New Britain herald., 1924-10-29

'AiX-la-Chapelle in 1918; and she sis one of the very few women ever to become an envoy of sovereign state. Catherine of Aragon is the most famous predecessor of Madame Kolontai, and she hardly deserves was Princess of Wales, her father
 Ferdinand the Catholic, named her his ambassador to the court of Henry VII. It was a hollow honor. largely to increase her prestige with , the English.
 Woman Minister Real Worker Madame KolIontai is considered 1 to have won her laurels by real work on behalf of her government while serving for the past two years as charge d'affaires in Norway. She successfully negotiated recognition
 of the soviet government by Nor way, settled the controversy between the two countries over Spitzhergen, and obtained an official Norwegian guarantee of soviet credit in pur- chasing huge supplies Of fish for Russia.
 The appointment Of Professor Smiddy is somewhat less precedent
 smashing. From the 18th century , until the beginning of the 18th the component states of the so-called Holy Roman Empire sent envoys to
 foreign courts. The situation was mot entirely parallel with that of the
 modern British Empire, however, for the Holy Roman Emperor was
 never represented by enyoys-on the
 theory that his dignity was too great. , The simultaneous existence now of l an ambassador from an over-statc
 and a minister from one Of it's com- . ponent parts, sets a true precedent. First Ambassadors Mere Messengers The growth Of the diplomatic corps as an institution has been slow Special envoys undoubtedly were sent from court to court of the earliest historic empires such as those of Egypt and BabyIonia. Later in Grecian, Roman and Byzantine ! days the practice Was fairly com mon. But in all such cases. as far as history discloses. the messengers were sent 10 transact specific busi. ness and returned as soon a possible to report the results of their mis- sion.
 Tn the west the republic of Non- , ice seems to have been the pioncsf 1 in the establishment Of embassies,
 In the 12th and 18th centuries tho terms of Venetian enyoys were linn tied to two or three months. Strict
 rules hedged them round. Any
 gifts received from courts visited must he turned over 10 the republic 'and written reports had 10 be filed lWith the senate. In the 18th cen , trrv the ambassa dorial term was ex- , tended 10 a maximum of two years i innd in the 18th century, to three years
 First Permanent Embassies In Italy
 The earliest record of the ap- FN'A'tAlIbA VI d IFSlutHL dmba SSa q or though probably this was not the 1 first ambassador so appointed-was
 in regard to the sending in 1455 of
 an envoy from the Duke of Milan to
 reside at Genoa. One of the first
 permanent embassies outside Italy
 was created in 1494 when Milan Isent a minister to take Up his resi- dence at the court of France. In the
 same year a Spanish ambassador
 went to reside in London. This is
 believed to he the oldest surviving diplomatic post in existence. By the second half of the 18th century resident embassies had become the
 normal means of intercourse be- tween important countries.
 l The term, Ambassador was given to the world by Venice where
 1t first appeared in the form. am