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GRO
741
GRO

better for his extravagance, and often congratulated him on his laconic accounts. He was ultimately raised by Charles to the rank of general, and died fighting at the side of his royal master in 1715.—G. BL.

GROTIUS, Hugo, the Latinized form of the Dutch name De Groot (the Great), was born at Delft in April, 1583. His father, John de Groot, was a curator of the university, or high school, of Leyden. Hugo, who was a precocious boy, went early to that university, and studied with eminent success theology, philosophy, and law, enlivened by the belles-lettres. He had for his instructors, besides his father, Francis Junius and Joseph Scaliger. In 1598 he accompanied Barneveldt, the Dutch ambassador, to the court of Henry IV. of France. Young as he was, he contracted many friendships among the learned Frenchmen of the day, and attracted the notice of the king, whom he had, indeed, before made the subject of a laudatory college exercise. Henry graced the juvenile poet with commendations and a gold chain. In France too, at Orleans, he took the degree of doctor of laws. On his return to Holland in 1599, he practised at the bar for some time, and we have a glimpse of his experience in the profession in the advice he gives to advocates—to mind their own thread of argument rather than their adversaries', as well as in the statement which he makes with regard to hired advocacy—that it is an ungracious business, and of little honour compared with philosophy. In 1607 he was made fiscal-advocate, and in 1613 councillor and pensionary of Rotterdam, and member of the states of Holland, as he was afterwards of the states-general of the United Provinces. In this busy part of his life he found time to continue the cultivation of general literature. His earliest publications were editions of the Satyricon of Martianus Capella, and Aratus' Phenomena, a translation from Dutch into Latin of Stevinus, a Dutch astronomer; his Latin tragedies, "Adamus exul," "Christus patiens," and "Sophomphaneas," the title of this last—Saviour of the world—and the subject—Joseph—being Egyptian. He now (1609) wrote his "Mare Liberum" in support of Dutch claims against the pretensions of England, Spain, and Portugal. In some parts of this tract, cap. vii. viii., we recognize the first draft of certain sections of his great work on public law. The "Mare Liberum" was answered by Selden, on behalf of England, in his Mare Clausum.—(See Selden.) In 1610 Grotius wrote a historical treatise, "De antiquitate reipublicæ Bataviæ." In this work he treats of the rights of the counts of Holland, which he proves to have been imperial with respect to strangers, but circumscribed, especially in the matter of taxation, as regarded their own subjects. In 1615 he was in England, attached to a diplomatic mission in reference to the Greenland fisheries. He was well received by James I., and enjoyed the opportunity of conversing with Bacon and Casaubon. In 1619 he was involved with his patron Barneveldt in the controversy between the Arminians and Gomarists, and the political struggle grafted on it between the stadtholders, or Orange, and the republican factions. Barneveldt and Grotius were Arminians and republicans; the life of the former was sacrificed, and by a most unjust decree, 18th May, Grotius was sentenced to perpetual imprisonment in the castle of Loëvestein, near Gorcum, in South Holland, and to have his estates confiscated. While he was there confined, his noble-minded and affectionate spouse, Mary of Regensburg, whom he had married in 1608, was, after much entreaty, permitted to share his imprisonment; and it was by her ingenious contrivance of smuggling him away in his bookchest that his deliverance was effected, March 21, 1621. In April his wife, who had meanwhile been detained in the prison, was set at liberty, and afterwards joined him in France, whither he retreated. His books, besides furnishing the means of his escape, had been turned to good account while he was in prison. He there wrote, in Dutch verse, his tract "On the Truth of the Christian Religion;" and in Dutch prose, his "Introduction to the Laws of Holland." In France he was well received by Louis XIII., who allowed him a pension, which, however, was but indifferently paid, and at length wholly withdrawn. While in Paris, he wrote his "Apology" for his opinions, the strictures contained in which on the proceedings of his enemies were answered, except a series of tyrannical edicts and prohibitions. Here he also translated into Latin his treatise "De Veritate." It was at Balagne, near Senlis, a country seat of the President De Mesmes, and within reach of the library of De Thou (son of Thuanus), to which Grotius had access, and of which he appears to have made very free use, that he wrote his famous work "De Jure Belli ac Pacis, Libri Tres, in quibus jus naturæ et gentium item juris publici præcipue explicantur." It was first published at Paris in 1625, with a dedication to the king of France. In the conclusion of the work the author commended its maxims to the attention of all christian princes. The subject of public law had been handled by many preceding writers—Vasquez, Attoala, Hoyman, and Albericus Gentilis (see Gentilis, A.)