1831.] Europe, and the English Parliainent. 5 



period too late in the month for us to animadvert upon it, and we must 

 wait the lapse of time, and the recovered wisdom of Lord Grey. The 

 most remarkable speech of the night, however, was brought out not by 

 the ecclesiastical, but by the political, portion of the Premier's 

 opinion : — 



" The Duke of Cumberland said he should not have risen on the 

 present occasion, had not a pointed allusion been made to him by the 

 noble earl, who had chosen to prefer a serious charge against him, of 

 being always adverse to the liberties of the people of this country. He 

 would tell that noble earl, that on this subject he must be permitted to 

 express himself as warmly as he felt, and assert in his place that, if those 

 liberties were endangered, no man there or elsewhere should be found 

 more eager or willing to fight manfully in support of those liberties than 

 he himself — (Hear.) He would ask that noble earl in what public acts 

 of his parliamentary life, for above 30 years, since he had been a mem- 

 ber of that house, did he find the proof of such an accusation ? His 

 opinion was one which was not new, nor without high precedent — that 

 the safety of our constitution consisted in the just equipoise and balance 

 of the aristocracy, the King, and the Commons of Great Britain. As 

 to the bill proposed to the adoption of Parliament, on the subject of 

 reform in the House of Commons, he thought totally different with the 

 noble earl and his colleagues of its merits. Whenever the time should 

 arrive that the liberties of the people of this country might be attacked, 

 he would be found as eager as any man there to fight in their defence." 



From the unsettled and dubious state of British affairs, we turn to the 

 equally unsettled state of the Continent. The great source of diplomatic 

 trouble, at present, is Belgium. The declaration by France that she 

 will, under no circumstance, send troops to support the decision of the 

 " five powers," has completely nullified all their proceedings. 



The most curious feature of the crisis is the offer of the crown to 

 princes of France and England successively. The Belgians desire a 

 republic, and there can be no doubt that a republican government might 

 be perfectly consistent with their prosperity. A large republic cannot 

 subsist in Europe, because a large one must have a great military force, 

 and the first war which raised up a successful general would raise this 

 general into a dictator. But a republic of the restricted size of Belgium, 

 and protected less by its own force than the interests of its neighbours, 

 might flourish in the centre of empires. Holland had so existed ; Swit- 

 zerland has so existed for centuries, and may so exist for centuries to 

 come. But the monarchs are determined that no republic shall exist to 

 tempt the wayward wills of their subjects, and Belgium is sent to wander 

 to all courts for a king. France has refused the Duke of Nemours, a sage 

 of seventeen. England is now solicited for Prince Leopold, whose brow 

 seems made to have the chance of all the stray diadems, and yet to die 

 crownless after all. But the prince is a philosopher, and he may calculate 

 that £00,000 a year, paid quarterly out of the British Treasury, is a 

 much more satisfactory provision than the civil list of Belgium, with the 

 certainty of having something to do for it. Whether the prince has re- 

 fused directly or not, the delay is a virtual negative. No man, who is 

 in earnest, hesitates when the offer is a diadem. We shall see Belgium 

 a republic yet ; not perhaps in the furious form of the French of 1793 ; 

 but gradually assuming the shape of the American States, whose tran- 

 quillity, opulence, active vigour, and growing prosperity, form a tempt- 

 ing contrast to the anxieties of life and nations in the old world. 



