WRIGHT— POWER TO AIAKE POLITICAL DECISIONS. 383 



San Domingo, Haiti, and Vera Cruz, Mexico.*^ In such.cases ratify- 

 ing resolutions have frequently been passed after the act, or treaties 

 have been made with the occupied state.^" 



Occupation of enemy territory is, of course, a legitimate method 

 of warfare, and a declaration of war, ex propria vigore, authorizes 

 the President to both occupy and militarily govern enemy territory, 

 although it does not authorize him to annex it.^^ 



217. Capture and Destruction of Foreign Military Forces. 



The dispatch of military or naval forces to capture or destroy 

 the forces of a foreign government would seem to bear such a close 

 resemblance to war that it could hardly be authorized by the Pres- 

 ident alone. However, as we have seen in the case of the Tripolitan 

 "war" of 1801, President Jefferson took siKh action, which was 

 subsequently ratified by Congress. President Polk did the same in 

 the Mexican war, though according to his theory the battles of 

 Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma were fought on United States 

 territory in repelling invasion. Admiral Perry seems to have been 

 authorized to use force to open Japan in 1852 and the Wyoming 

 had similar authority to aid in the opening of the Straits of Shi- 

 minoseki, Japan, in 1864. ^^ In fact in most cases of display of 

 force, undoubtedly an ultimate use of force was authorized. Naval 

 officers have often been sent on diplomatic missions by authority 

 of the President alone, to semi-civilized states, with the evident 

 intention that f&rce should not only be displayed but used if nec- 

 essary.^^ 



Use of military force against foreign powers has often been 

 authorized by Congress without declaration of war. This was 

 true of resolutions relating to France in 1798, to Tripoli in 1801, 



*^ Corwin, op. cit., p. 162, supra, sec. 207. 



'^0 Thus a ratifying resolution was passed after the Vera Cruz incident 

 of 1914, and a treaty authorizing the exercise of a police power by the 

 United States was made with Haiti after the intervention had begun. 



''^ Cross V. Harrison, 16 How. 164; Santiago v. Nogueras, 214 U. S. 

 260; Fleming v. Page, 9 How. 603. 



''^ Moore, Digest, 7: 112-118. 



53 Infra, sec. 239. See also Paullin, Diplomatic Negotiations of Ameri- 

 can Naval Officers, Baltimore, 1912. 



