The United States Consulate in Belfast and the Development of the American Consular Service, 1796–1906
2023; Routledge; Volume: 46; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/07075332.2023.2250799
ISSN1949-6540
Autores Tópico(s)Scottish History and National Identity
ResumoAbstractThe United States Consulate in Belfast and the Development of the American Consular Service, 1796-1906. This article explains the history of the development and professionalization of the United States consular service through the example of the Belfast consulate from 1796 to 1906. The first consuls were Irish merchants. By mid-century, US citizens served, with salaries for the highest grade, while lower ranks were dependent on fees for income. The demands of expanded trade and US interests abroad resulted in legislation in 1896 and 1906 that upgraded the Consular Bureau. Appointments to the Belfast consulate began to exemplify the shift from a patronaged-driven organization to an increasingly professional, career-based Consular Service.Keywords: Consular serviceDiplomatic service'Spoils-system'Civil serviceBelfast Notes1 Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution gave the president the power, with the consent of the Senate, to appoint "Ambassadors, [and] other public Minister and Consuls," among other offices; and An Act concerning Consuls and Vice-Consuls, 14 April 1792, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, Ch. 24 (1 Stat., 254), 254.2 Charles Stuart Kennedy, The American Consul: A History of the United States Consular Service, 1776-1924 (Washington, D.C.: New Academic Press, 2014), 8.3 William Barnes and John Heath Morgan, The Foreign Service of the United States: Origins, Development, and Functions (Washington, D.C.: Department of State, 1961), xi.4 Several books explain the origins of the diplomatic and consular services and the beginnings of American diplomacy. See, for example, Kennedy, American Consul, 12-26; Ferry de Goey, Consuls and the Institutions of Global Capitalism, 1783-1914 (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2014), 22-27; Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service; Warren Frederick Ilchman, Professional Diplomacy in the United States, 1779-1939, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961); Graham H. Stuart, American Diplomatic and Consular Practice (New York: Appleton-Century Crofts, 1952); and Tracy Hollingsworth Lay, The Foreign Service of the United States (New York: Prentice Hall, 1925), 10-24. For an early and knowledgeable account see, Wilber J. Carr, "American Consular Service," American Journal of International Law, i 1907).5 For a broader study of the US Consulate in Belfast, see Francis M. Carroll, The American Presence in Ulster: A Diplomatic History, 1796-1996 (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2005). An account of US consuls in all of Ireland can be found in Bernadette Whelan, American Government in Ireland, 1790-1913: A History of the US Consular Service (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2010). Also see, Nicholas M. Keegan, US Consular Representation in Britain since 1790 (London: Anthem, Press, 2018), which examines the consulates in Dublin and Belfast.6 Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution; and An Act concerning Consuls and Vice-Consuls, 14 April 1792, 2nd Congress, 1st Session, Ch. 24 (1 Stat., 254), 254. Apart from consuls to the Barbary States, this legislation did not provide for consular salaries. For a full description of the duties of consuls in the 19th century see, Francis Wharton, Digest of the International Law of the United States (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1886), i, § 121-125.7 The consuls in Belfast and Londonderry also appointed vice consuls or deputy consuls to look after part of their own duties or to run the consulates in their absence, and these were all Irish until late 19th century. Prior to the War of 1812 the US had consulates in 72 cities in Europe and the West Indies—with ten in the United Kingdom. Kennedy, American Consul, 13.8 Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 350; and Keegan, US Consular Representation, 51.9 Timothy Pickering, secretary of state, to James Holmes, 31 May 1796, and John Holmes to Timothy Pickering, 6 October 1796, [United States National Archives, Record Group 59], S[tate] D[epartment P[apers], T368 (Dispatches from U.S. Consuls in Belfast); and George Chambers, "The Early Years of Consular Representation in Belfast," Familia: Ulster Genealogical Review, xii, (1996), 4-9. William Knox from Boston was made US consul in Dublin in 1790.10 See James Holmes to Timothy Pickering, secretary of state, 6 October 1796, and James Holmes to James Madison, Secretary of State, 29 May 1806, USNA, SDP, T368.11 William Phelps to president James Monroe, 10 October 1815, T368, ibid.12 Samuel Luke to John Quincy Adams, secretary of state, 13 August 1821, T368, ibid.13 Andrew Jackson, Annual Message, 