(e) "It is forbidden to diplomatic officers to participate in any manner in the political concerns of the country of their residence; and they are directed especially to refrain from public expressions of opinion upon local political or other questions arising within their jurisdiction. It is deemed advisable to extend similar prohibition against public addresses, unless upon exceptional festal occasions, in the country of official residence. Even upon such occasions any reference to political issues, pending in the United States or elsewhere, should be carefully avoided."[246] A diplomatic agent is forbidden to recommend any person for office under the government to which he is accredited.[247] The diplomatic agent should not become the agent to prosecute private claims of citizens.[248] The diplomatic agent should not retain any copy of the archives, nor allow the publication of any official document, without authorization of the Department of State. The Department in general disapproves of residence of the agent elsewhere than at the capital of the receiving state.
(f) Joint action with the diplomatic agents of other powers at a foreign court is deprecated, although conferences resulting in a common understanding in cases of emergency are considered desirable.[249]
(g) It is permitted that the diplomatic agent of the United States wear the uniform and bear the title of the rank attained in the volunteer service of the Army of the United States during the rebellion.[250] It is prohibited by a later statute to wear "any uniform or official costume not previously authorized by Congress."[251] This has been interpreted as applying to dress denoting rank, but not to the prescribed court dress of certain capitals;[252] and "diplomatic officers are permitted to wear upon occasions of ceremony the dress which local usage prescribes as appropriate to the hour and place."[253]
(h) The United States has never been liberal in compensating diplomatic agents for their services. In 1784 the salary of the highest grade was fixed at nine thousand dollars, and it had only been doubled at the end of the nineteenth century. Other states of equal dignity provide far more liberally for their representatives.
The whole matter of diplomatic agents has been the subject of numerous statutes.[254]
[§ 80. Consuls]
(a) Historically the office of consul preceded that of ambassador. The merchants of different states had dealings with each other long before the states, as such, entered into negotiations. The Egyptians, apparently as early as the fourteenth century B.C., intrusted the trial of certain maritime cases to a designated priest. The Mediterranean merchants appealed to the judicium mercatorium et maritimum in the sixth century B.C. The Greek proxenos performed some consular functions. Rome later had similar public servants. The consular system, however, did not develop during the long period of decay of the Roman Empire. In the days of the Crusades, the merchants settled in the coast cities of the Mediterranean. Quarters of the cities practically came under the jurisdiction of the foreign occupants. The consuls, probably at first chosen by the merchants, exercised this jurisdiction, under which the law of the state of the origin of the merchants was regarded as binding. Their functions were somewhat similar to those exercised in some Eastern states at the present time. As soon as conditions became more settled, the states gradually assumed control of these consular offices. The laws of Oleron, Amalfi, Wisby, the Consolato del Mare, and the early Lex Rhodia show that many of the consular functions were recognized in the Middle Ages, and the institution of consuls seems to have been quite well established by the year 1200. The Hanseatic League in the fourteenth century had magistrates in many cities entitled aldermen, who were performing functions similar to those of the consuls of the Mediterranean.[255] England began to send consuls in the fifteenth century; the system rapidly spread, and the powers and functions of consuls were wide. From this time, with the growth of the practice of sending resident ambassadors, the extent of the consular duties was gradually lessened. The diplomatic functions formerly in the charge of the consuls were intrusted to the ambassadors, and other functions of the consuls were reduced by making them the representatives of the business interests of the subjects of the state in whose service they were, rather than of the interests of the state as such.[256] From the middle of the seventeenth century, when the responsibility of states to each other became more fully recognized, and government became more settled, the exterritorial jurisdiction of consuls was no longer necessary. The growth of commerce among the nations has increased the duties of the consul. The improved means of communication, telegraphic and other, has relieved both consuls and ambassadors of the responsibility of deciding, without advice from the home government, many questions of serious nature.
(b) The rank of consuls is a matter of domestic law, and each state may determine for its own officers the grade and honors attaching thereto in the way of salutes, precedence among its domestic officials, etc. There is no international agreement in regard to consuls similar to that of 1815-1818 in regard to diplomatic agents.
The United States differentiates the consular service more fully than most states, having the following: consuls-general, vice-consuls-general, deputy consuls-general, consuls, vice-consuls, deputy consuls, commercial agents, vice-commercial agents, consular agents, consular clerks, interpreters, marshals, and clerks.[257] The term "consular officer," however, includes only consuls-general, consuls, commercial agents, deputy consuls, vice-consuls, vice-commercial agents, and consular agents.[258] The full officers are consuls-general, consuls, and commercial agents. The vice consular officers are "substitute consular officers" and the deputy consuls-general, deputy consuls, and consular agents are "subordinate consular officers."[259]
Consuls-general ordinarily have a supervisory jurisdiction of the consuls within the neighborhood of their consulate, though sometimes they have no supervisory jurisdiction. This is often exercised by the diplomatic agent accredited to the same state.