534 



NETHERLANDS, THE. 



NEVADA. 



.ministers hope that after the last decision of the 

 electors, the people, the government, and the 

 representatives, will vie with each other in ful- 

 filling the constitutional task, the object of 

 which is to insure the happiness of the country." 

 The minister announced the intention of the 

 government to present bills to the Chambers 

 on various matters of public interest, and, be- 

 fore all, the budget. In conclusion, he said : 

 " I hope that our common efforts will be char- 

 acterized by reciprocal confidence, mutual for- 

 bearance in debate, and the strict and loyal 

 observance of the constitution." 



The relations of the Netherlands to for- 

 eign powers were amicable ; but with Bel- 

 gium a difficulty arose concerning the naviga- 

 tion of the river Scheldt. The settlement of 

 this difficulty is of general interest, as it has a 

 direct bearing upon the international law of 

 the navigation of tidal rivers. The difficulty 

 between Belgium and Holland is in regard to 

 the outlet of the Scheldt. Antwerp, the chief 

 mercantile city of Belgium, stands on the 

 Scheldt, which is its channel of approach from 

 the sea. But it so happens that a few miles 

 below Antwerp it quits Belgian territory, and 

 for the rest of its course passes through that of 

 Holland. The great volume of its waters 

 reaches the ocean through the main channel 

 the Western Scheldt, as it is called ; but it also, 

 to some extent, has outlets through the Eastern 

 Scheld,,, which separates the province of South 

 Beveland from North Brabant, and the Sloe, 

 which divides South Beveland from Walcheren. 

 The chief town of this last is Flushing, a place 

 of little moment, except from a military point 

 of view. Either for the purpose of increasing 

 the commerce of Mushing, or for the purpose 

 of placing its garrison in closer communication 

 with the capital, the Dutch Government has 

 resolved to connect this little place by railway 

 with Bergen-op-Zoom. The execution, how- 

 ever, of such a public work necessitates inter- 

 ference with the channels of the Sloe and the 

 Eastern Scheldt ; for, although a passage 

 through both channels will of course be left 

 open, yet the present width of them at the 

 points of intersection will be considerably 

 diminished by embanking. The Belgian Gov- 

 ernment maintains that thus the tidal scour of 

 the main channel, or Western Scheldt, will be 

 interfered with, and the navigation to and from 

 Antwerp be impeded, or, it may be, rendered 

 altogether impracticable; and it therefore in- 

 sists that either the railway scheme be aban- 

 doned, or that it be carried out in such a way 

 as to leave undiminished the rush of water 

 through the two minor channels. The law 

 involved in the question is sufficiently simple. 

 The general principles that ought to regulate 

 the operations of two countries in regard to a 

 navigable river whose course is through the 

 territory of both, were enumerated in the final 

 act of the Congress of Vienna, in certain articles 

 drafted by the Baron William von Humboldt, 

 than whom no one could h-we been more com- 



petent. And they were these that the navi- 

 gation of such a river was to be regarded as 

 free from the point where it commenced to the 

 sea ; and, consequently, that, while the sovereign 

 rights of each country were to remain intact, 

 yet neither could be allowed so to operate upon 

 that part of the river passing through its terri- 

 tory as to impede or prevent the freedom of 

 navigation. This declaration was approved and 

 expressly adopted in the Treaty of London of 

 1839, whereby Holland and Belgium arranged 

 the question consequent upon their separation. 

 Not only so, but those principles were thereby 

 applied in particular and in more detail to the 

 Scheldt; for it was stipulated that its main 

 channel should be maintained in a navigable 

 condition for vessels passing between Antwerp 

 and the ocean, while its other outlets were also 

 to be kept open by Holland so far as necessary 

 for navigation between Antwerp and the Ehine. 

 The real question at issue between the two gov- 

 ernments has reference solely to the effect the 

 proposed embankments in the Eastern Scheldt 

 and the Sloe will have upon the fair-way of the 

 main outlet of the river. The Belgian Govern- 

 ment contends that these embankments will 

 interfere with the tidal scour in the Western 

 Scheldt, and cause the sil ting-up of the river. 

 This the Government of Holland denies. The 

 dispute is essentially one of opinion an en- 

 gineering disagreement. If the view maintained 

 by Belgium be correct, then a perseverance by 

 Holland in the course she contemplates would 

 be a breach of treaty engagements a contra- 

 vention of the recognized principles of fluvial 

 international law, which it would be incumbent 

 upon the Great Powers to prevent. In accord- 

 ance with a proposition made by the English 

 Government, Holland and Belgium agreed that 

 an international commission of engineers, named 

 by Great Britain, France, and Prussia, visit the 

 localities, and report upon the probable effect 

 of the operations contemplated by Holland, and 

 to what extent, if at all. they may be expected 

 to impede the navigation of the lower Scheldt, 

 as dreaded by Belgium. The two powers at 

 issue undertook to render the commissioners 

 every facility for arriving at a well-grounded 

 judgment in the matter, without, however, 

 pledging themselves to shape their respective 

 courses of action in accordance with the views 

 that these commissioners might take. They 

 did not accept the arbitration of Britain, France, 

 and Prussia. The intervening powers, in their 

 turn, merely desired to come in possession of 

 such information, from impartial and thorough- 

 ly-competent sources, as might enable them to 

 decide what hereafter shall be their line of ac- 

 tion, should the misunderstanding not be ami- 

 cably removed. 



NEW GEANADA. (See COLOMBIA, UNITED 

 STATES OF.) 



NEVADA. Since her admission as a State, 

 Nevada has made great progress in the discovery 

 and development of her mineral wealth and 

 other resources. Visionary schemes of specu- 



