100] 
for some principalities in Ger- 
many, which are to form one of 
the States of the German con- 
federation. The King of the Ne- 
therlands also renounces for 
himself and his successors, in 
favour of the King of Prussia, 
the sovereign possessions of the 
House of Nassau Orange in 
Gremany. 
The Session of the States-ge- 
neral at the Hague, was opened 
on October the 16th by a speech 
from the King, the principal ob- 
Ject of which was, to prepare the 
public mind for those great finan- 
cial sacrifices which the unforeseen 
events of the year had rendered 
necessary, and which darkened 
the favourable prospects of the 
former year. In a short space of 
time it had been requisite to arm 
whole lines of fortresses, to dou- 
ble the national army and to 
maintain the still more numerous 
armies of the allies. It was inti- 
mated, that the means of providing 
for all these expenses would be 
the most serious subject for the 
assembly’s deliberations; and a 
hope was expressed, that an intro- 
duction of taxes of the same kind 
throughout the kingdom, would 
put an end to the difficulties at 
present experienced. Some con- 
solation was derived from the 
revival of various branches of in- 
dustry in consequence of the 
return of peace, and the renewed 
connexion with the colonies; and 
hope for the future was suggested, 
as aresult of the new guarantees 
for general tranquillity, to be 
expected from the treaty of the 
associated Sovereigns. The ad- 
dress in answer to the speech, 
drawn up bythe Second Chamber, 
and approved by the First, ex- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. 
pressed entire satisfaction with all 
the measures suggested by his 
Majesty to recover the nation 
from its difficulties, and promised 
their cordial co.operation in bring- 
ing his plans to effect. At a 
sitting of the Second Chamber, a 
report was made by the Minister. 
of Finance, in which the deficit 
was stated at forty millions of 
guilders, for which it was pro-’ 
posed to provide by an issue of 
exchequer bills, to be liquidated 
during the course of ten years by 
an additional 15 per cent. upon a 
number of existing taxes. At 
the sitting on October 24, a com- 
munication was madetothe Cham- 
ber of a convention concluded be- 
tween the Kings of Great Britain 
and of the Netherlands, relative. 
to the ceded Dutch colonies in the 
West Indies, in which various ad- 
vantages were stipulated for the 
trade of the Netherlands. The 
Belgians were at this time highly 
gratified with the recovery of their 
valuable works of art from the 
museum of the Louvre. 
On the discussion in the Second 
Chamber of the proposed war tax, 
those differences appeared which. 
are always to be expected in a 
representative assembly amidst 
opposing interests. The Members 
of the southern provinces particu- 
larly declared against it, as highly 
unjust with respect to those dis- 
tricts which had suffered so much 
from the war; and a voluntary 
loan, and the sale of national do- 
mains, were proposed in its stead. 
When, however, the question was 
put to the vote, the tax law was 
carried by 77 to 27, , 
A very important event to the 
new kingdom of the Netherlands, 
was announced to the States-ge- 
