The Carnegie Translation of Grotius: Influencing Public Opinion

Abstract There have been several English translations of the Grotius classic On the Law of War and Peace (1625) inspired either by the intellectual impact of his ideas and/or by the perceived relevance of this work to crises in international relations at particular moments in human experience. Of the half dozen or so English versions of this work, none was more targeted to the public at large than the 1925 (1928) translation commissioned, financed, and produced by the Carnegie Foundation in New York and Washington D. C. under the direction of James Brown Scott, who retained Professor Francis Kelsey and his team for this undertaking. Based on archival research at Georgetown University, Columbia University, Cambridge University, Oxford University, and the University of Michigan with particular reference to the surviving records of George Finch (Secretary of the American Society of International Law and to James Brown Scott), of the Carnegie Foundation (on deposit at Columbia University), of Francis Kelsey (University of Michigan), of William Whewell (Trinity College, Cambridge University); and of John Morrice (The Bodleian Library, Oxford University), this article traces the origins of the Carnegie Grotius translation, the initial problems encountered in securing a translator, the principles of translation, the printing history (with particular attention to achieving the goal of mass distribution of the volumes), and the subsequent steps undertaken to ensure that the Grotius translation reached maximum readership. Although the Grotius translation was part of a series, exceptional measures were explored to ensure that this text – the ‘jewel’ of the series – received maximum attention. The principles of translation are addressed in the context of the virtues and disadvantages of literary as opposed to literal translation and the extent to which distortions may arise in an effort to adapt Grotius to the modern world, to make Grotius read as though he had composed his work in English rather than Latin. The printing history of the Carnegie translation includes not merely its initial appearance, but several reprintings undertaken by various publishers in the second half of the twentieth century.