Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1877

No. 101.
Mr. Hitt to Mr. Evarts.

Legation of the United States,
Paris, July 19, 1877. (Received August 1.)

No. 1517.]

Sir: The Journal Officiel of yesterday contains the long-expected decree (arrêté) of the Duke Decazes, bearing date the 10th instant, prescribing the conditions to be observed hereafter in the examinations, to be held in the last two months of every year, of candidates for admission to the lowest paid grades of the French diplomatic and consular service, and the composition of the two examining juries. It is accompanied by the full programmes of the examinations, as elaborated by the commission, of whose deliberations I gave you some account in my dispatch, No. 1475, of April 11, and the report of the commission, discussing the subjects submitted to its consideration and supporting its conclusions. I inclose all these interesting documents herewith.

These examinations are not in fact for original admission to the service, but to those grades which are salaried. There are about seventy young men in the service, “supernumeraries,” who receive no pay, and who are kept at that stage for from two to five years, employed in the foreign office at Paris, and in the embassies, legations, and consulates. It is one of the requirements of appointment to the position of supernumerary that the young men shall have a private income of at least twelve hundred dollars a year. Even under these circumstances, the pressure is so great for admission to the diplomatic career that an appointment as supernumerary is very hard to obtain, and demands all the influence and efforts of friends.

For a long time there has been an examination for candidates for supernumerary in the consular, not in the diplomatic service. Now this has disappeared.

After due service as a supernumerary, a young man may present himself as a candidate for the post of paid attaché in the foreign office at Paris, secretary of the third class in one of the embassies, or as consular pupil, and then he must undergo the examination laid down in one or other of these programmes, according to whether he would enter the diplomatic or consular branch of the service. If rejected he may present himself a second time, but if he fails then he cannot try again.

These examinations will not be competitive, as have been heretofore the examinations in the consular service. Several members of the commission were in favor of competitive examinations, and believed that, instead of abandoning that principle, they should extend its application to the diplomatic department. The contrary opinion prevailed, and the examining juries will now simply give certificates of aptitude to those who pass, and class them by order of merit. The minister will still be left at liberty to choose from those who have passed in making appointments, the action of the juries serving to enlighten him and guide his selections.

A glance at the programmes will show that they are extensive and serious tasks, embracing public law, international law, diplomatic history, commercial affairs, including tariffs, political and economic geography, &c. The two programmes are nearly identical, the chief difference being that the examination for consular pupils embraces more details of political economy, statistics, and consular administration.

You will remark with satisfaction that among the books prescribed in what may be called the course of study the works of our countryman, Wheaton, maintain their place, his “Elements” and “History” being given in both programmes.

I have, &c.,

R. R. HITT.

[Inclosure.]

Report.

Paris, June 9, 1877.

To the minister of foreign affairs:

Mr. Minister: The commission nominated upon your proposal by the President of the republic, and charged with revising, conformably to article 9 of the decree of the 1st February, 1877, the programmes of examinations for admission to the grades of paid attaché, of secretary of the third class, and of consular pupils, met on the 14th of March last.

The report, which preceded the decree of February 1, and which set forth its principal provisions, said that their object was to give more of unity to the labor of the bureaus; to bring nearer the two grand services, diplomatic and consular; to regulate the transition from one to the other, according to the special aptitude of the agents; to surround the two careers at the outset with more guarantees; and thus to put the entire department in a state to be equal to the multiplicity, as to the importance, of the affairs of political economic orders, the study and discussion of which was confided to it.

The commission became inspired with the same thoughts, and it is in that spirit that they pursued the labors the results of which are presented to you this day.

Their first care has been to make a statement of the general and professional requirements which ought necessarily to be in possession of the young men who are intended for the diplomatic or consular career. For this purpose the commission divided itself into two subcommissions, who were charged to prepare two plans of a schedule—one for the diplomatic and one for the consular examinations. The comparing of these two plans demonstrated to the commission the necessity to draw up two different programmes. These two programmes rest on the common foundation of general proficiency, which is as indispensable to the diplomatic as to the consular attaeh6s. But it was impossible, without exaggerating the difficulty of the ordeals, and without taking from them the professional character which they should preserve, to exact of the diplomatic attachés as profound a knowledge of the commercial points of the examination as would be proper to exact from the consular attachés, and to impose upon the latter certain special tests to which, on the contrary, the diplomatic attachés should be subjected. It was therefore expedient, while making the two examinations bear upon the same objects, to distribute the material of the two programmes in a different manner, and to give them an appropriate relative importance to the special character of each of the two careers.

If, however, the plan of the two programmes was to be different, there was no reason for not adopting the same arrangement for the form of the two examinations. Consequently the commission has prepared a set of resolutions determining the common conditions of the two examinations, and has annexed the programmes of tests to be applied to the two classes of candidates.

