SCHEDULE (C.)-Form of Bond to be given by the Masters of C. P. Ss. Know all men by these presents, That we are held and firmly bound unto our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Queen, defender of the faith, in the sum of one thousand pounds of good and lawful money of Great Britain, to be paid to our said Sovereign Lady the Queen, her heirs and successors; to which payment, well and truly to be made, we bind ourselves and every of us, jointly and severally, for and in the whole, our heirs, executors, administrators, and every of them, firmly by these presents. Dated this day of 18 . Sealed with our Seals. Whereas by the C. P. Act, 1855, it is enacted, that before any C. P. S. shall clear out or proceed to sea on a voyage of more than seven days' computed duration, the master thereof shall, with two sufficient sureties to be approved by an Emigration Officer, enter into a bond to Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, in the sum of one thousand pounds. whereof Now the condition of this obligation is this, that if (in respect of the ship is master) all and every of the requirements of the said C. P. Act, and of the regulations contained in Schedule (A.) to the said Act annexed, or enacted by the Legislature of Hong-Kong, shall be well and truly observed and performed [tin like manner as the same ought to be observed and performed in case the said ship were a B. S., and the said a B. subject], then this obligation to be void, otherwise to remain in full force and effect. Signed, sealed, and delivered by the above-bounden The part between brackets is to be inserted or not, as may be required. 276 CHAPTER VI. JURISDICTION, PRIVILEGES, AND IMMUNITIES. THE jurisdiction of a Consul only extends over the subjects of the nation he is nominated by, either resident in, or arriving at, the place in which he has been appointed to reside. In countries where there are Embassies as well as Consulates, the jurisdiction of the latter generally only extends over the seafaring subjects of her nation, at the same time it watches over her commercial interests. That of a ConsulGeneral presides over the Consul, and that of a Consul, in most instances, over the Vice-Consuls. The Consular jurisdiction depends more entirely into what country the Consul may be sent. Thus, foreign Consuls in England have no judicial authority whatever. British Consuls, however, in most countries, have judicial power, and consequently their jurisdiction becomes either retrenched or extended, according to the nature of the stipulations of the ratified treaty. The following are those entered into by Great Britain, relating to the Consular service; none, we regret to say, being so explanatory and efficient as they ought. When the Consul is appointed he is always provided with copies of the Conventions with the country he is sent to. In regard to the privileges and immunities a Consul enjoys, there have always existed doubts whether he may be considered exempt from the civil jurisdiction of the state to which he is nominated; and although many others have laid down to the contrary, still it may be maintained and in perfect conformity with the law of nations, that where the regular exequatur has been accorded to the Consul, he ought to be exempt from the civil jurisdiction of the state to which he is accredited. By the exequatur the sovercign acknowledges him as the Consular representative of his JURISDICTION, PRIVILEGES, AND IMMUNITIES. 277 empire, bearing her appointment, and protected by her passport; and, as regards the nature of his mission, only resident for a short time at the state. Under these circumstances, he ought to be exempt. Vattel says, l. iv., c. vi., §. 75 : "Si ce prince envoie un agent avec des lettres de créances et pour affaires publiques, l'agent est dès-lors ministre public, le tître n'y fait rien." In many treaties, however, it has been stipulated to the contrary, and they will be found in the Appendix. The former argument will not, however, hold good if the Consul be a merchant belonging to the country; as it has been the custom to nominate some Consular authorities from among the subjects of the country in which the other Government wishes to have a Consular authority. Nor can it hold valid when a Consul engages in mercantile pursuits, for he then renders himself amenable to the laws of the country he is in, and by his mercantile transactions enrols himself, as it were, among the citizens of the country. Engaging himself in such pursuits, it would be unjust to the mercantile community of the state he was in, if he, a merchant like themselves, enjoyed privileges which they could not, and which might give him power to monopolise many advantages. A Consul being a native of the country he is sent out for, and having his appointment in order, is generally allowed to pass all his luggage without duty into the state he is accredited to. During his residence, if he does not engage in commercial pursuits, he is exempt from all taxes; but the moment his Consular duties diverge into mercantile transactions he loses this privilege. A Consul in any other country but England has also the privilege of calling in the assistance of a guard in any cases he may require one for the maintenance of discipline, and the arrest of criminals and insubordinate seamen. In the Levant, Turkey, and China,, much greater privileges are accorded, which have been treated of in the chapters relating to the same. name. In countries out of Europe, or where there is no Embassy, the Consul enjoys the same privileges as an Ambassador, and is de facto the Ambassador or representative of his Sovereign, only under another