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This letter having produced no effect, the English applied to the Queen of Sweden to intercede for the discharge of the captive Elector; and the King declared at last that he would let Grotius treat with the Ministry about the accommodation of this affair.
In the sixth chapter the author shews that Philip II. King of Spain, endeavouring to change their form of government, occasioned the grand war which procured Holland her liberty. Grotius explains, in his seventh and last chapter, the form of government established in Holland after the Dutch threw off the Spanish yoke.
The news spread, and Episcopius and other exiled friends soon thronged to the house of Grevinkhoven, where they all dined together in great glee, Grotius, still in his journeyman's clothes, narrating the particulars of his wonderful escape. He had no intention of tarrying in his resting-place at Antwerp longer than was absolutely necessary.
It was favourably received, both by the diplomatist for whose use it was composed, and the public at large; but, on account of the great extension of literature, since the time of Grotius, it is now little read.
Against both Simôn and Grotius, Bossuet wielded his powerful lance, in his "Pastoral Instruction on the Works of Father Simôn," and his "Dissertations upon Grotius." In these works he says that, during thirty years, "Grotius searched for truth in good faith, and at last was so near it, that it is wonderful that he did not take the last step, to which God called him.
Grotius , who was extremely circumspect, was in doubt whether he should pay him the first visit: and before he determined, he wanted to see what the English Ambassador would do. The Duke sent him his compliments, and the Ambassadors coming to an agreement to wait first on that Prince , Grotius went to see him, and was extremely well received: the Duke returned his visit.
He had sworn revenge upon all those concerned in his father's downfall, and it was a delight therefore to wreak a personal vengeance on one who had since become so illustrious a member of that party by which the former burgomaster had been deposed, although Grotius at the time of Leicester's government had scarcely left his cradle.
The Swedes being unequally matched, agreed to the Marshal's proposal, that the coach of the English Ambassador in ordinary and that of Grotius should withdraw, without prejudice to the rights of Sweden. On the nineteenth of February the two Ambassadors from England sent to Grotius, to know if it was by his order that his attendants had acted and spoke in the dispute they had with the English.
Grotius assured him that there was nothing yet done; that it were to be wished France would send a Minister to Oxenstiern to act in concert with him; and that it was time to pay the arrears which were still owing to Sweden notwithstanding the frequent promises to the contrary, and whose payment Bullion always deferred.
It was at that time very doubtful whether he died of the plague, which prevailed in those parts, or of poison. Grotius tells us , that the Duke himself thought they had shortened his days: he even cites on this subject the Prince's funeral oration delivered at Brisac, wherein the author was not afraid of advancing this anecdote.
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