The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-04 00:00:00

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Covers Avthentilne.

A great deal has been said lately of a joint
proposition by this country and France to the
King of HOLLAND ; and the employes of the
Foreign-office, as if the experience of the obsti-
nacy of the Dutch Monarch were entirely lost
upon them, profess to be sanguine of a favour-
able result to the proposition. We have made
inquiries, however, from which we venture to
predict that the King of HOLLAND will meet it
with a decided negative. Indeed, whilst he is
flattered by the Tories, and upheld with hopes of
success through the intrigues of Russia, it is not
probable that he will listen to any proposal of
accommodation. The moment when his pride
is smarting under the wound which it has re-
ceived in the fall of the Citadel of Antwerp,
and when Russia is openly manifesting a dispo-
sition to assist him, is not the time for friendly
negotiation. Should Pozzo DI BORG° fail in
his intrigue here, the King of HOLLAND may
become more tractable, but so long as the most
distant hope remains of detaching England from
that alliance with France which is become essen-
tial to the welfare of free principles in every part
of Europe, will the King of HOLLAND remain
obstinate to the appeals of justice and reason.
Nothing short of the re-possession of Belgium
will satisfy him. His professions of a willing-
ness to treat with the Belgians on terms con-
sistent with his own honour and dignity, and
the welfare of his subjects, are mere diplomatic
delusions.

As to the proposition which has just been
submitted to him, and to which an answer is
expected on Sunday or Monday next, we can
state that it is of a general nature, and does not
name the precise terms on which an accommo-
dation might be effected. It merely proposes
some concessions, of no great moment, as prepa-

ratory to negotiation.
Since writing the above we have been in-
formed that the following prospect of a conven-
tion between Great Britain and France, which
has been surreptitiously obtained and commu-
nicated to an Evening Paper, is substantially
correct. It does not, however, affect our general

reasoning :
HOLLAND AND BELGIUM.
(From the Albion.)
The new project of a convention, proposed to Holland
by Lord Palmerston and Prince Talleyrand, is dated
December 30, and contains nine articles, of which the fol.
lowing are brief abstracts :
" 1. The forts of Lillo and Liefkenshoek to be surren-
dered to the Belgian troops within 10 days after ratification.
"2. The navigation of the Meuse to be subjected to
the same regulatioes as those recently established for the
Rhine.
"3. The navigation of the Scheldt to be entirely free
till the conclusion of a final treaty between Belgium and
Holland.
"4. The transit of Belgian merchandize to Germany to
be free, with the exception of moderate tolls for support
of roads, &c.
" 5. Impunity for all political offences in Venloo and
Luxemburg.
" G. Evacuation of Venloo and the Dutch portion of
Luxemburg by the Belgian troops.
" 7. Reduction of Dutch army to peace establishment.
" 8. Reduction of Belgian army to peace establishment.
" 9. Restitution to legal owners of Dutch property
confiscated by English and French Governments."

General CHAssE's official account of the siege
of Antwerp, which our readers will find in ano-
ther part of The Sun, is as piquant a bit of
droll simplicity as we ever remember to have
read. It is as full of touches of character as
a Scotch novel. While reading it, we recall
in every sentence the recollection of " My Uncle
Toby," and his naive story of the siege of
Namur. Of the two sieges, however, we give
CHASSE'S the preference. His account is less
circumlocutory, and equally unsophisticated.
Imagine the rough, simple-minded veteran
grumbling at the incessant activity of the French,
as a thing wholly at variance with all civilized
notions of warfare ! "In vain," quoth he, " will
the annals of history be searched to discover the
example of a bombardment equal in brutality to
that which the enemy is directing against the
citadel. Never among a civilized people did
anything similar occur. The shower of bombs
and grenades is beyond what any one could
imagine." Oh, these brutal, blundering French !
What business have they to keep peppering
away with bombs and grenades in such a vulgar,
uncivilized hurry ? Why can't they take their
time, and do the thing genteelly ? Further on
old CHASSE says, " I find it impossible to af-
ford a safe asylum to my unfortunate men, all
places tottering under the furious fire of the
enemy, who, by a brutal abuse of his gigantic
means to destroy the citadel, wishes to attain an
object, which otherwise would have cost him too
much time, labour , and blood." This is exquisite.
As a rich trait of character, it may vie even with the
story of the old Austrian General, who, when
asked his opinion of NAPOLEON, replied, " He
is a mere lad, a raw lad, who knows nothing of
war, Sir, nothing at all. Why, Sir, would you
believe it ? He does nothing after the good old
fashion, but is here, there, and every where, and
always popping on us at the moment we least
expect him." So with CHASSE. The French
will not fight after the old fashion. They will
insist on doing things in such a hurry. On every
legitimate principle the siege of Antwerp had
a right to cost " much time, labour, and
blood ;" but the rascally, revolutionary French
have wasted no blood to signify, and
scarcely any time--a grievous insult to the
dignity of Antwerp and its Commander,
who had calculated, no doubt, on a lively three
months of it. General CHASSE proceeds to
state, that the French employed " a new inven-
tion called pai xhans," the force of which nothing
could resist. He complains of this in terms
that might melt a mile-stone, as a most un-
warrantable innovation on all the established
usages of war. He laments also that the French,
by their incessant fire, left the Dutch no room
to move about in—which we should scarcely
suppose the latter would look on as a grievance,
insomuch as they are notorious enemies to undue
locomotion. But the crowning trait is the
following—" I cannot conceal from your
Excellency that it has been a very se-
rious evil that those places which were
bomb-proof could not resist the fury of the
enemy's fire." What exquisite innocence and