The Life of Hugo Grotius Part 4

[Sidenote: Brief View of the History of the Netherlands.]

We now reach the aera, at which our intended biography commences. A Literary History of the Netherlands, from the time of their becoming subjects to the Dukes of Burgundy, till this aera, is much wanted.

CHAPTER I.

THE BIRTH AND EDUCATION OF HUGO GROTIUS.

1582-1597.

The Life of Erasmus, which we have offered to the public, presents to its readers, the interesting spectacle of a person, born under every, disadvantage for the acquisition of literature, surmounting them all by his genius and perseverance, and reaching, at an early age, the highest summit of literary eminence: the Life of GROTIUS, which we now attempt, exhibits the successful literary career of a person, born with every advantage, undeviatingly availing himself of them, and attaining equal eminence; with the addition of high reputation for great political wisdom and public integrity.

[Sidenote: His Birth and Education.]

He was born at Delft, on the 10th April 1582. His parents were John de Groote, and Alida Averschie. John was the second son of Hugo de Groote by Elselinda Heemskirke. Hugo was the son of Cornelius Cornet by Ermingarde, the daughter and sole heiress of Diederic de Groote. Upon their marriage, Diederic stipulated that Cornet should adopt the surname of Groote: it signifies _Great_, and is said to have been given to Diederic for some signal service, which he had rendered to his sovereign. All the males and females mentioned in the genealogy of Grotius were of n.o.ble extraction.

Learning appears to have been hereditary in the family: John, the father of Hugo, the subject of our biography, was both a lawyer in great practice, and a general scholar.

The 10th of April, on which GROTIUS was born, was Easter Sunday in that year: he always observed his birthday with religious solemnity.

All the biographers of Grotius a.s.sert, and their a.s.sertion will be easily believed, that he discovered, in his earliest years, great apt.i.tude for the acquisition of learning, great taste, judgment and application, and a wonderful memory. He found, in his father, an excellent tutor: by him, Grotius was instructed in the rudiments of the Christian doctrine, and his infant mind impressed with sound principles of morality and honour; in this, he was aided by the mother of Grotius.

The youth corresponded with their cares. He has celebrated, in elegant verses, their pious attention to his early education. The mention of these verses will bring to the recollection of every English reader, the magnificent strains, in which, Milton addressed _his_ father.

[Sidenote: CHAP. I. 1582-1597.]

As soon as Grotius had pa.s.sed his childhood, he was placed with Utengobard, an Arminian clergyman: we shall see that this circ.u.mstance had a decisive influence upon his future life. He retained a lasting regard for Utengobard, and a grateful recollection of his obligations to him. At the age of twelve years, Grotius was sent to the university of Leyden, and committed to the care of Francis Junius. Here, he distinguished himself so much by his diligence, his talents, and his modesty, as to obtain the notice and regard of several of the most famous scholars of the times. Even Joseph Scaliger, equally distinguished by his learning and caustic arrogance, noticed him, and condescended to direct his studies. He was scarcely eleven years of age when Douza, one of the princes of the republic of letters in those times, celebrated his praises in verse: He declared that "he could scarcely believe that Erasmus promised so much as Grotius at his age:"

he announced that "Grotius would soon excel all his contemporaries, and bear a comparison with the most leaned of the antients."

Grotius also gained the esteem of Barneveldt, the grand pensionary, in whose fate he was afterward involved. In 1587, the Dutch sent Count Justin of Na.s.sau and Barneveldt, at the head of an emba.s.sy, to Henry IV.

of France. Barneveldt permitted Grotius to accompany him.

[Sidenote: His Birth and Education.]

Grotius had been preceded by his reputation. He was known to M. de Busenval, the monarch's amba.s.sador in Holland. Busenval described him favourably to the monarch. Henry gave Grotius a gracious reception, and was so pleased with his conversation and demeanour, that he presented him with his picture and a golden chain. Grotius gives an account of this emba.s.sy, in the seventh book of his Annals: he abstains, with a praiseworthy modesty, from any mention of himself: but, in one of his poems, he dwells with complacency on his having seen the monarch, "who owed his kingdom only to his valour"--

" ... _Le Heros, qui regna sur la France, Et par droit de conquete et par droit de naissance_."

