The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-01-31
He first duty of an envoy. who goes

he nrSt duty OF an envoy, who goes
abroad on diplomatic mission, i:
TO secure an audience of the sover-
eign or head of the State to which he is
! accredited. The American envoy bears
with him what is termed letter OF
credence, signed by the President and
addressed to the ruler of the nation, and
this letter it is his duty to place in the
hands of the ruler, and the ceremony is
attended with more or less of formally
and ceremony.
We find that this matter of audience
very early engaged the attention OF the
founders of our Government. When, in
1US, the first Minister Plenipotentiary,
, the Minister from France, was about 20
arrive, the Continental Congress, i'm
J pressed with the gravity of the occasion,
/ appointed committee composed of its
most able and distinguished members,
who brought in an elaborate report,
which was discussed by Congress for five
days. The proceedings cover many pages
of the Secret Journals of that body, and
show that the matter was arranged with
uncommon care AS there was at that
time no executive head of the Confeder-
alton, the Minister was received in pub
lie audience by Congress in full session.
The reading of the description of the
ceremony, as lalQ down IN great ueldli
In the official Journal, creates smile in
this day of greater simplicity.
The envoy, on arriving at his post ar
ranges for his audience of the sovereign
through the Minister for Foreign At
fairs. When the time for his reception Is
determined he is waited upon, in Euro
4 pean capitals, by the Grand Master of
Ceremonies, to explain the formalities to
be observed, and on the appointed day he
calls at the hotel or residence of the en-
yoy with one or more State carriages to
conduct him and his suite to the palace.
If the envoy has the rank of Ambassa-
dor he is usually escorted by detach-
J ment of cavalry, and the carriage which
takes him is drawn by six horses This
latter distinction is among the last re-
minders of the great displays formerly
made at Court in honor of Ambassadors.
Nest of these have fallen into disuse
with the increasing demand of the pres
ent age for greater simplicity, but sever
al of the Courts of Europe stin cling to
the six-horse ambassadorfal coach. In
the accounts of the great Congress of
Westphalia and other conferences of two
centuries and more ago, we read of the
J number of coaches-and-six which were a
part of the paraphernalia of the respect
i've Ambassadors; the Plenipotentiaries
of the King of France explaining the de-
] lay in their arrival by the necessity of
stopping en- route to secure the proper
number of suitable horses for their cav
aicade of entrance
The ceremony at
THE ELABORATE the reception of an
CEREMONIAL envoy is regulated
AT MADRID. in each country by
it's Government and
there is no uniformity of custom. For
instance, in Madrid, where ancient usage
still fingers, the introducer of Ambassa-
dcrs escorts the envoy with his suite, to
the palace, with State carriages and a
: troop Of cavalry; he leads them up the
Grand Stairway, lined with halberdiers,
into the Throne Room, where is the Sow
lereign surrounded by the Cabinet and
Royal Household officials in full uniform
When the doors of the Throne Room are
thrown open the envoy makes bow
then advances half way to the Royal cir
Gle, halts and bows again, then APP
lpIoaches near to the Sovereign, stops,
bows a third time and proceeds with his
address When that is concluded the en-
tyoy delivers the letter of credence of the
President into the hands of the Sover-
leigh, who hands IT, without breaking the
seal, to the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
and the Sovereign reads the address in
reply. After a few minutes of informal
conversation, the audience closes with the
Withdrawal of the envoy and suite, al
ways with their faces to the Royal cir
'Icle, and return down the Grand Stair
way to the coaches and thence through
the Streets accompanied by the Intro
y
TROOP. In the great empire of Russia, on
the other hand, the ceremony is much
more simple. The envoy usually goes to
the palace alone, is met there by the
Grand Master of Ceremonies and by
him accompanied to the Emperor, who re-
sceives him In his room where the envoy
lis left alone with His Majesty.
No addresses are made but after few
words the Emperor asks him to be seat
ed, when short informal conversation
oil fc he
case, the Emperor is absent from the
lcapital at one of his country palaces, the
envoy is accompanied by the Grand Mas
! ter of Ceremonies, in an Imperial rail-
way carriage, and Is lodged and enter
tanned in the palace.
In the United States
RECEPTION OF the foreign envoy
ENJOYS AT THE goes in his own car.
WHITE HOUSE. riage with his suite
to the Department
of State, whence he is accompanied by
the Secretary Of State, without display
to the Executive Mansion and into the
Blue Room, where he is left while the
Secretary of State goes to notify the
; President of his arrival. The latter en-
tiers with the Secretary, the envoy is in
trcduced and at once proceeds to read his
address, which is replied to by the Presi-
dent The letter of credence is received
by the President and handed to the Sec
rotary of State, and after brief infor-
J NAL conversation the reception ENDS.
! The ceremony of the Spanish Court
above described, is that most nearly OBJ
served at foreign capitals, and Is usually
highly appreciated by diplomats. The
comment of John Quincy Adams after
passing through one of these ceremonie:
Is as follows: 1.-THE formalities of these
q Court presentations are SO trifiing and
insignificant in themselves, and so i'm
portant in the eyes of princes and cour-
tiers. that they are much more enbar-
RAISING to the American than business Of
real Importance 1t is not safe or pru-
= dent to despise them, nor practicable fol
person of rational understanding &c
value them"
1t is related of the blunt old Republi.
can, Hannibal Hamlin, who at an ad.
Ivanced age was sent as Minister to Mad
rid that he stood in great awe of the
. ceremony of audience, and went through
, the rehearsal Of it several times with the
:. Secretary OF Legation but he passed the
- ordeal so clumsily that he cherished Z
:, great contempt for the performance.
John Adams was tn.
THE COMPLAINT first American Min
OF THE FRUGAL lister received at tn.
MR.. ADAMS. Court OF Great Brit