5261. MINISTERS (Foreign), Reception of.—[further continued] .
The Constitution has
made the Executive the organ for managing
our intercourse with foreign nations. It authorizes
him to appoint and receive ambassadors,
other public ministers, and consuls.
The term minister being applicable to other
agents as well as diplomatic, the constant practice
of the government, considered as a commentary,
established this broad meaning; and
the public interest approves it; because it would
be extravagant to employ a diplomatic minister
for a business which a mere rider would execute.
The Executive being thus charged with
the foreign intercourse, no law has undertaken
to prescribe its secific duties.—
To Albert Gallatin. Washington ed. iv, 529.
(1804)