—but by none with such systematic detail as Grotius. The publication of his treatise advanced the study to a professed science. It became a textbook, and was soon illustrated, or obscured, by notes, comments, readings, and translations. It was the vade mecum of Charles XII. of Sweden, and was put into the Index Expurgatorius of Rome. Its reputation has since somewhat declined; but we have the splendid testimony of Macintosh, Hallam, and Whewell, in favour of its sound philosophy, its solid structure, and the spirit of morality, humanity, and religion which pervades it. On the accession to power of the intolerant Cardinal Richelieu, France was no country for Grotius; and as it happened that the Prince Maurice, the stadtholder, died about this time (1631), Grotius returned to Holland. But though Maurice's successor, Prince Frederick, was personally friendly to him, the prince's party could not tolerate in his presence a political and religious adversary of so much influence, and Grotius was again compelled to retire from his native country. He repaired next to Hamburg. In 1634 he was appointed by Oxenstiern Swedish ambassador to France, a post of great difficulty in that period of the Thirty Years' war, the duties of which, however, he discharged with credit for a period of ten years. He then went to Sweden, passing by passport through Holland, where he was welcomed with much distinction. He was received at Stockholm by the queen with marked favour, but neither the court nor the climate suited him, and he preferred a request to be allowed to return to Holland, which was granted, with substantial marks of royal gratitude for his services. In his voyage from Stockholm to Lubeck the vessel was compelled by stress of weather to land him in Pomerania, near Dantzic, from which he undertook to journey by land towards Lubeck, but sank under fatigue at Rostock, August 28, 1645, at the age of sixty-three. His end was that of a christian. He was buried at Delft, and a monument was erected to him at Rostock in 1781. In person Grotius was of small stature, but well set, and of lively and agreeable countenance. His memory was vast, but he tasked it to a degree which has occasioned errors in references in his writings. His private character was unexceptionable, and his conduct towards his ungrateful country displayed the highest qualities of patriotism. As has been already remarked, he held in Holland Arminian tenets. While resident in France, he communicated with the French protestant church, until some of its leaders took some exception against his writings. Afterwards, when Swedish ambassador, they wished him to rejoin them; but he was not then so disposed. He believed the fundamental truths of the gospel; and held that all such believers, without regard to minor distinctions, should be admitted into the fellowship of Christ's religion. He had busied himself, though to little purpose, to find means to reconcile romanists and protestants. His catholic breadth of faith exposed him to misconstruction in his own day, as it does his memory to some misconception even now. Bossuet charged him with the errors of Socinianism—errors which he had himself refuted; and Mr. C. Butler, in his Life of Grotius, says he was seeking the Roman fold. More justly might he be claimed by the Anglican church, of whose discipline and doctrine he warmly approved. (See "Testimonies of his affection for the Church of England," appended to the English version of his treatise "De Veritate.") In point of literary excellence, Grotius is usually cited as a striking example of the combination of the active duties of public life with study and authorship; and it is true that, as before enumerated, several of his early and minor works were written in the vortex of public business. But it was to the forced seclusion of his imprisonment and exile that the world is indebted for those invaluable works on jurisprudence and theology which render his name immortal.

The "De Jure Belli" has been translated into most continental languages, and into English by C. Barksdale, 1654, 8vo; by Evans, 1682, fol.; again, 1738, with Barbeyrac's notes, fol.; by Campbell, 1814, 3 vols. 8vo; and in 1853 Dr. Whewell published an edition of the text with an abridged translation, 3 vols. 8vo. The works of Grotius may be divided into four