treat upon affairs of state. The necessity of employing such means of communication between independent communities is obvious, and there is hardly an instance of a people in so rude a state of society as to be ignorant of the functions of an ambassador, and of the respect which is due to his office. In modern states however, whatever may be the form of government, ambassadors are generally named by the person who has the supreme executive power. In the United States of North America, the President names an ambassador, but the appointment must be confirmed by the Senate. Sometimes the power of appointing and sending ambassadors has been delegated to a subordinate executive officer, as it was to the viceroy of Naples, the Governor of Milan, and the Spanish Governor-General of the Netherlands. It is exercised by every power which can make war and peace, and accordingly is possessed by the East India Company. Embassies were anciently sent only on particular occasions, with authority to transact some specific business; as, for instance, to negotiate a treaty of peace or alliance, or to complain of wrongs and demand redress. But great changes were gradually introduced in the political condition of Europe. The several states which had risen to importance, although independent of one an other, were bound together by numerous ties, and with the extension of commerce, the intercourse between them became so great, and their interests so complicated, that it was found expedient for them to keep up a more regular communication; and with this view it became customary for one power to have its ambassador residing constantly at the court or capital city of another. Among the ordinary functions of an ambassador, the following are the most important:-1st, to conduct negotiations on behalf of his country; the extent of his authority in this respect is marked and limited by the power which he has received from home; he has, however, according to modern usage, no authority to conclude any engagement definitively, the treaty which he has negotiated having no binding power, till it has been formally ratified by his government; 2ndly, to watch over the accomplishment of all existing engagements; and 3rdly, to take care generally that nothing is done within the territories of the state, nor any treaty entered into with other powers, by which the honour or interests of his country can be affected, without informing his government of such measures. An ambassador has also certain duties to perform towards private individuals of his own nation: such as to provide them with passports, where they are required; to present them at court, if they produce the requisite testimonials; to protect them from violence and injustice; and if any manifest wrong has been done, or if justice has been refused them, to exert himself to obtain redress, and to secure for them the full benefit of the laws; and, lastly, to assist them in maintaining their rights in courts of justice, as well by certifying what is the law of his country upon the point in dispute, as by the authentication of private documents, which is usually confined in practice to such as have been previously authenticated at the foreign office of his own government, and thence transmitted to him. It is now the established usage of European countries and of those parts of North America which were colonized by Europeans and have become independent states, to send ambassadors to one another. The sending of an ambassador by any state implies that such state is also willing to receive an ambassador. It is only, however, in time of peace that this interchange of ambassadors regularly takes place. In time of war, a hostile power cannot claim to have its ambassadors received, unless they are provided with a safe-conduct or passport; and the granting of these is merely a matter of discretion. It is, in all cases, requisite that the ambassador should be provided with the proofs of his authority; these are con tained in an instrument, called his Letters of Credence, or Credentials, delivered to him by his own government, and addressed to that of the state to which he is sent. A refusal to receive an ambassa dor properly accredited, if made without sufficient cause, is considered a gross insult to the power that he represents. But if one of several competitors for the sovereign power in any country, or if a province which has revolted and asserts its independence, sends an ambassador to a sovereign state, such state, if it receives the ambassador, thereby recognises the competitor in the one case to be actually the sovereign, and the revolted province, in the other, to be actually independent. Though this may be the general principle, the practice is somewhat different. In such cases, consuls are generally first sent; and when a government has been established for some time de facto, as it is termed, that is, in fact, it is usual with states who have sent consuls to send ministers also in due time, even though the mother country, to which the revolted states belong, may not have recognised their independence. This was done by the British government and others in the case of the South American states, whose independence Spain has not yet recognised. It is said that a government may refuse to receive an ambassador, if he is personally disagreeable to the state, or of a notoriously