate authorities at Richmond. Among other things in his possession, there was found a sealed bag for the British foreign office bearing labels signed and sealed by Mr. Robert Bunch, British consul at Charleston, and among the letters found on Mr. Mure's person was one in which it was stated that "Mr. B," meaning Mr. Bunch, had communicated to the writer "on oath of secrecy," that the "first step" toward recognition of the Confederacy by Great Britain had been taken, in that he, Mr. Bunch, and the French consul at Charleston, had sent a gentleman to Richmond to ask President Davis to adhere to the Declaration of Paris. August 17, 1861, Mr. Seward instructed Mr. Adams to submit this paper to the British government and ask that Mr. Bunch be removed and that another person be appointed to fill his place who would not pervert his functions to aid hostilities against the United States. Mr. Adams presented the matter to Earl Russell on the 3rd of September. Earl |