[121] Ep. Utengobardi. Præst. Vir. Ep. p. 383.
[122] It is printed among his theological works.
[123] See above, § IV.
[124] L'Abbé Longlet, Catalogue des Auteurs du Droit Canenique, p. 175.
[125] Ep. 19. p. 760.
BOOK III.
Grotius was at no loss what country to chuse for his asylum. As he was invited by the men of learning in France, and sought after by the virtuous Ministers whom Lewis XIII. honoured with his confidence, he gave the preference to Paris, where he had already many friends. Du Maurier, the French ambassador in Holland, sent him from the Hague to Antwerp several letters of recommendation to persons in France: the President Jeannin[126] wrote him, that he might depend on the king's protection, who was informed by many good men that he had been unjustly condemned in his own country; promising him, at the same time, the friendship of the men of greatest distinction in France, and assuring him he would do him all the service that lay in his power. Grotius, therefore, set out for Paris with confidence. He would not ask an escort[127] though he was not without apprehension of some violence from the Dutch; but chose rather to travel in disguise and by bye-roads.
He arrived at Paris on the 13th of April, 1621, at night. The King was at Fontainbleau. Boissise, who had been Ambassador Extraordinary in Holland at the time of Barnevelt's trial, had not followed his Majesty; but waited for Grotius at Paris, to direct him how to act. He assured him that the King bore him much good-will, that he did not doubt his Majesty would in a little time give him effective proofs of it, and advised him to continue at Paris till his friends did something for him. Grotius visited M. de Vic, and the President Jeannin, who received him with the greatest marks of friendship, and repeated what Boissise had already said. The States-General, in the mean time, ordered their Ambassadors to do him every ill-office; a commission which they executed with the greatest zeal. They did all they could to destroy his reputation, but it was too well established to be shaken. The revenge he took was by speaking of his Country like a zealous citizen; and by seeking every occasion to serve her: this gained him the applause of the King, who could not help admiring the greatness of his proceeding.
When the Dutch Ambassadors saw that the French Ministry were favourably disposed towards Grotius, and that in all appearance the King would speedily give him public marks of his esteem, they spread a report that he had applied to the French Ministry, to use their influence with the States-General for obtaining his pardon: they added, that the Ministry, after praising the good disposition he was in, assured him the King suffered him in France only because he knew these were his sentiments, and that the way to obtain a pension from the Court was by seeking to recover the favour of the States-General.