Diplomatic envoys are of three ranks, as was finally determined by a common agreement of all the powers which was annexed to the final act of the treaty of Vienna in 1815:—1. Ambassadors; the ambassador of the pope being called a nuncio, and the ambassador of the Emperor of Austria to the Sublime Porte being called his inter-nuncio. These only have representative rank. 2. Envoys extraordinary or ministers plenipotentiary, accredited to sovereigns (auprès des souverains). 3. Chargés d'affaires, who are only entitled to transact business with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. We Shall confine ourselves in this article to the diplomatic officers of the first rank. The relative number of ambassadors, as distinguished from ministers, has of late years been considerably increased. The Emperor Nicholas refused for many years to send an ambassador to the court of France, and he therefore suppressed the grade for a time altogether. His example was imitated by other powers. But the old practice has now been reverted to. The Queen of England has embassies at Paris, Constantinople, Vienna, St Petersburg, and Berlin. The number of British ministers plenipotentiary is twenty-three, and three chargés d’affaires; but these numbers vary.

From the 15th century, when the practice of sending resident embassies may be said to have commenced in Europe, down to the close of the 18th century, these missions were surrounded with a prodigious amount of splendour, ceremonial, and contentious dignity. British ambassadors were commonly sent out till within the last thirty years in ships of war. The ambassador represented a monarch, and was to play the part of one. The memoirs of those ages are full of the magnificence and profuse display which marked their progress—lacqueys, liveries, state coaches, led horses, and all the pageantry of state. Fierce disputes frequently arose between rival ambassadors for precedence; sometimes these disputes even extended to the courts and ministers to whom these envoys were despatched as messengers of peace, and a vast deal of time was lost (especially at the Congress of Münster) in adjusting them. On the part of the sovereign to whom they were to present their credentials the same display was made. The new ambassador was fetched by the master of the ceremonies in the king’s coaches and feasted at the king’s expense. The solemn entry and the public audience, as they were termed, were an essential part of the mission. The ambassador had the right to stand covered in the presence of royalty. At Venice the doge placed Sir Harry Vane, covered and seated, on his right hand in the Council of Ten. A speech was then delivered, in which the ambassador declared the friendly sentiments of his own sovereign, and his own humble desire to give effect to them. Modern simplicity and the facility of intercourse has swept away many of these formalities. Traces of them survive at the courts of Berlin and Vienna, but elsewhere an ambassador is presented with little more than the customary ceremony of a court. It has long been held that every state is at liberty to receive ambassadors with or without ceremony, just as it pleases, provided they are all treated alike. Formalities of this kind are, however, still of moment in dealing with Oriental states, where ceremony is the language of power. Perhaps it is nowhere carried to higher perfection than at the court of Japan. The knotty question of precedence was also settled at the Congress of Vienna by an agreement that precedency should be regulated by seniority, dating from the notification of the arrival of the envoy. In foreign countries the senior ambassador is known as the dean or doyen of the diplomatic body; but in England the diplomatic body has no general mouthpiece or representative.

Every state or sovereign has the right, if it thinks fit, to refuse to receive a particular person as an ambassador, or even to receive any ambassador at all. It is therefore customary to ascertain beforehand whether the person designated for an embassy is favourably regarded, and will be well received. There have been instances, not very remote, of unfavourable answers or refusals to receive given individuals.

The rank of an ambassador, as regards the society of the nation to which he is accredited, places him immediately after the princes of the blood royal, because he represents a sovereign power, and this rank is universally conceded to him. The rank of a minister plenipotentiary is rather more dubious, but by a rule laid down by Her Majesty for the court of St James they follow dukes and precede marquises. An ambassador or minister not actually accredited to this court has of course no official rank at all, and must take his personal rank. No distinction is made between the ambassadors of monarchies and of republics. The Venetian ambassadors held in their time a very prominent rank in Europe; so in our day do the ministers of the United States; but the United States have never sent any ambassador to Europe—their representatives therefore rank in the second class of public ministers.

We shall now proceed briefly to enumerate that which constitutes the essential dignity and utility of an ambassador —on the one hand his rights and privileges, on the other his duties.

A. The first right of an ambassador is that of personal audience of the sovereign. His credentials must invariably be presented to the sovereign in person, and he may ask for an audience on any fitting occasion. In England, however, the sovereign does not officially receive an ambassador except in the presence of one or more of the ministers of the crown. Mr Canning complained bitterly of the influence of Prince Lieven and Prince Esterhazy over George IV., who lived on intimate terms with these ambassadors, and used to say "his father would never have done so.” In England the right of audience is now generally limited to the presentation of some congratulatory letter; but at Continental courts it is not without considerable utility and importance, as was shown by the memorable conversation of Sir Hamilton Seymour with the Emperor Nicholas, and the personal interviews of Lord Cowley and Lord Clarendon with the Emperor Napoleon III.

