The Life of the Truly Eminent and Learned Hugo Grotius Part 3

XIV. The United Provinces still bravely maintained their liberty against the efforts of Spain, who since the peace of Vervins had collected her whole force against them. The glory they acquired by this ill.u.s.trious defence determined them to make choice of an Historian who might transmit with dignity to after-ages the signal exploits of this memorable war. Several learned men made great interest for the place; among others Baudius, the famous Professor of Eloquence in the university of Leyden: but the States thought young Grotius (who had taken no step to obtain it) deserved the preference: and what is still more singular, Baudius himself did not find fault with their choice, because he looked upon Grotius to be already a very great man.

XV. His high reputation was on the point of procuring him, about the same time, a very honourable settlement in France. King Henry IV.

sensible that he ought to have a man of the greatest merit at the head of his Library, had, at the recommendation of M. de Villeroi, while Gosselin his librarian was yet living, fixed upon Casaubon, who at that time had the greatest name for literature. This affair was carried on mysteriously: The King desired to see Casaubon in private: he told him, that he intended to make him his librarian; and that Gosselin could not live above a year; adding, with the frank and n.o.ble air which so well became that great Prince: "You shall see my fine books, and tell me what they contain; for I don't understand them myself."

Gosselin lived three years after this conversation, till 1603. The Jesuits being informed Casaubon was to be set over the King's Library, represented to his majesty the inconveniences of confiding a treasure of that nature to the most obstinate of all heretics. This made some impression on the king: nevertheless he was afraid of a clamour were it known that he refused an employment promised to a Protestant on account of his religion. He consulted with some persons; and they advised him to send to Holland for Grotius, whom he knew, and appoint him his librarian; which would make the Public ascribe the change to some private discontent, and not to religion. Casaubon, apprised of what was doing, remained perfectly quiet: but the President de Thou, thinking the King's honour concerned in keeping his word, warmly solicited in his favour, and, after the affair had been suspended some weeks, Casaubon was at length nominated. Grotius had had no part in this whole proceeding: accordingly Casaubon was so far from being offended with him, that, writing to Daniel Heinsius, December 29, 1603, he a.s.sures him if the place could have made Grotius's fortune, he wished he had got it, because he loved him, and admired his prodigious genius.

XVI. Grotius was at that time princ.i.p.ally employed as an Advocate. He tells us that to make himself master of the forms of law, he carefully studied the practical part, transcribing precedents of Pet.i.tions, Prosecutions, and Defences. He pleaded his first cause when he was but seventeen, with universal applause, which he maintained whilst he continued at the Bar. We learn the method he followed in his pleadings from a letter to his son Peter advising him to imitate it. "That you may not, says he, be embarra.s.sed by the little order observed by those against whom you speak, mind one thing, of which I have found the advantage. Distribute all that can be said on both sides under certain heads, which imprint strongly in your memory; and whatever your adversary says, refer it to your own division, and not to his[50]."

Grotius's great attention was to avoid prolixity and confusion in his pleadings[51].

The employment of an advocate, though he acquired infinite honour by it, did not however please him. The reasons of his dislike we have in a letter to Daniel Heinsius, dated July 21, 1603. "Besides that law-suits are improper for a peaceable man, what doth he derive from them? They procure him hatred from those against whom he pleads, small acknowledgments from his clients, and not much honour with the Public.

Add to this, that the time spent in things so little agreeable, might be employed in acquiring others much more useful. I should have been a better philosopher, more master of the Greek, better acquainted with the manners of the Ancients, with the Poets, and Philologists, if I had practiced less as an Advocate."

FOOTNOTES:

[50] Ep. 1134. p. 512.

[51] Ibid.

XVII. His brilliant success at the Bar, which he treats as ungrateful, procured him, however, a very considerable promotion. The place of Advocate-general of the Fisc for Holland and Zealand becoming vacant, it was unanimously conferred on Grotius. This is an employment of great distinction and authority, the person invested with it being charged with the preservation of the public peace and the prosecution of offenders. It was in 1607 he took possession of this important office, which he filled with so much reputation, the States augmented his salary, and promised him a seat in the Court of Holland.

XVIII. John Grotius, on his son's being made Advocate-general, began to think of a wife for him; and fixed upon Mary Reigersberg, of one of the first families in Zealand, whose father had been Burgomaster of Veer: the marriage was solemnised in July, 1608. The greatest encomium of the new-married lady is, that she was worthy such a husband as Grotius. The most perfect harmony subsisted between them, and Grotius held her in the highest esteem[52]. This alliance gave occasion to a number of poems.

John Grotius wrote his son's Epithalamium; Daniel Heinsius composed a Poem on that subject, which, in the opinion of Grotius, was the best of the kind that ever had been written. Grotius himself celebrated his nuptials in some Latin verses, approved of by Scaliger, and translated them into Dutch: he also wrote some in French on that occasion.