VOLTAIRE, _Henriade_.

Grotius was so much pleased with his reception, and the present which he received from Henry, that he caused a print of himself, adorned with the chain presented to him by Henry, to be engraved. He was introduced to many of the most distinguished persons at Paris: there was one, whom he particularly esteemed, but whom, from some unexplained circ.u.mstance, he missed seeing.

[Sidenote: Chap. 1. 1582-1597]

This was _the President de Thou_, a name never to be mentioned without veneration. He had been employed by his sovereign on many delicate and important commissions, and had acquitted himself in all, with ability and honour. He had filled the office of _Maitre des Requetes_, and been advanced to that of _President a Mortier_. He was employed, at this time, upon his immortal History. In the account which it gives of the events, that took place in France, it is ent.i.tled to almost unqualified praise: in regard to what happened to other countries, he necessarily depended on the information which he received from them, and cannot therefore be equally relied upon. The prolixity, with which he is now reproached, was not felt at the time in which he wrote; every event, however small, was then thought to be important, and mult.i.tudes were personally interested in it. But the charm of his work is, that every page of it shews a true lover of his country, an impartial judgment, and an honourable mind. The memoirs, which he has left us of his own life, recently translated into English by Mr. Collinson, are interesting and entertaining. He collected a very large library, both of printed books and ma.n.u.scripts, and had them splendidly bound. The whole was sold by auction in the reign of Louis XIV, and scarcely produced half the sum which the binding of its volumes had cost: The same has been said of the Harleian collection, sold in our times.

[Sidenote: His Birth and Education.]

Having remained a twelvemonth at Paris, Grotius returned to Holland.

Immediately after his arrival, he addressed a letter to the president de Thou, in which he expressed great mortification at not having seen him, and requested his acceptance of a book accompanying his letter, which he had dedicated to the Prince of Conde. The president de Thou was highly pleased with this letter: a correspondence took place between them. Grotius furnished the president with materials for that portion of his history which related to the troubles in the Low Countries.

In the last letter of the President de Thou, in this correspondence, he earnestly dissuades Grotius from engaging in the religious disputes of the times. In reply to it, Grotius respectfully intimates to the president, that "he found himself obliged to enter into them by his love of his country; his wish to serve his church, and the request of those to whom he owed obedience:" promising, at the same time, "to abstain from all disputes that were not necessary." After the death of the President, Grotius celebrated his memory in a poem, which was considered by the bard's admirers to be one of his best performances.

CHAPTER II.

GROTIUS EMBRACES THE PROFESSION OF THE LAW. HIS FIRST PROMOTIONS.

1597-1610.

In the ruin of the Roman Empire, her laws were lost in the general wreck. During the 200 years, which followed the reign of Constantine the Great, Europe was a scene of every calamity, which the inroads of barbarians could inflict, either on the countries through which they pa.s.sed, or those in which they settled. About the sixth century, Europe obtained some degree of tranquillity, in consequence of the introduction of feudalism; the most singular event in the annals of history. At first, it produced a general anarchy; but the system of subordination upon which it was grounded, contained in it the germ of regular government, and even, of jurisprudence. Its effects were first visible in the _various codes of law_ which the barbarous nations promulgated.

Such are the Salic, the Ripuarian, the Alemannic, the Burgundian, the Visigothic, and the Lombard laws.

[Sidenote: Feudal Jurisprudence.]

A complicated or refined system of jurisprudence is not to be looked for in them; but, if they are considered with due regard to the state of society for which they were calculated, they will be found to contain much that deserves praise. The _capitularies_, or short legislative provisions, propounded by the sovereign, and adopted by the public a.s.semblies of the nation, were a further advance in legislation. By degrees, so much regularity prevailed in the judicial proceedings and legal transactions, that they were regulated by established _formularies_; and, in addition to those provisions, every nation contained a collection of unwritten usages or _customs_, which had the force of law. The natural tendency of these inst.i.tutions to introduce order and peaceful habits into society was great; but it was so much counteracted by the turbulent spirit of every cla.s.s of men, that it was not till the beginning of the thirteenth century that this effect of them became discernible.

