BOOKS.
WIIEWELL'S GROTIUS..
Tns copious titlepage of this edition of the once famous work of Grotius almost sufficiently indicates the nature and limits of Dr.
Whewell's labours upon his author to spare the necessity of far- ther description. We would simply add, that the—abridgment of the translation is mainly effected by leaving out most of the fre- quent quotations from Greek, Roman, and Biblical writers, with -which Grotius ornaments his treatise, and enforces, though, to modern taste, he overlays his arguments. The translation is printed at the bottom of the page, the notes of Barbeyrac and Gro- tius—" and others" meaning in fact very little—occupying the space between the text and the translation. Dr. Whewell has written a short preface that will not much tend to enlighten the student, but has expressly declined the really rich field of labour that seems to invite a modern editor of the first systematic work on international law to trace the progress of the science, from the commencement of the seventeenth to the middle of the nineteenth century ; alleging as the ground of his silence, that to attempt this would be, "not toedit Grains, but to compile a treatise on the pre- sent state and past history of International Law." Such an at- tempt would at any rate have given a general interest to his work, which a mere translation of a treatise more than two hundred are old, with a selection of old comments, cannot possibly possess.
e utmost that can be said for the present limited attempt is, that it may revive a passing interest in a writer who has been already several times translated into English, and may place copies of his greatest work in a few libraries that have hitherto been without it. So far as the mere translation goes, it appears from numerous pas- sages at which we have looked to be a faithful and readable version of the original Latin.
We can hardly imagine that a recompensing sale can be ex- pected for a book which is not edited so as to present its subject in a complete form with modern improvements and corrections, while the subject itself is deprived of much of its practical inte- rest by the fact that the problem of international law has almost entirely changed ; and men are inquiring not what the jets pentium is, but where the imperium resides—not what is right, but how and by whom it is to be enforced. As a branch of speculative political ethics, it may be interesting to deduce from reason and the corn- minnis sensus of mankind the rules which ought to regulate the relations of states ; and it would be difficult to over-estimate the clearness, subtilty, and learning, which Grotius brought to bear upon this speculation, rendering his work a capital chapter in the history of moral philosophy. It is probably in this light princi- pally that the Cambridge Professor of Morals regards the treatise, and has in its republication considered the students who may be candidates for the " Moral Science Tripos." It would have answered this limited purpose better had the editor not so limited his plan. But the moralist has a firmer footing, and is less likely to substitute his own fancies for the universal conscience of man- kind, when he confines himself to private and social duties, than when he attempts to speculate on the rules of duty binding upon states towards one another. A vast body of positive law, and a general practical consensus of usage and opinion, supply him in the former region with a basis for speculation, and a corrective at the same time. In the latter, it is the melancholy fact that as yet all is speculation ; and so long as history presents us with one long almost unvaried page of violations of the plainest and broad- est rules of right, such speculations carry with them an air of trifling, and seem to belong little to the " business" however they may affect the " bosoms" of men. In the minor branch of inter- national law, as deciding the rights of individuals arising from conflicting laws of different states, advance has been made, princi- *Iy under the stimulus supplied by the practical wants of the e• deral Republic of the United States. But in the higher branch,
-which should regulate the relations and conduct of sovereign go- vernments to each other, the positive law of the civilized world I embodied in treaties represents little more than the lawless will of a series of monarchs, and the right of the stronger-
" That he should seize who has the power, And he should keep who can."
An International Tribunal is the necessary antecedent of inter- national law, and our nearest approach to that is in the leagues that have been formed to maintain the balance of power in Europe. When such leagues in permanent session are as much stronger than any individual member of the community of nations, as any particular community is than any individual belonging to it, then the problem of international law will be solved; and every prac- tical action of such leagues is a tentative experiment towards Uni- versal Law, and its consequence, Universal Peace. It appears by the titlepage of this work that it is edited for the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press ; and a list of other works already published or in preparation for the same body is affixed. A perusal-of this list goes some way to explain the fact that the University of Cambridge derives scanty profit from that printing and publishing establishment. A London house would inevitably become insolvent that ventured on such speculations. Now we by no means consider that a University press is under , the ordinary commercial law of publishing with a simple view to
A'Hugonis Orotii de Jure Belli et Pacts Libri Tres. Accompanied by an Abridged Translation, by William Whewell, D.D., Master of Trinity College and Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Cambridge; with the Notes of the Author. Barbeyrac, and others. Edited for the Syndics of the University Press, Cambridge. In three volumes. Published by Parker and Son, London.
profit, or at least of making profit a necessary element in every speculation. But, possessing the great advantage of not being carried on mainly for profit, a University press ought to produce either works of profound learning and elaborate research, for which the public demand would not be great enough or immediate enough to pay, or magnificent editions of standard authors, espe. cially of those connected with the particular university. Of the former, we can recall no instance in the recent history of the Uni. versity Press at Cambridge—certainly their present list presents none : of the latter, we find in preparation the works of Isaac Bar- row, once Master of Trinity College : what more we find is a list of scantily-edited and for the most part unimportant theological works ; bits of fathers, and of classical writers, evidently intended for the commonest school and college use. Not a work, we are bold to say, has been issued by the Syndics of the Pitt Press, with. in the last twenty years, which does honour either to the living scholarship and science of England, or renders homage to its il- lustrious dead. Meanwhile, the Clarendon Press at Oxford has not only published splendid editions of the works of Oxford worthies, but has done work properly belonging to the sister University in her editions of Taylor and Barrow; and the great editions of Bacon and Milton, two of the brightest stars of the Cambridge firmament, owe their existence to the liberality and resources of London pub- lishers. What has Cambridge done in the way of an edition for its greatest name, Isaac Newton P That the Pitt Press has resources, is proved by the list of small works announced ; that it is not em- ploying those resources in a manner to redound to the credit of the University or to the honour and benefit of literature and science, is matter for serious regret. Most of our remarks would have been equally applicable at any time during the last twenty years, but with this difference, that till lately the press has been employed principally in printing books for other publishers ; now a spirit of activity seems to have come upon the Syndics, but of utterly mis- directed activity. They publish books that are heavy without being erudite or profound; they reprint editions of authors that the world has ceased to read, and allow them to be so meagrely edited as to deprive them of their only chance of success; or they take to issuing school-books of about the same order of merit as Kerchever Arnold's. Unless the Syndics reconsider their course, and either forward the publication of original works of high order, or pat forth the great English writers who have been connected with the peculiar studies of Cambridge, they had better let their extensive premises, or give them up to the University for new lecture-rooms, which are said to be wanted. The Clarendon is be- fore them for a model. It is their business to do as well, or to show reason why they do not.
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