Hitt to Approved. DECAZES, July 19, 1877

No. 101. Mr. Hitt to Mr. Evarts.

Sir: The Journal Officiel of yesterday contains the long-expected decree (arrêté) of the Duke Decazes, bearing date the 10th instant, prescribing the conditions to be observed hereafter in the examinations, to be held in the last two months of every year, of candidates for admission to the lowest paid grades of the French diplomatic and consular service, and the composition of the two examining juries. It is accompanied by the full programmes of the examinations, as elaborated by the commission, of whose deliberations I gave you some account in my dispatch, No. 1475, of April 11, and the report of the commission, discussing the subjects submitted to its consideration and supporting its conclusions. I inclose all these interesting documents herewith.

These examinations are not in fact for original admission to the service, but to those grades which are salaried. There are about seventy young men in the service, “supernumeraries,” who receive no pay, and who are kept at that stage for from two to five years, employed in the foreign office at Paris, and in the embassies, legations, and consulates. It is one of the requirements of appointment to the position of supernumerary that the young men shall have a private income of at least twelve hundred dollars a year. Even under these circumstances, the pressure is so great for admission to the diplomatic career that an appointment as supernumerary is very hard to obtain, and demands all the influence and efforts of friends.

For a long time there has been an examination for candidates for supernumerary in the consular, not in the diplomatic service. Now this has disappeared.

After due service as a supernumerary, a young man may present himself as a candidate for the post of paid attaché in the foreign office at Paris, secretary of the third class in one of the embassies, or as consular pupil, and then he must undergo the examination laid down in one or other of these programmes, according to whether he would enter the diplomatic or consular branch of the service. If rejected he may present himself a second time, but if he fails then he cannot try again.

These examinations will not be competitive, as have been heretofore the examinations in the consular service. Several members of the commission were in favor of competitive examinations, and believed that, instead of abandoning that principle, they should extend its application to the diplomatic department. The contrary opinion prevailed, and the examining juries will now simply give certificates of aptitude to those who pass, and class them by order of merit. The minister will still be left at liberty to choose from those who have passed in making appointments, the action of the juries serving to enlighten him and guide his selections.

A glance at the programmes will show that they are extensive and serious tasks, embracing public law, international law, diplomatic history, commercial affairs, including tariffs, political and economic geography, &c. The two programmes are nearly identical, the chief difference being that the examination for consular pupils embraces more details of political economy, statistics, and consular administration.

You will remark with satisfaction that among the books prescribed in what may be called the course of study the works of our countryman, Wheaton, maintain their place, his “Elements” and “History” being given in both programmes.

I have, &c.,