8 December 1829, James D. Richardson, ed., Messages and Papers of the Presidents (New York: Bureau of National Literature, 1914), iii, 1012. Kennedy points out that despite the "spoils system" of consular appointments, some held long term appointments, such as Thomas Aspinwall of Massachusetts who served as US consul in London from 1815 to 1853. Kennedy, American Consul, 19.14 William L. Marcy used the phrase, "to the victor belong the spoils," which became simply the "spoils system." Ivor Debenham Spencer, The Victor and the Spoils: A Life of William L. Marcy (Providence: Brown University Press, 1959), 59-60. The practice of making unsuitable patronage appointments to represent the US abroad gave rise to Ambrose Bierce's definition in his book, The Devil's Dictionary: "Consul, n. In American politics, a person who having failed to secure an office from the people is given one by the Administration on the condition that he leave the country." In Clifton Fadiman, ed., The Collected Works of Ambrose Bierce (New York: Citadel Press, 1946), 214.15 Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 68-69.16 Thomas W. Gilpin to secretary of state, 20 August 1833, USNA, SDP, T368; Whelan, American Government, 16-18; Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 77-81; and J. Robert Moskin, American Statecraft: The Story of the US Foreign Service (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2013), 120. The Whig president John Tyler sent James Shaw to Belfast in 1842 in the interim of Gilpin's terms. Thomas W. Gilpin, the first American born Belfast consul, died in 1847. James Shaw to Able P. Upshur, secretary of state, 2 September 1843 and 11 January 1844, USNA, SDP, T368. Also see Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 68-69.17 James McDowell to James Buchanan, secretary of state, 10 July 1848, and James McDowell to James Buchanan, secretary of state, 14 December 1848, USNA, SDP, T368. Thomas McClure served in place of both Gilpin and McDowell. See Thomas McClure to secretary of state, 18 September 1849, T368, ibid.18 The Belfast consular correspondence makes only slight reference to the Great Famine. Gilpin gives some mention of the failure of the potato crop and the probable eventual dependence on Indian Corn in a report sent in early 1847. Thomas W. Gilpin to James Buchanan, secretary of state, 10 February 1848, T368, ibid. Gilpin himself died later in 1848, giving rise to speculation as to whether he was a victim of the diseases that followed the Famine.19 These were the first of several Irish-Americans who were given appointments in Ulster. The practice of appointing Americans who had been born in the host country was wide-spread in the 19th century, although deplored by diplomat Eugene Schuyler. See Eugene Schuyler, American Diplomacy and the Furtherance of Commerce (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1895), 81; and Wharton, Digest of the International Law, iii, § 113.20 See Elizabeth Arrott to president James Buchanan, 19 and 22 November 1858, USNA, SDP, T368. Elizabeth Arrott told Buchanan, in defence of her father, that he had been described as "the oldest Government officer who has ever been abroad, excepting [Benjamin] Franklin."21 List of Belfast and Londonderry Consular Appointments, Historical files, US Consulate, Belfast; and Sara Agnes Wallace and Frances Elma Gillespie, eds., The Journal of Benjamin Moran, 1857-1865 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949), ii, 847.22 An Act to regulate the Diplomatic and Consular system of the United States, 18 August 1856, 34th Congress, 1st Session (11 Stat., 65). The act in 1856 repealed a similar, but unsatisfactory, bill passed in 1855, An Act to remodel the Diplomatic and Consular system of the United States, 1 March 1955, 33rd Congress, 2nd Session (10 Stat. 619), that interfered with the president's power to appoint diplomats and consuls. Whelan notes that in these years fees ranged from $1.00 (USD) for processing a discharged seaman, to $2.00 for notarizing a document, to $3.00 to $5.00 for valuing goods, and that in some instances consuls earned less money from a salary than they did from fees. Whelan, American Government, 28-31.23 Consular Service, Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a communication from the Secretary of State in relation to the consular service, March 20, 1884, 48th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 121, 59.24 Thomas M. Waller, Inspection of United States Consulates in the United Kingdom (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1887), 1-4.25 Ibid., 10; and An Act to regulate the Diplomatic and Consular system of the United States, 18 August 1856, 34th Congress, 1st Session (11 Stat., 65). See also, Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 106-112; and Moskin, American Statecraft, 141-144.26 An Act making Appropriations for the Consular and Diplomatic Expenses of the Government for the year ending thirtieth June, eighteen