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DIPLOMACY (Fr. diplomatic)

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 300 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DIPLOMACY (Fr. See also:diplomatic) , the See also:art of conducting inter-See also:national negotiations. The word, borrowed from the See also:French, has the same derivation as Diplomatic (q.v.), and, according to the New See also:English See also:Dictionary, was first used in See also:England so See also:late as 1796 by See also:Burke. Yet there is no other word in the English See also:language that could See also:supply its exact sense. The need for such a See also:term was indeed not See also:felt; for what we know as diplomacy was See also:long regarded, partly as falling under the See also:Jus gentium or See also:international See also:law, partly as a See also:kind of activity morally somewhat suspect and incapable of being brought under any See also:system. Moreover, though in a certain sense it is as old as See also:history, diplomacy as a See also:uniform system, based upon generally recognized rules and directed by a diplomatic See also:hierarchy having a fixed international status, is of quite See also:modern growth even in See also:Europe. It was finally established only at the congresses of See also:Vienna (1815) and See also:Aix-la-;Chapelle (1818), while its effective See also:extension to the See also:great monarchies of the See also:East, beyond the See also:bounds of See also:European See also:civilization, was comparatively an affair of yesterday. So late as 1876 it was possible for the writer on this subject in the 9th edition of the See also:Encyclopaedia Britannia; to say that " it would be an See also:historical absurdity to suppose diplomatic relations connecting together See also:China, See also:Burma and See also:Japan, as they connect the great European See also:powers." Principles.—Though diplomacy has been usually treated under the See also:head of international law, it would perhaps be more consonant with the facts to See also:place international law under diplomacy. The principles and rules governing the intercourse of states, defined by a long See also:succession of international lawyers, have no See also:sanction See also:save the consensus of the powers, established and maintained by diplomacy (see See also:BALANCE OF See also:POWER); in so far as they have become, by international agreement, more than See also:mere pious opinions of theorists, they are working rules established for mutual convenience, which it is the See also:function of diplomacy to safeguard or to use for its own ends. In any See also:case they by no means See also:cover the whole See also:field of diplomatic activity; and, were they swept away, the art of diplomacy, See also:developed through long ages of experience, would survive. This experience may perhaps be called the See also:science, as distinct from the art, of diplomacy. It covers not only the See also:province of international law, but the vast field of recorded experience which we know as history, of which indeed international law is but a See also:part; for, as Bielfeld in his Institutions politiques (La Haye, 176o, t. I. ch. ii.

§ 13) points out, " public law is founded on facts. To know it we must know history, which is the soul of this science as of politics in See also:

general." The broad outlook on human affairs implied in " historical sense " is more necessary to the diplomatist under modern conditions than in the 18th See also:century, when inter-national policy was still wholly under the See also:control of princes and their immediate advisers. Diplomacy was then a See also:game of wits played in a narrow circle. Its See also:objects too were narrower; for states were practically regarded as the See also:property of their sovereigns, which it was the See also:main function of their " agents " to enlarge or to protect, while scarcely less important than the preservation or rearrangement of territorial boundaries was that of See also:precedence and See also:etiquette generally, over which an incredible amount of See also:time was wasted. The haute diplomatic thus resolved itself into a See also:process of exalted haggling, conducted with an utter disregard of the See also:ordinary See also:standards of morality, but with the most exquisite politeness and in accordance with ever more and more elaborate rules. Much of the outcome of these dead debates has become stereotyped in the conventions of the diplomatic service; but the See also:character of diplomacy itself has undergone a great See also:change. This change is threefold: firstly, as. the result of the greater sense of the community of interests among nations, which was one of the outcomes of the French Revolution; secondly, owing to the rise of See also:democracy, with its expression in See also:parliamentary assemblies and in the See also:press; thirdly, through the alteration in the position of the diplomatic See also:agent, due to modern means of communication. The first of these changes may be dated to the circular of See also:Count Kaunitz of the 17th of See also:July 1791, in which, in See also:face of the Revolution, he impressed upon the powers the See also:duty of making See also:common cause for the purpose of preserving " public See also:peace, the tranquillity of states, the inviolability of possessions, and the faith of See also:treaties." The duty of watching over the common interests of Europe, or of the See also:world, was thus for the first time officially recognized as a function of diplomacy, since common See also:action could only be taken as the result of diplomatic negotiations. It would be easy to exaggerate the effective results of this See also:idea, even when it had crystallized in the See also:Grand See also:Alliance of 1814 and been See also:pro-claimed to the world in the See also:Holy Alliance of the 26th of See also:September 1815 and the See also:declaration of Aix-la-Chapelle. The cynical picture given by La Bruyere of the diplomatist of the 18th century still remained largely true:" His talk is only of peace, of alliances, of the public tranquillity, and of the public interests; in reality he is thinking only of his own, that is to say, of those of his See also:master or of his See also:republic." 1 The proceedings of the See also:congress of Vienna proved how little the common See also:good weighed unless reinforced by particular interests; but the conception of " Europe " as a See also:political entity none the less survived. The congresses, notably 1 La Bruyere, Caracteres, ii. 77 (ed.

