Protocols of agreement as to the basis of future negotiations are clearly within Executive authority. Such are, for instance, the protocols signed with Costa Rica and Nicaragua, December 1, 1900, in reference to possible future negotiations for the construction of an interoceanic canal by way of Lake Nicaragua. The most important agreement in this respect is the protocol with. Spain of August 12, 1898, which constituted preliminary articles of peace. The final protocol signed at Peking, September 7, 1901, by the allied powers on the one hand, and by China on the other, at the conclusion of the Chinese troubles, likewise was not submitted to the Senate.' International relations ordinarily regulated by formal treaty stipulations have been temporarily regulated by Executive agreement. By exchange of memoranda in April-June, 1885, between Mr. Bayard, Secretary of State, and Sir Lionel West, British minister, a temporary extension was obtained of the privileges of American fishermen under the fisheries articles of the treaty of Washington, on the termination of these articles on July 1, 1885. A modus vivendi limiting, for a period, the killing of fur seals in portions of Bering Sea was signed by Mr. Wharton, Acting Secretary of State, and Sir Julian Pauncefote, June 15, 1891, and proclaimed by the President the same day.3 An agreement was reached, June 6, 1882, by Mr. Frelinghuysen, Secretary of State, and Señor Romero, the Mexican minister, providing for the reciprocal crossing and recrossing of the frontier by the troops of the United States and Mexico in pursuit of marauding Indians, which was successively prolonged until 1886. A more formal agreement for the

1 For. Rel. 1901, Appendix p. 312. 'Ibid., 1891, p. 570.

'Ibid., 1885, pp. 460-6. Ibid., 1882, pp. 419, 421, 426.

same purpose was entered into, June 4, 1896, by Mr. Olney and Señor Romero. A protocol was signed at London, December 9, 1850, by Abbott Lawrence and Viscount Palmerston, and was approved by Mr. Webster, Secretary of State, January 17, 1851, by which such portion of Horse Shoe Reef in the Niagara river as might be requisite for a light-house was ceded to the United States, on condition that the United States would erect and maintain a light-house thereon.' The agreement as thus concluded was considered definitive, and an appropriation for its execution was made by Congress. A modus vivendi was effected October 20, 1899, by exchange of notes between Mr. Hay, Secretary of State, and Mr. Tower, British chargé d'affaires at Washington, fixing a provisional boundary line between Alaska and the Dominion of Canada in the vicinity of Lynn Canal.

4 AGREEMENTS REACHED BY VIRTUE OF AN ACT OF

CONGRESS

(a) Commerce and Navigation.-The act of March 3, 1815, declared a repeal of discriminating duties against vessels, and products imported therein, of nations in which discriminating duties against the United States did not exist, the President to determine in each case by proclamation the application of the repeal. The acts of January 7, 1824, and May 24, 1828, likewise authorized the President to suspend by proclamation discriminating duties so far as they affected the vessels 1For. Rel. 1896, p. 438. The Mexican minister was authorized by the Mexican Senate to enter into the agreement.

Treaties and Conventions, pp. 444, 445.

' House Doc. 471, p. 17, 56th Cong. 1st Sess. •For, Rel. 1899, pp. 328-330.

3 Stat. at L., 224, 792-5.

of a foreign nation, when possessed of satisfactory evidence that no such discriminating duties were imposed by that nation against the vessels of the United States.' Section II of the act of June 19, 1886, as amended by the act of April 4, 1888, vests similar power in the President. A partial suspension is allowed by the act of July 24, 1897.3 On the authority of these statutes numerous arrangements have been reached with foreign states and made operative by proclamation. The evidence accepted by the President as sufficient may be a note or despatch, or a memorandum of an agreement. The proclamations relative to abolishing discriminating duties on trade with Cuba and Porto Rico of February 14, 1884, October 27, 1886, and September 21, 1887, were based on memoranda of agreements signed with Spain, February 13, 1884, October 27, 1886, and September 21, 1887.*

