WRIGHT— POWER TO AIAKE AGREEMENTS. 337 



175. The Appointment of Negotiators. 



Before 181 5, special missions, appointed by the President with 

 advice and consent of the Senate, were sent to conclude the most 

 important treaties, although a number of less important missions, 

 such as that of John Paul Jones to Algeria in 1792, were commis- 

 sioned by the President alone. Since 181 5 "treaties have, with few 

 exceptions, been negotiated through the Secretary of State, the regu- 

 lar diplomatic representatives and consular officers, or special agents, 

 empowered and commissioned to negotiate the treaty by the Pres- 

 ident without special confirmation for this purpose by the Senate." " 

 Commissioners to the Panama Congress of 1826, to negotiate the 

 treaty of Washington with Great Britain in 1871, and to negotiate 

 with China in 1880 appear to be the only special missions consented 

 to by the Senate since the war of 1812. Possibly the difficulty which 

 President Madison encountered in getting the Senate to consent to 

 the appointments of commissioners for concluding the treaty of 

 Ghent ending that war, accounts in part for this fact. Over four 

 hundred commissioners and agents have been authorized to nego- 

 tiate by the President alone, including the important missions ending 

 the Mexican, Spanish and World Wars, and the missions represent- 

 ing the United States at the two Hague, the Algeciras, the Versailles 

 and the limitation of armament conferences. The Senate objected 

 to this practice of negotiating through presidential agents in the case 

 of the Korean treaty of 1882, but in 1888 and in 1893 the Senate 

 Foreign Relations Committee recognized the legitimacy of the prac- 

 tice."" 



" The President of the United States," said Senator Sherman, Chairman 

 of the Committee in 1888, "has the power to propose treaties subject to 

 ratification by the Senate, and he may use such agencies as he chooses to 

 employ, except that he cannot take any money from the treasury to pay these 

 agents without an appropriation by law. He can use such instruments as he 

 pleases." 



176. The Negotiation and Signature of Treaties. 



Negotiation and signature have usually been under authority of 



the President alone. He has usually prepared the instructions and 



^8 Crandall, op. cit., p. 76. 



^•9 Cong. Rec, Aug. 7, 1888, p. 7285. See also iufra, sees. 239, 240. 



