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Any orders issued, at whatever level and in whatever form, by a diplomat\'s head office at home. It is common for a diplomat in talking to an interlocutor of the receiving state to stress that he or she is acting or speaking either ‘on instructions’ or ‘personally’, i.e. not ‘on instructions’. In the last event, the diplomat may have to return later and say either that what he or she did or said had been confirmed from home or else that a different view had been taken and that he or she can now act or speak ‘on instructions’.
A stylized letter to one of his diplomats from a head of state (or secretary with responsibility for foreign affairs), the core component of which was a list of the aims to be pursued at his post. Sometimes described as containing ‘general instructions’, this was handed to him, along with his letters of credence, prior to his departure. Essentially a feature of the pre-telegraphic era, instructions in this form, even when very detailed, invariably permitted the diplomat a fair degree of discretion in pursuing the directives which they contained since ‘fresh instructions’ could take weeks and, at distant posts, even months to obtain. A British diplomat\'s instructions also reminded him to maintain good relations with the other members of the diplomatic corps, maintain a correspondence with British diplomats at other posts, and send regular reports home. On the assumption that it might be expedient on occasion to reveal his instructions at the court to which he was accredited, a diplomat was sometimes issued with a second, secret set of instructions designed for his more precise guidance. Instructions were generally more detailed when the diplomat being despatched was charged with an important negotiation at his post, which is why they continued to be given to delegates to congresses and conferences for long after they had generally become obsolete, at least in their traditional form, for resident ambassadors. It is still certainly not unknown for ambassadors and high commissioners to be given written guidance before departing on a mission, though this may now be styled a ‘directive’ or ‘letter of appointment’. See also sponsion. |
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