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Show JOHN HAY'S EXPERIENCE. One of the ablest of the long list of statesmen who have occupied the position posi-tion of secretary of state, .John Hay, expressed, in "The Education of Henry Adams," his Opinion of the senate as part of the treaty-making power of the government, as follows: A treaty of peace in rinv normal state of things ought to be ratified with unanimity una-nimity in twenty-four hours. They wasted six weeks in wrangling over this one and rat if it'll it with one vote to spare. We ha i'ivo or six matters now pending settlement. I can settle them, houorablv and advantageously to our side: and 1 am assured by leading men of the senate that not one of these treaties, if negotiated, will pass the senate. I should have a majority in every case, but a malcontent third would certainly dish every oue of them. To such monstrous shape has the original mistake of our constitution grown in the evolution of our politics. You must understand it is not merely my solution the senate will reject. They will reject, for instance, any treaty on any subject with England. I doubt if they would accept any treaty of consequence with Russia or Germany. The recalcitrant third would bo differently composed, but it would be on hand. Mr. Hay was secretary of State under William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, Roose-velt, and the above quotation refers to his experience with the senate at the close of the Spanish-American war. It is worth while to remember the experience experi-ence of Secretary Hay at this time. |