The commission thinks that periodical examinations would present great advantages for the candidates, who would thus be aware, in advance, of the period at which they might present their essays. They propose that there shall be every year a session of examination, in the course of the two latter months of the year. As the necessities of the service may have need of supplementary sessions, the resolutions leave to the minister of foreign affairs the care of providing for them under certain determined conditions.

The periodicity and frequency of the sessions would not be without inconveniences if the candidates could present themselves indefinitely for examination. It has seemed expedient to declare that after two fruitless attempts, the candidates should renounce a career for which they had not manifested sufficient aptitude. But as it was necessary to prohibit candidates from presenting themselves more than twice to the same examination, it seemed just to encourage those among them who desire to present themselves successively to both examinations, in order to obtain a double certificate of aptitude. The commission does not doubt that this evidence of zeal and intelligence would assure to those who should gain it particular claims upon the good-will of the department.

As there are two programmes, there must necessarily be two juries. The commission proposes to leave to the minister the care of composing them; but, conformably to the precedents and the professional character of the examinations, they limit to functionaries of the highest grade of the department of foreign affairs the persons among whom the members of the jury shall be chosen. The outlines traced by the plan of the commission are broad, to allow all the great branches of the interior and exterior department always, according to their relative importance, to be represented in the jury. The programmes constituting marked advantages to the candidates who know foreign languages other than those exacted, the commission has thought best to indicate that, in the case of the jury making the demand, the minister could, for the supplementary part of the proofs, add to the examiners special professors.

The examinations instituted by the decree of February 1 are not competitive. Several members of the commission have on this point expressed regret that the competition instituted by the resolution of 1868 had not been retained by the decree of February 1, 1877, for the consular career, and had not been extended to the diplomatic career. The majority of the commission does not concur in this opinion. They think that the minister has, with reason, reserved the liberty to choose from among the supernumeraries provided with a certificate of aptitude those who, under given circumstances, appear to him the most fit to fill vacant posts. But without pretending to limit in the slightest the legitimate exercise of the authority of the minister, and while appreciating the considerations which may justly entitle it to take into consideration the personal qualities of the supernumeraries, the commission believes that it would be well to accord to those who have obtained the certificate of fitness the advantages of classification by order of merit. If it is not required to present to the minister the absolute results of the competitive examination, it seems right to secure this guarantee as well to the department of foreign affairs as to the young attachés.

The classification should be made for each career, according to the rules laid down by the commission, and which determine at the same time the relative importance of the different parts of the programme in each examination. As to the publicity of the examinations, that has seemed sufficiently assured by the privilege which has always been accorded to the candidates to take part in the oral trials.

The reading and comparison of the two programmes suffices to demonstrate their economy. For public law, the law of nations, existing international law, diplomatic history, and commercial affairs these two programmes are identical; but the relative importance of these different acquirements is not the same in the two examinations; for instance, the law of nations and existing international law on the one part, and diplomatic history on the other part, which form two special classes of tests for diplomatic attachés, make but one for the consular attachés. Of the latter are demanded the detailed principles of political economy, and these principles form one class of tests. The diplomatic attachés are asked only the principal results of the science of political economy, and these outlines form, in the examination to which they have to submit, but a fraction of the general knowledge of commercial affairs.

The professional tests for consular attachés bear upon two special orders of knowledge, statistics and consular administration; for the diplomatic attachés they consist of an analytical report upon an affair, of which the brief is given to the candidate. The difference of the two careers, and also the nature of the labor required of secretaries of the third class and the consular pupils, explains the diversity. In the two programmes, the modern foreign languages occupy a very large space. The programme requires the knowledge of two languages.

The English language has seemed indispensable to all agents of the department; but the respective exigencies of the two careers have led the commission to require of the-diplomatic attaches knowledge of the German, while it required of the consular attachés a knowledge of Spanish.

Pursuant to the example given by the foregoing programmes of the ministry, and by the foreign programmes, which it has carefully studied, the commission has thought it proper to point out to the candidates a certain number of special works which they could read with profit.

These indications, designed especially for the attaches who go through their preliminary course abroad, do not imply, in the opinion of the commission, any special valuation, their only object being partly to facilitate the personal labors of the candidates.

The official task of the commission is limited to the preparation of the two programmes, but it was impossible to terminate this work without touching upon certain questions of a more general order, and which are connected with the very application of the decree of the 1st February. Thus after having assured itself that in doing so it did not transcend its functions, the commission has been induced, under the form of suggestions, to call your kind attention to several observations which have appeared of interest to the department of foreign affairs.

