CONSUL. 



CONTACT. 



M 



ad of their Urm of office they took a imiUr oath. Tho*e who bad 

 duciurged the office of consul wen called comralare*, and enjoyed 

 kind of pre-eminence in rank over the other neuator*. 



Consular Mfdal of M. Agrlppa. 

 British M<ueom. Actiul ilzc. Bronze. Weight, 158 gnint. 



From the time of Sulla and Cmar, who were elected perpetual 

 dictator*, the consulate gradually lost all it* powers, and under the 

 emperors it sunk to a mere shadow and a name. Yet consuls were 

 sitli annually elected by the people, until the time of Tiberius, who 

 ordered that they should be chosen by the senate. The number of 

 the contuls was much augmented by the emperors ; and several kinds 

 of consuls were made, as consules ordinarii, after whom the years still 

 were called ; consules suffecti, elected by the emperors ; and consules 

 honorarii, who had title and rank, but no power. In the reign of 

 Commodus there were as many as twenty-five consuls in one year. 

 Constantino, however, restored the custom of appointing two consul* 

 only in the year, one for Constantinople, and one for Rome, who were 

 alone to act as supreme judges under the emperor. The last consul 

 at Constantinople, after whom the year was denominated, was Basilius, 

 junior, in the year 1204 A.C.C. or 541 A.D , in the reign of the Emperor 

 Justinianus. The last consul at Home was Theodoras Paulinus, hi 

 the year A D. 536. 



CONSUL, an officer appointed by a government to reside in some 

 foreign country, hi order to give protection to such subjects of the 

 government by whom he is appointed as may have commercial dealings 

 in the country where the consul resides, and also to keep his employers 

 informed concerning any matters relating to trade which may be of 

 interest or advantage for them to know. To these duties ore some- 

 tunes superadded others having objects more directly political, but 

 into this part of a consul's duty it is not necessary to enter at present, 

 aa such functions are assigned to consuls not as such, but in the 

 absence of an ambassador or other political agent The duties of an 

 Kngliah consul as such, cannot perhaps be better described than by 

 giving the substance of the general instructions with which he is fur- 

 nished by the government on his appointment. 



His first duty is to exhibit his commission, either directly, or 

 through the English ambassador, to the authorities of the country to 

 which he is accredited, and to obtain their sanction to his appointment : 

 the document whereby this sanction is communicated, is called an 

 exequatur ; its issue must precede the commencement of his consular 

 duties, and its possession secures to the consul "the enjoyment of 

 such privileges, immunities, and exemption?, as have been enjoyed by 

 his predecessors, and as are usually granted to consuls in the country 

 in which he is to reside " It must be the particular study of the 

 consul " to become conversant with the laws and general principles 

 which relate to the trade of Great Britain with foreign parts : to make 

 himself acquainted with the language and with the municipal laws of 

 the country wherein he resides, and especially with such laws as have 

 any connexion with i he trade between the two countries." It is the 

 consul's principal duty " to protect and promote the lawful trade and 

 trading interest* of Great Britain by every fair and proper means ; " 

 but he is at the same time " to caution all British subjects against 

 carrying on an illicit commerce to the detriment of the revenue and in 

 violation of the laws and regulations of England, or of the country hi 

 which he resides ; " and he is to give to his own government notice of 

 any attempt at such illicit trading. The consul is " to give his best 

 advice and assistance, whenever called upon, to her Majesty's trading 

 iiubject*, quieting their differences, promoting peace, harmony, and 

 good-will amongat them, and conciliating as much as possible the 

 subject* of the two countries upon all points of difference which may 

 fall under hi cognisance." Should any attempt* be made to injure 

 British subjects in person or in property, he is to uphold their rightful 

 interests and the privileges secured to them by treaty. If, in such 

 cases, redress cannot be obtained from the local administration, he 

 must apply to the British minister at the court of the country in 

 which he reside*, and place the matter in his hands. The consul must 

 tranamit to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, at the end of 

 rery year a return of the trade carried on at the different ports within 

 hi* consulate, according to a form prescribed. He is also required to 

 end quarterly an account of the market prices of agricultural produce 

 in each week of the preceding three month*, with the course of ex- 

 change, and any other remarks which he may consider necessary for 

 properly explaining the state of the market for corn and grain. It is 

 further hi* duty to keep hi* own government informed a* to the 

 appearance of any infectious disease at the place of hi* residence. The 



consul is required to afford relief to any distressed British seameii, or 

 other British aubiect* thrown upon the coast, or reaching by chance 

 any place within his district, and he is to endeavour to procure for 

 such persons the mean* of returning to England. He it to furnish 

 intelligence to the commander* of queen'* ships touching upon the coast 

 where he is, and to obtain for them, when required, supplies 01 water 

 and provisions, and he is to exert himself to recover all wrecks and 

 stores belonging to queen'* ship* when found at sea, and brought into 

 the port where he resides. 