FOOTNOTES:

[52] Ep. 423. p. 876.

XIX. At the time of his marriage he was employed in a work of great importance, which was not published till the year following. This was his _Freedom of the Ocean, or the Right of the Dutch to trade to the Indies_; dedicated to all the free nations of Christendom, and divided into thirteen Chapters. The author shews in the first, that by the law of Nations navigation is free to all the world: In the second, that the Portuguese never possessed the sovereignty of the countries in the East-Indies with which the Dutch carry on a trade: In the third, that the donation of Pope Alexander VI. gave the Portuguese no right to the Indies: In the fourth, that the Portuguese had not acquired by the law of arms the sovereignty of the States to which the Dutch trade: He shews in the fifth, that the ocean is immense and common to all; that it is absurd to imagine that those who first navigate a sea ought to be judged to have taken possession of it; that a vessel which cuts the waves of a sea, gives no more right to that sea, than she leaves marks of her way in it; that, besides, the Portuguese are not the first who sailed in the Indian sea, since there are facts which demonstrate it was neither unknown to the Ancients, to the Spaniards, nor to the Carthaginians, nor even to the Romans. The sixth chapter proves, that the right of navigation in that sea cannot belong exclusively to the Portuguese by virtue of Alexander VI's donation, because donation cannot take place in things which enter not into trade; and that, besides, the Pope is not master of the sea. In the seventh chapter it is shewn, that the Eastern sea, or the right of navigation in it, cannot belong to the Portuguese by prescription, since prescription being only by the civil law it cannot operate against the law of nature, by virtue of which, navigation in that sea is free to all the world; that, moreover, prescription doth not take place in things that cannot be alienated, such as the sea, the use of the sea, and things common to all men: add to this, that the opposition of other nations, and their navigation in that sea would have hindered the prescription. It is proved in the eighth, that by the law of nations the commerce between nations is free, and cannot be prohibited without injustice. In the ninth it is shewn that the trade to the Indies doth not belong to the Portuguese, exclusive of other kingdoms, because they first took possession of it, since the t.i.tle of first occupant takes place only in that which is corporeal. The tenth proves, that the Pope could not grant the Portuguese an exclusive trade to the Indies: the eleventh, that this trade does not belong to them by prescription: the twelfth, that nothing is more unjust than the claim to an exclusive trade set up by the Portuguese. The author concludes his work with the thirteenth chapter, exhorting the Dutch to continue their trade to the Indies in time of war, of truce, or of peace.

This work was printed without Grotius's knowledge, and published without his consent. He appears not to have been quite satisfied with it: "My intention (says he in a letter to Camerarius, May 20th, 1637) was good; but the work favours too much of my want of years." They wrote against him in Spain: "I know (he writes his brother, April 1, 1640) that a treatise was written some time ago, at Salamanca, against mine _Of the Freedom of the Ocean_, but it was suppressed by the King of Spain."

Another appeared, in 1625, at Valladolid, ent.i.tled, _De justo imperio Lusitanorum Asiatico_, by one Francis Seraphin de Freiras. _The Freedom of the Ocean_ was refuted in England by the famous Selden in his work ent.i.tled _Mare clausum, seu de dominio maris_. Grotius thought the Spanish author's book not ill done, and deserving of an answer[53]; and was pleased with the politeness shewn him by Selden[54]. But at the time these Answers appeared Grotius was so dissatisfied with the Dutch, he did not think himself obliged to employ his time for people void of grat.i.tude. "Let them seek among my Judges (said he by way of irony on their ignorance) for one to answer the Spaniard[55]." As to Selden's book, Grotius seemed not to mind it; he looked on himself as no longer concerned in the controversy. "I wholly forget what I have been, says he, when I see those to whom I have done so great services, remember me only to hurt me." These sentiments of an indifference bordering on hatred he did not entertain till after the Dutch had done every thing to make him uneasy, as we shall see in the sequel.

FOOTNOTES:

[53] Ep. 144. p. 796.

[54] Ep. 364. p. 858.

[55] Ep. 144. p. 796.

