380 WRIGHT— POWER TO MAKE POLITICAL DECISIONS. 



of formal protest, the withdrawal of a minister or ambassador, or 

 the complete severance of diplomatic relations are milder forms of 

 pressure, although all may carry implications of more serious action, 

 and the last is seldom resorted to except as a preliminary to war. 

 These acts are within the exclusive power of the President.^^ 



215. Display of Force. 



A more material means of bringing pressure is the display of 

 force. This measure may be designed to bring pressure upon a 

 foreign government by intimidation ; to bring protection to mer- 

 chant vessels on the high seas ; or to bring order on the high seas 

 through the intimidation of pirates, slave traders, etc. The Pres- 

 ident as Commander-in-Chief has power to move the navy. 

 President Roosevelt's dispatch of a naval vessel to Colon, Panama, 

 in 1903 illustrates the efifectiveness of such methods. His dis- 

 patch of the fleet around the world in 1903 furnishes another illus- 

 tration.^* Display of force is useless as an agency of intimidation 

 unless the party to be intimidated believes the force has power to 

 act. Hence this method of bringing pressure can hardly be sep- 

 arated from such methods as the occupation of territory, reprisals, 

 and the seizure of private property. Consequently the use of the 

 navy for intimidation should be authorized by the President only 

 after due consideration and never by a subordinate except in extreme 

 emergency. Thus in 1887 Secretary of State Bayard wrote the 

 Charge in Peru : ^^ 



" It is always expected that the agents of this Department abroad will 

 exercise extreme caution in summoning national war vessels to their aid 

 at critical junctures, especially if there be no practical purpose to be sub- 

 served by their presence." 



Congress has on several occasions authorized the display of 

 force for protecting merchant vessels. Such authority was given 

 by several acts of 1798 to defend them against French privateers. 

 On February 25, 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to authorize 



33 Moore, Digest, 7 : 103. 



^■^ Supra, sec. 145, Thayer, Life of John Hay, 2: 351. President Roose- 

 velt's threat to employ force if Germany refused to arbitrate the Venezuela 

 question in 1904, may also be mentioned. Ibid., 2: 287. 



35 Moore, Digest, 7: 109, see also Mr. Adee to Mr. Sill, 1895, ibid., 2: 401. 



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