DIPLOMACY, the art of managing the intercourse and adjusting the relations of foreign states, by means of *ambassadors, envoys extraordinary, consuls, etc. The principles and rules of D. are embodied partly in those international customs and usages which constitute what may be called common, and in those treaties which may be regarded as statute international law. The diplomatic relations of this country are practically under the superintendence of the secretary of state for foreign affairs, but the power of sending ambassadors to, and receiving ambassadors from, foreign states, is an alienable privilege of the crown. It was doubted whether an exception had not been made in the case of Rome, by the statutes passed against papal encroachments; and it was thought expedient to remove such doubt by 11 and 12 Viet. c. 108, which authorizes her majesty to enter into diplomatic relations, provided that no person in holy orders in the church of Rome, or Jesuit, or member of any other religious order, community, or society of that church, bound by monastic or religious vows, shall be received as ambassador at the court of London. Ambassadors are not subject to the municipal laws of the states in which they reside, the theory being that they represent the persons of their respective masters, who cannot be subject to any other laws than those of their own country. If an ambassador offends against the municipal law, or abuses his character, he may be sent home, and accused before his master. Though there was much doubt on the point, this rule seems to extend to crimes against natural law, e.g., to murder, or mala in se, as well as to crimes artificially created by the policy of the particular state, mala prohibita; and it is now said that the case of Don Pantaleon Sa, the brother and secretary of the Portuguese ambassador, who was executed for an atrocious murder during the protectorate of Cromwell in 1654, was no exception, as he was not "joined with his brother iu the same commission." See AMBASSADOR, 131IBASSY. The arrangement of international ceremonies belongs to the subject of diplomacy. To treat it in detail would lead us far beyond our limits, and we must content ourselves with remarking a few of the customary and conventional modifications which affect the general principle of international law by which all independent states are held to be equal.
Royal honors are enjoyed by the empires and kingdoms of Europe, including the Swiss confederation, the grand duchies of Germany, and, amongst Catholic states, by the pope; and the same right extends to the United States of America. These, along with other rights of greater importance, include the right of taking precedence of the others in all international ceremonials. Amongst those who enjoy royal honors, the order of precedency, after much discussion, was left by the congress of Vienna on the ancient footing of custom merely. The rule thus fixed is said to be the following: Monarchs enjoying royal honors, but not crowned heads, yield precedence to those who are, whilst they enjoy it over all other monarchs, denii-sovereigns, and rulers of depend ent states. This rule leaves the relative rank of the crowned heads and other classes amongst themselves undetermined, and a curious expedient has been found for obviat ing the necessity of a minuter classification. By what is called the alternat, the rank and places of the various powers are changed from time to time in a certain order deter mined by lot. If there are several parties to a treaty, for example, a corresponding num ber of copies is made of it, the name of each state being named first in the copy which it preserves, and the others in the order determined by the alternat. But the right to alternation has sometimes been a subject of contention. In 1742 it was refused to Prus sia by Great. Britain; and Hungary and Sardinia had great difficulty in obtaining it at the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle.
The subject of maritime ceremonies will be treated under its respective heads. They consist of salutes either with cannon, or with the flag or pendant, by furling it, lowering it, or pulling it down. There is also a salute with sails, which generally consists in low ering the foretopsail. Maritime ceremonials are usually made the subject of express compact, but. as a general rule, on the open seas, a ship carrying a pendant salutes a ship of a friendly power carrying an admiral, and detached ships generally salute fleets. It is provided by 22 and 23 Viet. c. 5. repealing in so far 6 Anne, c. 7, that pensions granted for diplomatic services, according to the provisions of 2 and 3 Will. IV. c. 116, shall not disqualify the kolder from being elected, or sitting, or voting as a member of the house of commons.