position is still demanded for candidates for the
diplomatic service and the foreign office, and in addition to passing a
competitive examination, they must be nominated by someone of recognized
station prepared to vouch for their social qualifications. In America,
where no regular diplomatic service exists, all diplomatic agents are
nominated by the president.

The existence of an official diplomatic service, however, by no means
excludes the appointment of outsiders to diplomatic posts. It is, in
fact, one of the main grievances of the regular diplomatic body that the
great rewards of their profession, the embassies, are so often assigned
to politicians or others who have not passed through the drudgery of the
service. But though this practice has, doubtless, sometimes been abused,
it is impossible to criticize the wisdom of its occasional application.

A word may be added as to the part played by women in diplomacy. So far
as their unofficial influence upon it is concerned, it would be
impossible to exaggerate its importance; it would suffice to mention
three names taken at random from the annals of the 19th century, Madame
de Stael, Baroness von Krudener, and Princess Lieven. Gentz comments on
the "feminine intrigues" that darkened the counsels of the congresses of
Vienna and Aix-la-Chapelle, and from which the powers so happily escaped
in the bachelor seclusion of Troppau. Nor is it to be supposed that
statesmen will ever renounce a diplomatic weapon so easy of disguise and
so potent for use. A brilliant _salon_ presided over by a woman of charm
may be a most valuable centre of a political propaganda; and ladies are
still widely employed in the secret diplomacy of the powers. Their
employment as regularly accredited diplomatic agents, however, though
not unknown, has been extremely rare. An interesting instance is the
appointment of Catherine of Aragon, when princess of Wales, as
representative of her father, Ferdinand the Catholic, at the court of
Henry VII. (G. A. Bergenroth, _Calendar of State Papers ... England and
Spain--in the Archives at Simancas, &c._, i. pp. xxxiii, cxix).

LITERATURE.--Besides general works on international law (q.v.) which
necessarily deal with the subject of diplomacy, a vast mass of
treatises on diplomatic agents exists. The earliest printed work is
the _Tractatus de legato_ (Rome, 1485) of Gundissalvus (Gonsalvo de
Villadiego), professor of law at Salamanca, auditor for Spa