view that we consider the work of Mr. Wheaton within the scope of our labors. He makes known the laws and judicial customs of the people of whom he has rendered himself the historian.1"

An English contemporaneous notice says:-"Among the foremost of those who, in our own days, have furnished important contributions to our stock of Scandinavian literature, stands the name of Dr. Wheaton, a gentleman no less distinguished as a lawyer and statesman than for his historical and antiquarian attainments. The Histoire des Peuples du Nord' is less a translation than a new edition of his History of the Northmen;' it has been made under the eye of the author, and enriched by him with many notes and illustrations, and with an entirely new chapter, carrying on the History of the Northmen to the extinction of the Norman dynasty in the south of Italy.'

"2

·

Baron Humboldt, the philosopher and traveller, to whom we shall hereafter have occasion to refer as the personal friend and intimate associate of the King of Prussia, as well as of our author, wrote to the translator:-"L'Histoire des Peuples du Nord' est devenue, grace aux importantes additions de l'auteur, comme grace à vos soins et à votre pénétration, un ouvrage bien différent de celui qui déjà, dans sa forme primitive, avait obtenu le succès le plus merité. C'est un spectacle digne du philosophe, que cette civilisation refugiée, abritée, noblement agrandie dans un réduit du monde polaire, cet aspect d'une colonie insulaire étendue sur un continent voisin, si différent par sa nature et des colonies Helléniques et de celles qui se rattachent aux besoins un peu prosaïques des siècles industriels. Je mets un double prix au don que vous avez daigné me faire, Monsieur, à l'interêt qu' inspirent des recherches, dont vous avez exposé la valeur dans la préface de l'ouvrage avec autant

1 Rev. Étr. et Fr. tom. i. N. S. p. 633.

2 For. Quart. Rev. vol. xxxv. p. 76.

de gout que de sagacité, où l'importance historique se joint à la haute estime que dans ce pays on professe à la cour et dans les cercles littéraires, pour l'habile et vertueux diplomate que je suis fier de compter parmi mes amis les plus intimes. Citoyen de l'Amérique tropicale je peux m'enorgueillir de l'amitié d'un grand citoyen des États-Unis. Cette profession de foi est permise sur la colline très monarchique et très historique que j'habite."1 And, at the same time, in a note to Mr. Wheaton, he said: "Votre excellent ouvrage historique, augmenté de votre Scandinavie,' aura auprès du Roi tout l'attrait et le succès de la nouveauté. Je désire vivement que le roi offre au traducteur son image dans la grande médaille d'or destinée aux travaux méritoires dans les sciences et les arts.'

Further fruits of his historical studies at Copenhagen also appeared, after he had quitted Denmark. The History of Scandinavia was published in 1838, in connection with Dr. Crichton. It contains what was intended by him as a sequel to the History of the Northmen, bringing down the history of Denmark and Norway from the extinction of the Anglo-Danish dynasty, in 1402, to the Revolution of 1660, including the affairs of Sweden, under the union of Colmar. It is proper to add, that, for the other portions of the work, Mr. Wheaton, the extent of whose contributions are pointed out in the Preface, is in no wise responsible. And so late as 1844, there was an essay from his pen in the Review of French and Foreign Law, at Paris, of which he was a regular contributor, on the ancient legislation of Iceland.3

Nor was it to these subjects, in addition to the preparation of the works more strictly connected with his public pursuits, and

1 Baron Alexander Humboldt to M. Guillot, Sans Souci, 21st June, 1844. 2 Scandinavia, Ancient and Modern: being a History of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, &c.; by Andrew Crichton, LL. D., &c., and Henry Wheaton, LL. D., &c. Preface, p. 9.

3 Législation et Instructions Judiciares de l'Islande, pendant le Moyen Age. Rev. Étr. et Fr. tom. i. N. S. p. 182.

which were not completed till his transfer to another mission, that the leisure which the intervals of business afforded was exclusively applied.

