Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty

Chapter XI

243 [Here follows the historical account.] [72] u c h a p t e r x i 1 u Part I. A General Discussion, Which Deals with the Following Items: Article I. The causes of the war waged by the Dutch against Alba, the Spaniards , Philip, &c. Article II. The courtesies extended by the Dutch in the course of that war. Article III. The causes of the war waged by the Dutch againstthePortuguese. Article IV. The courtesies extended by the Dutch to the Portuguese. Article V. The injuries inflicted by the Portuguese upon the Dutch, throughout Portugal. Article VI. The injuries inflicted by the Portuguese upon the Dutch, in other, widely distributed localities. Article VII. The injuries inflicted by the Portuguese upon the Dutch, on the pretext that the latter were entering, for commercial purposes, regionssubject to the former. Article VIII. The same pretext, with special reference to the East Indies. 1. The originalheadingfor thischapterwasdeletedandreplacedbyamoredetailed arrangement. In the process of emendation, Grotius apparently forgot to restore the transitional phrase Sequuntur Historica corresponding to similar phrases markingoff certain large divisions of the discussion (at the end of Chapter I and at the beginning of Chapters XII, XIV, and XV), and the main chapter head, Caput XI. 244 chapter xi Part II. A Discussion of Events in the East Indies, Which Deals with the Following Items: Article I. False accusations made by the Portuguese against the Dutch. Article II. Enemies suborned by the Portuguese against the Dutch. Article III. Fraudulent and perfidious conduct of the Portuguese toward the Dutch. Article IV. The war was first undertaken by the Portuguese against the Dutch. Article V. The war waged by the Portuguese against the friends of the Dutch. Now that we have set forth in general terms the principles of law involved , let us turn our attention to the facts of the particular case under discussion in order to facilitate consideration of thefollowingquestions: Are these facts in conformity with the said legal principles? And, are all the factors required by those principles present in the case? We do not feel, however, that it is necessary to give an account of every event leading up in one way or another to the seizure in question. That would be an endless task, suitable only in connexion with a strictly historical work. Besides, who is ignorant of the fact that the Dutch have now been at war with the Spanish nation for thirty long years, andmore? And who does not know that this conflict was begun when Fernando, Duke of Alba, penetrated with a Spanish army into the then peaceful territory of the Low Countries,2 after he had been sent out as governor 2. Terram Belgicam, which might be rendered more literally here as “the Belgian territory.” Grotius’s conception of the terms Belgium and Belgicis, however, is quite broad and certainly includes both the Dutch and the Belgian provinces of the Low Countries in most of the passages where these terms appear throughout the Commentary . This broad interpretation finds further confirmation in the title of another work by Grotius, the De Rebus Belgicis, which consists of “The Annals, and History of the Low-Countrey-Warrs,” and is so entitled in the English translation (London, 1665). Consequently, the translator of the Commentary has considered it advisable to render the terms in question consistently as “Low Countries,” “Lowlanders,”&c., despite the fact that a few of Grotius’s statements could be applied specifically to the Belgian Provinces and their inhabitants. Part I, Article I In the year 1567 historical account 245 of that region by Philip the Second, King of the Spanish realms and sovereign of the said countries? Relying confidently upon his armed force, and with no pretext other than the occurrence, prior to his arrival, of a disturbanceconnectedwith religious questions (a disturbance for which only a very small number of individuals were to blame, as is acknowledged even by those persons who wish to establish the fact that guilt did exist, since the incident took place against the will of the majority of both magistrates and citizens), Alba proceeded to alter the laws, judicial provisions, and system of taxation . He took these measures in contravention of the statutes which the various princes had sworn to observe and which, by striking a rare balance between princely power and liberty, were preserving both the due measure of imperial sovereignty and the foundations of the local state. The...