bad character. But it is now generally the practice, in order to avoid such a refusal, to inform the court beforehand of the person intended to be sent. Every government, it is also said, may make general rules respecting the class of persons whom it chooses to admit as ambassadors; but every state would think itself aggrieved and insulted by the refusal of the ambassador whom it has appointed, except on satisfactory grounds. There is nothing, for instance, in the general law of nations to prevent a man's being accredited by a foreign power to the government of his own country; and in this case he is clothed, as far as his character as an ambassador is concerned, with precisely the same rights as if he was a member of the state by which he is employed. Prince Pozzo di Borgo, a Corsican, was many years Russian ambassador at Paris. But any government may, by a general regulation, refuse to admit, as France and Sweden have in fact done, any of its own subjects as the representative of an independent state. It is the duty of a state, with respect to ambassadors sent to it, to protect them from everything which may in any degree interfere with the due performance of their functions. This duty commences before the ambassador has delivered his credentials, and as soon as his appointment has been notified to the court. The first privilege of an ambassador in the country to which he is sent, is perfect security. This is necessary in order that he may discharge his functions; and the violation of this privilege has always been considered an offence against the law of nations, whether the violation proceeds from the sovereign power itself, or from the unauthorized acts of individuals. The Porte used to violate this privilege, by confining the ministers of any power it went to war with, in the Seven Towers, under the pretence of protecting them from popular outrage. The last minister shut up in the Seven Towers' was M. Ruffin, the envoy of the French republic. Since that time the practice has dropped. The second important privilege of an ambassador is, that no legal process can affect him, in his person or his property; so much of his property, at least, as is connected with his official character, such as his furniture, equipages, &c. (Bynkerschoek, De foro Legatorum.) This privilege is in some degree subsidiary to the former; for it would be of little avail to protect an ambassador from open outrage, if he were liable to be harassed by legal proceedings, which, whether instituted (as it is always possible they might be) without foundation, or well founded, would interfere with the discharge of his public functions. Ambassadors are, therefore, deemed not to be amenable for their conduct before any criminal tribunal of the country they reside in. But ambassadors cannot misconduct themselves with impunity. They are bound to respect the law and customs of the country they are in; and if they commit any offence, the sovereign may complain of it to the government which they represent; or, if the case is of a more serious nature, he may demand that they be recalled, or may even dismiss them peremptorily, and in either case require that they be brought to trial in their own country. And if an ambassador is guilty of an offence which threatens the immediate safety of the state, not even the privilege of personal security will protect him from any degree of force which may be necessary to defeat his intentions: thus, if he engages in a conspiracy against the government, he may, if the circumstances require it, be put under arrest, in order to be sent home, and if he is found in arms joining in a rebellion, he may be treated as an enemy. The same principle also extends to civil suits, and no claim can be enforced against an ambassador by any compulsory process. and property: it is not only protected from open outrage, but it is likewise exempted from being searched or visited, whether by the police, by revenue officers, or under colour of legal process of any description whatever. This privilege has sometimes been con strued to extend so far, as to make the ambassador's residence an asylum to which any offender might flee and be out of the reach of the law; but the government may, in such a case, demand that the offender be given up, and if he is an offender against the state, in case of a refusal on the part of the ambassador, and if the circumstances require it, he may be taken by force. at This privilege of asylum, as it is called, was formerly granted in some cities to the whole quarter in which the ambassador resided; such was the case Madrid, till in the year 1684 it was confined to the residence itself. Such also was the case at Rome to a much later date; and even at the present day some vestiges of this immunity still remain, but since 1815 it has been confined to cases of correctional police. These privileges are not confined to the ambassador alone, but are extended to all his suite-his companions, as they are sometimes called,-including not only the persons employed by him in diplomatic services, but his wife, chaplain, and household. The law of nations in this respect is fully recognised by the law of England. By the statute of 7 Anne, c. 12, all legal process against the person or goods of an ambassador, or of his domestic, or domestic servants, is declared to be void. The benefit of this