P. Jouast, See also:

Paris, 1881). the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (q.v.) in 1818, were in a certain sense European parliaments, and their ostensible See also:object was the furtherance of common interests. Had the imperial dreamer See also:Alexander I. of See also:Russia had his way, they would have been permanently established on the broad basis of the Holy Alliance; and would have included, not the great powers only, but representatives of every See also:state (see ALEXANDER I. and EUROPE: History). Whatever the effective value of that " See also:Concert of Europe " which was the outcome of the See also:period of the congresses, it certainly produced a great effect on the spirit and the practice of diplomacy. In the congresses and conferences diplomacy assumes international functions both legislative and administrative. The diplomat is responsible, not only to his own See also:government, butto " Europe." Thus Castlereagh was accused of subordinating the interests of Great See also:Britain to those of Europe; and the same See also:charge was brought, perhaps with greater See also:justice, against Metternich in respect of See also:Austria. See also:Canning's principle.of, "Every nation for itself and See also:God for us all!" prevailed, it is true, over that of Alexander's " See also:Confederation of Europe "; yet, as one outcome of the congresses, every diplomatic agent, though he represents the interests of his own state, has behind him the whole See also:body of the treaties which constitute the public law of the world, of which he is in some sort the interpreter and the See also:guardian. Parallel with this development runs the second process making for change: the increasing responsibility of diplomacy to public See also:opinion. To discuss all the momentous issues involved in this is impossible; but the subject is too important to he altogether passed over, since it is one of the main problems of modern international intercourse, and concerns every one who by his See also:vote may See also:influence the policy of the state to which he belongs. The question, broadly speaking, is: how far has the public discussion of international affairs affected the legitimate functions of diplomacy for better or for worse? To, the diplomatist of the old school the See also:answer seems clear.

For him diplomacy was too delicate and too See also:

personal an art to survive the glare and confusion of publicity. Metternich, the last representative of the old haute diplomatic, lived to moralize over the ruin caused by the first manifestations of the " new diplomacy," the outcome of the rise of the power of public opinion. He had See also:early, from his own point of view, unfavourably contrasted the " limited " constitutional monarchies of the See also:west with the " See also:free " autocracies of the east of Europe,. free because they were under no See also:obligation to give a• public See also:account of their actions. He himself was a master of the old diplomatic art, of intrigue, of veiling his purpose under a See also:cloud of magniloquence, above all, of the art of personal See also:fascination. But public opinion was for him only a dangerous force to be kept under control; and, even had he realized the See also:necessity for appealing to it, he had none of the qualities that would have, made the See also:appeal successful. In See also:direct antagonism to him was See also:George Canning, who may be called the great prototype of the " new diplomacy," and to Metternich was a " malevolent See also:meteor hurled by divine See also:providence upon Europe." Canning saw clearly the immense force that would be added to his diplomatic action if he had behind him the force of public opinion. In answer to Metternich's complaint of the See also:tone of speeches in See also:parliament and of the popular support given in England to revolutionary movements, he wrote, " Our influence, if it is to be maintained abroad, must be secure in its See also:sources of strength at See also:home: and the sources of that strength are in the sympathy between the See also:people and the government; in the See also:union of the public sentiment with the public counsels; in the reciprocal confidence of the See also:House of See also:Commons and the See also:crown." 2 It would be a See also:mistake to jump to the conclusion that Canning was wholly right and Metternich wholly wrong. The conditions of the See also:Habsburg See also:monarchy were not those of Great Britain,3 and even if it had been possible to speak of a public opinion in the See also:Austrian See also:empire at all, it certainly possessed no such See also:organ as the See also:British parliament. But the See also:argument may be carried yet 2 To See also:Wellesley, in Stapleton's Canning, i. 374. 3 For the motives of Metternich's See also:foreign policy see AUSTRIA-See also:HUNGARY : History (iii. 332-333) further.

In the abstract the success of the policy of a See also:

minister in a democratic state must ultimately See also:rest upon the support of public opinion; yet the necessity for this support has in the conduct of foreign affairs its See also:peculiar dangers. In the difficult game of diplomacy a certain reticence is always necessary. See also:Secret sources of See also:information would be dried up were they to be lightly revealed; a See also:plain exposition of policy would often give an undue See also:advantage to the other party to a negotiation. Thus, even in Great Britain, the diplomatic See also:correspondence laid before parliament is carefully edited, and all governments are jealous of granting See also:access to their modern archives. Yet a representative See also:assembly is See also:apt to be resentful of such reservations. Its members know little or nothing of the conditions under which foreign affairs are conducted, and they are not unnaturally irritated by explanations which seem to lack candour or completeness. Canning himself had experience of this in the affair of the See also:capture of the Danish See also:fleet at See also:Copenhagen; and Castlereagh's diplomacy was hampered by the See also:bitter attacks of an opposition which accused him, with little justice, of pursuing a policy which he dared not reveal in its full See also:scope to parliament. Moreover, the appeal to public opinion may be used as a diplomatic weapon for ends no less " selfish " than any aimed at by the old diplomacy. See also:Bismarck, whose statesmanship was at least as cynical as that of Metternich, was a master of the art of taking the world into his confidence—when it suited him to do so; and the " reptile press," hired to give a seemingly See also:independent support to his policy, was one of his most potent weapons. So far the only necessary consequence of the growth of the power of public opinion on the art of diplomacy has been to extend the See also:sphere of its application; it is but one more See also:factor to be dealt with; and experience has proved that it is subject to the See also:wiles of a skilful diplomatist no less than were the princes and statesmen with whom the old diplomacy was solely concerned. The third factor making for change—the revolution in the means of communication which has brought all the world into closer touch—remains to be discussed. It is obvious that before the invention of the See also:telegraph, the diplomatic agent was in a far more responsible position than he is now, when he can, in most cases, receive immediate instructions from his government on difficult questions as they arise.

