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FOREIGN OFFICE

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 644 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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See also:

FOREIGN See also:OFFICE , that See also:department of the executive of the See also:United See also:Kingdom which is concerned with foreign affairs. The See also:head of the Foreign Office is termed See also:principal secretary of See also:state for foreign affairs and his office See also:dates from 1782. Between that date and the Revolution there had been only two secretaries of state, whose duties were divided by a See also:geographical See also:division of the globe into See also:northern and See also:southern departments. The duties of the secretary of the northern department of See also:Europe comprised dealings with the northern See also:powers of Europe, while the secretary of the southern department of Europe communicated with See also:France, See also:Spain, See also:Portugal, See also:Switzerland, See also:Italy, See also:Turkey, and also looked after Irish and colonial business, and carried out the See also:work of the See also:Home Office. In 1782 the duties of these two secretaries were revised, the northern department becoming the Foreign Office. The secretary for foreign affairs is the See also:official See also:agent of the See also:crown in all communications between See also:Great See also:Britain and foreign powers; his intercourse is carried on either through the representatives of foreign states in Great Britain or through representatives of Great Britain abroad. He negotiates all See also:treaties or alliances with foreign states, protects See also:British subjects residing abroad, and deinands See also:satisfaction for any injuries they may sustain at the hands of foreigners. He is assisted by two under-secretaries of state (one of them a politician, the other a permanent See also:civil servant), three assistant under-secretaries (civil servants), a librarian, a head of the treaty department and a See also:staff of clerks. The departments of the Foreign Office are the See also:African, See also:American, commercial and sanitary, consular, eastern (Europe), far eastern, western (Europe), See also:parliamentary, See also:financial, librarian and keeper of the papers, treaties and registry. In the See also:case of important despatches and See also:correspondence, these, with the drafts of answers, are sent first to the permanent under-secretary, then to the See also:prime See also:minister, then to the See also:sovereign and, lastly, are circulated among the members of the See also:cabinet. The See also:salary of the secretary for foreign affairs is £5000 per annum,that of the permanent under-secretary £2000, the parliamentary under-secretary and the first assistant under-secretary, £150o, and the other assistant under-secretaries £i2oo. See See also:Anson, See also:Law and See also:Custom of the Constitution, See also:part ii.

End of Article: FOREIGN OFFICE

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