The sun., 1919-06-08

ing, Al the END OF his second term as
Senator of the United States from Utah,
IN 1917, he had become known as one Of
the ablest lawyers il the Senate-and
this, too, at time when there were not
lew able lawyers among his associates.
his learning and distinction were appro-
priately recognized by the bestowsl of the
degree Of doctor of laws upon him by
Columbia University in 1913, and no one
more competent could have been selected
by that institution to deliver the lectures
on the George Blumenthal Foundation,
(which have just been published by the Co
lumbia University Press under the title Of
Constitutional Porer and World Afairs.
In view Of the prospective establishment
Of some sort of League eff Nations upon
the formal conclusion of peace -~ith Ger
many, the topic is a most timely one;
for every patriotic and well informed
American citizen is or ought to be inter-
ested in the inquiry how far the acts and
engagements of the United States toward
and with other lands and nations are con-
trolled and regulated by our own funda-
mental law; that is, the Federal Constitu-
tion. On this subject former Senator
Sutherland entertains clear and positive
opinions. !
The several States of the American
Union, as such, have no power in respect
to foreign affairs. "In the distribution Of
: power" under the Federal Constitution,
"the general Government was not only
made the depository of all authority over
external matters, but express prohibitions
against the exercise of any such authority
by the several States were inserted In the
Constitution as we'll" The foreign rela-
= lions of this country concern it as a whole
and therefore can be dealt with only by
the Government which can act for the
States as a united whole. The Tenth
Amendment to the Federal Constitution
declares that the powers not delegated to
the United States by the Constitution
or prohibited by it to the States are re-
served to the States respectively or to the
people This declaration can apply only
to powers of internal sovereignty; for the
powers of external sovereignty "were
never possessed by the States or the peo-
pie of the States separately, and hence
could not have been delegated, since the
States or the people Of the States could
not delegate something they did not have"
The success of the American Revolution
vested the newly formed American ma
ton with the control of the foreign af-
fairs of the United American colonies, and
when the Constitution was framed "the
undivided powers Of external sovereignty
were in the Union, which antedated the
Constitution and was made more perfect
by it." On the basis Of these propositions
Mr.. Sutherland formulates the following
rule of construction:
"Where the powers claimed for the gen
eral Government are to be subtracted
from the mass Of original State powers
that is, where they relate to domestic and
internal affairs, the claim must be JUST
fed by the express grants of the Consti-
tuition, or by the implications arising
therefrom; but where the powers claimed
are among those originally acquired and
always held exclusively by the nation
that is, where they relate to external af-
fairs, the claim is justified unless the
powers are prohibited by the Constitu-
tion or unless contrary to the fundamental
principles upon which it was established"
Under this rule of construction the
Government of the United States pos
sesses all powers Of external sovereignty
which are not negatived by the Federal
Constitution. In other words, it may law
fully exercise all the attributes of ma
tionality in foreign affairs. Unless this
view is correct it is difficult to understand
how the Supreme Court of the United
States upheld the power of the general
Government to acquire the Guano Islands