The death of a person like Mr. Wheaton naturally arrests
attention,--even at this period of funereal gloom, when the Angel
of Death has overshadowed the whole country with his wings. He was
long and widely known in official relations, devoted for many years
to the service of his country, studious always of literature and
jurisprudence, illustrious as a diplomatist and expounder of the Law of
Nations,--with a private character so pure as to make us forget, in its
contemplation, the public virtues by which his life was elevated.
He died after a brief illness, accompanied by a disease of the brain,
on Saturday evening, March 11, 1848, at Dorchester. On that day the
remains of John Quincy Adams, who, as President of the United States,
first advanced Mr. Wheaton to a diplomatic place in the service of
his country,--after a long procession, through mourning towns and
cities, from the Capitol, which had been the scene of his triumphant
death,--were brought to their final resting-place in the adjoining town
of Quincy. The faithful friend and servant thus early followed his
venerable chief to the fellowship of another world.
The principal circumstances in Mr. Wheaton's life may be briefly told.
He was born at Providence, on the 27th of November, 1785, and was a
graduate of Brown University, in 1802. After admission to the bar,
he visited Europe, particularly the Continent, where his mind thus
early became imbued with those tastes which occupied so much of his
later years. Some time after his return, finding little inducement to
continue the practice of the law in Providence, he removed to New York.
This was in 1812. Here he became the editor of an important journal,
"The National Advocate,"--a paper afterwards merged in "The Courier and
Inquirer." His experience in this character closed May 15, 1815. As a
journalist, he is reputed to have been uniformly discreet, decorous,
and able, at a time when the fearful trials of war, in which the
country was engaged, added to the responsibilities of his position.
His labors as editor did not estrange him from the law. About this
period he became for a short time one of the justices of the Marine
Court, a tribunal now shorn of its early dignity. In 1815 he appeared
as author of a treatise on jurisprudence. This was a "Digest of the
Law of Maritime Captures and Prizes." In the judicial inquiries
incident to the administration of the Laws of War--still maintained by
the Christian world--such a treatise was naturally of much practical
utility. It may also claim the palm of being among the earliest
juridical productions of our country. Nor, indeed, has it been without
the disinterested praise of foreign nations. Mr. Reddie, of Edinburgh,
in his recent work on Maritime International Law, says, "Although it
cannot be strictly called a valuable accession to the legal literature
of _Britain_, it gives us much pleasure to record our opinion, that,
in point of learning and methodical arrangement, it is very superior
to any treatise on this department of the law which had previously
appeared in the English language."[236] No American contribution to
jurisprudence so early as 1815 has received such marked commendation
abroad. Kent and Story had not then produced those works which have
secured to them their present freehold of European fame.
[236] Maritime International Law, Vol. II. p. 298.
In 1816 he became Reporter to the Supreme Court of the United States,
which office he held till 1827. His Reports are in twelve volumes,
and embody what may be called the _golden judgments_ of our National
Judicature, from the lips of Marshall, Livingston, Washington,
Thompson, and Story.
Mr. Wheaton's time was not absorbed by these official duties. He
entered much into the practice of his profession. His name appears as
counsel in important causes at Washington. He was editor of divers
English law books, republished in this country, with valuable notes. On
several literary occasions he pronounced discourses of signal merit.
One of these, in 1820, before the Historical Society of New York,
touches upon his favorite theme, with which his name is now so firmly
connected, the Law of Nations; another, in 1824, at the opening of the
New York Athenæum, takes a rapid survey of American literature. In 1826
he published his Life of that great lawyer, William Pinkney. It is also
understood that during all this period he was a frequent contributor to
the "North American Review."
Nor did these accumulated labors, literary and juridical, keep him from
other services. He was a member of the Legislature of New York, and in
1821 held a seat in the Convention which remodelled the Constitution
of that State. In 1825 he was placed on the commission for revising the
statutes of New York. This was the first effort of any State professing
the Common Law to reduce its disconnected and diffusive legislation to
the unity of a code. Thus is his name associated with one of the most
important landmarks in American law.
All these duties and callings he relinquished in the summer of 1827,
when he entered upon the diplomatic service, which opened before him a
new career of usefulness. It was then that he became Chargé d'Affaires
at Copenhagen, where he continued till 1835, when he was transferred
by President Jackson to Berlin, as Minister Resident. In 1837 he was
raised by President Van Buren to the rank of Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary at the same court. On July 22, 1846, he had
his audience of farewell from the King of Prussia, being recalled by
President Polk. This long term of service was passed abroad with the
intermission of a brief period in 1834, when he revisited his country
on leave of absence.