In most case* consuls are subjects of the state by whom they are 

 appointed, but this i* by no mean* an invariable rule, and they arc 

 sometime* the subjects of the country in which they reside, or of 

 some other country foreign to both. In some of the legs important 

 places, vice-consuls are (elected for filling the office from among the 

 mercantile class, and it occasionally happen* that they are engaged in 

 commercial pursuihfat the port where their official residence is fixed. 



Consuls or vice-consuls are appointed by the English government, at 

 all the chief ports with which the nation ha* commercial relations, but 

 the precise number i* always varying. The salaries paid vary not only 

 in the manner above stated, but likewise according to the particular 

 circumstances attending the appointment, a residence in some countries 

 being necessarily more expensive than in others. In addition to their 

 salaries, consul* are in tbe receipt of fees on signing various document*, 

 but these fees are of small amount 



' 'N SUMPTION, PULMONAUY. [PHTHISIS PULMOSALIS.] 



CONSUMPTION, MESENTEKIC. [MABASMCS.] 



CONSUMPTION, in political economy, is the end of production ; 

 the use, the expenditure, of articles produced. It is unnecessary here 

 to enter upon any examination of the theories of jmtlnrtirc and u- 

 pnxtnrtin consumption, which have so largely occupied the attention 

 of writers upon political economy. We have stated the general prin- 

 ciple under the head CAPITAL. The natural relations between pro- 

 duction and consumption appear very unlikely to be greatly disturbed 

 in any condition of society in which there is freedom of labour and 

 security of property. The most injudicious and extravagant consump- 

 tion on the part of the few is, in its degree, a stimulus to a more 

 strenuous production on the part of the many ; and under these cir- 

 cumstances there is sure to be that excess of production over con- 

 sumption which constitutes capital. The creation of capital shown 

 that the production has been greater than the unproductive consump- 

 tion. A judicious and well-regulated expenditure on the part of the 

 few would doubtless afford a more certain encouragement to the 

 industry of the producers, and the excess of production over consump- 

 tion would, in the long run, be greater. Whatever injury the im- 

 provident consumption of individuals may cause to themselves, it is 

 quite clear that the producing class of society will always repair the 

 waste of the spending class : that in point of fact there will be an 

 excess of production over consumption, wherever the course of industry 

 is not impeded by bad laws, or by a wasteful consumption on the part 

 of a government. Whenever a government engages in the ruinous 

 consumption incidental to war, for example, a very powerful stimulus 

 may indeed be given to particular branches of industry ; but other 

 branches of industry that would have been encouraged had their 

 money remained in the pockets of the tax-payers, will pro]x>rtionately 

 be depressed. The compensating power of production that is called 

 forth in all cases of private consumption must be deranged, or un- 

 equally and therefore imperfectly excited, by the consumption of the 

 state. 



CONTACT (Geometry). Two lines, one of which at least is curved, 

 are said to be in contact when they have a common point, and recede 

 from that point in such a way that the deflection of the one from the 

 other will, if a sufficiently small departure be taken, become as small a 

 fraction as we please of that departure ; that is, if there be no limit to 

 the smallness of the ratio which i> Q may be made to bear to o y, as we 

 approach the point o. The subject will be further discussed mathe- 

 matically in TAJJGEXT ; CUBVATURE ; CCHVES, THEORY OF ; and we 

 shall at present confine ourselves to pointing out the connection 

 between the preceding definition, which is refined and mathematical, 

 and the obvious ocular phenomenon, by perception of which we imme- 

 diately admit a marked difference of character between contact, as 

 shown at H, and simple intcrttction, as shown at n. 



All our perceptions of lines being ocular and physical in the first 



instance, there is a minimum cisibilc, or least visible distance, at which 



line* will run into each other. Now if p Q and o s always preserve 



such a ratio to each other that the minima ntibilia of these lines arrive 



T 



ff 



\ 



O N N 



nearly together, P<J will not be lost to sight before ox, and the curvet 

 will continue diet net up to the very point of meeting. But if PQ 

 diminish so rapidly as compared with o N, as to be lost to eight wall* 



