Criminal punishment, however, cannot be inflicted, except as provided by the law of the place. Heffter, § 205, p. 383. Thus, in Commonwealth v. De Longchamps, 1 Dallas' U. S. Supreme Ct. Rep., 116, the court refused to imprison the defendant for an assault upon a secretary, until his sovereign should declare that the reparation was satisfactory.

By the rule in force at present, this obligation is said to be imposed only upon the nation to which he is sent; (Lawrence's Wheaton, p. 421, note 141 :) although by courtesy a nation through which a minister is passing will usually extend protection.

Interference with a dispatch to or from a public agent.

111. Any person whatever willfully and without authority impeding the transmission or delivery, or opening, reading, copying or divulging the whole or any part, of the contents of any dispatch sent by or to a public agent, is guilty of a public offense.

CHAPTER XII.

PUBLIC MINISTERS.

SECTION I. Appointment and reception.

II. Rank.

III. Powers.

IV. Immunities.

SECTION I.

APPOINTMENT AND RECEPTION OF PUBLIC MINISTERS.

ARTICLE 112. Four classes of ministers.

113. Letters of credence.

114. Letters, how issued.

115. Power to act in a congress or conference.

116. Full power to negotiate treaty.

117. Notifying arrival.

118. Recognition of minister's nation by reception.
119. Official and personal family.

Four classes of ministers.

112. Public ministers are either:

1. Ambassadors ;'

2. Envoys;'

3. Resident ministers; or,

4. Temporary ministers, otherwise called chargés d'affaires.'

Lawrence's Wheaton, p. 379; Bluntschli, Dr. Intern. Codifié, § 171; Congress of Vienna, 1815; of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1818.

1 This class includes papal legates and nuncios. The distinction, stated in the books, that ambassadors represent the person of the sovereign by whom they are sent, while the other classes of ministers represent their principal only in respect to the particular business committed to their charge, (Protocol of the Congress of Vienna, Art. II.,) seems now to amount to nothing more than saying that they are the highest class of public ministers. Dignities peculiar to their rank are matter of etiquette, not necessary to be defined in this Code.

2 These include ministers plenipotentiary, envoys ordinary and extraordinary, and envoys; also, the internuncios of the pope. Bluntschli, § 173, note.

3 Vattel says, that the secretary of the embassy (not that of the ambassador) having his commission from his sovereign, is a sort of public minister. But it is not thought necessary to recognize this as a fifth class.

Fiore (Nouv. Dr. Intern., vol. 2, p. 612) holds with some others to the opinion that consuls are a class of diplomatic officers, but it is rather a dispute about name than function.

Letters of credence.

113. A public minister, sent by one nation to another, must be furnished by his own government with a letter of credence, addressed as provided in article 114, and an authenticated copy thereof must be delivered to the government of the nation to which he is sent.

Lawrence's Wheaton, p. 388.

Letters, how issued.

114. Letters of credence are issued by, and addressed to, the sovereign or chief executive officer of the nation, for the ministers of the first three classes; and by and to the minister, or other officer having charge of foreign affairs, for those of the fourth class.

Bluntschli, § 185; Lawrence's Wheaton, p. 388.

Power to act in a congress or conference.

115. A public minister, sent to a congress or conference, must be furnished with a letter of credence, or other documentary evidence of his powers, to be exchanged or deposited with those of the other members of the congress or conference.

Lawrence's Wheaton, p. 388.

Full power to negotiate treaty.

116. A public minister, authorized to conclude a treaty, must be furnished with written authority therefor, in addition to his letter of credence.

Lawrence's Wheaton, p. 443.

Notifying arrival.

117. A public minister, on arriving at his post, must notify his arrival to the minister, or other officer having charge of foreign affairs.

The mode of notification, and the subsequent ceremonies of audience, differ according to the class of the minister, and the usage of the government. Lawrence's Wheaton, p. 392; Bluntschli, §§ 188, 189.

Recognition of minister's nation by reception. 118. The reception of a public minister is a recognition of the government by which he is sent.

Sir J. Mackintosh's Works, p. 747, cited in Lawrence, Commentaire sur Wheaton, p. 196; Bluntschli, § 169.

Wheaton says, that for the purpose of avoiding recognition, diplomatic agents are frequently substituted, who have the powers and immunities of ministers, without the representative character or honors. Such were Messrs. Mason and Slidell, the messengers of the Confederacy, who were seized on board the Trent. Lawrence's Ed., p. 377, note 118. But the rule stated in the text is the better supported by reason. There cannot be agents without a principal.

Official and personal family.

119. The persons actually employed by a public minister in aid of his diplomatic duties, or in his domestic service, constitute his family, official or personal.

The term "official family," as here used, is preferred to "suite." Some of the authorities indicate that a permanent or indefinite employment is necessary, to entitle the employee to the immunities; but this seems too strict a rule. It would sometimes exclude bearers of dispaches and messengers.

SECTION II.

RANK OF PUBLIC MINISTERS.

ARTICLE 120. Classes.

121. Relation between courts.

Classes.

120. Public ministers take rank, between themselves, in each class, according to the date of the official notification, to the government to which they are sent, of their arrival at their post.

Protocol of the Congress of Vienna, 19 March, 1815, Art. IV., quoted in Lawrence's Wheaton, p. 380, note. This rule is there qualified so as not to affect the precedence accorded to the representatives of the pope.

Relation between courts.

121. No distinction of rank among public ministers arises from consanguinity, or family, or political relations between their different sovereigns or nations.

Protocol of the Congress of Vienna, 1815, Art. VI.; Wheaton, Elem. Int. Law, pp. 380, 386.

SECTION III.

POWERS OF PUBLIC MINISTERS.

ARTICLE 122. Powers defined by instructions.
123. Issue of passports.

124. Authentication of documents.

125. Communications, when to be in writing.

126. Termination of powers.

127. Death.

128. Recall.

129. Contingent negotiation in case of death, dep

osition or abdication.

130. Suspension of powers pending recognition.

131. Withdrawal.

132. Dismissal.

133. Assigning reasons.

134. Preventing personal intercourse.

135. Ratification of old letter of credence.

Powers defined by instructions.

122. The powers of a public minister are such as are given him by his own nation' subject to the provisions of this Code.

The nation to which he is accredited cannot require him to disclose his instructions.

The ministers of all classes accredited to one government often unite in a collective capacity for acts of courtesy, and the expression of common opinion; but they have no authority except in their individual functions. Bluntschli, however, (§ 182, note,) regards the corps diplomatique as the germ of the future organization of the world.

Issue of passports.

123. A public minister may give passports to members of his own nation, but to no others.'

It is not thought desirable that the system of passports should be retained, except to afford certificates of national character, and, therefore, none should be issued to foreigners even by leave or sufferance, as has been done. See Lawrence's Wheaton, p. 389, note 126.

As provided in the articles on Passports and Safe-Conducts may be given, and Effect of Passports, in Section I., as to RIGHTS OF RESIDENCE, of Chapter XXV., entitled PERSONAL RIGHTS OF FOREIGNERS.

Authentication of documents.

124. Public ministers and their secretaries of legation may receive or authenticate, for use in their respective nations, such documents, besides those specially provided for by this Code, as they may be authorized to receive or authenticate by the laws and regulations of their nations respectively.

Communications, when to be in writing.

125. A minister, or other officer in charge of foreign affairs, may require a copy, to be left with him, of any document or written paper, the contents of which a public minister reads or otherwise communicates to him.

Dana's Wheaton, § 219, note 123. It may be thought better to provide that either party may require any official communication to be reduced to writing.

Termination of powers.

126. The powers of a public minister are terminated, either: