The Sun.
London, England, 1831-08-11 00:00:00

future difficulty, and suggested to them the neces-
sity of a remedy. To this suggestion, of the can-
dour and propriety of which they have become at
last painfully convinced, they either turned an inat-
tentive ear, or received it with that contemptuous
self-sufficiency which has been throughout this whole
affair in the d;rect proportion of their incapacity.
The country has now, from the avowal of the Mi-
nisters themselves, a confession that even after so
many months of consideration and so many weeks
of debate they had not read the first clauses of the
Bill, or, if they have read them, were entirely igno-
rant of their meaning ; and it will be more and
more convinced not only of the propriety but of the
absolute necessity of that vigilant and searching at-
tention which the Opposition have given to this
Bill, both in its unconstitutional principles and in
its illegal and blundering details.—Morning Post.

In so far as the motion of Lord Londonderry last
Tuesday evening went to extort from Ministers
premature disclosure of the stage at which the nego-
tiations of the European Governments had arrived
with regard to the dispute between Holland and
Belgium, and its consequences, it is impossible to
differ from Lord Grey as to the mischief which
might have been produced by yielding to the Noble
Marquis's proposal. Points of high honour and
inappreciable interest are most calmly and securely
settled when the negceiators are under circumstances
not liable to pressure from without. But beyond the
refusal of the papers moved for, we feel not the same
inclination to pledge ourselves on either side of the
questions agitated by the Lords on Tuesday. It is
clear that the eighteen preliminaries of peace trans-
mitted to the Government of Holland by the Congress
were considerably less favourable to that country
than the terms of the protocols which she had pre-
viously accepted, when tendered to her by the Mi-
nisters of the same Congress, and by them declared
to be final. The truth, in the opinion of many people,
is, that Holland has not had full justice awarded to

her throughout some of these transactions,—that
there has been an increased indulgence shown to
Belgium, and a progressive coolness towards Hol-
land, owing to an intractable and pertinacious pre-
ference, perhaps not unnaturally given, by the
King to Dutch interests over those of Europe.—
The King of Holland, it appears by Tuesday's de-
bate, has been charged with something not far short
of perfidy, for attacking Belgium without notice of
any such design. But the Duke of Wellington affirmed
that his Dutch Majesty had apprised the Conference
time enough for such an interposition as might
have stopped the march of the French troops,
that he did intend to support his negociations by
arms. This was denied in the House, and on high
authority; it being alleged that none of those who
had access to the Dutch King's letter could agree in
giving it such an interpretation. We have the terms
of the despatch before us, and those of our readers
who can ferret out mysteries where we for our part
do not see any, are now at liberty to judge for
themselves :—" And besides, the King is deter-
mined to support his negotiations by military means.
In fact, his Majesty, after nine months of fruitless
negotiations, which have been without the
slightest advantage to Holland, and during which
he has never ceased to give proofs of his sin-
cere desire to terminate amicably his dispute with
Belgium, has judged that unless he were to sacrifice
the most vital interests of Holland, without the
maintenance of which indeed she would be unable
to exist, he must renounce all hope of obtaining

from the Belgians reasonable terms of separation,
except through coercive measures, to which it was
likewise the more indispensable for his Majesty to
have recourse, because the existing crisis could not
be prolonged without at once endangering our
public spirit, our finances, our army, and our po-
litical existence. His Majesty, on the other
hand, has reason to believe, that the appearance
of his troops in Belgium will have a tendency
to restore the balance of the negotiations over-
turned by those means which the insurrection
has succes,fully employed, whilst Holland re-

. _
mained in a purely defensive attitude. .Thence,
unquestionably, the King's resolution to throw his
army into the scale simultaneously with the negotia-
tions carrying on in London, for the sake of obtain-
ing equitable terms of separation,—an object too
precisely pointed out, and too frankly avowed, to
give pretence for the slightest doubt,—ought not to
inspire uneasiness." Now, from the above and other
passages of this remarkable letter, we are compelled
to say, that the King of Holland cannot with any
fairness be accused of an intention to disguise from
the Powers in conference the nature of his hostile

policy towards Belgium. He said that he had re-
solved on employing arms simultaneously with ne-
gotiations, at the very time when he was sending
M. de Nyevelt to this country, who, in fact,
was the bearer of this very letter. On the point,
therefore, of alleged bad faith, he appears to Us to
be altogether blameless. Whether France is so
entirely blameless for the amount of force which
she has put in motion for the frontier, and for the
" wedding" haste with which she has despatched it,
we have already hinted the possibility of some dif-
ference of opinion among the conferring Powers.
It is one thing for five Cabinets to agree after ge-
neral consultation as to certain arrangements be-
tween the Dutch and Belgic States, to be submitted
to each for its acceptance, and having the peace of
Europe for their object, and, undoubtedly, a far dif-
ferent thing for one of the said Cabinets, with-
out any consultation at all, to march, on its own
authority, an army of fifty thousand men by
way of enforcing at the point of the sword
its own construction of the obligation imposed
upon the King of Holland. It is plain that
France, it is manifest that Russia, have, in their re-
spective cases of Belgium and Poland, experienced
more respect from contemporary Powers than has
been exhibited towards the Poles, the King of
Holland, or the Belgians themselves. The King
of Holland has, beyond dispute, been rash and
obstinate. It can only be said for him that he did
not seek the crown of Belgium. It was forced upon
him in 1814 by those who now punish his resent-
ment at the loss of that unnatural dominion. But
rash, obstinate, or impracticable though ha be, he
does not, morally speaking, deserve less deference
than a Russian despot, or a war faction at Paris.
The misery of all this in the eye:of an Englishman
is, that it tends to complicate the situation of Great
Britain. She ought to save Holland, if neces-
sary—she ought to save the Poles. But if
she takes part against military fanaticism in the west
of Europe, should such a spirit be displayed, what
obstacles may not be thrown in the way of her ulti-
mate resistance to military tyranny in the north ?
Times.

We have had the honour to receive a holo-
graph letter from Sir WALTER SCOTT, contradicting the
absurd statement which has been going the round of the
papers, and which alleged that our illustrious countryman
had interfered in behalf of the exiled family of France, in
such a manner as to have called forth the indignant feeling
of M. CIIATEAUBRIAND. It is only necessary for us to
state that we copied the paragraph from a French paper ;
and, though we never doubted for one moment that the
statement was wholly false, we refrained from expressing
ourselves to that effect, because we did not think that we
were entitled to give an opinion on the subject. The re•
putation of Sir• WALTER SCOTT is the most precious jewel
in the rich mine of our country's fame ; and we rejoice,
not from any political motives certainly, that the report in
question has received from him that unqualified contradic-
tion which it challenged.—Edinburgh Wvening Post.

AGRIPULTURAI, OUTRAGES.—Extract of
a letter from the Isle of Tbanct :—" Our troubles are, I
fear, beginning again. On Friday night Mr.
and Mr. had nine acres of wheat unbound and scat-
tered abroad, because it was not reaped. My bailiff and
I were on horseback nearly all last night, to guard my
mown wheat. A blighted crop and a disturbed district
are not cheering winter prospects. The destruction of ma-
chinery was bad enough, but this seems a still more dan-
gerous and mischievous power in the hands of a lawless
rabble, and nothing but the strong arm of the law, vigo-
rously used, can frustrate this diabolical destruction and
waste of property. Similar scenes have occurred in the
neighbourhood of Dover, in consequence of the wheat
having been mowed—not reaped,"