with reference to the proposed liquidation of the syndicate of the sinking fund and of the bank of Brussels, as from the operation of the order, no increase of charge results from it to either of the parties. The calculations according to which the Conference fixed the portion of Belgium of the debt of the state at a rente of 8,000,000 francs, being much below that given in by the government of the Netherlands, the latter sought to reconcile what might be agreeable to the Conference with the rights of the nation, by adopting the amount agreed upon by the Conference, but recognizing the basis, upon the express condition that the syndicate and the bank of Brussels should liquidate it in the manner above indicated, and that the before-recited rente should be capitalized under the guarantee of the five Powers, according to the cours official of the debt of the Netherlands in the month of July, 1830. When the arrears are taken into consideration, and the public chests which fell into the hands of the Belgians at the epoch of the insurrection, the government of the Netherlands ought not to be charged with having touched the revenues of Belgium, except during the first half year of 1830. The undersigned may be permitted to observe, upon this occasion, that they have mentioned the 1st of November, 1830, as the epoch at which the contributions of Belgium to the treasury had ceased, but not as the term up to which all the payments of Belgium had continued, the interval having been considered by them as forming an object of liquidation. It is a fact that the barrier treaty was not renewed at the re establishment of the general peace, but the motive of that omission is to be sought for in the union of Belgium and Holland, by means of which the defensive interests. were considered equal as to all the provinces of the Netherlands. As to the last remark contained in the memoirs of their excellencies, the undersigned can only refer to the note of their ambassador of the 22nd of December, 1830, and to the declaration of the cabinet of the Hague, of the 12th of July, 1831, above referred to. The undersigned will here terminate their observations upon the communication of the Conference of the 4th of January, and in order not to make the present note longer, they will not specify the matters respecting which their excellencies have been desirous of manifesting a conformity of views with those of this Court, but they feel a necessity for expressing the high value which the government of the Netherlands attaches to this conformity, as well as to the conciliatory terms in which it has been answered, and how much it congratulates itself on presaging a happy issue to the negotiations. Actuated by a very sincere desire to conduct it to a prompt conclusion, the undersigned will have the honour of presenting to their excellencies a project which may be converted into a treaty between the king and the five Powers. They flatter themselves that this project, tending to conciliate as much as possible the wishes and the interests of all, will obtain the assent of their excellencies. The conclusion of this treaty will consolidate the maintenance of the general peace, and, notwithstanding the sacrifices which it will cause to Holland, the eagerness of the king to co-operate in the views of his august allies, and to see extinguished a source of discord, will prevail over the motives which dissuade him from subscribing it. The undersigned are ready to give to the Conference, respecting the said project and the spirit in which it has been conceived, all the information which may be judged necessary; and they eagerly seize the present opportunity of reiterating to their excellencies the plenipotentiaries of the Courts of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia, the assurance of their high consideration. (Signed) FALCK. happily existed at that time amongst the five Powers, and upon the preservation of which depended essentially the maintenance of the peace of Europe. That, in deciding upon await ing until this moment some communication on the part of their allies upon the subject of the ratification of the treaty of the 15th of November, the courts of France and Great Britain have given the strongest proof of the value which they set upon that union, and of their ardent desire to preserve a general peace, but that communications which the two courts have recently received incline them to believe that the plenipotentiaries of VAN ZUYLEN DE NYEVELT. their allies have been furnished PROTOCOL, No. 56, of the CON- 1832. Present: the Plenipotentiaries of Austria, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia. "The plenipotentiaries of the Five Courts being assembled in Conference at the Foreign-office. "The plenipotentiaries of France and Great Britain have opened the Conference, in observing that more than two months have elapsed since the 31st of January, the day upon which they exchanged with the Belgian plenipotentiary the acts of ratification of the treaty of the 15th of November, 1831. "That the protocol of the Conference held upon that occasion had been left open for the reasons stated in the