The Blurry Line: Robert Montgomery’s Public and Private Interests as U.S. Consul to Alicante
This essay, based on intensive research in American and Spanish documents, addresses the problem of self-interest on two fronts. First, it examines the business and consular career of Robert Montgomery, American consul to Alicante, Spain, from 1793 to 1823. As a commission merchant, Montgomery was a...
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| Veröffentlicht in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/cdlm, |
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| Format: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Sprache: | Anglais |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Cahiers de la Méditerranée
2019
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| Online Zugang: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Zusammenfassung: | This essay, based on intensive research in American and Spanish documents, addresses the problem of self-interest on two fronts. First, it examines the business and consular career of Robert Montgomery, American consul to Alicante, Spain, from 1793 to 1823. As a commission merchant, Montgomery was able to profit from his consular position in many ways. But more importantly, it questions the very nature of the problem of self-interest, arguing that the line between self-interest and national service was very blurry and perhaps impossible to delineate. American merchants and the consuls who represented them believed that what was in their interest was also in the interest of American commerce, and a weak and impoverished State Department, unable to send out professional diplomats to most ports or even pay salaries, largely agreed. |
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