§ 409. The mission of an envoy, be he permanently or only temporarily appointed, terminates through his recall by the sending State. If this recall is not caused by unfriendly acts of the receiving State but by other circumstances, the envoy receives a Letter of Recall from the head, or, in case he is only a Chargé d'Affaires, from the Foreign Secretary of his home State, and he[762] hands this letter over to the head of the receiving State in a solemn audience, or in the case of a Chargé d'Affaires to the Foreign Secretary. In exchange for the Letter of Recall the envoy receives his passports and a so-called Lettre de récréance, a letter in which the head of the receiving State (or the Foreign Secretary) acknowledges the Letter of Recall. Although therewith his mission ends, he enjoys nevertheless all his privileges on his home journey.[763] A recall may be caused by the resignation of the envoy, by his transference to another post, and the like. It may, secondly, be caused by the outbreak of a conflict between the sending and the receiving State which leads to a rupture of diplomatic intercourse, and under these circumstances the sending State may order its envoy to ask for his passports and depart at once without handing in a Letter of Recall. And, thirdly, a recall may result from a request of the receiving State by reason of real or alleged misconduct of the envoy. Such request of recall[764] may lead to a rupture of diplomatic intercourse, if the receiving State insists upon the recall, although the sending State does not recognise the act of its envoy as misconduct.
[762] But sometimes his successor presents the letter recalling his predecessor to the head of the receiving State, or to the Foreign Secretary in the case of Chargés d'Affaires.
[763] See the interesting cases discussed by Moore, IV. § 666.
[764] Notable cases of request of recall of envoys are reported by Taylor, § 322; Hall, § 98**; Moore, IV. § 639.
Promotion to a higher Class.
§ 410. When an envoy remains at his post, but is promoted to a higher class—for instance, when a Chargé d'Affaires is created a Minister Resident or a Minister Plenipotentiary is created an Ambassador—his original mission technically ends, and he receives therefore a new Letter of Credence.
Delivery of Passports.
§ 411. A mission may terminate, further, through the delivery of his passports to an envoy by the receiving State. The reason for such dismissal of an envoy may be either gross misconduct on his part or a quarrel between the sending and the receiving State which leads to a rupture of diplomatic intercourse. Whenever such rupture takes place, diplomatic relations between the two States come to an end and all diplomatic privileges cease with the envoy's departing and crossing the frontier. If the archives of the legations are not removed, they must be put under seal by the departing envoy and confided to the protection[765] of some other foreign legation.
[765] As regards the case of Montagnini, see above, §§ [106] and [386].
Request for Passports.