368 WRIGHT— POWER TO MAKE POLITICAL DECISIONS. 



204. Congressional Declarations of General Policy. 



Congressional resolutions on foreign relations have often been 

 of a more general character, avoiding reference to specific incidents, 

 though doubtless suggested by such incidents. Thus a Senate reso- 

 lution of 1858 asserted that American vessels on the high seas are 

 not subject to visit and search in time of peace,^^ a law of 1868 

 asserted the right of expatriation to be " a natural and inherent 

 right of all people " ^^ and resolutions at various times have sug- 

 gested the negotiation of arbitration treaties.^* A section of the 

 naval appropriation act of 1916 declared it to be:^^ 



"The policy of the United States to adjust and settle its international 

 disputes through mediation or arbitration, to the end that war may be hon- 

 orably avoided. It looks with apprehension and disfavor upon a general 

 increase of armament throughout the world, but it realizes that no single 

 nation can disarm, and that without common agreement upon the subject 

 every considerable power must maintain a relative standing in military 

 strength." 



Negotiation of reciprocal agreements with Canada on the use of 

 boundary waters has also been suggested.^® A Senate resolution 

 of 1912, though suggested by the Magdalena Bay incident, was ex- 

 pressed as a general policy related to the Monroe Doctrine.®^ 

 Treaty reservations have sometimes offered the Senate an opportunity 



62 Moore, Digest, 2: 946. 



63 Rev. Stat., sec. 1999; Comp. Stat., sec. 3955. 



6* See A League of Nations (World Peace Foundation), I, No. i (Oct., 

 1917). 



65 Act Aug. 29, 1916, 39 Stat. 618; Comp. Stat. 7686b. In the Spring of 

 1921 President Harding is reported to have opposed the Borah amendment on 

 disarmament (supra, sec. 56). In his message to Congress of April 12, 1921, 

 he said with reference to the proposed peace resolution : " It would be unwise 

 to undertake to make a statement of future policy with respect to European 

 affairs in such a declaration of a state of peace (with Germany). In correct- 

 ing the failure of the Executive, in negotiating the most important treaty in 

 the history of the nation, to recognize the constitutional powers of the Senate, 

 we would go to the other extreme, equally objectionable, if Congress should 

 assume the functions of the Executive. (Cong. Rec, 61 : 95. See also re- 

 marks of Senator Hitchcock, April 29, 1921, ibid., 61 : 745.) 



66 Act June 13, 1902, 32 Stat. 373, Comp. Stat. 9984; Act June 29, 1906. 

 34 Stat. 628, Comp. Stat. 9989d. 



67 Com (7. Rec, Aug. 2, 1912, 48: 10046, A League of Nations, I, No. 5, 

 p. 298 (June, 1918) ; Hart, The Monroe Doctrine, p. 235. 