Act may be claimed by any one who is actually in the domestic service of the ambassador, whether he is a British subject or a foreigner, provided he is not a merchant or trader within the bankrupt law; and it is not necessary that he should be resident in the ambassador's house. But if he takes a house, and uses it for any other purpose besides that of residence as if he lets part of it in lodgings, he so far loses his privilege, and his goods are liable to be distrained for parochial rates. Whoever sues out or executes any process contrary to the provisions of the act, is punishable at the discretion of the lord chancellor and the two chief justices, or any two of them, as a violator of the law of nations, and disturber of the public repose;―with this exception, how-to ever, that no one can be punished for arresting an ambassador's servant, unless the name of such servant be registered with the secretary of state, and by him transmitted to the sheriffs of London and Middlesex. The third important privilege of an ambassador is, that his residence enjoys a security similar to that of his person There are some other privileges which, though not essential to the character of ambassadors, are yet very generally admitted. Ambassadors are, for instance, in all civilized countries allowed the free exercise of their religion; they are in general exempted from direct taxation; and they are usually allowed to import their goods without paying any customhouse duties: this last privilege, however, being extremely liable to abuse, has sometimes been limited. At Madrid since the year 1814, and at St. Petersburg since 1817, ambassadors are allowed six months to import their goods free of customs, and after that time their exemption ceases. At Berlin they are only allowed import goods until the duties payable amount to a certain sum. If any violence has been offered to an ambassador, or any of his privileges have been infringed, although he may himself, if he chooses, prosecute the offender, it is more usual for him to demand satisfaction of the government, and it is their duty to bring the offender to punishment. The title of ambassador, in the more limited sense of the word, as it is used at present, is confined to diplomatic ministers of the highest order. Ambassadors, in this sense of the word, hold an office of very exalted rank; their credentials are addressed immediately from their own sovereign to the sovereign to whom they are sent; with whom they thereby are entitled to treat personally, without the intervention of his ministers, in the same manuer as their master would if he were present. This is a power, however, which, at least in free states, where the ministers alone are responsible for the acts of the government, exists rather in name than in reality. The ambassadors, properly so called, are deemed to represent not only the interests, but likewise the person and dignity of their master or of their state; but this representative character, as it is called, amounts in reality to little more than the enjoyment of certain marks of distinction; the principal of which are, that an ambassador is always styled Your Excellence,' which was formerly the mode of addressing a sovereign prince; 2. That he takes precedence next after princes of the blood royal, &c. Ambassadors are of two kinds:-1. Those who reside regularly at the court at which they are accredited, to perform the usual duties of their office; 2. Those who are sent on special occasions, either on missions of important business, as the uegotiation of a treaty, or more frequently on some errand of state ceremony, such as to be present at a coronation or a marriage. The designation of Ambassador Extraordinary was originally appropriated to those of the second kind (such as belonged to the first being styled Ordinary Ambassadors); but the title of Extraordinary, being considered more exalted, is now usually bestowed even on those who are regularly resident. To the highest order of minister belong also the Legates and Nuncios of the Pope. [LEGATE; NUNCIO.] ministers under other denominations, who, though inferior in point of dignity, should be invested with equal powers. The chief difference by which all the lower orders of diplomatic agents are distinguished from ambassadors, properly so called, is, that they are the representatives not of the personal dignity of their prince, but only of his affairs and interests, in the same manner as an ordinary agent is the representative of his principal. Diplomatic ministers of the second order receive their credentials (like ambassadors) immediately from their own sovereign. To this order belong envoys, ordinary and extraordinary, ministers plenipotentiary, the internuncios of the pope, and the Austrian minister at Constantinople, who is styled internuncio and minister plenipotentiary. The distinction of ministers into those of the first and those of the second order began to prevail towards the end of the fifteenth century, and is said to have been originally introduced by Louis XI. of France. [ENVOY.] There is likewise a third order of diplomatic agents, which does not appear to have been recognised till towards the beginning of the eighteenth century. Those who belong to it are known by the title of Chargés d'Affaires (which is said to have been given by a prince, for the first time, to the Swedish minister at Constantinople, in 1748), Resident, or Minister. Their credentials are given them by the ministers of state in their own country, and are addressed to the ministers of the country they are sent to; except in the case of the diplomatic agents of the Hanseatic towns, whose credentials are addressed to the sovereign. In this order may also be included the ministers whom an ambassador or envoy, by virtue of an authority from his prince or state, appoints (usually under the title of Chargé d'Affaires) to conduct in his absence the affairs of his mission., [CHARGE' D'AFFAIRES.] The great Powers at the Congress of Vienna, in 1815, divided diplomatic agents The rank and pomp annexed to the into four classes: 1. Ambassadors, legates, office of ambassador being attended with or nuncios. 