XXXIV

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

International Affairs Regulated by the Federal Government. The management of international affairs is a service of the highest importance, and the power to direct foreign relations is a sovereign power. In the United States all power in respect to matters of an international character is lodged in the federal government, the organ of our national sovereignty. International affairs have never been regulated by the State. Under the Articles of Confederation negotiations with foreign countries were conducted by the Congress; under the Constitution States are expressly forbidden to enter into political relations with foreign countries (72), and the management of international affairs is given to the President and Senate (95).

International Law. Progressive nations have not isolated themselves from other nations. Ancient Egypt refused to defile itself by contact with other peoples and its civilization soon perished. The Greeks and Romans, on the other hand, went among strangers, traded with them, learned from them, made leagues of friendship with them, and thus developed a civilization which became the inheritance of all succeeding ages. The states of Europe, which were built upon the ruins of the Roman Empire, could not live wholly to themselves. In spiritual matters they were one; their universities were places whither all might repair, and students from England found their way to Salerno, and scholars from Italy wandered to Oxford;

their commerce caused cities so far apart as Riga and London to unite for mutual protection; above all, their incessant wars made a policy of seclusion impossible.

Out of this intercourse between the countries of Europe there gradually came into existence a body of rules which states in their dealings with each other recognized as binding. In modern times these rules have received the name of international law,1 and have been accepted as binding by all the civilized nations of the world. A few of the most important of these international rules are the following:

(1) A state must protect the aliens within its borders from violence to person and property.

(2) Ambassadors and ministers are exempt from arrest and their persons are sacred. The buildings they occupy are extra-territorial. (3) The high seas must be regarded as belonging to no nation.

(4) The territory of a maritime state must be regarded as including the sea to the distance of three miles along the coast.

(5) A state is sovereign in its own territory and must be permitted to manage its internal affairs in its own way.

(6) A neutral state (one not engaged in war) must prohibit belligerent operations within its territory.

(7) Property taken in warfare belongs to the state, not to the individual captor.

(8) A belligerent may station ships at the ports of an enemy and forbid the egress and ingress of neutral vessels. (Blockade.)

(9) An enemy's goods upon a neutral vessel must be spared unless the goods are "contraband of war.

(10) If possible, enemies must be taken prisoners rather than killed. (11) Non-combatants and private property are privileged. (12) Weapons causing needless pain are not to be used.

The above rules are not positive laws, for they have not emanated from a legislative source. They have sprung from centuries of custom, from numerous agreements between nation and nation, and from the moral judgment of

1 International law may be defined as the rules which determine the conduct of the general body of civilized states in their dealings with each other.-Lawrence.

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mankind. A rule of international law does not have the sanction of a state behind it, but it has that which is stronger: it has the compelling power of the public opinion of the world. If a state should refuse to obey one of the laws of nations it would have to face the protest and indignation of the civilized globe, and if it should be persistent in its refusal it would be "thrown out of the pale of civilized comity, just as you and I would be expelled from the social pale if we offended against the unwritten law of society."

Ambassadors, Ministers and Consuls. The international political affairs of a state are conducted by its diplomatic representatives, of whom the ambassador is the highest in rank. The ambassador represents the person of the executive of the country from which he comes, and he receives for this reason the highest personal respect and consideration. A minister, who is next to the ambassador in rank, represents the government from which he comes, but not the personality of the executive. In foreign courts an ambassador, being a personal representative of a ruler, is admitted to an audience with officials ahead of a minister. For a long time a minister was the highest diplomatic representative of the United States, but when it was found that under the rules of precedence in favor of ambassadors a minister of the United States was sometimes kept waiting for an official audience while the ambassador of some petty kingdom was being received, Congress (in 1893) created the rank of ambassador. The United States now has ambassadors for Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Mexico, Russia, Brazil, Japan and Turkey. In other countries we are represented by ministers.

Ambassadors and ministers, their property and their households, are exempt from the laws of the country to which they are accredited.. The residence of a foreign minister is, according to international law, a little patch of territory under the dominion of the country which

the minister represents. If the Chinese minister at Washington should commit a crime, Chinese and not American authorities must try the case and administer the punishment. If a case should arise where a judicial decision affecting diplomatic agents is necessary, it must be taken direct to the Supreme Court, no matter how trivial it may be (110).

The duties of a diplomatic representative depend upon the powers which his government has conferred upon him and upon the relations which exist between his government and the one to which he is sent. In general, he represents and defends the interests of his country. He keeps the home government informed upon topics of public interest, especially upon political topics, but he must not interfere in any way with the politics of the country where he resides. When a citizen of his own country has been injured by a violation of a rule of international law he seeks a remedy from a foreign government, and when a treaty is made he usually serves as the channel of negotiation.

A consul is a business agent of a government sent to a seaport or inland city to look after the welfare of citizens of his own country. He does not represent a government, he is not a diplomatic agent, and he does not enjoy the honors and immunities of a minister. Sometimes a consulgeneral is appointed to supervise all the consuls in the country to which he is sent.

The first duty of the consul is to aid his countrymen in securing their commercial rights. Among his other duties. are the following: He places the consular seal upon official acts of the foreign government; he certifies to marriages, births and deaths among his countrymen in his consular district; he certifies invoices; he administers on the personal property of deceased persons when there is no representative at hand. The consul receives applications for passports, and, when specifically authorized to do so, grants them. He also grants passports in the absence of the regular diplomatic representatives.

In the United States, ambassadors, ministers, consuls and other representatives in foreign countries are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate (96). When the President concludes that a diplomatic agent of a certain rank should be sent to a country he may appoint one, even though Congress has made no provision for such an official. The President, however, cannot abuse his power in this direction, for the appointment must be confirmed by the Senate, and the money for the salary must be appropriated by Congress (69). Through the Secretary of State, who stands at the head of foreign affairs, the President receives the ambassadors and ministers of other countries upon their arrival in Washington (102). The President may also send a foreign minister out of the country, if his presence should for any reason be no longer desirable.

Treaties. When two or more states are at war and desire peace, or if in times of peace their commercial or monetary systems require adjustment, or if their boundaries need to be defined, or if in any way their international affairs are to be regulated, they may accomplish any of these objects by entering into a solemn compact or agreement called a treaty. A treaty, when made by sovereign states and signed by the proper diplomatic agents, and ratified by the governments of the signatory powers, becomes the law for all the states entering into the compact. In the United States a treaty concluded by the federal government is the supreme law of the land (126), and any State law in conflict with a treaty is null and void. Since a treaty is simply a law, Congress may repeal a treaty by passing a law contrary to its provisions, or an existing law may be repealed by the terms of a new treaty. A treaty which is contrary to the Constitution is void.

If a citizen violates a treaty his government will punish him as the violator of a law; but suppose the state itself should violate one of its treaties, is there a power to punish