Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/232

 LAW OF NATIONS rate class between charges d'affaires and envoys and ministers plenipotentiary. The public char- acter of an ambassador at a foreign court is rec- ognized upon the production of his letters of credence. In the case of a charge d'affaires, these are addressed by one minister to another. In the case of ministers of all the higher ranks, they are addressed to the sovereign. The full power which authorizes the diplomatic agent to negotiate is in modern times given separately from the letter of credence. During his resi- dence the public minister is entitled to perfect inviolability, and to exemption from the local civil and criminal jurisdiction. This immunity extends also to the members of his household, whether they belong to his own family or to the diplomatic corps, and also to his house and personal property. A consul cannot claim these privileges of exemption which are ac- corded to public ministers. So far, indeed, as he is impressed with a public character his right extends ; but ordinarily he is subject to the local tribunals, like any other resident foreigner. A minister's public mission is ter- minated by his recall, or by the decease or ab- dication of his own or of the sovereign to whom he is accredited; by his own declara- tion to this effect, when on account of any infraction of the law of nations he thinks it his right to do so ; by his dismission from the court at which he is residing ; or by the final accomplishment or failure of the object of his mission. International rights are often defined by specific conventions. As in respect to em- bassies, so in regard to treaties, the power to make them resides generally in the supreme executive authority. But they will be exactly determined by the fundamental law of the state. In virtue of their full powers, diplo- matic agents may sign treaties, but generally these are not binding upon their governments until they are ratified by the supreme authority. Under the constitution of the United States treaties become obligatory only with the advice and consent of the senate. But once ratified in prescribed form, the treaty is binding upon the contracting states, no matter what legisla- tive measures may be required in order to carry it into effect. The constitution gives to the president and senate the treaty-making power. Congress cannot defeat this provision by refu- sing to pass appropriation bills or other mea- sures, when the engagements entered into are within the constitutional limits. This question has been much considered, especially in its bearing upon Jay's treaty of 1T94, and the treaty for the acquisition of Alaska ; and the power of congress to withhold laws required by treaties has been asserted in debate, but never finally insisted on. Treaties in the prop- er sense of the word, like those of alliance or amity, of commerce and navigation, exist only so long as the parties exist who made them. They expire, therefore, if either loses its sov- ereignty, or if circumstances change so much as to make the treaty utterly foreign to the ex- isting condition of things. They may also be annulled by the outbreak of war, or expire by their express limitation. Treaties of alliance may be either offensive or defensive, as they engage to render aid, aggressively or defen- sively, against other powers. In the event of hostilities, the contracting powers become allies against the common enemy ; but not so when a state contracts generally to furnish to another a certain definite succor by war supplies in case of war. Apart from its particular engage- ments, such a state is neutral. Guaranties are frequent forms of international compacts. Agreements to defend the particular constitu- tion of a country against every aggression, or to secure the liberties of a single state during war between other powers, are instances of these obligations. Sovereign states being equal, it follows that there can be no supreme tribunal of appeal. Except therefore by submission of their wrongs to arbitration, nations can have no redress for them except by resorting to force. When, then, differences have arisen, and they cannot be composed by negotiation or other peaceful means, the injured state may employ the forcible measures of retaliation, of reprisals, of embargo or the sequestration of the goods of the offending power, or, finally, of war. Embargoes or sequestrations are often declared as preliminary measures to active hos- tilities. A declaration of war has a retroactive effect, and the property already seized is placed upon the same footing as that taken during the war. Keprisals are general or special. They are general when a state authorizes its subjects to capture the goods and attack the subjects of the offending power, wherever they may be found. In the modern practice of nations, general reprisals are deemed synonymous with war, and are indeed the initiative step to hos- tilities. When wrong is done to particular individuals in time of peace, and justice is plainly refused or unreasonably withheld, let- ters of marque may be issued to the parties, or a public ship be commissioned to avenge their wrong. These are instances of special reprisals. The ownership of the property taken is acquir- ed, so far as it is necessary to satisfy the debt, or otherwise compensate for the injury com- mitted; the surplus must be restored to the government of the subject against whom the right has been exercised. In modern times letters of reprisal are chiefly confined to goods, and would hardly be granted to a private in- dividual during a general peace. The precise extent of obligation resting upon a neutral nation to pass and enforce laws in order to prevent its territory being made use of in ori- ginating hostile measures against a power with which it is at peace, has never been fully de- termined. All authorities agree that the gov- ernment must not aid or give countenance to such measures, but how active it is required to be in thwarting them, and how stringent and effectual its legislation should be to that end, in order to preserve its character as a neutral