§ 412. Without being recalled, an envoy may on his own account ask for his passports and depart in consequence of ill-treatment by the receiving State. This may or may not lead to a rupture of diplomatic intercourse.
Outbreak of War.
§ 413. When war breaks out between the sending and the receiving State before their envoys accredited to each other are recalled, their mission nevertheless comes to an end. They receive their passports, but nevertheless they must be granted their privileges[766] on their way home.
[766] See below, [vol. II. § 98].
Constitutional Changes.
§ 414. If the head of the sending or receiving State is a Sovereign, his death or abdication terminates the missions sent and received by him, and all envoys remaining at their posts must receive new Letters of Credence. But if they receive new Letters of Credence, no change in seniority is considered to have taken place from the order in force before the change. And during the time between the termination of the missions and the arrival of new Letters of Credence they enjoy nevertheless all the privileges of diplomatic envoys.
As regards the influence of constitutional changes in the headship of republics on the missions sent or received, no certain rule exists.[767] Everything depends, therefore, upon the merits of the special case.
[767] Writers on International Law differ concerning this point. See, for instance, Ullmann, § 53, in contradistinction to Rivier, I. p. 517.
Revolutionary Changes of Government.
§ 415. A revolutionary movement in the sending or receiving State which creates a new government, changing, for example, a republic into a monarchy or a monarchy into a republic, or deposing a Sovereign and enthroning another, terminates the missions. All envoys remaining at their posts must receive new Letters of Credence, but no change in seniority takes place if they receive them. It happens that in cases of revolutionary changes of government foreign States for some time neither send new Letters of Credence to their envoys nor recall them, watching the course of events in the meantime and waiting for more proof of a real settlement. In such cases the envoys are, according to an international usage, granted all privileges of diplomatic envoys, although in strict law they have ceased to be such. In cases of recall subsequent to revolutionary changes, the protection of subjects of the recalling States remains in the hands of their consuls, since the consular office[768] does not come to an end through constitutional or revolutionary changes in the headship of a State.