same protocol, in order to reserve to the courts of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, the faculty of exchanging equally the acts of their ratifications, without prejudicing the harmony which so with the necessary powers for exchanging the ratifications of the treaty of the 15th of November, and that, as it is urgent, for the maintenance of the tranquillity of Europe, that the affairs of Belgium should be settled promptly, the plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and France invite those of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, to declare if they are ready to proceed to the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty of the 15th of November, and in case they are not, to explain the circumstances which prevent them. "The plenipotentiaries of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, hasten to answer to the plenipotentiaries of France and Great Britain. They declare that they appre ciate at its just value the assurance which the plenipotentiaries of France and Great Britain have reiterated to them, and that they esteem themselves happy in having been, since the opening of the Conference of London, the interpreters of the intentions not less pacific of the three Powers whom they represent-intentions which have influenced these Powers, and which will influence them, to lose no means of maintaining the general peace and union of the five courts, of which it is the very best gua rantee. "The plenipotentiaries of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, add, that they are not yet authorized to exchange the acts of ratification of the treaty of the 15th of November, 1831; that the motives of the three Powers in delaying the exchange of these ratifications, had been to use all their influence at the Hague to engage his majesty the king of the Netherlands to accede to the twenty-four articles of the 15th of October last, and that in labouring with a sincere zeal to obtain this accession, the three Powers had given the most convincing proof of their desire to cooperate for the accomplishment of the views of their allies, and the preservation of the tranquillity of Europe; that the result of the last remonstrances made in that respect to his majesty, the king of the Netherlands, and attested by the declarations which had been just remitted on the part of Austria, Prussia, and Russia, to the government of the Netherlands, is still too recent to have permitted the three Powers to send definitive orders to their plenipotentiaries at London; but that the plenipotentiaries hope to receive these orders directly, and will not fail to communicate them to the Conference. "WESSENBERG. "TALLEYRAND. "BULOW. "MATUSZEWICZ. "NEUMANN. "PALMERSTON. "LIEVEN." PROTOCOL, No. 62, of the CONFER ENCE held at the FOREIGNOFFICE, the 29th of MAY, 1832. Present:-the Plenipotentiaries of the Five Powers united in Conference. "The plenipotentiary of the king of the Netherlands having been admitted, declared verbally, in reply to the communication of the 4th of May, that the king, his master, was ready to consent to the enlargement of Sieur Thorn, provided that the adverse party would grant the aforesaid the necessary security for carrying into effect the propositions contained in the same protocol. "The plenipotentiaries of the five Powers, after having discussed the verbal declarations of the plenipotentiary of the Netherlands, came to the following opinions: "1. That this declaration would imply the sanction of an act which the government of Holland had not avowed up to the present moment, and of which the diet of the Germanic Confederation had disapproved-a sanction resulting from the assimilation of this act to facts that were far from bearing the same character. "2. That the declaration of the plenipotentiary of the Netherlands creates between the demand for the release of Sieur Thorn, and the requisitions addressed to the Belgian government in the protocol of the 4th of May, a connexion which has not existed in the eyes of the Conference, and which they will not admit. "The Conference, in fine, convinced on the one hand, by documents which show that the arrest of Sieur Thorn was made without the order of the grand duke of Luxemburg, and was not avowed by the grand ducal government; to obtain from the Belgian govern and finding, on the other hand, that the diet of the Germanic Confederation had disapproved of this arrest, as well as of the means employed to effect it; the Conference, under such circumstances, expressed its firm confidence that the king would not sanction an act which was not authorized, and that Sieur Thorn will be set at liberty. "In this confident expectation, in the persuasion that the course it has recommended will be favourably received, that, as a matter of course, Sieur Thorn will be restored to liberty, the Conference, upon his emancipation from imprisonment, which they reckon on as a certainty, has consented to solicit from the Belgian government the liberation of such individuals as have been arrested in Belgium by way of reprisal. Further, the Conference (it being taken for granted that Sieur Thorn