general the marks of respect between public vessels must be equal.*

The rules of sea politeness are often embodied in instructions given to commanders of vessels by their respective governments, which directions, through the Christian states of the world, have a general uniformity. They are also sometimes a subject of special treaty. "They are of use,” as Ortolan, himself a naval officer, remarks,t" as honors paid to the independence of nations, as a public authorized recognition that the sovereignties of the world are entitled to mutual respect. They help the crews of public vessels, from the commanders down to the marines, to feel that the national honor is in their hands, and thus raise the sense of character of those who are representatives of nations upon the seas."

• Disputes in Cent.

§ 86.

Formerly, above all in century XVII., the tokens of respect which certain nations demanded of others, in seas XVII. concerning Over which they asserted dominion, gave rise to ceremonies at sea. bitter feelings and to hostilities, or rather served as a pretext for wars which were waged on other grounds. Especially was the English claim to sovereignty in the narrow seas around Great Britain, a fruitful source of animosities from the beginning of the reign of James I. onward. The demand was, that all foreign vessels should first salute English vessels of war by lowering flags and topsails, without any corresponding mark of respect being made obligatory on the other side.‡ This France and Spain forbade their vessels to comply with; and in 1634, by an arrangement between France and England, the

*Comp. Heffter, § 197. + Diplom. de la mer, u. s.

In a communication to the court of France in 1667, the Dutch say that they are willing that France should salute them with two cannon shot less, but cannot consent to lower their flag, unless France shall do the same in return. They add, that although the English in an article of the treaty prescribing tokens of respect are not expressly bound to return the salutation with the flag which the Dutch offer to them, it is with justice presumed to be incumbent on them, and that if the English have failed in such reciprocity, they have failed in their duty, for which reason the Dutch afterwards refused to lower their flag, as by treaty required. See Ortolan, I.

A

ships of each state, when nearer to the other's territory, should give the first salute. But from Holland, England was led, by commercial jealousy and a feeling of superior strength, to require those humiliating marks of respect with great pertinacity. The war between the two nations, which broke out in 1652, was preceded by an engagement between Blake and Van Tromp, growing out of the demand that the flag of Holland should be lowered; and in the treaties of 1654, 1662, and 1667, the Dutch agreed to pay this compliment within certain seas in future. In 1671 the captain of a king's yacht sailed out of the Meuse through a Dutch fleet, having received orders to test their compliance with this rule: the vice-admiral in command declared his willingness to lower his own flag to the royal flag of England, but refused to allow the whole fleet to join in the act. For this the yacht fired upon him, but its captain was put into the Tower on reaching England, for not continuing his fire although the Dutch had not retaliated. The English ambassador at the Hague claimed that reparation was due for this refusal of the vice-admiral, inasmuch as not only single vessels, but also whole fleets, were obliged to strike the flag to an English vessel of war. The refusal of the Statesgeneral to redress this grievance was a leading pretext of the already meditated war of 1672.* At the peace of 1674, it was stipulated that fleets as well as single vessels, belonging to the Dutch republic, should furl the flag, and lower the topsail before any English vessel of war, between Cape Staten in Norway and Cape Finisterre in Northern Spain. Even in 1784,†

* Bynkershoek's critique on this transaction (u. s) is worthy of notice. While he inclines to admit that the treaty of 1654, rightly interpreted, sustained the English claim that a whole fleet of the Dutch should salute a single English ship in the English seas, by lowering flag and topsails, he claims, (1.) that the affair occurred near the shore of Zeeland, and therefore outside of the English dominions; (2.) that a yacht, though with guns on board, is a vessel of pleasure, not of war; and (3.) that the Dutch vessels constituted a fleet, and that fleets can be compared to forts, garrisoned places and harbors, which by common usage are to be saluted first. Moreover a fleet at anchor occupies a part of the sea, which thus passes under the sway and dominion of the occupant, to whom, therefore, being now in his own territory, the first tokens of respect are to be rendered. This last plea is evidently worthless. † Ortolan, I. 372.

these absurd tokens of inferiority were again confirmed in a treaty.

The French, in the same century, set up similar pretensions against Holland, although without the pretext of dominion over the narrow seas. But their claims were not so galling, or so persevering, as those of England. In an ordonnance of 1689, Louis XIV. went so far as to require that when French vessels of war met those of other nations equal in rank, they should demand the first salute, and use force, if it were withheld. This is mentioned as a grievance by William III. in the declaration of war, which he made at the beginning of his reign.

