712 
NETHER 
mod eftimable characters among them, and his refolution 
to bend all his attention to their welfare. This change 
in the prefent adminiftration and future profpe&s of the 
Belgian provinces feems to have been received with great 
fatisfaftion at Brulfels, which enjoyed the expectation of 
becoming one of the capitals of the United Low Countries, 
and, by the concourfe of civil and military authorities 
and diftinguilhed Arrangers, was daily refuming the fplen- 
dour and gaiety by which it was charafterifed when the 
feat of an Auftrian court. The country, as far as the 
Maefe, was evacuated by the Ruffian and Pruffian troops. 
Englifh corps, and Germans in Britilh pay, poured into 
Brulfels and the other principal towns ; and it appeared 
that Great Britain meant to take upon itfelf the chief 
lhare in fecuring the Belgian frontier till the final adjuft- 
ment of the affairs of Europe. 
About the clofe of Auguft, an arrangement was figned 
by the prince-regent of England and the prince-fovereign 
of the Netherlands, in which it was ftipulated, that Great 
Britain fhould retain the Cape of Good Hope, Demerara, 
Elfequibo, and Berbice ; and that Batavia, and all the reft 
of the conquefts made upon the Dutch during the late 
war, namely, Surinam, Curagoa, and St. Euftatia, fhould 
be reftored to them. Ceylon, as being ceded to England 
before the war, remains in her pofleffion. 
The prince-fovereign of the Netherlands having re¬ 
turned to the Hague, on November 7th he opened the 
fir ft ordinary feffion of the ftates-general with a fpeech. 
He began with recounting the happy aufpices under 
which their fitting commenced. “ PerfeCl tranquillity 
reigns in every part of the country, though fcarcely rege¬ 
nerated ; the organization of the principal branches of 
the adminiftration is profecuting, conformably to the re¬ 
gulations of the fundamental laws, without obftacle or 
even difficulty; every-where the fpirit of induftry and 
commerce manifefts itfelf more and more, which we had 
reafon to fear might have been totally extinguiffied and 
annihilated during fo many unhappy wars.” His royal 
highnefs then proceeded to touch upon particulars rela¬ 
tive to their fituation. He regretted that, till the termi¬ 
nation of the Congrefs, he could not inform them with 
certainty of the extent of the territory of the ftate, and of 
its pofleffions beyond fea, but adverted to the arrange¬ 
ments with the crown of England, which had enabled 
him to take meafures for the re-occupation of the molt 
confiderable part of their ancient foreign dominions. He 
fpoke with great fatisfa&ion of the ftate of the public 
finances, by which, at the end of 1814, fixteen months 
of the intereft of the national debt, and the vaft expenfes 
required by the re-eftabliflrment of fo many branches of 
the adminiftration, might be wholly paid, all the accounts 
of government-fervices fince his acCeffion to power be 
liquidated, and a confiderable fum left in the treafury 
applicable to the expenfes of the next year. On the whole, 
the view given by his royal highnefs of the ftate of the 
country was fuch as might gratify every patriot. 
On the 8th of December, the fecretary of finance, Mr. 
Falck, prefented to the ftates an eftimate of the expendi¬ 
ture for the year 1815, which amounted to 51,000,000 of 
guilders. He acquainted them, that by care and eco¬ 
nomy the expenfes of the laft year had been reduced 
3,700,000 guilders below the eftimate, and that there 
would remain in the treafury, at the end of the year, a 
fum of about ten millions and a half. He gave reafons 
for perlifting, at the prefent time, in making extraor¬ 
dinary exertions ; and recommended the continuance of 
the exifting taxes, with the exception of fome alteration 
in that on patents. The ftates-general, after deliberating 
on the report, and on the plan of a law with which it was 
accompanied, palled a refolution, approving of the fame ; 
and the patience with which necelfary burdens are borne 
in this country, and the wile frugality difplayed in the 
ytdminiftration of its revenues, are equally deferving of 
the applaufe and imitation of other ftates. 
