shall be convoked as a matter of course, on the first Mondays in May and December; each session shail last three weeks. The executive power is vested in a council of state, composed of twentyeight members, elected from among the members of the legislative council only.

Official intelligence of the union of this state with the Swiss confederacy, as one of the cantons, arrived on Sept. 19th, and was received by the whole population with every expression of joy.

The evacuation of the Low Countries by the remaining French garrisons proceeded slowly, and in some instances not without manifest reluctance; but in the beginning of May, all the places which belonged to Holland in 1795 were delivered up to the Dutch troops; and the Austrian general St. Vincent assumed the military government of the former Austrian Netherlands. On May 2, the day appointed for the first meeting of the States-General of the United Provinces at the Hague, the members of that body met in the palace of the sovereign prince, and took the oaths prescribed by the constitution. The president for the session nominated by his highness was Mr. Von Lynden Von Hoeverlaken. The assembly then proceeded to the hall of the Binnenhof, allotted for their sittings, to which the Sovereign, accompanied by his youngest son, repaired, and addressed them in a speech in which he described the state of the country, and laid before them the necessity of their serious attention to retrieve its losses, and restore its ancient consequence and pros. perity. He spoke of the generous friendship towards the country

testified by foreign powers, and especially by Great Britain; and gave hopes of a speedier recovery from the injuries it had sustained than could be expected by many of its fellow-sufferers. The minister of finance afterwards laid before the States-General an account of the expenditure and revenue of the United Provinces, from which it appeared, that reckoning the ordinary and extraordinary expenses for the year 1814 at 63 millions of guilders, there would be a deficiency of revenue amounting to more than 25 millions. He then assigned reasons for expecting a considerable diminution of charges, and increase of revenue, in future years, which turned upon the spoliations, and losses of income which the state had incurred in consequence of the war, and the French occupation of the country. As one proof of the sacrifice made under the rule of Buonaparte of every other interest, to his warlike projects, it may be mentioned, that the dykes of Holland, so essential to the very existence of the country, had been suffered to fall into such a state of dilapidation, that a large additional expen diture would be required for their repair in the present year.

An adjourned sitting of the States-General was opened on June 15 by a message from the Prince Sovereign, congratulating them upon the conclusion of a peace between the allied powers and France, in which the re-establishment of the state of the United Provinces was confirmed and guaranteed by the most powerful sovereigns of Europe. In answer to this communication, an address was voted by the assembly, expressing satis

faction

faction in the event, and grateful acknowledgments to his Royal Highness for his exertions in bringing it to effect.

On July 9th, an ordinance was issued by the Prince Sovereign, by which the people of the United Provinces were informed, that until the period of the restoration of the Dutch colonies, they would be permitted, in consequence of negociations entered into with the British government, to carry on commerce with the colonies (enumerated) in South America and the West India islands, upon certain conditions which followed. The first of these required the being provided with licences from the British ambassador at the Hague, and the remain der chiefly consisted in regulations for putting the trade on the same footing with that carried on between Great Britain and the same colonies.

In the grand settlement of Europe, which became the object of the allied powers after they had expelled from his throne the person whose ambitious plans had so long been employed in overthrowing all former barriers, and establishing his own irresistible predominance, there were few points more important, and at the same time of more difficult arrangement, than fixing the future condition of the ten Belgic provinces, usually distinguished by the name of the Catholic Netherlands. Modern history is filled with the wars and negociations of which the disputed possession of these rich and fertile countries was the source; and to prevent them from falling under the dominion of France, and preserve them to the house of Austria, was a leading principle of the policy which formed the armed

confederacies in the reigns of William III. and Anne. When at length secured to Austria, they proved but an uneasy and unfruit ful accession to that power, on account of their remoteness from the seat of sovereignty, the diver. sity of their interests, and the constitutional privileges of which they were justly jealous. The infraction of these privileges by the emperor Joseph, and the violence with which he urged ecclesiastical reforms altogether repugnant to the feelings of a people singularly attached to their religion, occasioned a storm of resistance and disaffection, which induced that sovereign to form plans for exchanging his dominions in the Low Countries for an equivalent in Germany; but, like the rest of his multifarious projects, they failed in the execution. These provinces were among the first conquests of the French in their revolutionary war; they had been declared integral parts of the French empire, which, by the occupation of the Seven Provinces, had obtained a most important addition in this quarter. When France was to be reduced to her former limits, and Holland restored to its pristine independence, the disposal of the Catholic Netherlands became a matter of immediate urgency. On the principle of restitution there could be no doubt that they reverted to the Austrian dominion; and we have seen that temporary possession of them was given to an Austrian general, as military governor. But the present emperor of Austria had the same reasons with his predecessor Joseph for wishing to get rid of a detached territory which had long been rather a

burden

burden than an advantage, and the future defence of which could only be secured by a strong and expensive line of fortresses. It is therefore probable that a change in the occupation of these provinces was early deliberated in the councils of the allied powers, though difficulties would occur in assigning their new possessor.

