acknowledge the sovereignty of the nation, or party.[1] These, however, are propositions, which have hitherto remained, as abstract statements, under the constitution; and, therefore, can be propounded, not as absolutely true, but as still open to discussion, if they should ever arise in the course of our foreign diplomacy. The constitution has expressly invested the executive with power to receive ambassadors, and other ministers. It has not expressly invested congress with the power, either to repudiate, or acknowledge them.[2] At all events, in the case of a revolution, or dismemberment of a nation, the judiciary cannot take notice of any new government, or sovereignty, until it has been duly recognized by some other department of the government, to whom the power is constitutionally confided.[3]
§ 1561. That a power, so extensive in its reach over our foreign relations, could not be properly conferred on any other, than the executive department, will admit of little doubt. That it should be exclusively confided to that department, without any participation of the senate in the functions, (that body being conjointly entrusted with the treaty-making power,) is- ↑ Rawle on Constitution, ch. 20, p. 195, 196.
- ↑ It is surprising, that the Federalist should have treated the power of receiving ambassadors and other public ministers, as an executive function of little intrinsic importance. Its language is, "This, though it has been a rich theme of declamation, is more a matter of dignity, than of authority. It is a circumstance, which will be without consequence in the administration of the government. And it was far more convenient, that it should be arranged in this manner, than that there should be a necessity of convening the legislature, or one of its branches, upon every arrival of a foreign minister, though it were merely to take the place of a departed predecessor." The Federalist, No. 69.
- ↑ United States v. Palmer, 3 Wheat. R. 610, 634, 643; Hoyt v. Gelston, 3 Wheat. R. 246, 323, 324; Rose v. Himely, 4 Cranch, 441; The Divina Pastora, 4 Wheat. R. 52, and note 65; The Neustra Senora de la Caridad, 4 Wheat. R. 497.
vol. iii.53
