THE ORIGIN AND DUTIES OF CONSULS. 279 



the rights of his fellow-countrymen and to arrange 

 their disputes. 



There are two kinds of consuls, one being dele- 

 gated by his Government to exercise a special juris- 

 diction over his compatriots and their business affairs, 

 without having any other character than that of 

 magistrate and public functionary, while the other is 

 a trader who is allowed to add to his particular pro- 

 fession the duties of consul. 



There are several reasons for preferring that a 

 consul should have no interest of his own in commerce. 

 His time and his labour should be not his own, but 

 should belong to his country and Government, to 

 which, like the traveller Anacharsis, he should com- 

 municate all that it may be desirable to know con- 

 cerning the laws, the customs, the habits, the arts, 

 the trade, and the manufactures of the country in 

 which he lives.* 



According to the general instructions for French 

 consuls in foreign countries signed by Louis XVIII. 

 in 1814, " the consuls are political agents, but only 

 in this sense, that they are recognised by the Sovereign 

 who receives them as officers of the Government 

 which sends them, and that the principle of their 

 mandate is either specific treaties, or the common cus- 

 tom of nations or general public law." 



Then, again, the preamble of the ordinance of 

 December 15, 1815, says: " Consulates being insti- 



* See the Comte de Gardens's, Traite de Diplomatic, vol. i. 



