295 



VATTEL, EMMERICH. 



VAUBAN, SEBASTIEN. 



29G 



of Frederick II., who had recently ascended the throne of Prussia, and 

 whose taste for literature was 'general, might afford a field for his 

 talents. At Berlin Yattel contracted an intimacy with Jordan. In 

 1742 he published a defence of Leibnitz's system, which he dedicated 

 to Frederick. His wish was to enter the diplomatic service of Prussia, 

 but no vacancies occurred, and his fortune was too limited to admit 

 of a lengthened attendance at court. In 1743 some overtures from 

 the court of Dresden, which sought to rival that of Berlin in a reputa- 

 tion for the patronage of art and literature, induced Vattel to visit 

 that city. The gracious reception he experienced from Count Briihl 

 decided his resolution to enter the service of the king of Poland and 

 elector of Saxony. 



It is extremely doubtful in what capacity Vattel was attached to 

 the Saxon court in 174445. In 1746 he obtained the appointment of 

 diplomatic counsellor (couseiller d'ambassade), with a pension, and 

 was sent to Berne as the king of Poland's minister with that republic. 

 The duties of a Polish ambassador at Berne were not very onerous : 

 Vattel was able to spend the greater part of his time with his family 

 at Neufchatel, and to devote himself to literary pursuits. In 1746 he 

 published a collection of essays. In 1747 it was reprinted, under the 

 title of ' Philosophic Leisure,' and dedicated to Count Briihl. Some 

 of them have the appearance of having been previously published in 

 some periodical possibly the 'Journal Helvetique.' The subjects are 

 sufficiently diversified : 'Essai sur le fondement du Droit Naturel ; ' 

 ' Sur les Moyens de rdpondre aux Maniche"ens;' and 'Sur la Nature 

 d' Amour, a Mademoiselle de M.' They evince a cultivated taste for 

 French literature, with an easy play of good-natured but not very 

 brilliant wit. The discourse upon love is dated 1741. In 1757 he 

 published ' Poliergie,' a collection of miscellanies in prose and verse. 

 But the chief employment of Vattel during the ten years which 

 elapsed between the appearance of the two volumes, was the prepa- 

 ration of his work on the law of nations. The first edition was 

 published at Neufchatel (the title-page has the fictitious place of pub- 

 lication 'Londres') in 1758. 



About the time that the work appeared he was called to Dresden, 

 and received an appointment in the diplomatic bureau. He gave so 

 much satisfaction as a practical diplomatist, that he was soon raised to 

 the rank of a privy counsellor. His intense application to business 

 undermined his constitution, and in 1766 he was obliged to visit his 

 native country in search of health. The favourable symptoms pro- 

 duced by relaxation and the mountain air encouraged him to resume 

 his labours before his health was quite re-established. His complaint 

 returned with increased violence soon after he reached Dresden, and 

 a second visit to Neufchatel proved unavailing. He died on the 28th 

 of December 1767. He had married at Dresden in 1764, Marianne de 

 Chene, by whom he left one son. 



The work by which Vattel is best known is his ' Droit des Gens.' 

 It is the work of a scholar, not of a practical diplomatist ; for the 

 almost nominal charge of Polish envoy to the republic of Berne could 

 afford but scanty experience. It evinces no very extensive acquaint- 

 ance on the part of the author with treaties or negociations, or even 

 with political history : his principal authorities are the systematic 

 writings of Grotius, Puffendorf, and Wolff. According to the custom 

 of the period, an imaginary law of nature is substituted for the real 

 practice of nations. In respect to its doctrinal merits, the work has 

 all that speciousness and superficiality which characterise the moralists 

 of the ' Encyclopedic.' The work however obtained an extensive 

 reputation. It had the fashionable tone of the age, and was therefore 

 more relished than Grotius and Puffendorf; and its systematic arrange- 

 ment was found useful by practical diplomatists, as it enabled them 

 to classify the fruits of their own experience. It became a text-book 

 in the universities, and was quoted by uegociators when it favoured 

 their views and other authorities were wanting. The original French 

 text has gone through many editions : 4to, Londres (Neufchatel), 

 1758; 4to, Neufchatel, 1773; 4to, Amsterdam, 1775; 12mo, Bale, 

 1773; 4to, Nlmes, 1783; 12mo, Lyon, 1802; 8vo, Paris et Lyon, 

 1820 (a bad edition); 8vo, Paris, 1820 (the worst edition); 8vo, 

 Paris, 1830 (an indifferent edition) ; 8vo, Paris, 1838 (a good edition) ; 

