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2. The present inhabitants of the French part of St. Domingo shall pay into the caisse generale des dépôts et des consignations of France, in five equal instalments, from year to year, the first of which will become due on the 31st of December, 1825, the sum of 150,000,000 of francs, destined to indemnify the ancient colonists who shall claim an indemnity.

3. We grant, on these conditions, by the present ordinance to the actual inhabitants of the French part of the island of St. Domingo, the full and entire independence of their government."

This ordinance was transmitted to rear-admiral Jurieu, who commanded the French naval force in the West Indies, and was then at Martinique with a squadron consisting of the Eylau, of 80 guns, the Jean Bart, 74, the Venus, 24; the Nymph, Themis, Magicienne, Medea, Circe, and Salamandre, each of 18 guns, and five brigs.

Baron Mackau, commander of the Circe, who was intrusted with the negotiation, sailed from Martinique on the 23rd of June, with the Circe frigate, and the Ruse and Bearnaise brigs, and arrived off Port-au-Prince on the 3rd of July. As soon as he appeared in sight, two officers came on board, and a suitable residence at Port-au-Prince was assigned to him and his suite. Conferences were immediately opened between him and three commissioners, appointed by the president of the government of Hayti. These being prolonged three days, and having led to no result, the president himself communicated directly with baron Mackau. At last, on the 8th of July, after some preliminary discussions, the president wrote to the baron a letter in which he stated VOL. LXVII.

that, trusting in the good faith of the king of France, he accepted, in the name of the people of Hayti, the royal ordinance of the 17th of April, and that he would immediately take the necessary steps to have it confirmed in the senate with due solemnity.

Accordingly, on the 11th of July, the senate was convoked, to proceed to the confirmation (enterinement) of the ordinance according to the forms prescribed by the constitutional laws of the country. Baron Mackau, accompanied by rear-admirals Jurieu and Grivel, and the officers of the squadron bore, with solemn pomp, the ordinance of Charles 10th to the senate, where it was received with due ceremony, and was confirmed in their presence.

Besides the hundred and fifty millions of francs mentioned in the ordinance, Hayti was to pay upwards of thirty millions of francs for public buildings which the government contracted to purchase. In order to fulfil the pecuniary conditions of the treaty, three Haytian proceeded came immediately to France, for the purpose of negotiating a loan.*

On this occasion Boyer addressed the following proclamation to the people and to the army.

"John Peter Boyer, president of Hayti:

Haytians!-A long oppression had pressed upon Hayti. Our courage and our heroic efforts snatched it, 22 years ago, from the degradation which oppressed it, to place it in the scale of independent nations. But there was wanting to our glory another triumph. The French flag, in coming to salute this land of liberty, consecrates the legitimacy of your emancipation. It was reserved for that monarch, as great as

he is religious, who governs France, to signalize his accession to the throne by an act of justice, which dignifies at once

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This negotiation is unique in the history of diplomacy. The decree of the king of France, which is supposed to constitute his majesty's recognition of the independence of St. Domingo, has little resemblance, to what, in common language and common sense, would be called an acknowledgment of

the throne from which it emanates, and the country which is the object of it. "Haytians!- A special decree of his majesty Charles 10th, dated the 17th of April last, recognizes the full and entire independence of your government. This authentic act, in adding the formality of right to the political existence which you had already acquired, will legalize in the eyes of the world the rank in which you had placed yourselves, and to which Providence had called you.

"Citizens !-Commerce and agricul

ture are about to extend themselves.

The arts and sciences, which delight in peace, will hasten to embellish your new destinies with all the benefits of civilization. Continue, by your attach ment to the national institutions, and above all, by your union, to inflict despair on those who would attempt to disturb you in the just and peaceable possession of your rights.

"Soldiers!-You have deserved well of your country. Under all circumstances you have been ready to fight in

her defence. You will be ever faithful

to your duties. The confidence of which you have given such proofs to the chief of the state is the sweetest recom

pense of the anxiety he has felt for the prosperity and glory of the republic.

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Haytians!-Show yourselves always worthy of the honourable situation which you hold among nations, and more happy than your sires, who could

transmit to you but a dreadful lot, you will bequeath to your posterity the most delightful inheritance which it is possible to desire-concord at home and

peace abroad, a country prosperous and respected.

"Given at the National Palace of Port-au-Prince, the eleventh day of July, 1825, in the 22nd year of independence.

"BOYER." "By the president, the secretarygeneral, B. Inginac."

the "sovereignty" of that republic. Charles 10th does not, by his ordinance renounce all authority and power over Hayti, or declare that the Haytians may act as they think fit in their own harbours, receive such vessels, and impose such duties as they please. On the contrary, he commands that the ports of St. Domingo shall be open to the ships of all nations, and that the duties on all foreign vessels shall be equal, except on those of France, which are to bear only half the amount levied on the rest of the world. Such an ordinance is, in form, as well as substance, more like the assertion, than the surrender, of a sovereignty. It states no treaty with Boyer, no public act, beyond the mere plea sure of Charles 10th, expressed in a decree which his ministers have countersigned, but to which there is not annexed one line on behalf of any other contracting party, nor the name of a single Haytian minister. The independence of their the "actual" inhabitants of Hayti, government is acknowledged for but nothing is stipulated for their successors. It is impossible to doubt but that Boyer betrayed the trust reposed in him; and that henceforth he must be regarded as a French viceroy, rather than as the head of an independent state.

Notwithstanding the acclamations, with which, according to the French accounts, the king of France's decree was received by the Haytians, it is evident that many, seeing the transaction in its true light, regarded it with an evil eye.

