Ambassador. Diplomatic envoys are of four kinds: (1) Ambassadors accredited directly to a foreign sovereign, and personally representing the sovereign who appoints them. (2) Ministers accredited to a foreign sovereign or state, who do not represent the sovereign, but only the state which sends them, and its affairs. These are usually called envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary. (3) Ministers resident, called simply envoys. These differ not in representative power, but in dignity. (4) Chargés d'Affaires accredited to foreign ministers. The term ambassador is commonly used to denote any kind of diplomatic minister. Besides representing his sovereign, the ambassador keeps him well informed as to what goes on in the country where he resides; defends the interests of his fellow-countrymen abroad; and promotes goodwill between his own country and that in which he dwells. He carries with him credentials, and instructions for his own guidance. The ambassador of the first rank is entitled to public and private audiences with the sovereign to whom he is sent; a minister of the second class, to private audiences only. In the performance of all his diplomatic duties, an ambassador is understood to represent, not only the affairs, but the dignity and the power of his master; and by the law of nations he has many important rights and privileges, the chief of which is exemption from the control of the municipal laws of the nation wherein he is to exercise his functions, an exemption that is not confined to the ambassador himself, but is extended to all his suite, including not only the persons employed by him in diplomatic services, but his wife, chaplain, and household generally. But there is a dispute among legal writers whether this exemption extends to all crimes, or whether it is limited to such offences as are mala prohibita, as coining, and not to those that are mala in se, as murder. But as the security of an ambassador in conducting the intercourse of nations is of more importance than the punishment of a particular crime, there are few modern examples of an ambassador being punished for any offence. The full exemption of an ambassador from legal process in civil cases was first recognised by 7 Anne, chap. 12, a statute passed to appease the wrath of Peter the Great of Russia on learning that his ambassador had been actually arrested, and taken out of his coach in London, for a debt of £50. It was, however, merely a declaratory act, confirming the common law and law of nations.
But although an ambassador is not amenable to any tribunal of the country he resides in, he cannot misconduct himself with impunity. He must respect the laws and customs of the country in which he is officially resident; and if he violates or offends these laws and customs, he may be complained of to the court or government which he represents; or if the offence is of a very serious nature, his recall may be demanded, or the sovereign to whom he has given such offence may dismiss him preemptorily, and further require that he be brought to trial in his own country. It hardly need be added, that if an ambassador is guilty of an offence which threatens the safety of the state, he ceases to enjoy the privileges of the exemption in question.
There are some other and inferior privileges which are very generally allowed to ambassadors: they are, for instance, permitted the free exercise of their religion; they are, in general, exempted from direct taxation, they have special letter-bags, and they are usually allowed to import their goods without paying any custom-house duties—a privilege, however, which, being liable to abuse, has been limited. It is usual to ascertain whether an appointment will be acceptable, since a sovereign can refuse to receive an ambassador.
Ambassadors of the first class ordinarily reside regularly at the court to which they are accredited. But sometimes ambassadors are sent on special occasions, as for the negotiation of treaties, when they receive additional powers, and have the higher rank of Ambassadors Extraordinary. The employment of permanent ambassadors originated in the 15th century. Her Majesty's diplomatic corps includes only seven ambassadors, in the restricted sense of the word, who are accredited to Vienna, Paris, St Petersburg, Constantinople, Berlin, Rome, and Washington, respectively. The salary given to a British ambassador at Paris is £8000 a year. Till 1893 the United States sent to Europe only envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary; their representatives therefore ranked in the second class of diplomatic agents. Since 1893 there are American ambassadors in London, Paris, and Berlin.
The 'rupture of diplomatic relations' by the withdrawal, or still more sharply, by the dismissal of an ambassador, is tantamount to a declaration of war, and now often takes the place of any more formal manifesto or proclamation—which indeed is designed rather for the information of neutrals (see NEUTRALITY). Some authorities on international law deny that any declaration is imperative. After the diplomatic rupture, the interests of the enemy's subjects in the country of either belligerent are entrusted by arrangement to one or other of the ambassadors of neutral powers. The usual title for ambassadors proper is 'excellency,' which is often conferred also on the lower ranks of ministers. See ENVOY, CHARGÉ D'AFFAIRES, CONSUL, and INTERNATIONAL LAW.