When communication was still slow there was often no time to await instructions, or the instructions when they arrived were not seldom already out of date and had to be set aside on the minister's own responsibility. It would, however, be easy to exaggerate the importance of this change as affecting the character and status of diplomatic agents. It is true that the tendency has been for ministers of foreign affairs to hold the threads of diplomacy in their own hands to a far greater extent than was formerly the case; but they must still depend for information and See also:

advice on the " See also:man on the spot," and the success of their policy largely depends upon his qualities of discretion and See also:judgment. The growth of democracy, moreover, has given to the See also:ambassador a new and peculiar importance; for he represents not only the See also:sovereign to the sovereign, but the nation to the nation; and, as a succession of notable See also:American ambassadors to Great Britain has proved, he may by his personal qualities do a large amount to remove the prejudices and ignorances which stand as a barrier between the nations. It marks an immense advance in the See also:comity of international intercourse when the representatives of friendly powers are no longer regarded as " spies rather than ambassadors," to be " quickly heard and dismissed," as Philippe de See also:Commines would have them, but as agreeable guests to be parted from with regret. As to the qualifications for an ambassador, it is clearly impossible to See also:lay down a genera] See also:rule, for the same qualities are obviously not required in See also:Washington as in Vienna, nor in Paris as in See also:Pekin. Yet the effort to depict the ideal ambassador bulks largely in the See also:works of the earlier theorists, and the demands they make are sufficiently alarming. Ottaviano Maggi, himself a diplomatist of the brilliant See also:age of the See also:Renaissance, has See also:left us in his De legato (Hanoviae, 1596) his idea of what an ambassador should be. He must not only be a good See also:Christian but a learned theologian; he must be a philosopher, well versed in Aristotleand See also:Plato, and able at a moment's See also:notice to solve in correct dialectical See also:form the most abstruse problems; he must be well read in the See also:classics, and an See also:expert in See also:mathematics, See also:architecture, See also:music, physics and See also:civil and See also:canon law. He must not only know how to write and speak Latin with classical refinement, but he must be a master of See also:Greek, See also:Spanish, French, See also:German and See also:Turkish. He must have a See also:sound knowledge of history, See also:geography and the science of See also:war; but at the same time is not to neglect the poets, and never to be without his See also:Homer. Add to this that he must be well See also:horn, See also:rich and of a handsome presence, and we have a portrait of a diplomatist whose See also:original can hardly have existed even in that age of brilliant versatility.

The Dutchman Frederikus de Marselaer, in his an puseiov she legationum insigne (See also:

Antwerp, 161S), is scarcely less exacting than the Venetian. His ideal ambassador is a nobleman of See also:fine presence and in the See also:prime of See also:life, famous, rich, munificent, abstemious, not violent, nor quarrelsome, nor morose, no flatterer, learned, eloquent, witty without being talkative, a good linguist, widely read, prudent and cautious, but brave and—as he adds somewhat superfluously—many-sided. With these theoretical perfections one or two instances of the qualifications demanded by the exigencies of See also:practical politics may be cited by way of See also:illuminating contrast. At the See also:court of the empress See also:Elizabeth of Russia good looks were a surer means of diplomatic success than all the talents and virtues, and the princess of See also:Zerbst (See also:mother of the empress See also:Catherine II.) wrote to See also:Frederick of See also:Prussia advising him to replace his elderly ambassador by a handsome See also:young man with a good complexion; and the essential qualification for an ambassador to See also:Switzerland, See also:Germany, See also:Poland, See also:Denmark and Russia used to be that he should be able to drink the native diplomatists, seasoned from babyhood to strong liquors, under the table. History.—In its widest sense the history of diplomacy is that of the intercourse between nations, in so far as this has not been a mere See also:brute struggle for the mastery; in a narrower sense, with which the See also:present See also:article is alone concerned, it is that of the methods and spirit of diplomatic intercourse and of the character and status of diplomatic agents. Earlier writers on the See also:office and functions of ambassadors, such as Gentilis or See also:Archbishop See also:Germonius, conscientiously trace their origin to God himself, who created the angels to be his legates; and they fortify their arguments by copious examples See also:drawn from See also:ancient history, sacred and profane. But, whatever the influence upon it of earlier practice, modern diplomacy really See also:dates from the rise of permanent See also:missions, and the consequent development of the diplomatic hierarchy as an international institution. Of this the first beginnings are traceable to the 15th century and to See also:Italy. There had, of course, during the See also:middle ages been embassies and negotiations; but the embassies had been no more than temporary missions directed to a particular end and conducted by ecclesiastics or nobles of a dignity appropriate to each occasion; there were neither permanent diplomatic agents nor a professional diplomatic class. To the See also:evolution of such a class the Italy of the Renaissance, the See also:nursing-ground of modern statecraft, gave the first impetus. This was but natural; for Italy, with its numerous independent states, between which there existed a lively inter-course and a yet livelier rivalry, anticipated in See also:miniature the modern states' system of Europe. In feudal Europe there had been little See also:room for diplomacy; but in See also:northern and central Italy See also:feudalism had never taken See also:root, and in the struggles of the See also:peninsula diplomacy had early played a part as great as, or greater than, war.

Where all were struggling for the mastery, the existence of each depended upon alliances and See also:

counter-alliances, of which the object was the See also:maintenance of the balance of power. In this school there was trained a notable succession of men of affairs. Thus, in the 13th and 14th centuries See also:Florence counted among her envoys See also:Dante, See also:Petrarch and See also:Boccaccio, and later on could boast of agents such as See also:Capponi, Vettori, See also:Guicciardini and See also:Machiavelli. Papal See also:Rome, too, as was to be expected, had always been a fruitful nursing-mother of diplomatists; and some 1 e.g. A History of Diplomacy in the International Development of Europe, by D. J. See also:Hill (See also:London and New See also:York, 1905). authorities have traced the beginnings of modern diplomacy to a conscious See also:imitation of her legatine system.' It is, however, in See also:Venice, that the origins of modern diplomacy are to be sought? So early as the 13th century the republic, with a view to safeguarding the public interests, began to lay down a See also:series of rules for the conduct of its ambassadors. Thus, in 1236, envoys to the court of Rome are forbidden to procure a See also:benefice for anyone without leave of the See also:doge and little See also:council ; in 1268 ambassadors are commanded to surrender on their return any gifts they may have received, and by another See also:decree they are compelled to take an See also:oath to conduct affairs to the See also:honour and advantage of the republic. About the same time it was decided that diplomatic agents were to See also:hand in, on their return, a written account of their See also:mission; in 1288 this was somewhat See also:expanded by a law decreeing that ambassadors were to See also:deposit, within fifteen days of their return, a written account of the replies made to them during their mission, together with anything they might have seen or heard to the honour or in the interests of the republic. These provisions, which were several times renewed, notably in 1296, 1425 and 1533, are the origin of the famous reports of the Venetian ambassadors to the See also:senate, which are at once a See also:monument to the political See also:genius of Venetian statesmen and a mine of invaluable historical material.3 These are but a few examples of a long series of regulations, many others also dating to the 13th century, by which the Venetian government sought to systematize its diplomatic service.

