LIEBER, FRANCIS (1800-1872), German-American pub licist, was born at Berlin on March 18, 1800. He served with his two brothers under Blucher in the campaign of 1815, fighting at Ligny, Waterloo and Namur, where he was twice dangerously wounded. Shortly afterwards he was arrested for his political sentiments, the chief evidence against him being several songs of liberty which he had written. After several months he was discharged without a trial, but was forbidden to pursue his studies at the Prussian universities. He accordingly went to Jena, con tinuing his studies at Halle and Dresden. He subsequently took part in the Greek War of Independence, publishing his experiences in his Journal in Greece (Leipzig, 1823, and under the title The German Anacharsis, Amsterdam, 1823). In 1827 he went to the United States and as soon as possible was naturalized. He settled at Boston, and for five years edited The Encyclopaedia Americana. From 1835 to 1856 he was professor of history and political economy in South Carolina college at Columbia, S.C., and during this period wrote his three chief works, Manual of Political (1838), Legal and Political Hermeneutics (1839) and Civil Lib erty and Self Government (1853). In 1857 he was elected to a
similar post in Columbia college, New York, where in 1865 he became professor of constitutional history and public law. Dur ing the Civil War Lieber rendered services of great value to the Government. Upon the requisition of the president, he prepared the important Code of War for the Government of the Armies of the United States in the Field. This code suggested to Bluntschli his codification of the law of nations, as may be seen in the preface to his Droit International Codifie. During this period also, Lieber wrote his Guerilla Parties with Reference to the Laws and Usages of War. He died Oct. 2, 1872.
His Miscellaneous Writings were published by D. C. Gilman (Philadelphia, 1880. See T. S. Perry, Life and Letters (1882), and biography by Harby (1899). Consult also Ernest Nys, "Francis Lieber, His Life and Work," Am. Jour. Internat. Law, vol. v., pp. 84-117, 335-393 (5911) ; Chester Squire Phinmy, Francis Lieber's Influence on American Thought (1918) ; and Louis Martin Sears, "The Human Side of Francis Lieber," So. Atlantic Quar., vol. xxvii., p. 42-61 (1928).