In the 18th century a number of treaties established equality and reciprocity in the ceremonial of the sea, and the practice of nations has nearly reached this point in all respects.

SECTION II.—The Agents in the Intercourse of Nations, or Ambassadors and Consuls.

Persons appointed

tercourse between

nations.

$ 87.

Nations holding intercourse with one another need to have some understanding as to the conditions of the to manage the in- intercourse, and certain functionaries by whom the intercourse between the sovereignties may be carried on, and that between the citizens or subjects may be reduced to rule. Such persons we may call generically ambassadors; but they may have various other denominations, as legates, envoys, chargés d'affaires, foreign ministers, and nuncios, which term, together with others, is appropriated to the Pope's messengers to foreign courts. The word ambassador may denote also a particular class or rank of agents of national intercourse. We may divide ambassadors, again, into ordinary and extraordinary, or resident and temporary, into open and secret, those with limited powers and plenipotentiaries,—although this title is often used in a vague sense below its proper

meaning, those who are sent to do business, and those who represent the state at some ceremony of a foreign court, and the like.

Again the sovereign, or head of a department, or even a military officer, may discharge the functions of an ambassador, or be joined with one in negotiations, without holding the office or having the title. An ambassador differs from a commissary or commissioner to whom some business not of a diplomatic nature is entrusted; from a deputy who is sent by subjects, as by a province, to a sovereign; and from a consul who under a treaty, or by the practice of two nations, protects the private affairs of individuals of the one within the territory of the other, and watches over the commercial interests of the nation which he represents.

The word ambassador comes through the medieval Latin ambactia or ambaxia, meaning service or charge, either from the Celtic ambactus, client, or retainer, used once in Cæsar's Gallic war (VI. 15), or from the Gothic andbahts, with nearly the same sense.* Both words may be, indeed, of the same origin. The signification will, then, correspond with that of minister. The Greek equivalent denotes an elder of the people. The Latins used the words orator, and more commonly legatus, person acting by delegated authority, whence this branch of international law is called jus legatorum, and jus legationum, the rights of legation.

$ 88.

ileges of ambas

Ambassadors always and everywhere have had special immunities, and often something of a sacred charac- Origin of the priv ter. This sacredness, which they have shared sadors. with heralds, and bearers of flags of truce, cannot be accounted for from their being originally ministers of religion, selected before others for their gravity or dignity; but the protection of religion must have been given to them because their functions and duties were of pré-eminent importance. They were the agents in all the intercourse of two tribes or nations, and above all in making peace and preventing war. If not pro

* Comp. Dietz, Etymol. voce ambascia, and Grimm, Wörterb. voce amt.

tected, they would not expose themselves to the danger of going among enemies or strangers. They carried with them the dignity of representing their nation. Thus the importance of their work, the necessity that they should be assured of safety, and the dignity of their office caused those religious sanctions to be thrown around them, by which the more important relations and rights were defended in ancient times.

resident ambassa

dors.

$ 89.

Ambassadors in ancient times were sent on special occasions Temporary and by one nation to another. Their residence at foreign courts is a practice of modern growth. Some have thought that it was suggested by the Pope's legates, sent to reside, or appointed from among ecclesiastics residing, in different parts of Christendom. By others, according to Mr. Ward (II. 290), it has been attributed "to Ferdinand the Catholic, whose policy led him to entertain [ambassadors] at various courts, as a kind of honorable spies; " but Flassan * makes Louis XI. of France, Ferdinand's earlier contemporary, the introducer of the new usage. "Before him ambassadors had only temporary and limited missions, but this prince judged it best to multiply them, and to prolong their stay abroad, especially at the courts of Burgundy and England. As these courts penetrated into his design, they in turn despatched to him permanent ambassadors, who converted diplomacy into intrigues and trickeries. Louis XI. on sending the Sieurs du Bouchage and de Solliers to the Dukes of Guienne and of Brittany, gave them for their instructions, 'If they lie to you, lie still more to them."" But the residence of ambassadors at foreign courts did not become the common practice until after the reformation. Henry VII. of England "would not in his time, suffer Lieger ambassadours of any foreign king or prince within his realm, or he with them, but upon occasion used ambassadours."* In the middle of century XVII. it was Diplom. Française, I. 247.

Coke's 4th Inst. 155, cited by Ward, u. s., who says that Lieger is derived from the Dutch. But the true explanation is to be found in the word Leger of German origin, used in the trading marts to denote an agent of foreign merchants