BOOK IV. their ambassadors cannot be refused those regards and hoCHAP. VI nours which custom particularly assigns to the representative of a sovereign. The king of France admits no ambassadors from the princes of Germany, as refusing to their ministers the honours annexed to the first degree of representation; yet he receives ambassadors from the princes of Italy. The reason alleged for this conduct is that he considers the latter to be more perfectly sovereign princes than the former, because, though equally vassals of the emperor and the empire, they are not equally dependent on the imperial authority. The emperors, nevertheless, claim the same rights over the princes of Italy, as over those of Germany. But France, seeing that the former do not actually constitute a part of the Germanic body, nor assist at the diets, countenances their absolute independence, in order as much as possible to detach them from the empire. I shall not here enter into a detail of the honours due and actually paid to ambassadors: these are matters which altogether depend on institution and custom: I shall only observe, in general, that they are entitled to those civilities and distinctions which usage, and the prevailing manners of the time, have pointed out as proper expressions of the respect due to the representative of a sovereign. And it must be observed here, with regard to things, of institution and [463] custom, that, when a practice is so established, as to impart, according to the usages and manners of the age, a real value and a settled signification to things which are in their own nature indifferent, the natural and necessary law of nations requires that we should pay deference to such institution, and act, with respect to such things, in the same manner as if they really possessed all that value which the opinion of mankind has annexed to them. For instance, according to the general usage of all Europe, it is the peculiar prerogative of an ambassador to wear his hat in presence of the prince to whom he is sent. This right expresses that he is acknowledged as the representative of a sovereign: to refuse it, therefore, to the ambassador of a state which is truly independent, would be doing an injury to that state, and, in some measure, degrading it. The Switzers, who formerly were much deeper adepts in the art of war than in the etiquette of courts, and far from being punctilious on the score of mere ceremony, have, on some occasions, submitted to be treated in a manner unbecoming the dignity of their nation. In 1663, their ambassadors suffered the king of France, and the nobles of his court, to refuse them those honours which custom has rendered essential to the ambassadors of sovereigns, and particularly that of being covered before the king at their audience. Some of their number, who knew better what In Wiequefort, may be seen a particular account of the whole trans BOOK IV. CHAP. VI. they owed to the glory of their republic, strongly insisted on that essential and distinctive honour; but the opinion of the majority prevailed, and at length they all yielded, on being assured that the ambassadors of their nation had not worn their hats in presence of Henry the Fourth. Allowing the fact to have been true, the argument was not unanswerable. The Switzers might have replied, that in Henry's time their nation was not yet solemnly acknowledged free and independent of the empire, as it had lately been by the treaty of Westphalia in 1648. They might have said, that, although their predecessors had not been duly attentive to support the dignity of their sovereigns, that gross error could not impose on their successors any obligation to commit a similar one. At present, as the nation is more enlightened, and more attentive to points of that nature, she will not fail to support her dignity in a more becoming manner. Whatever extraordinary honours may, in other respects, be paid to her ambassadors, she will not, in future, suffer herself to be so far blinded by those empty marks of distinction, as to overlook that peculiar prerogative which custom has rendered essential. When Louis the Fifteenth visited Alsace, in 1744, the Helvetic body declined sending ambassadors to compliment him according to custom, until informed whether they would be allowed to wear their hats: and on the refusal of that just demand, [ 464 ] none were sent. Switzerland may reasonably hope that his most Christian majesty will no longer insist on a claim which does not enhance the lustre of his crown, and can only serve to degrade an ancient and faithful ally. CHAP. VII. OF THE RIGHTS, PRIVILEGES, AND IMMUNITIES OF AMBAS- CHAP. VII. SADORS AND OTHER PUBLIC MINISTERS. (194) public mi THE respect which is due to sovereigns should redound to 2 80. Retheir representatives, and especially their ambassadors, as spect due to representing their master's person in the first degree. Who-nisters. ever offends and insults a public minister commits a crime the (195) more deserving of severe punishment, as he might thereby involve his country and his sovereign in very serious difficulties and trouble. It is just that he should be punished for his fault, and that the state should, at the expense of the de action. That writer is justifiable in nation by coarsely asserting that expressing a degree of indignation "they prefer money to honour." against the Swiss ambassadors; but he Ambassador, book i. 19. See also ought not to have insulted the whole (194) Seo Wicquefort's Ambassadors, per tot.