To draw the line of demarcation between the powers thus granted to the general government, and those retained by the States, was the primary and predominating object.  In conformity with this view, we find a general enumeration of the powers assigned the former, of which Congress is made the depository; which powers, although granted to Congress in the first instance, are, in the same instrument, subsequently distributed among the other branches of the government.  Various examples might be adduced in support of this position.  The following for the present will suffice:  Article i., section i, of the constitution declares, that “all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.”  Yet we find, by the seventh section of the same article, the President invested with a large share of legislative power, and, in fact, constituting an integral branch of the legislature; in addition to this, I will here barely add, that the grant of the very power to regulate the exercise of which gave birth to this bill, furnishes, by the admission of the friends of the bill, another evidence of the truth of this position, as I shall show hereafter; and, therefore, to comprehend the true meaning of the constitution, an isolated view of a particular clause or section will involve you in error, while a comprehensive one, both of its spirit and letter, will conduct you to a just result; when apparent collisions will be removed, and vigor and effect will be given to every part of the instrument.  With this principle as our guide, I come directly to that part of the constitution which recognizes the treaty-making power.  In the second clause, second section, second article, are the following plain and emphatic words:  “He [the President] shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur.”  Two considerations here irresistibly present themselves—­first, there is no limitation to the exercise of the power, save such restrictions as arise from the constitution, as to the subjects on which it is to act; nor is there any participation of the power, with any other branch of the government, in any way alluded to.

Am I borne out in this declaration by the clause referred to?  That I am, seems to me susceptible of demonstration.  To the President and Senate has been imparted the power of making treaties.  Well, what is a treaty?  If a word have a known signification by the common consent of mankind, and it be used without any qualification in a law, constitution, or otherwise, the fair inference is that the received import of such word is intended to be conveyed.  If so, the extent of the power intended to be granted admits of no difficulty.  It reaches to those acts of courtesy and kindness, which philanthropy has established in the intercourse of nations, as well as to treaties of commerce, of