SEAES. 



461 



nations participated for the trial of cases arising 

 under the treaty, and the vessels of each country 

 subjected to detention were to be sent to the tribu- 

 nal of the country to which they belonged for trial. 

 The features of the outfit of a vessel thai should be 

 regarded as indicating an intention that she 

 should be employed in the slave trade were care- 

 fully detailed in the treaty. Provision was made 

 for awarding damages where the detention was not ' 

 justified by the treaty, and also for the liberation 

 of negroes found in condemned vessels. 



In the next year, 1803, this right of search was 

 territorially extended. In 1870, by treaty, the 

 mixed courts were abolished, and the proper courts 

 of the respective nations substituted therefor, 

 American vessels to be sent to American courts 

 and British vessels to British courts. 



The right of search thus organized between the 

 United States and Great Britain as it regarded the 

 slave trade was assimilated to that which exists 

 under international recognition in the case of piracy, 

 hut subject to specific regulations that have been de- 

 scribed. This treatment of the subject is expressive 

 of a close relation between tiie two classes of eases 

 as depending upon the same principles. 



Tue honorable career thus begun \>y the United 

 State*, in the interest of the liberties of commerce, 

 h:ix in liter years developed an effort to place a 

 more clear and just Interpretation upon neutral 

 rights in which effort she has happily been brought 

 into relation-* to Great Britain more becoming na- 

 tions advanced in civilization than those which were 

 the subject of past differences between them. 



(A. J. w. ) 



SEARS, BAUMAS (1802-1880), educator, was the 

 son of Paid and Rachel (Grander) Sear*, and was 

 born at Sandislield, Mass., Nov. 10, 1802. His 

 earlier education was received in his native town, 

 and his immediate preparation for college nt the 

 University Grammar School in Providence, R. I. 

 He graduated at Brown University in 1*'J">, and 

 then became a student in the Theological Institu- 

 tion at Newton Centre, Mass. In 1827 he was 

 ordained pastor of the first Baptist Church of Hart- ; 

 ford, Conn. This pastorate lasted only two years, 

 as in 1829 he was chosen a professor in the Lite- 

 rary and Theological Institution at Hamilton, X. 

 Y., now known as Madison University. This pro- 

 fessorship he held for four years, resigning and 

 goin<* to Germany in 18.'!3, where he remained 

 nearly three years engaged in the earnest proM-cii- 

 tion of various studies, chiefly historical, philo-M- 

 phical and theological, at several noted German 

 Universities. In 183(5, on his return from Germany, 

 he was elected professor of ecclesiastical history in 

 the Newton Theological Institution, and in 1839 

 he was made professor of Christian Theology and 

 president of the Institution. When he became pro- 

 fessor at Newton the number of men in the col- 

 leges and theological schools who could make 

 intelligent and effective use of Gcrirun learning and 

 criticism was by no means large. Becoming editor 

 of the Chrixtian Review in 1838, his free use of 

 what his long stay in Germany had made available, 

 speedily gave to that Quarterly its distinctive : 

 characteristics among the Quarterlies of the country. 

 Abandoning this editorship in 1841, he afterwards, I 

 when the BibUntheca Sacra was started, continued 

 for many years to use his knowledge of German as a 

 contributor to its pages. In 1848, after twelve years 

 of distinguished service, he resigned his position 

 at the Newton Theological Institution to become 

 the successor of Horace Mann as secretary of the 

 Massachusetts Board of Education. Mr. Mann had 

 accomplished a great work in creating popular 

 interest in public instruction in Massachusetts ; 

 that work Dr. Sears carried forward with great 

 energy, and in the seven years which he devoted 



to it secured to the State a very complete system 

 of public schools. For this service lie was specially 

 fitted by the intimate acquaintance he had acquired 

 while in Gi rinany with the Prussian system of 

 public instruction. In 1855, on the resignation of 

 Dr. Francis Wnyland as president of Brown Uni- 

 versity, Dr. Sears was chosen to succeed him. This 

 office he held with distinguished ability for twelve 

 years. During his presidency, which covered the 

 troublous period of our civil war, .some marked im- 

 provements in the finances and appliances of the 

 college, as well as changes in the courses of study, 

 took place. Dr. \Vaylaiid had introduced in 1850 

 the "new system," as it was called, which opened 

 a much wider range of studies in science, and 

 specially in applied science, than hfd before bern 

 ottered, and which, withal, introduced the new de- 

 gree of Bachelor of Philosophy, and made the 

 degrees of A. B. and A. M. obtainable in a shorter 

 time than had previously been possible. This system 

 was gradually modified until 1802, when with the 

 exception of u three years' course lor the degree of 

 Bachelor of Philosophy, the old curriculum of four 

 years, with a few eleetives, as a condition for receiv- 

 ing the degree of A.B., was restored. The first 

 centennial of the University occurring in 18t>5, the 

 occasion was celebrated with a discourse by Dr. 

 Sears on the history of the University and the work 

 it had accomplished. 



When in March, 1807, the trustees to whom Mr. 

 George Pea body had committed the care of the 

 great fund given by him for the education of the 

 children of the Southern and Southwestern States 

 which had suffered from our civil war were about 

 to organize a plan for the distribution of the income 

 of this fund, the Hon. Robert C. Wiuthrop, with 

 whcm rested the chief responsibility of devising a 

 plan, chanced to meet Dr. Sears in Boston, and 

 asked him to favor the committee with his views 

 of what their best plan would be. He complied 

 with this request, furnishing the written statement 

 of a plan which made so favorable an impression on 

 the minds of the trustees that they adopted it, and 

 immediately and unanimously elected him as the 

 general agent by whom the plan should be carried 

 into execution. To accept this agency he resigned 

 the presidency of Brown University and entered on 

 its duties in the fall of 1807. And of all the posi- 

 tions which he occupied that of general agent of the 

 Pea body Educational Fund was the one for which 

 nature, training, experience and tastes seem to have 

 preeminently fitted him. He held it longer than 

 any other, and had life and health been spared 

 would have continued to hold it. He died at Sara- 

 toga Springs, July 0, 1880. His decease was deeply 

 deplored by the trustees of the fund, and called forth 

 a warm eulogium from the Hon. Robert C. Win- 

 throp on his character and services. His success 

 in the discharge of the difficult duties of the agency 

 had been complete. Entering on those duties at a 

 time when the Southern mind was naturally very 

 sensitive towards everything and every person 

 coming from the North, he yet won for himself 

 and his work the confidence and support of all 

 kinds of people. 



Dr. Sears received the honorary degrees of 

 Doctor of Divinity from Harvard College in 1841 ; 

 and of Doctor of Laws from Yale College in 1802. In 

 addition to many contributions to Quarterlies, pub- 

 lished addresses and educational reports, he wa 

 1 also author (with Edwards and Felton) of Classical 

 | Studies (1843 > ; The Oii-cmninn, which set forth the 

 , Prussian method of teaching Latin (1844); Tbe 

 \ Life of Martin Luther (18">0\ He also edited 

 Nohden's German Grammar, with additions (1842) ; 

 N/"{ Treutiurg <f Ln1li<r, in German with notes 

 (1S40), and Roget's '1 huMitrtts if English Words rend 

 Phra.ic (18o4). (E. o. B.) 



