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

No. 96.
Mr. Hitt to Mr. Evarts.

Legation of the United States,
Paris, April 11, 1877. (Received April 26.)

No. 1475.]

Sir: As the newspapers recently received here from America state that you are considering certain questions concerning the organization of your Department, I have thought that you might be interested in a discussion now in progress in regard to modifications in the French foreign office.

During last winter’s session of the assembly, an animated debate occurred in the senate, in which Mr. Arago on one side, and the Duke Decazes, minister of foreign affairs, on the other, took the principal parts, concerning the condition of the diplomatic and consular service of France, and especially the wide separation in rank and functions between those employed in these two branches of the same department of the government. Incident to the debate, the general efficiency of the present system came under discussion, and was freely criticised. The Duke Decazes vindicated his department with his accustomed ability.

Soon after a decree appeared,^* of date February 1, making several modifications in the organization and in the regulations governing admission, and with it a carefully considered report by the Duke Decazes to the President, discussing the questions involved.

In the present organization of the French foreign office, which is fixed by the decree of December 26, 1869, but which in fact dates from 1832, when its leading features were definitely adopted, there is a bureau of political affairs charged with the direction of diplomatic agents, and a bureau of commercial affairs for the direction of consulates. It has been said that they are so completely apart as to give rise to diverging and sometimes contradictory instructions which may in some cases be sent to the same agents.

In consequence of the supreme importance of the foreign relations of France as a part of the European concert of nations, the diplomatic or political department is watched with constant solicitude and administered with all the ability the government can command. On the other hand as commercial questions are becoming more and more extended it is the more essential that they be confided to those who, devoting themselves entirely to this career, acquire that special and technical knowledge indispensable in dealing with the interests of foreign trade. The independence of each bureau should therefore be preserved.

The minister provides, however, that a commission be created, composed of prominent officials in each branch of the service, to deliberate upon all questions which relate to both bureaux, thus insuring community of views. He also presents a regulation for the transfer of diplomatic agents to the consular service, and vice versa, in the same grades. This has been done heretofore, but the usage is thus regulated more precisely.

The last and most interesting practical subject is that of the rules governing admissions and promotions. The service is recruited from supernumeraries or unpaid young men, who are employed for years before they receive remunerative rank, that is, become paid attaches, consular pupils, or secretaries of the third class. Once admitted their tenure of office is practically permanent, or during good behavior, while positions are changed from time to time by transfers or promotions. Under the rules heretofore prevailing, those admitted to the consular service are subjected at the very first step to a severe examination. Promotions are made only after certain intervals of time, and this rule runs all through the service; thus, after a candidate is at last admitted to be secretary of the third class three years must be passed in the service before he can be appointed secretary of the second class, and then not less than three years more before he can become a first secretary.

The terms of admission now prescribed cannot be more clearly stated than as formulated in the sixth and seventh articles of the new decree of February 1, which imposes the same rule upon both branches of the service.

• Article 6. No one shall be appointed supernumerary attaché in the diplomatic or consular service unless he has a diploma of licentiate either in law or sciences, and a knowledge of two foreign languages.
• Article 7. No one shall be appointed paid attaché in the political (diplomatic) or consular service of the central administration, secretary of the third class, or consular pupil, unless he has previously obtained a certificate of aptitude from a special injury. Diplomatic attachés will not be admitted to examination until after two years of service as supernumeraries, of which at least one shall be passed abroad.

The succeeding articles except officers of the army and navy and certain young men, who at at this date have passed three years in the bureaux of the department, from the requirement of diplomas and residence abroad, but exact a knowledge of two foreign languages. They also provide for a revision of the programmes of examination.

The most notable departure in this decree from previous regulations is that the examination heretofore required of candidates for consular supernumeraries is not mentioned.

The regular road of admission for a young man who enters the service is by an appointment as supernumerary. This appointment is made by the minister of foreign affairs. In addition to the diploma of licentiate, which, in France, means proof of a liberal education, he must show that he has a private income of at least $1,200 a year, and this condition is rigorously enforced. He receives no pay so long as he serves as supernumerary in the home bureau, or attach abroad, which is generally from three to four years, sometimes much longer. The Duke Decazes discusses this whole subject with such clearness and authority that I quote from his report:

In order to be admitted to make part of the personnel of the consular service, it is necessary to have obtained the grade of licentiate in one of the faculties, of law, of letters, or of sciences, and to pass an examination, the conditions of which are marked out by a ministerial order of July 13,1868. This examination is upon political economy, the law of nations, administrative law, diplomatic history, physical and political geography, and the living languages. The candidates are classed by order of merit, and after a period of service as supernumeraries, which generally varies from three to four years, they obtain their appointment as paid attachés to the bureau for the direction of commercial affairs, or as consular pupils in one of our principal consulates-general.

