M. de Burigny

“ We find here a man who seeks only for censure, and knows not what he would have: he fights with his own shadow, and for the most part does not understand the thoughts of the author he attacks; and when he does understand them draws the most groundless consequences that ever were heard of. His gloomy and unhappily subtle mind cannot bear the light which Grotius presents to him. The embroiled ideas and distinctions of his Peripatetic philosophy form round him a thick cloud impenetrable by the strongest rays of truth. This is Barbeyrac's judgment of him. ”

“ XXV. If Grotius's merit stirred up envy, and if his projects of reconciliation procured him hatred, the more irreconcilable as it was founded on a religious pretext, he had also a great number of friends and judicious persons for him, who did justice to his virtue and his talents. We shall not enter into a detail of all the testimonies in his favour, they would fill a large volume: we shall confine ourselves to the Elogiums of those whose suffrages deserve most attention. We have already seen, that even when a boy he was highly extolled by the greatest men of his age. ”

“ Grotius assured him, that in all he had advanced he exactly followed his instructions. The Cardinal seemed displeased with those who had given them; and added that if the High Chancellor was not content with the peace between Sweden and Poland, it was from private views, because he lost the government of Prussia. After this sharp conversation, the Cardinal appeared more calm; and said, that he had nothing to do but hear what might be advanced, and would not judge till he had seen what was done. Grotius answered, that the High Chancellor would always act as a man of honour and a man of courage. ”

“ I have constantly done the last; but your example makes me at present prefer the first: you have defended me with so much friendship and steadiness, that if I should sit still, I might justly be accused of indolence. My book of the Christian Religion is read with applause by pious and learned men, not only in the languages in which I composed it, but also in Swedish, French, German, and English. Those who think it their interest that I should not pass for a good Christian, seek every pretext to hurt me: they censure me for making use of Castellio's version ”

“ I have had nothing in view in all I have done but the welfare of Sweden; and it has cost me much pains to raise, by my words and actions, the credit of a nation hitherto little known in this country. If I cannot serve with utility, I had much rather return to the condition of a private man, than be a burden to the kingdom, or dishonour myself."
Schmalz lived on very ill terms with Crusius, a Swedish Lord, whom Grotius, as we have just seen, had presented to the King. ”

“ If my son dislikes the activity of a military life, Grotius writes to his brother, he may find ease, and acquire honour in General Bannier's houshold, or by exercising his profession of Engineer. I shall always give him my assistance, and I hope I have as many friends elsewhere, as I have enemies in Holland. If my son disgraces himself so far, as to ask favours from the Dutch, he is unworthy to call me father. If he chuses rather to be an Ensign with you, than a Captain among others, he is mean-spirited, and forgetful of what he has been. ”

“ But besides, when the point to be decided is priority in learning, poetry is set aside by consent of all good judges. Vossius excels Grotius in every thing. This is not only my opinion, but that of all the learned in Italy, Germany, Poland, and Holland, as I have had an opportunity to know by their letters, their writings, and their conversation. If we compare their writings, which of Grotius's works can we prefer to those of Vossius? Is it his Notes on Martianus Capella, written when he was but a boy? Is it his Aratus? ”

“ Sweden was unable singly to support the war in Germany; and saw the allies, whom she had hitherto kept on her side by her authority and the eclat of her victories, ready to fall off: the weaker, in consternation at the death of their leader, wished for peace; the more powerful, such as the Dukes of Pomerania, the Elector of Brandenbourg, the Dukes of Meklenbourg, and some others, jealous of the authority usurped by the Swedes in Germany, would acknowledge them only as allies, and not as the head of the Protestant party. ”

“ Christian Habsoeker and Philip Limborch speak of him with raptures in the Preface to the Letters of illustrious men: "At the name of the incomparable Grotius, who is above all praise, and even all envy, we are in a sort of transport. How shall we sufficiently praise the virtues of that most illustrious hero, whom all true scholars regard as the most learned of the Learned: we shall only relate the prophecy concerning him in 1614 by Daniel Heinsius in some verses which ought to be put under his picture."
Those lines are in fact the most complete Elogium that can be made of a man. ”

“ Schmalz assertedthat he had full powers to act independently of Grotius not only in this negotiation, but even in every affair which regarded his embassy: "If it be so, the latter writes to the High Chancellor, the French will make a jest of him and of me: they, will look on me as Ambassador only in name; and on him as Ambassador in fact, though he has not the name: nay he actually allows himself to be treated at home as if he were Ambassador, and to be written to as if he had the title. It is indeed very hard that I, who am advanced in years, should have disputes with a hot-headed youth." ”

“ The last Letter which we have from Casaubon to Grotius comprehends all these sentiments in few words [67] : "I heartily pray God to preserve you ever: and as long as I live, I shall hold you in the highest esteem, so much am I taken with your piety, your probity, and your admirable learning." ”

“ Experience teaches me how many difficulties we must expect both from Statesmen and Divines bigotted to their own opinions, and averse to those of others: but all these obstacles ought not to prevent our undertaking such a good work: if we do not succeed, we shall at least enjoy the satisfaction of having entertained very sublime ideas. For my part, as I have done it already, so I shall still continue to recommend to the High Chancellor your piety, your learning, your good intentions, and your zeal, to which I ardently wish success ”

“ The Socinians were far from thinking Grotius so favourable to them: Ruarus writes to one of his friends, "You have reason to think, that hitherto no body has written so learnedly against Socinus, as Grotius: he was always much attached to the doctrine of Christ's divinity, even in his earlier years." Grotius wrote to Walæus [687] , in 1611, "I do not look upon the Samosatenians, and others, like them, as Christians, nor even as heretics; for their doctrine is repugnant to the belief of all ages, and all nations. They retain Christianity in name, but destroy it in fact. ”

“ Wherefore in the explanation of the Scripture, as often as occasion shall offer, the Pastors shall declare to the people, and instil into the minds of all under their care, that men are not indebted for the beginning, the progress, and the completion of their salvation, and even of faith, to their natural strength, or works, but to the sole grace of God in Jesus Christ our Saviour; that we have not merited it; that God has created no man to damn him; that God has not laid us under a necessity of sinning, and that he invites no man to be saved, to whom he has resolved to deny salvation. ”

“ The English had been induced to take this step by the representation of the Protestants, that to suffer a Cardinal to take the upper hand of an Ambassador was to acknowledge the Pope's dignity. Grotius informed the High Chancellor of this by a letter of the fourth of September, 1635, where he adds, "I say not this as if I thought the English ought to be imitated in every thing, but that we may avoid whatever might expose us to contempt: than which nothing, I am persuaded, can be of more prejudice to the interests of kings and kingdoms." ”

“ Messieurs the States-General desire to acquaint all persons, that to avert the great peril which threatened the United Provinces, and restore and establish in the said Provinces harmony, peace, and tranquillity, they have caused to be imprisoned John de Barnevelt, Advocate-General of Holland and West Friesland, Romulus Hoogerbetz, and Hugo Grotius, it having been discovered and made manifest that they were the first authors of the insurrection at Utrecht, and of an attempt which would have been not only highly prejudicial to the country and Province, but to several other Cities. ”

“ Grotius shewed him that in every age they were spoken of by the Germans, French, and English; and that even if less frequent notice had been taken of them, it would not be matter of surprise, since in those times the Swedes had no disputes but with the Russians, the Sclavonians, the Danes, and Norwegians; that their embracing Christianity late could not prejudice the dignity of the kingdom, or the claims of the Swedes. The Ambassador of Sweden afterwards asked Leicester what rank the English pretended to give the Czar, to whom the Kings of Sweden would never yield the precedency. ”

“ What is there at present in Christendom to make us desire life? Divisions in the Church, bloody wars, men slaughtered, women violated, cruel murders, and multitudes reduced to beggary; Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia pillaged; the heirs of the most noble families reduced to the necessity of living on alms, if it can be called living to drag out their days in misery, wishing for death, which alone can put an end to it. ”

“ VII. The States of Holland, wholly employed in seeking ways to compound matters, had come to a resolution on the twenty-first of February, 1617, that certain wise and learned men should be chosen to draw up a Rule or Formula, to which the Ministers of the two parties should be obliged to conform; that nothing should be advanced in it contrary to the doctrine of the reformed Churches; that it should be shewn to Prince Maurice, and, after having his opinion, presented to the States, that they might examine what was most for God's honour, the people's safety, and the Nation's tranquillity. ”

