Hugh de Groot, or Hugo Grotius, as he is more generally designated, was
born at Delft in Holland, on Easter Sunday, April 10, 1583[12]. His
family was ancient and of noble extraction, both on the paternal and
maternal sides. His father, John de Groot, who was Curator of the
University of Leyden, was a lawyer and a poet of considerable
reputation.
Footnote 12:
A discrepancy appears in the accounts of the different biographers of
Grotius respecting the date of his birth; some fixing it in 1582, and
others in 1583. The fact is only material with reference to the
anecdotes of his early acquirements, and it is ascertained beyond a
doubt, by a very simple circumstance. That Grotius was born on Easter
Sunday, and on the 10th of April, appears in numerous passages of his
letters and poems; and as Easter Sunday fell on the 10th of April in
1583, and did not fall on that day for many years before and
afterwards, the date of his birth seems to be satisfactorily proved by
that coincidence. See Nicolas’s Tables.
The mind of Grotius was developed with unusual rapidity. In his ninth
year he is said to have made extemporaneous Latin verses; in his
fifteenth year he published his edition of Martian Capella, and before
that time, his biographers state that he disputed twice publicly in the
schools on questions of philosophy and civil law. His memory is said to
have been so prodigious, that being present at the muster of a regiment
on some particular occasion, he afterwards repeated accurately every
name which had been called. Anecdotes of this kind are seldom to be
traced to any good authority, and are frequently merely fabulous; but
there is no doubt that, at a very tender age, Grotius had made
extraordinary progress in the acquisition of learning. The knowledge and
critical discernment displayed in his edition of Capella, which was
unquestionably published in 1599, excited the astonishment of his
contemporaries. Scaliger, De Thou, Lipsius, Casaubon, have characterised
this work as a prodigy of juvenile learning; and those who have patience
to read it at the present day will collect from the annotations, that at
the age of fifteen the editor must have read critically and carefully
the works of Apuleius, Albericus, Cicero, Aquila, Porphyry, Aristotle,
Strabo, Ptolemy, Pliny, Euclid, and many other ancient and modern
authors, in different languages and on various subjects, and cannot fail
to consider Grotius as a wonderful instance of early talents, industry,
and acquirement. “_Reliqui viri_,” says his contemporary Heinsius,
“_tandem fuêre_; Grotius _vir natus est_.” In the following year Grotius
published the ‘Phenomena of Aratus,’ an astronomical poem, written
originally in Greek, and translated into Latin by Cicero, when a very
young man. Part of Cicero’s translation had been lost in course of time;
and in this publication the deficiencies were supplied by Grotius in
Latin verse with much elegance and success. In a letter to the President
de Thou, written in 1601, when he was not eighteen years of age, he thus
modestly refers to those astonishing works:—“I was exceedingly glad when
I understood that my Capella and Aratus were not only come to your hand,
but were also favourably received by you. My own opinion of Martianus
and the other Syntagm is only this, that they are capable of some excuse
from my age; for I wrote them when I was very young. But you are pleased
to augur well from these beginnings, and to express a judgment that they
may grow up into some hope hereafter. I hope it may be so; for it is my
greatest desire and ambition _a laudatis laudari_.”
Before he went to the university, he was placed under the care of an
Arminian clergyman, named Uitenbogard, from whom he derived that strong
sectarian bias, which had afterwards a powerful effect upon his
character and fortune. At twelve years of age Grotius was sent to the
University of Leyden, where, though he remained only three years, he
became so much distinguished, that he attracted the notice of Scaliger,
and many of the most celebrated scholars of the times. He had always
been intended for the profession of the law; and lest the allurements of
general literature, and the flattery of successful authorship, which had
greatly withdrawn him from legal studies, should lead him to renounce
the lucrative and honourable employment for which he was designed, his
father sought to turn his thoughts into a new channel. It happened that
about this time the celebrated Grand Pensionary, Barneveldt, was sent on
an embassy from the Dutch States to Henry IV., for the purpose of
persuading him to conclude a new treaty of perpetual alliance with
Holland and England against Spain. John de Groot readily obtained for
his son a situation in the train of Barneveldt. Grotius remained in
France a whole year, and during that time was treated with marked
distinction and respect by the learned men of that country, and received
the degree of Doctor of Laws from the University of Paris. He was also
graciously noticed by the king himself, who gave him at his departure
his own portrait and a chain of gold. From some unexplained cause,
Grotius did not upon this occasion become acquainted with the President
de Thou; but soon after his return to Delft, he wrote him a letter
accompanied by a copy of his Aratus. From that time until the death of
the President a constant correspondence was maintained between them, and
Grotius furnished many notes and materials for that part of De Thou’s
history which relates to the Netherlands and Holland.