In all ages the perfect personal security of persons invested with high diplomatic functions, as the representatives of a foreign power, has been an essential and fundamental principle of the law of nations. Indeed it was the law of nations when there was no other. Alexander the Great destroyed Tyre for an insult offered to his ambassador; and it stands recorded in the Roman law, “Si quis legatum hostium pulsasset, contra jus gentium id commissum esse existimatur, quia sancti habentur legati” ( Dig. L. Tit. vii. § 17). In moments of excessive excitement or revolutionary frenzy even this principle has been violated, as in the murder of Dr Dorislaus at the Hague (1649), and of the French envoys at Rastadt (1799); but such acts leave an indelible disgrace on those who have committed them. For it is the interest of all mankind that ambassadors and envoys should have absolute security to perform their missions with freedom of speech and the liberty “eundi et redeundi” undisturbed, insomuch that to intercept or refuse passage to an ambassador, even through the territory of a third party, is justly regarded as a base action, though probably the leave of the third party to grant the passage ought to be asked. It was the barbarous custom of Turkey to send an ambassador to the Seven Towers on a declaration of war, and detain him there as long as the war lasted; but the Porte formally relinquished and abandoned this practice on the breaking out of war with Russia in 1827. To secure this immunity from all interference, an accredited ambassador or envoy is wholly free from the jurisdiction of the courts of law, or of any other authority in the country in which he is sent to reside. This constitutes the doctrine of extraterritoriality. His house is as sacred as his person. It is supposed, like a ship at sea, to form part of the territory represented by the flag which he may hoist over it. All the members of the embassy, and even the servants of the ambassador, share the same inviolability. They cannot even be arrested and prosecuted for offences without his consent. Hence, as the courts of justice have no jurisdiction over them, and indeed would have no means of enforcing an adverse decision either by distress or imprisonment, these diplomatic agents cannot be impleaded or sued. The only means of obtaining redress for an injury or breach of contract is an appeal to the head of the mission, or a further appeal to the government which he represents, which, it must be presumed, will not allow a wrong to be committed with impunity under the shelter of privilege. In England, by the statute 7 Anne, c. 12, it is expressly enacted that any process against foreign ambassadors or ministers, or their goods and chattels, shall be altogether void. This Act was passed in consequence of an attempt, made in 1708, to arrest an ambassador of Peter the Great in London for a debt of £50, and it is still law; but in fact it is only declaratory, and in confirmation of the common law and the law of nations.

An ambassador or envoy pays no taxes or contributions to the public revenue of the country in which he resides, and on this principle he is entitled to receive commodities from abroad free of customs duties. But he is not exempted from the payment of local rates,—-though, indeed, if he were to decline to pay them, no process could issue against him for the purpose of levying them. He also pays the ordinary rates of postage, but he has the privilege of sending his own couriers carrying sealed despatches, which exempts him from the monopoly of the post office. These couriers, and their despatches or mails, are also regarded by common consent as inviolable messengers, unless they chance in time of war to fall into the hands of a hostile belligerent. In some countries ambassadors and their couriers have been allowed to have a prior claim for post horses over private travellers.

Another of the important privileges of an ambassador or envoy is the free exercise of the religion or form of worship to which he adheres; but it is laid down by the best writers on the subject that a foreign minister has not the right of maintaining a chapel or chaplain within his hotel, under the law of nations; hence the liberty of religious worship for the ambassador and his suite was made a matter of treaty engagement between Catholics and Protestants, and between Christians and Mussulmans. By courtesy, though not of strict right, the usage of ambassadors’ chapels has, however, become general; and it had a real importance in countries where the free exercise of different forms of belief was not tolerated by law. Thus, at the time when the rites of the Church of Rome were forbidden in England, the Spanish and Bavarian chapels in London were free; and they have remained in existence till dur own days, although the enlarged tolerance of the present age has removed in every civilised country those barriers. In China and Japan the free exercise of the Christian religion by the Christian embassies is formally secured by treaty.