XX. The year after the publication of the treatise _Of the Freedom of the Ocean_, Grotius printed his work _De antiquitate reipublicae Batavae_, divided into seven chapters. In the first the author shews what is an aristocratical government: In the second he gives the history of the ancient Batavi, whose government, he says, was aristocratical, under the command of a head, who was sometimes styled King. He explains, in the third, the state of the Republic of the Batavi in the time of the Roman empire; and building on a pa.s.sage of Tacitus he pretends they were allies, and not subjects of the Romans. In the fourth he enquires into the government of the Batavi after the fall of the Roman empire; from which aera till the establishment of the Counts of Holland we know very little of that nation. The author treats, in the fifth chapter, of the government of Holland in the time of the Counts. The first elected to that dignity was named Diederic, of Friesland, and was Count of the whole nation: He was not a va.s.sal of the Empire, and, as Philip of Leyden observes, he was Emperor in his County. He was not so absolute as a Monarch, and though the Dutch in chusing their Counts generally followed the order of primogeniture, they never set up a Prince without first requiring of him an oath, to conform to the laws: so that he reigned rather by the consent of the people, than by right of succession. The power of the Counts was limited by law; and the taxes were always imposed by the States. In the sixth chapter the author shews that Philip II. King of Spain, endeavouring to change their form of government, occasioned the grand war which procured Holland her liberty.

Grotius explains, in his seventh and last chapter, the form of government established in Holland after the Dutch threw off the Spanish yoke. The work is dedicated to the States of Holland and West-Friesland, March 16, 1610.

The States were extremely pleased with it: they returned their thanks to the author, and made him a present[56]. He afterwards added notes, serving for proofs of the several facts: these were carried away with his other papers at the time of his arrest; but the Elzevirs, intending to publish a new edition of it, acquainted Grotius, who was at pains to get the notes returned; and they are now printed at the end of the Elzevir edition. His love to his country led him to advance several things in this work, which he afterwards owned to be mistakes[57]; in particular, that the Batavi had always been free, and not subject to the ancient Franks[58].

While this book was in the press, Grotius, and his father, who commonly a.s.sisted him in his writings, translated it into Dutch[59].

FOOTNOTES:

[56] Apolog. C. 1.

[57] Ep. 635. p. 947.

[58] Grotii manes, Conringius, Pope, p. 947.

[59] Ep. 662. p. 834.

XXI. Elias Oldenbarnevelt, Pensionary of Rotterdam, and brother to the Grand Pensionary of Holland, dying in 1613, the city of Rotterdam offered that important place to Grotius, whose name was so famous, foreigners sought to draw him to them by offers of honours and lucrative posts, which love to his Country made him constantly reject. It was some time before he yielded to the desires of Rotterdam. By the ferment of mens minds he foresaw that very great commotions would speedily shake the Republic; this made him insist with the gentlemen of Rotterdam that he should never be turned out of his place of Pensionary: and on their promising accordingly, he accepted the employment, which gave him a seat in the a.s.sembly of the States of Holland, and afterwards in that of the States General.

Hitherto Grotius had had very little connection with the Grand Pensionary; but from this time contracted an intimate friends.h.i.+p with him, which gave him the greater pleasure as he was most desirous of the counsels of a man of so much experience, who had been himself nine years Pensionary of Rotterdam, and above thirty years Grand Pensionary of Holland (in which employment he had done his Country most essential services) and who was famous not only in Holland, but in foreign countries, for his many emba.s.sies, and acknowledged prudence and abilities.

The great intimacy between them gave rise to a report, that the Grand Pensionary, who was sensible of Grotius's great merit, and who loved him, designed to have him made Grand Pensionary. We have this particular from Grotius himself[60], who a.s.sures us he never desired that high office, the rather as his health would not then permit him to discharge the many functions belonging to it. For by the Grand Pensionary the States see, hear, and act; and though he has no deliberative voice, and is the lowest in rank, his influence is the greatest. He manages Prosecutions, receives Dispatches, and answers them, and is as it were Attorney-General of the States: before he be called to be Grand-Pensionary, he is nominated Advocate of the States.

FOOTNOTES:

[60] Apol. C. 19.

XXII. There was at that time a high dispute between the English and Dutch concerning the right of fis.h.i.+ng in the northern seas. Two vessels had sailed from Amsterdam to Greenland to kill walrus, a sea-animal, larger than an ox, with the muzzle of a lion, the skin covered with hair, four feet, and two large teeth in the upper jaw, flat, hard, and so white that in colour and value they equal those of the elephant: some even give them the preference, because, besides their exceeding whiteness, they are not subject to grow yellow. These two vessels having caught twenty-two walrus, were met by some English vessels bound to Russia, who hail'd them, and demanded whether they had pasports from the King of Great Britain to fish at Greenland? The Dutchmen answered, that the Sea was free, and they had pasports from Count Maurice their Stadtholder. "That is not enough, said the English[61]: and to let you know that that sea belongs to the King our master, if you will not give us instantly the walrus you have taken, with your boats, nets, and instruments for killing them, we'll send you to the bottom." The two Dutch vessels, unable to resist, were obliged to obey. Returning to Holland, they made their complaint; and the affair being laid before the States, it was resolved that Grotius, who had written on the subject and was more master of it than any one, should be sent to England to demand justice: But, says the _Mercure Francois_, he found the old proverb true: The strongest are masters of the sea, and such never care to make rest.i.tution: so that he could obtain no satisfaction.

