Evening star., 1939-10-15
Presidents Neutrality Policies
Are a Tribute to Hugo Grotius
Genius.Smitten Little Hollander Laid Foundations
for International Law Three
Hundred Years Ago
By Andre,c Barnes.

. Barnes.
him miracle" and gave him rich gifts.
He married young. Honorary titles came
thick and fast for the young, twinkling-
eyed, sharp-bearded student whose stu.
pendous mind was crammed to overflow.
ing with endless reading Of the classics
Of his day.
A Nebulous Frame Work.
International law today, 800 years
later, Is at best nebulous framework
Of accepted international custom and
rights accorded by treaties. Other writ
ers before Grotius had touched on some
phases of generally accepted interna-
tional conduct, but none had attempted
to establish a firm, scientific founda.
ton of international right upon which
all ages might build with confidence
that the foundation was true. Grotius
the scholar drafted his great legal tract
while wars shook Europe to its founda-
tions. He drew heavily from the wisdom
Of the ages before him, to bolster his
arguments, and above all he never des-
paired of the future of mankind. His
deeply religious nature alone would have
prevented ruinous pessinism. Instead,
Grotius sought to extract from the
seemingly universal ruin broad princi-
Piles for philosophical and rational
course Of international conduct.
At heart Grotius was pacifist, abhor-
red bloodshed. But he began his great
work in 1923 by recognizing that there
did exist a basis for conflict when all
other methods of reaching agreement
had failed. Grotius held that mans
humanitarian instincts and principles
exhibited throughout the centuries
barred him from utterly inhumane con-
duct of a war against a neighbor. He
did not seek to exercise war itself; in
stead, he sought to dull its bestiality
by bringing 1t under system Of law
world order under international law"
Grotius held, drove their conduct and
their principles from the individuals,
and deep-seated in the mind and history
Of man. beyond any possibility Of being
uprooeed in the heat of war, are humane
principles which must live for all time
and a.sert themselves at all times. Man
must conform to the laws OF his ma
ture, and his nature intrinsically is not
murderous and bestial. 1t would be In
teresting today to view the reactions Of
Grotius-were such a thing possible
to the bombings of civilian populations,
the disregard of treaties, the use OF
poison gases, the undeclared wars, the
use of submarines and machine guns.
Published in 1625.
When his monumental work, a stupe-
flying collection of the best opinion and
arguments the world had produced up
to his time, correlated into the frame
work of hls own theories-was published
in 1925, Grotius was paid off with few
hundred copies of his work. These he
distributed to his friends, with the con-
fession that the fame which would &C
crue to him would be sufficient reward.
For eight years his landmark treatise
drew virtually no attention.
Then, almost overnight. the govern
ments of Europe became aware OF clear.
penetrating light in their midst. 1t was
De Jure Belli &C Pacis. Grotius was be-
sieged by rulers anxious to enlist his
great talents. Gustavus Adolphus OF
Sweden, it was said, pursued his cam
paign and slept at night with De Jure
Belli beneath his pillow on the battle
fields. Grotius was recognized As Eu-
ropes legal giant.
The regency which ruled Sweden after
Adolphus' death eagerly offered the
scholar the post of Ambassador to France
and Grotius accepted. 1t was an un-
happy experience for Sweden, France
and Grotius. He quibbled and quarreled
and was Stunned by the great Cardinal
Richelieu, who had once sought his serv-
ices. He bickered about his title and
rank, about his pay and filled up his dis
patches with complaints and minor gos-
sip. He failed to cement the alliance he
was sent to arrange, and others were
sent to accomplish the work. The French
court scoffed at him. and Grotius often
asked to be recalled. The French, too,
asked the same thing. Rebu11ed Is .
diplomat. Grotius buried himself In his
beloved studies until he returned to
Sweden after 10 weary years.
Shipwrecked Near Danzig.
Childishly, he planned to nee the
country. He was overtaken and returned
so that Queen Christina might load him
with honors and rich gifts. Then he
sailed for home.
He was shipwrecked near where DAN
zig now stands as the symbol and cause
Of new war. In q few days he died.
confident that he had created q great
work, but unaware that he had laid =
firm foundation for centuries Of inter-
national law. Within his work were the
seeds Of future peace treaties, world
courts, comfy among nations and inter-
national morality. The burden Of his
argument was that war is no excuse for
complete bestiality. Centuries Of treaties,
usage and practice have built upon the
groundwork Grotius prepared, but even
today many Of his observations seem to
at exactly the controversies raging 800
yoors Afker hia death