Position of Presidents in general.
§ 355. Consequently, his position at home and abroad cannot be compared with that of monarchs, and International Law does not empower his home State to claim for him the same, but only similar, consideration as that due to a monarch. Neither at home nor abroad, therefore, does a president of a republic appear as a peer of monarchs. Whereas all monarchs are in the style of the Court phraseology considered as though they were members of the same family, and therefore address each other in letters as "my brother," a president of a republic is usually addressed in letters from monarchs as "my friend." His home State can certainly at home and abroad claim such honours for him as are due to its dignity, but no such honours as must be granted to a Sovereign monarch.
Position of Presidents abroad.
§ 356. As to the position of a president when abroad, writers on the Law of Nations do not agree. Some[710] maintain that, since a president is not a Sovereign, his home State can never claim for him the same privileges as for a monarch, and especially that of exterritoriality. Others[711] make a distinction whether a president is staying abroad in his official capacity as head of a State or for his private purposes, and they maintain that his home State could only in the first case claim exterritoriality for him. Others[712] again will not admit any difference in the position of a president abroad from that of a monarch abroad. How the States themselves think as regards the question of the exterritoriality of presidents of republics abroad cannot be ascertained, since to my knowledge no case has hitherto occurred in practice from which a conclusion may be drawn. But practice seems to have settled the question of ceremonial honours due to a president officially abroad; they are such as correspond to the rank of his home State, and not such as are due to a monarch. As regards exterritoriality, I believe that future contingencies will create the practice on the part of the States of granting this privilege to presidents and members of their suite as in the case of monarchs. I cannot see that there is any danger in such a grant. And nobody can deny that, if exterritoriality is not granted, all kinds of friction and even conflicts might arise. Although not Sovereigns, presidents of republics fill for the time being a sublime office, and the grant of exterritoriality to them is a tribute paid to the dignity of the States they represent.
[710] Ullmann, § 42; Rivier, I. p. 423; Stoerk in Holtzendorff, II. p. 658.
[711] Martens, I. § 80; Bluntschli, § 134; Despagnet, No. 254; Hall, § 97.
[712] Bonfils, No. 632; Nys, II. p. 287; Mérignhac, II. p. 298; Liszt, § 13; Walther, op. cit., p. 195.
IV FOREIGN OFFICES
Heffter, § 201—Geffcken in Holtzendorff, III. p. 668—Ullmann, § 43—Rivier, I. § 34—Bonfils, Nos. 648-651—Nys, II. pp. 330-334.
Position of the Secretary for Foreign Affairs.