Section 3 of the tariff act of October 1, 1890, authorized the President, whenever the government of any country, producing and exporting certain enumerated articles, imposed duties or other exactions on the products of the United States, which, in view of the free introduction of the enumerated articles into the United States, were in his opinion unreasonable or unequal, to suspend as to that country the privilege of free importation, and subject the articles in question to certain discriminating duties. Ten commercial arrangements were concluded and made effective by means of this section

14 Stat. at L., 3, 308.

24 Stat. at L., 82. For. Rel. 1888, p. 1859.

30 Stat. at L., 214. Rev. Stat., sec. 4228.

Richardson's Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. viii, pp. 223, 490, 570.

26 Stat. at L., 612.

January 31, 1891, with Brazil; June 4, the Dominican Republic; June 16, Spain; December 30, Guatemala; January 30, 1892, Germany; February 1, Great Britain; March 11, Nicaragua; April 29, Honduras; May 25, Austria-Hungary; and November 29, Salvador. These were all terminated by section 71 of the tariff act of August 27, 1894.' Section 3 of the act of 1890 having been assailed as involving an unlawful delegation of legislative power, its constitutionality was sustained by the Supreme Court in the case of Field vs. Clark." Section 3 of the act of July 24, 1897, not only provides, as did section 3 of the act of 1890, for the imposition by proclamation of certain differential rates, but also for the conclusion by the President of commercial agreements, with countries producing certain enumerated articles, in which concessions may be secured in favor of the products of the United States; and it further authorizes the President, when such concessions are, in his judgment, reciprocal and equivalent, to suspend by proclamation the collection on those articles of the regular duties imposed by the act, and subject them to special rates as provided in the section. On the authority of this section the PresiIdent has concluded and made effective the commercial agreements of May 28, 1898, with France; May 22, 1899, with Portugal (protocol making corrections signed January 11, 1900); July 10, 1900, with Germany; and February 8, 1900, with Italy.*

'Sen. Doc. 52, p. 2 et. seq., 55th Cong., 1st Sess. The provision for free introduction was suspended by proclamation as to various countries. 2143 U. S., 649. $30 Stat. at L., 203.

30 Stat. at L., 1774. For. Rel., 1898, p. 292. 31 Stat. at L., 1913, 1978, 1979. See for conventions for commercial reciprocity concluded in conformity with section 4 of the act, infra, p. 144.

(b) International Copyright and Protection of Industrial Property.-The international copyright convention signed at Berne, September 9, 1886, originally by ten states, has been acceded to by all the principal nations except Russia, Austria-Hungary and the United States. International copyright in the United States is regulated by the law of March 3, 1891, section 13 of which empowers the President to extend by proclamation the benefits of the law to citizens and subjects of a foreign state when assured that citizens of the United States are allowed the benefit of copyright in that state on substantially the same basis as its own citizens, or when the state is a party to an international agreement which provides for reciprocity in the granting of copyright, by the terms of which the United States may at its pleasure become a party. Under the first alternative, the President has extended the benefits of the law by proclamation to subjects of Belgium, France, Great Britain and possessions, July 1, 1891; Germany, April 15, 1892; Italy, October 31, 1892; Denmark, May 8, 1893; Portugal, July 20, 1893; Spain, July 10, 1895; Mexico, February 27, 1896; Chili, May 25, 1896; Costa Rica, October 19, 1899; the Netherlands and possessions, Nov. 20, 1899; and Cuba, March 17, 1903.❜

International protection of patents, trade-marks and commercial names is, however, regulated by treaty stipulations. The international convention for the protection of industrial property signed at Paris, March 20, 1883, was ratified by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, March 29, 1887, and the ratifications were

126 Stat. at L., 1110.

'The treaty with China signed Oct. 8, 1903, contains articles for the protection of trade-marks, patents, and copyrights in China.