“ My great aim, in the Rights of War and Peace, was to suppress, as much as was in my power, that savage barbarity unworthy not only of a Christian, but of a man, which, to the misfortune of nations, is now too common, of beginning and carrying on wars by caprice. ”

“ I also dislike those schools when the master scarce knows the names of his scholars, and where their number is so great that he cannot give that attention to each, which his different genius and capacity may require. For this reason I would have a middle course followed: that a master should take but ten or twelve, to stay in the house together, and be in one form, by which means he would not be overburdened." He begs of him to inform himself whether there was not such a house in Amsterdam where he might place Van Sorgen's sons. Vossius joined with Grotius in his thoughts on education [185] . ”

“ 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 illustrious for his piety, his probity, and his candor, as for his extensive learning. ”

“ Grotius sent him memoirs [31] for his History, and hints relating to the lives and deaths of illustrious men in the United Provinces.
It was a thing infinitely pleasing, and at the same time extremely honorable to a youth between seventeen and eighteen, to be most intimately connected with one of the greatest men of his time, already advanced in years, who filled a post of much eminence, and whom all Europe beheld with admiration. The friendship and esteem of such a personage is the highest encomium. ”

“ What we cannot sufficiently admire in a man of so great learning, and so much business as Grotius, is, that he should make the Holy Scriptures his favourite study in every period of his life. They were his consolation in prison; he always devoted a part of the day to them: and they were his principal study during a great part of his embassy. His Commentary on the Evangelists was finished in 1637; but before he printed it [508] , he wanted to see the Aristarchus Sacer which Heinsius was going to put to press. ”

“ Joseph Scaliger, the ornament of the university of Leyden, who enjoyed the most brilliant reputation among the learned, and whom his worshippers regarded as the Dictator of the republic of Letters, was so struck with the prodigious capacity of young Grotius, that he condescended to direct his studies. In 1597 he maintained public theses in Mathematics, Philosophy, and Law with the highest applause. ”

“ But in reading History a man ought to please his own taste: for they all contain many useful things: and we retain best those we read with pleasure. In general, we ought not to begin with the most ancient, but with such as, being nearer our own times, have greater relation with what we know already: we may afterwards go back to what is more distant. ”

“ On hearing of Grotius's death, he writes to Salmasius in these terms [716] : "Hugo Grotius was certainly a great man in name and in fact: he was the star of our age. How great a loss has learning sustained! Whilst books and sciences are held in honour his name will flourish. For my part, whilst I live I shall glory in my intimacy with him. You now reign singly (he concludes, addressing himself to Salmasius) I pray God you may reign long." He calls him elsewhere [717] the Coryphæus of learning sacred and prophane. ”

“ Besides, Grotius's prudence on all occasions, his modesty in prosperity, his patience in adversity, his steadiness in his duty, his love of virtue, his eagerness in the search of truth, and the ardent desire which he constantly maintained for uniting Christians in one Faith, distinguish him so advantageously from most other Scholars, that his Life may be proposed as a model to all who make profession of literature. ”

“ He is no less eminent as a warrior, than as a statesman [202] ; and in him is found all that makes a great King. He is the wisest Monarch now reigning, and knows how to improve every opportunity to the best advantage, not only when the injustice of his enemies obliges him to have recourse to arms, but also when he is allowed to enjoy the blessings of peace." The Letters, in which he expresses his profound esteem for the Great Gustavus, were all written before the month of June, 1630, whilst he resided at Paris and had no thought of entering into the Swedish service. ”

“ But since he departed from sound reason, changed the object of his studies, and insulted by gross invectives the whole body of Protestants, and the principal authors of the reformation, everyone seeks for Grotius in Grotius. Nothing can be more ridiculous or foolish than to see a man, who neither agrees with others, nor with himself, as you have well shewn, undertake, without our desire or consent, to reconcile us with the Roman Catholics, and positively decide that we may, and that we ought to come into his views. ”

“ This Professor was called John de Felde; he published his notes against Grotius in 1653. Had the great Salmasius been still alive, I believe, says M. Barbeyrac, that with all his secret jealousy against the author censured, he would have found himself greatly disappointed in his expectations from John De Felde's project: never was any thing so wretched. One would be surprised a Mathematician could reason so ill, did not other much more signal examples clearly demonstrate that the knowledge of the Mathematics does not always produce justness of thought in matters foreign to that science. ”

“ M. Huet did not think such a project absolutely chimerical [640] : "The religious differences, says he, which have long disturbed the peace of Christians, are not impossible to be accommodated. If the parties would set about it sincerely, without obstinacy or private interest, they would soon find ways of accommodation; but some of all parties are so warm, that they censure such of their own party as seek to accommodate differences, with no less severity than they do their adversaries. With what presumptuous rigour did Rivetus the Minister treat Grotius for proposing the means of peace? ”

“ The Cardinal interposing said that he perceived Father Joseph and the Swedish Ambassador were not in good understanding, and he would endeavour to reconcile them. Grotius sounded high the wealth of France, as being more than sufficient to assist the Germans without abandoning the Swedes, who had entered into the war solely at her felicitation and on her promise of succours. The Cardinal, without explaining himself what sum would be given, hinted that Sweden must not expect for the future a Subsidy of a million. ”

“ The High Chancellor Oxenstiern, who governed the kingdom during the minority of Queen Christina, the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, thought it his duty and honour to conform to his Master's intentions: he therefore pressed Grotius to come to him, promising him an employment suited to his merit [206] . Grotius did not yield immediately, not only because he had still hopes of being recalled to Holland, but also because he was persuaded that one ought to deliberate long before taking a resolution which cannot be altered. ”

“ Isaac Vossius, son of the famous Gerard, who inherited his father's sentiments for Grotius, making him an offer of his service for his literary commissions, Grotius thanked him most affectionately, in a letter of the 12th of November, 1644 [468] , in which he says a great deal about his Anthologia. "I cannot sufficiently thank you for the kind offer of your good services in relation to the printing of my works. No body can be of more use to me than you: for who has more friendship for me, or better understands those matters? ”

“ M. de BURIGNY hath executed his Plan with abundance of erudition, and an astonishing depth of enquiry. He has introduced nothing but facts well supported, or theological discussions delivered with the greatest conciseness and accuracy. Such readers as aim at amusement only, will think the author too minute in some places; those who are desirous of information will think otherwise. The most valuable part of this work is, in our opinion, the just and concise idea which it gives of Grotius's several Writings. ”

“ He ought to have determined himself long before. Convinced at last that he must lay aside all thoughts of returning into Holland, he yielded to the pressing instances of the High Chancellor of Sweden, who wanted to employ him in affairs of importance. Grotius gave the preference more readily to this Minister, the greatest man perhaps of his age, because he followed Gustavus's plan, for whom Grotius had a singular veneration: in January, 1628 [198] , he speaks of him as a Prince whose greatness of soul and knowledge in civil and military matters placed him above every other. ”

“ He approved therefore of the proceedings of the States-General, who intended to give Grotius to understand by their last Ordonnances, that they condemned him to perpetual banishment.
It will perhaps be wondered at that a wise man, such as Grotius, would hazard a journey to Holland without succeeding in the projects he had formed for obtaining permission to stay there: but on some occasions it is prudent to run hazards. The point is whether the appearance of success was such as a man of sense ought to build on. ”

“ This has not only been acknowledged by the first Christians, but by the ancient Philosophers, who, as we have elsewhere shewn, ascribed an impatient resentment of insults to meanness of soul. Should any one even publish things capable of hurting us with good men, that will not authorise us to kill him. If there are authors who maintain the contrary, it is an erroneous opinion which clasheth even with the principles of natural law: for killing the person who attacks our reputation is a bad way of defending it." Thus Grotius thought in his best days. ”

“ His Eminence thought Sweden wanted to make a separate peace: he enlarged much on the respect due to the observance of treaties, and that there could never be any necessity for acting dishonourably; he added, that the design of Grotius's embassy was a very bad one, and that he could only derive dishonour from it, since it had led him first to make objections against the treaty of Paris, and secondly to acknowledge that the Swedes would not abide by what they had agreed on at Compeigne. ”

“ He exhorts him to continue his good offices to prevent Amsterdam from disgracing herself by opposing that great man's return, and assures him that France, Germany, England, and all nations are waiting to see what Holland will do on this occasion. "Let us not, says he, have ground to regret the loss of a man whom it depends entirely on ourselves to keep."
Vossius's desire to have Grotius continue in Holland was so great, that his friend's inflexibility gave him much uneasiness. ”