396 
worship, and guarantee the ad- 
mission of all citizens to public 
offices and employments, what- 
ever be their religious erecd. 
{11.—The Belgian Provinces 
shall be duly represented in the 
assembly of the States General, 
whose ordinary sittings in time of 
peace shall be held alternately in 
a town in Holland and in a town 
in Belgium. 
IV.—AIll the inhabitants of the 
Netherlands being thus constitu- 
tionally assimilated among each 
other, the several Provinces shall 
equally enjoy all the commercial 
and other advantages of which 
their respective situations are sus- 
ceptible; nor can any obstacle or 
restriction be laid upon one to the 
advantage of another. 
V.—Immediately afterthe union, 
the provinces and towns of Bel- 
gium shall be admitted to the 
commerce and-navigation of the 
colonies upon the same footing as 
the provinces and towns of Hol- 
land. 
VI.—As the burthens must be 
in common as well as the advan- 
ages, the debts contracted till the 
time of the union, by the Dutch 
provinces on the one hand, and 
by the Belgic provinces on the 
other, shall be chargeable to the 
public treasury of the Nether- 
Jands. 
VI1.—Conformably to the same 
principles, the expences, required 
for the establishment and preser- 
vation of the fortresses on the 
frontier of the new State, shall 
be borne by the public treasury; 
as resulting from an object that 
interests the safety and indepen- 
dence of all the provinces of the 
whole nation. 
VIIL—The expence of form- 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1815. 
ing and keeping up the dykes 
shall be for the account of the 
districts more especially inter- 
ested in this branch of the 
public service, reserving the ob- 
ligation of the state in general 
to furnish aid in case of ex- 
traordinary disasters, all exactly 
as has been hitherto practised in 
Holland. 
The treaty of Vienna having 
since confirmed, upon these same 
principles, the formal session 
of the Belgic Provinces, to form 
in conjunction with the Uni- 
ted Provinces of the Nether- 
lands, one kingdom, we have 
hastened to appoint a special 
committee to examine what mo- 
difications it would be useful 
or necessary to make in the 
constitution already established 
‘in Holland. 
Citizens distinguished by their 
knowledge, their patriotism, and 
their probity, have employed 
themselves on this important 
work with a zeal worthy of the 
greatest praises. 
The project which they «have 
just laid before us, contains ho- 
nourable distinctions for the No- 
bility, insures to all forms of wor- 
ship equal favour and protection, 
and guarantees the admission of | 
all citizens to public offices and 
employments; it fixes the divi- 
sion of power upon the basis of 
protecting institutions, which 
have been at all times dear to the 
people of Belgium. It recognises 
above all things the independence 
of the judicial power; it recon- 
ciles the integrity and the strength 
of the body politic, with the in- 
dividual right of each of its mem- 
bers; and lastly, it contains the 
elements of every gradual im- 
