gen. verrilli: mr. chief justice, if i might spend a minute or two on that history, because i don't think it shows what my friend suggests that it does. before getting to the starting point of that story, which i think is the monroe administration, i would like to point out that in the washington administration the president confronted the question with respect to whether to recognize the revolutionary government of france. and president washington consulted with his cabinet, and of course his cabinet included jefferson and madison and hamilton and jay. and they decided that this was a power that was exclusive to the president to such an extent that they didn't even need to send a message to the congress that they were going to recognize the new revolutionary government in france. now, the second fact i think is critical as a matter of history is that there is not a single piece of legislation that has passed both houses of congress and come to the president purporting to recognize a foreign nation or t