are justly chargeable with a vain attempt to philosophize without regard to fact and experience, the sole foundation of all true philosophy. 'If this were merely an objection of taste, I should be willing to allow that Grotius has indeed poured forth his learning with a profusion that sometimes rather encumbers than adorns his work, and which is not always necessary to the illustration of his subject. Yet, even in making that concession, I should rather yield to the taste of others than speak from my own feelings. I own that such richness and splendour of literature have a powerful charm for me. They fill my mind with an endless variety of delightful recollections and associations. They relieve the understanding in its progress through a vast science, by calling up the memory of great men, and of interesting events. By this means we see the truths of morality clothed with all the eloquence (not that could be produced by the powers of one man, but) that could be bestowed on them by the collective genius of the world. Even virtue and wisdom themselves acquire new majesty in my eyes, when I thus see all the great masters of thinking and writing called together, as it were, from all times and countries, to do them homage, and to appear in their train. But this is no place for discussions of taste, and I am very ready to own that mine may be corrupted. "The work of Grotius is liable to a more serious objection, though I do not recollect that it has ever been made. His method is inconvenient and unscientific. He has inverted the natural order. That natural order undoubtedly dictates, that we should first search for the original principles of the science in human nature; then apply them to the regulation of the conduct of individuals; and lastly, employ them for the decision of those difficult and complicated questions that arise with respect to the intercourse of nations. But Grotius has chosen the reverse of this method. He begins with the consideration of the states of peace and war, and he examines original principles only occasionally and incidentally, as they grow out of the questions which he is called upon to decide. It is a necessary consequence of this disorderly method, which exhibits the elements of the science in the form of scattered digressions, that he seldom employs sufficient discussion on these fundamental truths, and never in the place where such a discussion would be most instructive to the reader. "This defect in the plan of Grotius was perceived and supplied by Puffendorf, who restored natural law to that superiority which belonged to it, and with great propriety treated the law of nations as only one main branch of the parent stock. Without the genius of his master, and with very inferiour learning, he has yet treated this subject with sound sense, with clear method, with extensive and accurate knowledge, and with a copiousness of detail, sometimes, indeed, tedious, but always instructive and satisfactory. His work will be always studied by those who spare no labour to acquire a deep knowledge of the subject, but will in our times, I fear, be oftener found on the shelf than on the desk of the general student. 'In the time of Mr. Locke it was considered as the manual of those who were intended for active life; but in the present age, I believe, it will be found that men of business are too much occupied, men of letters are too fastidious, and men of the world too indolent, for the study or even the perusal of such works. Far be it from me to derogate from the real and great merit of so useful a writer as Puffendorf. His treatise is a mine in which all his successors must dig. I only presume to suggest, that a book so prolix, and so utterly void of all the attractions of composition, is likely to repel many readers who are interested, and who might perhaps be disposed to acquire some knowledge of the principles of public law.* In a subsequent part of this volume, we shall state our views as to the utility of legal biography, and furnish the student with ample means of cultivating this hitherto neglected branch of legal education. The interest we feel in the lives of those who have been distinguished for wisdom and learning is natural and useful, but additionally so in respect to those who have been luminaries in our peculiar science. We shall conclude this notice of Grotius and his works, with an extract from a sketch of his life by an author, whose name we have not been able to ascertain. 'Hugo Grotius, or de Groot, was born at Delft, April, 1583. He was a person of uncommon genius, and without controversy one of the greatest men of his age. When but eight years old, he made Latin verses which would have been no discredit to the mature age of an accredited poet. When but fifteen years old, he had acquired a very critical knowledge of philosophy, mathematics, and jurisprudence. At twenty-four years of age, he was made advocate general. In 1613, he settled at Rotterdam, and became syndic of that city. At this time Holland was greatly agitated with the (religious) disputes of the Remonstrants and Contra remonstrants. Barneveldt, the intimate friend and patron of Grotius, declared in favour of the former, and Grotius by his writings and influence supported the party of his benefactor. This business ended in the ruin of Barneveldt, who lost his head; and Grotius, involved in his ruin, was condemned to perpetual imprison • Vide Mackintosh's Intro. Disco. p. 15. London, 1799. ment, and shut up in the castle of Louvestein. His wife observing that the chest in which his linen, &c. passed and repassed from the prison, had ceased to be inspected by the guards, advised him to shut himself up in it, and endeavour to make his escape. Holes were bored in the chest to admit the air, and Grotius locked up in it, was carried out unobserved, his wife remaining in his stead. He was carried in safety to a friend's house at Gorcum, where dressing himself like a mason, and taking a rule and trowel in his hand, he passed unnoticed through the market-place, took boat, and arriving in safety in Velvet, in Brabant, he took carriage and got thence to Antwerp. Some of the judges were of opinion that Grotius' wife should be kept in prison in his stead; but she was liberated by a majority of voices, and her conduct universally applauded. Grotius then retired to France, where Louis XIII. gave him a pension of 1,000 crowns per annum; but of this he was deprived by the influence of cardinal de Richelieu, in 1631. In 1634, he became counsellor to Christina, queen of Sweden, who sent him ambassador to France. In this station he remained for eleven years: and when he returned to Sweden to give an account of his mission, he asked, and with great difficulty obtained, his dismission. On his return to his own country, whither he had been warmly invited, (his enemies being almost all dead,) he was taken ill on the way, and died at Rostock, August 28, 1645, in the sixty-second year of his age. Grotius was a great lawyer, a great critic, a great divine, and a good man. His numerous writings have immortalized him, especially his treatise on War and Peace, and his Truth of the Christian Religion." PARTICULAR SYLLABUS. TITLE II. 'Principles, causes, and elements being unknown, the science whereof they are, is altogether unknown.'-Fortes. ch. viii. THE ELEMENTARY AND CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES OF THE MUNICIPAL LAW OF ENGLAND; OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND OF THE ROMAN CIVIL LAW: AND HEREIN, I. OF THE FEUDAL LAW. (Note 1.) 1st. Robertson's 'State of Europe,' being the Introduction to his History of Charles V. 2d. Lecture X. of vol. 1, of Hoffman's Legal Outlines, 'Of the Feudal Law.' 3d. Wright's Tenures. (Note 2.) e. 5th. Dalrymple on Feudal Property. (Note 4.) E. 6th. Gilbert Stuart's View of Civil Society. (Note 5.) 7th. Lord chief baron Gilbert's Treatise of Tenures. [Part 1st. Of the Origin, Nature, Use, and Effects of Feudal or Common Law E. e. 8th. Millar on Ranks. (Note 7.) |