[Clause 2.]" He shall have Power, by and with the Ad vice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments."

§ 418. A treaty is an agreement between two or more independent nations. The subjects of treaties are generally peace, war, alliance, boundaries, territory, commerce, navigation, and payment of debts.

§ 419. Treaties are usually formed by agents or ministers, appointed by the governments who are parties to the treaty. Sometimes these agents or ministers are intrusted with full authority to sign and conclude the treaty; but more generally they transmit it, or the preliminary articles of the proposed treaty, to their respective governments, to be either ratified or rejected; by the usage of nations, the treaty is not finally binding until it is ratified.

§ 420. In practice, a treaty is first concluded under the direction of the President. He then lays it, with all the official documents respecting its negotiation, before the Senate, where it is discussed in executive session, with closed doors. The Senate may ratify it, or refuse to consent to it, or ratify some articles in it and reject others,

or they may recommend additional articles. Amendments to the treaty in the Senate, as well as its final ratification, require a vote of two-thirds.

§ 421. If the Senate make any alterations in the proposed treaty, it does not become the law of the land until the alterations are approved by the President, and by the government with which the treaty is made.

§ 422. By this clause the appointing power is vested in. the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. This appointing power extends to ambassadors and other public ministers, consuls, judges of the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States. whose appointments are not otherwise provided for by the Constitution. But Congress is authorized to vest by law the appointment of such inferior officers as they may think proper, in the President alone, or in the courts of law, or in the heads of departments.

§ 423. A rule of the Senate provides that, when nominations shall be made in writing by the President to the Senate, a future day shall be assigned, unless the Senate unanimously direct otherwise, for taking them into consideration. Another rule requires that all information or remarks concerning the character or qualifications of any person nominated by the President, shall be kept

secret.

§ 424. If the nomination of the President is approved by a majority of the Senate, the nominee may be appointed and commissioned by the President. Although the Senate can reject a nomination made by the President, they cannot nominate or appoint another person instead of the one rejected; the President must then make another nomination.

It was thought that the President would be more likely

to nominate suitable persons for office, if their character and qualifications were to be subject to the examination of the Senate.

§ 425. To constitute a full appointment under this clause, it is necessary

(1.) That the President should nominate in writing to the Senate, the person proposed to be appointed.

(2.) That the Senate should advise and consent that the nominee be appointed.

(3.) That, in pursuance of such advice and consent, the appointment should be actually made.

§ 426. The nomination is not an appointment; nor is that nomination, followed by the consent of the Senate, sufficient of itself to confer an office upon a citizen under the Constitution. The President may still, in his discretion, withhold the appointment from the nominee. The appointment is not complete, and the nominee has no legal rights, as an officer, conferred upon him until a commission has been signed by the President.

§ 427. The commission is a formal certificate of the appointment, signed by the President, and sealed by the Secretary of State with the seal of the United States, which is delivered to the person appointed. Actual delivery of the commission, after it has been signed by the President, is not absolutely necessary; nor, if lost or destroyed, would the appointment be void. The salary is paid from the date of the appointment, and not from the time the commission is received.

§428. Although the power of appointment is vested in the President and Senate, the power of removal has, since the Congress of 1789, which after thorough discussion sustained the right, been exercised by the President alone; the practical result of this construction of the Constitu

tion is that offices in general are held during the pleasure of the President, unless the Constitution, or the law by which they are created, provides otherwise.

§ 429. Some of the reasons which led to this construction of the Constitution were, that the President is intrusted with the supreme executive power, and is bound to carry the laws into operation, which he can do only by means of officers responsible to him; also, that it might frequently be necessary to make removals when Congress was not in session, and the consent of the Senate, if necessary, could not for that reason be obtained.

§ 430. The power of the President to remove an officer from the public service, extends to all officers in the army and navy, as well as to civil officers.

§ 431. An important branch of the appointing power, expressly vested in the President jointly with the Senate, is that which relates to ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls. Public ministers are sent abroad by a sovereign State to transact public business in behalf of their country with a foreign government.

§ 432. In strictness, no State is obliged to send ministers to, or receive them from, another State; the practice in this respect arises from long usage, and the courtesy of nations in their intercourse with each other. Every independent State, however, has the right to send public ministers to, and receive them from, any other sovereign State with which it desires to maintain friendly relations.

§ 433. There are, according to the practice of nations, three grades of public ministers, or diplomatic agents:

(1.) Cardinals, papal legates, or nuncios, and ministers sent with the character of ambassadors. These represent the State, or the person of the sovereign, by whom they are sent, in the highest and most eminent degree, not only

in the particular affairs with which they are charged, but on all occasions. Ambassadors are divided into ordinary and extraordinary; the former are employed in permanent Inissions, the latter, in special and extraordinary negotiations.

§ 434. (2.) Envoys, envoys extraordinary, ministers plenipotentiary.

(3.) Ministers, ministers resident, chargés d'affaires.

The ministers of the second and third classes are destitute of the representative character, strictly so called, and represent their State or sovereign only for the affairs with which they are charged, either in behalf of the governIment or its subjects.

§ 435. Consuls are commercial agents of a government, appointed to reside in a foreign country to protect the commercial interests of their government. Although consuls are, to some extent, under the special protection of the law of nations, yet they are not considered as public ministers or diplomatic agents; they cannot enter upon their duties until they have been confirmed by the sovereign in whose dominions they are about to reside. A vice-consul is one who acts in the place of a consul.

§ 436. The duties of our consuls relate chiefly to the commerce of the United States, and to the masters of ships, mariners, and other citizens of the United States. They have authority to receive protests or declarations which captains, crews, passengers, merchants, and others may make, relating to American commerce; they are required, when the laws of the country permit it, to administer on the estate of American citizens dying within their consulate and leaving no legal representatives; to take charge of stranded American vessels in the absence of the master or owners; to settle disputes between the masters of ves