96] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



faction in the event, and grateful 

 acknowledgments to his Royal 

 Highness for his exertions in 

 bringing it to effect. 



On July 9th, an ordinance was 

 issued by the Prince Sovereign, by 

 which the people of the United 

 Provinces were informed, that until 

 the period of the restoration of the 

 Dutch colonies, they would be per- 

 mitted, in consequence of negoci- 

 ations entered into with the British 

 governmenl, to carrj' on commerce 

 with the colonies (enumerated) in 

 South America and the West In- 

 dia islands, upon certain conditions 

 which followed. The first of these 

 required the being provided with 

 licences from the British ambassa- 

 dor at the Hague, and the remain- 

 der chiefly consisted in regulations 

 for putting the trade on the same 

 footing with that carried on between 

 Great Britain and the same colo- 

 nies. 



In the grand settlement of 

 Europe, which became the object 

 of the allied powers after they had 

 expelled from his throne the per- 

 son whose ambitious plans had so 

 long been employed in overthrow- 

 ing all former barriers, and esta- 

 blishing his own irresistible predo- 

 minance, there were few points 

 more important, and at the same 

 time of more difficult arrangement, 

 than fixing the future condition of 

 the ten Belgic provinces, usually 

 distinguished by the name of the 

 Catholic Netherlands. Modern 

 history is filled with the wars and 

 negociations of which the disputed 

 possession of these rich and fertile 

 countries was tlie source ; and to 

 prevent them from falling under 

 the dominion of France, and pre- 

 serve them to the house of Austria, 

 was a leading principle of the po- 

 licy which formed the armed 



confederacies in the reigns of WiU 

 liam HI. and Anne. When at 

 length secured to Austria, they 

 proved but an uneasy and unfruit- 

 ful accession to that power, on 

 account of their remoteness from 

 the seat of sovereignty, the diver- 

 sity of their interests, and the 

 constitutional privileges of which 

 they were justly jealous. The 

 infraction of these privileges by 

 the emperor Joseph, and the vio- 

 lence with which he urged eccle- 

 siastical reforms altogether repug- 

 nant to the feelings of a people 

 singularly attached to their religion, 

 occasioned a storm of resistance 

 and disaffection, which induced 

 that sovereign to form plans for 

 exchanging his dominions in the 

 Low Countries for an equivalent 

 in Germany ; but, like the rest of 

 his multifiuious projects, they 

 failed in the execution. These 

 provinces were among the first 

 conquests of the French in their 

 revolutionary war ; they had been 

 declared integral parts of the 

 French empire, which, by the 

 occupation of the Seven Provinces, 

 had obtained a most important 

 addition in this quarter. When 

 France was to be reduced to her 

 former limits, and Holland re- 

 stored to its pristine independence, 

 the disposal of the Catholic Ne- 

 therlands became a matter of 

 immediate urgency. On the prin- 

 ciple of restitution there could be 

 no doubt that they reverted to the 

 Austrian dominion ; and we have 

 seen that temporary possession of 

 them was given to an Austrian 

 general, as military governor. But 

 the present emperor of Austria 

 had the same reasons with his 

 predecessor Joseph for wishing to 

 get rid of a detached territory 

 which had long been rather a 