That permanent diplomatic agencies were not established by it earlier than was the case is probably due to the distrust of its agents by which most of this legislation of the republic is inspired. In the 13th century two or three months was considered over-long a period for an ambassador to reside at a foreign court; in the 15th century the period of See also:

residence was extended to two years, and in the 16th century to three. This latter rule continued till the end of the republic; the See also:embassy had become permanent, but the ambassador was changed every three years. The origin of the change from temporary to permanent missions has been the subject of much debate and controversy. The theory that it was due, in the first instance, to the evolution of the Venetian consulates (bajulats) in the See also:Levant into permanent diplomatic posts, and that the idea was thence transferred to the West, is disproved by the fact that Venice had established other permanent embassies before the See also:baylo (q.v.) at See also:Constantinople was transformed into a diplomatic agent of the first See also:rank. Nor is the first known instance of the See also:appointment of a permanent ambassador Venetian. The earliest record4 is contained in the announcement by See also:Francesco See also:Sforza, See also:duke of See also:Milan, in 1455, of his intention to maintain a permanent embassy at See also:Genoa '; and in 146o the duke of See also:Savoy sent Eusebio Margaria, See also:archdeacon of See also:Vercelli, as his permanent representative to the See also:Curia.6 Though, however, the early records of such appointments are rare, the practice was probably common among the See also:Italian states. Its extension to countries outside Italy was a somewhat later development. In 1494 Milan is already represented in See also:France by a permanent ambassador. In 1495 Zacharia See also:Contarini, Venetian ambassador to the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian, is described by See also:Sanuto (Diarii, i. 294) as stato ambasciatore; and from the time of 1 For this see See also:Hinschius, Kirchenrecht, i. p. 498.

s The Venetians, however, in their turn, doubtless learned their diplomacy originally from the Byzantines, with whom their See also:

trade expansion in the Levant early brought them into See also:close contact. For See also:Byzantine diplomacy see See also:ROMAN EMPIRE, LATER: Diplomacy. 3 See Eugenio Alberi, Le Relazioni degli ambasciatori See also:Veneti al senato, 15 vols. (Florence, 1839-1863). 4 The apocrisiarii (a~ro,cpwtiesaa) or responsales should perhaps be mentioned, though they certainly did not set the precedent for the modern permanent missions. They were See also:resident agents, practically legates, of the popes at the court of Constantinople. They were established by See also:Pope See also:Leo I., and continued until the Iconoclastic controversy See also:broke the intimate ties between East and West._ See Luxardo, Das vordekretalische Gesandtschaftsrecht der Pei pste (See also:Innsbruck, 1878) ; also Hinschius, Kirchenrecht, i. 501. N. Bianchi, Le Materie politiche relative all' estero degli archivi di stato piemontese (See also:Bologna, See also:Modena, 1875), p. 29. a lb.

See also:

Note 2, teneamus et deputemus ibidem continue mansurum. During the same period the practice had been growing up among the other European powers. See also:Spain led the way in 1487 by the appointment of Dr Roderigo Gondesalvi de See also:Puebla as ambassador in England. As he was still there in 1500, the Spanish embassy in London may be regarded as the See also:oldest still surviving See also:post of the new permanent diplomacy. Other states followed suit, but only fitfully; it was not till late in the 16th century that permanent embassies were regarded as the norm. The See also:precarious relations between the European powers during the 16th century, indeed, naturally retarded the development of the system. Thus it was not till after good relations had been established with France by the treaty of London that, in 1519, See also:Sir See also:Thomas See also:Boleyn and Dr West were sent to Paris as resident English ambassadors, and, after the'renewed See also:breach between the two countries, no others were appointed till the reign of Elizabeth. Nine years before, Sir See also:Robert See also:Wingfield, whose simplicity earned him the See also:nickname of " Summer-shall-be-See also:green," had been sent as ambassador to the court of See also:Charles V., where he remained from 1510 to 1517; and in 1520 the mutual appointment of resident ambassadors was made a See also:condition of the treaty between See also:Henry VIII. and Charles V. In 1517 Thomas Spinelly, who had for some years represented England at the court of the See also:Netherlands, was appointed " resident ambassador to the court of Spain," where he remained till his See also:death on the 22nd of See also:August 1522. These are the most important early instances of the new system. Alone of the great powers, the emperor remained permanently unrepresented at foreign courts. In theory this was the result of his unique dignity, which made him See also:superior to all other potentates; actually it was because, as emperor, he could not speak for the practically independent princes nominally his vassals.

