442 WRIGHT— CONTROL OF FOREIGN RELATIONS. 



operation of understandings of the Constitution in order to carry 

 out foreign policies successfully, and to meet international respon- 

 sibilities. Has this proved a practically effective system for con- 

 ducting foreign relations? 



260. Friction in the American System. 



That it has often developed friction is unquestionable. "A 

 treaty entering the Senate," wrote John Hay, " is like a bull going 

 into the arena ; no one can say just how or when the final blow will 

 fall — but one thing is certain, it will never leave the arena alive." ^ 

 When the Secretary of State put this in his diary he had seen seven- 

 teen treaties borne from the Senate lifeless or so mutilated by amend- 

 ments that they could not survive. We can pardon his earlier state- 

 ment : " The fact that a treaty gives to this country a great, lasting 

 advantage seems to weigh nothing whatever in the minds of about 

 half the Senators. Personal interest, personal spites, and a con- 

 tingent chance of petty political advantage are the only motives 

 that cut any ice at present."- Numerous illustrations of strained 

 relations between the Executive and the Legislature at Washington 

 might be cited. Thus in " The Education," Henry Adams records 

 the reply of a cabinet officer to his plea for patience and tact in 

 dealing with Congress : " You can't use tact with a Congressman ! 

 A Congressman is a hog ! You must take a stick and hit him on the 

 snout." ^ 



Going back even farther we find in John Quincy Adams's Diary 

 comment on a very early incident : * 



" Mr. Crawford told twice over the story of President Washington's 

 having at an early period of his administration gone to the Senate with a 

 project of a treaty to be negotiated, and been present at their deUberations 

 upon it. They debated it and proposed alterations so that when Wasliington 

 left the Senate Chamber he said he would be damned if he ever went there 

 again. And ever since that time treaties have been negotiated by the 

 Executive before submitting them to the consideration of the Senate." 



1 Thayer. The Life of John Hay, 2 : 393. 



2 Ibid., 2: 274. 



3 The Education of Henry Adams, 1918, p. 261. 

 * Memoirs, 6: 427. 