hundred sixty-five, and for other Purposes, 30 June 1864, 38th Congress, 1st Session. By 1898 some 64 consular clerks had been appointed but only eight were promoted to consul because as such they had no security were then likely to be removed with a change of administration.27 Kennedy, American Consul, 69-81; Lay, Foreign Service, 14-15; and Keegan, US Consular Representation, 51. An earlier Consular Reform Act was passed in 1855, but had to be amended.28 Wallace and Gillespie, eds., Journal of Benjamin Moran, ii, 918.29 J. Sidney Henshaw, A Manuel for United States Consuls: Embracing Their Rights, Duties, Liabilities, and Emoluments (New York: C.J. Rikes, 1849). See United States Consular Regulations: A Practical Guide for Consular Officers and also for Merchant Shipowners and Masters of American Vessels in all their Consular Transactions (Washington, D.C.: Taylor & Maury, 1856; Hudson Taylor, 1862; and French & Richardson, 1867).30 Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 350.31 See Francis M. Carroll, "Belfast and the American Civil War," Irish Studies Review, ixx, (2011), 245-60; Whelan, American Government, 19; and Wallace and Gillespie, eds., Journal of Benjamin Moran, ii, 900. During the Civil War, in addition to their usual duties, the US consuls were also preoccupied with problems of Confederate and pro-Confederate activities.32 John Young to William H. Seward, Secretary of State, 14 May 1862, John Young to F.W. Seward, assistant secretary of state, n.d. and John Young to William Hunter, acting secretary of state, 3 and 10 May 1865, USNA, SDP, T368. Young was active in tracing the movement of Confederate commerce raiders sailing out of British ports. Whelan notes several pro-Confederate consuls in other towns in Ireland who were replaced. Whelan, American Government, 106-107.33 Keegan, US Consular Representation, 95.34 List of Belfast and Londonderry Consuls, US Consulate, Belfast, Historical file. From at least 1867 the Belfast consulate also had a vice consul or deputy consul, three of whom were British subjects.35 James M. Donnan to J.C. Bancroft Davis, assistant secretary of state, 12 August 1873, and James M. Doonan to John Hay, assistant secretary of state, 13 January 1880, USNA, SDP, T368. The consular correspondence was no longer directly with the president or secretary of state. Barnes and Morgan conclude that, "The worst of Grant's appointments were those made to the Consular Service." Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 134. However, Hamilton Fish did reorganize the Department to handle both diplomatic and consular affairs. He created two diplomatic bureaus and two consular bureaus, among others, to be responsible for major and secondary posts. Graham H. Stuart, The Department of State: A History of its Organization and Personnel (New York: Macmillan Company, 1949), 142-146.36 Richmond also commented on the industriousness of the Belfast community. General Lewis Richmond to John Hay, assistant secretary of state, 6 July 1880, USNA, SDP, T368.37 Arthur B. Wood to H.H. Hill, assistant secretary of state, 20 July 1881, and Arthur B. Wood to J.C. Bancroft Davis, assistant secretary of state, 29 November 1884, T368, ibid.38 George W. Savage to James D. Porter, assistant secretary of state, 3 August and 7 September; and James Stewart to James D. Porter, 20 November 1886, T368, ibid; List of Belfast and Londonderry Consuls, US Consulate, Belfast, Historical file; and Keegan, US Consular Representation, 136. Between 1878 and 1879 the value of Ulster linen goods exported to the US jumped from £1,907,907 to £2,338,912 (USD). Carroll, American Presence in Ulster, 87.39 Samuel G. Ruby to William F. Wharton, assistant secretary of state, 31 May 1889, USNA, SDP, T368.40 Waller, Inspection of United States Consulates, 9-10.41 James B. Taney to Josiah Quincy, assistant secretary of state, 156 July 1893, and William W. Touvelle to William R. Day, assistant secretary of state, 27 September 1897, USNA, SDP, T368; List of Belfast and Londonderry Consuls, US Consulate, Belfast, Historical file; and Special Consular Report, Emigration to the United States (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904), 160.42 Samuel D. Knabenshue to Francis B. Loomis, assistant aecretary of state, 1 March 1905, and Samuel D. Knabenshue to Robert Bacon, Assistant Secretary of State, 24 May 1906, USNA, SDP, T368.43 List of Belfast and Londonderry Consuls, US Consulate, Belfast, Historical files.44 Waller, Inspection of United States Consulates, 1; and Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 350.45 Thomas W. Gilpin to secretary of state, 10 December 1833, USNA, SDP, T368.46 James Corscaden to John Forsyth, secretary of state, 1 January 1835, [United States National Archives, Record Group 59], SDP, T216 (Dispatches from U.S. Consuls in Londonderry). Corscaden served as consul and vice consul intermittently for thirty-five years.47 James McHenry to Daniel Webster, secretary of state, 24 January