Immediately after his return from France to Holland in April 1599,
Grotius published his “Limeneuretica, sive Portuum investigandorum
Ratio,” a treatise for the instruction of seamen in ascertaining the
exact situation of a ship at sea. This work was merely a translation,
and has been of course long since superseded by modern discoveries; but
it is worthy of remark, as a proof of the extraordinary acquirements of
a youth of sixteen, that he should have added to his critical and
scholastic knowledge so competent an acquaintance with magnetism and
practical navigation as the translation of such a work implies. In the
course of the same year he enrolled himself on the list of Advocates at
the Hague, and before he was eighteen years of age commenced the actual
practice of his profession. In this occupation he was eminently
successful, though he always disliked it, and lamented the time which it
claimed from more congenial pursuits. His reputation and practice,
however, daily increased, until in the year 1607, being recommended by
the suffrages of the courts, and nominated by the States of Holland,
Prince Maurice conferred upon him the important and responsible office
of Advocate-General of the provinces of Holland and Zealand. Soon after
this appointment, he married Mary Reygersburgh, the daughter of an
opulent family in Zealand, with whom he lived in the most complete
harmony.
In the year 1608, while he held the office of Advocate-General, Grotius
composed his ‘Mare Liberum,’ the general design of which was to show,
upon the principles of the law of nations, that the sea was open to all
without distinction, and to assert the right of the Dutch States to
trade to the Indian seas, notwithstanding the claim of the Portuguese to
an exclusive title to that commerce. This tract was published without
the consent of Grotius; and at a subsequent period of his life he
expressed his disapprobation of it. “My intention,” he says, “was good;
but the work savours too much of my want of years.” Many years
afterwards, Selden published his profound work on maritime rights,
entitled ‘Mare Clausum,’ in which he incidentally notices this treatise
of Grotius with much respect, though he advocates a contrary doctrine.
Soon after the appearance of his ‘Mare Liberum,’ Grotius published a
‘Dissertation on the Antiquity of the Batavian Republic,’ for which he
received the thanks of the States of Holland, accompanied by a present.
In 1613, he was advanced from his practice as an advocate to the
judicial station of Pensionary of Rotterdam, which office was given him
for life, the usual tenure having been only at will. In the same year a
difference of opinion having arisen between England and the States of
Holland, respecting the right of fishing for whales in the Northern
seas, Grotius was sent into England for the purpose of effecting an
amicable arrangement of the dispute. He there became personally
acquainted with Isaac Casaubon, with whom he had previously
corresponded. He was favourably noticed by the king during his stay in
England, and formed an intimate connexion with several of the most
eminent English divines of that day, which he maintained by letters for
many years afterwards. In the political object of his embassy he appears
to have failed; the subject in dispute was resumed at Rotterdam in 1615,
before commissioners of both countries, but with no more favourable
result to the Dutch States.
Soon after his return from England, Grotius became deeply involved in
the religious animosities which at that time prevailed in Holland. He
had adopted the principles of Arminius from Uitenbogard, the instructor
of his early youth, and he now zealously maintained the doctrines of the
Arminian party in opposition to the tenets held by the followers of
Gomar. The questions in dispute related for the most part to
predestination and other abstract points of Christian doctrine, the
discussion of which by the disciples of Arminius on the one hand, and of
Gomar, a professor of Leyden, on the other, had divided the United
Provinces into two parties, animated by the most furious hostility
towards each other. The public peace being endangered by the violence to
which these religious differences were carried, the States of Holland,
in 1614, published an edict, drawn up by Grotius, enjoining forbearance
and mutual toleration between the contending parties, but denouncing in
unqualified terms the doctrines of the Gomarists. The effect of this
partial and injudicious edict was to increase the virulence of party
spirit; frequent riots ensued, attended with popular demonstrations of
an alarming kind. The powerful city of Amsterdam favoured the Gomarists;
and hesitated to submit to the edict of 1614. Under these circumstances,
the States sent a deputation, of which Grotius was the chief, for the
purpose of converting the Town Council of that city to their opinion.