-C. 18. (195) Ante, p. 459, n. BOOK IV. linquent, give full satisfaction to the sovereign who has been CHAP. VII. offended in the person of his minister. If the foreign minis 281. Their persons sacred and inviolable. (196) ter is himself the aggressor, and offends a citizen, the latter may oppose him without departing from the respect due to the character which the offender bears, and give him a lesson which shall both efface the stain of the outrage, and make the author of it blush for his misconduct. The person offended may further prefer a complaint to his own sovereign, who will demand for him an adequate satisfaction for the minister's master. The great concerns of the state forbid a citizen, on such occasions, to entertain those thoughts of revenge which the point of honour might suggest, although they should in other respects be deemed allowable. Even according to the maxims of the world, a gentleman is not disgraced by an affront for which it is not in his own power to procure satisfaction. The necessity and right of embassies being established (see Chap. V. of this Book), the perfect security and inviolability of ambassadors, and other ministers, is a certain consequence of it: for, if their persons be not protected from violence of every kind, the right of embassy becomes precarious, and the success very uncertain. A right to the end inseparably involves a right to the necessary means. Embassies, then, being of such great importance in the universal society of nations, and so necessary to their common wellbeing, the persons of ministers charged with those embassies are to be held sacred and inviolable among all nations. (See Book II. § 218.) Whoever offers violence to an ambassador, or to any other public minister, not only injures the sovereign whom that minister represents, but also attacks the common [ 465] safety and well-being of nations: he becomes guilty of an atrocious crime against mankind in general. (196) Ante, p. 459, n.-C. * An enormous infraction of the law of nations caused the ruin of the powerful empire of Khovarezm, or Kakesm, and opened a door to the Tartars for the subjugation of almost all Asia. The famous Gengis-khan, wishing to establish a commercial intercourse between his states and those of Persia, and the other provinces subject to Mohammed Cotheddin, sultan of Khovarezm, sent to that prince an ambassador, accompanied by a caravan of merchants. On the arrival of that caravan at Otraw, the governor caused them to be arrested, together with the ambassador, and wrote word to the Sultan that they were a company of spies. Mohammed thereupon ordered him to have the prisoners put to death. Gengis-khan demanded satisfaction of the sultan for this barbarous massacre; and, finding him backward to give it, he took up arms. The conquest of the whole empire of Khovarezm soon followed; and Mohammed himself, reduced to the condition of a wretched fugitive, died of a broken heart in a desert island of the Caspian Sea. Canson, the last sultan of the Mammelues, having put to death the ambassadors of the Turkish emperor, Selim the First, the injured monarch took a signal vengeance for the atrocious deed. He conquered all the dominions of Canson, and, having defeated and captured that prince near Cairo, he caused him to be hanged at one of the gates of the city. Marigny, History of the Arabs, vol. ii. p. 105, 427. CHAP. XVII tection due to them. This safety is particularly due to the minister, from the Book iv. To admit a minister, to acsovereign to whom he is sent. knowledge him in such character, is engaging to grant him? 82. Partithe most particular protection, and that he shall enjoy all cular propossible safety. It is true, indeed, that the sovereign is bound to protect every person within his dominions, whether (197) native or foreigner, and to shelter him from violence: but this attention is in a higher degree due to a foreign minister. An act of violence done to a private person is an ordinary transgression, which, according to circumstances, the prince may pardon but if done to a public minister, it is a crime of state, an offence against the law of nations; and the power of pardoning, in such case, does not rest with the prince in whose dominions the crime has been committed, but with him. who has been offended in the person of his representative. However, if the minister has been insulted