The Sun.
London, England, 1832-12-07 00:00:00

rical order cannot be touched by the State. There
are others who admit that a Reform in the Church
is necessary, and that the State may dispose of the
pi'o'prertY' held by7the—Cfitireh' cO`nteifcr that"
the Church ought nevertheless to be left in the full
enjoyment of all that it at present holds, and that
the Reform should be confined to a better distribu-

Lion. Others again see no difference between the
revenues of the Church and any part of the reve-
nues of the State, and conceive that the State
is at full liberty to appropriate as much or
as little to the ministers of religion from the
fund hitherto enjoyed by them, as they are to appro-
priate much or little to the army or navy. All
these shades of opinion will, of course, find their
way into Parliament. The new name of destruc-
tion has been invented, we presume, for those who
think that the edifice of corruption should not be at-
tacked in earnest, but only coated over. We should
be sorry to. think that Ministers entertain the idea
that the country will be satisfied with less than the
most unsparing retrenchment. We think much
better of them than to throw out insinuations cal-
ciliated to injure them unnecessarily with the na•
tion. They have, indeed, pledged themselves to
the introduction of thorough Reforms in many de-
partments of Church and State. If Ministers wish
to be able to effect good, they must wish to be
supported by determined Reformers. Why is it
that hitherto all Administrations have justified them-
selves for not proposing such measures as they them-
selves knew to be demanded for the public good ?
Because patronage was essential to the carrying on
of a boroughmonger Government. A determined
Reform Parliament will not merely protect Minis-
ters in unsparing retrenchments---7it will compel
them to make them. Let us hear no more, then,
of charges of ingratitude towards Ministers. Mi-
nisters are libelled if we suppose them to have been
actuated by any other view than that of producing the
greatest benefit to the nation ; and if they govern in
accordance with that view, the nation will never be
deficient in gratitude towards them. The nation
would be ungrateful towards Ministers, were it to
libel them, by attributing to them any designs in-
compatible with the purest and most honourable in-
tentions. The throwing out hints that it would be
gratifying to Ministers that Conservatives—that is,
partisans of the system of governing by corruption
—should find their way in considerable numbers
into Parliament. We will not entertain one thought
of Ministers derogatory to their devotion to the
cause of the nation, till we have seen something to
justify it. We will not suppose them so stupid as
to count on the unwillingness of the people to make
the most of the Reform Bill, as a debt of gratitude
to them, as if it would not be gratifying to them to
see the people reap all the advantages from Reform
which it can possibly be made to produce.—Morn-
ing Chronicle.

Can anybody now, not absolutely insane—can
any reasonable humane man, defend or excuse the
conduct of the King of Holland ? The calamities
and miseries which his obstinate and desperate re-
sistance to an European award have created, are re-
corded in the alarm of all the friends of tranquillity in
Europe—in the agonizing terrors of the inhabitants
of a devoted city, fleeing from their homes—in the
roads round Antwerp covered with fugitives—in the
surrounding villages which have become the asylum
of distress and want—in the hospitals provided for
the wounded and the dying—and in the casualties
and losses which the most efficient arts of dstruc-
tion are entailing on the more active parties in the
struggle. Yet what does his Majesty of Holland
pretend to ask or hope to gain by the infliction of
so much suffering, and the shedding of so much
blood ? What admitted interest can he promote—
what reasonable right can he secure—what excusa-
ble ambition can he gratify ? Does he aver that
the citadel, or that any portion of the territory of
Antwerp belongs to him ? No! He had sturen-
tiered it by an armistice in 1830, and he has agreed
to its ancient and just incorporation with Belgium in
every subsequent despatch—in every negotiation—
in every project of a convention or treaty where its
political rights and ownership have been in question.
Does he hope to withstand, behind the ramparts of
the infamous Duke of Alba, the power of France,
enforcing the enlightened decision of Europe ? No;
we can scarcely believe that such a frantic idea
could diversify the cold calculations of the Royal
Dutch speculator. Does he hope to exhibit to the
world plausible though ineffectual proofs of the in-
justice of the late treaty, and to engage the syin-
pathies of mankind against France and England, as
the implacable and ungenerous enemies of his house
and people for compelling its execution ? Even
here idiocy alone could entertain such hopes. Eng-
land, as represented in the Conference, has always
been his friend,—France has never been his enemy,
—and all the great Powers of Europe, whose Courts
are connected with his own by family ties, have
agreed to all the conditions which the convention
of the two former on the 22d of October
last was framed to enforce. None of these hy-
potheses will, therefore, account for the extraor-
dinary :fact that this Dutch Monarch, without
pretending to a permanent conquest, should resist
the surrender of a fortress not his own,—that he
should go to war with the two most powerful na-
tions of Europe to preserve for a few days or a few
weeks longer the hopeless usurpation,—or that he
should expect direct support from the absolute
Powers of the continent in an act of injustice
which they have fur two years condemned. As
this latter point has sometimes been contested, we
may be allowed to support our statement by a re-
ference to a very few facts. In doing so we only
assume that there is some integrity "extant" among
mankind,—that Courts and Sovereigns, in their fo-
reign negotiations and relations, are not always
false and perjured,—that Plenipotentiaries are not
always (as in the epigram of Wotton) employed to
lie for their masters,—and that when, in the course
of two years' conference, the five great Govern-
ments of Europe concur in certain stipulations,
which none of them has any direct, immediate, ap-
parent, or even conceivable interest in adopting for
the purpose of deception, they really meant what
they agree to and subscribe. With this small claim
on the credulity of th. reader, we insist that Russia,
Prussia, and Austria were and are as anxious for
the settlement of the Belgic question, on the basis
of the treaty of November 15, 1831,as France and,
England,—that they are equally opposed to the
unjust pretensions of Holland,—and that his Dutch
Majesty has received from them no countenance in
his present ctuel and iniquitous resistance. Their
Plenipotentiaries agreed to the treaty of the 18 ar-
ticles, en which Prince Leopold proceeded to Bel-
gium. After the invasion of Belgium by the Dutch,
in the following month, these same Plenipotentiaries
agreed to the treaty of the 24 articles. Special
missions were sent to the Hague by the Emperor of
Russia, by the Emperor of Austria, and by his Prus-
sian Majesty to urge on the King of Holland, the
refractory party, the necessity of adopting an ar-
rangement to which the Belgians had agreed. The
ratifications of the three Courts were even delayed
for months, that the King of Holland might release
them from their delicacy by subscribing first to terms
%%Web, at any rate, they resolved to ratify. They
did, in fact, ratify, three quarters of a year ago, and
though, from their near connection with the King
of Holland, they refused to become themselves
parties to a compulsory execution of the treaty,
they have nee& hesitated to maintain its
justice, expediency, and necessity. Can we
be wrong, therefore, in enforcing, er cin h's
Dutch Majesty entertain any hopes of assistance
from his dissathiled friends in resisting such a com-
bined judgment ? On what, then, we ask again,
can he rely in maintaining his position in the citadel
of Antwerp ? and what can he hope to acquire
from all the blood which he may cause to be shed ?
He would immediately gain more than the Belgians
by the peaceful surrender of the place which belongs
to them, while he would retain the friendship• of
his allies, and secure the gratitude of all the lovers
of peace. The half of the province of Limburg,
and more than the half of the Grand Duchy of
Luxemburg, of which he does not now possees many