Article 7, of the decree of February 1, directs that the diplomatic attachés shall be-admitted to the examination only after two years passed as a supernumerary, of which one at least was passed abroad, hut that those who at the date of the decree should have numbered three years of service in the office could have been exempt from the-year of residence abroad. The commission, though recognizing in principle the necessity of the residence abroad, could but approve this transitory measure; nevertheless” it would beg you to consider that, its labors being prolonged during more than two months, a certain delay having necessarily to elapse between the publication of the programmes and the first application which will be made of them, it would be at once just and in conformity with the spirit of the decree to extend to such diplomatic attachés who at the date of the first sessions of the examinations can number three years passed as supernumerary in the offices, the benefit of the third paragraph of article 7.

The commission has thought that it would be difficult to put the new programmes in force before the month of November, 1877. It seemed, in fact, necessary to allow the candidates time to prepare for examinations which, in certain respects, present a different character to the preceding ones. In the case where the necessities of the service demand that before the first session of examination an appointment should be made to a post of secretary of the third class in the legations abroad, the commission thinks that the minister could, designate from among the supernumeraries named, after three years, the one who seemed to him the best qualified to fill the vacant post. This supernumerary should be admitted to the bar. He should besides undergo a trial before a jury nominated by the minister, designed to establish—

1st. That he knows two foreign languages, including either English or German.

2d. That he is capable of writing a memoir on some subject taken from the affairs of the country where he has sojourned the longest, if he has gone through his preliminary course abroad; or upon the affairs of the sousdirection to which he belongs, if he has gone through his course in the offices.

If the supernumerary designated by the minister has not been admitted to the bar, he should add to the trial above pointed out an essay on a question of international law, taken from the programme of the examinations. The supernumerary designated by the minister should alone be admitted to undergo this test. If he does not succeed, the minister should designate another, who should make the effort in his turn. If the supernumerary designated by the minister, and acknowledged capable in consequence of the trial, be not nominated to the vacancy in view of which the trial was held, or if, having been nominated to this post, he did not go there, the trial should be considered as null and void, and does not exempt the supernumerary who submitted to it from the examinations instituted by the decree of February 1.

The consular attachés are not compelled to the residence abroad, but it follows from the text of the report and from the whole drift of the decree that the attaches can be admitted to the examinations only after two years of “term.” As to those who actually go through their term and who have been admitted to the bureaus of the commercial direction, in consequence of the competition established by the decree of July 13, 1868, it has seemed evident to the commission that they should be exempt from the examinations prescribed by the seventh article of the decree.

The commission did not have to regulate the preliminary test prescribed by the sixth article of the decree. It hopes, however, to be able to point out to you the advantage of having the candidates undergo these tests before the jury who will pass upon the final examinations. That would be a guarantee for the recruiting of the supernumeraries, and the jury could better estimate the results of the experience acquired by the candidates during their “course.” It would be the same as transitory trials. The commission thinks that it would be of interest in that the jury before whom they would take place would be composed in the same way as the jury which was to preside at the final examinations.

As the number of candidates who may present themselves at the examinations is not limited, it is possible and desirable that all supernumeraries who find themselves in the conditions established by the decree may present themselves for the examination. If, as there is a right to expect, thanks to the care which supervises the recruiting of the diplomatic career, most of the supernumeraries are found prepared to undergo successfully the examinations, it would necessarily happen that you have at your disposal a greater number of attaches provided with certificates of ability than the number of vacant posts.

These attachés would be compelled to prolong their “term” for a greater or less time; it would, however, be a pity, without some encouragement, to oblige them to await the results of a difficult examination which necessitates serious preparation.

The commission thinks the best means to avoid this inconvenience would be for you to be prepared to assign to the supernumeraries provided with a certificate of ability a provisional indemnity. It does not ignore the fact that the credit granted to the department would not suffice for this new expense, however limited it might be, but it trusts that if you should make such a demand upon the chambers they would consent to allow to the budget of foreign affairs the necessary increase of credit. This demand is not the only one which the commission would be grateful to you for presenting to the chambers. It would wish to see the department prepared to encourage our young agents in the study of languages, which though not in such general use as English, German, and Spanish, are none the less very useful to our diplomats and consuls. A salary assigned to secretaries of the third class and to consular pupils who give evidence of a practical knowledge of Sclavonic languages, of Persian, of Turkish, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese seems to the commission to be the surest means of attaining so important a result to the good administration of the service. This salary should besides only be accorded to the secretaries or consular pupils during their stay in the country in which these languages are used.

If it is right to ask of those who aspire to the honor of serving their country in the foreign service guarantees of knowledge and intelligence, it is not less so to seek some means of assuring their future in the career which they have embraced. The decrease in the number of legations is for many distinguished agents an obstacle to the advancement for which their services give them the most respectable claims. The commission has been engaged with this state of affairs; it has been struck at the same time with the advantage there would be in supporting at the large posts agents whom a long residence in the country would permit to maintain there the traditions of our diplomacy.