This denial of justice from the English determined the Dutch not to go to Greenland for the future without a force sufficient to revenge themselves on the English, or to have nothing to fear from them.

The dispute growing serious, to prevent any acts of hostility, and to know on what grounds they went, a conference was held in 1615 between the Commissaries of England and Holland, in which the debate turned chiefly on the whale-fishery. Grotius, who was one of the Commissaries from the Province of Holland, gives the history of this conference in a Letter to Du Maurier, dated at Rotterdam, June 5, 1615. The Dutch Commissaries put the English to silence, by demonstrating, that neither the land nor the sea of Greenland belonged to them, and that they had no right to hinder the Dutch to navigate and catch whales in that sea, of which none could claim the property. That the land did not belong to them, because till the year 1596 no mortal had set foot on it; that the Dutch discovered it the year before, and gave it the name it still retains, as may be seen in all the modern geographers, on the globes, and carts. The English wanted to reply that Hugh Willoughby discovered it in 1553: but the Dutch shewed even by the Journal of his voyage, that setting out from Finland he landed on the Island which bears his name, at a great distance from Greenland; that he died of hunger and cold, with all his companions, on the coast of Lapland, where the Laplanders found him, next summer, and from whence his Journals were sent to England. The English, not knowing what to answer, said, it was a high indignity to their master, to dispute a right of which he had hitherto been in peaceable possession; and that their instructions imported, they should break off the conference unless the Dutch would acknowledge England's claim to Greenland. What was still more diverting (continued Grotius) they added, that they had not then their t.i.tles, but would shew them to Caron, the Dutch Agent in England, and, they flattered themselves, on seeing them, he would yield the point. They like better (adds he in the conclusion) to deal with him, than dispute with us, because they will take his silence, as they have done already, for submission.

FOOTNOTES:

[61] Mercure Francois, an. 1613.

XXIII. If Grotius had ground to be dissatisfied with the disingenuousness and injustice of the English Ministry in his negotiation concerning the Fishery, he had at least reason to be pleased with the politeness of King James, who, Casaubon informs us, gave Grotius a most gracious reception, and was charmed with his conversation. But the greatest pleasure he received by this voyage was the intimate friends.h.i.+p he contracted with Casaubon. They knew one another before by character, and highly esteemed each other. They were made to be intimate friends: in both the most profound erudition was joined with the most perfect probity. They had still another sympathy to knit faster the band of this union: both ardently wished to see all Christians united in one faith and desired nothing more, than to be employed in that great work. They have left behind them testimonies of the satisfaction they found in each other's acquaintance. "For my part, says Grotius in a letter to John Frederic Gronovius[62], I reckon it one of the greatest felicities of my whole life to have been loved by a man as ill.u.s.trious for his piety, his probity, and his candor, as for his extensive learning. It was by his counsels or those of persons he approved that I conducted myself in the most difficult times."

"I respect no less, says he in another letter, his frankness and his probity, than his uncommon erudition. His letters sufficiently prove what great friends.h.i.+p he had for me."

We find in fact that they contain evidences of the highest esteem for Grotius. To Daniel Heinsius he writes, April 13, 1613, "I am very well; and cannot say enough of my felicity in enjoying the friends.h.i.+p of such a great man as Grotius. O that incomparable man! I knew him before: but fully to comprehend the excellency of his divine genius, one must see him, and hear him converse. His countenance speaks probity, and his discourse discovers the deepest learning and the most sincere piety.

Think not that I only am his admirer; all learned and good men entertain the same sentiments for him, particularly the King."

Casaubon writes to the President de Thou, April 20, 1613, to acquaint him what pleasure he had received by seeing Grotius. "I must let you know, says he, that I have seen here Hugo Grotius. He is a man of admirable probity and learning[63]."

They had long conversations together on religion. Casaubon ardently desired a reunion of the Protestants with the Roman Catholics[64]: and would have set about it, had he staid longer in France, as he informed Descordes, who repeated it to Grotius. He greatly respected the opinions of the ancient church[65], and was persuaded its sentiments were more sound than those of the Ministers of Charenton. Grotius and he had imparted their thoughts to each other before the voyage to England: for Casaubon congratulates him, January 8, 1612, on his desiring nothing but peace and a coalition; and communicated Grotius' sentiments to King James; who approved of them. This shews that Grotius thought it was wrong to depart from the discipline and forms of the ancient church: Casaubon was of the same mind; and his Letter to M. de Thou is a demonstrative proof that these two excellent men did not differ in matters of Religion. "I esteem him highly, says he[66], on account of his other great qualities; for he judges of the modern subjects of religious controversy like a learned and good man; and in his veneration for antiquity agrees with the wisest."