B. We now pass to the duties of an ambassador, and we place at the head of them that of keeping his own sovereign well informed of all that may concern his interests in foreign countries. He is the eye of the government he serves, specially directed to a particular spot, and he ought to be thoroughly acquainted with the course of policy, the movements of parties, the character and disposition of individual statesmen, and the material and commercial resources of the country in which he resides. His public despatches, and his private correspondence with the Minister of Foreign Affairs under whom he serves, ought to be a record of all that can interest or concern the state which he represents. In this sense the diplomatic reports of the ambassadors of former times are invaluable materials for history. His next duty is to protect and defend, if necessary, the persons and interests of his fellow-countrymen abroad; and this is of especial moment in the case of a British ambassador, whose countrymen are to be met with as travellers, navigators, or merchants in all parts of the globe. To them the presence and influence of the diplomatic representatives of their country is of incalculable value, and nothing can be more ill-judged than the proposals that have been made to cut down and contract our foreign embassies and missions. A third, but not less important, duty of an ambassador is to maintain the most amicable relations with the sovereign to whom he is accredited, and with his ministers, and to observe towards them the strictest respect, veracity, and good-will. It has been said in joke that the first duty of an ambassador is to keep a good cook; but if this implies that he is to exercise a liberal hospitality and to make his house agreeable, those no doubt are means which may powerfully assist him in the objects of his mission. In former times it was considered to be essential to good diplomacy to act as a spy upon the motives and conduct of foreign statesmen, to cheat without being cheated, to use clandestine means to obtain information, to endeavour to form a party in foreign states favourable to the ambassador’s own national interests, to observe and resist with the utmost jealousy the demeanour of other foreign envoys, and to carry on a species of warfare under the mask of courtesy and good-breeding. These practices have given diplomacy and the functions of ambassadors a bad name, but it must be said that they are repudiated by the principles and practice of the present time, and more especially by the foreign policy of this country. Down to a recent period, these struggles for ascendancy in foreign countries were carried on with great eagerness, and they led to unfortunate results. In Spain, for example, the untoward marriage of Queen Isabella was notoriously brought about by the violent and arbitrary interference of the French ambassador; and in 1848, when Lord Palmerston instructed Sir Henry Bulwer to represent to the Spanish minister that they would do well to adopt a more liberal and constitutional system of government, General Narvaez immediately sent the British envoy out of the country. This was the exercise of an extreme right, for which the British government could claim no redress. So, again, when in the course of the Russian war (1855) it appeared to the American government that the British envoy in Washington had infringed the neutrality laws of the United States by endeavouring to enlist recruits for the service of Her Majesty, he was compelled to leave the country, and Great Britain had no just cause of complaint. These modern cases are important, because they prove that no state which respects itself will tolerate, on the part of a foreign envoy, a direct interference in the internal affairs of government or an infraction of its own laws. Hence arises the great principle on which our modern practice is founded, namely, that it is the duty of an ambassador to observe a strict neutrality between contending parties in the state to which he is accredited; to accept the government de facto with which he communicates as the government and sovereign of the nation; to pay implicit obedience to the laws of that state, whatever they be; and to abstain as much as possible from all intervention in its internal affairs. These doctrines are comparatively new, but they are sound, and they may be said to have received the assent and the approval of the most enlightened governments of Europe. Great changes have occurred within the last few years in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain; but they have all the distinguishing mark that they are wholly independent of foreign diplomatic influence. The first, perhaps we ought to say the sole duty, of an ambassador is to protect his own national interests and to promote the most friendly relations with the sovereign to whom he is accredited; and experience has proved that these objects are best secured by confining himself to the principal objects of his mission, and by relying on no arts but those of sincerity, forbearance, and truth. (H. r.)

The earliest notice of amber we find occurs in the Odyssey of Homer, where in the list of jewels offered by Phoenician traders to the Queen of Syra occurs “the gold necklace hung with bits of amber" (Od. xv. 460). Thales of Miletus, 600 b.c., noticed that amber when rubbed attracted light bodies, and that remote and simple observation is the foundation of the modem science of electricity, so named from the Greek ηλεκτρov. Among the Greek fables purporting to account for the origin of amber, it is narrated that the Heliadae, on seeing their brother Phaethon hurled by the lightning of Jove into the Eridanus, were by the pitying gods transformed into poplar trees, and the tears they shed were dropped as amber on the shores of the river. Hence arose the Greek term for amber, 'Hλ ∈ κτωρ being one of the names of the sun god. A less poetical theory of its origin states that it was formed from the condensed urine of the lynx inhabiting northern Italy, the pale varieties being produced by the females, while the deeper tints were attributed to males. In such repute was amber in Rome in the time of Pliny that he sarcastically remarks, “the price of a small figure in it, however diminutive, exceeds that of a living healthy slave.” Besides its application to jewellery and carved ornaments, and its use, partly decorative and partly prophylactic, as necklaces, peculiar virtues were attributed to it. Pliny observes—“True it is that a collar of amber beads worn about the necks of young infants is a singular preservative to them against secret poison, and a counter-charm for witchcraft and sorceries.” As an article of personal ornamentation, the same authority states that amber was used to produce imitations of precious stones by artificial staining, a use to which it was peculiarly adapted owing to its brilliant lustre combined with the ease with which it could be worked and polished.

