The Life of Hugo Grotius Part 17

[Sidenote: XII. 3. His Project of Religious Pacification.]

"Grotius," says Burigni, "content with gratifying his pacific desires, expected his reward from posterity. This he clearly intimates in the following verses, written by him on the subject:

"_Accipe, sed placide, quae, si non optimo, certe Espressit n.o.bis non mala pacis amor.

Et tibi dic, nostro labor hic si displicet avo, A gratia pretium posteritate feret_."

The projects of religious pacification did not cease with Grotius: several divines of distinction adopted it; and attempted, some with more prudence and ability than others, to carry it into effect. The princ.i.p.al of these are noticed in the second appendix to the present work. None succeeded: One description of persons, who engaged in this design, was denominated _Syncretists_, or _Calixtines_, from _George Calixtus_ their leader: the other, from their calling men from controversy to holiness of life, received the appellation of _Pietists_: A third party,--perhaps we may style them, the _Ultra-orthodox_,--more hostile to the former than to the latter--arose in opposition to both, and accused them of sacrificing the doctrines of faith to a mistaken zeal for union and sanct.i.ty.[075]

It is certain[076] that the friends of union too often erred in this,--that they aimed rather at an uniformity of _terms_ than of _sentiments_; and thus seemed satisfied, when they engaged the contending parties to use the same _words and phrases_, though their _real difference_ in opinion remained the same. This could not be justified: it tended evidently to extinguish truth and honour, and to introduce equivocation.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE DEATH OF GROTIUS.

1645

[Sidenote: CHAP. XIII. 1645.]

Every thing respecting the recall of Grotius being settled, he embarked at Dieppe for Holland. He was extremely well received at Amsterdam and Rotterdam: the const.i.tuted authorities, of the former city fitted a vessel, which was to take him to Hamburgh: there, after along and hara.s.sing journey, he arrived on the 16th of May. From Hamburgh he proceeded to Lubec: the magistrates of that city gave him an honourable reception. He proceeded to Wismar; where Count Wismar, the admiral of the Swedish fleet, gave him a splendid entertainment, and afterwards sent him in a man-of-war to Colmar: thence, he went by land to Stockholm. When he arrived there, Queen Christina was at Upsal; but, hearing that Grotius was at Stockholm, she returned to that city to meet him. On the day after her arrival, she favoured him with a long audience: she expressed to him great satisfaction at his conduct, and made him large promises. These audiences were often repeated; and once she permitted him to have the honour of dining with her. She a.s.sured him, that if he would continue in her service, as Councillor of State, and bring his family into Sweden, he should have no reason to complain of her. But Grotius was anxious to leave Sweden; and his pa.s.sport being delayed, he resolved to quit it without one, and actually proceeded to a seaport about seven leagues distant from Stockholm. The Queen, being informed of his departure, sent a gentleman to inform him, that she wished to see him once more. On this invitation he returned to Stockholm, and was immediately admitted into the Queen's presence; he then explained to her his reasons for wishing to quit Sweden. The Queen appeared to be satisfied with them: she made him a present in money of twelve or thirteen thousand Swedish imperials, of the value of about ten thousand French crowns; she added to the present, some plate, the finishing of which had, she told him, been the only cause of the delay of his pa.s.sport. She then put it into his hands, and a vessel was appointed to carry him to Lubec. On the 12th August he embarked for that city.

[Sidenote: The Death of Grotius.]

What were his real motives for refusing Christina's offers, or in what place he ultimately intended to fix himself, is not known.

The vessel in which he embarked had scarcely sailed from Lubec, when it was overtaken by a violent storm, and obliged, on the 17th August, to take shelter in a port fourteen miles distant from Dantzic. Grotius went from it in an open wagon to Lubec, and arrived very ill at Rostock[077]

on the 26th August. No one, there, knew him: his great weakness determined him to call in the aid of a physician: one accordingly attended him: his name was Stochman. On feeling Grotius's pulse, he said his indisposition proceeded from weakness and fatigue, and that, with rest and some restoratives, he might recover; but, on the following day he changed his opinion. Perceiving that the weakness of Grotius increased, and that it was accompanied with a cold sweat and other symptoms indicating an exhaustion of nature, the physician announced that the end of his patient was near. Grotius then asked for a clergyman. _John Quistorpius_ was brought to him. Quistorpius, in a letter to Calovius, gives the following particulars of Grotius's last moments:

"You are desirous of hearing from me, how that Phoenix of Literature, Hugo Grotius, behaved in his last moments, and I am going to tell you. He embarked at Stockholm for Lubec, and after having been tossed for the three days, by a violent tempest, he was shipwrecked, and got to sh.o.r.e on the coast of Pomerania, from whence he came to our town of Rostock, distant above sixty miles, in an open wagon through wind and rain. He lodged with Balleman; and sent for M. Stochman, the physician, who observing that he was extremely weakened by years, by what he suffered at sea, and by the inconveniences attending the journey, judged that he could not live long. The second day after Grotius's arrival in this town, that is, on the 18th of August, O.S. he sent for me, about nine at night, I went, and found him almost at the point of death: I said, 'There was nothing I desired more, than to have seen him in health, that I might have the pleasure of his conversation.' He answered, 'G.o.d had ordered it otherwise.' I desired him: to prepare himself for a happier life, to acknowledge that he was a sinner, and to repent of his faults: and, happening to mention the publican, who acknowledged that he was a sinner, and asked G.o.d's mercy; he answered, '_I am that publican_.' I went on, and told him that he must have recourse to Jesus Christ, without whom there is no salvation.'