It served all practical purposes if he were represented abroad by his agents as See also:

king of Spain or See also:archduke of Austria. All the See also:evidence now available goes to prove that the See also:establishment of permanent diplomatic agencies was not an unconscious and accidental development of previous conditions, but deliberately adopted as an obvious convenience. But, while all the powers were agreed as to the convenience of maintaining such agencies abroad, all were equally agreed in viewing the representatives accredited to them by foreign 'states with extreme suspicion. This attitude was abundantly justified by the peculiar See also:ethics of the new diplomacy. The old " orators " of the Summer-shall-be-green type could not long hold their own against the new men who had studied in the school of Italian statecraft, for whom the end justified the means. Machiavelli had gathered in The See also:Prince and The Discourses on See also:Livy the principles which underlay the practice of his See also:day in Italy; See also:Francis I., the first monarch to establish a completely organized diplomatic machinery, did most to give these principles a European extension. By the close of the 16th century diplomacy had become frankly " Machiavellian," and the ordinary rules of morality were held not to apply to the intercourse between nations. This was admitted in theory as well as in practice. Germonius, after a vigorous denunciation of lying in general, argues that it is permissible for the safety or convenience (commodo) of princes, since sales populi =prelim lex, and quod non permittit naturally ratio, admittit See also:civilis; and he adduces in support of this principle the answer given by Ulysses to See also:Neoptolemus, in the See also:Ajax of See also:Sophocles, and the examples of See also:Abraham, See also:Jacob and See also:David. Paschalius, while affirming that an ambassador must study to speak the truth, adds that he is not 7 The first ambassador of Venice to visit England was Zuanne da Lezze, who came in 1319 to demand See also:compensation for the plundering of Venetian See also:ships by English pirates. stich a " rustic boor " as to say that an " See also:official See also:lie " (officiosum mendacium) is never to be employed, or to deny that an ambassador should be, on occasion, splendide mendax.1 The situation is summed up in the famous See also:definition of Sir Henry See also:Wotton, which, though excused by himself as a jest, was held to be an indiscreet See also:revelation of the truth: " An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the good of his See also:country." The most successful liar, in fact, was esteemed the most successful diplomatist. " A prime article of the See also:catechism of ambassadors," says See also:Bayle in his Dictionnaire critique (1699), " whatever their See also:religion, is to invent falsehoods and to go about making society believe them." So universally was this principle adopted that, in 'the end, no diplomatist even expected to be believed; and the best way to deceive was—as Bismarck cynically avowed—to tell the truth.

But, in addition to being a' liar ex officio, the ambassador was also " an See also:

honourable See also:spy." " The See also:principal functions of an See also:envoy," says See also:Francois de Callieres, himself an ex-ambassador of See also:Louis XIV., " are two; the first is to look after the affairs of his own prince; the second is to discover the affairs of the other." A See also:clever minister, he maintains, will know how to keep himself informed of all that goes on, in the mind of the sovereign, in the See also:councils of ministers or in the country; and for this end " good cheer and the warming effect of See also:wine " are excellent See also:allies.3 This being so, it is hardly to be wondered at that foreign ambassadors were commonly regarded as perhaps necessary, but certainly very unwelcome, guests. The views of Philippe de Commines have already been quoted above, and they were shared by a long series of theoretical writers as well as by men of affairs. Gentilis is all but alone in his protest against the view that all ambassadors were exploratores magis quam oratores, and to be treated as such. So early as 1481 the government of Venice had decreed the See also:penalty of banishment and a heavy fine for any one who should talk of affairs of state with a foreign envoy, and though the more civilized princes did not follow the example of the See also:sultan, who by way of precaution locked the ambassador of See also:Ferdinand II., See also:Jerome See also:Laski, into " a dark and stinking place without windows," they took the most See also:minute precautions to prevent the ambassadors of friendly powers from penetrating into their secrets. Charles V. thought it safest to keep them as far away as possible from his court. So did Francis I.; and, when affairs were See also:critical, he made his frequent changes of residence and his See also:hunting expeditions the excuse for escaping from their presence. Henry VII. forbade his subjects to hold any intercourse with them, and, later on, set spies upon them and examined their correspondence—a practice by no means confined to England. If the system of permanent embassies survived, it is clear that this was mainly due to the belief of the sovereigns that they gained more by maintaining " honourable spies " at foreign courts than they lost by the presence of those of foreign courts at their own. It was purely a question of the balance of advantage. Neither among statesmen nor among theorists was there any See also:premonition of the great part to be played by the permanent diplomatic body in the development and maintenance of the concert of Europe. To Paschalius the permanent embassies were " a miserable outgrowth of a miserable age."' See also:Grotius himself condemned them as not only harmful, 'Germonius, De legatis principum et populorum libri tres (Rome, 1627), See also:chap. vi. p. 164; Paschalius, Legatus (See also:Rouen, 1598), p.302.

See also:

Etienne See also:Dolet, who had been secretary to See also:Cardinal See also:Jean du Bellay, and was burned for See also:atheism in 1546, in his De officio legati (1541) advises ambassadors to surround themselves with taciturn servants, to employ vigilant spies, and to set afoot all manner of See also:fictions, especially when negotiating with the court of Rome or with the Italian princes. 2 See See also:Pearsall See also:Smith, Sir Henry Wotton, pp. 49, 126 et seq. 3 Francois de Callieres, De la maniere de negocier avec See also:les souverains (See also:Brussels, 1716). See also A. See also:Sorel, Recueil See also:des instructions donnees aux ambassadeurs et ministres de France (Paris, 1884), e.g. vol. Autriche, pp. 77, 88, 102, 112. 4" Nova res est, quod sciam, et infelicis hujus aetatis infelix partus. . Hine oriri securitatem universorum, hinc stabiliri pacem gentium. Quae utinam See also:tam See also:vere dicerentur, quam speciose. Ego quidem, ne quid dissimulem, ab istis seorsum sentio.

