The Sun.
London, England, 1832-12-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

In the outset of the French invasion of Bel-
gium, we stated that the reduction of the citadel
of Antwerp would not tend, in any degree, to
the satisfactory solution of the Belgico-Dutch
question. 'We anticipated nothing from that
outrageous proceeding on the part of professed
mediators than wanton and useless carnage.
Copiously, indeed, has blood flowed under the
malign auspices of the " mediators ;" and then
comes the question cui Bono For whose
benefit has the direful tragedy of Antwerp been
performed ? We say unhesitatingly, as we did
before, that the scenes of suffering and blood-
shed which followed the Palmerston protocols,
worked no advantage to any party whatever but
the Doctrinnaire Government of Louis Philip.
What has the Anglo-Gallic Convention done
for Belgium ? It has, by bringing a foreign
fcrce into the country to attack the Dutch, over-
thrown even the semblance of Belgic indepen-
dence. No nation can he considered inde-
pendent, that is not allowed to fight its own
battles, or even assist in fighting them. The
brave Belgians," who had been training to
arms so long to redeem their former disgraces,
were pushed aside with as much facility by the
French as they had been beaten by the Dutch.
We scarcely know whether their friends or their
enemies have exhibited those " heroic" revolu-
tionists in the more ridiculous light to Europe.
One thing is quite certain, that the independence
of Belgium must be regarded hereafter as a
farce. What has the Anglo-Gallic Convention
done for Leopold ? It has placed him in a po-
sition the most unenviable in which it is possible
for a crowned head to be placed, " scorned by
his foes, and useless to his friends." It broke
up his Ministry, by causing them to lose the
respect and confidence of the representatives
of the people. It -revealed him to all the
world, in the character of a crowned pup-
pet, to the political jugglers of the Tuile-
ries, who danced him about from Brussels to
Antwerp, and from Antwerp to Brussels—the
most harmless part of that dramatic spectacle
which was then exhibited on the plains of Bel-
gium, under the immediate management of a
Marshal of France. What has the Anglo-Gallic
Convention done for England ? It has alie-
nated, by wanton measures of hostility, one of
her most ancient Allies and best customers. It
has embarrassed British commerce, in one of the
most profitable of its remaining connections,
perhaps beyond redemption. It has placed the
once great and magnanimous England in a po-
sition the least favourable for her glory, as well
as her interests. Henceforth it will be said that
she deserted the Poles, because their oppressor
was powerful ; and bullied the Dutch, because
they were thought incapable of resistance. What
has the Anglo-Gallic Convention done for those
great interests that are involved in the peace of
Europe ? It has endangered them more than
ever. While the great Powers of Europe keep
up their extensive war establishments, there can
be none of that security or confidence in Europe
which genuine peace inspires. The menacing
attitudes of armed Powers, even while they pro-
fess pacific intentions, create the anxiety and
alarm which belong to suspended war. While
the thunder-cloud impends no one can tell when
or where the bolt may strike. Already Prussia j
declares her intention of augmenting her already
immense army. A closer bond of union is drawn
between that State and the other absolute Powers
of R ussia. and Austria. As a reason for that close
confederacy, Prussia says that it is " a natural
consequence of the vacillating system of the Ca-
binets of London and Paris, which, as caprice,
or a spirit of selfishness, is subject to a policy
that does not command circumstances, but is j
subordinate to them, threatens to become the
sport of chance." Prussia also declares, through
the organ of the Holy Alliance—the Allgemeine
Zeitung--that the three Powers withdrew from
the Conference when England and France had
recourse to warlike measures, because they had
joined in the negotiations "for the purpose of
finding means to preserve peace, and not to
kindle the flames of war—that they were bound
to prove to friendly Powers how little sympathy
they felt for conduct which places the peace of
Europe on the point of the sword." What-
ever may be said of the reasoning of Prussia
in this matter, the fact is clear, that, if the
peace of Europe was insecure before the Anglo-
Gallic Convention, that measure, into which out
peace-professing Ministers were ensnared by the
wily Talleyrand, has made that peace more in-
secure than ever by the fresh suspicions and
jealousies to which it has given birth, and '
which promise to Europe a long continuance of
that military dominion with which the security
and confidence of peace can ever co-exist.
The Doctrinnaire Government of Louis
Philip is, then, the only party that derives any
benefit from the Anglo-Gallic Convention. The
coup (Pee/at of an armed irruption into Belgium,
and the promise of a harvest of military glory,
obtained for that delinquent Ministry sufficient
popular favour, among a vain and fickle people,
to save them from an impeachment, and to em-
bolden them even to attempt a new crime against
liberty, by proposing a project of law to place
the liberties of every individual in France at the
arbitarry discretion of a Minister of the Crown,
and his life, whenever the Minister pleases, at
the disposal of military tribunals. The publica-
tion of the correspondence between Baron de
Nyevelt and Earl Grey proves that Holland had
conceded the question of the freedom of the
Scheldt, and the only question was the amount
of tonnage—whether it was to be one florin or
three, or something between both. The con-
duct of Lord Grey, in repudiating with cold
and contemptuous indifference the concilia-
tory propositions of the Dutch Minister,
would be inexplicable on any other sup-
position but that our Ministers were held
in a state of fascinated thraldom by the
crafty and ambitious genius of the French
Cabinet. Though the French troops, instead of

gathering glory before the citadel,p have greatly
damaged their military reputation, the mere adop •
tion of a measure which might possibly lead to
extending the French boundaries to the Rhine
has secured the principal object which Louis
Philip and his Ministers had in view. Better
would it have been for Belgium itself, and for
Leopold also, if Lords Grey and Palmerston
had strictly adhered to their own treaty of the
24 Articles,.according to which it was provided
that the citadel was to be evacuated fifteen days
after the signing of a treaty of peace between
Holland and Belgium. The whole upshot of
the matter now is, that Belgium must become a
province either of France or Holland ;—her
capacity for independence is disproved.—Morn-
lag Herald.'
The subject uppermost with every paper, whe-
ther Whig, Tory, Radical, or Independent (if
we may describe that small portion of the Press,
Lnd large one of the community, who stand