us than I believe them, and made of sterner
stuff than I conceive, if they dare hazard the surrender of the posts
and the payment for spoliations, by any resolution of the house that
shall render precarious the execution of the treaty on our part."

The federal constitution declaring a treaty, when duly ratified by the
contracting powers, to be the law of the land, Washington, on the last
day of February, issued a proclamation announcing the one just concluded
with Great Britain, as such. This had been a mooted point. The
president's proclamation decided that the treaty was law without further
action of Congress; and it now remained for that body to make provision
for carrying it into effect. The president sent it to both houses on the
first day of March, with the following brief message:--

"The treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation concluded between
the United States and his Britannic majesty having been duly
ratified, and the ratifications having been exchanged at London on
the twenty-eighth of October, one thousand, seven hundred and
ninety-five, I have directed the same to be promulgated, and
herewith transmit a copy thereof for the information of Congress."

This action was the signal for both parties to prepare for a great
struggle. The opposition, who had openly denied the right of the
president to even _negotiate_ a treaty of commerce, because, they said,
it practically gave to the executive and senate the power to regulate
commerce, were highly offended because the president had ventured to
issue this proclamation before the sense of the house of representatives
had been declared on the obligations of the instrument. This feeling
assumed tangible form when, on the seventh of March, Edward Livingston,
of New York, offered a resolution calling upon the president for copies
of all papers relating to the treaty. This resolution, as modified on
motion of Madison, was as follows:--

"_Resolved_, That the president of the United States be requested
to lay before this house a copy of the instructions given to the
minister of the United States, who negotiated the treaty with Great
Britain, communicated by his message of the first instant, together
with the correspondence and documents relating to the said treaty,
excepting such of said papers as any existing negotiation may
render improper to be disclosed."

A warm debate immediately arose, and sp