INTERNATIONAL LAW. 105 



an ambassador, he should of course be a person of great dignity ; of 

 extensive knowledge ; well versed in the forms and courtesies due to 

 his station ; familiar with the affairs both of his own state, and of 

 that to which he is accredited ; and of uncompromising integrity. 

 When affairs of the highest importance are to be transacted, it is per- 

 haps the safest, to intrust them to a Commission, or Embassy of 

 several persons, of the highest capacity, and with joint powers. 



Consuls, as they are now styled, are regarded by some as diplo- 

 matic officers ; but more generally, as commercial agents, stationed 

 in foreign parts, to afford protection to their fellow-citizens, and per- 

 form certain magisterial and legal duties ; being themselves subject 

 to the civil authorities of the places where they reside, at least, in 

 criminal cases. It is usually a part of their duty, to watch over the 

 fulfilment of commercial treaties, in their respective vicinities ; and 

 to transmit to their own government any information which they may 

 deem of service. A Consul General, is one appointed for several 

 places, or over several other consuls. 



CHAPTER II. 



INTERNATIONAL LAW. 



THE branch of International Law, frequently, though less properly, 

 called the Law of Nations, comprises that system of rules, which 

 defines the rights, and prescribes the duties of nations, in their inter- 

 course with each other. It does not properly include what have been 

 termed the internal laws of nations, or the rights and obligations 

 which subsist between the government and the citizens of the same 

 state ; and hence those laws are here referred to the subsequent 

 branches of Nomology. But it does properly include the subjects 

 of Commercial, Maritime, and Admiralty Law ; in so far as they 

 are instituted not by any one nation singly, but by the common con- 

 sent of two or more sovereign states. International Law is based 

 upon the principles of justice ; and it consists of the natural or 

 necessary laws ; the prescriptive, or customary laws ; and the positive, 

 or express laws ; by which the intercourse of nations is regulated. 



A nation, or state, is a community, or body of men, united under 

 one government, for mutual safety and benefit. It consists of officers, 

 who are its agents ; and of citizens, from among whom those officers 

 are selected, or to whom they should be responsible. Nations are 

 here considered as moral persons, possessing certain rights, and hav- 

 ing certain duties to perform, in that capacity. And what is incum- 

 bent upon a nation, is morally incumbent on all its citizens, according 

 to their respective stations and circumstances. The rules which pre- 

 scribe the rights and duties of governments towards each other, are 

 sometimes termed public laws, and those relating to the citizens of 

 a nation, in regard to foreign powers, are then termed private laws, 

 of nations. It is an admirable remark of Montesquieu, that nations 

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