[Sidenote: CHAP. II. 1597-1610]

From this time, the governments of Europe sensibly improved. A better spirit of legislation shewed itself; the administration of justice became more regular; trade and husbandry were protected, several arts were encouraged; and a general wish for a better order of things prevailed in every part of Europe. While the public mind was in this state of improvement, an event fortunately happened, which gave it a very salutary direction. This was, (what we have already noticed), the discovery of a complete copy of the _Pandects of Justinian_ at Amalfi, a town in Italy, near Salerno. From Amalfi, it found its way to Pisa; and in 1406, was carried to Florence, where it has since remained.

[Sidenote: The Civil Law]

Few events in history can be mentioned which have conduced more to the welfare of Europe than this discovery. The codes, the capitularies, the formularies, and the customs, by which, till that time, the feudal nations had been governed, fell very short of affording them the legal provisions, which society, in the improved state of civilization, to which it was then advancing, evidently required. Unexpectedly, a system of law presented itself, which seemed to contain every thing that the most enlightened men of those times could have desired. The wisdom and justice of the system of law expressed in the Pandects seem to have been universally felt. The study of it was immediately pursued with ardour.

It was introduced into several universities; exercises were performed, lectures read, and degrees conferred in that, as in other branches of science; and most of the nations of the continent adopted it, if not as the basis, at least as an important portion of their civil jurisprudence. A regular _succession of civil_ lawyers followed. At first, they rather inc.u.mbered the text with their subtleties, than ill.u.s.trated it by learning and discrimination. _Andrew Alciat_ was the first who united the study of polite learning with the study of the civil law: he was founder of a school called the _Cujacian_, from _Cujas_, the glory of civilians. Of him, it may be truly said, that he found the civil law in wood and left it in marble.

This school has subsisted until our time: it has never been without writers of the greatest taste, judgment and erudition; the names of Cujacius, Augustinus, the Gothofredi, Heineccius, Voetius, Vinnius, Gravina and Pothier, are as dear to the scholar as they are to the lawyer; an Englishman however must reflect with pleasure, that the Commentaries of his countryman, Sir William Blackstone, will not suffer in a comparison with any foreign work of jurisprudence. So far as the researches of the present writer extend, the only one that can be put into compet.i.tion with them, is the _Jus Canonic.u.m of Van-Espen_.

[Sidenote: CHAP. II. 1597-1610]

The judicial process of the nations on the continent differed considerably from that of England. Trial by jury, and separate courts of equity, were unknown to them. Some causes were heard and decided by all the magistrates of the courts; others were referred to one or more of their number. The king's advocate, or the advocate of the state, as he was termed in a republic, held a situation between the judges and the suitors: his province was to sum the facts and arguments of the cause, and to suggest his opinions upon them to the judges.--We trust our readers will excuse this summary view of foreign jurisprudence.

Grotius, by the advice of his father, addicted himself to the profession of the law. He was only in his seventeenth year, when he pleaded his first cause. He acquired by it, great reputation; and this was constantly upon the increase, through the whole of his professional career. He observed in his pleadings a rule, which he afterwards recommended to his son: "That you may not," he told him, "be embarra.s.sed by the little order observed by the adversary counsel, attend to one thing, which I have found eminently useful: Distribute all that can be said on both sides, under certain heads; imprint these strongly in your memory; and, whatever your adversary says, refer it not to his division, but to your own."

[Sidenote: Grotius embraces the profession of the Law.]

The brilliant success of Grotius at the bar soon procured him very considerable promotions. The place of Advocate-General of the Fisc of the provinces of Holland and Zealand becoming vacant, it was unanimously conferred on him. This situation was attended with great distinction and authority; the person invested with it, being charged with the preservation of the public peace, and the prosecution of public offenders. In 1613, Grotius was advanced to the situation of Pensionary of Rotterdam; and his high character authorized him to stipulate before he accepted it, that he should hold it during his life, and not, at will, its usual tenure. It immediately gave him a seat in the a.s.sembly of the States of Holland; and, at a future time, a seat in the a.s.sembly of the States General.