It is said that a government may refuse to receive an ambassador, if he is person ally disagreeable to the state, or of a notoriously bad character. But it is now generally the practice, in order to avoid such a refusal, to inform the court before hand of the person intended to be sent. Every government, it is also said, may make general rules respecting the class of persons whom it chooses to admit as ambassadors ; but every state would think itself aggrieved and insulted by the re fusal of the ambassador whom it has a pointed, except on satisfactory There is nothing, for instance, in the ge neral law of nations to prevent a man's being accredited by a foreign power to the government of his own country ; and in this case he is clothed, as far as his character as an ambassador is concerned, with precisely the same rights as if he was a member of the state by which he is employed. Prince Pozzo di Borgo, a Corsican, was many years Russian am bassador at Paris. But any government may, by a general regulation, refuse to admit, as France and Sweden have in fact done, any of its own subjects as the repre sentative of an independent state.
It is the duty of a state, with respect to ambassadors sent to it, to protect them from everything which may in any degree interfere with the due performance of their functions. This duty commences before the ambassador has delivered his credentials, and as soon as his appoint ment has been notified to the court.
The first privilege of an ambassador in the country to which he is sent, is perfect security. This is necessary in order that he may discharge his functions; and the violation of this privilege has always been considered an offence against the law of nations, whether the violation proceeds from the sovereign power itself, or from the unauthorized acts of individuals.
The Porte used to violate this privilege, by confining the ministers of any power it went to war with, in the Seven Towers, under the pretence of protecting them from popular outrage. The last minister shut up in the Seven Towers' was M. Ruffin, the envoy of the French republic. Since that time the practice has dropped.
The second important privilege of an ambassador is, that no legal process can affect him, in his person or his property ; so much of his property, at least, as is connected with his official character, such as his furniture, equipages, &c. (Byaker schoek, De foro Legatorum.) This privi lege is in some degree subsidiary to the former ; for it would be of little avail to protect an ambassador from open outrage, if he were liable to be harassed by legal proceedings, which, whether instituted (as it is always possible they might be) without foundation, or well founded, would interfere with the discharge of his public functions. Ambassadors are,
therefore, deemed not to be amenable for their conduct before any criminal tribunal of the country they reside in.
But ambassadors cannot misconduct themselves with impunity. They are bound to respect the law and customs of the country they are in ; and if they commit any offence, the sovereign may complain of it to the government which they represent ; or, if the case is of a more serious nature, he may demand that they be recalled, or may even dismiss them peremptorily, and in either case require that they be brought to trial in their own country. And if an ambassador is guilty of an offence which threatens the immediate safety of the state, not even the privilege of personal security will protect him from any degree of force which may be necessary to defeat his ntentions : thus, if he engages in a con spiracy against the government, he may, if the circumstances require it, be put under arrest, in order to be sent home, and if he is found in arms joining in a rebellion, he may be treated as an enemy.
The same principle also extends to civil suits, and no claim can be enforced against an ambassador by any compulsory process.
These privileges are not confined to the ambassador alone, but are extended to all his suite—his companions, as they are sometimes called,—including not only the persons employed by him in diplo matic services, but his wife, chaplain, and household. The law of nations in this respect is fully recognised by the law of England. By the statute of 7 Anne, c. 12, all legal process against the person or goods of an ambassador, or of his domestic, or domestic servants, is declared to be void. The benefit of this Act may be claimed by any who is actually in the domestic service of the ambassador, whether he is a British subject or a foreigner, provided he is not a merchant or trader within the bankrupt law ; and it is not necessary that he should be resident in the ambassador's house. But if he takes a house, and uses it for any other purpose besides that of residence— as if he lets part of it in lodgings, he so far loses his privilege, and his goods are liable to be distrained for parochial rates.
Whoever sues out or executes any pro cess contrary to the provisions of the act, is punishable at the discretion of the lord chancellor and the two chief jus tices, or any two of them, as a violator of the law of nations, and disturber of the public repose ;—with this exception, how ever, that no one can be punished for arresting an ambassador's servant, unless the name of such servant be registered with the secretary of state, and by him transmitted to the sheriffs of London and Middlesex.