Duties to naval officers were mentioned in connection with “rank” in the preceding lecture. Officers of the Navy are under a reciprocal duty to consuls, however, which should be mentioned. On this point I quote the exact words of the Regulations.

“The Navy is an independent branch of the service, not subject to the orders of the Department of State, and its officers have fixed duties prescribed for them; consuls will, therefore, be careful to ask for the presence of a naval force at their posts only when public exigencies absolutely require it, and will then give the officers in command the full reasons for the request and leave with them the responsibility of action. If the request is addressed to the Department of State, the reasons should likewise be fully stated for its information.”

The diplomatic service has general supervision over the consular service in any one country. When there is a consul general, this supervision is exercised through him, and the consuls will not correspond officially with the diplomatic officers—except in reply to inquiries. Where there is no consul general the consuls will correspond directly with the diplomatic officials and “endeavor in all cases to comply with their requests and wishes”. Leaves of absence and recommendations for appointment of subordinate officers are usually sent through the diplomatic officers.

Sometimes in the absence of a diplomatic officer a consul general or consul may discharge the duties of a diplomatic officer. Sometimes the two offices are united in the one representative.

“Consular officers will confer freely with the Treasury revenue agents who may be appointed to visit and examine the consulates. They will remember, however, that these agents have no authority to instruct them as to their official acts”.

DUTIES OR RELATIONS TO SEAMEN.

To no other class of citizens, save in uncivilized countries, does the consul stand in such immediate relationship as to seamen. This would seem to be because as a class, since their occupation takes them to all parts of the world and away from the protection of their own country, and, moreover, because they are laborers and not men of means, they are more at the mercy of circumstances as well as of unscrupulous masters in foreign lands. On the other hand, justice to the masters also requires national authority to enforce contracts and assist in securing harmony often-times on shipboard. Fully 57 pages of the Regulations are taken up with this subject under the following heads:

A master of an American merchant vessel who engages any seamen in a foreign port must do so under penalty in the presence of the American consul and only with his sanction. The engagement must be signed in duplicate by both master and men in the presence of the consul, who must see to it that the seamen understand clearly the terms of the contract. Seamen may be engaged for a definite time, for a round trip, for a single voyage or “by the lay”, and the terms of the agreement are called the “shipping articles”. In case of desertion or casualty the master may engage a number of seamen equal to the number lost and report to the first consul he sees. In case a vessel is purchased abroad and the seamen “have not character of American seamen” (subsequently defined), they do not come within the jurisdiction of the consul.

An American seaman is (1) an American citizen or (2) a foreigner shipped in an American vessel in an American port or (3) a foreign seaman shipped in an American vessel in either an American or a foreign port, who has declared his intention in a competent court to become a citizen of the United States and has served three years thereafter on American merchant vessels. For purposes of protection the filing of the declaration is sufficient.