Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1877-11-28
Ambassadors.

1t may be doubted whether smbassa-
dors among the Greeks and Romans
commanded tine confidence of their
countrymen TO the same amount they
enjoyed the respect OF foreigners
Embassies appear TO have been formed
of numerous members. Demo>taenes
when he was sent to treat with Philip
of Macedon, had several colleagues.
Mention is made in history of embassies
entertained in Athens at the public ex
pense as composed OF members more OF
less numerous. Livy and Cicero use
the plural number in making mention
of legates. whether received or sent out
by Rome. When the Jews sent an
embassy to Augustus Caesar, it was
composed of at least more than one
legate. Virgil describes Eneas as
sending LOG ENJOYS (centam orat1res) in
one company to some neighboring
court of Italy. AS each of them carried
a branch of olive in his hand, their
appearance in a body must have been
that of shrubbery, not much inferior
TO the moving wood in Shakespeare's
" Macbeth" We must presume that
the charge undertaken in common was
explained by only one of she orators at
a time. Had it been otherwise the roar
of the Pope's hundred oxen might well
have been preferred by the royal lis
tener. According to modern usage the
lowest rank of diplomatic agency is as
much protected as the first. Besides
their difference in point OF dignity and
display, an important privilege is still,
as for some time back, attached to the
title of Ambassador, and attached to it
exclusively. | mean the personal
representation of his sovereign. An
agent so quslified is understood in
monarchial States to be on equal terms
with the King or Emperor to whom he
is accredited, and therefore at liberty
to appeal by word of mouth from the
administration of a country TO their
master, An envoy is presented 20 the
sovereign, but the transaction OF
diplomatic business lies between him
and the Minister alone. A Charge
d'Affaires has no recognized claim to
approach the throne except by favor.
These distinctions are at present kept
practically in view less than formerly
and those who write in the public
journals appear in general to ignore
them altogether. but it remains TO be
shown that they havenotbeen at any time
submitted by competent authority TO Il
new form of regulation. There il a
tone of grandeur in its sound which
makes the term ambassador" natur-
al object of curiosity as to its origin and
derivation. lfthe Spaniards had claim
ed it as of their invention, tine likelihood
would have been greatly on their side.
GrandilOquelce is one of their national
attributes, and their substitution of an
(, pronounced gutturally, for the
double :, in the French and English
forms of the word. augments its effect
on the ear. But this conjecture is not
borne out by the opinion of inquirers.
The languages of Greece and Rome have
been rummaged in vain for some root
from which the title may have sprung.
rhe photographers have been reduced
to the necessity of making guesses
which DO more honor to their ingenuity
than to their judgment. Bnt 10 pursue
the inquiry further would be a mere
waste of time. 1t is enough to know
that we have the word, and are not
ignorant of its meaning, The time and
place of its adoption, and whether il
preceded or followed that of its correl-
alive, embassy" are questions which
may be lett without reproach TO the
hunters of literary utterflies.-Nine.
teenth Cen turn.