usetts to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Henry Wilson, who had
been elected Vice-President. He continued in the Senate until 1877,
when he was appointed by President Hayes, through Gen. Charles Devens,
then Attorney-General, commissioner to revise the statutes of the
United States. That great work was completed and the volume was
published in the autumn of 1878. Some idea of the labor involved in
this undertaking may be gained from the index, which contains over
25,000 references. In 1878 Mr. Boutwell returned to Boston and resumed
the practice of law. In 1880 William M. Evarts, then Secretary of
State, and President Hayes, asked him to accept the position of counsel
and agent for the United States before a Board of International
Arbitrators created by a treaty ratified in June, 1880, between the
United States and France, for the settlement of claims against each
government by citizens of the other government. The claims of French
citizens, 726 in number, arose from the operations of the Union armies
in the South, principally in and around New Orleans, during the Civil
War, and the consideration of them occupied four years. The counsel
and the commissioners were called to the discussion of treaties, of
international law, of citizenship, of the Legislation of France, of the
rights of war, and of the conduct of military officers and military
tribunals. The claims amounted to $35,000,000, including interest; the
recoveries amount to about $625,000; the defence cost the Government
about $500,000; the record is contained in ninety printed volumes of
about one thousand pages each and the pleas and arguments of counsel
for the two governments fill eight large volumes. Mr. Boutwell's own
arguments cover more than 1,100 pages. Many of these cases rank as
_causes celebre,_ notably those of Archbishop Joseph Napoleon Perche,
No. 3; Henri Dubos, No. 26; Joseph Bauillotte, No. 130; Bleze Motte,
No. 131; Theodore Valade, No. 214; Pierre S. Wiltz, No. 313; Remy
Jardel, No. 333; Etienne Derbee, No. 339; Arthur Vallon, No. 394;
David Kuhnagel, No. 438; Dr. Denis Meng, No. 567; Azoline Gautherin,
No. 590; Oscar Chopin, No. 592; S. Aruns Sorrel, No. 594, in which he
probably made the best argument of his career; Jules Le More, No. 595;
Athenais C. Le More, No. 598; Mary Ann Texier, No. 569; and Charles
Heidsieck, No. 691. That of Theodore Valade, No. 214, was a full
account of the battle of Donaldsonville, and those of Archbisho