Admission to the diplomatic career was made conditional by the decrees of December 17, 1853, August 18, 1856, and December 26, 1869, upon the production of the diploma of licentiate in law. In pursuance of a report by the minister of foreign affairs, of March 14, 1860, it was decided that an examination upon the law of nations, political history, and living languages should take the place of the diploma. I am of opinion that with the very rare exceptions which justify themselves, and which I will propose to you to make in favor of officers of the army and navy and topographical and mining engineers, it is important to exact both one diploma and the examintion. A special commission will be charged with the revision of the programme as well as for the consular attachés as for the diplomatic attachés.

These programmes should, naturally, differ in several points, according to the particular necessities of each of the two careers. The time when the candidates should be admitted to pass examinations should also be established.

In consequence of the wants of our exterior service, the number of diplomatic supernumeraries is very high. A few years ago the figure at one time rose above one hundred. Reduced at present to what is strictly necessary, there are still seventy who are distributed between the cabinet of the minister, the bureau for the direction of political affairs, and our embassies and legations. This stage, which is prolonged sometimes to six or seven years, imposes upon the attaches who are sent abroad pecuniary burdens which are very onerous at most of the posts, besides the great loss of time.

It is just to consider these sacrifices and to facilitate admissions to the supernumerariate for young men who submit to them, by only requiring of them at first the diploma of licentiate and knowledge of two foreign languages, deferring the examination until their real entry upon the career, which only commences in fact for them at the time of their appointment to the first grade that is paid. The test should be undergone after two years of supernumerariate, of which at least one should be passed abroad.

These rules should be applied equally to the small number of young men who are engaged at the bureau for the direction of commercial affairs, awaiting their appointment to the grade of paid attaché in that bureau or consular pupils. They should be exempted from residing one year abroad; the organization of the consulate not comporting with supernumerary attachés in the exterior service, but, like the diplomatic attachés, they should be held to a preliminary supernumerariate of two years.

Thus for both services the examination would determine not only whether the candidate possessed the general knowledge which forms part of all serious education, but whether he had profited by the work in which he had been engaged, and whether he had acquired those special branches of knowledge which would put his professional aptitude beyond question. It is with this view that the programmes of examinations should be revised for the consular as for the diplomatic -aspirants, and to this point in particular I would first call the attention of the commission charged with the revision and completion of those now in force.

Another decree of the same date, February 1, 1877, institutes the commission above referred to for the revision of the programmes of examination for candidates for the positions of paid attaché in the central administration, secretary of the third class, and consular pupil. It consists of eleven members, and the character of the gentlemen composing it gives great weight to its opinions. They are Senators Arago and de Saint Vallier; Mr. Antonin Proust, a distinguished republican deputy and special friend of Mr. Gambetta; the venerable Baron de Viel Castel, diplomat and author; the Marquis of Obateaurenard; Mr. Baudin, minister plenipotentiary; Mr. De Olercq, minister plenipotentiary and author of the excellent “Guide Pratique des Oonsulats;” Mr. Desprez, director of the diplomatic bureau, and Mr. Murand, director of the consular bureau, at the foreign office; Mr. Lenglet, consul-general at London; and Mr. Sorel, one of the authors of an able treatise on the law of nations, which has just been published.

This extra-parliamentary commission, after organizing, divided into two subcommittees, one charged with the diplomatic, and the other with the consular programmes of examination. They have been in deliberation for several weeks, and last Wednesday completed their labors, which will be submitted to the full commission as soon as it meets.

The commercial or consular subcommittee adopted a programme for the examination of candidates for consular pupils, prepared by Mr. De Clercq and Mr. Lenglet, and which is based on the regulations introduced in 1847 by Mr. Guizot, on the proposition of Baron de Bussière, then minister of France in Holland.

In the other subcommittee, which was engaged upon the programme for candidates for paid attaché in the central administration, or secretary of the third class, there was a long debate, and it was decided that there should be two examinations; first, on mere admissibility, comprising written compositions; second, a definitive examination of those admissible, which should be oral.