These considerations induce it to propose to you the creation of a certain number of offices of counselors of embassy and of legation, who would form an intermediate class between secretaries of the first class and the ministers plenipotentiary.

These different measures would find their sanction in the publication of an annual of the department, created upon the plan of the Foreign Office List published in England.

This annual would contain, with the names of the different functionaries, the indication of their grade of service. This would be the guarantee of the classification prescribed by the new programmes, and a public encouragement given to our agents.

In concluding the task with which the President of the Republic had charged it, the commission does not conceal from itself that whatever efforts it may have made to respond to this high trust it has only been able to prepare measures which, in themselves, are not sufficient to attain the principal object of the decree of 1st February. The efficacy of these measures will depend upon the application made of them; to the men whom you will call to the delicate mission of judging of the fitness of your young attachés will it appertain to give life to these programmes, and to secure by well conducted examinations the best possible recruiting of our diplomatic and consular service.

In proposing to you to commit to the directors of the two services the presidency of the examining juries, and to compose those juries exclusively of agents interested more than anyone else to preserve the honor and maintain the traditions of the career, the commission hopes to have surrounded with the most solid guarantees the work with which you were so kind as to associate it. With the hope that its labors will not be useless, it submits the result to your approbation.

• COUNT DE SAINT VALUER.
• ANTONIN PROUST.
• L. DE VIEL CASTEL.
• CHATEAURENARD.
• DE CLERCQ.
• H. DESPREZ.
• MEURAND.
• LENGLET.
• ALBERT SOREL.

Approved.

DECAZES,
Minister of Foreign Affairs.

an order.

The minister of foreign affairs, in consideration of the report of the commission instituted in virtue of article 9 of the decree of February 1, 1877, bearing upon the organization of the consular and diplomatic service, orders:

• Article 1. The prescribed examinations for nomination to the grades of paid attaché in the political or consular services of the central administration, of secretary of the third class or of consular pupil, shall take place every year, during the last two months of the year. In case the necessities of the service demand that they should take place in the course of the year of the supplementary examinations, these examinations shall be announced, and the date of them will be fixed two months in advance by a ministerial order. No candidate can present himself more than twice to the examinations.
• Art. 2. The examining juries will be composed of five members. One will be presided over by the director of political, the other by the director of commercial, affairs. The four other members will be designated by the minister, and chosen from among the ministers plenipotentiary, the directors, the sous-directeurs of the ministry, and the consuls-general.
• The minister of foreign affairs shall be able, at the request of the members of the jury, to add to them some special professors for the examination in foreign languages.
• Art. 3. The examinations will take place in conformity with the programmes annexed to the present order. They will consist of written and oral trials. No one can be admitted to undergo the oral test before having been declared admissible in consequence of the written trials.
• Art. 4. According to the results of the trials established conformably to the arrangement of the programmes hereto annexed, the juries will prepare, by order of merit, the list of the candidates to whom certificates of ability shall be given.

Done at Paris, July 10, 1877.

DECAZES.

programme of the diplomatic examination.

Article 1.

The tests bear upon the English and German languages, public law, the history of the law of nations, existing international law, diplomatic history, political and statistical geography, professional knowledge, and are in accordance with the following programme::

Article 2.—Public law.

1. Political organization of France, and the principal states of Europe and America.

2. Constitution, executive, legislative, and judicial powers in those States.

3. The administrative organization of France. The ministries their special powers and their connection with each other.

See—

• Batbie. Abstract of the course of public and administrative law.
• Block. Dictionary of the French administration.
• Laferriér eand Batbie. The constitutions of Europe and America.

Article 3.

a. History of the law of nations; principal schools and systems.

b. Existing international law.

1. Public international law; negotiation; conclusion; ratification; execution; abrogation; denunciation; tacit renewal of treaties and conventions.

Treaties of peace, of alliance, of amity, of taxation, of security, of neutrality, of the cession of territory, of boundary, of establishment, of neighborhood, (of felling woods, river navigation, of services,) of succor, (reconciliation,) of literary and artistic property, of indemnity, of jurisdiction, of extradition, of the execution of sentences, of judicial assistance; monetary, postal, and telegraphic conventions, conventions relative to railroads; treaties and conventions relative to the abolition of the slave-trade.

Treaties of union, of customs, of commerce, of navigation; consular conventions.

2. Private international law; private statutes; local statutes; conflict of the laws of naturalization; status of foreigners in France; courts of claims; private claims of foreigners against the French Government and of French individuals against foreign governments.

3. State of peace; state of war; neutrality; intervention; object and proceeding of diplomatic negotiations; Congresses; conferences; mixed commissions.

4. International maritime law; abstract definition of the liberty of the seas; general principles on which it is founded; inland seas; fisheries; merchant-vessels, their nationality; vessels of war, their exterritoriality; right of search, in what cases its exercise is authorized; what is meant by contraband of war; declaration of the congress of Paris; privateering, its abolition; blockade, its consequences; maritime prizes, procedure in respect thereto; piracy; abolition of the slave-trade.