During this protracted career in foreign countries, charged with
responsible negotiations, he was not lost in the toils of office, or in
the allurements of court life. He was always a student. At Copenhagen
he prepared his "History of the Northmen, or Danes and Normans, from
the Earliest Times to the Conquest of England by William of Normandy."
This was published in 1831, both in England and in America. In 1844 it
was much enlarged, and translated into French. At the time of his death
he was occupied in preparing another edition. In 1838 he contributed
to the Edinburgh Cabinet Library a portion of the volumes entitled
"Scandinavia." By these works he earned an honorable place among our
historical writers. His History of the Northmen preceded, in time, the
productions of Bancroft and Prescott, which have since achieved so much
renown.
From literature he passed again to jurisprudence, where he has won his
surest triumphs. His "Elements of International Law" appeared in London
and the United States in 1836, and again in 1846, much enlarged. This
was followed by a "History of the Law of Nations in Europe and America,
from the Earliest Times to the Treaty of Washington," which first
appeared in French, at Leipsic, in 1841, under the title of _Histoire
des Progrès du Droit des Gens en Europe depuis la Paix de Westphalie
jusqu'au Congrès de Vienne, avec un Précis Historique du Droit des Gens
Européen avant la Paix de Westphalie_. This was originally written for
a prize offered by the French Institute. The question proposed was,
_Quels sont les progrès qu'a fait le droit des gens en Europe depuis
la Paix de Westphalie?_ It was bold and honorable in Mr. Wheaton to
venture in a foreign tongue the discussion of so great a subject.
The Greek of Cicero excited the admiration of the rhetoricians at
Rhodes and Athens, and the French of Gibbon was in harmony with his
own swelling English style; but Mr. Wheaton, whether in French or
English, is commended by matter rather than manner. On this account he
was at disadvantage before the polished French tribunal. His effort
received what was called _mention honorable_; but the prize was awarded
to a young Frenchman, whose production has never seen the light. An
impartial public opinion has awarded our countryman another prize more
than academic. The same work in English, much enlarged, is now an
authority.
Besides these classical treatises, Mr. Wheaton published an able and
thorough Inquiry into the Validity of the Eight of Visitation and
Search, particularly as recently claimed by Great Britain. Here he
upheld the views of the American government. The acknowledged weight of
his opinion in the science of law gave to his conclusions commanding
influence.
On his recent return to this country, he was welcomed with many
manifestations of regard, both public and private. Wherever he
appeared, he was a favored guest. At the last Commencement of Brown
University, he delivered the Address before the Phi Beta Kappa Society.
His subject was Germany. The various departments of thought and
conduct, which have been successfully occupied by the "many-sided"
mind of that country, were sketched with singular ability. His voice
was feeble, and, as he spoke, large numbers of the audience drew near
the pulpit, filling the adjacent aisles, and standing in respectful
attention, that they might follow his learned discourse.
Such were the important and diversified labors of his valuable life.
Without any adventitious aids of fortune, or special favor, he achieved
eminent place in the civilized world. By virtue of his office he lived
as an equal among nobles and princes, while his rare endowments opened
to him at will the fraternities of learning and science. And yet his
qualities were not those of the courtier. Nor did any heaven-descended
eloquence lend fire to his conversation or style. Both were simple,
grave, reserved, like his manners, attractive rather from clearness and
matter than from brilliancy or point.
His career abroad as Diplomatist was one of the longest in our
history,--longer even than that of John Quincy Adams. It was not his
fortune to affix his name to any treaty, like that of 1783, which
acknowledged our Independence, or that of Ghent in 1814, which restored
peace to England and the United States. But his extended term of
service was filled by a succession of wise and faithful labors, which
rendered incalculable good to his own country, while they impressed his
character upon the public mind of Europe. His negotiation with Denmark
was important. More important still was his careful management of our
national interests in connection with the German Zollverein. Besides
these conspicuous acts, with which all are familiar, there is his long
and constant correspondence with the Department of State at Washington,
which is known to comparatively few, although of exceeding merit.
It was his habit, contrary to the usage of many American ministers,
by regular authentic communications, to keep the Government at home
informed with regard to the position of foreign nations, as observed
by him. All the matters which prominently occupied the Continental
nations during his residence abroad, particularly those two disputes
known as the Belgian question and the Egyptian question, which seemed
for a while to fill the firmament of Europe with "portents dire," were
discussed in these despatches with instructive fulness. These may be
found in the archives of his legation, and in the Department of State
at Washington, "enrolled in the Capitol," where they will be studied by
the future historian.
