Privileges of Couriers suite, killed an Englishman named Greenway, he was arrested, tried in England, found guilty, and executed.1 § 405. To insure the safety and secrecy of the of Envoy. diplomatic despatches they bear, couriers must be granted exemption from civil and criminal jurisdiction and afforded special protection during the exercise of their office. It is particularly important to observe that they must have the right of innocent passage through third States, and that, according to general usage, those parts of their luggage which contain diplomatic despatches and are sealed with the official seal must not be opened and searched. It is usual to provide couriers with special passports for the purpose of their legitimation. Termina tion in Suspension. XII TERMINATION OF DIPLOMATIC MISSION Vattel, IV. §§ 125-126-Hall, § 98**—Phillimore, II. §§ 237-241— § 406. A diplomatic mission may come to an end contradis from eleven different causes-namely, accomplishment of the object for which the mission was sent; expiration of such Letters of Credence as were given to an envoy for a specific time only; recall of the envoy by the sending State; his promotion to a higher class; the delivery of passports to him by the receiving State; request of the envoy for his passports on The case is discussed by Phillimore, II. § 169. account of ill-treatment; war between the sending and the receiving State; constitutional changes in the headship of the sending or receiving State; revolutionary change of government of the sending or receiving State; extinction of the sending or receiving State; and, lastly, death of the envoy. These events must be treated singly on account of their peculiarities. But the termination of diplomatic missions must not be confounded with their suspension. Whereas from the foregoing eleven causes a mission comes actually to an end, and new Letters of Credence are necessary, a suspension does not put an end to the mission, but creates an interval during which the envoy, although he remains in office, cannot exercise his office. Suspension may be the result of various causes, as, for instance, a revolution within the sending or receiving State. Whatever the cause may be, an envoy enjoys all his privileges during the duration of the suspension. plishment sion. § 407. A mission comes to an end through the ful- Accomfilment of its objects in all cases of missions for of Object special purposes. Such cases may be ceremonial of Misfunctions like representation at weddings, funerals, coronations; or notification of changes in the headship of a State, or representation of a State at Conferences and Congresses; and other cases. Although the mission is terminated through the accomplishment of its object, the envoys enjoy all their privileges on their way home. § 408. If a Letter of Credence for a specified time only is given to an envoy, his mission terminates with the expiration of such time. A temporary Letter of Credence may, for instance, be given to an individual for the purpose of representing a State diplomatically during the interval between the recall Expira- tion of Credence. of an ambassador and the appointment of his suc cessor. $409. The mission of an envoy, be he permanently or only temporarily appointed, terminates through his recall by the sending State. If this recall is not caused by unfriendly acts of the receiving State but by other circumstances, the envoy receives a Letter of Recall from the head, or, in case he is only a Chargé d'Affaires, from the Foreign Secretary of his home State, and he hands this letter over to the head of the receiving State in a solemn audience, or to the Foreign Secretary in the case of a Chargé d'Affaires. In exchange for the Letter of Recall the envoy receives his passports and a so-called Lettre de récréance, a letter in which the head of the receiving State (or the Foreign Secretary) acknowledges the Letter of Recall. Although therewith his mission ends, he enjoys nevertheless all his privileges on his home journey. A recall may be caused by the resignation of the envoy, by his transference to another post, and the like. It may, secondly, be caused by the outbreak of a conflict between the sending and the receiving State which leads to a rupture of diplomatic intercourse, and under these circumstances the sending State may order his envoy to ask for his passports and depart at once without handing in a Letter of Recall. And, thirdly, a recall may result from a request of the receiving State by reason of real or alleged misconduct of the envoy. Such request of recall may lead to a rupture of diplomatic intercourse, if the receiving State insists upon the recall, although the sending State does not recognise the act of his envoy as misconduct.1 1 Notable cases of recall of envoys are reported by Taylor, § 322, and Hall, § 98***. tion to a Class. § 410. When an envoy remains at his post, but is Promopromoted to a higher class-for instance, when a higher Chargé d'Affaires is created a Minister Resident or a Minister Plenipotentiary is created an Ambassadorhis original mission technically ends, and he receives therefore a new Letter of Credence. of Pass ports. § 411. A mission may terminate, further, through Delivery the delivery of his passports to an envoy by the receiving State. The reason for such dismissal of an envoy may either be gross misconduct on his part or a quarrel between the sending and the receiving State which leads to a rupture of diplomatic intercourse. ports. § 412. Without being recalled, an envoy may on Request his own account ask for his passports and depart in for Passconsequence of ill-treatment by the receiving State. This may or may not lead to a rupture of diplomatic intercourse. § 413. When war breaks out between the sending Outbreak and the receiving State before their envoys envoys accredited to each other are recalled, their mission comes nevertheless to an end. They receive their passports, but they must be granted nevertheless their privileges on their way home.1 of War. tional Changes. § 414. If the head of the sending or receiving State Constituis a Sovereign, his death or abdication terminates the missions sent and received by him, and all envoys remaining at their posts must receive new Letters of Credence. But if they receive new Letters of Credence, no change in seniority is considered to have taken place from the order before the change. And during the time between the termination of the missions and the arrival of new Letters of Credence 1 See below, vol. II. § 98. Revolutionary Changes ment. they enjoy nevertheless all the privileges of diplomatic envoys. As regards the influence of constitutional changes in the headship of republics on the missions sent or received, no certain rule exists. Everything depends, therefore, upon the merits of the special case. § 415. A revolutionary movement in the sending or receiving State which creates a new governof Government, changing, for example, a republic into a monarchy or a monarchy into a republic, or deposing a Sovereign and enthroning another, terminates the missions. All envoys remaining at their posts must receive new Letters of Credence, but no change in seniority takes place if they receive them. It happens that in cases of revolutionary changes of government foreign States for some time neither send new Letters of Credence to their envoys nor recall them, watching the course of events in the meantime and waiting for more proof of a real settlement. In such cases the envoys are, according to an international usage, granted all the privileges of diplomatic envoys, although in strict law they have ceased to be this. In cases of recall subsequent to revolutionary changes, the protection of subjects of the recalling States remains in the hands of their consuls, since the consular office 2 does not come to an end through constitutional or revolutionary changes in the headship of a State. Extinc tion of $416. If the sending or receiving State of a sending or mission is extinguished by voluntary merger into another State or through annexation in consequence receiving State. 1 1 Writers on International Law contradistinction to Rivier, I. differ concerning this point. See, p. 517. See below, § 438. for instance, Ullmann, § 43, in |