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

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOUR*(!iALS

In another column, under the head of " Brussels
Papers," will be found all the intelligence worth
notice which has come to our hands respeeting the
fate of the Brussels insurrection. In some of our
evening contemporaries we find additions to the
newa, which seem more then apocryphal. They
.re professedly gleaned from travellers, and bear all
the marks of being delivered uuder the proverbial
privilege of that veracious class of historians. Thus
we are informed that 9,000 of the Royal troops were
killed in attempting an entry, though assuredly
there were not 9,000 .present,—that the walls of
the capital were battered with artillery, though it is
well known that Brussels is not a walled town,—
and that the firing at the gate of Lacken destroyed
the Hotel de Ville, though the said beautiful struc-
ture is at the distance of a mile and a half from the
gate mentioned, and has the greatest part of the
city interposed between them. The only facts, in
the statement of which both private letters and
public papers,—both the journals of Flanders end
those of Paris agree, are, that in the afternoon of
the 21st the troops (" Dutch troops," as the Cou-
rier des Pay, Bat always affects to call the Royal
forces) advanced to within a short distance of Brus-
sels, and being only is small detachment, were at-
tacked by a party of the Brussels people, supported
by the volunteers frog Liege. Several persons
were killed on both sides to this Skirmish, but
neither party could boast of a victory. The return
of thotigskirraishersao the town, together with the
news that the,great.body of the national army was
advancing.froin Antwerp, set the agitators in Brus-
sels to examine their defences, to increase their
barricades, and to prepare a rehearsal of the Paris
revolution by carrying atones to the higher
stories of their houses to hurl on the troops.
A little after midnight they likewise
amused themselves by. ; sounding the tocsin,.
and by beating to arms. On - Thursday
morning Prince Frederick, with his army,-advanctid
to the gates, and after such:resistatwe at a brave but
undisciplined population, with such hastily eon.-
structed defences as they had at their disposal, could
oppose to him, catered the tows. Resistance dal
not here cease. It is affirmed that some sanguinary
fighting took place am Friday -Morning.; but that, in
the afternoon of that day the Prince Was completely
master of the place. As no paper was published in.
Brussels from the 23d to the 25tb, and as the gates
were barricaded so as to prevent 1 the departure of.
coaches or couriers, we have .no particulars. of the
two latter days from the town itself. Nothing,
therefore, is known with certainty but the result,
and of that we have as yet no official communicas
lion. If we can trust the French accounts, the ,pti-
pulace or workmen out of employ must have been
the chief actors in those sanguinary conflicts. Great
disunion existed in the ranks, and paralysed the
councils of the more respectable insurgents. The
Committee of Public Safety seemed to have eon.
suited its own safety by flying to the French fron-
tier; the Regency had ceased to act from Monday
the 20th instant, and the Provisional Government
existed only on paper; time head of it, Al. ire Pot-
ter, being probably still in Paris. The poor mit.
guided citizens were thus left to fight for the re-
dress of imaginary wrongs under leaders as ignorant
of real grievances at themselves. Such, we hope
mind trust, is the end of a revolt which originated in
a mob, and has terminated in a masaaere,—which
was as mad in its conception ask was contemptible
in its means of execution; and which would only
excite our ridicule, if our feeling of the ridiculous
were not overpowered by our horror at the, needless
wheddingof blood—by our sympathy for the innocent
sufferers, and our pity for those whom the law may
claim as its victims after thesword has been sheathed.
1-lad the armed citizens of Brussels been satisfied
with their first success against the Government
—had they taken the concessions of the King
as the earnest of future indulgence, and returned
to order with the undiminished reputation of their .
power,—they would have saved all the calamities
which they have now brought on the nation, and
have been considered both 'at home and abroad as
the invincible champions of liberty. They had ire.
deed obtained a signal victory,—theyhed treated on
almost independent terms with - their, Soveteigne—
they, had barred their gates against his troop., with..
out incurring the penalties of treason, and had seen
the white plume of his royal son waving their
ranks behind the anti-national banners which they
assumed in despite of-his command. Had they' de-
misted, therefore, upon obteining their first demands,
they would for ever have secured respect for their
rights and privileges. By demanding a separation
of time two divisions of the kingdom,' and by -thus
challenging the Government to a trial of military
strength on so doubtful and dangerous a ground,
they have encountered defeat, and ruined cue of
time firmest causes that ever existed. But, say their
advocates, nothing was gained while the Belgium;
continued united to the .IDiech ; as there was no
possibility of being incorporated, from their incu-
rable differences on so many esaential points. Let •
us examine the chief of these niieteptincies, which
may be reduced to three—i4a difference in,religion, in
commercial interests, and in language. 1. With
regard to religion, we may remark, the porton
tolerance and the equal protection towards all
religious creeds established by the fundamental
law, leave no room for any difficulty on that
head. Or if a separation were to be initiated
upon on acottnt of this difference, we should
like to know what is to be proposed respecting
mime 700,000 or 800,000 Catholics who inhabit time
northern provinces, and whose co-:existence with the
Protestants under the same laws, never prevented
the Dutch republic from being prosperous and quiet.
On the other hand, now that time Catholic religion
has ceased to be the dominant religion in France,
the Belgians would gain nothing on this head by
being incorporated with their southern neighbours.
'Time new French Charter says, that Cethoticiam is
the religion of the majority of the nation. True,
but so it is that of the majority of the Netherlands;
and this eircumstasee, added to the enactMetit already
quoted of the fundamental law, and to the known
character of the Nassau., ought to be a sufficient
guarantee against oppression or unfavourable treat-
ment. A fact, perhaps more conclusive 'than urge-
ments, is, that from the beginning of the present
commotions at Brussels anti Liege—in the state of
excitement to which the discontented have been
worked up, and notwithstanding their own natural
anxiety to swell the list of real or pretended
grievances, not one single voice has been beard
complaining of a want of regard for the rights of
the Catholics, or of slowness in the execution of the
concordat.-2. We may likewise appeal to facts with
respect to the alleged incompatibility of the coin-
merciel interests. The earnest entreaties of the
whole of Flanders and of Antwerp that no sepere-
thin may take place, prove evidently that it is not
more impossible under 'the reign of William of
Nassau, Oman it wits under Philip of liiirgutidy and
Charles V., to blend the interests of egrieulture,
manufactures, and trade, so es- to make them all
thrive and prosper, Indeed, we know by the recent
testim
o.loj.iy otifte paper,tlochewc authorityud o;ra1:10:1
point outran be disputed (Courrier des Pays lips.,
f the
Sept. 8), that the present laws respecting Me
customs may be considered as representing the
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have always allowed, some more explaimation will he
required. Four of the southern provinces, viz.,
iinault, Namur, Liege, and Luxembourg, urn
thoroughly Walloon,--that is to say, Om twit her
Dutch nor Flemish is spoken or understood %00ila
their limits; consequently, nobody ever thotiaht of
`interfering with them in tide respect. Their Jit -