 8vo, Paris, 1839 (the best edition). There have been three Spanish 

 editions: Madrid, by Hernandez, 1820; Burdeos, by J. B. J. Q., 

 1822 ; Paris, by Atarena, 1824. The last two translations are mere 

 plagiarisms of the first. An English translation was published in 4to 

 in 1760, and reprinted in 8vo in 1793. Mr. Chitty, in 1833, repub- 

 lished the edition of 1798, with valuable notes, containing the most 

 modern rules and decisions. A German translation by Schulin was 

 published at Frankfurt-on-the-Main, in 1760. 



Next in importance among the works of Vattel is that entitled 

 ' Questions de Droit Natural, et Observations sur le Traite' du Droit 

 de la Nature de M. le Baron de Wolff,' 12mo, Berne, 1762 ; 12mo, 

 Paris. 1763. This is a critical examination of Wolfl's treatise, charac- 

 terised by that talent for arrangement and lucid expression which is 

 the chief merit aud source of attraction in Va^tel's writings. 



The remaining works of this author are of little consequence : 1, 

 ' Pieces Diverses, avec quelques Lettres de Morale et d'Amusement,' 

 12mo, Paris, 1746. This collection was republished at Geneva and 

 Dresden, in 1747, in 12mo, under the title 'Le Loisir Philosophique, 

 ou Pieces Diverses de Philosophic, de Morale, et d'Amusement ; ' and 

 again at the Hague, in 1765, in 8vo, under the title ' Amusements de 



Literature, de Morale, et de Politique.' 2, ' Poliergie, ou Melanges de 

 Literature et de Poesies, par M. de V***,' 12mo, Amsterdam (Paris), 

 1757; 3, ' Melanges de Morale, de Literature, et de Politique,' 12mo, 

 Neufchatel, 1770. 



(Helvetiache Lexicon, von Vattel ; Sketch of Vattel's Life, prefixed to 

 the edition of 1773; Quurard, La France Litte'raire; Bioyrapliie 

 Universelle.) 



VA'TTIER, PIERRE, was born near Lisieux in Normandy, and 

 lived about the middle of the 17th century. He was physician to 

 Gaston, duke of Orleans, and devoted a great part of his time to the 

 translation of Arabic writers on history and medicine. The titles of 

 his published works are as follows : 1, ' L'Histoire Mahometane, ou 

 les quarante-neuf Chalifes du Macine,' 4to, Paris, 1657 ; 2, ' L'Histoire 

 du Grand Tamerlan,' 4to, Paris, 1658, from the Arabic of Achamed, 

 son of Gueraspo ; 3, 'Portrait du Grand Tamerlan,' 4to, Paris, 1658; 

 4, ' L'Onirocrite Mussulman, ou Interpretation des Songes,' 8vo, 

 Paris, 1664, from the Arabic of Gabdorrachaman, son of Nasor; 5, 

 'Merveilles d'Egypte selon les Arabes,' 12mo, 1666, Paris, from the 

 Arabic of Murtadi. This was translated into English by John Davies, 

 and published, 8vo, London, 1672 ; 6, ' La Logique, traduite d'Arabe,' 

 8vo, Paris, 1658, from Avicenna; 7, ' De Morbis Mentis Tractatus,' 

 8vo, Paris, 1659, also translated from Avicenna, of the whole of whose 

 works he promised a translation, which he is said to have completed, 

 but which was never published ; 8 ' Elegie de Thograi, 1 8vo, Paris, 

 1660; 9, ' Nouvelles Pensees sur la Nature des Passions,' 4to, 1659, 

 which appears to be the only work of his own composition. His trans- 

 lations are said to be inaccurate, and in many parts incomplete. 



