from
Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856)
CHARGE' DES AFFAIRES or CHARGE' D'AFFAIRES, international law. These
phrases, the first of which is used in the acts of congress, are synonymous.
2. The officer who bear; this title is a diplomatic representative or
minister of an inferior grade, to whose care are confided the affairs of his
nation. He has not the title of minister, and is generally introduced and
admitted through a verbal presentation of the minister, at his departure, or
through letters of credence addressed to the minister of state of the court
to which they are sent. He has the essential rights of a minister. Mart. Law
of Nat. 206; 1 Kent, Com. 39, n.; 4 Dall. 321.
3. The president is authorized to allow to any, charge des affaires a
sum not greater than at the rate of four thousand five hundred dollars per
annum, as a compensation for his personal services and expenses. Act of May
1, 1810, 2 Story's Laws U. S. 1171.