624 



L A W. 



l.aw 

 >f Nations 



Maritime 

 honours. 



Salutes of 

 merchant- 

 men. 



Public mi- 

 nisters. 



Their differ, 

 ent orders. 



and particularly maritime honours on the Adriatic; 

 but the neighbouring states dispute them with her, 

 and recently she has not been in a situation to main- 

 tain this pretended right. An annual ceremony is of 

 little use towards it. 



Fifth, Genoa has no longer a naval force respectable 

 enough to claim, with effect, the maritime honours 

 which she pretends to be entitled to on the Ligustic Sea. 



Sixth, After many disputes with respect to the em- 

 pire of the Baltic, and particularly with respect to the 

 honours of the flag, some of the states situated on its 

 shores have agreed to yield those honours in certain 

 districts, and to omit them reciprocally in others. 



9. The maritime honours about which there have 

 been so many disputes, and which have often led to 

 violent acts, and even to war, consist ; first, In saluting 

 with cannon ; and on this point, it is to be determined 

 who shall salute first, "at what, distance the salute 

 shall be given, with how many guns, and if the salute 

 shall be returned gun for gun ; second, In saluting with 

 the flag, or with the pendant ; and here it is to be fixed 

 whether it shall be furled up, lowered, or hauled 

 quite down ; third, In saluting with the sails, by lower- 

 ing, or hauling down the fore-top-sail. This last way 

 of saluting is usually made use of by merchantmen, but 

 vessels of war sometimes use it also. 



10. Merchants ships, even when they are armed, are 

 obliged to salute all vessels of war, fortresses, and posts, 

 as well with their cannon as with their merchant flag 

 and their sails. 



BOOK V. 



OF EMDASSIES. 

 CHAP. I. Of Ministers, their Eights, Duties, $c. 



1. BY Public Minister, is commonly meant, the per- 

 son whom the state has charged with its public affairs : 

 in a more particular sense, the person who is at the 

 head of some department of the government ; and in a 

 still more confined sense, the person whom the sove- 

 reign has appointed to superintend his affairs at some 

 foreign court. This last sort of minister, (ambassador, 

 in a general sense,) is that of which we are to speak 

 here. The sending of this sort of ministers being 

 a necessary means of treating of state affairs, the right 

 to send them becomes one of the natural rights of sove- 

 reignty. These ministers are now employed, not only 

 to negotiate the affairs of the sovereign by whom they 

 are sent, (though all their rights are grounded upon 

 their acting in that capacity, ) but on points of ceremony 

 also ; and, since the introduction of perpetual embas- 

 sies, sometimes the principal business of such a minis- 

 ter is, to watch over the interests of his master, and 

 give him an exact account of every thing that passes 

 and of which it imports him to be informed. What- 

 ever difference a rigorous attention to theory might 

 make as to prerogatives, &c. between negotiators and 

 other ministers, in practice the same prerogatives that 

 are enjoyed by negotiators are also enjoyed by embas- 

 sies of ceremony, perpetual embassies, and embassies in 

 ordinary. 



2. The universal law of nations acknowledges but 

 one order of ministers. It considers them all as public 

 mandatories of the state which they represent, as far as 

 relates to the business with which they are charged, 

 and entitled to the rights essential to that quality, and 

 to no other rights whatever. But the modern law of 

 nations has established several orders of public minis- 



ters, or ambassadors, which differs essentially in what Law 

 ever concerns the ceremonial. of Nations. 



Formerly, there was but ojje class of public ministers, """V^ 

 who were all called ambassadors. On their jjrivate af- 

 fairs, sovereigns sometimes sent agents ; and on mis- 

 sions of ceremony, or of little importance, they sent 

 gentlemen of birth ; but neither of these enjoyed the 

 rights, or were honoured with the ceremonial, due to 

 ministers. In the fifteenth century, ministers began to 

 be received as the representatives of their sovereign ; 

 but the disputes resulting from their rights in that ca- 

 pacity, and the expence which became more consider- 

 able . as perpetual embassies grew more customary, 

 gave rise to an order of ministers under the title of Re- 

 sidents, much inferior to ministers representing their 

 sovereigns. These latter now took, exclusively, the 

 title of Ambassadors. Residents were considered as 

 the agents above, mentioned, even when they were 

 charged with affairs of state. These agents were af- 

 terwards called Charges des Affaires, and the title of 

 agent fell into disuse, except for those who were charg- 

 ed with tiie private affairs of the sovereign only, or as a 

 mere empty title. 



In time it became customary to grant to the gentle- 

 men of birth a certain ceremonial, which, though very 

 vague in the beginning, sometimes came nearly to that 

 of ambassadors, but oftener resembled the ceremonial 

 of residents. The custom of the present century has 

 raised them above residents, and they now form a se- 

 parate order, between ambassadors and residents, call- 

 ed envoys. Many causes gave rise to a multiplication 

 of the qualities of ministers, particularly of the second 

 and third orders. Hence ministers plenipotentiary, mi- 

 nisters, ministers resident, residents, ministers charges 

 des affaires. 



3. The next point to be considered relates to the re- Retinue of 

 tinue of the minister, and to his being acknowledged a minister. 

 in his diplomatic capacity. The military procession 

 accompanying ministers formerly is fallen into disuse, 



except in the great embassies that the Turks send to 

 some European powers, and those they receive in re- 

 turn. The retinue of a minister varies 'according to his 

 order. In that of an ambassador, there are often se- 

 veral gentlemen and pages, secretaries, clerks, (some- 

 times a chancellor at their 'head) one or more inter- 

 preters, a numerous train of servants, in and out of 

 livery, &c. With respect to his moveables, plate of all 

 sorts and in abundance, and several coaches and sets 

 of horses, seem necessary accompaniments. The re- 

 tinue of ministers of the second and third order is 

 much less : the envoys have rarely any gentlemen, and 

 seldom more than one secretary. The heavy expences 

 attending embassies of the first order, and which must 

 be defrayed either by the court who sends the ambas- 

 sador, or by the ambassador himself, have much con- 

 tributed towards the disuse of perpetual embassies of 

 the first order. Some courts, for different reasons, never 

 send any at all of the first order. 



4. Before a minister can expect U> be acknowledged His letters 

 at a foreign court, he must produce a letter of ere- of credence. 

 dence written by the sovereign who sends him to the 

 sovereign who is to receive him. This letter makes 

 mention of the motive of the mission, the name and 

 quality of the bearer, and prays the person to whom 



it is addressed to give full credit to what he shall say 

 on. the part of his court. The form of these letters 

 varies according to circumstances, but commonly they 

 are in the form of letters of council. One letter of 

 credence may serve for two ministers sent at the same 



