AND UTTERANCES OF NATIONAL ORGANS. 145 



27. Reservations Expressly Consented to. 



Though the United States can not be reproached with violation 

 of international law if it refuses to ratify or qualifies its ratification 

 of a treaty signed by authority of the President alone, yet a qualified 

 ratification is of no effect unless consented to by both signatories. 

 How may this consent be evidenced? Express consent to reserva- 

 tions by statement in the act of ratification or by exchange of notes 

 would of course by sufficient,^^ as would acceptance without objec- 



-' The Senate advised ratification of the treaty with France of Feb. 3, 

 1801, provided a new^ article be substituted for article II. Bonaparte ratified 

 with this modification but added a new proviso. Ratifications were ex- 

 changed at Paris, but before proclamation President Jefferson resubmitted 

 the treaty to the Senate which accepted Bonaparte's proviso. Malloy, 

 Treaties, etc., p. 505. Hayden, op. cit., p. 124. After consenting to rati- 

 fication of the General Act for the suppression of the African Slave Trade 

 (1890), the Senate " Resolved further, That the Senate advise and consent 

 to the acceptance of the partial ratification of the said General Act on the 

 part of the French Republic, and to the stipulations relative thereto, as set 

 forth in the protocol signed at Brussels, January 2, 1892." It then made a 

 reservation on its own behalf. The protocol of deposit of ratifications of 

 Feb. 2, 1892, provided for in Article 99 of the treaty, recites the Senate's 

 resolution and states : " This resolution of the Senate of the United States 

 having been preparatively and textually conveyed by the Government of 

 His Majesty the King of the Belgians to the knowledge of all the signatory 

 powers of the General Act, the latter have given their assent to its insertion 

 in the present Protocol which will remain annexed to the Protocol of 

 January 2d, 1892." Malloy, Treaties, etc., p. 1992. In the treaty of 191 1, 

 Japan gave express assent to an " understanding " and tacit assent to an 

 " amendment." The proclamation of President Taft reads : " And whereas, 

 the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States to the ratification 

 of the said Treaty was given with the understanding ' that the treaty shall 

 not be deemed to repeal or affect' any of the provisions of the Act of 

 Congress entitled " An Act to regulate the Immigration of Aliens into the 

 United States," approved February 20th, 1907 ; ' 



" And whereas, the said Treaty, as amended by the Senate of the 

 United States, has been duly ratified on both parts, and the ratifications of 

 the two Governments were exchanged in the City of Tokyo, on the fourth day 

 of April, one thousand nine hundred and eleven ; 



" Now, therefore, be it known that I, William Howard Taft, President 

 of the United States of America, have caused the said Treaty, as amended 

 and the said understanding to be made public, to the end that the same and 

 every article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good 

 faith by the United States and the citizens thereof. In testimony whereof, 

 etc." Charles, Treaties, etc., p. 82. An interpretation proposed by the 

 Senate to the treaty of 1868 with the North German Confederation was duly 