Upon this occasion Grotius made a judicious and temperate harangue,
which was afterwards translated into Latin, and is published among his
works. It was, however, unsuccessful in its result, as the Senate
declared that the city of Amsterdam could not adopt the edict without
endangering the church, and risking their commercial prosperity. In the
mean time popular tumults continued and increased; and in this position
of affairs the Grand Pensionary, Barneveldt, proposed to the States of
Holland, that the magistrates of the several cities in that province
should be authorized to levy soldiers for the purpose of securing the
public tranquillity. The representatives of several towns vehemently
opposed this proposition, but it was adopted, after a stormy debate;
and, August 4, 1617, a proclamation was issued to carry it into
execution.
This decree directly induced a train of circumstances, which eventually
led to the death of Barneveldt, and the ruin and banishment of Grotius.
Prince Maurice of Nassau, who was at that time Governor and
Captain-general of the United Provinces, denounced it as an act illegal
and unjustifiable in itself, and an invasion of his authority. He
influenced the States-General to write to the magistrates of those
provinces and cities which had acted under the decree by raising
soldiers, commanding them to disband their levies; and upon the refusal
of many of them to comply with this requisition, he obtained authority
to proceed to the recusant cities, and enforce their obedience. Having
executed this commission successfully in the towns of Nimeguen,
Overyssel, and Arnheim, Maurice, who on the death of his brother in
February, 1618, had assumed the title of Prince of Orange, proceeded to
Utrecht, with the same object. The States of Holland had in the mean
time sent thither Grotius and Hoogerbertz, the Pensionary of Leyden, for
the purpose of opposing the Prince’s commission. They stimulated the
magistrates of the city to resist the assumed authority of the
States-General, to increase their militia, and to double the guards at
the gates. They also brought letters from the States of Holland to the
officers of the ordinary garrison, persuading them that it was their
duty to obey the States of Utrecht, in opposition to the States-General
and the Prince of Orange. Notwithstanding these preparations the Prince
entered the city without forcible resistance, and having disbanded the
new levies, displaced several magistrates, and arrested some of those
who had been most active in their opposition, returned to the Hague.
Grotius was now satisfied that all further attempts at opposition would
be useless, and prevailed upon the magistrates of Rotterdam at once to
dismiss the levies made under the obnoxious decree.
The Prince of Orange and the States-General were highly incensed at the
measures taken to excite a forcible opposition at Utrecht; and
Barneveldt, Grotius, and Hoogerbertz, were arrested, August 29, 1618,
upon the charge of having raised an insurrection at that place, and
committed to close custody in the castle of the Hague.
In the ensuing November, the prisoners, having previously undergone
repeated examinations, were separately tried before twenty-six
commissioners, chosen from the principal nobility and magistracy of the
Seven Provinces. Barneveldt was tried first, and was condemned to be
beheaded, for various acts of insubordination towards the States; and in
particular for having promoted the insurrection at Utrecht. The trial of
Grotius followed a few days afterwards. He complains of having been
treated then, and during the previous examinations, with great hardship
and injustice: he says that he was pressed to answer ensnaring questions
directly, when he required time, and that the commissioners refused to
read over his examinations to him, after they had written down his
answers. He was, however, found guilty, and sentence was passed upon
him, May 18, 1619, recapitulating the heads of the charges of which he
had been convicted, and condemning him to imprisonment for life, and the
confiscation of his estate.
The castle of Louvestein was selected for his place of confinement, a
fortress situated near Gorcum, in South Holland, at the point of the
island formed at the junction of the Waal and the Meuse. Here he was
kept a close prisoner: his father was refused permission to see him, and
his wife was only admitted on condition of sharing his imprisonment,
being told that if she left the castle she would not be allowed to
return. These restrictions were afterwards, however, considerably
relaxed: his wife obtained leave to quit the castle twice a week, and
Grotius was permitted to borrow books, and to correspond with his
friends on all subjects except politics.