and 1 May 1843, T216, ibid. For the indignant complaints of the Belfast consul over the incursions into his district from the Londonderry consulate, see James Shaw to Abel P. Upshur, 11 January 1844, USNA, SDP, T368.48 Robert L. Loughead to James Buchanan, secretary of state, 31 December 1845, and 29 January 1847, USNA, SDP, T216; Arthur Livermore to J.C. Bancroft Davis, assistant secretary of state, 25 March 1871, T216, ibid. Arthur B. Wood reported in 1884 that, "Sligo promises to be of some importance in the effort to increase the trade with the west coast [of Ireland] …," but this seems not to have materialized. Consular Service, Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a communication from the Secretary of State in relation to the consular service, March 20, 1884, 48th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 121, 60.49 Keegan, US Consular Representation, 27-28. Also see, Robert L. Loughead to Daniel Webster, secretary of state, 13 August 1850, Robert L. Loughead to Edward Everett, secretary of state, 7 February 1853, James R. Smith to William L. Marcy, secretary of state, 1 September 1856, and Alexander Henderson to Lewis Cass, secretary of state, 1 April 1858, USNA, SDP, T216; and Alexander Henderson to William H. Seward, secretary of state, 30 January 1863, T216, ibid.50 List of Belfast and Londonderry Consular Appointments, US Consulate General, Belfast, Historical files.51 D. Homer Batchelder to Hamilton Fish, secretary of state, 2 July 1870, USNA, SDP, T216.52 Arthur Livermore to J.C. Bancroft Davis, assistant secretary of state, 22 February 1871, and Arthur Livermore, 26 May 1886, T216, ibid.; and Consular Service. Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a communication from the Secretary of State in relation to the consular service, March 20, 1884, 48th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 121, 59.53 Arthur Livermore to secretary of state, 17 April 1876, Arthur Livermore to assistant secretary of state, 15 May 1878, and Arthur Livermore to James D. Porter, assistant secretary of state 4 November 1886, USNA, SDP, T368; and Whelan, American Government, 42.54 Lists of Agents and Londonderry Consuls, US Consulate General, Belfast, Historical files,; and Cecil Litchfield, prime minister's office, Belfast, to secretary of state for foreign affairs (Lord Curzon) 4 January1923, assistant secretary, ministry of commerce, to secretary of the cabinet, Northern Ireland, 25 January 1923, and Charles E. Hughes, secretary of Sstate, to Sir Auckland Geddes, British ambassador, 10 March 1923, Belfast, P[ublic] R[ecord] O[ffice] N[orthern] I[reland], CAB/ 8F/ 5.55 James Shaw to Daniel Webster, secretary of state, 2 December 1842, James Shaw to secretary of state, 9 May 1844, and James McDowell to James Buchanan, secretary of state, 21 August 1848, USNA, SDP, T368. Dundalk some 52 miles south of Belfast.56 John Young to William H. Seward, secretary of state, 28 October 1861; and John Young to William F. Seward, assistant secretary of state, 11 February 1863, T368, ibid.57 James M. Donnan to W. Hunter, acting secretary of state, 12 October 1876, and James M. Donnan to assistant secretary of state, 20 December 1876, T368; and William W. Touvelle to David J. Hill, assistant secretary of state, 10 November 1902, T368, ibid.58 Henry P. Starrett to Shippers of Goods to the United States, 29 June 1925, PRONI, Henry P. Starrett MSS, D/780/81, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland, Belfast; and Whelan, American Government, 20-22.59 James Shaw to Able P. Upshur, secretary of state, 2 September 1842, and Thomas W. Gilpin to James Buchanan, secretary of state, 16 November 1845, USNA, SDP, T368; James Rea to Hamilton Fish, secretary of state, 16 June 1871, T368; James B. Taney to Josiah Quincy, assistant secretary of state, 23 September 1893, T368; and William W. Touvelle to David J. Hill, assistant secretary of state, 25 October and 1 November 1901, T368, ibid. Ballymena is 28 miles north of Belfast and Lurgan 30 miles west.60 A.B. Wood to J.C. Bancroft Davis, assistant secretary of state, 6 March 1882, T368; and Samuel D. Knabenshue to Robert Bacon, assistant secretary of state, 15 January 1906, T368, ibid.; and Consular Service, Message from the President of the United States, transmitting a communication from the Secretary of State in relation to the consular service, March 20, 1884, 48th Congress, 1st Session, House of Representatives, Ex. Doc. No. 121, 59.61 Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 157.62 John Basset Moore, American Diplomacy: Its Spirit and Achievements (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1905), 252.63 Moskin, American Statecraft, 189-90; Waller, Inspection of United States Consulates, 4; and Henry E. Maddox, The Twilight of Amateur Diplomacy: The American Foreign Service and Its Senior Officers in the 1880s (Kent: Kent State University Press, 1989), 5-6. Werking quotes Wilbur J. Carr in a 1932 article as saying that US