tinctly the progress of modern civilisation, than the institution of permanent diplomatic missions between different States.' The establishment of these permanent legations is generally dated from the peace of Westphalia, in 1648.1

§ 2. The primitive law of nations made no distinction between the different classes of public ministers; but the increase in their number and duties, in modern times, has led to numerous distinctions in the name and rank of the different public agents, as well as in the rights which pertain to their respective offices. The distinctions thus introduced into the voluntary law of nations, by the modern usages of Europe and America, have, at times, for the want of exact definition, become the source of serious controversies; but this usage, as modified and explained by conventions and diplomatic discussions, has at last established a more uniform, though not entirely definite, rule on this subject, which has become incorporated into the international code, as a law by which the rights and duties of each may be sufficiently ascertained.2

§ 3. The modern classification, as adopted by the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and that of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1818, and which, with little variation, has been subsequently followed, is based on the power and authority conferred on the agent by his own government. The first and highest rank is given to those who represent the sovereign or State by whom they are delegated; the second rank to envoys not invested with the representative character, but who are sent for particular purposes, and have conferred on them special powers; third,

1 Wheaton, Elem. Int. Law, pt. iii. ch. i. § 1 ; Vattel, Droit des Gens, liv. iv. ch. v. §§ 55-65; Horne, On Diplomacy, sec. i.; Phillimore, On Int. Law, vol. ii. §§ 148-151, 211-213; Ward, Hist. Law of Nations, vol. ii. p. 413; Heffter, Droit International, § 199; Miruss, Das Europ. Gesandschaftsrecht, § 89; Kluber, Europ. Völkerrecht, § 170; Wildman, Int. Law, vol. i. ch. iii.; Bello, Derecho Internacional, pt. iii. cap. i. § 1; Riquelme, Derecho Pub. Int., lib. ii. cap., Ad. i. Ambassadors are not always to be received, either on account of the person sending, or of the person sent. Thus the Pope refused to receive the ambassador of Henry II., who was sent after the death of Thomas à Becket, on account of the person sending; and the people of Gaunt refused to receive an ambassador from Louis XI. of France, on account of the person sent, who was a barber.

2 Kluber, Acten des Wiener Cong., 1814 and 1815; Burlamaqui, Droit de la Nat. et des Gens, tome v. pt. iv. ch. xv.; Merlin, Répertoire, verb. 'Ministre Public,' sec. i.; Grotius, De Jur. Bel. ac Pac., lib. ii. cap. xviii. § 10; Bynkershoek, De Foro Legat., cap. vi.; Zouch, De Leg. de Jud., p. 139; Wicquefort, l'Ambassadeur et ses Fonctions, lib. i. §§ 818-838.

to ministers resident at a foreign Court, not for any specified object, but performing such duties and exercising such powers as their sovereigns may direct or confer on them; fourth, to agents of a rank subordinate to ministers charged by their own governments with the performance of certain diplomatic duties in a foreign country. There are, also, connected with nearly every legation, certain secretaries, attachés, messengers, &c., to whom the usage of nations has given certain privileges and exemptions, while in a foreign State. We shall here consider these public officers in a foreign country, in the following order: first, ambassadors; second, envoys and ministers plenipotentiary; third, ministers resident; fourth, chargés d'affaires; fifth, secretaries of legation; sixth, attachés and the families of ministers; seventh, messengers, couriers, domestic servants, &c.

4. Every public minister, in some measure, represents the State or sovereign by whom he is sent, as an agent represents his constituent; but an ambassador is considered as peculiarly representing the honour and dignity of his principal, and, if the representative of a monarchical government, he has been regarded as entitled to the dignity and exact ceremonial of one representing the person of his sovereign. The terms ordinary and extraordinary are applied to designate the time of their intended residence and employment, whether for an indeterminate period, or only for a particular or extraordinary occasion. In Europe, the right of sending ambassadors is considered as exclusively confined to crowned heads, to the great Republics, and to other States entitled to royal honours. Papal legates, or nuncios, at Catholic courts are usually ranked as ambassadors,'

5. Envoys and other public ministers not invested with

1 If a Viceroy send an ambassador, it is high treason; therefore Queen Elizabeth refused to receive a minister of State sent by the Duke of Alva, Governor of Flanders, because he was not provided with credentials from the King of Spain.

The trumpeter sent by the Maid of Orleans to the Earl of Suffolk was not accorded the immunities usually attached to that duty, because the person sending him was not a sovereign, nor one capable of sending a trumpeter. (Grimston, Hist. of France, 326.)