At a grand dinner given by Boyer to Mackau and his officers of the French squadron, a member of the Haytian Senate proposed this toast; May we never cease to

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feel in ourselves, or to impress on our posterity, that we owe our present situation, our existence as a nation, free and independent, to the aid given us by commerce, from England, America, and Germany." That the sentiments, expressed in these. words, was not confined to a single breast, subse quent events clearly showed. A few weeks afterwards, the president with his staff, and a considerable force, suddenly set off for Cape Haytien, in consequence of intelligence, secretly conveyed, that an alarming insurrection was about to break out in that place. The decisive measures taken by Boyer, checked the spirit of revolt, for the mean time, and restored the place to tranquillity. He soon returned to Port-au-Prince, bringing back with him general Profete, and another leader of the meditated revolt, in chains, together with two of their aides-de-camp, and several other officers. General Touissant, brother in law of the late king Christophe, who was likewise implicated in the conspiracy, blew out his own brains.

At nearly the same time with the date of the king of France's ordinance, a decree was passed by the Haytian government, increasing the import duty on English manufactured goods from 7 to 12 per cent, and so depriving the English merchants of that preference which had previously been granted to them over all other nations. The motive assigned for this decree, when it was first promulgated, was the indignation of

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CHAP. X.

NETHERLANDS-Inundations-Treaties-Conclusion of the Session of the States-General-Means taken for the Improvement of Education, and especially of the Education of the Clergy-Violent Opposition of the Archbishop of Mechlin and many of the Catholic Clergy-Liberality of the Catholic Clergy of the Grand-Duchy of LuxemburgNew Duties imposed by France on Articles imported from the Netherlands-Opening of the new Session of the States-General-Financial Embarrassments of the Dutch possessions in India-Insurrection in Java-SWEDEN-Germany-Prussia-Wirtemberg-BavariaGrand Duchy of Baden-Switzerland-Austria; Hungarian DietPoland-RUSSIA-Illness of the Emperor Alexander: his Death: his Character: effects of the Intelligence of that Event-Oath of Allegiance taken to Constantine: his Renunciation of the Throne: his adherence to that Renunciation-Accession of Nicholas-Military Insurrection is St. Petersburg-Alleged Conspiracy-Revolt of Mouravieff Apostol -Count Nesselrode's Note to the Foreign Ministers.

IN

N the beginning of the year, great distress was produced throughout Holland by the extensive inundations which took place. To repair the devastation thus produced, the States-general, by an unanimous vote, granted a credit of 8,000,000 of florins.

On the 5th of March, the President of the Second Chamber informed the assembly that his Majesty had concluded two treaties relative to the demarcation of the frontiers one with the king of France, the other with the king of Great Britain, as king of Hanover. On the following day, a royal message was read, announcing that the Minister of the Interior was commissioned to

close the session of the Statesgeneral. The two chambers were then united in the usual manner, and the Minister of the Interior delivered the following speech.

"High and Mighty Lords, "The labours of the session, which I come to close in the King's name, have not been less important than, those of the preceding sessions The civil code being nearly terminated, you will be able soon to proceed to the examination of the other codes. An amelioration of great importance, the draining of a vast tract of land, has obtained for you the gratitude of the country, which has so long wished, but hardly dared to hope for it.

"The King intended to lay before you a law relative to the communal guards, but it has become the subject of fresh observations, which have delayed it. His Majesty hopes that this law, which is still wanting to complete the execution of the fundamental law, will be passed in the next session. His Majesty has withdrawn the three projects of law intended to

modify some taxes: it is with regret that he sees the moment delayed, when the wish for a better proportion in the distribution of the burdens being fulfilled, will reconcile the interest of the subject with that of the Exehequer. Meantime, till this affair can be again submitted to your consideration, the King will make use of the means offered by the existing laws to attain as far as possible the end he proposed, and to fulfil the hopes which he had conceived.

"The last part of your session has been marked by misfortunes a deplorable disaster has desolated several provinces. The nation has shewn itself, as it always has done on such occasions, patient, courageously and eminently charitable. The government has endeavoured to fulfil its duties; you have nobly seconded it; and from this threefold union of sentiment and care, will result, with the aid of Divine Providence, the prompt and entire reparation of all the disasters, and the relief or alleviation of all the misfortunes that have been occasioned.

"He indulges the hope that, on the opening of the next session he will be able to assure you, that in this respect there remains nothing for the government to perform, or the nation to desire."

The difference of religious opinion, which existed in the two divisions of the kingdom of the Netherlands, had been felt to be so serious an inconvenience, that the attention of the government had been strongly drawn to a circumstance which was likely to increase the mischief. That circumstance was the education of the clergy, and of many of the children of Catholics in foreign seminaries, where every endeavour was used to imbue them

with the spirit of the most fiery bigotry, or in such provincial establishments for education within the limits of the Low-countries as were entirely under the influence of the more narrow-minded portion of the priesthood. To correct these evils, decrees, were published, on the 14th of June, suppressing some of the existing colleges, erecting a new college at Louvain, and providing more ample means of instruction in the established universities.

In furtherance of the same object, another decree was issued on the 14th of August, which contained the following articles:

1st. No young Belgians who, after the first of October next, shall have studied the "humanities" out of the kingdom, shall be admitted in any of our Universities into the Philosophical College, instituted by our decree of the 14th of June last.

2nd. Those who are to be examined by the Faculty of Letters, before they can be admitted as students, shall first of all produce certificates from their professors that they have received "from those professors, for some years without interruption, instructions in the ancient languages and the principles of the sciences."

3rd. Those young Belgians, who, after the first of October next, shall have studied the "humanities" out of the kingdom, or who shall have pursued their academical studies out of the kingdom, shall not be appointed by us to any employments, or admitted to exercise any ecclesiastical functions.

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