WRIGHT— POWER TO AIAKE AGREEMENTS. 339 



has been abandoned, so far as concerns the President coming in person to 

 sit in a chair on the right of the presiding officer to confer with members of 

 the Senate, as our rules still provide he shall do should he come here per- 

 sonally, showing we recognize the propriety of his coming and his right to 

 come.'^^ But nevertheless during my official term it has been the practice of 

 Presidents and Secretaries of State to confer with Senators as to the 

 propriety of negotiating or attempting to negotiate a treaty. 



" I know in my own experience that it was the frequent practice of 

 Secretary Hay, not simply after a proposed treaty had been negotiated, but' 

 before he had ever conferred with the representatives of the foreign power, 

 to seek to have conferences with Senators to know what they thought 

 of such and such a proposition; and if the subject-matter was a proper 

 matter for negotiation, what Senators thought as to certain provisions; 

 and he advised with them as to what provisions should be incorporated. 



" I recollect two treaties in particular. One is the general arbitration 

 treaty. I do not know whether he conferred with all Senators, but I think 

 he did. I think he conferred with every Senator in this Chamber, either in 

 writing or in person, as to the general arbitration treaty. He certainly con- 

 ferred with me." 



Such informal conferences clearly lack legal significance. They do 

 not bind the Senate in any way.'* The practice, how^ever, indicates 

 the development of an important constitutional understanding.'^^ 



On some occasions, notably for concluding the Treaty of Paris 

 ending the Spanish war, Senators have been appointed as commis- 

 sioners to negotiate, a practice deplored by Senator Hoar on the 

 grounds that it prevents an independent consideration of the treat) 

 by the Senate. '° 



Signature of treaties has. since very early times, been under the 

 authority of the President alone. On several occasions the Amer- 

 ican negotiators have appended reservations to their signatures of 

 multilateral treaties such as the Hague Conventions.'^'^ 



'3 But see opinion of Senator Lodge, infra, sec. 266, note 35. 



''* See Senator Spooner's suggestion following Senator Bacon's remarks, 

 and Corwin, op. cit., p. 188, footnote. 



^5 Infra, sec. 266, par. 4. 



■^0 Con,^. Rec, 57th Cong., 2d Sess., p. 2695 ; Senator Hoar, Autobiography, 

 2: so; Crandall, op. cit., p. 78; Corwin, op. cit., p. 66. Senators Lodge and 

 Underwood were appointed delegates to the conference on limitation of 

 armament, 1921. 



'"Crandall, op. cit., pp. 76, 93; Scott, ed., Reports of the Hague 

 Conferences, Introduction, pp. xxv et seq.; A. D. White, Autobiography, 2: 

 335^341. 



PROC. .\MER. PHIL. SCO., VOL. LX, \V, MARCH I3, I922. 



