0 an official chosen by a government to live in a foreign city, in order to take care of people from the official's own country who travel or live there, and to protect the trade interests of that government: --
the German Consul
1 a government official who lives in a foreign city in order to take care of the people from the official’s own country who are traveling or living there and to protect the trade interests of that government --
2 a government official who lives in a foreign city and takes care of people from his or her own country who live or are travelling there. Part of a consul's job is also to protect the trade and business interests of his or her own country in the foreign country: --
the US Consul in Shanghai
The contraction con can mean 'convict', 'confidence trick', 'concentration', 'concerning', 'consol', 'consul' - and 'contradiction' itself.
But the two governments did not compel a thorough distinction between the consuls' two characters.
Second, as the consul's words revealed, the people's own perceptions of their identity, even when explicitly stated, were often considered irrelevant.
These visits, carefully mentioned by consuls, facilitated the resolution of delicate matters.
Although these visits became more frequent, they were observed with care by consuls who received them.
This was especially the case if the visit was made on the occasion of a ceremony that characterized the consul as representative of his sovereign.
Several consuls also advanced their ideas about how to solve the problem.
A nice touch are intermittent notes with practical information on sailing, statistics and government decrees, the kind of information useful to a traveling consul.