Mr. Wheaton had scarcely been established at Copenhagen, before he directed his attention to a revision of the Life of Pinkney, a new edition of which was published in Sparks's American Biography. The American Quarterly, at Philadelphia, to which he sent, in October, 1828, an Essay on Scandinavian Literature, and a review of Depping's History of the Normans, as well as the European journals, participated with the North American in his contributions to the periodical press. Among other papers, an Essay on the Danish Constitution was, in 1833, inserted in the Foreign Quarterly Review.3

At

The special subject confided to Mr. Wheaton was the obtaining of an indemnity for the alleged spoliations on our commerce by Denmark, during the latter years of the European war. peace with all the world for eighty years, except a slight difficulty with Sweden; one of the parties to the convention of 1780 for the maintenance of the armed neutrality; and placed geographically at a distance from the contending belligerents, the participation of Denmark, in the hostilities growing out of the French Revolution, was, on her part, no voluntary act. Indeed, she had been, at the commencement of these wars, a common sufferer with the United States and other neutral powers, from the aggressions of the respective belligerents. The unprovoked violation of the law of nations, by Great Britain towards Denmark, in 1800 and 1807, by the bombardment of her capital and the seizure of her fleet in times of peace, when the only crime that could be alleged against her was the maintenance of an impartial neutrality, constitute two of the most wanton acts of flagrant injury, inflicted by a stronger on a weaker power, to be found in the annals of history.

1 Amer. Quart. Rev. vol. iii. p. 481.

3 Foreign Quart. Rev. vol. xi.

2 Ibid. vol. iv. p. 350.

p.

128.

Compelled by her conduct to assume the offensive towards England, and deprived, in a great measure, of her national marine, Denmark had recourse, mainly through private armed vessels, to reprisals against the commerce of her enemy; and though the Berlin and Milan decrees and the other edicts of Napoleon were never formally adopted, yet the execution of the instructions against British commerce, between 1807 and 1811, led to the seizure and condemnation of numerous American vessels. In the latter year, a special mission was intrusted to Mr. George W. Erving, who was measurably successful in arresting further condemnations. As regards past transactions, the effort was without avail, but an intimation was given that when the maritime war was terminated, the subject might be resumed. To prevent those matters passing into oblivion, on two occasions,-in 1818 and 1825, the attention of the Danish government was called to the cases, and in exchanging, in 1826, the ratification of the commercial treaty, a note was addressed by the Secretary of State to the Danish Minister, to preclude all idea of indemnity being abandoned by the United States.

The reclamations were respectfully entertained, though at first met by a plea of poverty. Writing to the Secretary of State, November 20, 1827, Mr. Wheaton says: "You can hardly have an adequate notion how this country was impoverished by the war brought upon it by the unjust aggressions of England, and followed by the dismemberment of the kingdom, at the peace. If they had remained neutral, their commerce and navigation must have sensibly declined at the latter epoch. But when we consider that they lost, at a single blow, their navigation and all their capital engaged in commerce; that they made immense pecuniary sacrifices to the faithful observance of their alliance with France; that the kingdom, with its diminished territory, population, and resources, is now staggering under a debt of upwards of fifty millions of dollars, we cannot wonder at their reluctance to enter into new engagements. They have no means of replacing the capital thus lost. France,

after repeated evasions, has, at last, peremptorily refused to repay them a debt of the most sacred character, being for supplies furnished the French troops, beyond the stipulations of the alliance. This is their condition, although the king is a man of very simple habits, and observes the most praiseworthy economy in his household, and in other respects, except the army, which has been his hobby from his youth. But the former condition of the kingdom has entailed upon him a numerous pension list, and the burden of supporting establishments quite disproportionate to its diminished resources."

Partial indemnity, satisfactory to the claimants, for a class of the cases, was accorded at the close of 1827, and within two months of Mr. Wheaton's arrival. In January, 1829, the Minister of Justice, M. de Stemann, was united with Count Schimmelmann, to discuss with the American Plenipotentiary the means of an amicable adjustment of all the matters in controversy. This measure had been preceded by a declaration of the king's desire "to use every means to reduce the losses to which some American citizens had been subjected, by neglecting, without an intention on their part, those forms which would have served to protect their navigation and their strictly neutral transactions," and by putting Mr. Wheaton in possession of the register of sentences, with the grounds on which they were supported by the competent tribunals, from the year 1807 to

1812.

The appointment of the Danish Plenipotentiaries was made on the eve of the termination of the administration of President Adams; but, fortunately for the country, President Jackson, who was inaugurated in the following March, " did not," to use the language of an experienced senator, in reference to this transaction, "change the negotiator-did not substitute a raw for an experienced minister."1

Mr. Wheaton was met, as Mr. Erving had been at the out

1 Benton's Thirty Years in the Senate, vol. i. p. 603.