Robert Plumer Ward - Works

Works

He wrote non-fiction and fiction, with some books on international law.

• An Enquiry into the Foundation and History of the Law of Nations in Europe (1795). This has been regarded as the first attempt to write a history of international law. It was at the suggestion of William Scott.
• A Treatise of the relative Rights and Duties of Belligerents and Neutral Powers in Maritime Affairs, in which the Principles of the armed Neutralities and the Opinions of Hübner and Schlegel are fully discussed (1801). This work related to the Second League of Armed Neutrality 1800–1 and was undertaken at Lord Grenville's request, as Foreign Secretary, to represent the rights of belligerents from the British point of view. It was not published in complete form, and in an introduction to an 1875 reprint, Henry Stanley, 3rd Baron Stanley of Alderley commented on the extremely low subsequent profile of the work.
• An Essay on Contraband; being a Continuation of the Treatise of the relative Rights and Duties (1801).
• A View of the relative Situations of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Addington previous to and on the night of Mr. Patten's Motion (1804) was Ward's (anonymous) involvement in early 1804 in a pamphlet war, on Pitt's side against supporters of the Addington Ministry. It had been set off by A Few Cursory Remarks upon the State of Parties (1803, anonymous, by Thomas Richard Bentley). Henry Addington was probably not involved, but Hiley Addington and Charles Bragge quite likely were; on Pitt's side Thomas Courtenay was used to reply, but Ward involved himself on his own initiative. There was a reply from John Adolphus.
• An Enquiry into the Manner in which the different Wars of Europe have commenced during the last two Centuries (1804 or 1805). This work defended the seizure of a Spanish treasure-ship (6 October 1804); and was read and approved by Pitt before publication.
• Tremaine; or, the Man of Refinement (1825), novel.
• De Vere; or, the Man of Independence (1827), novel. In it George Canning is supposedly depicted under the character of Wentworth.
• Illustrations of Human Life, 1837; 2nd edit. 1843. Saint Lawrence in this work is an based on a true story, from Joseph Hunter, A True Account of the Alienation and Recovery of the Estates of the Offleys of Norton (1754).
• An Historical Essay on the real Character and Amount of the Precedent of the Revolution of 1688, 1838, 2 vols. When this work was badly reviewed in the Edinburgh Review and styled a Tory pamphlet in the guise of history, Ward answered the reviewer in an anonymous pamphlet entitled The Reviewer Reviewed
• Pictures of the World at Home and Abroad, 1839, 3 vols.
• An Historical Essay on the Real Character and Amount of the Precedent of the Revolution of 1688 (1838)
• De Clifford; or, the Constant Man (1841), novel.

Memoirs of the Political and Literary Life of Robert Plumer Ward appeared in 1850, edited by Edmund Phipps. Selections from Ward's unpublished works are contained in vol. ii. of the Memoir; they are short essays on different subjects under the title of The Day Dreamer. The published portion of Ward's Diary extends from 1809 (when he began it) to 22 November 1820; the remaining portion was not published because the editor regarded it (in 1850) as too recent. Its historical value is Ward was on intimate terms with Spencer Perceval.

Many of his letters to Peter George Patmore who advised in literary matters are in Patmore's Friends and Acquaintances. Ward edited Chatsworth, or the Romance of a Week, a number of tales by Patmore.