The National Register. — London, England, 1815-11-12 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. in Belgians, and to which a portion of the forty millions of /fires ndw raising in the cottutry is to be appropriated ? Tho jealousy which has- thus been successfully excited against the Dutch, is augmented by a multitude of eh-- curostances apparently trivial, but to which they attach much importance; such, for instance, is the suppression of a manufactory of tobacco at Ghent, which is attributed to the rivalry of their new ally in that department of com merce.—lf to these you add the difference of languages, the physical impossibility of Rating a common tongue, in which the interests of the two countries are to be discussed, ar►d certain religious apprehensions, you will then possess objections perpetually reiterated. When, on the other hand, one dwells on the more luminous parts of the plc tore, and contrasts the individual liberty the Belgians at present enjoy, with the degrading state of servitude to which but a few months since they were compelled to sub mit; if one reminds them that that liberty is sanctioned by the free concurrence of a virtuous dynasty, tried by long and severe misfortunes; if one proves to them that the principles of it are solemnly recorded in the fundamental pact, 1 hich binds alike both King and People; that if Belgium is more populous, she is neither by art nor nature enabled to defend her independence as Holland, girt round with the most inaccessible barriers of the ocean; that had she been united to Prussia, her resources would have been draincd,and her soldiers called to distant countries, for quar rels not their own ; that had she been annexed to Austria, ' her fertile provinces might be attacked and ravaged, long be fore reinforcements could arrive ; that united to England, ahe could enjoy little more consideration than a Colony ; therefore, that Holland, a cluntry essentially comm:i al fitted to transport the agricultural produce of this favoured land to all quarters of ihe gilobe, able to afford immediate protection, is the special country that ought to be the ob ject of the Belgians' unbiassed choice. Such, however, especially at Ghent, seems not to be the popular idea."-- The incorporation of the whole of the Netherlands into one state, has been the work of British policy, and the chief fruit which this country has gathered at the general peace. It is a British object, as the late Lord Melville would have said. How this work prospers, is therefore a serious consideration to us. It is not less worthy of re mark, that this article appears in a Ministerial print at the very time when the Prim* who was intended for our fu ture King, is said to hare . formed an alliance with a sister of the Emperor of Russia. Austria and Prussia are closely " united, while Russia and France are obviously approxi mating to alliance. The policy of England, which is, and must be, essentially rival, if gut hostile to Fiance, uaintak. • 'tl.4-11 •' c 4 1;'t NOV. IL ly connects us with the two great German Monarchies, and the Netherlands, ought, in a right view of their own kite. rest, to go with us; but this marriage tends to make the Court of Brussels diverge from its natural line of policy towards that pursued by the Cabinet of St. Petersburgh ; and the appearance of this article in the Courier ° indicates a fee'ing not altogether friendly on the part of obr Go• vernment. 'fhe policy, however, of the Netherlauls, whatever may be the bias of family alliance, must in its ge. neral direction be anti-Gallican; because they have every thing to fear from France. Brabant, Flanders, and the left bank of the Rhine, will always be the first objects of French ambition : the politics of the Belgian Govern. ment, therefore, must be with us. As to the discontents alleged, it ii to be observed, that they are all (except that of language) of a temporary nature, and will imperceptibly subside by the mere continuance of a mild Government. DANGERS THAT THREATEN THE BOOS• SELLING TRADE. TO ARC HIT ECTUSi In my communication of the Ist inst. I called your at• t6ition to the fact of there being " two sorts of re. venuo--a real and productive, an imaginary and unpro. dnctive one." As illustrative of my ideas on this subject, I would call your attention to the productions of the literary world. In the first instance, all paper is under a most heavy excise, and a material which in France may be purchased for Bs. or Ms. is thus made worth 30s. In the second instance, printing is double in its er. pence, so that the French bookseller can much more than compete—he can crush the British trader. The operation of this system limits the sale of a suc cessful publication—annihilates the whole of the capital laid out in an unsuccessful one. For if the Crown exacts so much duty on paper, and this paper is rendered useless, either from the largeness of the price or the want of talent in the work, it is a loss to the com munity. But this incomprehensible system of taxatitm goes farther.—We are now prevented publishing the fact of a book having been printed, so heavy are the duties laid, first on the 'leper, next in the shape of the stamp tax, and . finally, in the advertisement duty. I say, prevented, as the mane of advertising now renders it impossible to make a work of moderate value sufficiently known at an cxpence correspondent to its price. The result of this is, I am well aware ) verf heneitial to the guperficialobserver....:! Gounlace ) * wilt he 'say) w.-~w~*'~'^ w'wcA ..... w ••• • vt, J.,:# 1 . , • • i\•! , , 3 1 1 !rA • ;\ I . b t , •