124] ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



shall be incapable of giving up 

 the author, so that he niay not 

 only be prosecuted, but also con- 

 victed of the offence, and punished 

 accordingly ; and the penalty thus 

 inflicted on printers, editors, and 

 booksellers, sliall be accompanied 

 with the suppression of their pa- 

 tent, and the prohibition to print 

 or publish any work for tlii'ee 

 years, for the first offence, and 

 for six }ears for the second of- 

 fence, with confiscation, in botli 

 cases, of the copies of the woik 

 jjrinted or published, notwith- 

 standing such prohibition. 



o. Neither autliors, editors, noi' 

 printers, publish.eis, nor booksell- 

 ers, shall be admitted to allege 

 as giound of excuse, tliat tlie 

 ■writings, or articles, which give 

 occasion to their prosecution, are 

 copied, extracted, or translated 

 from foreign ])apers or other 

 ])rinted writings. 



4. Every official comjjlaint and 

 reclamation of a foreign govern- 

 ment, grounde;! on writings of 

 the land mentioned in art. 1, 

 shall be directly transmitted by 

 oiu' Minister for Foi'eign Affaii's 

 to our JMinister of .lustice, in 

 order tiiat the autlior, editor, 

 jirinter, ov booksellci' wiiom it 

 concerns, may be, if there is 

 ground for it, prosecuted before 

 a court of justice, at tlie instance 

 of tlie Attorney-general oi- other 

 public judicial officei' in the place 

 where lie is domiciliated. 



!t is obvious whence the com- 

 ])laints ])rooce(led, wliich sug- 

 gested tiiis restriction of the free 

 publication of political opinions 

 I'elative to foreign courts and go- 

 vernments ; it Avas indeed well 

 known, that in the Belgian pro- 

 vinces the cause of Buonaparte 



still possesses zealous votaries. 

 The restraint, howeverj appears 

 to have been quietly acquiesced 

 in by the body of the nation ; for 

 Avhen the plan of the law was 

 discussed in the second chamber, 

 on September 25th, it passed by 

 a majority of 64 to 4. 



Tiie share taken by the govern- 

 ment of the Netherlands in the 

 British expedition against Al- 

 giers, has been recorded in our 

 relation of that glorious enter- 

 j)rise. Its success produced a 

 treaty of peace between the two 

 states, concluded by the Dey, and 

 V^ice -admiral Capellen, at Al- 

 giers, on August !28th, the con- 

 ditions of which were laid before 

 the States-general on October 1st. 

 Their sidjstance is a declaration 

 of peace and friendship between 

 the two countries, and a renewal 

 and confirmation of all the arti- 

 cles of the treaty of amity con- 

 cluded between them in the year 

 1/57 ; togetlier with an agree- 

 ment for the reception at Algiers 

 of a Dutch consul, upon precisely 

 the same footing, and with the 

 same privileges, with the British 

 consul. 



Previously to tlie Algerine ex- 

 ])edltion, there liad been con- 

 cluded between the kingdoms of 

 the Nctlierlands anil Spain, a de- 

 fensive treaty, the object of wliich 

 was to protect from piracy the 

 commerce of the powei's wlio 

 were parties to if. 



The union of the Dutch and 

 Flemish provinces imder one go- 

 veinment, occasioned a difficulty 

 respecting commercial legulation, 

 arising from their different inter- 

 ests and policy in that respect. 

 From the era of the independence 

 (Jf the iseven provinces, the foun- 

 dation 



