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Show -.110. the Union and foreign countries is attributable, not to ignorance of the terms of the Constitution1,- but to a profound conviction of public policy. At one time there existed conceptions of state" rights which inevitably re- sulted in an attempt to dissolve the Unionj but even during that period, when the states were perhaps more jealous of their own rights than at any other time, we find no example of their entering the field of foreign affairs. One may venture the opinion, therefore, that if this clause of the Constitution were to be reformulated today, the phrase "or with a foreign power" would be omitted entirelyc The real reason why we have not had compacts between the individual states and foreign countries in the past is that such an expedient has been deemed inherently subservise of our national unity, and inevitably productive of an impression of paramount state right and of national inadequacy in foreign affairs. In the conduct of foreign relations, national unity, both in appearance and in reality, is a prims requisite* The inevitable result of allowing the states to enter into conventional relations with foreign powers would be the ultimate destruction of our national unity, both real and apparent and this proposal, therefore, irrespective of any merits which^ upon a super- ficial investigation, it may appear to have, should be discarded as tending to subvert that great principle« States, It would not be contended that it extends so far as to authorize what the Constitution forbids, or a change in the character of the govern- ment or in that of one of the States, or a cession of any portion of the territory of the latter, without its consent . . » e But with these exceptions, it is not perceived that there is any limit to the questions which can be adjusted touching any matter which is properly the subject of negotiation with a foreign country•>" Geofroy V© Riggs, supra note 13« It seems clear, therefore, that any matter concerning which concerted action between a. number of the states and a foreign country is admitted to be desirable would be a proper subject of negotiation with a foreign power and hence within the treaty-making power of the federal government., (639) |