I1 beg to acknowledge your minute of 26th September (17/238)2 re the appointment of honorary consuls, and note the attitude of the Department with regard to their appointment in America in particular.
Without wishing to question in any way the advisability of such a decision for America, I venture to return to the question of their appointment for European countries, and in particular for Germany, where it would appear to me that other circumstances, such as our national prestige, must be taken into account in addition to the particular qualifications of one class as compared with another class.
I have just received a long statement from Mr. O'Loan on the subject of certain enquiries made by the authorities in Bremen into alleged smuggling from Irish ships. In fact, the foreman of Fäsenfeld's firm was sentenced to 8 days' imprisonment for the smuggling of hay, which was found in Fäsenfeld's store: presumably the complicity of his principal could not be proved.
The authorities, however, did not confine their enquiries to the firm of Fnfeld nor to hay, but visited Mr. O'Loan in his lodging and announced that they had come about 'the cigarettes which he had brought from the Irish ships.' Mr. O'Loan denied having got any cigarettes from the Irish ships, and was asked to go to the customs headquarters, where he was further questioned, apparently with a view to implicating members of the Fnfeld's firm. He refused to answer any further questions.
Mr. O'Loan suggests that the charge is being brought against the Irish ships and not against the German ones engaged on the German-Irish traffic with the object of making things difficult for the former. This would appear to be entirely consistent with German policy.
I would suggest that this is eminently a case where an Irish consul in Bremen would be of very great value. I cannot agree that Mr. O'Loan's presence in Bremen makes the appointment of a consul superfluous: Mr. O'Loan has, so far as the German Government is concerned, no status whatever, and therefore cannot act as consul. If the matter had taken a more serious turn for him, his only alternatives would be to refer to me (which entails very considerable delay) or to apply to the British consul, which I suggest is a humiliating position, in which an official of the Irish Government should not be placed.
I desire further to suggest that the employment of the services of British consuls for Irish purposes is in several respects extremely objectionable.
The duties of consuls may, I understand, roughly be divided into three classes:- (1) promoting trade interests, (2) performing formal duties such as protesting bills of lading, and (3) giving assistance to citizens of the country which they represent.
As regards (1), I am quite prepared to believe that honorary consuls would not do much to promote Irish trade. At the same time they would presumably do more than the British Consuls who do literally nothing in that respect. This however appears to me not to be the most important aspect of the question.
As regards (2), honorary consuls would presumably perform their formal duties in exactly the same way as the British Consuls.
The most important aspect of the question would appear to be the question of national prestige, as manifested in numerous ways, of which the protection of Irish citizens is one of the more important.
In the first place, from the point of view of the Irish citizen, I would suggest that it is highly objectionable that he should be compelled to apply for assistance to a British Consul. The Irish travelling public may roughly be divided into three classes - those who would refuse under any circumstances to invoke the aid of a British Consul, those who would do so with reluctance, feeling it to be a humiliation, and those who do so gladly and write to the Irish Times on their return in order to point out the advantage to Irish travellers of belonging to the British Empire. I venture to suggest that it is undesirable that any of these classes should be put in the position of having to apply for British aid.
Moreover, in towns such as Munich, where Irish travellers may stay for prolonged periods, the fact that they are under the protection of the British Consul and possibly enrolled in his register as British subjects, naturally tends to assimilate them more and more to the English colony.
As regards the effect on German opinion, I cannot help thinking it even more regrettable that British Consuls should have been retained for Irish purposes. It is under any circumstances difficult, owing to the fact that Ireland is in the main an English-speaking country, to convince the public in Germany (or indeed in Europe generally) that Ireland is anything but a somewhat backward English province. I have heard the opinion even put in the crude form, 'You do not really want to be independent: you know you are much better off in the British Empire.' It is obviously difficult to persuade German public opinion of the desire of Irish people for separation from England, if they see that British officials are retained for the purpose of performing formal duties and protecting Irish nationals, even where other appointments could be made.
As regards the satisfactoriness or otherwise of German honorary consuls, I cannot of course judge, though I am informed by other Ministers that they do their work quite adequately: they are however appointed by practically every country except America, England, France, and Italy.
