My first duty is to consult the interests of France, and, consequently, not to compromise that peace, which I hope to maintain for its welfare, for that of Belgium, and all European states, to whom it is so precious and so essential. Exempt myself from all ambition, my personal views accord with my duty. Neither a thirst for conquest, nor the honour of seeing a crown placed on the head of my son, will ever induce me to expose my country to a renewal of those evils that follow in the train of war, and

that cannot be counterbalanced by any advantages. The example of Napoleon suffices to preserve me from the fatal temptation of erecting thrones for my children, and causes me to prefer the happiness of having maintained peace to all the splendour of those victories which, in the event of war, French valour would not fail to ensure again to our glorious

standards.'

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Having thus terminated his discourse, by assurances of undeviating amity and protection, Louis Philippe descended from the throne, and, taking the hand of Surlet de Chockier, exclaimed, Sir, it is to the Belgic nation I thus give my hand. Tell your countrymen, on your return, that they may rely on me, and that, above all things, I implore them to continue united'- a prudent and paternal counsel, though little heeded by the nation to whom it was addressed. The deputation now took its leave, and returned with heavy hearts to Brussels, where, the issue being already anticipated, it was proposed to entrust the reins of government to a Lieutenant-General."

This proposition was rejected. A regency was proposed, and the Baron Surlet de Chockier was elected regent. The Belgians had now need to bestir themselves, and effect some final arrangement, such as might enable them to present a firm front to their recent masters, as all Holland was in arms, and eager to be led against the ungrateful rebels, who had spurned the authority of their mild and lawful king. It is necessary to mention that when Belgium was incorporated with Holland by the Allies, in 1815, Luxembourg was added, not as part and parcel of Belgium, but as compensation to the King of Holland for the hereditary principalities of Nassau Dillemberg, Adamer, Siegen, and Dietz, abandoned by them to Prussia. In the separation which was now about to

take place it was deemed no more than just that this grand duchy should be restored to the Dutch sovereign; inasmuch as it appertained not of right to the new government in Belgium, and the idea of a reassumption of its equivalents from the King of Prussia was not to be entertained. The Belgians, indeed, affected a control over it, as integrally incorporated with their provinces, and set up a sort of antiquated historical claim, which Mr. White prous, sounds very like the claim of Calinounces very plausible, but which, to ban, in the dominions of Prospero, when he says,

"This island's mine, by Sycorax, my mother!"

However, be that as it may, the plenipotentiaries decided otherwise; and when we consider their uniform leaning against the King of Holland, we may be sure that the case must have been tolerably clear which they unhesitatingly ruled in his favour. The first and second articles of the basis of separation annexed to the protocol of the 27th of January, and to which, notwithstanding much violent opposition on the part of the touchy and grasping revolutionists, they as yet peremptorily adhered, declared that "Holland should comprise all the territories which appertained Provinces in 1790, and that Belgium to the former republic of the United should be formed of the rest of the territories that had received the denomination of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, except the grand duchy of Luxembourg, which, being held by a different title by the princes of the house of Nassau, constituted and should continue to constitute a part of the Germanic confederation." It is no concern of ours to vindicate the consistency of the Allies, in thus respecting treaties and hereditary rights, as far as this Duchy were concerned, while they so utterly disregarded them in the case of Belgium: we have only to express our regret that they were not consistent in their inconsistency, and did not finally resolve to abide by their determination.

The rejection of the crown by the Duke of Nemours, again excited the hopes of the Prince of Orange and his partizans, and a plot was formed to get possession of Antwerp, and surprise the provisional government at Brussels, which, had it been more vigorously

executed, might have been successful; but it was detected, just in time to defeat its objects, and ended, as all unsuccessful conspiracies do, in making the revolutionary government stronger than it was before, and so far exasperating the national prejudice against the prince, as to put a final extinguisher upon his expectations. The Belgians were ready to go to war, not only with Holland, but with the confederated powers, in defence of their right to the possession of the Grand Duchy; and they actually did make such a demonstration of hostility, as induced the King of Holland to call upon the confederacy to interfere by force of arms, for the purpose of compelling them to acknowledge the validity of the proposed arrangements. The spectacle of a people so circumstanced, assuming a hostile attitude to the five great monarchies of Europe, is, certainly, somewhat extraordinary, and would remind one of the frog in the fable, if it did not also turn out that their turbulent spirit and their boastful language was not altogether without producing the effect which they intended. It happened that every one of the potentates had, at that time, something to engage him at home, which would have rendered a foreign war particularly inconvenient. Great Britain was approaching the crisis of its reform fever; Louis Philippe was consolidating his power; and felt that every effort which he could make was absolutely necesssary to enable him to maintain amicable relations with foreign states, while yet he sought to conciliate the movement party at home, by whom the throne of the barricades had been erected; Prussia was all intent upon the securing of her Rhenish provinces, and was experiencing not a little alarm at the progress of the Polish revolution; Austria was engaged in suppressing the insurrection in her Lombardo-Venetian possessions; in the minor states, disorders were prevalent, which would have rendered the removal of their contingents a matter of difficulty and hazard; and the whole force of Russia, which had been prepared for a western crusade, was occupied by the insurgents of Poland, who, if unhappily they accomplished nothing for themselves, were thus the means of giving completion and security to the project of Belgic independence. Such

