WRIGHT— POSITION OF FOREIGN RELATIONS 123 



12, The President is the Representative Authority in the United 

 States. 



In the United States, the President, acting through the De- 

 partment of State, is this representative authority, 



" The president," said John Marshall while in Congress, " is the sole 

 organ of the nation in its external relations, and its sole representative with 

 foreign nations. Of consequence, the demand of a foreign nation can only 

 be made of him." ^^ 



" The Executive," reported the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 

 1897, " is the sole mouthpiece of the nation in communication with foreign 

 sovereignties." ^^ 



The same has been reiterated by courts,^^ by commentators,^" 



by Congress^^ and by the President himself in official communica- 



Hamilton said of the Confederation, " The treaties of the United States, 

 under the present constitution, are liable to the infractions of thirteen dif- 

 ferent legislatures, and as many different courts of final jurisdiction, acting 

 under the authority of those legislatures. ... Is it possible that foreign na- 

 tions can either respect or confide in such a government?" (Federalist, 

 No. 22, Ford ed., p. 141.) See also remarks of James Wilson and Madison 

 in the Federal Convention of 1787, Farrand, Records of the Federal Con- 

 vention of 1787, 1 : 426, 513. Even after the Constitution was in efifect the 

 apparent irresponsibility of the President for acts committed within the 

 states violative of international rights of foreigners caused Italy to with- 

 draw its minister. (Moore, Digest, 6: 837-841.) Practice seems to show 

 that states must maintain a stable government with a single definite repre- 

 sentative organ under penalty of international ostracism. 



17 Benton, Abridgment of Debates of Congress, 2 : 466. 



1854th Cong., 2d Sess., Sen. Doc, No. 56, p. 21. 



1^ " As the Executive head of the nation, the President is made the only 

 legitimate organ of the General Government, to open and carry on cor- 

 respondence or negotiations with foreign nations, in matters concerning the 

 interests of the country or of its citizens." Nelson, J., in Durand t'. HoUins, 

 4 Blatch, 451, 454. 



20 " Official communications involving international relations and general 

 international negotiations are within the exclusive province of the Depart- 

 ment of State, at the head of which stands the Secretary of State." (Wil- 

 son and Tucker, op. cit., p. 187.) "A foreign minister here is to correspond 

 with the Secretary of State on matters which interest his nation, and 

 ought not to be permitted to resort to the press. He has no authority to 

 communicate his sentiments to the people by publications, either in manu- 

 script or in print, and any attempt to do so is contempt of this Government. 

 His intercourse is to be with the executive of the United States only, upon 

 matters that concern his mission or trust'." (Lee, Attorney General, i Op. 

 74. 1797, Moore, Digest, 4: 682.) See also supra, notes 17, 18. 



-1 " In 1874, Congress declared that claims of aliens cannot properly be 

 examined by a committee of Congress, there being a Department of this 



