EVARTS, William Maxwell, American lawyer and statesman: b. Boston, Mass, 6 Feb. 1818; d. New York, 28 Feb. 1901. He was grad uated from Yale in 1837, studied law in the Harvard Law School and the office of Daniel Lord of New York, in 1841 was admitted to the bar, and in 1849-53 was assistant district attor ney in New York. In 1851 he was successful in the conduct of the prosecution of the Cuban filibusters of the Cleopatra expedition. He was retained in 1857 and 1860 to argue the Lemmon slave case on behalf of the State of New York against Charles O'Conor, counsel for Virginia. An active and prominent Republican, he made the speech nominating Seward for the Presi dency at the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1860, though subsequently moving to make the nomination of Lincoln unanimous. In 1861 he and Horace Greeley (q.v.) were rival candidates before the State legislature for appointment to the senatorship vacated by Sew ard, newly made Secretary of State. As a com promise, Ira Harris was finally appointed. Evarts' legal knowledge was frequently em ployed in the service of the administration. On behalf of the government he conducted numer ous important cases. Among such were that be fore the Supreme Court to establish the right of thi United States during the Civil War to deal with the captured ships as maritime prizes (1862), and that maintaining the unconstitu tional character of the State laws taxing United States bonds or stock of the national banks without authorization of Congress (1865-66). He was principal counsel for Andrew Johnson (q.v.) in the President's trial for impeachment, and by his lofty judicial argument contributed much to a result which has since been regarded as most fortunate. He then went into John son's Cabinet as Attorney-General for the re inainingyear of the term. In 1872 he was chief counsel for the United States before the Geneva tribunal for settlement of the Alabama claims. As chief counsel for the Republican party before the electoral commission (q.v.) that
settled the Hayes-Tilden Presidential dispute, Evarts based his argument on the constitutional idea that sovereign States must conduct their elections and govern themselves without Federal interference, pointing out that the electoral re turns from Louisiana revealed the choice of Hayes electors. During Hayes' administration he was Secretary of State. He made, in a report upon the matter of American control of a trans-isthmian canal, whether at Nicaragua or Panama. His administration of the office was marked by skill in diplomatic questions, the im provement of the consular service and the pub lication of consular reports on the economic and commercial status of foreign lands. In 1::1 he was a delegate to the international monetary conference at Paris, and in 1885 entered the United States Senate, his term expiring 3 March 1891. He was the senior partner in the law firm of Evarts, Choate and Beaman, and was frequently retained in important corpora tion cases. While in the Senate he made several noteworthy speeches and he also pronounced many distinguished occasional addresses, includ ing the Centennial oration at Philadelphia in 1876.
EVE. See ADAM.
EVE, Paul Fitzsimmons, American phy sician: b. near Augusta, Ga., 1806; d. 1877. He was graduated at Franklin College in 1826 and at the medical college of the University of Pennsylvania in 1828. He then studied for two years in Europe, and in 1831 was sur geon during the Polish Revolution. In 1832-49 he was professor of surgery in Georgia Medi cal College, and in Louisville 1849, the Univer sity of Nashville 1850-68, and the University of Missouri in 1868-77. He was elected president of the American Medical Association in 1857. He published over 600 articles on medical sub jects. including 'Remarkable Cases in Surgery> (1857).