were the external causes which conspired to aid the determination of the people of Belgium to resist, even to death, the arrangement respecting the Duchy of Luxembourg, and which finally turned that force which should have been employed, if employed at all, for the purpose of enforcing the edict of the great powers, against the only party who was disposed to acknowledge its authority.

The internal condition of Belgium itself, at this period, is thus, by Mr. White, graphically pourtrayed :

"Confusion, misrule, and distrust were rife throughout the land. The sacred name of liberty was a cloak for repeated excesses; at Brussels the inhabitants were

kept in a constant state of alarm, from anticipated riots, or from actual violation of the law; now got up under pretence of striking terror into the hearts of the Orangists, and now fomented by native anarchists, or foreign propagandists, many of whom flocked to the city, invaded the press, and introducing themselves into the galleries of the chamber, attempted to overawe the legislative proceedings, by the most vociferous outcries. The hall of congress was often the arena of the most extravagant and boisterous discussions, rendered still more disorderly by frequent appeals to the passions of the public, from various leaders, members of the movement party. Every proposition, indeed every sentence, tending to moderation or concession, was met with clamour and interruption. The demon of revolution and recklessness seemed to possess a portion of the deputies and their auditors. To adopt the maxim, Aid thyself, and heaven will aid thee'-to exclaim, In fifteen days, a king, or war and to threaten annihilation to the old with Holland'- No more negociations,' Netherlands, were nothing. Relying on being able to drag France into the same vortex with themselves, they proposed to summon the conference to fix a definite

period for arrangement, and this failing, to bid defiance to united Europe. They read of the glorious deeds of the Poles, and fancied that their own declamations would produce the same effect; utterly forgetting that the mighty and unequal struggle carried on by the former, was based on unity of purpose, if not on unity of action; and, above all, on the most heroic devotion, patriotism, and selfabnegation, of all classes, from the illustrious Czartoryski down to the lowest

Missouri. On the banks of the Vistula the cry for liberty was universal. The noblest and best of the nation eagerly offered up their blood and treasure as holocausts at her shrine. Even young and lovely women seized the lance, bestrode the war-horse, and rode to battle. On the borders of the Scheldt, with few exceptions, the wealthiest closed their cofers, the noblest shrunk from their country's cause, and the fairest cried aloud for chains. In their struggle, the people, though often misled, almost alone stood pure."

To defer the remedy for such a state of things would be to abandon the people to their fate. It was, therefore, resolved, that as little time as possible should be lost in giving them a sovereign; and, to the surprise of every one, and of no one more than himself, that sovereignty was placed at the disposal of Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg. It is curious that this was the second time that this distinguished personage was destined to cross the Prince of Orange, by intercepting the very objects which his heart most ardently desired. It was in favor of Leopold that the Prince was slighted by the Princess Charlotte, to whom he had been almost betrothed; and it was now in favor of that same Leopold that he was to be set aside, after having incurred the royal displeasure by attempting to put himself at the head of a revolt by which his father was deprived of more than half of his kingdom. The conference now determined to recede from their original arrange ments, and to come to a new decision, more in accordance with the feelings of the Belgians, and, of course, less agreeable to the Dutch. It was only as the guarantee of such a revision of their previous judgments that Leopold could hope to be elected. And he accepted the proffered dignity, upon an express understanding that he would not, in any case, by consenting to what had been described as the fixed and unalterable determination of the conference, compromise the integrity of the kingdom. He, of course, took care to inform himself of the views of the allies before he gave such a pledge; and knowing that the king of Holland would be seriously aggrieved by the new measures which were meditated, he entered upon his duties not without

an assurance of external support against the anticipated violence of Dutch aggression.

Events speedily justified his precaution. He had scarcely been seated on his throne when rumours of war reached his ears; for the Dutch king was by no means disposed to acquiesce in that departure from the original basis of separation upon which the conference had now resolved. Trusting in the resources of his country and the patriotism of his people, he determined to put forth all his strength, not indeed for the purpose of resubjugating Belgium, but of securing those legitimate objects which had been recognized as rightfully belonging to him, even by a hostile arbitration. The Belgians, too, were eager for the fray, and seemed to have no other anxiety, than lest the military character of the country should be compromised by_the_calling in of foreign assistance. But Leopold knew them better than they knew themselves, and he was not slow in apprising the French and British cabinets of the difficulties in which he was likely to be involved,unless an overwhelming force was sent in to the country to cooperate with his own troops against the invaders.

