Volume I Part 55 (1/2)

III

KINDS AND CLa.s.sES OF DIPLOMATIC ENVOYS

Vattel, IV. ---- 69-75--Phillimore, II. ---- 211-224--Twiss, I. ---- 204-209--Moore, IV. -- 624--Heffter, -- 208--Geffcken in Holtzendorff, III. pp. 635-646--Calvo, III. ---- 1326-1336--Bonfils, Nos. 668-676--Pradier-Fodere, III. ---- 1277-1290--Rivier, I. pp.

443-453--Nys, II. pp. 342-352.

[Sidenote: Envoys Ceremonial and Political.]

-- 363. Two different kinds of diplomatic envoys are to be distinguished--namely, such as are sent for political negotiations and such as are sent for the purpose of ceremonial function or notification of changes in the heads.h.i.+p. For States very often send special envoys to one another on occasion of coronations, weddings, funerals, jubilees, and the like; and it is also usual to send envoys to announce a fresh accession to the throne. Such envoys ceremonial have the same standing as envoys political for real State negotiations. Among the envoys political, again, two kinds are to be distinguished--namely, first, such as are permanently or temporarily accredited to a State for the purpose of negotiating with such State, and, second, such as are sent to represent the sending State at a Congress or Conference. The latter are not, or need not be, accredited to the State on whose territory the Congress or Conference takes place, but they are nevertheless diplomatic envoys and enjoy all the privileges of such envoys as regards exterritoriality and the like which concern the inviolability and safety of their persons and the members of their suites.

[Sidenote: Cla.s.ses of Diplomatic Envoys.]

-- 364. Diplomatic envoys accredited to a State differ in cla.s.s. These cla.s.ses did not exist in the early stages of International Law. But during the sixteenth century a distinction between two cla.s.ses of diplomatic envoys gradually arose, and at about the middle of the seventeenth century, after permanent legations had come into general vogue, two such cla.s.ses became generally recognised--namely, extraordinary envoys, called Amba.s.sadors, and ordinary envoys, called Residents; Amba.s.sadors being received with higher honours and taking precedence of the other envoys. Disputes arose frequently regarding precedence, and the States tried in vain to avoid them by introducing during the eighteenth century another cla.s.s--namely, the so-called Ministers Plenipotentiary. At last the Powers a.s.sembled at the Vienna Congress came to the conclusion that the matter ought to be settled by an international understanding, and they agreed, therefore, on March 19, 1815, upon the establishment of three different cla.s.ses--namely, first, Amba.s.sadors; second, Ministers Plenipotentiary and Envoys Extraordinary; third, Charges d'Affaires. And the five Powers a.s.sembled at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818 agreed upon a fourth cla.s.s--namely, Ministers Resident, to rank between Ministers Plenipotentiary and Charges d'Affaires. All the other States either expressly or tacitly accepted these arrangements, so that nowadays the four cla.s.ses are an established order. Although their privileges are materially the same, they differ in rank and honours, and they must therefore be treated separately.

[Sidenote: Amba.s.sadors.]

-- 365. Amba.s.sadors form the first cla.s.s. Only States enjoying royal honours[721] are ent.i.tled to send and to receive Amba.s.sadors, as also is the Holy See, whose first-cla.s.s envoys are called _Nuncios_, or _Legati a latere_ or _de latere_. Amba.s.sadors are considered to be personal representatives of the heads of their States and enjoy for this reason special honours. Their chief privilege--namely, that of negotiating with the head of the State personally--has, however, little value nowadays, as almost all States have to a certain extent const.i.tutional government, which necessitates that all the important business should go through the hands of a Foreign Secretary.

[Footnote 721: See above, -- 117, No. 1.]

[Sidenote: Ministers Plenipotentiary and Envoys Extraordinary.]

-- 366. The second cla.s.s, the Ministers Plenipotentiary and Envoys Extraordinary, to which also belong the Papal Internuncios, are not considered to be personal representatives of the heads of their States.

Therefore they do not enjoy all the special honours of the Amba.s.sadors, and have not the privilege of treating with the head of the State personally. But otherwise there is no difference between these two cla.s.ses.

[Sidenote: Ministers Resident.]

-- 367. The third cla.s.s, the Ministers Resident, enjoy fewer honours and rank below the Ministers Plenipotentiary. But beyond the fact that Ministers Resident do not enjoy the t.i.tle ”Excellency,” there is no difference between them and the Ministers Plenipotentiary.

[Sidenote: Charges d'Affaires.]

-- 368. The fourth cla.s.s, the Charges d'Affaires, differs chiefly in one point from the first, second, and third cla.s.s--namely, in so far as its members are accredited from Foreign Office to Foreign Office, whereas the members of the other cla.s.ses are accredited from head of State to head of State. Charges d'Affaires do not enjoy, therefore, so many honours as other diplomatic envoys. And it must be specially mentioned that a distinction ought to be made between a Charge d'Affaires who is the head of a Legation, and who, therefore, is accredited from Foreign Office to Foreign Office, and a Charge d'Affaires _ad interim_. The latter is a member of a Legation whom the head of the Legation delegates for the purpose of taking his place during absence on leave. Such Charge d'Affaires _ad interim_, who had better be called a Charge des Affaires,[722] ranks below the ordinary Charge d'Affaires; he is not accredited from Foreign Office to Foreign Office, but is simply a delegate of the absent head of the Legation.

[Footnote 722: See Rivier, II. pp. 451-452.]

[Sidenote: The Diplomatic Corps.]

-- 369. All the Diplomatic Envoys accredited to the same State form, according to a diplomatic usage, a body which is styled the ”Diplomatic Corps.” The head of this body, the so-called ”Doyen,” is the Papal Nuncio, or, in case there is no Nuncio accredited, the oldest Amba.s.sador, or, failing Amba.s.sadors, the oldest Minister Plenipotentiary, and so on. As the Diplomatic Corps is not a body legally const.i.tuted, it performs no legal functions, but it is nevertheless of great importance, as it watches over the privileges and honours due to diplomatic envoys.

IV

APPOINTMENT OF DIPLOMATIC ENVOYS

Vattel, IV. ---- 76-77--Phillimore, II. ---- 227-231--Twiss, I. ---- 212-214--Ullmann, -- 48--Calvo, III. ---- 1343-1345--Bonfils, Nos.

677-680--Wheaton, ---- 217-220--Moore, IV. ---- 632-635.

[Sidenote: Person and Qualification of the Envoy.]

-- 370. International Law has no rules as regards the qualification of the individuals whom a State can appoint as diplomatic envoys, States being naturally competent to act according to discretion, although of course there are many qualifications a diplomatic envoy must possess to fill his office successfully. The Munic.i.p.al Laws of many States comprise, therefore, many details as regards the knowledge and training which a candidate for a permanent diplomatic post must possess, whereas, regarding envoys ceremonial even the Munic.i.p.al Laws have no provisions at all. The question is sometimes discussed whether females[723] might be appointed envoys. History relates a few cases of female diplomatists.