PROPER GRADE OF DIPLOMATIC REPRESENTATIVES 357 



Lord Palmerston replied: " I do not think it would;" and proceeded 

 to give the reasons for his belief. 



Mr. Cobden propounded the following: " If you go back two or 

 three hundred years ago, when there were no newspapers, when there 

 was scarcely such a thing as international postal communication, 

 when affairs of state turned upon a court intrigue, or the caprice of 

 a mistress, or a Pope's Bull, or a marriage, was it not of a great deal 

 more consequence at that time to have ministers at foreign courts 

 . . . than it is in these constitutional times, when affairs of state 

 are discussed in the public newspapers and in the legislative assem- 

 blies ? . . . Under these circumstances, are not the functions of an 

 ambassador less important now than they were two or three hundred 

 years ago? " 



Lord Palmerston replied: " I should humbly conceive that they 

 are more important on account of the very circumstances which 

 have just been stated. ... I should think that the change which 

 has taken place with regard to the transaction of public affairs in 

 Europe tends to make diplomatic agents of more importance rather 

 than of less importance." 



This question has been made more than once the subject of in- 

 quiry by the Congress of the United States, and the various Presi- 

 dents and Secretaries of State have given their opinion in favor of the 

 utility and necessity of the service, and the Congress has continued 

 to authorize it. The controlling judgment is well expressed in the 

 language of Secretary Frelinghuysen to Congress: " Diplomatic 

 representation is a definite factor in the political economy of the 

 world; and no better scheme has yet been devised for the dispatch 

 of international affairs, or for the preservation of friendly relations 

 between governments." President Harrison, after his retirement 

 from public life, left on record his view of it as follows: 



" The diplomatic service has sometimes been assailed in Congress 

 as a purely ornamental one; and while the evident necessity of 

 maintaining the service is such as ought to save it from the destruc- 

 tionists, it is quite true that our diplomatic relations with some of 

 the powers are more ceremonious than practical. But we must be 

 equipped for emergencies, and every now and then, even at the 

 smallest and most remote courts, there is a critical need of an Ameri- 

 can representative to protect American citizens or American inter- 

 ests." 



The grade or rank of diplomatic representatives has been the 

 subject of discussion and fierce controversy from the date of the first 

 establishment of permanent missions, more than four centuries ago, 

 and although it was thought to have been finally and definitely 

 settled at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, and that settlement was 

 accepted and followed by the United States, it has recently been a 



