led to a certain confusion in the ceremonial relation between them,
which had been unknown to the comparatively clearly defined system of
the middle ages. The smaller states were eager to assert the dignity of
their actual or practical independence; the greater powers were equally
bent on "keeping them in their place." If the emperor, as has been
stated above, was too exalted to send ambassadors, certain of the lesser
states were soon esteemed too humble to be represented at the courts of
the great powers save by agents of an inferior rank. By the second half
of the 16th century, then, there are two classes of diplomatists,
ambassadors and residents or agents, the latter being accounted
ambassadors of the second class.[19] At first the difference of rank was
determined by the status of the sovereign by whom or to whom the
diplomatic agent was accredited; but early in the 16th century it became
fairly common for powers of the first rank to send agents of the second
class to represent them at courts of an equal status. The reasons were
various, and not unamusing. First and foremost came the question of
expense. The ambassador, as representing the person of his sovereign,
was bound by the sentiment of the age to display an exaggerated
magnificence. His journeys were like royal progresses, his state entries
surrounded with every circumstance of pomp, and it was held to be his
duty to advertise the munificence of his prince by boundless largesses.
Had this munificence been as unlimited in fact as in theory, all might
have been well, but, in that age of vaulting ambitions, depleted
exchequers were the rule rather than the exception in Europe; the
records are full of pitiful appeals from ambassadors for arrears of pay,
and appointment to an embassy often meant ruin, even to a man of
substance. To give but one example, Sir Richard Morison, Edward VI.'s
ambassador in Germany, had to borrow money to pay his debts before he
could leave Augsburg (_Cal. State Pap. Edw. VI._, No. 467), and later on
he writes from Hamburg (April 9, 1552) that he could buy nothing,
because everyone believed that he had packed up in readiness to flit
secretly, for "How must they buy things, where men know their stuff is
ready trussed up, and they fleeting every day?" (ib. No. 544). But the
dignity of ambassador carried another drawback besides expense; his
function of "honourable spy" was seriously hampered by the trammels of
his position. He was unable