2. Envoys, ministers, and considerable expense, and having fre- other agents accredited to sovereigns. 3. quently occasioned embarrassments and Chargés d'Affaires, accredited to the dedisputes, it was found expedient to employpartment of foreign affairs. Consuls are not in general reckoned among diplomatic ministers; in some particular cases, however, where they have diplomatic duties to perform, they are accredited and treated as ministers. [CONSUL.] 6 It was long a disputed question, whether the smaller powers should communicate by means of ministers of the highest order. According to the practice of the present day, it is only in the intercourse between the great powers that ambassadors or ministers are employed. The United States of North America are usually represented at the courts of the great powers of the first class by ministers plenipotentiary, and at those of inferior rank by chargés d'affairs; and they have never sent a person of the rank of ambassador in the diplomatic sense. (Note, Kent's Commentaries, p. 40, vol. i.) The courts to which the British government sends an ambassador are those of Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburg and the Porte: to the courts of Prussia, Spain, the Two Sicilies, Holland, Portugal, Sweden, Hanover, Brazil, and to the United States, we send an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary; to Sardinia, Denmark, Bavaria, Würtemberg, and Frankfort, an Envoy Extraordinary;' to Saxony, Tuscany, the Swiss Cantons, Greece, Mexico, and Buenos Ayres, a 'Minister Plenipotentiary;' to the states of New Grenada, Venezuela, Peru, Chili, and Texas, a Chargé d'Affaires.' The principal secretary of an ambassador is termed Secretary of Embassy,' and of envoys and ministers, Secretary of Legation. Attached to each embassy there are two paid 'Attachés,' but in the embassy to the Ottoman Porte, when an envoy and minister' only is employed, there is only one paid attaché. The salary of the ambassador to the court of St. Petersburg is 11,000l. a-year; that of the secretary is 1000l.; and the two attachés receive 400l. and 300l. a-year respectively. The expenses of the other embassies are not quite so high. The salaries and pensions for diplomatic services are paid out of the consolidated fund, and are regulated by 2 & 3 Wm. IV. c. 116. When this act was passed, in 1832, the annual sum was fixed at 203,510l.; and it was provided that 6 until the amount was reduced to 180,000l., his majesty should not grant a larger annual amount in diplomatic pensions than 2000l.; and that when reduced, the whole annual expense of this branch of the public service should not exceed 180,000l. În 1843 the charge for services and allowances was 140,000l., and for pensions 39,982l. 12s. 6d.; making a total of 179,982l. 12s. 6d. The rules relating to the ceremonial due to diplomatic ministers are laid down at great length by writers on the subject. The first thing to be done by a minister is to announce his arrival to the minister for foreign affairs. He is then entitled to an audience of the prince, either public or private. The right of demanding at all times, during his stay, a private audience, is the distinction and important privilege of an ambassador. Should his only chance of carrying a measure depend on his having a private audience of the prince to whom he is sent, it is evident that this might be thwarted by the prince's ministers, who would of right be present at the audience of any minister below the rank of ambassador. A minister plenipotentiary, as well as an ambassador, can claim a public audience. He there presents his credentials to the prince, and hands them over to the minister for foreign affairs. Ministers and envoys also present their credentials to the prince in person. After he has been presented to the prince, a minister visits all the diplomatic body. But a minister of the highest order pays his respects in person only to those of the same rank-with ministers of a lower order he merely leaves his card. When an ambassador arrives at a court, all the diplomatists there, who are not of his own rank, call on him first. Disputes have frequently arisen among ministers of the same rank about precedence. The rules by which it has at various times been endeavoured to settle the respective rank of the representative of each state, being founded on no solid principle, and not sanctioned by general acquiescence, it is unnecessary to men tion. A rule which has long been partially adopted, may now be considered fully established: for at the Congress of |