The Life of Hugo Grotius: With Brief Minutes of the Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of the NetherlandsButler, Charles
History
The Life of Hugo Grotius: With Brief Minutes of the Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of the Netherlands
Butler, Charles
Grotius, Hugo, 1583-1645; Netherlands -- History
"I shall always," he said in a letter to the First President of the Cour
des Monnoies, "be grateful for the King's liberality; but it is enough
that I was chargeable to you, while I resided in France. I have never
done you any service, though I made you an offer of myself. But it would
not be proper that I should now live, like an hornet, on the goods of
other men. I shall not, however, forget the kindness of so great a king,
and the good offices of so many friends."
[Sidenote: CHAP. IX. 1621-1634.]
It may appear surprising that Prince Frederick of Orange should
pertinaciously exclude Grotius from his native country. But ambition
listens to nothing that conflicts with its own views. Prince Frederick
inherited from his father and brother the wish of becoming the sovereign
of the United Provinces. To this, he knew he should always find a
zealous and able opponent in Grotius: hence, notwithstanding his great
personal regard for Grotius, he always kept him a banished man. Grotius
wished to be employed by the Government of England, and Archbishop Laud
was sounded upon this subject; but the application was coldly
received[034]. Prince Frederick sustained, both in military and civil
concerns, the character of the former princes of his family. Under his
administration, the affairs of the republic prospered at sea and land.
Peter Haim captured the Spanish flotilla, estimated at twelve millions
of florins. The Prince took Bois-le duc, Maestricht, and Breda, and
reduced the Dutchy of Limburgh. Under his auspices, the celebrated Van
Tromp commenced his career of naval glory, by obtaining a complete
victory over the Spanish fleet, consisting of seventy men of war. Prince
Frederick died in 1658.
From the close of his Stadtholderate, we may date the origin of the
jealousy entertained, by France and England, of the rising power of the
United Provinces. It is to be observed that Prince Frederick was
Stadtholder only of the Provinces of Holland, Zealand, Utrecht, Gueldres
and Overyssell: Count Ernest Casimir of Nassau was Stadtholder of the
provinces of Gröningen, Frizeland, and the county of the Drenta. In
1631, their eldest sons were chosen, in the lifetime of their fathers,
their successors in their respective Stadtholderates. This was a great
step towards making the Stadtholderate hereditary in their
families,--one of the leading objects of their ambitious views.
CHAPTER X.
SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL WORKS OF GROTIUS.
1. _His Edition of Stobæus_.
2. _His Treatise de Jure Belli et Pacis_.
3. _His Treatise de Veritate Religionis Christianæ_.
4. _His Treatise de Jure summarum potestatum circa
sacra_.
5. _His Commentary on the Scriptures_.
6. _Some other Works of Grotius_
[Sidenote: CHAP. X. 1621-1634]
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