Ernst or Ernest Raven was an immigrant from Germany who became a prominent resident of Texas; he served as consul for the German Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in the State of Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

.

He was bookbinder to the Duke before moving to Baltimore, Maryland in 1838. http://www.teaembassy.com/page/Tea-Embassy/CTGY/History Raven moved to what was then the Republic of Texas

Republic of Texas

The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...

 in 1844 and settled in Milam County. In 1846 he was one of the signers of a petition to the Governor of Texas for the relocation of trading posts with the Indian tribes. He relocated permanently to Austin, Texas

Austin, Texas

Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...

 in 1848, where he resumed bookbinding and served as a city alderman. In 1853 Raven was hired for contract work on furniture in the Texas State Senate chamber.http://texinfo.library.unt.edu/lawsoftexas/pdf/law03015.pdf Raven was mentioned in Frederick Law Olmsted

Frederick Law Olmsted

Frederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...

's 1857 account of his journey through Texas. At the time of Olmsted's visit to Austin, Raven was offering a $100 reward for return of a stolen horse.http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0803286201&id=oJ3jKrAtW8wC&pg=PA509&lpg=PA509&dq=%22ernst+raven%22&sig=WzecccaaWnM5d4I4T1CeBRzxLi8

By July 1861, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the second sovereign duke of the German duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, reigning from 1844 to his death...

 had appointed Raven to the position of consul for Texas. Confederate Secretary of State Judah Benjamin reported to the Confederate Congress, on September 22, 1862 that Raven was the only consul to request permission to act from the Richmond Government:

"The one agent who is excepted from these remarks is Ernst Raven esq., who was appointed consul for the State of Texas by his highness the Duke of SaxeCoburg and Gotha, and who applied to this Government for an exequatur on the 30th of July, 1861" (Other sources, who consulted Raven's consular papers, spell the name Ernest Raven.)

Raven's appointment assigned him to Galveston, Texas

Galveston, Texas

Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...

, which was the largest port in Texas at the time. .
.

Did Saxe-Coburg-Gotha recognize the C.S.A.?

As Eugene Berwanger writes, "In requesting the exequatur, Raven's government made clear that its request did not imply or extend diplomatic recognition." Raven had been the only consul in the Southern states to do so.

The Confederate Secretary of State, Judah P. Benjamin

Judah P. Benjamin

Judah Philip Benjamin was an American politician and lawyer. Born a British subject in the West Indies, he moved to the United States with his parents and became a citizen. He later became a citizen of the Confederate States of America. After the collapse of the Confederacy, Benjamin moved to...

, on October 8, 1863 describes the Confederate position on the status of consuls under international law:

When the Confederacy was first formed, there were in our ports a number of British Consuls and Consular Agents, who had been recognized as such, not only by the Government of the United States, which was then the authorized agent of the several States for that purpose, but by the State authorities themselves. Under the law of nations, these officials are not entitled to exercise political or diplomatic functions, nor are they ever accredited to the sovereigns within whose dominions they reside. Their only warrant of authority is the commission of their own government; but usage requires that those who have the full grade of Consul should not exercise their functions within the territory of any sovereign before receiving his permission in the form of an exequatur; while consular agents of inferior grade simply notify the local authorities of their intention to act in that capacity. It has not been customary upon any change of government, to interfere with these commercial officials, already established in the discharge of their duties, and it is their recognized obligation to treat all governments which may be established, de facto, over the ports where they reside, as governments de jure. http://docsouth.unc.edu/deptofstate/deptofst.html

Several other European nations (chiefly Great Britain) also maintained consuls in the Confederacy, but these were appointed previously to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Government; several acting consuls were, however, quietly accepted and permitted to act, before the Confederacy made an issue of this in May 1863.

Under other circumstances, an application for an exequatur for a consul can be regarded in international law as de facto recognition of a government.