5. The object of diplomatic and consular missions, permanent and temporary; composition of the list of these missions; relation of the diplomatic agents with the consuls; privileges and immunities of the agents; capitulations; consular jurisdiction in heathen countries; chancelleries; compatibility; expenses of the service; reclamations.

See—

• Billot. Extradition treaty.
• Bluntschli. Code of international law, French translation.
• Calvo. International law, theoretical and practical.
• Cauchy. Maritime international law.
• De Clercq. Collection of the treaties of France.
• Fœelix and Demangeat. Treaty of private international law.
• Funck-Brentano, and Albert Sorel. Abstract of the law of nations.
• Gessner. Rights of neutrals at sea.
• Hautefeuille. History of the origin, progress, and variations of international maritime law.
• Klüber. Modern law of nations of Europe, annotated by Ott.
• Martens. Abstract of the modern law of nations, annotated by Vergé.
• Martens. Diplomatic guide, fifth edition, revised by Geffcken.
• Ortolan. International rules and diplomacy of the sea.
• Pistoye and Duverdy. Treaties on maritime captures.
• Tétot. Repertory of treaties.
• Vattel. The law of nations, or the principles of natural law applied to the conduct and affairs of nations and sovereigns, annotated by Pradier-Fodéré.
• De la Vega. Guide to the political agents of the ministry of foreign affairs. Brussels.
• Wheaton. Elements of international law.

Article 4.—Diplomatic history.

1. Successive transformations of the political system of Europe since the congress of Westphalia to the congress of Vienna.

2. State of Europe after the congress of Vienna.

3. Successive transformations of the political system of Europe and the principal treaties concluded between the European states since the congress of Vienna to the convention of the 15ta of March, 1873.

4. Formation of the American States; their relations to each other, and with the states of Europe; general relations of France with the states of Africa and Asia.

See—

• Augsberg. The congress of Vienna and the treaties of 1815.
• Bougeant. History of the wars and negotiations which preceded the treaty of Westphalia.
• Flassan. General and synoptical history of French diplomacy since the foundation of the monarchy to the close of the reign of Louis XVI.
• Flassan. History of the congress of Vieuna.
• Himly. History of the territorial formation of the states of Central Europe.
• Koch and Sehœll. History of the treaties of peace.
• Wheaton. History of the progress of the law of nations in Europe and America, since the peace of Westphalia to our own time, commentated by Lawrence.

Article 5.—Commercial affairs.

1. Successive transformations of the commercial system of France since Colbert to our own day.

2. Customs regulation of France; general tariff; conventional tariff.

3. Terms used in the abstracts of the administration of customs, general commerce, special commerce, importation, exportation, re-exportation, warehouses, transit, ad valorem duties, specific duties, official duties, actual duties.

4. Drawback; premium; temporary admission; equivalent and identical export duties.

5. Abstract of the French colonies.

6. Competitive navigation and that reserved to the national flag; coasting by license and by register.

7. Differential duties; discriminating duties of the flag; discriminating duties of warehouses; different kinds of freight; influence of the cost of transportation on the development of maritime commerce; navigation duties.

8. National usage and usage of the most favored nation; reciprocal relations.

9. Duties on articles of consumption, and tax on articles of indigenous produce and fabrics; compensatory duties.

See—

• Arné. Study of the customs, tariff, and treaties of commerce.
• Guillaumin. Dictionary of political economy.
• Guillaumin. Dictionary of commerce and merchandise. Official customs. Tariff of France. General table of French commerce with foreign countries and with the colonies. General description of the coast trade.

Article 6.—Political and statistical geography.

1. Boundary of the principal states. Water-courses. Mountains.

2. Population. Army. Fortresses.

3. Military posts and arsenals. Merchant ports. Actual naval force of the principal maritime powers. War marine. Commercial marine. Relative importance of maritime powers in the carrying trade.

4. Grand commercial and manufacturing centers. Depots. Docks. International fairs and marts. Canals. Railroads. Telegraphic lines. Packet lines. Subsidies and no subsidies. Principal commercial routes of European traffic.

5. Nature and places of production of the principal natural and industrial products. Countries of the importation and of exportation of French commerce and manufactures.

6. Monetary systems of the principal states of Europe. Monetary union.

7. General ideas of the budgets of the principal states of Europe. National loans. Exchange. The general movement of public funds in Europe.

8. Colonies.

See—

• loc. Statistics of France.
• Levasseur. MacCulloch. E. Reclus.
  Annual of political economy.

Article 7.

The written proofs bear upon the English and German languages, international law, diplomatic history, commercial and professional knowledge.

Article 8.