He can perform all acts of a Notary Public; all deeds executed by him being held to be valid, and acknowledged in our Courts of Law. He can attend all levees of the Sovereign after receiving his exequatur, and either after having been presented to the Sovereign by the Ambassador, or in his absence by the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Consulate is generally considered as the territory of the Power by which it is tenanted, and all deeds, acts, and any other documents executed under the seal of the Consul are valid in the country from which he has been sent. At the same time it must be perfectly understood that all acts thus issued by the Consul are, with a few excep tions, not valid in the country in which he resides, except there be a special Convention to that effect. All documents, required to be valid before the tribunals of the country he is in, ought to be made out by the proper lawyers appointed for that purpose; for it cannot be expected that where a Consul is only authorised as judicial authority for his own country, that his acts should be acknowledged and received as legal instruments in the tribunals of the country he is accredited to, although his acts should be respected; as it might be possible that they could be grounded upon quite a different lex mercatoria, and could not therefore be taken in evidence against documents perhaps quite opposite in a legal point of view, and it would be unjust to allow them to be received. In respect to the special privileges a Consul enjoys in certain countries by Treaty, we have annexed an annotation of them in the list of Treaties at the close of the work. We will conclude this chapter with an earnest wish that the British Government will, by Treaty, endeavour to give their Consuls the same authority as the French have appointed by their recent Convention with America. IN CHAPTER VII. SALARIES, FEES, AND RANK OF CONSULS. N the year 1825 the British Government, after repeated representations had been urged relating to the inadequate and bad arrangements previously made for the payment of British Consuls, and after committees had been appointed, deemed it expedient to bring in an Act to regulate the payment of salaries and allowances to British Consuls in foreign parts, and the disbursements at such ports for certain public allowances (6 Geo. IV., cap. 87), by which his Majesty was authorised, by Order in Council, to regulate and appoint fixed salaries to British Consuls-General and Consuls, the stipends of whom had been formerly paid out of the third class of his Majesty's Civil List. The preamble of this Act goes on to state that such salaries shall be paid without fine or deduction, and paid to them during their residence at the place they are appointed, or on leave of absence may receive part or whole at the King's pleasure. That in consequence of such salaries, Consuls shall not receive or take any fee from merchant seamen or vessels, except in the Schedule annexed, and in default shall forfeit one year's salary, or less, at His Majesty's pleasure, and for the second offence shall forfeit their appointment. Sections VI. and VII. state, that a Schedule of such fees shall be exhibited in a conspicuous place in the Custom House and Consular Office, and the penalty for refusal to any one to inspect the same shall be half the salary. Section VIII. relates to Superannuation allowances and rewards. Section X. Encouragement for the payment and support of Chapels and Churches. Sections XI., XII., XIII., XIV., and XV. Voluntary subscriptions for ditto. 1 Section XVI. repeals 8 Geo. I., c. 17; 9 Geo. II., c. 25; 19 Geo. II., cap. 14; and the 54 Geo. III., c. 126. Sections XVII, and XVIII. relate to credit, etc., of Consuls. Section XXI. Recovery of penalties. Section XXII. Commencement of the Act, 1st January, 1826. Perhaps there was no Act passed relating to the Consular service so beneficial as one for the regulation of their salaries. Formerly, when Consuls were compelled to charge fees for any small requirement of a merchant vessel, they did not merely stop at levying those laid down in the Tariff, but for particular and even ordinary services did not scruple to mulct the merchant in any fee. This was neither a satisfactory proceeding for the Consul nor the shipowner, and it is only to be wondered that this state of things lasted until so recently as 1826, and then that the Act was only passed by severe pressure from without. Until then the Parliament had not made any inquiry into the Consular salaries worth noticing, and it cannot reflect much credit on the British Assembly that for so long a period no notice was taken of the subject. In the Appendix is annexed the most recent statement of the salaries of our Consular representatives abroad. It will be necessary here again to advert to a privilege prohibited in 1826, but allowed again in 1832, namely, that of trading or engaging in mercantile pursuits. The question can only be responded to in this way, that where the salaries of Consuls are not enough for them to support their dignity without engaging in such pursuits, they must be allowed to do so; at the same time there cannot be any doubt but that a Consular representative loses more than half of his authority by doing so, and cannot but be looked on with suspicion should he be called upon to arbitrate in any mercantile question; for it cannot but be surmised that any person, however impartial, engaging in the speculation of mercantile affairs, could be quite free from being drawn into some bias by his commercial engagements. These are not the only circumstances which ought to preclude a Consular representative from |