Nimirum, effoeta virtutis, foecunda fraudis haec saecula video peperissebut useless, the See also:

proof of the latter being that they were unknown to antiquity.' Development of the Diplomatic Hierarchy.—The history of the diplomatic body' is, like that of other bodies, that of the progressive differentiation of functions. The middle ages knew no See also:classification of diplomatic agents; the See also:person sent on mission is described indifferently as legatus, orator, nuntius, ablegatus, commissarius, See also:procurator, mandatarius, agens or ambaxator (ambassator, &c.). In Gundissalvus, De legato (1485), the oldest printed See also:work on the subject, the word ambasiator, first found in a Venetian decree of 1268, is applied to any diplomat. Florence was the first to make distinction; the orator was appointed by the council of the republic; the mandatorio, with inferior powers, by the Council of Ten. In 1500 Machiavelli, who held only the latter rank, wrote from France urging the Signoria to send ambasiadori. This was, however, rather a question of powers than of dignity. But the causes which ultimately led to the elaborate differentiation of diplomatic ranks were rather questions of dignity than of functions' The breakdown of feudalism, with the consequent rise of a series of sovereign states or of states claiming to be sovereign, of very various See also:size and importance, led to a certain confusion in the ceremonial relation between them, which had been unknown to the comparatively clearly defined system of the middle ages. The smaller states were eager to assert the dignity of their actual or practical See also:independence; the greater powers were equally See also:bent on "keeping them in their place." If the emperor, as has been stated above, was too exalted to send ambassadors, certain of the lesser states were soon esteemed too humble to be represented at the courts of the great powers save by agents of an inferior rank. By the second See also:half of the 16th century, then, there are two classes of diplomatists, ambassadors and residents or agents, the latter being accounted ambassadors of the second class!' At first the difference of rank was determined by the status of the sovereign by whom or to whom the diplomatic agent was accredited; but early in the 16th century it became fairly common for powers of the first rank to send agents of the second class to represent them at courts of an equal status. The reasons were various, and not unamusing. First and foremost came the question of expense. The ambassador, as representing the person of his sovereign, was See also:bound by the sentiment of the age to display an exaggerated magnificence.

His journeys were like royal progresses, his state entries surrounded with every circumstance of pomp, and it was held to be his duty to advertise the munificence of his prince by boundless largesses. Had this munificence been as unlimited in fact as in theory, all might have been well, but, in that age of vaulting ambitions, depleted exchequers were the rule rather than the exception in Europe; the records are full of pitiful appeals from ambassadors for arrears of pay, and appointment to an embassy often meant ruin, even to a man of substance. To give but one example, Sir See also:

Richard See also:Morison, See also:Edward VI.'s ambassador in Germany, had to See also:borrow See also:money to pay his debts before he could leave See also:Augsburg (Cal. State Pap. Edw. VI., No. 467), and later on he writes from See also:Hamburg (See also:April 9, 1552) that he could buy nothing, because everyone believed that he had packed up in spissata haec imperia, sive surnmas potestates, unde, ut e vomitariis, hae legationes undatim se fundunt." Paschalius, Legatus (1598), p. 447. So too See also:Felix de la Mothe Le Vayer (1547-1625), in his Legatus (Paris, 1579), says " Legatos tune primum See also:aut non multum post institutos fuisse cum See also:Pandora malorum omnium semina in hunc mundum demisit." ' De jure See also:belli et pacis (See also:Amsterdam, 1621), ii. c. 18, § 3, n. 2. ' The term See also:corps diplomatique originated about the middle of the 18th century.

" The See also:

Chancellor Fiirst," says See also:Ranke (See also:xxx. 47, note), " does not use it as yet in his See also:report (1754) but he knows it," and it would appear that it had just been invented at Vienna. " Corps diplomatique, nom qu'une See also:dame donna un jour a ce corps nombreux de ministres strangers a See also:Vienne." 7 So too See also:Pradier-Fodere, vol. i. p. 262. 3 Thus Charles V. would not allow the representatives of the duke of See also:Mantua, See also:Ferrara, &c., to See also:style themselves " ambassadors," on the ground that this See also:title could be See also:borne only by the agents of See also:kings and of the republic of Venice, and not by those of states whose See also:sovereignty was impaired by any feudal relation to a superior power. (See Krauske. p. 155.) readiness to flit secretly, for " How must they buy things, where men know their stuff is ready trussed up, and they fleeting every day? " (ib. No. 544)• But the dignity of ambassador carried another See also:drawback besides expense; his function of " honourable spy " was seriously hampered by the trammels of his position. He was unable to move freely in society, but lived a ceremonial existence in the midst of a See also:crowd of retainers, through whom alone it was proper for him to communicate with the world outside. It followed that, though the office of ambassador was more dignified, that of agent was more generally useful.

Yet a third cause, possibly the most immediately potent, encouraged the growth of the lesser diplomatic ranks: the question of precedence among powers theoretically equal. Modern diplomacy has settled a difficulty which caused at one time much See also:

heart-burning and even bloodshed by a See also:simple appeal to the See also:alphabet. Great Britain feels no humiliation in See also:signing after France, if the See also:reason be that her name begins with G; had she not been Great, she would sign before. The vexed question of the precedence of ambassadors, too, has been settled by the rule, already referred to above, as to seniority of appointment. But while the question remained unsettled it was obviously best to evade it; and this was most easily done by sending an agent of inferior rank to a court where the precedence claimed for an ambassador would have been refused. Thus set in See also:motion, the process of differentiation continues until the system is stereotyped in the 19th century. It is unnecessary to trace this evolution here in any detail. It is mainly a question of names, and diplomatic titles are no exception to the general rule by which all titles tend to become cheapened and therefore, from time to time, need to be reinforced by fresh verbal devices. The method was the See also:familiar one of applying terms that had once implied a particular quality in a See also:fashion that implied actually nothing. The ambassador extraordinary had originally been one sent on an extraordinary mission; for the time and purpose of this mission his authority superseded that of the resident ambassador. But by the middle of the 17th century the See also:custom had grown up of calling all ambassadors " extraordinary," in See also:order to place them on an equality with the others. The same process was extended to diplomatists of the second rank; and envoys (envoye for ablegatus) were always " extraordinary," and as such claimed and received precedence over mere " residents," who in their day had asserted the same claim against the agents—all three terms having at one time been synonymous.