"He replied, '_I place all my hope in Jesus Christ_.'

[Sidenote: The Death of Grotius.]

"I began to repeat aloud in German, the prayer which begins _Herr Jesu:_[078] he followed me in a very low voice; with his hands clasped. When I had done, I asked him, 'if he understood me.' He answered, '_I understand you very well_.' I continued to repeat to him those pa.s.sages of the word of G.o.d, which are commonly offered to the remembrance of dying persons; and asking him, 'if he understood me,' he answered, '_I heard your voice, but I did not understand what you said._'

"These were his last words; soon afterwards he expired; just at midnight. His body was delivered to the physicians, who took out his bowels. I easily obtained leave to bury them in our princ.i.p.al church, which is dedicated to the Virgin."

His corpse, was afterwards carried to Delft, and deposited in the tomb of his ancestors. He wrote this modest epitaph for himself,

"GROTIUS HIC HUGO EST, BATAVUM CAPTIVUS ET EXSUL, LEGATUS REGNI, SUECIA MAGNA, TUI."

Burigni informs us that Grotius had a very agreeable person, a good complexion, an aquiline nose, sparkling eyes, a serene and smiling countenance; that he was not tall, but very strong, and well built. The engraving of him prefixed to the _Hugonis Grotii Manes_ answers this description.

It is needless to give an account of his descendants, or their prosperous or adverse fortunes: they are noticed at length by Burigni.

In _Mr. Boswell's Life of Johnson_, mention is made of one who was then in a state of want. Dr. Johnson, in a letter to Dr. Vyse,

"requests him to recommend, an old friend, to his grace the Archbishop of Canterbury. His name," says the Doctor, "is De Groot.

He has all the common claims to charity; he is poor and infirm in a great degree. He has likewise another claim, to which no scholar can refuse attention: he is, by several descents, the nephew of Hugo Grotius; of him, of whom every man of learning has perhaps learned something. Let it not be said, that, in any lettered country, the nephew of Grotius, ever asked a charity, and was refused."

The reader must be pleased, to be informed, that the application,--it was for some situation, in the charter-house,--was successful. Dr. Vyse informed Dr. Johnson of it, by letter. In his answer,

"Dr. Johnson," by Dr. Vyse's account, "rejoiced much, and was lavish of the praise he bestowed upon his favourite Hugo Grotius."[079]

[Sidenote: The Death of Grotius.]

Three points were united in Grotius, each of which would strongly recommend him to Dr. Johnson: he was learned, pious, and opposed to the doctrines of Calvin. It is still more unnecessary to mention the various encomiums, which the learned of all nations have made of Grotius, in prose and verse. That he was one of the most universal scholars, whom the world has produced, and that he possessed sense, taste, and genius in a high degree, is universally confessed. It is equally true, that both his public and his private character, are ent.i.tled to a high degree of praise.

When Queen Christina, heard of his death, she wrote to his widow, a letter of condolence, and requested, that the ma.n.u.scripts which he had left, might be sent to her:

"My amba.s.sador," the Queen says in this letter, "has made you acquainted, with my high esteem, for his learning, and the good services he did me; but he could not express, how dear I hold his memory, and the effects of his great labours. If gold, or silver, could do any thing towards redeeming such a valuable life, I would gladly employ all, I am mistress of, for that purpose."

She concludes by asking his widow, for all the ma.n.u.scripts "of that learned man, whose works had given her such pleasure." The Queen a.s.sures her, that "they could not fall into better hands," and that, "the author, having been useful to her in his lifetime, it was not just that she should be deprived, after his death, of the fruits of his labours."

It remains to mention, that, after the death of Grotius, his wife communicated with the Church of England: this, it is said, she did in conformity to the dying injunctions of her husband: it is certain, that Grotius respected the Church of England. His wife died at the Hague, in the communion of the Remonstrants. Through life, she was uniformly respected; and, whenever the services of Grotius, to sacred and profane literature, are recorded, her services to him, should be mentioned with praise.

CHAPTER XIV.

HISTORICAL MINUTES OF THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE SEVEN UNITED PROVINCES, FROM THE DEATH OF WILLIAM II. TILL THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS.

1680-1815.

In some of the preceding pages, the princ.i.p.al events in the history of the Seven United Provinces, till the death of William II, in 1680, have been briefly mentioned: in the present chapter, we shall insert a summary account of the revolutions of their government, till the present time.

XIV. 1.

_William III._

1650-1702.