The written tests on the English and German languages consist of—

1. The translation of a political contemporaneous document written in English and German.

2. The analysis in French of an English or German parliamentary debate.

3. Of a brief report in English or German.

Article 9.

The written tests on international law, history, and commercial knowledge consist of three reports on the following subjects:

1. On the programme of existing international law.

2. Programme of international history.

3. Programme of commercial affairs, and of political and statistical geography.

Article 10.

The written test on the professional acquirements consists of an explanatory report on an affair, the brief of which shall be given to the candidate.

Article 11.

Oral tests on the English and German languages consist of—

1. Reading aloud and translating a manuscript document in English or German.

2. Instantaneous analysis of an English or German document which shall be read t o the candidate.

3. A conversation in English or German.

Article 12.

The oral tests on the other points of the examination bear upon the whole of the programme.

Article 13.

Account shall be taken in favor of the candidates of the knowledge that they may have of living foreign languages other than English and German. The candidates will acquit themselves in these acquirements according to the conditions set forth in articles 8 and 11.

Article 14.

The results of the trials will be determined by numbers according to the following data:

	1. Written trials:
a.	English and German, maximum	20
b.	Reports, maximum	60
c.	Essay on a brief, maximum	20
	2. Oral trials:
a.	English and German, maximum	20
b.	Public law, maximum	20
c.	History of the law of nations and existing international law, maximum	20
d.	Diplomatic history, maximum	20
e.	Commercial affairs, political and statistical geography, maximum	20
	Total for the whole trials, maximum	200
Supplementary number for the foreign languages other than English and German, maximum		20
No candidate shall be declared admissible to the oral tests if the total of his written trials is less than		80
No candidate will gain a certificate of ability if the total of his marks upon the entire tests is less than		120

Every candidate who shall have obtained for one of the classes of tests above mentioned a number less than one-fourth of the maximum number shall be excluded.

programme of the consular examinations.

Article 1.

The tests bear upon the English language, the Spanish language, public law, the history of the law of nations, existing international diplomatic history, commercial affairs, political and economical geography, political economy, statistics, consular administration, according to the following programme:

Article 2.—Public law.

1. Political organization of France and, the principal states of Europe and America.

2. Constitution, executive, legislative, and judicial powers in these states.

3. Administrative organization of France; ministries, their own privileges and their connection one with another.

See—

• Batbie. Abstract of the course of public and administrative law.
• Block. Dictionary of the French administration.
• Lafernére et Batbie. The Constitutions of Europe and America.

Article 3

a. History of the law of nations. Principal schools, principal systems.

b. Existing international law.

1. International public law. Negotiation, conclusion, ratification, execution, abrogation, denunciation, tacit renewal of treaties and conventions. Treaties of peace, of alliance, of friendship, of taxation, of security, of neutrality, of the cession of territory, of boundary, of establishment, of neighborhood, (of felling woods, river navigation, of services.) of succor (reconciliation,) of literary and artistic property, of indemnity, of jurisdiction, of extradition, of the execution of sentences, of judicial assistance, monetary, postal and telegraphic conventions, conventions relative to railroads, treaties and conventions relative to the abolition of the slave-trade. Treaties of customs union, of commerce, of navigation, consular conventions.

2. Private international law; private statutes; local statutes; conflict of the laws of naturalization. Status of foreigners in France. Courts of Claims. Private claims of foreigners against the French Government and of French individuals against foreign governments.

3. State of peace. State of war. Neutrality. Intervention. Object and proceedings of diplomatic negotiations. Congresses. Conferences. Mixed commissions.

4. Maritime international law. Abstract definition of the liberty of the high seas. General principles on which it is founded. Inland seas. Fisheries. Merchant vessels; their nationality. Vessels of war, their exterritoriality. Right of search, in what cases its exercise is authorized. What is meant by contraband of war. Declaration of the congress of Paris. Privateering; its abolition. Blockade; its consequences. Maritime prizes; procedure in relation thereto. Piracy. Abolition of the slave-trade

5. The object of diplomatic and consular missions, permanent and temporary. Compilation of the list of these missions. Relations of the diplomatic agents with the consuls. Privileges and immunities of the agents. Capitulations. Consular jurisdiction in heathen countries. Chancelleries. Compatibility. Expenses of the service. Reclamations.

