NETHERLANDS. 
•Of menace, they proceed to inform the king, that fuch 
regulations, if confirmed, could only lead to a renewal of 
the troubles which defolated thefe provinces in the fif¬ 
teenth century; and that they mull, fooner or later, 
alienate the hearts of his faithful fubjefts in this part of 
his kingdom, “ with whom attachment to the catholic 
faith is ftronger and more lively than in any other coun¬ 
try in Europe.” From thefe purely-religious complaints, 
they turn to another of a civil nature : “ The clergy of 
thefe provinces have obferved, not without pain, that 
your majefty has been perfuaded to exclude them from 
the affemblies in which the great interells of the Hate 
were difcuffed; that the plan of the new conftitution con¬ 
tains honourable diftinbtions for the nobility; and that 
the clergy, one of the firft clafs in the Hate, are deprived 
of them ; that they will not even have the right of being 
reprefented in the provincial aflemblies; that their in¬ 
fluence on the acceptance of the new conftitution is care¬ 
fully removed, fo that the moft diftinguilhed members of 
the clergy are not, according to the exprellions of your 
majefty’s proclamation, among the perfons moft worthy 
of the confidence of their fellow-citizens ; laftly, that they 
are not allowed to infcribe their diflenting votes on the 
lifts of the notables.” This addrefs, which contains many 
other remarks of a fimilar nature, was figned by the 
bilhops of Ghent, Namur, and Tournay, and the vicars- 
general of Liege and of Malines. An ecclefiaftical proteft 
of this kind was capable, at a former period, of lighting- 
up a dangerous flame. At the prefent, it was more likely 
to throw difcredit upon the religion of which it was the 
advocate, as being radically intolerant, and admitting no 
union with other forms of Chriftianity. It does not ap¬ 
pear to have produced any alteration in the reiblutions 
formed by the ruling powers relative to the fyftem of 
religious affairs for the Netherlands. The king, on Sep¬ 
tember the roth, iffued an ordinance with the following 
preamble: “ Confidering that it is juft and expedient to 
recur to the advice of functionaries profeffing the catholic 
religion, for every meafure of adminiftration relative to 
the public exercife of that religion, and efpecially for 
what regards the relations between the clergy of our 
kingdom and the holy fee; and defiring to confirm, by a 
fpecial and permanent inftitution, our refoluiion to re¬ 
move every thing which might tend to weaken the real 
guarantee which the conftitution fecures to the liberty of 
all forms of worfhip, or which might in any degree affebl 
the dogmas and the difcipline of the Roman-catholic 
religion, or hinder thofe who profefs it from freely exer- 
cifing their faith as heretofore, we have decreed,” See. 
From this formula, it will appear, that only protection, 
and not maftery, and ftill lefs an exclufive power, is given 
to the Roman church in Belgium. Thefubfequent articles 
contain the appointment of a committee of the council of 
ftate, confiding of three or four catholic members, to 
which is to be referred every thing relating to catholic 
worfhip. 
On September the aid, the ceremonial of the inaugu¬ 
ration of the King of the Netherlands was performed at 
Bruflels, with all due folemnity, and with every external 
mark of general fatisfablion. His majefty in his fpeech 
took notice of the union, under the fame fovereign and 
laws, of the feventeen provinces in the reign of the em¬ 
peror Charles V. artd congratulated the aftembly on the 
profpebt of its renewal, after a reparation of nearly three 
centuries. He was replied to in an appropriate fpeech by 
the prefident of the firft chamber; after which, the con¬ 
ftitution was read, and the king pronounced the oath with 
peculiar energy. The proceffion then repaired to the 
church of St. Gudule, at the door of which the king was 
received by the very reverend M. Mille, entitled chief 
prigft and pleban, who add refled to him a difeourfe entirely 
free from any of the lentiments of the prelatic addrefs 
above mentioned, and claiming only the protection for 
the catholic religion guaranteed by the conftitution. The 
You, XVI. No. 1151. 
