event it is my hope that you will give the paper
consideration.

"Faithfully yours

"ROBERT LANSING

"THE PRESIDENT

"28 _Rue de Monceau_"

It should be borne in mind in reading this letter that I had reached the
conclusion that modification rather than abandonment of the guaranty was
all that I could hope to accomplish, and that, as a matter of
expediency, it seemed wise to indicate a sympathetic attitude toward the
idea. For that reason I expressed myself as favorable to the guaranty
and termed it "the heart of the League of Nations," a phrase which the
President by his subsequent use of it considered to be a proper
characterization.

The memoranda contained in the paper enclosed in the letter were as
follows:

_The Constitutional Power to provide Coercion in a Treaty_

"_December_ 20, 1918

"In the institution of a League of Nations we must bear in mind the
limitations imposed by the Constitution of the United States upon the
Executive and Legislative Branches of the Government in defining
their respective powers.

"The Constitution confers upon Congress the right to declare war.
This right, I do not believe, can be delegated and it certainly
cannot be taken away by treaty. The question arises, therefore, as to
how far a provision in an agreement as to a League of Nations, which
imposes on the United States the obligation to employ its military or
naval forces in enforcing the terms of the agreement, would be
constitutional.

"It would seem that the utilization of forces, whether independently
or in conjunction with other nations, would in fact by being an act
of war create a state of war, which constitutionally can only be done
by a declaration of Congress. To contract by treaty to create a state
of war upon certain contingencies arising would be equally tainted
with unconstitutionality and would be null and inoperative.

"I do not think, therefore, that, even if it were advisable, any
treaty can provide for the independent or joint use of the military
or naval forces of the United States to compel compliance with a
treaty or to make good a guaranty made in a treaty.

"The other method of international coercion is non-intercourse,
especially commercial non-intercourse. Would a treaty provision to
employ this method be constitutional?

"As to this my mind is less clear. The