The Life of Hugo Grotius (Illustrated Edition)

Charles Butler KC (14 August 1750 2 June 1832) was an English Roman Catholic lawyer and miscellaneous writer. His 1777 pamphlet supporting naval impressments won him the patronage of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, but Butler withdrew from general political activity to press for Catholic relief. Secretary of the Catholic Committee from 1782, he was appointed by them to draft a new relief bill in 1788: despite controversy within the English Catholic community over the extent to which the Catholic condition should be assimilated to that of Protestant dissenters, a bill passed on 24 June 1791. In 1792 Butler helped found the Cisalpine Club "to resist any ecclesiastical interference which may militate against the freedom of English Catholics". Relations between cisalpine Catholics, minimising the authority of the Pope over English Catholics, and vicars apostolic (especially Butler's long-time opponent John Milner) were strained; in 1807 a Catholic Board was formed after efforts to repair relations, but Milner would censure Butler in 1822. His literary activity was enormous, and the number of his published works comprises about fifty volumes. Among the best known are his biographies of Erasmus, Grotius, Bossuet, and Fénelon. Hugo Grotius (10 April 1583 28 August 1645), also known as Huig de Groot, Hugo Grocio or Hugo de Groot, was a jurist in the Dutch Republic who laid the foundations for international law based on natural law. He was also a philosopher, theologian, Christian apologist, playwright, and poet. Grotius's influence on international law is paramount, and is acknowledged by, for instance, the American Society of International Law, which since 1999 holds an annual series of Grotius Lectures. This edition of Butlers Life of Hugo Grotius is specially formatted with a Table of Contents and illustrations of Grotius.