Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-04-01
The Treaty-Making Power.

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when the Spanish treaty was under
discussion last winter. we. condemned it
and al such treaties as an invasion Of
the province Of the House Of Repre-
sensstives by the President and the
senate, and said that the House OF
Representatives would never consent to
see itself shorn Of its powers as that
treaty proposed to shear il. We did
not know, however, that the House had
taken action on the subject until we
received . few days ago from Mr.
TUCKER . copy Of report made by
him on the Sd Of March as chairman of
the Judiciary Committee, to which the
subject had been referred in the follow
ing resolution
Rssoired, That the Judiciary Com
mistee be directed to report to the
House whether the President, by and
with the advice and consent Of the Sem
ate. can negotiate treaties with foreign
governments by which the duties levied
by Congress on impostations can be
changed or abrogated.
MIR. TUCKER answers this question
fully, exclusively, and conclusively.
He does not lea5e loop on which to
hang doubt. lie quotes from the
Consultation oil the sections, or para
graphs. or clauses defining the powers
Of the President and the Senate as the
treaty -makers, and also all defining the
powers of Congress, and shows. to the
satisfaction Of everybody who is not
wilfully blind, that the House of Re
representatives. must be consulted before
any treaty can go into effect which re-
guires the action of that body to carry
out it's stipulations. lie illustrates this
poiat very happily and convincingly by
saying that in many cases, as the law
yers say Of certain contracts, treaty
is eKecutory, and adding that while the
executory agreement is in the President
and the Senate, the power Of execution
is vested in Congressional is, in the
President and the two houses Of that
body.
DIR. TUCKER I've say, Mr.. TUCKER,
because the whole report is avowedly
his) asks:
Scan a treaty be made which shall
diyest the citizen of his constitutional
right to hoJeas corpus ? Can treaty
reduce q State to province, or so
amend the Constitution as to deny its
equal vote in the Senate. or subject it
10 a government not its own, or TO a
centralized government Of the Union"
These questions need no answer
They are answered when they are
asked. They show at once that the
treaty-making power is limited; andF
AZ Mr.. TUCKER says, the instant it is
admitted that the power has limitations
even as TO what is rightfully subject
10 it, the question at issue is narrowed
TO determining all these limits ON prin-
ciples Of justice and Of fair interpreta-
ton Of the Constitution.
Mr.'-TUcKER shows that there is no
thing in the argument. ifargumentit may
be called. that foreign nations know
nothing Of the constitutional distribu-
ton Of political powers, and that the
treaty. SO called, must in good faith be
held supreme, despite a lack Of what
the Constitution may seem to require
for its completeness. He holds that
other nations must be presumed to
know what our Constitution provides
an instrument which ought to serve
notice in these cases upon all the world,
Can State be admitted into the
Union by treaty. Texas was not SC
admitted. Congress has power to natu-
raiixe foreigners. Can a treaty dc
that.
The Spanish treaty was tariff bill
II assumed to fix the taxes in the shap,
az cuSfoms duties which our neanl.