The great source of supply of amber in all ages appears to have been the Baltic coasts, from which the supplies of commerce still continue to be drawn. During the reign of Nero an expedition was sent from Rome to explore the amber-producing country, and so successful was the party that a present of 13,000 lb of amber was brought back to the emperor, including a piece weighing 13 lb. It occurs in regular veins along the Baltic coast, but in greatest abundance between Pillau and Grosz Hubenicken, on the Prussian coast. Professor Phillips thus describes the mines :—

“Near the sea-coast in Prussia there are regular mines for the working of amber: under a stratum of sand and clay, about 20 feet thick, a stratum of bituminous wood occurs, from 40 to 50 feet thick, of a blackish brown colour, and impregnated with pyrites. Parts of these trees are impregnated with amber, which sometimes is found in stalactites depending from them. Under the stratum of trees were found pyrites, sulphate of iron, and coarse sand, in which were rounded masses of amber. The mine is worked to the depth of 100 feet; and from the circumstances under which the amber is found it seems plain that it originates from vegetable juices.”

After heavy storms large quantities are usually found thrown up on the coast at the localities where it is regularly excavated, and the assumption is, that amberifer-ous deposits crop up in the shallow waters near the shores, from which pieces become detached during the violent commotion of the water. It is further sparingly cast on the Swedish and Danish coasts, and occasionally pieces are picked up along the shores of Norfolk, Essex, and Sussex in England. It occurs at numerous localities inland throughout Europe, among which may be noted the neighbourhood of Basle in Switzerland, the departments of Aisne, Loire, Gard, and Bas Rhin in France, and in the Paris clay it is associated with bituminous deposits. In England it has been found in the sandy deposits of the London clay at Kensington. The coasts of Sicily and the Adriatic likewise afford amber. The most beautiful specimens are perhaps those which are found at Catania. They often possess a beautiful play of colour, approaching to purple, not to be observed in the product of other places. Professor Dana gives the following note on its occurrence in America :—

“It has been found in various parts of the greensand formation of the United States, either loosely embedded in the soil or engaged in marl or lignite, as at Gay Head or Mather’s Vineyard, near Trenton, and also at Camden, in New Jersey, and at Capo Sable, near Magothy river, in Maryland.” It is said to be taken in large quantities from the north of Burmah to the markets of China, where it is highly prized.

The appearance of enclosed foreign bodies, such as insects, leaves, twigs, &c., which amber very often presents, and the markings on its surface, very early led to correct inferences as to its origin* Pliny states that “amber is an exudation from trees of the pine family, like gum from the cherry and resin from the ordinary pine; and in accordance with this opinion is its Latin name succinum, the gum-stone. The opinion expressed by Pliny is that which at the present day may be fairly held as established; but of course amber differs from other resins owing to changes induced by its fossilised condition. Sir David Brewster has pointed out that in optical properties it agrees with other resinous exudations. The insects found enclosed in amber are for the most part of extinct species, and so also are the remains of plants. A species of conifer has been established provisionally as the amber-yielding tree, Pinites succinifer, but Göppert has shown that many trees may have yielded the exudation, and these not all necessarily belonging to the pine order.

The close relation of amber to ordinary resins is further brought out by its chemical properties and composition. According to Berzelius, it consists mainly of a resin, succinite, insoluble in alcohol, in combination with small proportions of two others, isomeric with the first, but soluble in alcohol and ether. By dry distillation it gives off at a low temperature water, succinic acid, and oil of amber, which last substance was formerly used in medicine in combination with alcohol and ammonia under the name of eau de luce; but now amber and all its products have disappeared from the standard pharmacopoeias. Its composition is, according to Schrötter—

Carbon 78 94

Hydrogen 10 ∙ 53

Oxygen . 10 ∙ 53

and mineralogically it belongs to Dana’s class of oxygenated hydrocarbons. It burns with a pale yellow flame, with a good deal of black smoke, evolving an agreeable odour, and leaving a shining black carbonaceous residue.

It is said that by exposing amber covered with sand in an iron pot to the influence of heat for forty hours, or boiling it for twenty hours in rape oil, it will become transparent, and pieces will cement and mould together. The great size of vessels of amber which have come down from ancient times suggests the probability of some such art being practised in remote periods. It is now applied to few useful purposes among western nations beyond forming the mouthpieces for tobacco-pipes and cigar-holders. Fine pieces are in some demand for public collections and for the purposes of the carver. In the East, besides its being highly prized for ornamental purposes, a feeling of veneration for its mystic properties still enhances its value. The Turks esteem it highly as a mouthpiece for tobacco pipes, and believe that it resists the transmission of infection. The principal demand for the amber of commerce is among the Armenians, through whom it is conveyed to Egypt, Persia, China, and Japan; and a great quantity is purchased to be consumed at the shrine of Mahomet by the pilgrims bound to Mecca. The value of amber depends upon its colour, its lustre, and its size. In 1576 a mass weighing 11 lb was found in Prussia, and deemed worthy of being presented to the emperor; later, a mass of 13 lb was found, for which it is said 5000 dollars were refused. In the royal cabinet at Berlin a piece is shown weighing 18 lb; but such masses are of very great rarity.