The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-05
Fitting on the Fourth.

! INDEED, one may well beHeVe that
the ceremonies that occurred yes
terday in the quaint Dutch city of
Delft We're. as described in one of this
mornings cable messages, picturesque
and impressive. The service included
a floral offering and a tribute of re-
spect paid on the Fourth of July and
in the name Of the United States to
the memory of Hollands distinguished
son, Hugo Grotius.
There was a peculiar fitness in this
service. The tribute was given by the
American delegates attending the peace
conference at The Hague; Hugo Gro
titus, dead more than two hundred and
fifty years, still lives in his immortal
contributions that may be fairly said
to be the foundation of the modern
laws that govern in war and in the
settlement of international disputes.
To the rules which he laid down may
be ascribed in large part the codes of
nations, in accordance with which the
rules of war have been made humane
and the treatment of prizes, spoils,
prisoners and vanquished territory Or
dered in proper keeping with civil
lied considerations.
Delft is not far from The Hague.
The ancient Dutch town is the site
of the palace in which Prince William
of Orange was assassinated. In one
of its churches, where yesterdays GER
emony was witnessed, is the tomb of
80
writer is one of uncommon interest.
Born in 1888, Hugo Grotius was recog-
nized in his childhood as a prodigy
He could make good latin verses when
he was nine years old. He was ripe
for his university studies at twelve.
writer known to Europe when he was
twenty-one. He entered the service Of
the state, in troublous times with the
result that, at the age of thirty-six. he
was sentenced to a lifelong term in
prison. He sought consolation in the
study of the classics and in literature
His property was confiscated.
After time the wife Of Grotius OBJ
tanned permission to share his captiv-
ity, and she contrived his escape. It
had grown to be the custom to bring
into and to send out from the prison, in
a chest, the books which Grotius was
permitted to consult. At first a care
ful inspection was made, but in time
this watchfulness was relaxed and one
day Grotius was slowed away in the
chest, under the directions of his wife.
The scheme worked; once outside the
prison confederates helped the fugitive
to stone-mason's suit of clothes and
he made his escape to Antwerp
Grotius could not arrange for a safe
return to his country. At Paris he
received a small pension irregularly
paid by Louis XIII. He accepted SER
vice from Sweden as that country's
ambassador at the court of France.
He did not enjoy this and was called
to Stockholm. In turn he disliked his
surroundings and, getting permission
to leave, he was wrecked near the
coast OF Dantzic and died of the effects
of exposure. His literary work long
ago gave him rank as one of the fore
most men of the seventeenth century.
or that work no living American can
have higher appreciation than has
Andrew D. White, the scholarly head
OF this country's delegation at The
Hague; and the interchange of friendly
expression that distinguished yester-
days ceremony is a matter that will
give pleasure to every American citi-
zen.