390 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



«f power in Europe, to insure the 

 repose and independence of the 

 diflferent powers, and to prevent 

 the arbitrary violations of the 

 rights and territories of other 

 states, by which the world has 

 suffered for so many years together, 

 the contracting powers have agreed 

 to fix the duration of the present 

 treaty for 20 years, reserving it to 

 thenoselves, if circumstances should 

 require it, to proceed to the pro- 

 longation of it three 3 ears before 

 its expiration. 



Art. XVII. The present treaty 

 shall be ratified, and the ratifica- 

 tions exchanged within two months, 

 or sooner if possible. In testimony 

 whereof, the respective, plenipo- 

 tentiaries have signed these pre- 

 sents, and affixed their seals. 

 Done at Chaumont, March 1, 

 <Feb. 17, 1814.) (Signed) 



Prince de Metternich. 

 Count de Nesselrode. 



]T\\e treaties signed the same 

 day with the King of Great Bri- 

 tain, and the King of Prussia, 

 are word for word the same as the 

 above. The first is signed by 

 Lord Castlereagh, his Britannic 

 Majesty's Minister of State for 

 Foreign Affairs ; the second by 

 Baron Hardenberg, Chancellor to 

 his Prussian Majesty.] 



Dutch Political Constitu- 

 tion. 



The Haggle, March 3, 1814, 

 We, William, by the grace of 



God, Prince of Orange Nassau, 



Sovereign Prince of the United 



Netherlands, &c. 



To all whom tli.'se presents 



comcj greeting ! 



Invited to the Sovereignty of 

 these States by your confidence and 

 your attachment, we from the first 

 declared, that we would undertake 

 the same only under the guarantee 

 of a wise constitution, which 

 niight secure your freedom against 

 all possible abuses ; and we have 

 ever since continued to feel the 

 necessity thereof. 



We regarded it, therefore, as 

 one of the first and most sacred of 

 our duties, to summon together 

 some men of consideration, and to 

 charge them with the weighty 

 task of establishing a fundamental 

 code, built upon your manners, 

 your habits, and corresponding to 

 the wants of the present time. 



They cheerfully took upon them- 

 selves this office, performed it 

 with zeal, and have submitted to 

 us the fruits of their uninterrupted 

 labours. 



After a careful examination of 

 this work, we have given it our 

 approbation. But this does not 

 satisfy our heart. It respects the 

 concerns of the whole Netherlands. 

 The whole Dutch people must be 

 recognized in this important work. 

 That people must receive the 

 strongest possible assurance, that 

 their dearest interests are suffi- 

 ciently attended to therein ; that 

 religion, as the fountain of all 

 good, is thereby honoured and 

 maintained, and religious freedom 

 disturbed by nothing of temporal 

 concerns, but secured in the most 

 ample manner ; that the educa- 

 tion of youth, and the spread of 

 scientific knowledge, shall be at- 

 tended to by the Government, and 

 freed from all those vexatious re- 

 gulations which oppress the genius 

 and subdue the spirit; that per- 

 sonal freedom shall no longer be 



