understood formality; although it is possible they took that method of exhibiting their displeasure at the creation of an embassy by Mexico, it being felt by them that ambassadorial distinction should be reserved for the Great Powers of Europe.

An early duty of an American envoy after his arrival is to find a location for his office and residence. These are usually combined in the same building, although in a few capitals, as London, Paris, and Berlin, offices are provided separate from the residence. Our government makes no provision for residences for its diplomatic representatives, and this omission is a source of great embarrassment to the newly arrived envoy, and in a lesser degree to those who have relations with him, as a change in the location of the legation usually occurs with the arrival of every new minister. The desirability of having the legation residences owned by the government has often been urged upon Congress, and the secretaries of state have collected information as to their cost and importance, but thus far Congress has not thought proper to authorize the appropriation necessary to this new dignity and usefulness of its foreign representation. It has, however, been found necessary for the government to erect and own legation houses in China, Japan, Korea, and Siam, owing to the fact that it was not possible to rent suitable legation residences in those countries.

The practice of owning their own legations is observed by a number of the nations of the world. Legation houses are now owned in Washington by the following governments: Great Britain, Germany, Mexico,

Austria, Italy, Japan, China, and Korea, and the number is likely to be increased.

A curious incident of congressional legislation is connected with this subject. Yielding to the demand for some restraint upon the extensive ownership of lands in the West by foreign syndicates and corporations, an act was passed in 1887 restricting the ownership of real estate in the Territories to American citizens. It was not intended to have it apply to legation property in Washington, but its language operated to that end, and it became necessary to pass an act the following year so amending the law as not to apply to the ownership of legations in the District of Columbia.

CHAPTER V

DUTIES OF A DIPLOMAT TO HIS OWN GOVERNMENT

THE duties of a diplomatic representative may be divided into two general classifications: first, to his own government and its citizens; second, to the government of his residence and its people.

It is, as a matter of course, the duty of the envoy to keep his own government informed of the state and progress of all business intrusted to him by it, or which may arise in the regular course of affairs; but in addition to this, he is to keep it informed of all that occurs in the country of his residence affecting the government of the latter, its policy and spirit, whether it has relation to his own or other countries; and the general sentiment of the country, its commercial, industrial, and scientific development.

An envoy can hardly be too diligent in attention to these duties, but one occasionally oversteps the proper limits of desired information. A minister going to his post in South America, having never before been out of his own country, sent back to the Department of State a detailed account of his journey, in which he described in such florid language the beauties of the scenery and the experiences of foreign travel to him so novel, that when the dispatch appeared in the annual publication of the department it exposed exposed him to the

ridicule and criticism of the press. One of the ministers to a European court was so fascinated by the attentions of royalty that he furnished the secretary of state with a description of a state ball, of which the most conspicuous and important event was the honor conferred upon him and his country by his dancing with her majesty the queen. Its publication furnished the topic of a spirited discussion in the lower house of Congress, in which the usefulness of the diplomatic service was treated with irony and contempt.

The envoy, in assuming the duties of his office, receives from his predecessor the archives and property of the embassy or legation, of which a schedule is furnished him and for which he gives a receipt These comprise the record books and correspondence of his office, the cipher of the department, the legation seal, the gov ernment stationery and blanks, the library (consisting of the laws of the United States, diplomatic correspondence, text-books on international law, supreme court reports, and official and miscellaneous publications), and other property, such as office furniture, flags, shield, etc.

Explicit directions are given in the Printed Instructions of the Department of State respecting the record books and official correspondence, and the duties of the envoy concerning them, and it suffices to refer to that publication for details. A few technical terms may be mentioned. The official communications of the department to the envoy are styled "Instructions," and his communications to the department are termed "Dispatches." The communications sent by the envoy to the foreign office of the country to which he is accredited and its

communications to him are called "Notes." In the past these have been accustomed to be written in a somewhat stilted style with the use of the third person, but the practice of the secretaries of state in the use of the first person is less formal, and has modified to some extent the ancient usage. Of this method John Quincy Adams, when secretary of state, made the following comment in his diary: "There is one difference in the correspondence of all the foreign ministers here from that which is usual in Europe - they write letters instead of notes, in the first person instead of the third. The effect of this difference upon style is greater than any one not habituated to both modes would imagine. The third person, 'The undersigned,' is stiff, cold, formal, and dignified; it is negotiation in Court dress, bag wig, sword by side, chapeau de bras, white silk stockings, and patent shoe-buckles. Letters in the first person are negotiations in frock coat, pantaloons, halfboots, and a round hat.'

Among the duties of an American envoy is that of issuing passports to his countrymen. An American passport expires by limitation two years from its date of issue, and citizens traveling or residing abroad often require to have their passports renewed. The only officials in foreign lands authorized to do this are the heads of missions. The duty often presents perplexing questions as to citizenship. Americans residing abroad are required, in order to secure a passport, to make oath that they intend to return to the United States within a specified date, with the purpose of residing and

1 4 J. Q. Adams's Memoirs, 327.