The Express.
London, England, 1848-03-10 00:00:00

HOLLAND.

ASSEMBLING OF THE STATES GENERAL.
THE HAGUE, MARCH B.—At the Bitting of the
Second Chamber of the States General, on the 7th, his Ex-
cellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs laid before the as-
sembly the official communication made by M. de Limartine
to his Majesty's Ambassador at the court of France. The
letter was of the following tenor :
" M. le Baron,—l have the honour to inform you that
the Provisional Government of the French reput,de has
confided to me the porlefeuille of Foreign Affairs. The re-
publican form of the new government has altered neither
the position of France to Europe, nor its loyal and sincere
desire to maintain its relations of good harmony with those
powers that desire, like her, the independence of the
nations and the peace of the world. I shall be happy, M.
le Baron, to concur, by every means in my power, in this
desire of the nations, in their improved dignity, and to re-
mind Europe that the principle of peace, and the principle
of liberty, had birth on the same day in France.—Accept,
M. le Baron, &c. &c.—(Signed)—LAMAJLTlNE.—Faris,
Feb 27."
To this letter, which contains quieting assurances for
the maintenance of peace, our ambassador imme-
diately
replied in unison with the several other em-
bassies which had received similar communications.
The embassies felt it necessary immediately to sup-
port a government, whatever might be its form, which
shows by its actions that it has an eye to the preservation
or the establishment of
_peace and order. Meanwhile, the
King's ambassador at Paris has been commissioned to re-
main there, in order to represent the interest of the Nether-
lands officially. Notwithstandii g the assurances of peace
which I t eve just mentioned prudence demands that pre-
cautionary measure should be taken in the event of possible
contingencies. Of these any coadjutor of the department of
the Interior will give your high mightinesses ti's necessary
information. In taking these measures, it is a happy cir-
cumstance that the best understandi g and unanimity sub-
sists between the Netherlands government and that of
Belgium.
The King's ambassador at Brussels has been cornrnicsioned
to state that we hope and desire that the very advantageous
neutral position of Belgium may be maintained. The
Netherlands government attaches the greatest importance to
the maintenance and consolidation of existing treaties, and
does not aim at anything further than tne continuance of
the independence of Belgium and the confirmatiin of the
relations already subsisting between the two kingd max The
Belgian government set a high soda., on these views, of
which more than one proof has been received here. The
communication of his Excellency the Minister of the Inte-
rior was es follows :
Your High Mightineeses,—The King has commissioned
me to communicate to you, in reference to Art. 207 of tke
fundamental law, that, in conseque..ce of recent events that
have taken place in France, his Majesty has thought fit to
command that the troops of the national militia levied in
' 1847, who would soon be summoned from the reserve into
active service, es well as those on furlough of the
levies of 1845 and 1846, shall be put under arms.
Although there is no immediate d inger of war,
yet the consequence of the events can be so little
calculated upon that the attention of the government has
been seriously directed to the adoption of precautionary mea-
sures for the security of our frontiers; and it has determined
to increase the land force, as well as the defensive measures
by sea. The proposition fur the increase in the departments
of the army and navy, with the measures for carrying
them out, shall be immediately submitted to your High
Might incases. I am also commissioned to say that the atateof
the treasury induces the prospect that these measures will
be no additional burden to tke community."
The minister, after having made this communication,
added : " I take this opportunity to state that the chotges in
the fundamental law proposed by his Majesty at the opening
of the present session shall be submitted to your High
Mightiness without delay."
Several projects of law, relative to the finances, &c., were
then laid before the Chambers, accompanied by a royal
message.
The following announcement was then read :—The re-
signation of M. F. A. Van Hall, Minister of Finance, of M.
de la Sutras, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the nomination
of Count de Randwyk as Minister of Foreign Affairs, and
the Chevalier Van der Heim, as Minister of the Intetior,
and the Chevalier Van Rapped, as Minister of Finance.
The President announced that he had received communi-
cations of the treaty of commerce and navigation concluded
in December last between the Netherlands, Sweden, and
Nor way. A committee was appointed to make a report upon
this subject.
The Amsterdam Handelsbind of the Rth instant appears
to think that the ma,ifesto of the French Minister of Foreign
Affairs is, on the whole, a satisfactory one, remarkable not
only for the elevation of its ideas but also for the s.drit of
moderation which reigns in it.

BRU:SELS, MARCH 8.
The leading journal of Antwerp energetically cen-
sures the government for the extraordinary military
preparations it is now making, particularly in the
above commercial capital of this country, which (as
the journal in question adds) will in a few days be
pat in so strong a state of defence, that one would
imagine that a powerful enemy was about to make a
coup-de•main there. The measure in question is (it
contends) unnecessary, and the money expended to
strengthening Antwerp would be much better em-
ploye,. in giving work to the unoccupied. By spnd-
ing the large sums in such works the money ad-
%arced to the treasury by the recent law will be
thrown away, and Belgium, in a few months, will be
as poor as ever. The Belgian ministry, in fact, ap-
pear to be losing a portion of that prudence which
characterised their first movements after the events
in Paris. The Brussels papers are urging the
government to abolish the stamp duty en journals.
The statement made by one of the Belgian provincial
papers, to the effect that the government have taken
steps for repairing and strengthening only those
fottres.es which are on the frontiers of France, is in-
correct,
inasmuch as the forts on the Scheldt are
already undergoing improvement. The Moniteur
Bdge of this mornibg, after copying from the Parisian
journals the account of the interview between M.
Lamartine and the Belgian ambassador in Paris, adds
the following paragraph
" We are enabled to state that M. de Lamartine
hastened to assure the Prince de Ligne—as the first
pledge of the continuance of friendly relations be-