Similarly a " minister plenipotentiary " had originally meant an agent armed with full powers (plein-pouvoir); but, by a like process, the See also:

combination came to mean as little as " envoy extraordinary "—though a plenipotentiary tout simple is still an agent, of no ceremonially defined dignity, despatched with full powers to treat and conclude. Finally, the evolution of the title of a diplomatist of the second rank is crowned by the high-See also:sounding combination, now almost exclusively used, of " envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary." The ultimate See also:fate of the simple title " resident " was the same as that of " agent." Both had been freely sold by needy sovereigns to all and sundry who were prepared to pay for what gave them a, certain social status. The agent " See also:fell thus into utter discredit, and those "residents" who were still actual diplomatic agents became ministers resident " to distinguish them from the common See also:herd. The classification of diplomatic agents was for the first time definitively included in the general body of international law by the Reglement of the 19th of See also:March 1815 at Vienna'; and the whole question was finally settled at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (See also:November 21, 1818) when, the proposal to establish precedence by the status of the accrediting powers having wisely been rejected, diplomatic agents were divided into four classes: (1) Ambassadors, legates, nuncios; (2) Envoys extraordinary and ministers, plenipotentiary, and other ministers accredited direct to the sovereign; (3) Ministers resident; (4) Charges d'affaires. With a few exceptions (e.g. See also:Turkey), this See also:settlement was accepted by all states, including the See also:United States of See also:America. 1 See Pradier-Fodere, i. 265. Rights and Privileges of. Diplomatic Agents.—These are •partly founded upon immemorial custom, partly the result of negotiations embodied in international law. The most important, as it is the most ancient, is the right of personal inviolability extended to the diplomatic agent and the members of his See also:suite. This inviolability is maintained after a rupture between the two governments concerned, and even after the outbreak of war.

The See also:

habit of the See also:Ottoman government of imprisoning in the Seven Towers the ambassador of a power with which it quarrelled was but an exception which proved the rule. The second important right is that of See also:exterritoriality (q.v.), a convenient fiction by which the house and equipages of the diplomatic agent are regarded as the territory of the power by whom he is ac-credited. This involves the further principle that the agent is in no way subject to the receiving government. He is exempt from See also:taxation and from the See also:payment at least of certain See also:local rates. He also enjoys See also:immunity (1) from civil See also:jurisdiction, e.g. he cannot be sued, nor can his goods be seized, for See also:debt; (2) from criminal jurisdiction, e.g. he cannot be arrested and tried for a criminal offence. For a See also:crime of violence, however, or for plotting against the state, he can be placed under the necessary See also:restraint and expelled the country .2 These immunities extend to all the members of an envoy's suite. The difficulties that might be supposed to arise from such exemptions have not in practice been found very serious; for though, in the case of crimes committed by servants of agents of the first or second class the See also:procedure is not clearly defined, each case would easily be made the subject of arrangement. In certain cases, e.g. embassies in Turkey, the exterritoriality of ambassadors implies a fairly extensive criminal jurisdiction; in other cases the dismissal of the servant would deprive him of his diplomatic immunity and bring him under the law of the See also:land. The right of granting See also:asylum claimed by diplomatic agents in virtue of that of exterritoriality, at one time much abused, is now strictly limited. A political or criminal offender may seek asylum in a foreign embassy; but if, after a See also:request has been formally made for his surrender, the ambassador refuses to deliver him up, the authorities may take the See also:measures necessary to effect his See also:arrest, and even force an entrance into the embassy for the purpose. The " right of See also:chapel " (See also:droit de chapelle, or drcit de culte) , enjoyed by envoys in reference to their exterritoriality, i.e. the right of free exercise of religious See also:worship within their house, formerly of great importance, has been rendered superfluous by the spread of religious See also:toleration. (See L.

See also:

Oppenheim, Internat. Law (London, 1905), i. p. 441, &c.; A. W. Haffter, Das europaische Volkerrecht (See also:Berlin, 1888), p. 435, &c.) The Personnel of the " Corps diplomatique. "—The establishment of diplomacy as a See also:regular See also:branch of the civil service is of modern growth, and even now by no means universal. From old time states naturally See also:chose as their agents those who would best serve their interests in the See also:matter in hand. In the middle ages diplomacy was practically a See also:monopoly of the See also:clergy, who as a class alone possessed the necessary qualifications: and in later times, when learning had spread to the laity as well, there were still potent reasons why the clergy should continue to be employed as diplomatic agents. Of these reasons the most practical was that of expense; for the See also:wealth of the See also:church formed an in-exhaustible reserve which was used without See also:scruple for See also:secular purposes. Francis I. of France, who by the See also:Concordat with Rome had in his hands the patronage of all the See also:sees and abbeys in France, used this partly to See also:reward his clerical ministers, partly as a great secret service fund for bribing the ambassadors of other powers, partly for the payment of those high-placed spies at foreign courts maintained by the elaborately organized system 2 Gentilis, who had been consulted by the government in the case of the Spanish ambassador, See also:Don Bernardino de See also:Mendoza, expelled for intriguing against See also:Queen Elizabeth, See also:lays this down definitely. An ambassador, he says, need not be received, and he may be expelled.