The military movements of the Dutch under Prince Frederick were admirably designed; and had they not been somewhat too tardy and methodical, the capital of Belgium would have beer in their possession before their progress could be arrested by the arrival of the French. At the first reverses, the dismay and the consternation of the affrighted Belgians exceeded, if possible, their vainglorious temerity. Before the invasion all was rashness and confidence; now all was confusion and despair. Their army having fallen back, in anticipation of an attack upon Brussels, and taken up a position in front of Louvain, their disorganization and dejection are thus described :

de Brouckère, and a few others, the whole "With the exception of the king, Mr. staff seemed to be overwhelmed in the

danger of their position. A mournful foreboding enfeebled the energies of the officers; but the men, ignorant of their peril, and indifferent to moral_results, seemed but little discouraged. Crowded with volunteers, artillery wagons and baggage, Louvain presented an indescribable chaos. There was no regularity, no

order; all commanded -none obeyed. The profoundest inattention to the ordinary rules of defence was exhibited, and the most necessary precautions neglected. Many of those who had started from Brussels armed to the teeth, and vexing the air with bombastic shouts of defiance, were now seen anxiously retracing their steps, crestfallen and dejected, and fully aware, that if the French army did not arrive promptly, Brussels would be lost. Some of them were so satisfied of this fact that they deemed it prudent to seek safety in the distant provinces. Indeed, had the Prince of Orange, in lieu of wasting valuable time in making reconnoisances and collecting information, boldly pushed on with the second and third divisions and light cavalry by the high road, while Van Gheen and the heavy brigade manoeuvred on his right, he might easily have reached the heights commanding Louvaine on the evening of the 10th, and would have surprised Clump's brigade of Belgians, harassed and fatigued, in the act of filing through the long, narrow streets, and either have cut them to pieces as they debouched from the city, or forced them to fly in confusion towards Malines-an operation the more easy, since, until dusk on the evening of the 10th, there was not a man between Louvaine and St. Trond, save a few weak detachments of civic guards, and a score of mounted gensdarmes, who must have retired at the first serious approach of the advanced guard.”

But the very perfection of Dutch tactics proved on this occasion a protection to their enemies. The order and methodical regularity which prevailed in the one army, remedied, in some measure, the disorder and confusion in the other; at length, however, the Dutch were effectually roused, and did push on with the ardour of men who eagerly anticipated a glorious victory.

"But the Belgians, though full of ardour at first, were soon discouraged, lost confidence in themselves and their officers, especially when they discovered the desertion of the civic guards, who, with few exceptions, fled in every direction, casting away their arms and accoutrements. The effective force was thus reduced to little more than 7000 men. Disheartened and outnumbered in every direction they successively fell back from position to position, until, being completely outflanked, they were compelled VOL. VI.

to take refuge behind the walls of the city. It was in vain that Leopold and his staff rode through the hottest of the fire, and with admirable coolness and selfpossession, endeavoured to supply the deficiency of numbers by the ability of his dispositions. It was in vain that he multiplied himself in every direction, and performed the united duties of king, general, and subaltern. The odds were too powerful, the discouragement too great. Flight or surrender were the only alternatives. His situation was most critical, but the inertness of his opponents saved him. Had the Prince of Orange availed himself of his numerous and brilliant cavalry; had he dashed forward with that daring spirit which was once his characteristic on the field of battle, and had he not been shackled by the drawling routine of Dutch tacticsneither the king, nor a man of his army ought to have escaped. It is true that his royal highness, who had a horse shot under him, displayed his wonted gallantry and indifference to personal peril; but his movements were not sufficiently accellerated; and although his enemies retired before him in confusion, there was an utter want on his part of that rapidity and decision which is essential to decisive actions. The manoeuvres ought to have been executed at the charge stepthey were performed at funeral pace. He was, however, moving forward, and preparing to follow up his success, when a flag of truce appeared upon the high road, and arrested his career."

Belgium, left to itself, must have fallen an easy prey to the Dutch; but, backed as she was by the great powers, her discomfiture proved more advantageous than the most signal victory. The king of Holland now found himself at issue with all his late allies; and those whose aid he had invoked, and to whom he trusted, on the faith of treaties, to assist him in chastising contumacious rebels, were found by those rebels to be a tower of strength in resisting all efforts for their re-subjugation. Arrangements were now proposed which were highly acceptable to those who had tasted the bitterness of humiliation, and felt that if left to themselves they must be undone. Their recent master was to be compelled by force of arms, to accept of terms, which he could not recognise as just; and his interest was to be disregarded, and his fair pretensions set at naught, for

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