THE AMBASSADOR AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY.

Otago Witness, Issue 1874, 21 October 1887, Page 31

THE AMBASSADOR AND MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY.

The Six British Embassies-Responsibility of the Position— Ministers and Legations— — Oonaals-Keceiving their Passporte-Th© Ambassador's Duties. A very common mistake made by people in general who are outside the diplomatic circle is to call all those who represent thus country at other capitals " ambassadors." The Crown of Britain— for ambassadors represent in diplomatic eyes the actual person of the Sovereign— only recognises a very limited number of ambassadors properly sostyled in its service. The " Ambassador and Minister Plenipotentiary" is the highest representative in rank of the kingdom abroad. He is head of an " embassy." Hi 3 second in command is "Secretary of Embassy/ Of these ambassadors there are only six representing England .abroad. The ate great Powers entitled to receive them are France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Turkey. The salaries of these great officials range from £10,000 to £7000, the British Ambassador at Paris receiving the highest sum, and holding, as may be guessed, the most coveted post in the diplomatic service abroad. To the various other courts where this country must be represented she sends representatives, as will be seen, under other titles. But, though the outsiders know nothing about it, the internal world of diplomacy has most exact rules, regulations, and etiquette among its members as to relative rank, privileges, and precedence. Ambassadorships are the blue ribbons of diplomacy, and carry many indirect advantages besides the salaries and influence. But then, though the pay is large, so is the social burden on the Embassy in the way of keeping up its position (and there are rivalries among the Powers) in a brilliant and generally expensive capital. Each ambassador has, besides his secretary of embassy, a staff of secretaries, &c. Formerly it was supposed that these gentlemen had little to do but write formal notes, and be "the glass of fashion and the mould of form " in all social matters. But the late Lord Clarendon some 30 years ago signalised his Foreign Secretaryship by introducing the useful sys tern of getting reports written by the secretaries of the various embassies and legations on the industries, trade, and general statistics of the country to which they were accredited. This has resulted in very varied and valuable information, which it is much to be regretted is not more generally known to the public than through the Blue Books. After Ambassadors come " Ministers," who, at very varied salaries, represent this country with all the smaller Powers; but it is a curious instance of the system that to the United States we send not a British Ambassador, but " Minister." Ministers rule '• Legations," as Ambassadors do Embassies. Their seconds in command are " Secretaries of Legation." The full and formal title of Ministers is "Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary,'" and to most of the smaller States of Europe and elsewhere we send them ; probably the very antipodes of office being the Embassy at Paris and the Legation at Pokin. To some of the small places, however, as the little German duchies, aud so on, a third official is sent, called a, Charge d'affaires. Then, scattered all over the Continent and through the civilised world, in the great towns, are to be found the British " Consuls," each of whom is expected to be the " guide, philosopher, and friend " of the travelling Briton in the remotest parts. These Consulships vary in rank and pay. Probably one of the most distinguished who ever filled the office, and whose genius would in France have given him a far higher post, wa« Charles Lever, the novelist, who was consul at Trieste. Ambassadorships are some of the oldest offices in the world, and constant mention is made of them by Greek and Koman writers. Until the enormous expansion of England's interests since the Revolution of 1688, her ambassadors were few, and the office, though one of honour, was of small profit. Under the stern rule of Henry VIII, an ambassador indeed risked his head on his return, and with his like-natured daughter, Elizabeth, ran at any rate the risk of disgrace and the Tower if the results • were not quite to her Majesty's satisfaction. Moreover, with a parsimony unlike her father, but like her grandfather, Henry VII, she had a rooted objection to paying liberally, and cut down expenses so thriftily, haggled so grumblingly, and kept the cost when allotted so long in her hand, that the histories and memoirs of the time are full of complaints on the part of the unhappy ambassadors to Lord Burleigh, the Treasurer, about the need of money. An ambassador's person and that of his suite are inviolable, nor are they subject to any civil application of the law, as for debt, &c. The pride and dignity of the ambassador at any court, if offended, are supposed to be those of the sovereign he represents, and various characteristic incidents will be found in history, some of them culminating in threats of war, from this theory. When war is declared, the respective representatives of the two countries " receive their passports," in the time-honoured phrase. When he is appointed, an ambassador presents his appointment, and when re-called, his letters of recall to the sovereign to whom he is accredited, at a personal interview. The State receptions of the ambassadors on festival days at court have been often watchec with intense expectation, and a few words uttered at the New Year's Day reception, by Napoleon 111, to the Austrian Ambassador, thrilled all Europe as the first notification, all unexpected, of the war between France and Austria in 1859. The ambassador or the minister has not only political, but social duties to perform ; indeed, much often depends in certain capital, especially on his not only being master of hi» business, but a popular personage at court. He is, of course, the only official channel through which information, questions, or intentions are conveyed from one Government to another, and he receives his instructions

from the Foreign Secretary in London, the usual formula being that he is to read the dispatch enclosed to the Minister who presides over affairs at the foreign court and leave him a copy. The ambassador's or minister's secretaries and attaches are of course under his orders, and he can do much to hasten or retard their promotion " at F. 0.," if he be an official who, as the phrase goes, is addicted to " writing home." , The progress of modern ideas and the growth of public opinion have done much to infuse far plainer speaking and truthfulness into diplomacy, and it is rarely now that the ancient epigram can be applied to an ambassador as "one sent to lie abroad . for the good of his country."