358 DIPLOMACY 



source of discussion and embarrassment at Washington. To fully 

 understand the question, it will be proper to make some reference to 

 this controversy in the past. 



A diplomatic envoy is the representative of his government or 

 sovereign, and his claim of rank is for his country and not for him- 

 self; so that the controversy in the past has been one of nations 

 rather than of persons. During the medieval period the struggle 

 of the European nations for preeminence in rank was the special 

 feature of the era, and it gave rise often to the most absurd preten- 

 sions. It was sought to be maintained for various reasons, such as: 

 The title of the sovereign, the size of the dominions, the antiquity 

 of the royal family or date of independence of the country, the nature 

 of the government (whether monarchy or republic), the population, 

 its achievements in arms, the date of the conversion of the people 

 to Christianity, and even the services rendered to the Pope or the 

 Church. Up to the time of the Reformation, the Pope was univer- 

 sally recognized in Christendom as having precedence over all sove- 

 reigns; next in order was the Emperor of Germany, as successor of 

 the Roman Emperor, and below them a constant strife existed 

 among the nations. For a time the republics were refused what were 

 termed " royal honors," but finally Venice, the United Netherlands, 

 and Switzerland were accorded recognition in the order of precedence 

 here named. The title of Emperor was sought to be made exclusive 

 to the old German Empire, and Russia was forced to wait several gen- 

 erations after its ruler assumed that title before being accorded recog- 

 nition as such. Four centuries ago the Pope of Rome, by virtue of 

 his conceded preeminence and ecclesiastical authority, sought to 

 settle the vexed question by issuing an order fixing the relative rank 

 of the then existing nations of Christendom. It illustrates the inten- 

 sity of feeling which the question had aroused to state that, notwith- 

 standing the high papal authority of that date, this arbitrary settle- 

 ment was not accepted and was only observed in Rome, and even 

 there merely for a brief period. It also illustrates the evanescent 

 character of the honor and the changes of the governments of the 

 world, to note that of the score and a half of nations enumerated 

 in the papal order, only three (England, Spain, and Portugal) exist 

 to-day with the royal titles then accorded them. It is also curious 

 to note that in this table of precedence England stood eighth in 

 order and Russia does not appear in the list. 



A large part of the deliberations of the great congresses of Euro- 

 pean nations, up to and even including the early part of the last 

 century, was taken up in settling the question of precedence among 

 the envoys or delegates. This was notably so at the Conference of 

 Westphalia. At the Congress of Ryswick a warm debate occurred 

 over the demand of the ambassadors of the Emperor of Germany that 



