The Sun.
London, England, 1831-06-06 00:00:00

THE MINISTRY.

If we are to place faith in the last protocols we
must soon lose the assistance of MM. Ponsonby and
Belliard, notwithstanding the reception given by the
Congress to the proposition of M. Nothomb, and the
favourable disposition of the Assembly to elect
Prince Leopold.
Should the conference, however, give us patience
for patience, which in our opinion, it is its interest to
do, another month must pass over before we arrive
at the solution which we are sure can be the only
one in the prei.ent state of this country.
The result of yesterday's sitting has made it more
probable than ever that AL Lebeau will not retain
his portefeuilles. It is even believed that his private
conduct has contributed to the downfall of the pre-
sent Ministry. We are less likely to err in pointing
out the future Ministry from among the adversaries
of the Lebeau party, who are not influenced by
presumption either grounded or not upon the French
mania.

" BELGIAN ASSOCIATION-DIRECTING COMMITTEE.
" Belgians !—The late protocols convince us of the last
wishes of the Holy Alliance.
" The Directing Committee again feels that a duty is
required of it to protest against principles which are the
basis of the protocols, and against the consequences which
may be the result.
" It takes this opportunity of contradicting all those
calumnies which have been spread under the notice of the
Association, and which seem to express that the Associa-
tion is forming projects contrary to the order of them.
" The Committee must, therefore, state that the Belgian
Association has no other object than national iadependence,
the integrity of the territory, and the exclusion of the
Nassaus. It moreover declares that it will use all its in•
fluenee to support the Constitution, the powers which it
estiblishes, and the form of the Government which it has
consecrated.

" Brunell, June 1, 1831."
PROTOCOL NO. 23 OF THE CONFERENCES AT THE

FOREIGN OFFICE, HELD MAY 10, 1831.

The Plenipotentiary of France, after having de-
clared the full and entire assent of the Government
of his Majesty the King of the French to the pro-
tocols 21 and !2, of 17th April, calls the attention of
the Plenipotentiaries of Austria, Great Britain, Rus-
sia, and Prussia, on the means of combining the exe-
cution and efficacy of the last of those acts with the
precautions best calculated to dispel even a pretext
for an alarm relative to the preservation of general
peace.
The first question which the Congress has dis-
cussed with this view related to the time which
rriight be granted to the Belgian Government, as
to the definitive propositions contained in protc-
col 22.

Considering that the Commissioners of the Five
Courts at Brussels, arid the Government of his Ma-
jesty the King of the French, are of opinion that a
moderate delay would offer the means of preparing
the minds of the people in Belgium for this im-
portant communication, the Plenipotentiaries have
resolved that Lord Ponsonby should be authorised
to concert with General Belliard the previous steps
which might produce the most effect in this re-
spect, and riot to communicate the 22d Protocol
officially to the Belgic Government till after em-
ploying all their influence to show, generally, the ad-
vantages which the Belgians would reap from the
immediate and frank acceptance of the basis of se-
paration to which his Majesty the King of the
Netherlands has already completely assented.

It has been agreed, on the other hand, that the
official communication of the Protocol in question
should take place, at all events, before the Ist of
June this year, and that on that day the delay
shall expire granted by the Congress at London to
the Belgic Government, to place itself, according to
ita evident interest, in the Fame position as his Ma-
jesty the King of the Netherlands, with respect to
the Five Powers, by the acceptance of the laws of
separation above-mentioned.
The Plenipotentiaries have further determined
that, if on the day fixed the Belgic Government de-
clares by its official answer, that it accedes to the
said basis of separation, then immediate attention
shall be paid to the measures necessary for the speedy
evacuation of the places and territories occupied by
the respective troops, beyond the boundaries assigned
to Belgium and Holland. In this supposition the com-
mon consent of the two parties directly interested, to
which the Five Courts will contribute th&r good
offices, would afterwards decide the exchanges of
territory and iirrangements, the principles of which
were laid down in Article 4 of the basis of separation.
If, on the contrary, the basis should not be accepted
by June 1, by the Belgian Government, the Ple-
nipotentiaries have agreed on this:—
" 1. That according to Protocol No. 2, an absolute
rupture of all relations shall take place between the Five
Powers and the authorities which govern Belgium."
"2. That the Five Powers, far from interposing
farther with the German Confederation than they have
hitherto done to retard the adoption of the measures which
the German Confederation has resolved to take, in the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, could not but acknowledge
themselves the necessity of those measures."
" 3. That the Five Powers, considering the intimate
relations which subsist between them and the German
Confederation, would ask the Diet at Frankfurt to give
them a proof of friendship, by causing to be communi-
cated to the Congress at London confidential information
respecting the intentions of the Confederation relative to
the number and the employment of the troops which it
would cause to enter into the Grand Duchy of Luxem-
bourg.
" The entirely friendly communication in question
would have no object but to enable the Congress at Lon-
don to prevent the uneasiness which these military move-
ments might excite in the adjacent countries.
" 4. That if the Belgians should viol rte the armistice
which they ought to observe with respect to Holland, and
should attack its territory, the Five Powers with which
they would thus enter, ipso facto, into a state of hostility,
by the violation of the engagements which they contracted
the 21st November, 1830, would have to concert the
measures which they should think it their duty to oppose
to such attack, and that the first of these measures would
consist in the most speedy execution of the determinations
indicated in the instructions given to the Commissioners
of the Congress of London on January IS, which instruc-
tions are added to Protocol No. 10.

" 5. Lastly, that if these determinations should be in-
sufficient, the Congress at London acting i❑ the name of
the Five Powers, would agree in common upon the fur-
ther measures which circumstances might require for the
same object.
" The Plenipotentiaries have agreed that the present
Protocol, which completes the disposition of that of April
17, No. 22, shall also serve to complete the instructions
of Lord Ponsonby and be immediately forwarded to him."
PROTOCOL. NO. 24, MAY 21, 1831.

Lord Ponsonby, after receiving the artide No. 23,
having thought it his duty to submit in person to
the Congress the state of affairs in Belgium, has been
heard by the Plenipotentiaries of the Five Courts.
Considering that it results from the information
given by Lord Ponsonby,
" 1. That the assent of the Belgic Congress to the
basis of separation between Belgium and Holland would
be essentially facilitated if the Five Courts consented to
support Belgium in its desire to obtain, on giving an in-
demnity, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
" 2. That the choice of a new Sovereign having be.
come indispensable to arrive at these final arrangements,
the best means of obtaining the proposed object would be
to remove the difficulties which would impede the accept-
ance of the Sovereignty of Belgium by Prince Leopold, in
case, as there is every reason to believe, that Sovereignty
should be offered to him, the Plenipotentiaries bare agreed
to invite Lord Ponsonby to return to Brussels, and to
authorise him to declare—

I.'That the Five Powers can no longer delay to re-
quire of the Belgic Goverment it, tiNnot to the Goil of

O CORREPON DE NTS.
Our intelligent friend " Cato" h S
as totally misconceived the spirit
of our remarks on Reform, in a late notice of Blackwood's
Magazine. We merely deprecated the repetition of such a
subject in the northern luminary, because it had (more than
any other magazine of the day) completely exhausted its stock
of Anti-Reform arguments. We looked at the subject solely
in a literary light, without reference to politics. Surely
" Cato" cannot imagine that The Sun, of all other papers,
would ever think seriuusly of broaching any opinion hostile to
Reform.