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Cleveland issued, in 1895, an order that no person should be appointed to a Consulship, the salary of which was between $1,000 and $2,500, both inclusive, without having been subjected to a rigid examination on the following subjects:
(1) General education, knowledge of languages, business training and experience.
(2) The country in which the consul or commercial agent is to reside, its government, chief magistrate, geographical features, principal cities, chief production and its commercial intercourse and relations with the United States.
(3) The exequatur, its nature and use.
(4) Functions of a consul or commercial agent as compared with those of a vice-consul or consular-agent, relation of former to latter, also to the United States minister or ambassador at the capital of the country.
(5) Duties of a consul or commercial agent as regards:
(a) Correspondence with the State Department and the form thereof.
(b) Passports, granting and visaing.
(c) United States merchant vessels in a foreign port, and their crews, whether seeking discharge, deserting, or destitute.
(d) Wrecks within the jurisdiction.
(e) Wrongs to United States citizens within jurisdiction.
(f) Invoices.
(g) Official fees and accounts.
(6) Treaties between the United States and the foreign country.
(7) Relations of ambassador and minister to laws of the country to which they are accredited, as compared with those of consul or commercial agent to those of the countries where they reside.
(8) Acts of ambassador or minister, how far binding upon his country.
(9) Diplomatic, judicial, and commercial functions of consuls or commercial agents.
(10) Piracy, what it is and where punishable.
(11) Consular Regulations of the United States—copy of which (to be returned to the Department) will be supplied to each candidate upon application.
(12) Such other subject or subjects as the Board may deem important and appropriate in any particular case.
These examinations were to be conducted by a Board consisting of the Third Assistant Secretary of State, the Solicitor of the State Department, and the Chief of the Consular Bureau.
Secretary Olney, himself, pronounced this order at the time of its promulgation, not a final measure, but a “step in the right direction.” As a step in the right direction, as a proof of good intentions, and as an official recognition of the necessity of withdrawing the Consular service from the reach of