See—

• Billot. Extradition treaty.
• Bluntschli. Code of international law, French translation.
• Calvo. International law, theoretical and practical.
• Cauchy. Maritime international law.
• De Clercq. Collection of the treaties of France.
• Fœlix & Demangeat. Treaty of private international law.
• Funck-Brentano & Albert Sorel. Abstract of the law of nations.
• Gessner. Rights of neutrals at sea.
• Hautefeuille. History of the origin, progress, and variations of international maritime law.
• Klüber. Modern law of nations of Europe, annotated by Ott.
• Martens. Abstract of the modern law of nations, annotated by Vergé.
• Martens. Diplomatic guide, fifth edition, revised by Geffcken.
• Ortolan. International rules and diplomacy of the sea.
• Pistoye & Duverdy. Treaties of maritime captures.
• Tétot. Repertory of treaties.
• Vattel. The law of nations, or the principles of natural law applied to the conduct and affairs of nations and sovereigns, annotated by Pradier-Fodéré
• De la Vega. Guide to the political agents of the ministry of foreign affairs. Brussels.
• Wheaton. Elements of international law.

c. Diplomatic history:

1. Successive transformations of the political system of Europe since the congress of Westphalia to that of Vienna.

2. State of Europe after the congress of Vienna.

3. Successive transformations of the political system of Europe, and the principal treaties concluded between the European states since the congress of Vienna to the convention of the 15th March, 1873.

4. Formation of the American States; their relations to each other and with the states of Europe. General relations of France with the states of Africa and Asia.

See—

• Augsberg. The congress of Vienna and the treaties of 1815.
• Bougeant. History of the wars and negotiations which preceded the treaty of Westphalia.
• Flassan. General and synoptical history of French diplomacy from the foundation of the monarchy to the close of the reign of Louis XVI.
• Flassan. History of the congress of Vienna.
• Himly. History of the territorial formation of the states of Central Europe.
• Koch & Schœll. History of the treaties of peace.
• Wheaton. History of the progress of the law of nations in Europe and America from the peace of Westphalia to our own time, commentated by Lawrence.

Article 4.—Commercial affairs.

1. Successive transformations of the commercial system of France from Colbert to our own day.

2. Customs regulations of France. General tariff. Conventional tariff.

3. Terms used in the abstracts of the administration of customs; general commerce; special commerce; importation; exportation; re-exportation; warehouses; transit; ad valorem duties; specific duties; official duties; actual duties.

4. Drawback. Premium. Temporary admission; Equivalent and identical export duties.

5. Abstract of the French colonies.

6. Competitive navigation and that reserved to the national flag. Coast-trade, by license and by register.

7. Differential duties. Discriminating duties of the flag. Discriminating duties of warehouses. Different kinds of freight. Influence of the cost of transportation on the development of maritime commerce. Navigation duties.

8. National usage and of the customs of the most favored nation. Reciprocal relations.

9. Impost on articles of consumption and tax on articles of indigenous produce and fabrics. Compensatory duties.

See—

• Arné. Study of the customs tariffs and treaties of commerce.
• Guillaumin. Dictionary of political economy.
• Guillaumin. Dictionary of commerce and merchandise. Official customs tariff of France. General table of French commerce with foreign countries and with the colonies. General description of the coast trade.

Article 5.—Political and statistical geography.

1. Boundary of the principal States. Water-courses. Mountains.

2. Population. Army. Fortresses.

3. Military posts and arsenals. Merchant ports. Actual naval force of the principal maritime powers. War marine; commercial marine. Relative importance of the maritime powers in the carrying trade.

4. Grand commercial and manufacturing centers; Depots. Docks. International fairs and marts. Canals. Railroads. Telegraphic lilies. Packet lines. Principal commercial routes of European traffic.

5. Nature and places of production of the principal natural and industrial products. Countries of the importation and exportation of French commerce and manufactures.

6. General ideas upon the budgets of the principal states of Europe. National loan. Exchange. The general movement of public funds in Europe.

See—

• Levasseur. Geography of Europe. Geography of France.
• MacCulloch. Dictionary of Geography and Statistics.
• E. Reclus. Geography.
• Block. Statistics of France.
• Guillaumin. Annual of Political Economy.

Article 6.—Political economy.

1. Object of political economy. Elements of public wealth. Analysis of the revenue of the funds, its profits and salaries. Idea, amount, and oscillation of capital. Prices current; the supply and the demand. Expenses of production.

2. Labor. Division of labor. Comparison between free and slave labor, between corporations and companies, and the system of competition.

3. Capital and the different kinds of capital. Of machines. The effect of machinery on productive power. The profits, salaries, and condition of the working-classes.

4. Of manufactures, wholesale and retail. Agriculture and husbandry. The freedom of manufacture. Prohibitions and monopolies. Intervention of the state. Of the right to make one’s will, and the usurious laws bearing upon manufactures. Manufacturing. Property. Patents. Trade-marks.

5. Exchange. Of the market and of the issues. Influence of exchange on production. Commercial crises. Mercantile theory and of the balance of commerce. Of commercial freedom and customs restrictions. The fiscal system, protective and prohibitive.

6. Of money. The character of money. Quality of the precious metals in use as money. Standard money. Paper money and commercial paper. Monetary systems in force in the principal states of Europe. Monetary union.

