THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL i&j feli From E. E. Silvers COURTYARD OF THE RESIDENCIA AMERICANA AT SEVILLE Vol. II SEPTEMBER, 1925 No. 9 FEDERAL-AMERICAN NATIONAL BANK NOW IN COURSE OF CONSTRUCTION IN WASHINGTON, D. C. W. T. GALLIHER, Chairman of the Board JOHN POOLE, President RESOURCES OVER $13,000,000.00 FOREIGN S JOURNAL PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE AMERICAN FOREIGN SERVICE ASSOCIATION VOL. II No. 9 WASHINGTON, D. C. SEPTEMBER, 1925 The First Half Century of the Consulate at Hamburg By J.> K. HUDDLE, Consul, Department WHEN the business section and much of John Parish, the First Consul the residence section of the city of Ham¬ Prior to the appointment of Cuthbert as Con¬ burg were destroyed by the fire of 1842, sul, there was a succession of officers who served a great portion of the early correspondence of the only short terms. The first consul was John American Consulate at that port was lost. Parish, born in Leith, Scotland, in 1742, a citi¬ Enough remains, however, to bring to light an zen of Hamburg by naturalization, whose promi¬ outstanding figure, who dominates the history of nent firm, Parish and Company, had its place of the Consulate during the first half of the past business in the Deichstrasse. Mr. Parish was century. commissioned Vice Consul June 17, 1790. He By his correspondence alone as recorded in the was appointed Consul on February 20, 1793, and archives of the Hamburg Consulate, John A. his exequatur was dated July 12th. He resigned Cuthbert, Vice Consul from 1817 to 1826, and the office at the end of 1796. His death occurred thereafter Consul until the year of his death, at Bath, England, in 1829. 1848, is characterized as a staunch American, From Dr. Merck, at present an official of the fearless and independent, proud of his service, Commission of the Hamburg Senate for Foreign careful and painstaking in the performance of Affairs, a lineal descendant of Mr. Parish, the his official duties, and an authority on most points following information has been obtained with of both diplomatic and consular procedure, to reference to the earlier consular officers. To the whom many of his colleagues at other European courtesy of Dr. Merck is also due the accompany¬ posts were wont frequently to refer for advice ing excellent portrait of Mr. Parish and the un¬ and opinions. usual silhouette of Mr. J. Morewood, also a Ham¬ burg merchant, who was Vice Consul about 1805. The history of the Hamburg Consulate there¬ fore, in the first half of the last century, becomes Other Early Officers for the most part the biography of Mr. Cuthbert, Samuel Williams, of Massachusetts, graduated as revealed in his official correspondence and in 1780 from Harvard University, merchant in such personal correspondence as may have been London, died in Boston, 1841. Commission of entrusted to the office files. July 28, 1796, exequatur of January 26, 1797. 289 Appointed Consul in London in March, 1798. the first Consul in Hamburg coming from the According to the Hamburg Directory of 1798, United States. After his departure, the business his residence and office in Hamburg were at Pas- of the Consulate was conducted for a time by torenstrasse 115. Mr. Williams is to be noted as Georg Christian Schuett, a Hamburg merchant. JOHN PARISH, Esquire "Rompet,” Hamburg 290 r r __ |THE^MERICANpOREIGNgERVICE JOURNAL Joseph Pitcairn, of New York. Citizen of John A. Cuthbert, of Philadelphia Hamburg. Commission of December 12, 1797; John A. Cuthbert, of Philadelphia, was ap¬ exequatur of May 2, 1798. pointed Vice Consul in 1817, when it appears he John M. Forbes, of Massachusetts, graduated acted temporarily during an absence of Mr. Wyer. from Harvard in 1787. Commission dated Feb¬ He was again appointed by Mr. Wyer in 1819. ruary 4, 1802; exequatur of August 20, 1802. His exequatur as Consul bears date of June 16, Also confirmed as Consul in the Lower Saxon 1826, his patent having been dated April 3, 1826. District. The city directories state that Cuthbert resided During a temporary absence Mr. Forbes ap¬ at Bei der Alster 114 and 6 from 1825 to 1842; pointed as substitutes Messrs. Morewood and 1842, St. Georg, Kreuzweg 29; 1844, St. Georg, King, merchants of the Am Wall 1 and 6; 1845, city. In 1806 he ap¬ Bleichenbruecke 15. pointed Charles Collet From 1843 to 1845 the Dobson as Vice Consul office was detached and one John August from the residence of H a m h r o c k as Vice the Consul, and was lo¬ Chancellor. When cated at Roedingsmarkt Hamburg was seized 42. But in 1846 the and occupied by the residence and office forces of Napoleon Mr. were again combined at Forbes remained in Bleichenbruecke 31. Copenhagen. In 1814 Practically all the ad¬ he named Samuel Lea, dresses given represent of New York, as Vice buildings which were Consul temporarily, and located in the district in 1816 James M. Rob¬ destroyed by the fire of bins, of Boston, was 1842. Those occupied also temporarily a Vice on later dates have been Consul. razed in the city’s prog¬ John Fisher, English, ress or have so changed but a merchant and in appearance at the citizen of Hamburg, present time as to make appears to have acted identification difficult. as Charge d’Afifaires in With the rebuilding and 1817, at Admiralitat- enlargement of the city strasse 202. certain streets have dis¬ During Mr. Forbes’ appeared and in the occupancy of the con¬ streets hearing the for¬ sulship, the office was mer names numbers located at the following have been altered. Ef¬ addresses, according to forts definitely to find the contemporary city the buildings in which directories: 1803-1804, these early offices were Grosse Michaelisstrasse located end in disap¬ 67; 1805, Pastoren- “RompeLHamburg pointment. J. MOREWOOD strasse 151; 1806, Cre- Throughout the Cuth¬ mon, 55; 1807, Admi- Vice Consul, 1805 bert correspondence ralitatstrasse 223; 1808, there is evidence of the Hinter St. Petri; 1809-1810, Neuerwall 135; strength of his character and the respect in which 1811-1813, Dammtorstrasse 32. The city direc¬ he was held by the proud Syndics of Hamburg, tories are silent as to the addresses of the consu¬ who gloried in the aristocracy of centuries of late from 1815 to 1824. Hanseatic traditions. His despatches to the De¬ Mr. Forbes became diplomatic and commercial partment were relatively few, ninety-two recorded agent in Buenos Aires in 1822, and Secretary of from 1833 to 1848, hut many of them betoken Legation and Charge d’Afifaires there in 1825. his strict attention to the interests of his Govern¬ Edward Wyer, of Massachusetts. Commission ment and the alertness with which he observed dated January 31, 1817; exequatur of October political, commercial and economic developments. 22, 1817. (Continued on page 320) 291 “Residencia De America” By EDWARD E. SILVERS, Vice Consul, Seville ON Sunday, June 14, 1925, there was opened ties and presided over by the Infante, Don Carlos in Seville an establishment to be used as a de Borbon y Borbon, Captain-General of the Re¬ club and cultural center known as the gion of Andalucia, and the American Ambassador, “Residencia de America.” This occasion was Hon. Alexander P. Moore, who came from Mad¬ also made appropriate for the unveiling of a rid for this purpose. There was also on hand a bronze tablet, by the Spanish sculptor Mariano party of some sixty American tourists under the Benlliure, on the exterior wall of the Residencia, leadership of Mr. H. V. Kaltenborn, associate dedicated to the memory of Washington Irving, editor of the “Brooklyn Daily Eagle,” which the literary American so closely identified with helped to swell the small number of the Seville Spain, particularly Andalucia and Seville. American colony to a goodly American represen¬ The initiator of this event and owner of the tation. building is the Marquis de la Vega Inclan, head The Marquis de la Vega Inclan was the first of the Royal Spanish Touring Commission, who speaker, followed by the Mayor of Seville. After has been active in promoting Hispano-American the Mayor had unveiled the tablet the American relations, and especially those between Spain and Ambassador, Mr. Moore, spoke briefly. The In¬ “North America” as the United States part of the fante closed the ceremony. western hemisphere is popularly distinguished It should be gratifying to the spirit of Irving locally from Central and South American coun¬ that his memory be recalled in connection with a tries. house so in keeping with the atmosphere of Anda¬ The ceremony of the inauguration and unveil¬ lucia as this Sevillian “Residencia de America.” ing of the tablet was attended by all local authori¬ The location of the dwelling, in the famed “Bar- From E. E. Silvers COURTYARD OF THE RESIDENCIA 292 rio de Santa Cruz” opposite the gardens of the into the patio. The greenness of grass and trees, Alcazar, the royal residence in Seville, abounds the brilliance of the multi-colored flowers and with romantic history which captivates the imagi¬ shrubs bordering the paths and hanging from nation. After the reconquest of the city from windows and balconies, the sunken fountain lined the Moors, this district became the Jewish quar¬ with bright tiles across the width of the garden, ter and there remain many legends, among them all contribute towards a recrudescence of the past. that of Susona, “lovely as Rebecca,” who betrayed On the ground floor to the right and left, en¬ a treasonable plot of her own people to a Chris¬ trance is effected to large rooms with wainscot¬ tian lover, and then, repenting the wrong she had ing of geometrically-designed glazed tiles—a done her father and his kinsmen, with strange Moorish inheritance in Spanish decoration—above logic embraced Christianity that she might become (Continued on page 317) a nun.