The Marquis of Châteaurenard had urged that the examination for admissibility should be exclusively upon the English and German languages, and should be both written and oral; but, on the motion of Mr. Proust, the subcommittee decided that the examination for admissibility should include not only four written tests in English and in German, but also four written tests—on diplomatic history from 1648 to 1873, on international law public and private, on commercial matters, and on the analysis of the papers in a contested case. The oral examination, to succeed the examination on admissibility, embraces the same matters, and also a knowledge of the constitution of each modern state.

The full commission will reassemble some time during the latter half of this month, when the Duke Decazes will preside, and I am informed that some questions which are regarded with lively interest in diplomatic circles will then be discussed, such as—

1. The question of open competition for admission to be supernumerary. This would be a long step toward popularizing the service, and an evidence of the growing spirit of republicanism.

2. The composition of the juries of examination, a most important question in practical effect.

3. The encouragement to be given to the study of Oriental languages.

4. The amount of premium or extra allowance to be paid to those secretaries or other agents of the government who acquire a knowledge of another language in addition to those required by the programmes of examination. This is substantially adopting a regulation from the British service, where it has been found to operate well.^*

5. The publication of an annual volume like the English “Foreign Office List” or our own “Register of the Department of State,” giving as a guarantee against favor the dates of appointment, advancement, transfer, promotion, &c., of each person in the service. Such a publication will be a useful innovation, for these facts are not as easily accessible here as in our government. It is probable that the compensation of each will also be given.

As in almost all European governments, officials in high places receive more, and those in the lowest grades receive less, in France than in the United States. Notwithstanding the immense reduction which took place upon the establishment of the republic, when hundreds of lucrative positions were entirely abolished, the compensation of the higher functionaries is large compared with those in corresponding positions in our country. The President of the French Republic receives $120,000 per annum as salary, is allowed $60,000 more for his household, and $60,000 for traveling expenses; in all, $240,000; The palace of the Elysée is allotted to him for his residence at Paris, and there is an official residence also at Versailles. The minister of foreign affairs, like each of the other members of the cabinet, receives $12,000 per annum, and each undersecretary, $6,000. For each department there is an extensive pile of buildings, some of them magnificent, in which there are suites of splendid rooms, furnished by the government, for the official entertainments of the ministers.^* Clerks only receive from $300 to $400. So, also, the great embassies are salaried at rates unknown to our economical government. Take, for example, ten of the posts of first importance in diplomacy, and the salaries paid to their representatives at those cities by France, Great Britain, and Germany. France pays to, her representative at St. Petersburg, $50,000; at London, $40,000) at Rome, one embassador to the Pope, $22,000, and one to the King, $22,000; at Berlin, $28,000; at Vienna, $34,000; at Madrid, $24,000; at Constantinople, $22,000; at Pekin, $17,000; at Washington, $16,000. Great Britain pays to her representative at St. Petersburg, $39,000; at Rome, $35,000; at Paris, $50,000; at Berlin, $35,000; at Vienna, $40,000; at Madrid, $25,000; at Constantinople, $40,000; at Pekin, $30,000; at Washington, $30,000. Germany^† pays to her representative at Paris, $48,000; at London, at $36,000; at St. Petersburg, $36,000. Houses are also furnished in some of these cases, and; in others a liberal allowance is made for rent.

The large body of secretaries and attachés receive a compensation below what is absolutely necessary for living in the circle in which; they are placed. In the French diplomatic service there are twelve secretaries of the first class, two of whom receive salaries of $2,800, three receive $2,600, and the remaining seven $2,400 each; of the second secretaries, two receive $2,200 and twenty-one receive $2,000, and there are twenty-three secretaries of the third class who receive $1,000 each. For those who are stationed at posts which are deemed exceptionally expensive, among which is Washington, there is an additional allowance of about 20 per cent. The whole body of supernumeraries and unpaid attaches receive nothing. The united salaries of the entire corps of fifty-eight secretaries of embassy and legation of all classes only amounts to a little more than twice as much as the salary of the on& embassador to St. Petersburg.

I have, &c.,

R. R. HITT.

1. See Journal Officiel, February 8, 1877.
2. See Foreign Office List. 1877, page 239. Regulations,& c.
3. In former times, under the law of April 23, 1833, article 12, the ministers lived in the public buildings. The republic took this privilege from them by article 27, law of September 16, 1871. Some of them, however, do actually use public buildings for residence purposes. A bill restoring this privilege passed the Senate on the 16th of last February, and is now pending in the Chamber of Deputies, where it will come up for discussion as soon as the Assembly meets.
4. Journal des Debats, March 3, 1877.