7. Of credit. Different kinds of banks. Bills of exchange and foreign exchange. Bill to order, of transfer, of compensation, of checks, and of warrants. Discount, and the causes which act upon the rate of discount. Bank of France and of bank notes. Of forced exchange.

8. Of the revenue. Revenue of labor, of capital, and of the earth. Revenue, gross and net.

9. Of consumption. Analysis of consumption. Private and public consumption. Of import; its nature, its assessment, and its effects. Direct and indirect tax, proportional and progressive tax, revenue tax, special tax. Exercise and trusts. The public debt. Principal kinds of public debts, of redemption and the conversion of the funds.

See—

• Arné. Studies upon the customs tariff and commercial treaties.
• Batbie. New course of political economy.
• Courcelle-Seneuil Treatise on the operations of banks.
• Gamier, (J.) Elements of political economy.
• Guillaumin. Dictionary of political economy. 1 vol. in 8.
• Wolowski. The question of banks.

Article 7.-Statistics.

1. Object and use of statistics.

2. Elements and development of the principal branches of the administrative statistics in France.

3. Statistics of foreign trade and navigation.

4. Calculation of the means, and the proportional increase and diminution.

See—

• Block. Statistics of France.
• Martens. Year-book.
• Guillaumin. Annual of political economy.

Article 8.—Consular administration.

1. Consular organization. Consular establishments and circumscriptions.- List, classification of agents, and conditions of advancement. Admission of consuls by foreign governments. Entering upon the functions and emoluments of service. Consular chancelleries. General instructions common to agents of the consular service of every grade.

2. Relations of consuls with the French administration: 1. With the minister of foreign affairs; correspondence relative to the different branches of the central administration, advances, and reclamations; accounts of the chancelleries. 2. With the minister of marine; correspondence; speculations, charters, and payments; cost of service and reclamations. 3. With the diplomatic agent whom they relieve, and the chief consul-general of the consular establishment, with the French maritime or sanitary authorities and the prefects of department.

3. The relations of consuls with their countrymen and the local authorities. Protection of the rights and interests of their countrymen; correspondence with individuals; administrative functions of consuls concerning their countrymen. Civil status. Passports. Registration. Certificates of birth and identity. Pensions, Affidavits of origin. Judicial cognizance. Depots. Sanitary police. Application of law to the army abroad. Special intervention of consuls in countries of the East and of the extreme East concerning their countrymen and foreign protégés; the establishment owned, kept up, or subsidied by the state.

4. Relations of consuls with the military and with the merchant marine. Relations of consuls with the commanders of vessels of the state. Armament, disarmament, and rearmament of commercial vessels. Landings. Statements of deficiency (dues). Supervision to be exercised over vessels of the merchant marine and on ail operations of the arrival, during the sojourn, and at the departure of vessels. Intervention of consuls in case of damage or of shipwrecks.

5. Consular jurisdiction: 1, in Christian countries; 2, in countries of the East and the extreme East.

6. Functions of consular pupils, vice-consuls, chancellors, dragoman, interpreters, and consular agents; relations of these agents with the chiefs of the circumscription to which they are attached.

See—

• De Clercq and deVallat. Practical guide to consulates.
• De Clercq and de Vallat. Formulary of diplomatic and consular chancelleries.

Article 9.

The written tests on the English and Spanish languages consist of:

1. The translation of a political contemporaneous document, written in English and Spanish;

2. The analysis in French of an English of Spanish parliamentary debate;

3. A brief essay in English or Spanish.

Article 10.

Written tests on other points of the examination consist of two essays on subjects chosen from the programme.

Article 11.

Oral tests on the English and Spanish languages consist of:

1. Reading aloud and translating a manuscript document in English or Spanish.

2. Instantaneous analysis of an English or Spanish document which shall be read to the candidate.

3. A conversation in English or Spanish.

Article 12.

The oral tests on other points of the examination bear upon the whole programme.

Article 13.

Account shall be taken in favor of the candidates of the knowledge that they may have of living foreign languages other than English or Spanish.

The candidates will acquit themselves in these acquirements according to the conditions set forth in articles 9 and 11.

Article 14.

The results of the trials will be determined by numbers, according to the following data:

	1. Written trials:
a.	English and Spanish, maximum	20
b.	1st Dissertation, maximum	40
c.	2nd Dissertation, maximum	40
	2. Oral trials:
a.	English and Spanish	20
b.	Other points of examination, maximum	60
Foreign languages other than English and Spanish, (optional mark,) maximum		20
	Total of numbers	200

No candidate shall be declared admissible to the oral tests if the total of his marks for the written tests is less than 70.

No candidate will obtain a certificate of ability if the total marks he shall have obtained upon the entire tests is less than 120.

Every candidate who shall have obtained for one of the above-mentioned classes of tests a number less than one-fourth of the maximum shall be excluded.