Evening star., 1944-01-23
Continued From Page C-1)

government refused to accept it and the
pact was abandoned The attack on
this treaty, Prof Colegrove recounts,
was nothing less than plot to discredit
John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State
under Monroe and a candidate for the
presidency.
In 1874, the treaty for the annexation
of Texas, negotiated by John c. CAL
houn as Secretary Of State, became a
football of politics and was defeated by
vote of l6 ayes to IS noes After the
presidential election of 1874, President
John Tyler deliberately circumvented
the Senate by proposing that Texas be
annexed by joint resolution of the two
houses of Congress. The resolution, re-
quiring only majority, was adopted in
the House by 1872 to rs and in the Senate
by q to 25.
Without similar action, the Hawaiian
Islands could not have been annexed
when they were. Neither of two treaties
of annexation submitted by President
Mckinley could command the necessary
tWo-thirds majority in the Senate; the
Democrats opposed them on partisan
grounds and were joined by a few isola-
ZIONIST Republicans. Finally the Texas
example of 1874 was followed and
joint resolution annexing the islands
was put through the House and the
Senate.
"The able diplomat, John Foster"
writes Prof. Colegrove, bears witness to
the fact that, although Republican
leaders regarded the expedient of a joint
resolution for the annexation of Hawaii
as a violation of the Constitution and
the creation of bad precedent, they
were nevertheless willing to set aside the
fundamental law on the ground of ma
tlonal eXpediency. 1t is well to ponder
the moral justification of this policy
while one speculates on the dire conse-
quences of a strict observance of the
Constitution. What if Texas had not
been annexed? What if the campaign
to acquire Hawaii had collapsed?"
The unhappy experience of John Hay
with the Senate led him to call the two
thirds rule 'the irreparable mistake of
the Constitution" Some of his finest
diplomatic achievements as Secretary of
State-first under Mckinley, then under
Theodore RooSevelt-were nullified. A
series Of arbitration treaties met with
such hostility in the Senate that Roose-
velt finally withdrew them, observing
that "the individual Senators evidently
consider the prerogative of the Senate
as far more important than the welfare
OF the country" In 1912, the Senate
emasculated the arbitration treaties
negotiated by President Taft and his
Secretary of State, Philander C. Knox.
1t killed the Versailles treaty despite
a majority in its favor of 49 to IS, the
1927 commercial treaty with Turkey de-
spite majority of so to "a, the 1884
st. Lawrence waterway treaty with
Canada despite majority of 46 to AZ,
the 1885 proposal to join the World
Court despite majority of So to 36.
"The defeat of the Covenent of the
League of Nations versailles treaty) in
the United States Senate" Prof. Cole
grove writes, "is one of the most spec
tacular episodes in the diplomatic his
tory of this country. Henry Cabot
Lodge fulfilled his boast. He multilated
the treaty with such devastating reser-
vations that the supporters of the ad-
ministration could not accept the mutt
lated convention. Even so, a majority
of the Senate supported the treaty with
reservations. On the final test the
treaty lacked only seven votes of two
thirds majority. Under the two-thirds
rule, minority of bitter partisans and
personal enemies of the President were
able to sabotage the peace system which
America had persuaded Europe and
Asia to accept"
Clings to PrerOgatives.
There is now In effect an informal
arrangement between the State Depart
ment and the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee whereby the necessary legis-
lation for the United Nations Relief and
Rehabilitation Administration will be
passed by a joint resolution of the two
houses Of Congress. Presumably, the
same procedure will be used to validate
other interim agreements which the
United States may make, by executive
action, with its fellow members of the
United Nations But the understanding
between the Senate committee and Sec
retary Hull extends only to interim
agreements; it does not connote any
surrender of the senatorial prerogative
to pass upon the final peace treaties in
the manner prescribed by the Constitu-
ton
Prof. Colegrove views the prospect
with extreme pessimism. He sees pre-
cious time consumed in protracted COM
mittee hearings 'in the same manner
that the opponents Of the lease-lend
bill, In January through March, 1e41.