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

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

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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.

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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)

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