745 
firft fitting of the ftates-genera! at Bruflels opened on the 
25th, and one of the earlieft of its aits was a donation to 
the duke of Wellington, as prince of Waterloo, of an 
eftate on the very theatre of his triumph. The feliions, 
in which every thing palled with unanimity, was loon 
after clofed. 
In October was officially publilhed the boundary-treaty 
between the King of the Netherlands and the Emperor of 
Auftria, concluded at Vienna, on May the 31ft. It marks 
out topographically all the limits between the feventeen 
Belgic provinces and their neighbours, Compriling alfo a 
part of the ancient Duchy of Luxembourg, to be pof- 
felfed in perpetuity by the Sovereign of the Netherlands, 
as a compenlation for fome principalities in Germany, 
which are to form one of the Hates of the German Con ¬ 
federation. The King of the Netherlands alfo renounces, 
for himfelf and his fucceflors, in favour of the King of 
Prulfia, the fovereign pofleffions of the houfe of Nallau- 
Orange in Germany. 
The feffionof theftates-general at the Hague was opened 
on October the 16th, by a fpeech from the king; the prin¬ 
cipal objeCt of which was, to prepare the public mind for 
thofe great financial facrifices which the unforefeen events 
of the year had rendered neceflary, and which darkened 
the favourable profpeCts of the former year. In a Ihort 
fpace of time it had been requifite to arm whole lines of 
fortrefl'es, to double the national army, and to maintain 
the ftill more numerous armies of the allies. It was inti¬ 
mated that the means of providing for all thefe expenfes 
would be the moft ferious fubjeCt for the afleinbly’s de¬ 
liberations ; and a hope was exprefled, that an introduction 
of taxes of the fame kind throughout the kingdom, would 
put an end to the difficulties at prefent experienced. 
Some conlblatiori toas derived from the revival of various 
branches of induftry, in confequence of the return of 
peace, and the renewed connexion with the colonies; and 
hope for the future was fuggefted, as a refult of the new 
guarantees for general tranquillity, to be expeCted from 
the treaty of the afibciated lovereigns. The addrefs, in 
anfwer to the fpeech, drawn up by the fecond chamber, 
and approved by the firft, exprefled entire fatisfiaClion 
with all the mcafures fuggefted by his majefty to recover 
the nation from its difficulties, and promiled their cordial 
co-operation in bringing his plans to effeCt. At a fitting 
of the fecond chamber, a report was made by the minifter 
of finance, in which the deficit whs Hated at forty millions 
of guilders, for which it was propofed to provide by an 
iflue of exchequer-bills, to be liquidated, in the courfe 
of ten years, by an additional fifteen per cent, upon a 
number of exifting taxes. At the fitting on October 24, 
a communication was made to the chamber of a conven¬ 
tion concluded between the Kings of Great Britain and 
of the Netherlands, relative to the ceded Dutch colonies 
in the Weft Indies, in which various advantages were 
ftipulated for the trade of the Netherlands. The Belgians 
were at this time highly gratified with the recovery of 
their Valuable 1 works of art from the rnufeum of the 
Louvre. 
A very important event to the new kingdom of the 
Netherlands, was announced to the ftates-general, on 
December 13, in a rneflage from the king. This was a 
contract of marriage between William-Frederic prince of 
Orange, heir-apparent to the crown, and the Grand 
Duchefs Anpa Pawiowna, filter of the emperor of Ruflia. 
His majefty, among the defirable confequences of fuch 
an union, mentioned the new Tupport which it ottered to 
the interefts of the commercial part of the nation in the 
north of Europe; and the guarantee it afforded, to the 
whole kingdom, of the durable kindnefs of a court which 
had fo powerfully contributed to its foundation. He 
then preffed the confent of the Hates to the marriage, as 
required by the conftitution. This was uaanimoufly 
given ; and the union took place on the 21ft of February, 
1816. The ilfue' of this marriage is a Ion and heir. 
9 D“ 
If 
