t is probable he obtained such
a passport as he desired; for embarking at Dieppe[425], he went to
Holland, where he was extremely well received. The Burgomasters of
Amsterdam paid him all honour, and he was entertained at the public
expence. He had also reason to be satisfied with the town of Rotterdam:
not but there were at this time some mean souls in Holland, who wanted
to make the States of Holland, then assembled, deny him a passage
through the Province: but this shameful step served only to draw upon
them the public indignation. The City of Amsterdam fitted out a vessel
to carry him to Hamburg, where he was May 16, 1645, on which day he
writes to his brother[426] that the wind had been against them; that he
had been eight days by the way; and that Schrasvius, the Dutch Resident
at Hamburg, came to visit him, and had a conversation with him full of
friendship. He was resolved to set out next day for Lubeck, and hoped to
find at that town, or at least at Wismar, a vessel that might carry him
to Calmar, where he believed the High Chancellor to be with the French
and Dutch Ambassadors. In this letter he asked his brother to give him
only the title of Counsellor to her Swedish Majesty. He speaks much of
the honourable reception which the Magistrates of Lubeck gave him[427].
"You cannot believe, he writes to his brother, how many friends I have
found." He was in the end of March at Wismar[428], where Count Wrangel,
Admiral of the Swedish fleet, gave him a splendid entertainment, and
afterwards sent a man of war with him to Calmar[429]. The High
Chancellor was not there, but at Suderacher, four leagues distant,
negotiating a peace between Sweden and Denmark. Grotius wrote to him
immediately, and received a speedy answer: on the 8th of June the High
Chancellor sent a Gentleman with his coach to bring him to Suderacher,
where he remained a fortnight[430] with the Chancellor and, the other
Ambassadors, who treated him with great honours: returning to Calmar, he
went by land to Stockholm. Queen Christina was then at Upsal: but, as
soon as she heard of Grotius's arrival in her capital, she came back to
see so great a man: a desire to be acquainted with such as distinguished
themselves in the republic of letters is well known to have been one of
her favourite passions. On the morrow of his arrival[431], she gave him
a long audience, with which he appears, by a letter written to his
brother July 15, 1645, to be well satisfied. "I