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for rent of an office, exclusively devoted for the use of the Consulate, to such an amount as shall be determined by the Secretary of State, not exceeding $500. They will not be allowed to retain any sums paid for clerk-hire unless specially authorized. They are allowed the same compensation that salaried Consuls are allowed from their agencies. They are not entitled to draw on the Department for office-rent or clerk-hire. Those expenses are payable only from the fees which they may .collect.

ARTICLE IX.

Formalities to be Observed on Arrival at Post. 67..After the arrival of a Consul-General or Consul at his post, he will give information thereof to the United States Legation, if there be one accredited to the government of the country in which his Consulate is situated.

Art. VIII.

Art. IX.

On arrival to notify Legation.

68..It is the practice of the Department to send the Exequatur. consular commission to the Legation, with instructions to the Diplomatic Agent to apply for the exequatur by which the Consul-General or Consul is officially recognized and enabled to discharge, without interruption, his consular duties.

69..If there be no Legation of the United States in the country, the commission will be sent to the Consul direct, who will, without delay, transmit it to the proper department, and request an exequatur. In either case he will inform, in respectful terms, the authorities of the port or district to which he is sent of his appointment; and if he can obtain their consent to his acting officially before the receipt of his exequatur, he is authorized so to act. As soon as his exequatur is received, he must see that it is made public in the manner usual in the country.

70.. Having obtained either his exequatur or permis- Inventory. sion to act, he will apply to the person having charge of the consular seal and the archives of the Consulate for their delivery to him; and having made an inventory, jointly with his predecessor, if present, of the

Art. IX.

Consular Office.

Money on hand.

What notices to give.

Arms.

papers, books, and other effects, he will transmit a copy of such inventory, signed by both parties, or in the absence of his predecessor, by himself, to the Department.

71..He will likewise transmit to the Secretary of the Treasury a certificate of this fact, to be executed jointly by himself and the outgoing Consular Officer, if present, (see form No. 5;) and he may then take charge of the seal, archives, and effects of the Consulate.

72..Consuls belonging to the class named in Schedule B, will establish their Consulates at the most couvenient central place that the sum allowed for rent will permit, and will keep them open daily during the usual business hours of the place.

73..If there are any public funds in the hands of his predecessor, the Consul should take charge of them, unless they are the proceeds of the effects of an American citizen who died intestate more than a year previous, and which should have been remitted to the Treasury of the United States; in which case the Consul who received the same shall make the remittance.

74. Having entered on the duties of his office, the Consul must immediately give notice thereof to the Department of State, to the Consul-General to whom he may be subordinate, or if there be no such ConsulGeneral, then to the Minister of the United States in the country in which such Consul is appointed, and to the Consuls of the United States residing in the same country and send his official card to or call personally upon the Consular Officers of other countries residing in the place of his Consulate, as the custom of the place may be. He will also, before the expiration of ninety days after entering upon the duties of his office, nominate to the Department, through his immediate superior, suitable persons to fill all the Agencies in his jurisdiction, and a suitable person to act as Vice-Consul in case of his temporary absence or relief from duty.

75..The arms of the United States should be placed

over the entrance of the Consulate, unless prohibited by the laws of the country; and wherever such custom prevails, the national flag should be hoisted daily for his protection, and as the emblem of his authority.

ARTICLE X.

Correspondence of a Consular Officer with the Department of State.

76..All communications addressed to the Department, as well as inclosures, must be written on cap paper, in a fair, round hand, leaving an inch margin ou each side of the page.

77..Consuls will instruct their agents to observe the same form.

Art. IX.

Art. X.

Correspondence with Department.

Form.

78..All dispatches must be numbered consecutively, Numbering. beginning with the acceptance of the office, and continuing, consecutively, during the term of the incumbent.

79.. Each dispatch is, as far as possible, to be confined to one subject, and to be divided into paragraphs when treating of more than one.

