Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1816-02-06
then TO burst without consequence or no

That this postulate is utterly lrreConcil-
able with the CLAIMS and port with which
this convention comes before you, it is im-
possible to deny. Look at it Has it the
air OF shape of q mere pledge that the
President will recommend to Congress the
passage OF such laws as VIII produce the
effect at which it ains9 Does it profess to
be preliminary, or provisional. or lnchoate,
or TO rely upon your ;nstrum entality in the
contamination of it, or to take any notice
otyou, however distant, as actual or even
tnai parties to iii Not pretends upon
the face ct it, and in the solemnitiss with
which 1t has been accompanied and follow
ed, to be pact with foreign state, COM
plete and ssif-efiicient, from the obligation
OF VIII CHI this government cannot now es-
cape, and to the perfection of which 10
more is necessary than has already been
done. Il contains The clause which is found
In the treaty OF 1894. and substantially in
every other treaty made by the u. States
under the present constitution, so as to be-
come formula, that, when ratified by the
President of the Z nited States, by and with
the advice and consent of the Senate, and
oy ms b1tannic majesty, and the respect
I'VE rathcations mutually exchanged, it
shall be binding and obligatory on the said
states and his majesty.
1t has been ratified in conformity with
that clause. Its notifications have been ex-
changed in the established and stipulated
mode. 1t has been proclaimed, as other
treaties have been proclaimed, by the ex-
ecutive government, as an integral portion
OF the law of the land, and our citizens at
home and abroad have been admonished to
keep and observe it accordingly. It has
been sent to the other contracting party
with the last stamp Of the national faith
upon it, after the manner of former trea-
ties with the same power, and viii have
been received and acted upon by that par
ty as a concluded contract, long before
your lettering legislation can oyertake it
protest, sir, l am somewhat at loss to
understand what this convention has been
since its Publications were exchanged, and
what 1t is now, if our bill be sound in its
principle. Has it not been, and is it not, an
unintelhgble, unbaptized and unbaptizabie
thing, without attributes OF any kind, bear
ing the semblahce of an executed COM
pact, but in reality hollow fiction
thing which 30 man is held to consider e.
ven as the germ of q treaty, entitled to be
cherished in the vineyard of the CONSTITUTE.
on; a thing which protesting to have done
every thing that public honor demands, has
done nothing but practise deusione You
may ransack every diplomatic nomencla-
ture, and run through every vocabulary,
whether of diplomacy or law, and you
shall not find word by which YOU may
distinguish, if our bill be correct in its
hypothesis, this deel without a name.''-
a plain man who is not used to manage
his phrases, may therefore, pressure to
say that if this convention with England be
not valid treaty, which does not stand
IN need OF your assistance, it is AN usurp-
alton on the part Of those who have I'M
dertaken to make it that if it be not an
act within the treatv-making capacity.
confided to the President and Senate, it is
an encrOachment on the legislative rights
Of Congress.
| am one of those who view the bill
upon the table, as declaring that it is not
within that capacity, as looking down upon
the convention as the still-boI progeny
OF arrogated power, as Offering to it the
paternity of Congress, and affecting by
that paternity to give to it life & strength
and as l think that the convention does
not stand in need of any such filiatlon, to
make 1T either strong or legitimate, that it
is already all that it can become, and that
useless legislation upon such subj ct is
vicious legislation, l shall vote against the
bill. The correctness of these opinions is
what propose to Establish.
lay it down as an incontrovertible
truth, that the constitution has assumed
(and indeed how could it do otherwise?)
that the government of the United States
might and would have occasion, Ike the
other governments of the civilized world.
to enter into treaties with foreign powers.
upon the various subjects involved in their
mutual relations; and further, that it
might be, and was proper to designate
tie department of the government in
which the capacity TO make such treati,s
should be lodged. II has said accordingly.
that the President, with the concurrence
of the Senate, shall possess this portion OF
the national sovereignty. 1t has, further
more. gwen to the same magistrate, with
the same concurrence, thelexclusivs Gre
alton and control Of the whole machinery
OF diplomacy. He only, with the appro-
baton OF the Senate, can appoint nego-
tiator, or take any step towards negotia-
tio1. The constitution does not, in any
part of it, even intimate that any other de-
Pariment shall possess either a constant
or an occasional right to interpose in the
preparation of any treaty, or in the final
perfection oft The Pre- sdcnt and Senate
are explicitly pointed out as the sole &c
tors in that sert of transaction. The pre-
scribed concurrence of the Senate, and
that too by a majority greater than the Or
binary legislative majority, plainly ex-
cludes the necessity Of Congressional con-
cutrence. IL the consent Of Congress to
any treaty had been intended, the cOnsti IA
ton would not have been guilty Of the alb
cuvaifv Of fret r,u4tfpc- a frcot,, r., 49,. L