by persons who were ignorant of his character, the offence is wholly unconnected with the law of nations, and falls within the class of ordinary transgressions. A company of young rakes, in a town of Switzerland, having, in the night-time, insulted the British minister's house, without knowing who lived in it, the magistracy sent a message to the minister to know what satisfaction he required. He prudently answered, that it was the magistrates' concern to provide for the public safety by such means as they thought best; but that, as to his own part, he required nothing, not thinking himself affronted by persons who could have had no design against him, as not knowing his house. Another particular circumstance, in the protection due to foreign ministers, is this:-according to the destructive maxims introduced by a false point of honour, a sovereign is under a necessity of showing indulgence to a person wearing a sword, who instantly revenges an affront done to him by a private individual: but violent proceedings against a public minister can never be allowed or excused, unless [ 466 ] where the latter has himself been the aggressor, and, by using violence in the first instance, has reduced his opponent to the necessity of self-defence. Though the minister's character is not displayed in its full a 83. When extent, and does not thus insure him the enjoyment of all his it comrights, till he is acknowledged and admitted by the sovereign, mences. to whom he delivers his credentials, yet, on his entering the country to which he is sent, and making himself known, he is under the protection of the law of nations; otherwise, it would not be safe for him to come. Until he has had his audience of the prince, he is, on his own word, to be considered as a minister; and besides, exclusive of the notice of his mission, (197) See also the case of the arrest of the Russian ambassador, which occasioned the passing of the 7 Anne, c. 12. See recital in act, and 1 Bla. Com. BOOK IV. usually given by letter, the minister has, in case of doubt, his passports to produce, which will sufficiently certify his cha CHAP. VII. 2 84. What is due to them in countries through pass. racter. These passports sometimes become necessary to him in the countries through which he passes on his way to the place of his destination; and, in case of need, he shows them, in order to obtain the privileges to which he is entitled. It is true, which they indeed, that the prince alone to whom the minister is sent, is under any obligation, or particular engagement to insure him the enjoyment of all the rights annexed to his character. Yet the others through whose dominions he passes are not to deny him those regards to which the minister of a sovereign is entitled, and which nations reciprocally owe to each other. particular they are bound to afford him perfect security. To insult him would be injuring his master, and the whole nation. to which he belongs: to arrest him, and offer him violence, would be infringing the right of embassy, which belongs to all sovereigns (§§ 57-63). The French monarch, Francis the First, had therefore very good reason to complain of the murder of his ambassadors, Rincon and Fregose, as an atrocious violation of public faith and the law of nations. Those two ministers, the one destined for Constantinople, the other for Venice, having embarked on the Po, were stopped and murdered; and, according to all appearances, the deed had been perpetrated by order of the governor of Milan.* The emperor Charles the Fifth, having taken no pains to discover the persons concerned in the murder, authorized a belief that he had himself ordered it, or at least that he tacitly approved of the act after its commission. And, as he did not give any suitable satisfaction for it, Francis had a very just cause for declaring war against him, and even calling for the assistance of all other nations: for an affair of this nature is not a private dispute, a doubtful question, in which each party pretends to have justice on his side: it is a quarrel which involves the concern of all nations, since they are all equally interested in maintaining the sacred inviolability of that right, and of those means which enable them to hold com[467] munication with each other, and to treat of their affairs. If an innocent passage, and even perfect security are due to a private individual, much more are they due to the minister of a sovereign, who is going to execute his master's orders, and who travels on the affairs of a nation. I say, "an innocent passage;" for the minister's journey is justly suspected, if a sovereign has reason to apprehend that he will make an improper use of the liberty granted him of entering his territories, by plotting against his interests while in the country, or that he is going to convey intelligence to his enemies, or to stir up others against him. We have already Memoires de Martin du Bellay, liv. ix. |