1912.] BALCH— SOME FORMER MEMBERS. 581 



brotherhood of nations agreed to abolish privateering between them- 

 selves. In that early step looking to free humanity from legalized 

 sea pirates Franklin aided to inaugurate that aim of our American 

 diplomacy that for a century and a quarter has pressed — and not 

 without success, either — towards a greater and greater immunity 

 from capture of private property on the high seas with resulting 

 advantages to all humanity.* And of all three of these classes of 

 men represented by the founder of the society himself, the society 

 has upon its rolls, great and honored names. 



Of statesmen, George Washington was a member of the Amer- 

 ican Philosophical Society. When in the usual course of events, his 

 death was announced, the society adopted a resolution directing its 

 members to wear crape on their left arm for thirty days, as a mark 

 of respect, and commissioned Gilbert Stuart to paint his portrait 

 for its hall. This portrait replica still hangs in the hall of the 

 society, and since the society is a corporation, the picture is one of 

 the very few still in the possession of its original owner. Thomas 

 Jefferson, who was twice president of the Union, not only can be 

 claimed by us as a member, but also as our president for a number 

 of years. Not the least of the services that Jefferson rendered to 

 mankind Avas the work that he did to advance the law of neutrality 

 in a liberal and enlightened way. For, as the distinguished British 

 international jurisconsult, Mr. Westlake — the holder for twenty 

 years of the Whewell chair at Cambridge University, and an ex- 

 judge of The Hague International Court (1900-1906) — has pointed 

 out in his treatise on " International Law,"^ the position that Jeffer- 

 son as secretary of state in Washington's administration took on the 

 rules of the law of nations involved in the efforts of the young 

 American republic to maintain its neutrality during the war then in 

 progress between Great Britain and France, the two most powerful 



* Henry Wheaton, edited by R. H. Dana, " International Law," Boston, 

 1866; £mile de Laveleye, " Du respect de la propriete privee sur mer en temps 

 de guerre" (Revue de Droit Infeniational), Brussells, 1875; John Westlake, 

 " International Law," Cambridge University Press, 1907 ; Ernest Nys, " Le 

 Droit International," Brussells, 1904-6 ; " Les £tats-Unis et le Droit des Gens," 

 Brussells, 1908; J. de Louter, " Het Stellig Volkenrecht," The Hague, 1910. 



' John Westlake, " International Law," Cambridge University Press, 1907, 

 Volume II., pages 175-176. 



