GENERAL HISTORY. 



[123 



general on July 1st. His Ma- 

 jesty declares it to have been in 

 compliance with the invitation of 

 his powerful ally, the emperor 

 Alexander. 



From a royal decree dated July 

 17th, it appears, that the bigotted 

 attachment of the clergy in the 

 Belgian states to the See of Rome 

 has not deterred the King from 

 that assertion of the rights of the 

 crown in ecclesiastical affaiis, 

 which even many Catholic Sove- 

 reigns now openly maintain. He 

 orders the full and entire execu- 

 tion in his states of the law which 

 prohibits resorting to the papal 

 see for dispensations, briefs, and 

 rescripts in spiritual and ecclesias- 

 tical matters, without having pre- 

 viously obtained the permission 

 of the Sovereign ; matters of con- 

 science being alone excepted. 

 Further, all such dispensations, 

 &c. granted even after permis- 

 sion to solicit them has been given 

 by the king, are to remain null 

 and void, without the Royal ex- 

 equatur. 



The delicate subject of the 

 freedom of the press, at this time 

 a topic of particular interest in 

 every government partaking of 

 political liberty, was biought be- 

 fore the legislature of the Nether- 

 lands in September, by a message 

 from the King, accompanying the 

 plan of a law, for restraining the 

 licentiousness of the press in re- 

 spect to foreign powers. His 

 Majesty, in his introduction, ob- 

 serves, that the constitution of 

 the country makes all persons re- 

 sponsible for what they publish, 

 the limits of which responsibility 

 are to be found in the penal code : 

 that some have thought the regu- 

 lations under this head insuffi- 



cient to protect from the insolence 

 of the ill-disposed the govern- 

 ment of a country, in which the 

 censorship, arbitrary arrests, and 

 other coercive ineasuies are, and 

 must be, illegal ; but as long as 

 calmness and probity are the na- 

 tional chai'acteristics, his Majesty 

 sees no reason to fear the conflict 

 between truth and error, or to 

 restrain the expression of opi- 

 nions relative to the internal go- 

 vernment : that, however, the 

 case is different with respect to 

 insults offered through the me- 

 dium of the press to neighbour- 

 ing governments and sovereigns, 

 which abuse has lately increased 

 to a great degree ; and the nu- 

 merous complaints made on that 

 head, show that it is high time 

 to put a stop to it. The law is 

 then proposed under the follow- 

 ing articles : 



Art. 1. Those who, in their 

 writings, shall have abused or 

 outraged the person ;d character 

 of foreign sovereigns or princes 

 with whom we live in peace and 

 good understanding, shall have 

 denied or called in (question the 

 legitimacy of their dynasty and 

 their go\ernment, or shall have 

 represented the acts of their ad- 

 ministration in an odious light, 

 shall be, for the first offence, 

 punished by a fine of 500 florins ; 

 or, if they are incapable of paying 

 it, with 6 months' imprisonment; 

 and in case of a repetition of the 

 offence, Avith from 1 to 3 years' 

 imprisonment. 



2. The same penalties shall be 

 applicable to printers, publishers, 

 and booksellers, who shall have 

 printed or published, or caused 

 to be printed or distributed, the 

 aforesaid writings, provided they 



shaU 