The Electors and Princes of Germany, however, had the privilege of sending and receiving ambassadors, concerning the affairs of their own territories, but not concerning those of the Empire. The Hans Towns likewise possessed this privilege, either by prescription or by grant of some of the Emperors.

the peculiar character which is supposed to be derived from representing generally the dignity of the State or the person of the sovereign, come next in rank to ambassadors. They represent their principal only in respect to the particular business committed to their charge at the court to which they are accredited. They are variously named, as envoys, envoys extraordinary, and ministers plenipotentiary, and internuncios of the Pope. Martens says: A distinction is made between the envoy and the envoy extraordinary, and between the envoy extraordinary and the plenipotentiary. But these distinctions have no influence with regard to precedence.'1

6

§ 6. In the third class are included ministers, ministers resident, residents, and special ministers charged with a particular business, and accredited to sovereigns. Vattel thus distinguishes between a minister resident, and one called simply minister, and gives us the origin of the name: The word resident formerly only related to the continuance of the minister's stay, and it is frequent in history for ambassadors in ordinary to be styled only residents. But since the establishment of different orders of ministers, the name of resident has been limited to ministers of a third order, to the character of which general practice has annexed a lesser degree of regard. The resident does not represent the prince's person in his dignity, but only his affairs.' 'Lastly, a custom still more modern has erected a new kind of ministers, without any particular determination of character. These are called simply ministers, to indicate that they are invested with the general quality of a sovereign's mandatories, without any particular assignment of rank and character. It was likewise the punctilio of ceremony which gave rise to this novelty. Use had established distinct treatment for an ambassador, an envoy, and a resident. Difficulties betwixt ministers of the several princes often arose on this head, and especially about rank. In order to avoid all contests on certain critical occasions, when they might be apprehended, it has been judged proper to send ministers, without giving them any of these known characters; such are not subjected to any settled ceremony, and can pretend to no particular treatment. minister represents his master in a vague and indeterminate manner, which cannot be equal to the first degree, and con1 Martens, Guide Diplomatique, §§ 8, 14.

VOL. I.

sequently makes no difficulty in yielding to an ambassador. He is entitled to the general regard of a person of confidence to whom the sovereign commits the care of his affairs, and he has all the rights essential to the character of a public minister.''

$7. Chargés d'affaires, near the courts of the monarchical Governments of Europe, are not accredited to the sovereigns, but to the ministers of foreign affairs. They are divided into two classes, according to the nature and object of their appointments, viz., chargés d'affaires ad hoc, who are originally sent and accredited by their Governments in that capacity, and chargés d'affaires par interim, who are substituted in the place of the minister of their respective nations during his absence.2

§ 8. The secretaries of embassy and legation are especially entitled, as official persons, to the privileges of the diplomatic corps in respect to their exemption from local jurisdiction.* 'The ambassador's secretary,' says Vattel, 'is one of his domestics; but the secretary of the embassy has his commission from the sovereign himself, which makes him a kind of public minister, and he, in himself, is protected by the law of nations, and enjoys immunities independent of the ambassador, to whose orders he is indeed but imperfectly subjected, sometimes not at all, and always according to the determination of their common master.' 4

§ 9. The attachés, and the wife and family of a minister, participate in the inviolability attached to his public character. 'The persons in an ambassador's retinue,' says Vattel, 'partake of his inviolability; his independency extends to all his household; these persons are so connected with him that they follow his fate. They depend immediately on him only, ard are exempt from the jurisdiction of the country into which they would not have come, but with this reserve. The ambassador is to protect them, and whenever they are insulted, it is an insult to himself. The ambassador's consort is

1 Vattel, Droit des Gens, liv. iv. ch. vi. § 73.

2 Webster, to Am. Chargé d'Affaires at Vienna, June 8, 1852; Maillardière, Précis du Droit des Gens, p. 330; Phillimore, On Int. Law, vol. ii. § 220; Kluber, Droit des Gens Mod., § 182; Martens, Guide Diplomatique, § 15.

3 Ex parte Cabrera, 1 Wash. C. C. 232.

Vattel, Droit des Gens, liv. iv. ch. ix. § 122. An agent has not the privilege of legation unless he be accredited.

intimately united to him, and more particularly belongs to him than any other person of his household. Accordingly, she shares his independency and inviolability; even distinguished honours are paid her, which in some measure could not be denied her without affronting the ambassador. For these, most courts have a fixed ceremonial. The regard due to the ambassador communicates itself likewise to his children, who also partake of his immunities.''

§ 10. The practice of nations,' says Wheaton, 'has also extended the inviolability of public ministers to the messengers and couriers sent with dispatches to or from the legations established in different countries. They are exempt from every species of visitation and search, in passing through the territories of those powers with whom their own government is in amity. For the purpose of giving effect to this exemption, they must be provided with passports from their own Government, attesting their official character; and, in case of dispatches sent by sea, the vessel, or aviso, must also be provided with a commission or pass. In time of war, a special agreement, by means of a cartel or flag of truce, with passports, not only from their own Government, but from its enemy, is necessary for the purpose of securing these dispatch vessels from interruption, as between the belligerent powers. But an ambassador, or other public minister resident in a neutral country, for the purpose of preserving the relations of peace and amity between the neutral State and his own Government, has a right freely to send his dispatches in a neutral vessel, which cannot lawfully be interrupted by the cruisers of a power at war with his own country.' On this subject Vattel very justly remarks: 'Couriers sent or received by an ambassador, his papers, letters, and dispatches, all essentially belong to the embassy, and are consequently to be held sacred; since, if they were not respected, the legitimate objects of the embassy could not be attained, nor would the ambassador be able to discharge his functions with the necessary degree of security.' The states-general of the United Provinces decided, whilst the president Jeannin resided with them as ambassador from France, that, to open the letters of a public minister is a breach of the law of nations. Other

1 See also § 25. Toucey, Opinions U. S. Att'ys. Genl., vol. v. p. 69; Merlin, Répertoire, verb. 'Ministre Public,' sec. vi.; Vattel, sunrò.