Stephen S. Remak Papers

A prominent member of Philadelphia Bar Association for the length of his career, Stephen Samuel Remak was born in Posen, Grand Duchy of Posen, Polish Province of Prussia on April 4, 1821. He immigrated to the United States at the age of 28 to take up residence with his brother, Gustavius Remak, who was at the time one of the leading German-American citizens of Philadelphia, PA. It was upon his arrival that Remak began to study law under the guidance of his brother and Moses A. Dropsie. He was admitted into the Philadelphia Bar on May 3, 1854 and only three months later was commissioned to arrest and extradite Richard Sachs, alias Adolph Hoffman, who had allegedly falsified the books of the Bank of the City of Breslau, Silesia, Prussia. This occurred in August 1854 and was the first case of extradition between the United States and any German Sate. After the unification of the German empire in 1871, Remak served as the legal adviser of the Imperial German Consulate. He was created a Knight of the Golden Crown of Prussia of the third class in recognition of his legal services to the German Government in May 1879. As a result, he became known as one of the best-versed lawyers at the bar in matters of international law. At home in the United States, Remak was active in local and national politics. He attended the Democratic National Convention in Cincinnati in 1856 and supported the nomination of James Buchanan as the Democratic presidential candidate. It was at this time that Remak formed a close relationship with Buchanan, which subsequently led to his appointment on October 16, 1858 to United States Consul at Trieste, an Italian port city on the Adriatic, which at the time, was under Austrian control. He did not take office until January 1, 1859 and occupied this post until November 18, 1861. After his term expired Remak took a tour of Europe before returning to the United States. He studied in Italy at the University of Turin and resided in Paris from December 1863 to 1865. While in Paris, he wrote a book entitled, La Paix en Amerique. He returned to Philadelphia on July 23, 1867, and resumed legal practice less than two months later. In 1869, Remak wrote a series of communications on the "Qualifications of Voters", which were published by John W. Forney, editor and proprietor of the Press. He remained an avid supporter of the Democratic Party for the remainder of his life, as well as a member of the Masonic Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, which he represented in the civil courts as counsel. At the time of his death in 1890, he stood at the head of the German counselors of the Philadelphia Bar.

So that researchers may possess an understanding of the context under which the Stephen S. Remak Papers were written, a brief outline of events relating to the political instability plagued Europe during the 19th century follows. In 1948, the Hapsburg Empire was caught up in the revolutionary events that were sparked by the rise of liberal and nationalist ideologies across Europe. That same year, Emperor Ferdinand abdicated the throne and his eighteen-year old nephew was crowned Emperor Francis Joseph I. The young emperor was left with the responsibility of crushing the rebellion that was taking place in Hungary, and reasserting Austrian leadership in Germany. In order to accomplish this, Francis Joseph sought for Russian military assistance, which enabled him to crush the rebellions by September 1849. Four years later, a dispute between Russia and France over the Palestinian holy places led to the outbreak of the Crimean War. Austrian initially sought to mediate the conflict but eventually joined the western allies against Russia. By failing to repay Russia for its help in 1848, Emperor Francis Joseph lost critical Russian support for his control over Germany and Italy. France took advantage of the estrangement between Austria and Russia to set up a military confrontation between Austria and Italian nationalist forces. The fight for Italian unification, which had begun in 1848, had coalesced around Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia-Piedmont and his minister Camillo Benso di Cavour. Cavour realized that Sardinia could not defeat Austria without foreign aid and sought French and British support by introducing social reforms within Sardinia and joining the allies in the Crimean War. By inserting the small State of Savoy within the schemes and alliances of the great European powers Cavour succeeded in ensuring the friendship of neighboring France. In 1859, following the speech by Victor Emmanuel II on support of Piedmont for Italians with nationalistic aspirations, Austria declared war on the Kingdom of Sardinia. With the help of Napoleon III=s French forces, the Sardinian army defeated the Austrians at Magenta and caused them to retreat at the Solferino on June 24, 1859. Because Francis Joseph was unwilling to make the concessions that were Prussia's price for assistance from the German Confederation, he surrendered Lombardy in July 1859, which was sealed by the Treaty of Zurich. Assuming the title of dictator, Giuseppe Garibaldi entered Naples with in September 1860, the Bourbon King having fled. Cavour's troops then invaded the Papal States, and met Garibaldi's forces in the Volturno, where Garibaldi ceded his command to Victor Emmanuel as King of Italy. The assembly of the first Italian parliament in Turin ratified this title on March 17, 1861, the same year that Cavour died. Italian nationalist forces would not gain Venetia until the conclusion of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and Trieste remained under Austrian control until it was annexed in 1919.