CHANCELLOR OF THE IMPERIAL AUSTRIAN CONSULATE-GENERAL IN LONDON. "HONORUM POPULI FINIS EST CONSULATUS."-Cicero. LONDON: LONGMAN AND CO., PATERNOSTER-ROW. [The Author reserves to himself the right of translation.] OCT 21 1916 LONDON: BOLT-COURT, FLEET STREET. TO THE HONORABLE LIONEL NATHAN, BARON DE ROTHSCHILD, M.P. ONE OF THE COMMISSION OF LIEUTENANCY FOR THE CITY OF LONDON, CONSULGENERAL OF AUSTRIA, ETC., ETC., ETC. SIR, Elevated by your many public and private virtues— by your immense erudition in monetary and commercial affairs-to a rank which places you at the head of those merchant princes and bankers, whose vast commercial enterprises have promoted the most vital interests of the greatest nation in the world, it has been a source of peculiar gratification to me, having your kind permission, to inscribe to you this Treatise on a service which is the sole protection of our nation's trade, navigation, and commerce in foreign countries. Permit me, then, with the utmost deference, to express my sincere wishes that you may long enjoy that high position, and that you may be spared many years to be one of the Representatives of this great City, to which honor you have been so often returned by the universal voice of its electors. PREFACE. THE HE present epoch seemed to me peculiarly to demonstrate the great and urgent necessity there is for a Work of this description, which has been compiled with a view more to practical utility than to the development of historical research. It will be found to be directed to the useful purpose of conveying instruction, and affording reference, in cases which may not unfrequently arise, wherein the Consul, Vice-Consul, Shipowner, Master Mariner, and others, have occasion, even in their ordinary vocation, for the interposition and aid of Consular authority, to be exercised and applied with due regard to international law, and in accordance with the conventions, treaties, and directions of the respective Governments. While I am averse to indulge in a political essay upon what I may (however reverentially) conceive to be erroneous on the part of those in authority, in adopting the best mode of securing the most honourable and effective discharge of the important duties which devolve upon persons to whom the execution of that part of the public service is confided, I cannot refrain from directing attentive consideration to the necessity of a wise selection of persons to fill the position of Consul. That the overwhelming responsibility of the creation of a war may attach, with all its fearful consequences, to the performance or non-performance of such duties as are properly within the province of his authority, will justify me abundantly in a brief allusion to the actual requirement that exists for higher qualifications than |