PROPER GRADE OF DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIVES 365 



them, and it came to be the practice of each government to defray 

 the expenses of its own mission; but it was assumed that this should 

 be done on a scale befitting the dignity and standing of the nation, 

 and governments are supposed to keep this standard in view in 

 making their appropriations for the diplomatic service. An envoy 

 who is sent abroad to represent his country ought not to be expected 

 to maintain a more expensive establishment than is warranted by 

 the salary paid him, and yet every American ambassador accredited 

 to the capitals of Europe, who in any degree meets the expectations 

 of his countrymen, spends annually much more than he receives 

 from the national treasury. 



But the government of the United States is not the only one 

 which fails to meet the expenses of its embassies. In his testimony 

 before the parliamentary committee from which I have already 

 made extracts, Lord Palmerston stated that the salary of the British 

 ambassador in Paris was not sufficient to meet the outlay actually 

 made by him; and yet the salary and allowances of the British 

 ambassador are more than three times as great as those received 

 by the American ambassador to that capital. I have been informed 

 on the best authority that when the post of British ambassador in 

 Paris became vacant a few years ago by the retirement of Lord 

 Dufferin, it was offered in succession to three British statesmen of 

 prominence, who declined the honor on the ground that they could 

 not afford the extra expense that would necessarily have to be met 

 from their private purse. 



This fact may suggest the inquiry whether the style of living of 

 ambassadors and the demands made upon them have not exceeded 

 the proper bounds, and whether there is not some force in the argu- 

 ment used to justify Congress in its course, that it is not becoming 

 our democratic representatives abroad to maintain such an osten- 

 tatious and extravagant style of living. The change of the American 

 legations to embassies in the European capitals seems to have called 

 for the maintenance of large houses or palaces and a much more 

 lavish style of living, which have so greatly increased their expendi- 

 tures that only persons of wealth can afford to accept these posts. 

 It is a sad day for any country, but more especially for a republic, 

 when its highest offices cease to be rewards of merit and fitness and 

 when they can only be filled by rich men. 



Many incongruities and embarrassments result from the continued 

 adherence to the several grades or rank in the diplomatic service 

 established a century ago by the Congress of Vienna. The great 

 powers of Europe, the United States, and Mexico send to other 

 governments respectively the four grades of diplomatic representa- 

 tives, and even a fifth grade has been added by some of them, who 

 clothe consular officers with diplomatic functions under the title of 



