The Sun.
London, England, 1830-09-28 00:00:00

nits, their internal administration, their correspon-
dence with the authorities at the Hague and at
Brussels, have always been and are still conducted
• .

in French. In Limburg, and Antwerp, and the
two Menders, the language is Flemish,—so much
so, that during
the twenty years of the French do-
minion, when justice was administered in French,
interpreters were constantly in attendance at every
tribunal to make the businees intelligible to the par-
ties and to the witnesses. Flemish and Dutch are,
however, so closely allied, that there is not the least
difficulty for any one who is familiar with one of
those dialects to understand the other. The re-
maining province of South Brabant, of which Brus-
sels is the capital, is almost equally divided between
tkeWalloonorFrench, and the Flemish or Dutch. This
being the true state of the case with respect to lan-
guage, it may be asked whether there is any greater in-
compatibility between the north and the south than
between the southern provinces themselves ? And
if it has never been deemed expedient to separate
the Walloon from the Flemish, why should it be
impossible to keep both the Walloon and the
Flemish united with the Dutch ? As,however, so
much has been said about the irritation produced by
the King's measures relative to the language, and
party spirit has really made them the theme Of in-
cessant reproach and invective, we cannot suffer this
opportunity to pass without explaining, that those
measures intended to favour the Dutch and Flemish,
never affected the four Walloon provinces, as we
have already stated, and that they never could ap-
pear objectionable to any of the other provinces or
towns, except Brussels, which, by an oversight,
most unfortunate as it has turned out, was included
in the Flemish portion of the kingdom, the use of
the French being prohibited in its courts of law, its
civil administration, and its public schools. Hence
the outcry raised by so many lawyers, journalists,
literary and other influential members of the com-
munity (not forgetting the Frenchified fashionables),
all of whom it would have been easy to neutralize
by leaving the question, as far as Brussels was con-
cerned, undecided. Government would then have
spared itself the trouble of numerous and just com-
plaints, and, finally, that of retracing its steps. As
this latter has been done in the first months of the
present year, the odious matter has been finally set
at rest, nor has it been lately mentioned by any of
the Commissioners who were sent to make the King
acquainted with the grievances of the Belgic nation.
The use of more than one language in the Assembly
of the States-General is, undoubtedly, inconvenient,
though is a less degree than it bus been represented.
A few sturdy Hollanders certainly refuse to speak
French, but all are known to understand it. Con-
sequently, the discussion in the Chambers, as well
as in the Sections or Committees, is generally car-
ried on in French. The King's opening speech is,
indeed, in Dutch, but a French translation is always
distributed among the members the moment after it
has been delivered. The messages, the minutes of
Bills, and other formal acts, are printed in the two
languages. The President, in opening the business
of the day, pronounces a few sentences in Dutch, in
order to keep up the honour of the official language,
but the Ministers, with scarcely an exception, have
expressed themselves in French, not only out of
courtesy to the 'Walloon members, who understand
neither Dutch nor Flemish, but also because it is
their obvious interest to persuade and convince the
greatest number possible of the Deputies. The
number of those Deputies, as divided into north
and south, has been incorrectly stated in the statis-
tical accounts which have lately appeared in the
English Papers. The numbers are not 62 and
respectively, but exactly equal for each of the grand
divisions of the kingdom—viz., 55. The com-
plaints that these 55 Belgians are oppressed by
their equinumeral colleagues of the north—that the
Dutch are subservient to the Court—that the Go-
vernment has an undue ascendancy, and other such
grievances, can be refuted by the fact, that in the
course of a few years we have three or four times
witnessed the rejection of the Budget, notwithstand-
standing the strenuous efforts of the Ministry. In
feet, there is no exclusive lollantler who cannot
produce, against any exaggerating Walloon, a list
of cases where he has been defeated in the attempts
of promoting his provincial interests. The King's
impartiality and wisdom had, in a great measure,
overcome these reciprocal prejudices, at the moment
when the occurrences at Paris created a new era
for the whole of Europe.—Times.

The intelligence front the Netherlands is contra-
dictory. There has been much hard fighting at
Brussels; and the accounts generally agree in re-
presenting Prince Frederick as in possession of the
heights which command the city. Whether or not,
however, on Friday he succeeded in gaining posses-
sion of the whole city, is not so clear, though a
statement to that effect has been made. The ac-
swum, from the Preside Papers of Brussels having
fallen on the 22d, are now known to be unfounded.
If it have fallen, this must have been on Friday.—
But the whole affair is involved in much doubt. Of
one thing, however, there can be no doubt, and
that is, that if the King of the Netherlands have
pined possession of Brussels, after days of hard
lighting and much slaughter, his sovereignty is not
worth many years', perhaps many months , put.
sham The middle classes, though naturally anxious
to preserve their property, and anxious to put a
stop to a state of things from which they must be
great sufferers, share nevertheless the hatred of the
Dwell Government common throughout Belgium.
The Belgian Members of the States-General always
voted against the Dutch, and the opposition to
the Government, which has at last displeyed itself
in open resistance, was encouraged by the in.
fluential classes. It is contrary, therefore, to every
principle of our nature to suppose that a people
like the Belgians, known to be brave and reso-
lute, and who have shown on numberless occasions
that they are obstinate combatants, will be rendered
submissive by the forcible means to which recourse
has been had against them. We may rest assured
that all will not he over with the occupation of Brute.
eels, even followed by the occupation of the other
towns. The foundations have been laid for jealousies
and hatreds which must end, and that ere long, in
the overthrow of the existing Government. Some
of our eotemporeries have supposed that the chances
against the ultimata success of the Belgians are
greatly increased by their having not merely to
struggle with the lExecutive, but with the Executive
supported by the whole of the Dutch. We doubt,
however, whether this circumstance is not really in
their favour. The Belgians cannot divest themselves
of the consciousness that they ure both numerous
and more warlike than the Dutch, and their hatred
to the Government is fomented by their viewing the
King as the instrument for aiding their neighbours
to retain them in a galling subjection. The King, on
the other bend, depending for support on the Dutch
alone, dared riot be just towards the Belgians for fear
of thereby losing his hold of the former. The in.
stinct of self-preservation will, in many eases, lead a
Government, which cannot count on foreign support,
to aviid all measures which tend to irritate and
provoke the people. But this check is removed
when a Government can emint un any other re-
sources for coercing a people than those furnished
by the people themselves. It hag always been
found in India, that the moment a native Govern-
ment earns under the proteietioee of the East India
Company, it was under a sort of inevitable neces-
sity of hurrying on to its ruin, aced became infinitely
worse then the Governments that could not count
on our assistance. The Orangemen of Ireland
could
not resist the temptation of oppressing the
Catholics, because they could countthee English
nation; but if Ireland had I on
independent
Government, the instinct of ggifg-pli au
have preserved the Orangem:4 rnurvu""
wuld
ex-
cesses that could only lead to ttgheroigr)futiglftairitgliautge ttruo.tion. in like manner the ther. Netherlands
may be said to be ruined bygghis
Dutch, It is generally supposed in lair' on
sirs:
that the insurrection in the Nethertundsligg` "Jura
the fruits of the late French I.l.uvolutiomis one
re-;

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