consuls could no longer "be truthfully pictured sleeping under the proverbial palm tree with his bottle beside him." Richard Hume Werking, The Master Architects: Building the United States Foreign Service, 1890-1913 (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1977), 4. Also see de Goey, Consuls and the Institutions, 141-144.64 Henry White, "Consular Reform," The North Atlantic Review, clix (1894), 711-21; William F. Wharton, "Reforms in the Consular Service," The North Atlantic Review, clviii (1894), 412-22; and Albert H. Washburn, "Some Evils of Our Consular Service," The Atlantic Monthly, lxxiv (1874), 252. Oscar S. Straus, former minister to Turkey, made similar comments. "From my personal observations and experience, I feel justified in saying that not one applicant out of ten has a definite and correct idea of the functions of a Consul, leaving entirely aside whether he possesses the qualifications to discharge them," and he urged appointment by qualifications, promotion by efficient performance, some form of tenure, and adequate salaries. Oscar S. Straus, Reform in the Consular Service (Washington, D.C.: National Civil Service Reform League, 1894), 4 and 12.65 Grover Cleveland, Executive Order, 20 September 1895, Richardson, ed., Messages and Papers of the Presidents, xiii, 6056; and Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 149-150. In March of 1896 thirteen candidates were examined for admission, eight accepted and five rejected. Also see, John Basset Moore, Digest of International Law (Washington, D.C." 1906), v, § 696-733.66 An Act Making appropriations for the diplomatic and consular services for the fiscal year ending June thirteenth eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, 27 February 1896, 54th Congress, 1st Session, ch. 34.67 First Annual Message, December 4, 1893, Richardson, ed., Messages and Papers of the Presidents, xiii, 5874.68 As the American economy industrialized in the years after the Civil War, businesses in the US looked increasingly to foreign markets for both raw materials and markets for their goods. Werking, The Master Architects, 1-12. For a contemporary view see John W. Foster, The Practice of Diplomacy: As Illustrated in the Foreign Relations of the United States (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1906), 239-241.69 An Act to provide for the reorganization of the consular service of the United States, 5 April 1906, 59th Congress, 1st Session (34 Stat., 101); Carr, "American Consular Service," 891-913; Donald M. Dozer, "Secretary of State Elihu Root and Consular Reorganization," Mississippi Valley Historical Review, xxix (1942), 339-50; and Thomas G. Paterson, "American Businessmen and Consular Service Reform, 1890s to 1906," Business History Review, xl (1966), 90-94. On 30 November 1909, Carr became the first Director of the Consular Service. Katherine Crane, Mr. Carr of State: Forty-Seven Years in the Department of State (New York St. Martin's Press, 1960), 138; and Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 159-162.70 Theodore Roosevelt, Message to Congress, 3 December 1901, Richardson ed., Messages and Papers of the Presidents, xv, 6072; and Lawrence E. Gelfand, "Towards a Merit System for the American Diplomatic Service, 1900-1930," Irish Studies in International Affairs, ii (1988), 49-63.71 Theodore Roosevelt, Executive Order no. 469, June 27, 1906, cited in Lay, Foreign Service, 395-397. Also see Green Haywood Hackworth, Digest of International Law (Washington, D.C.: Gover4nment Printing Office, 1942), iv, § 655-947.72 Francis B. Loomis, "The Proposed Reorganization of the American Consular Service," The North American Review, clxxxii (1906), 356.73 Foster, The Practice of Diplomacy, 242.74 Kennedy, American Consul, 197-201; Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 162-165; Lay, Foreign Service, 20-24; Keegan, US Consular Representation, 35-38; Ilchman, Professional Diplomacy, 68-91; and Werking, Master Architects, 88-103. Also useful is Crane, Mr, Carr of State. In November of 1909 President Taft issued an Executive order for the diplomatic service making promotion within the ranks of legation secretaries similarly dependent on satisfactory inspection reports.75 An Act For the improvement of the foreign service, 5 February 1915, 63rd Congress, 3rd Session, Ch. 35 (38 Stat. 805); and Barnes and Morgan, Foreign Service, 168-172.76 Whelan, American Government, 265.77 An Act for the improvement of the foreign service, 5 February 1915, 63rd Congress, 3rd Session, Ch. 23 (38 Stat. 805); and An Act for the reorganization and improvement of the Foreign Service of the United States, and for other purposes, 24 May 1924, 68th Congress, 1st Session, Ch. 182 (43 Stat. 140). For the complicated process of creating a combined United States foreign service through the Rogers Act in 1924, see, Ilchman, Professional Diplomacy, 132-186; and Moskin, American Statecraft, 339-355.78 Kennedy, The American Consul, 210.
Referência(s)