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Credence are addressed not to him, but to the state of which he is for the time being the chief ruler. Power to act generally on behalf of his country is granted by the Letter of Credence a diplomatist takes with him to the Court where he is to reside. But agents charged with special business receive a document called their Full Powers, which is signed by the sovereign they represent and countersigned by his Minister for Foreign Affairs. The most common of these documents are the General Full Powers, which give authority to their possessor to negotiate with each and all the states represented at some Congress or Conference. They are generally delivered to the presiding plenipotentiary at the first sitting of the Conference, or exchanged and verified by the diplomatists present. A duly accredited diplomatic agent carries with him, in addition to his Letter of Credence or his Full Powers, a Passport which authorizes him to travel and describes his person and office. In time of peace it is a sufficient protection to him on his journey to the Court to which he is sent; but in time of war an ambassador sent to the enemy's Government requires a passport or safe conduct from it. No minister starts on his mission without his Instructions. These are directions given to a diplomatic agent for his guidance in the negotiations he is sent to conduct. They may be oral, but they are almost invariably written. He is not to communicate them to the Government to which he is accredited, or to his fellow Plenipotentiaries at a Conference, unless specially authorized to do so. If points arise on which he is without instructions, or on which he deems it expedient to deviate from his instructions, he must refer to his Government for directions. This is called accepting a proposal ad referendum; and it is frequently resorted to now that the telegraph and steam have made communication between a government and its agents at a distance rapid and easy.1

1 Twiss, Law of Nations, §§ 212-214; C. de Martens, Guide Diplomatique, Ch. IV.

When a diplomatic minister reaches the capital of the country to which he is accredited, he notifies his arrival to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and demands an audience of the sovereign for the purpose of delivering his Letters of Credence. Ambassadors are entitled to a Public Audience, whereas ministers of the second and third classes have only a right to a Private Audience, and Chargés d'Affaires are obliged to be content with an audience of the Foreign Minister. The Public Audience is more ceremonious than the Private Audience, but at both the Letters of Credence are delivered to the sovereign, and formal speeches of good-will and welcome are made to one another by the two parties to the interview. When the diplomatic agent has gone through this ceremony all the rights and immunities of public ministers attach to him and continue till the end of his mission. Previously they are his rather by courtesy than of right, with the exception of personal inviolability, which he possesses from the moment he starts to fulfil his mission. On the departure of a minister he has a similar formal audience to present his Letters of Recall. It was once a custom to give presents to departing diplomatists; and during the seventeenth century a good deal of energy seems to have been spent in quarrels about them; for if the representative of one sovereign imagined that what he had received was of less value than what had been given to the representative of another sovereign, he deemed his master insulted and made the court ring with his complaints. Some powers, the United States being one of them, have forbidden their diplomatic agents to receive these formal and official parting gifts, and they have now fallen into disuse.

There are numerous ways in which a diplomatic mission can be terminated. It comes to an end by the death or recall of the minister, or by the expiration of the time fixed for the duration of the mission, or by the success or failure of its special purpose, or by the return of the regular minister to his post in cases where a minister has been accredited

ad interim. The death of the sovereign to whom the diplomatic agent is accredited, or the death of his own sovereign, terminates the mission in the case of monarchical states; but the election of a new chief magistrate of a Republic makes no difference in this respect. If a minister is sent away in consequence of having given grave offence, or if he goes away in consequence of having received grave offence, whether offered to himself personally or to the state which he represents, his mission is in both cases brought to an end. Moreover it is technically terminated by a change in his diplomatic rank; but in such a case he presents at the same time his Letters of Recall in his old capacity and his Letters of Credence in his new capacity, and thus commences a new official life at the moment of the dissolution of his former one. Strictly speaking the death of a diplomatic minister terminates all the immunities enjoyed by those dependent on him; but kindness and courtesy demand that they be continued for a limited time to his widow and children, in order to give them the means of winding up his affairs and removing from the country.1

Consuls their position and immunities.

§ 148.

In addition to its purely diplomatic agents each civilized state maintains in the territory of its neighbors commercial agents, called Consuls, whose duty it is to assist merchants and seamen of the country which employs them, and generally to further the interests of its commerce. They are not clothed with the diplomatic character, neither are they concerned with public affairs. They are appointed by the sovereign of the country whose agents they are, and they receive from the Foreign Office of the state where they reside a document called an Exequatur, which authorizes them to act as Consuls in that state, and to hold official communication with

1 C. de Martens, Guide Diplomatique, Ch. IX.

the functionaries of its home administration. They may be natives of the country which uses their services, or natives of the country in which they fulfil their duties, or natives of third countries domiciled in the country where they act. They are often engaged in trade; but some states forbid the members of their regular Consular Service from engaging in mercantile transactions on their own account. In Moham

medan countries, and in the East generally, Consuls are placed by treaty stipulations on a very different footing from that which they occupy in Western states. They exercise jurisdiction, as we saw when dealing with the subject,1 over citizens of the state whose agents they are, and in the exercise of this jurisdiction judicial functions necessarily fall upon them. In order to protect them they have a large share of the diplomatic immunities denied to Consuls elsewhere. In times of disturbance or popular violence their Consulates are used as places of refuge for their compatriots and for others whose lives are in danger; and when the flag of their country is hoisted over these buildings they are held to be inviolable. Moreover it seems that in several of the South and Central American Republics Consuls are used as agents for political purposes and accredited as Chargés d'Affaires. In such cases the diplomatic character attaches to them and the consular character is merged in it. They gain the immunities of public ministers and must be treated as such. But these cases are exceptional and anomalous. The general rule about Consuls is that they are commercial, not diplomatic, agents. They are under the local law and jurisdiction, and their residences are not held to be exempt from the authority of the local functionaries. But as a matter of comity which can hardly be distinguished from strict right the official papers and archives of the consulate are not liable to seizure, and soldiers may not be quartered in its buildings, nor may the Consul himself be compelled to serve in the army or militia.2

1 See § 131. 2 Halleck, International Law (Baker's ed.), II., 313 et seq.

T

nities their

the reason for their existence.

§ 149.

Several times already we have had occasion to mention that diplomatic ministers resident at foreign courts possess Diplomatic immu- many immunities. Speaking generally we may general nature and say that they and their suites are exempt from the local jurisdiction. A good deal of doubt exists as to the exact limits of their exemption; but the reason for its existence is clear. An ambassador could not attend to the interests of his country with perfect freedom and absolute fearlessness, if he were liable to be dealt with by the local law and subjected to the authority of the officers of the state to which he was sent. In considering the nature and extent of diplomatic privileges it will be convenient to divide them into Immunities connected with the Person and Immunities connected with Property, and to consider each class separately, though the line of demarcation between them is not always easy to draw.

Immunities connected with the person of the dipfomatic agent.

$ 150.

Immunities connected with the Person are granted in the fullest degree to public ministers and those of their suite who possess the diplomatic character and therefore hold a privileged position in their own right, and in a lesser measure to the minister's wife, children, private secretary, chaplain and servants, who are necessary for his comfort and convenience, but do not belong to the diplomatic service of his country. With regard to all matters settled by the lex domicilii, the legal position of diplomatic agents resident abroad is that of persons resident in their own country. As to their private rights and obligations, they are subject to the law of the state which sends them; and all children born to them abroad are held to be subjects of their own country. They cannot be arrested unless they are actually engaged in plot

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