It is not for such minds as that of Grotius that “stone walls can make a
prison.” During nearly two years of close imprisonment, with no society
but that of his wife, who constantly attended him, he employed himself
in digesting and applying those stores of learning which he had
previously acquired, and study became at once his business and his
consolation. “The Muses,” says he, in a letter to Vossius during his
confinement, “are a great alleviation of my misfortune. You know that
when I was most oppressed by business, they furnished my most delightful
recreation; how much more valuable are they to me now, when they
constitute the only enjoyment which cannot be taken from me!” During his
captivity he occupied much of his time in legal studies, of which other
pursuits had for some years caused an intermission, and also in
arranging and completing his improvements and additions to Stobæus,
which were afterwards published; but his favourite employment appears to
have been theology, and especially a laborious and critical examination
of the Sermon on the Mount. He also at this time wrote a treatise in the
Dutch language on the Truth of the Christian Religion, which a few years
afterwards, while at Paris, he enlarged and translated into Latin. In
its improved state it became more generally known and popular than any
of his works, having been translated, during the seventeenth century,
into the English, French, Flemish, German, Persian, Arabic, and Greek
languages. This treatise was well worthy of the great attention which it
excited: in point of force of argument and clearness of arrangement it
will not suffer on a comparison with the works of Paley and other
popular modern writers on the same subject; and in temper and candour it
is superior to most of them. Grotius says, in the introduction, that he
originally wrote it to furnish an occupation to his countrymen during
the unemployed leisure of long voyages on commercial adventures; and in
the hope that, by thus instructing them in the most intelligible and
convincing arguments in favour of Christianity, they might become the
means of diffusing its advantages among distant nations. In the first
book, he maintains the existence, attributes, and providence of a
Supreme Being; in the second, he enumerates the particular arguments in
favour of the divine origin of the Christian religion; in which part of
the subject his illustration of the internal evidence derived from the
superior dignity and excellence of the moral precepts of Christianity is
peculiarly admirable. The third division of the treatise contains a
critical defence of the authenticity of the books of the New Testament;
and the three remaining parts are devoted to a refutation of Paganism,
Judaism, and Mahometanism. The perspicuity of the style, and the spirit
of candour which pervades the whole treatise, well adapted it to the
purpose for which it was intended; and though many modern authors have
followed in the same course of reasoning, it may still be read with
advantage as an excellent epitome of the arguments for the truth of
Christianity.
In the early part of 1621, after nearly two years had been passed by
Grotius at Louvestein, the fertile invention of his wife devised the
means of his escape. It was his practice to return the books, which he
borrowed from his friends, in a large chest, in which his wife sent
linen from the castle to be washed at Gorcum. During the first year of
his imprisonment the guards invariably examined this chest before it
left the castle, but as they continually found nothing but books and
dirty linen, they gradually relaxed in their search, until at last it
was wholly omitted. Grotius’s wife resolved to turn their negligence to
her husband’s advantage. The chest was large enough to contain a man,
and she prevailed upon him to try whether he could bear to be shut up
for so long a time as would be necessary to convey the chest across the
water to Gorcum. The experiment proved the scheme to be practicable, and
the first favourable opportunity was seized for carrying it into
execution. On the 22nd of March, during the absence of the governor from
the castle, Grotius was placed in the chest, and holes having been bored
in it by his wife in order to admit air, it was carried down from the
castle by two soldiers on a ladder. One of the soldiers, suspecting
something from the weight, insisted upon taking it to the governor’s
house to be opened; but the governor’s wife, who was probably in the
secret, told him she was well assured that the chest contained nothing
but books, and ordered him to carry it to the boat. In this manner
Grotius crossed the water and arrived safely at a friend’s house in
Gorcum. He then passed through the streets in the disguise of a mason,
and stepped into a boat which took him to Valvic in Brabant, from whence
he afterwards escaped to Antwerp. Upon the first discovery of the trick
which had been practised upon him by the wife of Grotius, the governor
of Louvestein confined her rigorously; but she was discharged upon
presenting a petition to the States-General.
By the advice of various powerful friends in France, Grotius determined
to make Paris his city of refuge. He was well received in the French
metropolis, both by learned men and politicians, and in the beginning of
the following year was presented to the King, who bestowed upon him a
pension of 3000 livres. In the year 1622 he published his ‘Apology,’ in
which he vindicates his conduct from the particular charges which had
formed the subject of the proceedings against him, and argues against
the legality of his sentence and the competency of the tribunal by which
he was tried. His work excited much attention throughout Europe, and
greatly irritated the States-General, who published so violent an edict
against it, that the friends of Grotius entertained fears for his
personal safety. In order, therefore, to place himself more fully under
the protection of the French government, he obtained letters of
naturalization from Louis XIII.
In 1625 he completed his treatise ‘De Jure Belli et Pacis,’ which was
published at Paris in that year. None of the works of Grotius have
excited so much attention as this treatise: it was the first attempt to
reduce into a system the subject of international law; and the industry
and extensive learning of the author well qualified him for the task.