Jin the new political fyftem of Europe which the Con- 
LANDS. 
grefs of Vienna had in vietv, few circumftances ate more 
worthy of attention than the union of the feventeen pro¬ 
vinces of the Low Countries under one government 
The year 1814 clofed with manifeft preparations for fuch 
a defign. We have feen that the prince of Orange had 
been placed by the allied powers at the head of the go¬ 
vernment of the ten catholic provinces ; and the nume¬ 
rous ftrong places of that country had been occupied by 
garrifons compofed for the molt part of Britilh and Ha¬ 
noverian troops, with a mixture of Dutch and Belgic, 
obvioully intended as a proteftion againlt French arms 
and French influence. The final development of the 
plan was, however, profefledly referved to the termination 
of the Congrefs. Long before this period, that afiembly 
came to a decifion on this momentous fubjeCt; and a let¬ 
ter from the prince-fovereign of Holland to the fecretary- 
of-ftate at Brulfels, dated February 23, 1815, announced, 
that by the unanimous confent of Auftria, Ruffia, Eng¬ 
land, France, and Prulfia, all thole parts of Belgium, 
which formerly belonged to the firft of thofe powers, had 
been placed under his fovereignty, with the exception of 
fome portions of the territory of Limburg and Luxem¬ 
bourg. With fuch an affignment of territory, the prince 
of Orange acquired the regal title; and, in a fpeech de¬ 
livered to the Dutch ftates-general, on the 16th of March, 
he declared his refolution of taking pofleffion of the fu- 
preme authority over all the United Netherlands, and at 
the fame time of inverting himfelf with royalty. An ad- 
drefs was returned by the ftates, expreffive of their entire 
fatisfaftion, as well with the Belgic union as with the 
new title alfumed by the fovereign. 
While the congrefs was yet fitting, namely, on the 26th 
of February, Napoleon had quitted Elba, and landed on 
the French coaft on the ill of March; on the 20th he en¬ 
tered Paris in triumph, every foldier lent againft him hav¬ 
ing joined the fmall band of troops he had brought over 
with him. This recovery of the fupreme power in France 
by Napoleon was an event peculiarly menacing to the lia¬ 
bility of the Belgic throne, fince it could not be doubted, 
that, if he ffiould eftablilh his authority, the firft employ¬ 
ment of the French arms would be to regain the influence 
of that nation in the Low Countries. The moll aftive 
efforts were therefore immediately made to place the fron¬ 
tier on the French border in a ftate of defence. All the 
Britilh and Hanoverian forces were collected together, 
which were ftrengthened by ftrong reinforcements from 
England, and feveral corps from Hefle, Brunfwick, and 
other fmall ftates in Germany; and to thefe were added 
all the Dutch and Belgian troops. This army was placed 
under the command of the duke of Wellington, who was 
recalled from Vienna for that purpofe. The Pruffian 
army, under marlhal Blucher, alfo aflembled in this coun¬ 
try for co-operation. In lliort, here all the force was 
collected ; and here the battles were fought which obliged 
Napoleon to abdicate for the fecond time, and which de¬ 
prived him of his imperial and regal title. 
When Napoleon landed at Cannes, he exultingly cried, 
“ There is an end of the Congrefs!” This, however, 
proved not to be the cafe. They continued their delibe¬ 
rations ; and, on the ill of June, (before the commence¬ 
ment of general hollilities,) they completed and pub- 
lilhed their General Treaty, commonly called the A Cl of 
Congrefs. As this treaty is of the higheft importance, 
and will be confulted by prefent and future generations, 
we lhall infert the whole of thofe articles which relate to 
the newly-formed kingdom of the Netherlands, though 
the reader will have oblerved that thefe articles had been 
already aCted upon a confiderable time before they were 
formally promulgated. 
Article LXV. The ancient United Provinces of the 
Netherlands and the late Belgic Provinces, both within 
the limits fixed by the following article, lhall form, to¬ 
gether with the countries and territories defignated in 
the fame article, under the fovereignty of his Royal 
Highnefs the Prince of Orange-Nalfau, Sovereign Prince 
