chment. And
should impeachment be possible or advisable the process could be carried
through as well with the words, "if not, in his opinion, incompatible
with the public interest," _out_ of a resolution as with those words
_in_ such a formal request of the Senate.[28]

[Footnote 28: Teller of Colorado, 56 Cong., 1 Sess., Record, Vol. 33,
Pt. 1, p. 898.]

As a rule it is unwise for the Senate to interfere while negotiations
are pending between the Executive Department and foreign Governments
over any question which is at issue. Should a resolution "_requesting_"
information upon any subject be deemed necessary, it should obviously be
addressed to the President and, merely for the sake of courtesy, with
the usual _caveat_. It should not be "directed" to the Secretary of
State, for that official stands in a different relation to the
legislative department from that of the secretaries of any of the other
departments. The Secretary of State is not required by law to report to
Congress as are all the other Cabinet officers. He has been exempted
from that requirement for the reason that his duties are mainly
diplomatic. Negotiations carried on with foreign Governments upon
matters of a delicate character might involve serious embarrassments if
during their pendency the successive steps were reported to
Congress.[29] The power of the President in consultation with the
Secretary of State to deal with foreign Governments at least up to the
last moment and final consent of the Senate has made it possible for the
United States to preserve a fairly uniform foreign policy. For despite
the repeated changes of administration and of domestic policies the
general foreign policy has been closely modeled upon the expedient
course of absolute neutrality laid down by Washington. Were it a
practical requirement of the Constitution that all foreign
correspondence upon any important question should be at once laid before
the Senate, it is reasonable to suppose that few treaties or important
conventions would finally be ratified. In a question of international
law such as that under discussion between the Governments of Great
Britain and the United States, it would have been extremely unwise
during the negotiations for the Senate to interfere in any way with the
regular course of diplomatic intercourse between the two Governments.

[Footnote 29: Platt of Connecticut, 56 Cong., 1 Sess., Record, Vol. 33,
Pt 1, p. 899.]

In the end the Hale R