In actual practice a diplomatic agent who has made himself objectionable is withdrawn by his government on the representations of that to which he is accredited, and it is customary, before an ambassador is despatched, to find out whether he is a persona grata to the power to which he is accredited. known as the Secret du Roi 1 None the less, in the 16th century, laymen as diplomats are already well in evidence. They are usually lawyers, rarely soldiers, occasionally even simple merchants. Not uncommonly they were foreigners, like the Italian Thomas Spinelly mentioned above, drawn from that See also:

cosmopolitan class of diplomats who were ready to serve any master. Though nobles were often employed as ambassadors by all the powers, Venice alone made See also:nobility a condition of diplomatic service. They were professional in the sense that, for the most part, diplomacy was the main occupation of their lives; there was, however, no graded diplomatic service in which, as at present, it was possible to rise on a fixed system from the position of simple attache to that of minister and ambassador. The " attache to the embassy " existed 2; but he was not, as is now the case, a young diplomat learning his profession, but an experienced man of affairs, often a foreigner employed by the ambassador as adviser, secret service agent and general go-between, and he was without diplomatic status.' The 18th century saw the rise of the diplomatic service in the modern sense. The elaboration of court ceremonial, for which See also:Versailles had set the fashion, made it desirable that diplomatic agents should be courtiers, and young men of rank about the court began to be attached to missions for the See also:express purpose of teaching them the art of diplomacy. Thus arose that aristocratic diplomatic class, distinguished by the exquisite refinement of its See also:manners, which survived from the 18th century into the 19th. Modern democracy has tended to break with this tradition, but it still widely prevails. Even in Great Britain, where the rest of the public services have been thrown open to all classes, a certain social position is still demanded for candidates for the diplomatic service and the foreign office, and in addition to passing a competitive examination, they must be nominated by someone of recognized station prepared to vouch for their social qualifications. In America, where no regular diplomatic service exists, all diplomatic agents are nominated by the See also:president.

The existence of an official diplomatic service, however, by no means excludes the appointment of outsiders to diplomatic posts. It is, in fact, one of the main grievances of the regular diplomatic body that the great rewards of their profession, the embassies, are so often assigned to politicians or others who have not passed through the drudgery of the service. But though this practice has, doubtless, sometimes been abused, it is impossible to criticize the See also:

wisdom of its occasional application. A word may be added as to the part played by See also:women in diplomacy. So far as their unofficial influence upon it is concerned, it would be impossible to exaggerate its importance; it would suffice to mention three names taken at See also:random from the See also:annals of the 19th century, Madame de See also:Stael, Baroness von Kriidener, and Princess Lieven. See also:Gentz comments on the " feminine intrigues " that darkened the counsels of the congresses of Vienna and Aix-la-Chapelle, and from which the powers so happily escaped in the See also:bachelor seclusion of See also:Troppau. Nor is it to be supposed that statesmen will ever renounce a diplomatic weapon so easy of disguise and so potent for use. A brilliant See also:salon presided over by a woman of See also:charm may be a most valuable centre of a political propaganda; and ladies are still widely employed in the secret diplomacy of the powers. Their employment as regularly accredited diplomatic agents, however, though not unknown, has been extremely rare. An interesting instance is the appointment of Catherine of See also:Aragon, when princess of See also:Wales, as representative of her See also:father, Ferdinand the See also:Catholic, at the court of Henry VII. (G. A.

Bergenroth, See also:

Calendar of State Papers ... England and Spain—in the Archives at See also:Simancas, &c., i. pp. xxxiii, cxix). r See See also:Zeller. 2 A. O. See also:Meyer, p. 22. a See the amusing account of the methods of these agents in Morysine to See also:Cecil (See also:January 23, 1551-1552), Cal. State Pap. Edw. VI., No. 530.

Roman court of the See also:

Rota, and See also:bishop of See also:Oviedo; but the first really systematic writer on the subject was Albericus Gentilis,De legationibus libri iii. (London, 1583, 1585, See also:Hanover, 1596, 1607, 1612). For a full bibliography of works on ambassadors see See also:Baron Diedrich H. L.von Ompteda, Litteratur des gesammten sowohl natiirlichen als positiven Volkerrechts (See also:Regensburg, 1785) , p. 534, &c., which was completed and continued by the Prussian minister Karl See also:Albert von Kamptz, in Neue Literatur des Volkerrechts seit dem Jahre 1784 (Berlin, 1817), p. 231. A See also:list of writers, with critical and See also:biographical remarks, is also given in Ernest Nys's " Les Commencements de la diplomatie et le droit d'ambassade jusqu'a Grotius," in the Revue de droit inter-national, vol. xvi. p. 167. Other useful modern works on the history of diplomacy are: E. C. See also:Grenville-See also:Murray, Embassies and Foreign Courts, a History of Diplomacy (2nd ed., 1856) ; J. Zeller, La Diplomatie frangaise vers le milieu du X VI' siecle (Paris, 1881) ; A.

O. Meyer, See also:

Die englische Diplomatie in Deutschland zur Zeit Eduards VI. and Mariens (See also:Breslau, 1900) ; and, above all, See also:Otto Krauske, Die Entwickelung der standgien Diplomatie vom funfzehnten Jahrhundert bis zu den Beschliissen von 1815 and 1818, in Gustav See also:Schmoller's Staats- and socialwissenschaftliche Forschungen, vol. v. (See also:Leipzig, 1885). To these may be added, as admirably illustrating in detail the early developments of modern diplomacy, See also:Logan Pearsall Smith's Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton (See also:Oxford, 1907). Of works on modern diplomacy the most important are the See also:Guide diplomatique of Baron Charles de See also:Martens, new edition revised by F. H. See also:Geffcken, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1866), and P. Pradier-Fodere, Cours de droit diplomatique, 2 vols. (Paris, 1881). (W. A.

End of Article: DIPLOMACY (Fr. diplomatic)

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