Hints had been thrown out in the public papers of the Low Countries, of an intended union of the ten provinces to the state with which they had the greatest natural affinity; but it was not till the end of July that matters were fully prepared for an open disclosure of the design, and the measures for bringing it to effect. On the 30th of that month, the Prince of Orange, sovereign of the Netherlands, came to Brussels, where be was waited upon by Lord Lynedoch and the superior officers of the English and Belgian troops, and had a long conference with the governor-general Baron de Vincent. On the next day, after attending divine service performed by a French clergyman, he gave audience to the members of the administration of the public boards, and the principal civil officers; and received addresses expressive of confidence and attachment. On August 1st, a proclamation was published by Baron de Vincent, in which he acquainted the people of Belgium, that the time fixed by the high allies for giving up the general government into the hands of the Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands being arrived, he was to take leave of them. He briefly dwelt upon the advantages that would accrue to them from that union with a people already connected with them by a common VOL. LVI.

origin, and common industry and virtues, which was destined by the general interest of Europe; and assured them, that it would be rendered indissoluble, and their new condition would be secured by the firmest guaranty that human power could give. On the same day an address to the Belgians by the Prince of Orange was published. After informing them that the allied sovereigns intended to give to Europe a political system which would assure a long period of prosperity and repose to its nations, his Royal Highness said, "The new destination of your beautiful provinces is a necessary part of this system; and the negociations which are going to be opened at Vienna will have for their object to cause it to be recognized, and to consolidate the extension of Belgium on a basis conformable to your interests, to that of your neighbours, and of all Europe." He then announced his being called to the government of their country during the short interval before this desirable union, and expressed his wish of being assisted by the most estimable characters among them, and his resolution to bend all his attention to their welfare. This change in the present administration and future prospects of the Belgian provinces seems to have been received with great satisfaction at Brussels, which enjoyed the expectation of becoming one of the capitals of the United Low Countries, and by the concourse of civil and military authorities and distinguished strangers, was daily resuming the splendor and gaiety by which it was characterized when the seat of an Austrian court. The country, as far as the [H] Maese,

try guarded, as during the Flemish wars of former times.

The Prince Sovereign of the Netherlands having returned to the Hague on November 7th, he opened the first ordinary session of the States General with a speech. He began with recounting the happy auspices under which their sitting commenced. "Perfect tranquillity reigns in every part of the country, though scarcely regenerated: the organization of the principal branches of the administration is prosecuting conform ably to the regulations of the fundamental laws, without obstacle or even difficulty; every where the spirit of industry and commerce manifests itself more and more, which we had reason to fear might have been totally extinguished and annihilated during so many unbappy years." His Royal Highness then proceeded to touch upon particulars relative to their situation. He regretted, that till the termination of the congress he could not inform them with certainty of the extent of the territory of the state, and of its possessions beyond sea, but adverted to the arrangements with the crown of England, which had enabled him to take measures for the re-occupation of the most considerable part of their ancient foreign dominions. He spoke with great satisfaction of the state of the public finances, by which, at the end of 1814, sixteen months of the in'terest of the national debt, and the vast expenses required by the re

establishment of so many branches of the administration, might be wholly paid, all the accounts of government services since his accession to power be liquidated, and a considerable sum left in the trea sury applicable to the expenses of the next year. On the whole, the view given by his Royal Highness of the state of the country was such as might gratify every patriot.

On December 8th, the secretary of finance, Mr. Falck, presented to the States an estimate of the expenditure for the year 1815, which amounted to fifty-one millions of guilders. He acquainted them, that by care and economy the expense of the last year had been reduced 3,700,000 guilders below the estimate, and that there would remain in the treasury, at the end of the year, a sum of about ten millions and a half. He gave reasons for the persisting,at the present time, in making extraordinary exertions, and recommended the continuance of the existing taxes, with the exception of some alteration in that on patents. The States General, after deliberating on the report, and on the plan of a law with which it was accompanied, passed a resolution, approving of the same; and the patience with which necessary burdens are borne in this country, and the wise frugality displayed in the administra. tion of its revenues, are equally deserving of the applause and imitation of other states.

CHAPTER

A

S no country in Europe had undergone more changes during the long war, of which it was so often the seat, than Germзsy, so in none was the process of restoration more tardy, or more obstructed with difficulties, arising as well from the actual state in which it was left at the period of the general peace, as from the complicated nature of its political constitution. So much, in fact, was to be done in order to reduce it to a harmonious and well balanced system, that the year elapsed without settling some of the most important points relative to the future condition of the Germanic States. Some dispositions, however, were definitively made, of which it will be proper to give an

account.

No city in Germany had so much reason to rejoice at the subversion of Buonaparte's power as Hamburgh, which had suffered the extremes of tyranny and spoliation under the rigorous and corrupt administration of Davoust. From the richest and most commercial city in that part of Europe, it had been reduced almost to beggary, and had scen many of its principal inhabi

tants in the condition" of fugitives or exiles, its finest suburbs demolished, and its population wasted by want and disease. It must, therefore, have been with sensations of true patriotic delight, that on May 26, the Hamburghers witnessed the resumption of the government by their native constituted authorities, and their independence restored under the patronage of the allied Powers. The Senate, on that occasion, published an address to their fellow citizens marked by the spirit of wisdom and moderation. Though it was not yet thought proper to leave the sity without the protection of foreign troops, confidence was sufficiently renewed for the operation of those causes which are found so efficacious in speedily effacing the wounds inflicted on commercial prosperity. "Every thing (says an account from Hamburgh) here acquires new life, activity, and cheerfulness. The Elbe is again filled with vessels of every description, and several richly laden ships have already entered our port. The road from Altona to Hamburgh is covered with an almost uninterrupted line of waggons, laden with the

household