The diplomatic papers, as distinct from the state papers to which more than one state becomes a party, are simply papers issued by a state for the guidance of its own representatives in international intercourse. The papers are sometimes named state papers or included among the papers to which other states are parties,--in the United States, in the series known as "Diplomatic Correspondence, 1861-1868," and "Foreign Relations" since 1870; and in Great Britain in the "British and Foreign State Papers."
These papers, showing the opinions of various states from time to time upon certain subjects which may not come up for formal state action, afford a valuable source of information upon the attitude of states toward questions still formally unsettled. The simple expression to state agents in the way of instructions or information as to the position of the state on a given matter may, if continued and long accepted, give to the principle involved the force of international sanction. This was almost the case in the so-called Monroe Doctrine. In these papers may often be found an indication of the line which the principles of international law will subsequently follow and a general consensus by several states in diplomatic instructions may be considered strong evidence of what the law is on a given point.
19. +Definition.+ (_a_) Political. (_b_) Sovereign.
20. +Nature.+ (_a_) Moral. (_b_) Physical. (_c_) Communal. (_d_) External conditions.
21. +Recognition of New States.+ (_a_) _De facto_ existence. (_b_) Circumstances of recognition. (1) By division. (2) By union. (3) By admission of old states. (4) By admission of former barbarous communities. (5) Individual and collective recognition. (_c_) Act of recognition. (_d_) Premature recognition. (_e_) Conditions. (_f_) Recognition irrevocable. (_g_) Consequences. (1) The recognizing state. (2) The recognized state. (3) The parent state. (4) Other states.
A State is a sovereign political unity. It is of the relations of states that public international law mainly treats. From the nature of its subject-matter it is a juridical, historical, and philosophical science.[51] These sovereign political unities may vary greatly. The unity however