WHEATON, Henry (1785-1848), American lawyer and diplomatist, was born at Providence, Rhode Island, on 27th November 1785. He graduated at Brown university in 1802, was admitted to the bar in 1805, and, after two years’ study abroad, practised law at Providence (1807-12) and at New York City (1812-25). He was a justice of the Marine Court of the city of New York from 1815 to 1819, and reporter of the United States Supreme Court from 1816 to 1827, aiding in 1825 in the revision of the laws of New York. His diplomatic career began in 1825, with an appointment to Denmark as chargé d’affaires, followed by that of minister to Prussia, 1835 to 1845. During this period he had published a Digest of the Law of Maritime Captures (1815); twelve volumes of Supreme Court Reports, and a Digest; a great number of historical articles, and some collected works ; Elements of International Law (1836); Histoire du Progrès du Droit des Gens en Europe (1841), translated in 1845 by William B. Lawrence as a History of the Law of Nations in Europe and America; and the Right of Visitation and Search (1842). The History took at once the rank which it has always held, that of the leading w ork on the subject of which it treats. 3 Wheaton’s general theory is that international law consists of “those rules of conduct which reason deduces, as consonant to justice, from the nature of the society existing among independent nations, with such definitions and modifications as may be established by general consent.” The publication of a second translation by Dana in 1866 led to a prolonged lawsuit between him and Lawrence. In 1846 Wheaton, who was more than sixty years of age, was requested to resign by the new president, Polk, who needed his place for another appointment. The request provoked ...