More complete and useful works upon this subject have been written since
the time of Grotius; but in order to estimate properly the magnitude and
value of his labours, it should be considered that, before he wrote, the
ground was wholly unbroken. In his own age, and in that which succeeded
it, this work was held in the highest estimation, being translated into
various languages, and circulated as a standard book throughout Europe.
Grotius remained more than nine years in France, and during that period
published, in addition to the works already noticed, several theological
treatises of small interest at the present day. The latter part of his
residence in France was rendered uncomfortable by several disagreeable
circumstances, and in particular by the backwardness of the French
government in paying his pension. He made various attempts to return to
Holland, which were discouraged by his friends, as the sentence against
him was still in force; but towards the latter end of the year 1631,
finding his abode in France intolerable, he determined at all hazards to
revisit his native country. He soon found, however, that he had taken an
unwise step: the States-General issued an order for his arrest, and
after in vain endeavouring to appease his enemies, he quitted Holland in
March 1632, intending to take up his abode at Hamburgh, which place he
did not, however, reach before the end of the year.
There is reason to believe that Gustavus Adolphus, the King of Sweden,
was about to take the Dutch jurist into his employment, when he was
killed at the battle of Lutzen, in November, 1632. Two years afterwards,
however, Oxenstiern, who conducted the government of Sweden, appointed
Grotius resident ambassador to the infant Queen at the court of France;
and he made his public entry into Paris in that character, March 2,
1635. He filled this arduous and responsible situation for ten years, to
the entire satisfaction of the government which he represented. Towards
the close of his service many circumstances concurred to render it far
from agreeable. Disputes arose between him and other ambassadors upon
questions of precedency, which were fomented and encouraged by the
French government; and the irregular remittance of his salary from
Sweden occasioned him frequent and vexatious embarrassment. At the end
of the year 1642 he writes thus to his brother: “I am come to the age at
which many wise men have voluntarily renounced places of honour. I love
quiet, and would gladly devote the remainder of my life to the service
of God and of posterity. If I had not some hope of contributing to a
general peace, I should have retired before this time.” At length the
appointment of an agent to the crown of Sweden at Paris, with whom
Grotius foresaw that constant disagreements and broils would arise,
determined him to solicit his recall. This request was granted; and the
Queen of Sweden wrote to him with her own hand, expressing the greatest
satisfaction at his services, and promising him some future employment
more suitable to his age and inclinations. He left Paris in June 1645,
and travelling through Holland, where he was courteously received by
those who had previously treated him with every kind of indignity,
arrived at Stockholm in the following month. The Queen seems to have
entertained him honourably and kindly: both she and the members of her
council praised his past services, and gave him abundant promises for
the future; and in a letter to his brother, dated July 18, 1645 (the
last of his letters which is known to be extant), he speaks with
gratification of the honourable notice which he had received. He
appears, however, to have taken an insuperable dislike to Sweden, and to
have resolved at once not to spend the remainder of his days in that
country. The Queen pressed him repeatedly to remain, and assured him
that if he would continue in Sweden, and form part of her council, she
would amply provide for him. He pleaded the decline of his health, that
the climate was injurious to his constitution, and that his wife was
unable to live in Sweden; and adhered to his determination. The Queen
hesitated to grant him a passport; upon which he left Stockholm without
one, and was overtaken and brought back by a messenger. At length the
Queen, seeing that his resolution was not to be overcome, permitted him
to depart, dismissing him with a considerable present in money and
plate.
A vessel had been provided to transport him from Lubeck to Hamburgh, in
which he embarked on the 12th of August. He had scarcely put to sea,
when a violent storm arose and drove the vessel into a port near
Dantzic. From this place he set out in an open carriage, in the most
inclement weather, intending to return to Lubeck, and arrived at Rostock
on his way thither, August 28. He there complained of extreme illness,
and desired a physician to be sent for, who soon discovered that his end
was approaching. A clergyman, named Quistorpius, also attended him, and
has given an interesting account of his last moments. Grotius died in
the night of the 28th of August, 1645. His body was carried to Delft,
and laid in the tomb of his ancestors. In modern times a handsome
monument has been erected to his memory.
The reader who may wish for fuller information respecting the biography
of Grotius may consult with much advantage ‘La Vie de Grotius,’ par M.
de Burigny, which was published at Paris in 1752, and translated into
English two years afterwards. Mr. Butler, the author of the ‘Memoirs of
the English Catholics,’ published a life of Grotius in 1826; but it is
neither so copious nor so accurate as the work of M. de Burigny.