352 BALCH— THE AMERICAN-BRITISH [April 22, 



international treaties entered into by the American federal govern- 

 ment. Article sixth of the American Constitution says:'^^ 



All treaties made or which shall be made, under the authority of the 

 United States shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every 

 State shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any 

 State to the contrary notwithstanding. 



The chief powers of Europe at the London conference in 1871, 

 on January 5, adopted, as the Russian jurist de Martens tells us, this 

 principle : '^ 



The plenipotentiaries of the North German Confederation, Austria- 

 Hungary, Great Britain, Italy, Russia and Turkey, to-day assembled en confe- 

 rence, recognize that it is an essential principle of the Law of Nations that no 

 power can liberate itself from the engagements of a treaty, nor modify its 

 stipulations except with the consent of the contracting parties obtained by 

 means of an amicable arrangement. 



Thus Great Britain has affirmed the sanctity of treaties in a for- 

 mal manner. Very properly America maintains that any modifica- 

 tion of the rights of American fishing vessels under the Treaty of 

 1 818, whether by amendment to that treaty or by police or maritime 

 or customs or other regulation, can only be accomplished by agree- 

 ment between the two parties to the contract known as the Treaty 

 of 1818, the governments of the United States of America and of 

 the British empire. Were an opposite doctrine recognized by the 

 Hague International Court, what would become of the validity of 

 many international treaties in force to-day between the nations of 

 the earth. At the bar of the Hague International Court the United 

 States of America will appear to defend the maintenance and sanc- 

 tity of international contracts known under the generic name of 

 treaties. 



" For the argument of the strict constructionists see William E. Mikell, 

 " The Extent of the Treaty Making Power of the President and the Senate 

 of the United States," University of Pennsylvania Law Review and American 

 Law Register, 1909, pp. 435-458, 528-562. 



For the argument of the loose constructionists see Chandler P. Anderson, 

 " The Extent and Limitations of the Treaty Making Power under the Con- 

 stitution," The American Journal of International Law, July, 1907, pp. 62,6-670. 

 See also the exhaustive treatise of Charles Henry Butler, " The Treaty- 

 making Power of the United States," New York, 1902. 



" F. de Martens, " Traite de Droit International," traduit du Russe par 

 Alfred Leo, Paris, 1883, Vol. I., p. 546. 