80..In transmitting inclosures in dispatches, the contents of those inclosures are to be briefly stated in the body of the dispatch, and attention is to be directed to such points contained in them as may appear to be particularly deserving of notice. In each case, following the signature, the Consul should give a "List of Inclosures," showing the names of the persons by and to whom the inclosure is written, and the date.

Each dispatch on one subject.

Inclosures.

tracts.

81..All extracts from newspapers, sent as inclosures, Newspaper must be neatly cut out and pasted upon cap paper, corresponding in size with the dispatch.

82.. Should such inclosures be in any foreign lan- Translations. guage, exact copies of the originals are to be forwarded, and also translations of them, if convenient. Whenever it is mentioned in a dispatch that a paper is inclosed, an oblique line is to be made in the margin, (thus 1/) and above such line is to be placed the number corresponding to the number of inclosure. All inclosures should be indorsed and numbered.

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83..Each series of inclosures is to be numbered anew in each dispatch, commencing with No. 1; and when there are more inclosures than one in a dispatch, each inclosure is to be numbered in the order in which it is to be read.

84..When printed papers are sent as inclosures in dispatches, two copies, if they can be conveniently obtained, should be forwarded. It is not necessary to cut out the duplicate.

85..In transmitting copies of correspondence with dispatches, Consuls are requested to use half sheets of paper in all cases where they will suffice to contain the text of the note to be copied. This will save unnecessary waste of paper, and largely diminish foreign postage.

86..When Consuls write upon any subject upon which they have previously written, they will refer to the number of such previous dispatches.

87.. All dispatches should commence upon the third page of the first sheet. The second line on the first page should show the number and date of the dispatch, and the station of the Consul; the third line the name of the Consul; the fourth line the general subject of the dispatch; the fifth and subsequent lines of that and the following page a synopsis of the contents.-(See Forms 6 and 7.)

88..In making copies of correspondence, the blank space on a leaf at the end of one communication should not be used to commence another. Each document should be on its own sheet, or, if brief, on its own half sheet.

89.. All dispatches are to be folded like those sent from this Department. Gum, sealing-wax, or wafers are not to be put upon the dispatches or the inclosures, but only on the envelopes which cover them.

90..All Consular correspondence will be addressed on the inside to the Assistant Secretary of State under whom the charge of the Consulate may be placed by the rules of the Department.

91.. All envelopes covering consular dispatches will be addressed to the Secretary of State, as shown in Form No. 8.

92..Dispatches of Consuls in Great Britain, France, Italy, Egypt, Cuba, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, China, Japan, and Turkey, will be forwarded unsealed through the respective Consulates-General. Correspondence with the Treasury Department will pass sealed and without examination by the Consul-General.

Art. X.

How forwarded.

Dates and re

93.. Dispatches are never to be antedated; and turns. when returns which are ordered to be transmitted "quarterly," "half-yearly," or "annually," cannot be completed on the last day of the quarter, half-year, or year, as the case may be, for want of sufficient information on that date, or for any other reason, the Consul will notify the Department thereof, and the returns are to be made up to that date as soon as practicable thereafter.

94.. Returns ordered to be sent "quarterly" are to Returns be made up to the 31st of March, 30th of June, 30th of September, and 31st of December. Those ordered to be made up "half-yearly" are to be made up to the 30th of June and 31st of December; those ordered to be "annu. ally transmitted" are to be made up to the 31st of December.

95.. Returns ordered by special instruction, or enactment, or by different sections of the General Instructions, are to be sent as inclosures in distinct dispatches, each dispatch relating solely to the return as ordered to be made in such instruction, enactment, or section; but the accounts and returns for any one quarter may be sent in a single dispatch.

96.. A return must be rendered on the 31st of December of each year, or as soon after as possible, of the number and dates of the dispatches to the Department written during the year, and transmitted by the earliest conveyance, and if practicable, before the Consul writes any dispatches in the ensuing year.

Correspondence with other Depart

97..A Consular Officer will hold correspondence on public matters (independently of that which his official meats. duties require him to conduct with the local authorities and individuals of the place where he resides, and officers or others employed in our commercial marine) with the Secretary and Assistant Secretaries of State, the Sec

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