HC Deb 19 November 1852 vol 123 cc245-7
MR. EWART

I beg, Sir, to inquire of the noble Lord the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, if any steps have been taken for the examination or other test of fitness of candidates for the Diplomatic service of the country; whether there will be any objection to lay a statement of the examination or qualification required before the House; and also whether any qualification will be required from candidates for the Consular service?

LORD STANLEY

The hon. Member for Dumfries, in June last, put to me a question similar to that he now puts, and I then did hope that I should by this time have been able to give to that or a similar inquiry a more satisfactory answer than I am afraid I shall now he able to give. This subject of education for the diplomatic service has engaged the attention of Government for some time past, and a plan has been prepared, which I trust, with some modification, will be adopted, but which is not yet in a state to lay before the House. In drawing out the plan, it was found necessary, or at least desirable, that some other changes should at the same time be made in reference to the junior members of the Diplomatic service, and as those changes involve some increase of expenditure (though not, perhaps, a large increase), it was determined not to include them in the arrangements of the present year. I can assure the hon. Member that the Government have not lost sight of the subject—that it is even now engaging their attention, and that they hope to be shortly able to lay before the House and the country such a plan as I have referred to. With regard to the second part of the hon. Gentleman's question, as to whether it is intended to apply any test of qualification to candidates for the Consular service, I beg to say it is not the intention of the Government to apply any such test. To do so would involve an entire change in the system under which Consuls are now appointed. The majority of those persons who entered the Consular service, entered it late in life, or at any rate at an age when it would be difficult to subject them to such a general examination as might he highly proper for young men who had just left school. Many of the British Consuls have been officers in the two services; some have been Members of this House, others are persons engaged in trade: and in none of these cases, but especially the last, would such an examination as the hon. Gentleman proposes be possible. A practical knowledge of commercial affairs, and an acquaintance (which ought always to be required) with the language of the country in which he exercises his office, are sufficient qualifications for a Consul.