will be immediately released) has consented to ask, on grounds of peace and humanity alone, the release of persons belonging to armed bands, which were organized neither by the grand duchy of Luxemburg nor the German Confederation. "In this state of circumstances, the plenipotentiaries of the five Courts have resolved to communicate the present explanations to the plenipotentiaries of the Netherlands, and to renew, in the most pressing and serious manner, their demand for the liberation of Sieur Thorn-a demand which is founded as well on the circumstances stated in Protocol No. 60, of the 4th of May, as upon the acts of the diet of the German Confederation. "The plenipotentiarics of the five Courts have only to add, that until Sieur Thorn shall be released, the Conference will not undertake ment the freedom of the individuals to whom reference is made in the protocol No. 60, of the 4th of May. (Signed) "WESSENBERG. "TALLEYRAND. "PALMERSTON. "BULOW. "LIEVEN. "MATUSZEWICZ. NOTE ADDRESSED by the PLENIPOTENTIARIES of the NETHERLANDS, to the CONFERENCE. London, May 29, 1832. "The Government of the Netherlands, in approving of the contents of the note which the undersigned had the honour to address to the plenipotentiaries of the five courts, under the date of the 7th instant, has charged them to declare, as the final answer to the note of their excellencies of the 4th, that it remains disposed and ready to negociate with the Conference for the purpose of understanding the conditions on which Belgium shall be separated from Holland. So long as this object remains to be accomplished, there can be no expectation that the king of Holland will recognize the political independence of a new Belgian state, and of the sovereignty of the prince of Saxe-Coburg; but the moment the plenipotentiaries shall conclude, and shall sign this treaty of sepa ration with the five Courts, his majesty will not object in the least to make, conclude, and sign, with Belgium on the basis of such a treaty, and it will use the utmost dispatch in forwarding instructions and ample special powers for this purpose. "The undersigned have received orders to declare to the Conference the communications addressed to it on the 30th of January last, and to make known to the plenipotentiaries, by means of a note, the condition in which the government of the Netherlands is placed, in consequence of the negotiations which, from that epoch, the court of Russia has opened with Holland, and to which the Legations from Austria and Prussia at the Hague have declared that they were joined and do still adhere. "If, contrary to all expectations, a careful and impartial examination of these documents do not lead to the wished-for arrangement, the king will continue to invoke the execution of those engagements which the five Courts contracted to carry into effect in favour of his majesty, by the annex A of the 12th protocol. But the undersigned are disposed to cherish the hope that it will not be long before they will learn from the Conference their opinion of the present modified proposals of their government. It will then be easy to see on what articles all are agreed, both in details and in substance, and what others are of a nature to require further explanation. In all cases the answer of the Conference would appear to be the most convenient method of inducing a favourable turn in the negotiations; and, in the confident expectation that such an answer will be given, the undersigned pray, &c. (Signed) "FALCK. note A, which has been just addressed to them by the plenipotentiaries of the king of the Netherlands and which the government of the Netherlands declares, must serve as its final answer to the communication of the 4th instant, addressed to its plenipotentiaries by the Conference. "The plenipotentiaries of the five Courts, having examined the tenour of the note in question, have come to the resolution of declaring to the Netherlands' plenipotentiaries, that the note of the verbal communication of the 29th instant, and in which are specified the demands of the government of the Netherlands, is, word for word, the same with that which was addressed more than two months ago to Count Orloff at the Hague, and which induced him to postpone the declaration of the 22nd of March last. Let the plenipotentiaries of the Netherlands then judge, after this fact, if the demands contained in the note in question are admissible in the eyes of the courts whose plenipotentiaries are assembled in Conference in London, and if the latter can discover in this note an answer to their communication of the 4th of May, or any clue to the result of negotiations which are so essentially connected with the wellbeing of Holland and the tranquillity of Europe, and let it then remain for the London Conference to occupy itself with resolutions which the importance of the circumstances “H. DE ZUYLEN DE NYEVELT." require at its hands. PROTOCOL No. 63, of the CONFer- Present, &c. "The plenipotentiaries of the five Courts are re-assembled in Conference to consider the subjoined (Signed) "WESSENBERG. "TALLEYRAND. "BULOW. "MATUSZEWICZ. "NEUMANN. "PALMERSTON. "LIEVEN." |