GENERAL HISTORY. 



[95 



shall be convoked as a matter of 

 course, on the first Mondays in 

 May and December ; each session 

 shall last three weeks. The exe- 

 cutive power is vested in a council 

 of state, composed of twenty- 

 eight members, elected from among 

 the members of the legislative 

 council only. 



Official intelligence of the union 

 of this state with the Swiss confe- 

 deracy, as one of the cantons, 

 arrived on Sept. 19th, and was re- 

 ceived by the whole population 

 with every expression of joy. 



The evacuation of the Low 

 Countries by the remaining French 

 garrisons proceeded slowly, and iti 

 some instances not without mani- 

 fest reluctance ; but in the begin- 

 ning of May, all the places which 

 belonged to Holland in 1795 were 

 delivered up to the Dutch troops ; 

 and the Austrian general St. Vin- 

 cent assumed the military govern- 

 ment of the former Austrian 

 Netherlands. On May 2, the day 

 appointed for the first meeting of 

 the States-General of the United 

 Provinces at the Hague, the mem- 

 bers of that body met in the palace 

 of the sovereign princp, and took 

 the oaths prescribed by the consti- 

 tution. Tiie president for the 

 session nominated by his highness 

 was Mr. Von Lynden Von Hoe- 

 verlaken. The assembly then 

 proceeded to the hall of the Bin- 

 nenhof, allotted for their sittings, 

 to which the Sovereign, accompa- 

 nied by his youngest son, repaired, 

 and addressed them in a speech in 

 which he described the state of the 

 country, and laid before them the 

 necessity of their serious attention 

 to retrieve its losses, and restore 

 iU ancient consequence and pros- 

 perity. He spoke of the generous 

 friendship towards the country 



testified by foreign powers, and 

 especially by Great Britain ; and 

 gave hopes of a speedier recovery 

 from the injuries it had sustained 

 than could be expected by many 

 of its fellow-sufFerers. The mini- 

 ster of finance afterwards laid 

 before the States-General an ac- 

 count of the expenditure and re- 

 venue of the United Provinces, 

 from which it appeared, that 

 reckoning the ordinary and extra- 

 ordinary expenses for the year 

 1814 at 63 J millions of guilders, 

 there would be a deficiency of 

 revenue amounting to more than 

 25 millions. He then assigned 

 reasons for expecting a consider- 

 able diminution of charges, and 

 increase of revenvie, in future 

 years, which turned upon the spo- 

 liations, and losses of income which 

 the state had incurred in conse- 

 quence of the war, and the French 

 occupation of the country. As 

 one proof of the sacrifice made 

 under the rule of Buonaparte of 

 every other interest, to his warlike 

 projects, it may be mentioned, 

 that the dykes of Holland, so 

 essential to the very existence of 

 the country, had been sufl^ered to 

 fall into such a state of dilapida- 

 tion, that a large additional ex- 

 penditure would be required for 

 their repair in the present year. 



An adjourned sitting of the 

 States-General was opened on June 

 15 by a message from the Prince 

 Sovereign, congratulating them 

 upon the conclusion of a peace be- 

 tween the allied powers and France, 

 in which the re-establishment of 

 the state of the United Provinces 

 was confirmed and guaranteed by 

 the most powerful sovereigns of 

 Europe. In answer to this com- 

 munication, an address was voted 

 by the assembly, expressing satis- 



