"Article III. Diplomatic agents on an extraordinary mission have not, on that account, any superiority of rank.

"Article IV. Diplomatic agents shall take precedence in their respective classes according to the date of the official notification of their arrival. The present regulation shall not cause any innovation with regard to the representative of the Pope.

"Article V. A uniform mode shall be determined in each state for the reception of diplomatic agents of each class.

"Article VI. Relations of consanguinity or of family alliance between courts confer no precedence on their diplomatic agents. The same rule also applies to political alliances.

"Article VII. In acts or treaties between several powers which grant alternate precedence, the order which is to be observed in the signatures shall be decided by lot between the ministers.

"Article VIII. It is agreed that ministers resident accredited to them shall form, with respect to their precedence, an intermediate class between ministers of the second class and chargés d'affaires.

"The diplomatic representatives of the United States are of the first, the second, the intermediate, and the third classes, as follows:

"(a) Ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary.

"(b) Envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary and special commissioners, when styled as having the rank of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary.

"(c) Ministers resident.

"These grades of representatives are accredited by the President.

"(d) Chargés d'affaires commissioned by the President as such are accredited by the secretary of state to the minister for foreign affairs of the government to which they are sent.

"In the absence of the head of the mission the secretary acts ex officio as chargé d'affaires ad interim and needs no

special letter of credence. In the absence, however, of a secretary and second secretary, the secretary of state may designate any competent person to act ad interim, in which case he is specifically accredited by letter to the minister for foreign affairs." 1

The subordinate officers of the United States to the diplomatic representative are the secretaries of embassies and legations of the United States who have their equivalents in the counsellor or chancellors of foreign diplomatic services. Subordinate secretaries are numbered in order of their precedence, while the military and naval attachés rank next and after the first secretaries of the embassy and legations, as these latter may become ex officio chargés d'affaires in the absence of the head of the mission. Among themselves they rank as they would do when engaged in any joint service.

97. The Duties of Diplomatic Officials. The duties of diplomatic envoys can be comprehended in a general way under three heads: that of negotiation, that of observation, and that of protection to persons and interests. But beyond this classification come many duties that are more or less indefinable, such as the cultivation of friendly relations, etc.

"As the agent of his home government the envoy takes charge of all communications between the two states on the part of his home government and is both counsel and advocate of his country in regard to any negotiations between the two states that are pending or that may arise in the future. In the great mutual agreements between the civilized nations of a continent or the world, he is an important link in notification and arrangement. As for the negotiation of treaties, it has been well said that it is the highest function which a diplomatic representative is called upon to discharge, and the one which requires the greatest skill and circumspection on his part. . . . As indicating the broad scope of this branch of international law and comity, it may be stated that the treaties of the "Instructions to Diplomatic Officers of U. S.," pp. 7, 8.

United States with other nations now in force alone exceed three hundred in number."1

An envoy is also charged with the observation of all matters of interest and importance to his home state occurring in the nation to which he is accredited. He should keep his home government well informed in regard to the public opinion, the readiness for war, the commerce and industry, and the general attitude of the country toward his own. It is generally conceded that no state that receives a diplomatic agent has a right to prevent him from exercising the function of such observation and report, unless it is done in an objectionable manner or in regard to matters withdrawn from ordinary observation.

A third and with us a constant function of the diplomatic envoy is the protection of persons, property, and interests of such nationals of the home state as are living or are found within the boundaries of the state to which this representative is accredited. This protection is limited by the regulations of his own state and by the general municipal law of the state to which he is accredited in regard to aliens. The relations of the diplomatic agent over the consular agents of the same country is with most countries one of full authority and control, but with the United States it is one of supervision alone. There are, in addition, numberless minor duties of a miscellaneous nature, which vary with the number of resident and travelling Americans and their varying wants and needs.

Though it may be one of the duties of the diplomatic official to watch the course of political events and the action of the political parties and report such observations to the home government, he has no right whatever to share in the political life of the state or to encourage one party or threaten another. No self-respecting state would, if able, allow any foreign envoy to exercise such interference but would either request his recall or, if necessary, deliver to him his passports and dismiss him. The case of Lord Sackville-West was one somewhat in point. 1 Foster's "Practice of Diplomacy," pp. 243-4.

During the presidential campaign of 1888 a letter marked private was mailed in California to Lord Sackville, purporting to be from a citizen of English birth, asking advice as to the presidential candidate most favorable to British interests. Lord Sackville, in his reply, also marked private, stated that any political party which openly favored the mother country would lose popularity but indicated that President Cleveland's election would be more likely to promote British interests.

The letter proved to be a wretched decoy to entrap the minister, and his reply was at once published in the newspapers. When confronted with his letter Lord Sackville acknowledged the letter but stated that it was private. He, however, submitted to newspaper interviews, which aggravated rather than improved his statements. After an interchange of despatches with the British Foreign Office to expedite matters, Secretary Bayard thought that it would be incompatible with the best interests of both governments that he should continue any longer to hold his official position in the United States and sent him his passports.

Lord Sackville was undoubtedly guilty of an indiscretion, but his offence does not seem to have been of such a character as to justify the unseemly haste of the recall.

98. The Rights and Privileges of Diplomatic Officials.Diplomatic agents, like heads of states, are inviolable in their persons while holding their offices in the receiving state. This inviolability consists not only in special rules as to the safety of their persons but also as to their exemption from all kinds of criminal jurisdiction of the state to which they are accredited.

The protection of diplomatic agents is not restricted alone to themselves but is extended to the members of their private and official families, to their official residence and its contents and archives, as well as to the means of communication with their home state.

In the instructions to the diplomatic officers of the United States it is stated that the immunity from criminal and civil

process is one pertaining to the office of the envoy and cannot be waived except by the consent of his government. Even if he is called upon to give testimony under conditions which de not concern the affairs of his mission and which are in the interests of justice, he is not allowed to do so without the consent of the President.

From the representative character of his office an affront to an ambassador or envoy is not only an affront to his ruler and country but is a violation of the common welfare and general concern of all nations. It was this latter phase that placed so serious an aspect upon the incidents and surrounding circumstances of the Boxer trouble in China.

"It is not meant, however," as Oppenheim says, "that a diplomatic envoy must have a right to do what he likes. The presupposition of the privileges he enjoys is that he acts and behaves in such a manner as harmonizes with the internal order of the receiving state. He is, therefore, expected voluntarily to comply with all such commands and injunctions of the municipal law as do not restrict him in the effective exercise of his functions. In case he acts and behaves otherwise and disturbs thereby the internal order of the state, the latter will certainly request his recall or send him back at once."1

The criminal law of England makes it a misdemeanor, in case a person violates, by force any privilege, which is conferred upon the diplomatic representatives of foreign countries or who causes the arrest or imprisonment of any foreign diplomatic representative or the person of a servant of any such representative.

The statutes of the United States (secs. 4063 and 4064) state that any writ or process of any court of the United States or of any State against a diplomatic minister or a servant of such minister shall be void, and severe penalties are prescribed against any person who shall obtain or execute such a writ or process.

1 Oppenheim, 2d ed., vol. I, pp. 458-9.