His familiarity with the Law of Nations, from his position as a
diplomatist, was enhanced by mature and thorough study. For this he
was prepared by training at the bar, the influence of which may be
discerned in some of his writings. He was master alike of its learning
and its dialectics. It happened in Berlin that he was called to defend
the rights of ambassadors against an injurious usage established or
recognized by the Prussian government. All who have read his paper on
this occasion will attest the force and sharpness of his unanswered
argument. Strange that this task should have devolved upon an American
minister! Strange that the privileges of ambassadors should have found
their defender in a Cis-Atlantic citizen! His defence excited the
attention of the diplomatic body in Europe. Copies were transmitted to
the different courts, where, as I have understood, it was discussed,
and generally, if not universally, sanctioned.
Justly eminent as a practical diplomatist, his works derived new value
from the position of their author, while even his official rank was
aided by his works. His was a solitary example in our age, perhaps the
only instance since Grotius, of an eminent minister who was also an
expounder of the Law of Nations. His works, therefore, are received
with peculiar respect. Already they have become _authorities_. Such
they are regarded by the two British writers who have since appeared in
this field, Mr. Manning and Mr. Reddie. The former, in his excellent
Commentaries, refers to Mr. Wheaton's work on the Elements of
International Law as "certainly the best elementary book on the topic
that exists";[237] while Mr. Reddie announces that "this work, although
not by a British author, was certainly, at the date of its publication,
the most able and scientific treatise on International Law which had
appeared in the English language."[238] It is admitted that the method
is superior to that of Martens, Chitty, Schmalz, or Klüber.
[237] Commentaries on the Law of Nations, Preface, p. v.
It cannot be disguised that his two works in this department are
remarkable for careful statement and arrangement, rather than for that
elegance, or glow, or freedom of discussion, by which the reader is
carried captive. His Elements afford the best view yet presented of the
Law of Nations, as practically illustrated in the adjudged cases of
England and the United States, and in recent diplomacy. But we miss in
them the fulness and variety of illustration which characterize some
of the earlier writers, and especially that genial sentiment which
interests us so constantly in Vattel. The History, which first appeared
in French, is not less important than the Elements. Here the field is
more clearly his own. This work supplies a place never before filled in
the literature of the English language, if in that of any language. To
all students of jurisprudence, nay, more, to all students of history,
who ascend above wars and battles to the principles which are at once
parent and offspring of events, this account of the Progress of the Law
of Nations is an important guide.
Had Mr. Wheaton's life been longer spared, he would have found it his
province, in the discharge of his recently assumed office as Lecturer
on the Civil [Roman] and International Law at Harvard University, to
survey again the same wide field. What further harvests he might then
have gathered it is impossible now to estimate. He never entered upon
these labors. The reaper was removed before he began to use the sickle.
[238] Maritime International Law, Vol. II. p. 441.
Such was his life,--passed not without well-deserved honor at home and
abroad. In those two great departments of labor, History and the Law of
Nations, he is among our American pioneers. Through him the literature
and jurisprudence of our country have been commended in foreign lands:--
"Fluminaque in fontes cursu reditura supino."[239]
Others may have done better in the high art of History; but no American
historian has, like him, achieved European eminence as a writer on
the Law of Nations; nor has any other American writer on the last
great theme been recognized abroad as historian. He was a member
of the French Institute; and I cannot forget, that, at the time of
his admission, the question, so honorable to his double fame, was
entertained by the late Baron Degérando, the jurist and philanthropist,
whether he should be received into the section of History or of
Jurisprudence. He was finally attached to the latter. Prescott and
Bancroft belong to the former.
It is as an expounder of Public International Law that his name will
be most widely cherished. In the progress of Christian civilization,
many of the rules now sustained by learned subtilty or unquestioning
submission, shaping the public concerns of nations, will pass away. The
Institution of War, with its complex code, now sanctioned and legalized
by nations, as a proper mode of adjusting their disputes, will yield
to some less questionable arbitrament. But a profound interest must
always attach to the writings of those great masters who have labored
to explain, to advance, and to refine that system, which, though
incomplete, has helped to keep the great Christian Commonwealth in the
bonds of Peace. Among these Mr. Wheaton's place is conspicuous. His
name is already inscribed on the same tablet with those of Grotius,
Pufendorf, and Vattel.
[239] Ovid, Epist. ex Ponto, Lib. IV. Ep. v. 43.
It were wrong to close this imperfect tribute without a renewed
testimony to the purity of his life. From youth to age his career was
marked by integrity, temperance, frugality, modesty, industry. His
quiet, unostentatious manners were fit companions of his virtues. His
countenance, which is admirably preserved in the portrait by Healy, had
the expression of thoughtfulness and repose. Nor station nor fame made
him proud. He stood with serene simplicity in the presence of kings. In
the social circle, when he spoke, all drew near to listen,--sure that
what he said would be wise, tolerant, and kind.
UNION AMONG MEN OF ALL PARTIES AGAINST THE SLAVE POWER AND THE
EXTENSION OF SLAVERY.