sary trouble
in our foreign relations, I indicated to the Russian ambassador the
situation, and advised him that I deemed it wise to abrogate the treaty,
which, as President, I had the right to do by due notice couched in a
friendly and courteous tone and accompanied by an invitation to begin
negotiations for a new treaty. Having done this, I notified the Senate
of the fact, and this enabled the wiser heads of the Senate to
substitute for the house resolution a resolution approving my action,
and in this way the passage of the dangerous resolution was avoided."
The resolution in question, it should be added, was a joint resolution,
and purported to ratify the President's action. The President himself
had asked only for ratification and approval of his course by the
Senate. William Howard Taft, The Presidency (New York, 1916), 112-114.
Two other precedents bearing on outright abrogation of treaties are the
following. The question whether to regard the extradition article of the
Treaty of 1842 with Great Britain as void on account of certain acts of
the British Government was laid before Congress by President Grant in a
special message dated June 20, 1876, in the following terms: "It is for
the wisdom of Congress to determine whether the article of the treaty
relating to extradition is to be any longer regarded as obligatory on
the Government of the United States or as forming part of the supreme
law of the land. Should the attitude of the British Government remain
unchanged, I shall not, without an expression of the wish of Congress
that I should do so, take any action either in making or granting
requisitions for the surrender of fugitive criminals under the treaty of
1842." Messages and Papers of the Presidents, IX, 4324, 4327. Three
years later Congress passed a resolution requiring the President to
abrogate articles V and VI of the Treaty of 1868 with China. President
Hayes vetoed it, partly on the ground that "the power of modifying an
existing treaty, whether by adding or striking out provisions, is a part
of the treaty-making power under the Constitution. * * *" At the same
time, he also wrote: "The authority of Congress to terminate a treaty
with a foreign power by expressing the will of the nation no longer to
adhere to it is as free from controversy under our Constitution as is
the further proposition that the power of making new treaties or
modifying existing treaties is not lodged by the Constitution in
Congre