VAUBAN, SEBASTIEN LE PRESTRE DE, was born May 1, 

 1633, at St. Leger de Foucheret, near Saulieu in Burgundy. His 

 family had been in possession of the lordship of Vauban for more than 

 two hundred and fifty years, but from misfortune or otherwise the 

 estate became incumbered with debts ; and both his father, Urbain le 

 Prestre, who had spent his life in the service of his country, and his 

 mother, Aim^e de Carmagnol, dying while he was young, he was left 

 to the care of M. de Fontaines, prior of St. John, at Semur, who gene- 

 rously supported him, and besides teaching him to read and write, 

 gave him the only instruction in arithmetic and geometry which he 

 ever received from a preceptor. Unwilling probably to remain a 

 burden to his benefactor, and stimulated by the example of his uncles 

 and brothers, all of whom were in the army, he entered at seventeen 

 years of age into the regiment of Conde, which was then in the service 

 of Spain, and he was received as a cadet in the company of Arcenai. 

 In this situation his good conduct soon procured for him a commission ; 

 and joining to the experience acquired in the field a knowledge of the 

 mathematics as far as they are connected with the military art (for he 

 had then studied trigonometry and mensuration), having probably also 

 read the writings of the Italians on fortification, he waa. qualified to 

 undertake the duties of an engineer. 



In the beginning of the year 1652, when only nineteen years of age, 

 he was employed on the fortifications of Clermont in Lorraine, and in 

 the same year he was sent from thence to serve at the siege of Ste. 

 Menehould. Here he superintended the construction of the lodg- 

 ments, and during the assault of the place he performed the daring 

 exploit of swimming across the river under the fire of the enemy. In 

 the following year he was taken prisoner by a party of French royalists 

 and brought before Cardinal Mazarin, who, having heard of his gal- 

 lantry, received him kindly and solicited him to enter the king's service. 

 Vauban readily consented to take this step, having had no other motive 

 in following the standard of Conde than the desire of studying the art 

 of war under that great general ; and he was immediately appointed to 

 a lieutenancy in the regiment of Burgundy. In that year (1653) he. 

 served under the Chevalier de Clerville at the second siege of Ste. 

 Menehould, and after the taking of that place he was appointed to 

 superintend the repairs of its fortifications. In the following year he 

 assisted at the siege of Stenay, and three months afterwards at that 

 of Clermont. Both of these places were taken, and in 1655 he received 

 the commission which placed him in the corps of engineers. During 

 that year he directed the sieges of Landrecies, Coudd, St. Guislain, and 

 Valenciennes ; and in 1657 that of Montmedi, where he received three 

 wounds. In 1658 he had the chief direction of the attacks at the 

 sieges of Gravelines, Ypres, and Oudenarde. The Mai-echal de la Ferte", 

 under whom he served, and who in 1656 had given him a company in 

 his own regiment, as an acknowledgment of his superior merit gave 

 him then one in another regiment, and ventured to predict that if the 

 life of the young officer were spared he would attain the highest digni- 

 ties. Cardinal Mazarin also sent him a present, accompanied by 

 flattering expressions of esteem, which stimulated the ingenuous mind 

 of Vauban to still greater acts of zeal for the public service ; in fact, 

 so much does he appear to have been occupied by his duties, that only 

 it is said by the accounts given of his exploits iu the government papers 

 his relatives obtained any knowledge of his existeuce. 



Hitherto Vauban had to make his way without any of the advan- 

 tages which wealth or the patronage of the great procures ; but from 

 this time he enjoyed the confidence of the government, and his history 

 may be said to be connected with that of his country. 



In 1661 occurred the peace of the Pyrenees; and then Dunkirk, 

 Fort Louis, ajid Mardike having been ceded to France, the king 

 (Louis XIV.) determined to strengthen their fortifications, so that 



