The Sun.
London, England, 1832-11-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Among the si,„:11, of the times;otie of the
most edifying is the open arid decided condem-
nation by the Prelates of. the Anglican Church
of Tithes as a provision for the Clergy. In a
pamphlet which we have just received, by
George Henry Law D.D., F.R.S., and F.A.S.,
Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, under the
title of " Reflection upon Tithes, with a Plan
for a general Commutation of the same," .
dedi-
cated " to the Members of our Legislative
Body," his Lordship sets out with the following
declaration :
" That tithes are at present an objectionable and im
politic mode of provision for the Clergy is a fact very ge-
nerally acknowledged and deplored.
"It is due, however, to the cause of truth and justice
to observe, that this circumstance has been in no degree
occasioned by the ministers of our Established Church ;
but, on the contrary, is by none more deeply regretted
than it is by them.
" The present system has been alleged to be unfair, in.
asmuch as the amount of the value of tithes is far greater
now than it was at the time of their first institution.
Since that period, the produce has much increased from
the increased expense and labour of cultivation. Accord-
ing, therefore, to the industry and capital expended on the
soil, is the sum now received by the owner of the tithes—
r mode of payment which, as it has formed the ground of
animadversion, the ministers of our Church would natu-
rally rejoice at seeing altered. -
" Hence the demand of tithe must have very frequently
put a stop to the increasing improvement of the soil. The
public, consequently. as well as the proprietors, are losers
by the system. For, as in the natural body, so also in
the body politic, where one part is affected,. the others suf-
fer also. And the loss sustained by the nation is of no
inconsiderable amount.

" But these effects, prejudicial as they may be, yet still
are trifling and evanescent, when compared with the in-
juries which the tithing system inflicts upon the clergy of
our Church. With pain we must acknowledge, that th,,
Stewards and Ministers of God's Holy Word and Ordi-
nances, have on this account, and liy no fault of their own
incurred a degree of unmerited odium, and been rendered
less efficient throughout the land. Nor is this all. Th.
cause of Christianity itself has suffered, through their di•
diminished estimation and usefulness." _ _

After enumerating the various plans which
have been heretofore proposed as a substitute
for tithes, his Lordship proceeds to develope
his own. " An allotment of land, in lieu of
tithes (says his Lordship), would at once put
an end to all those adverse interests and feelings,
which so frequently occasion a collision between
the clergyman and his flock. Whether the rent
be paid to the clergyman, or to any other pro-
prietor, can make no son of difference to the
parishioners ; except, indeed, that terms some
what more moderate might be expected, and
would probably be obtained in the one case ra-
ther than in the other * * ' In the next
place, land in a great degree regulates the price
of all things else. According to the amount of
land possessed by any one, is the relative place
which he maintains in the ranks of society.
Ages after ages may roll away, whilst the lord of
the soil still continues to retain his pristine
influence and station * * The pa.
rishioners, moreover, would look up with in-
creased respect to a clerical proprietor of the
soil, who lived among and had the means of
letting land and dispensing favours to them.
Thus might industry he rewarded and merit
brought forward." His Lordship meets the ob-
jection to the impossibility of finding land, that,
if it cannot immediately be procured, the amount
of the sale of tithes might be invested, in the
meantime, in the funds ; and that, if a sufficient
quantity of glebe be procured for the convenience
of the parochial incumbent, the main purchase
may, without inconvenience, be situated at some
little distance from the parish. It has hitherto
been the policy of the clergy to underrate the
value of the tithes. His Lordship, however,
candidly admits, " that the real value of the
tithes would, we doubt not, amount to a sum far
exceeding the computation at which they are ge-
nerally estimated." His Lordship's plan for effec-
tuating the commutation is this;—" That a Com-
mittee of our legislative body might, in the firsi
place be chosen, to determine upon the hest mode
for effecting a general commutation of tithes for
land—that a Commission might then be issued,
tinder legislative authority, appointing the most
respectable personages in each division, or dis-
trict, Commissioners for accomplishing the mea-
sure agreed upon. And that Sub-Committees
might afterwards be fixed upon by them to'
each parish, consisting of the patrons and in-
cumbents of the livings, together with the most
respectable occupiers of land, in the same, or in
the neighbourhood. These might appoint a sur-
veyor, by whom the average value of the bene-
fice for the last seven, fourteen, or twenty-one
years should be ascertained. This being accom-
plished, the tithes of each estate might be sold
under the guarantee of Government, upon a
principle similar to that already recognized in
the redemption of the land-tax ; and with the
amount arising from such sales, land might
be purchased, and buildings, %hen necessary,
erected for the benefit and remuneration of each
tithe-owner. " Difficulties, no doubt, would
arise, in fixing the compensation for vicarial
tithes. But there does not appear to be any in-
surmountable obstacle, even in the ascertainment
of them. The average value of them might be
computed for a certain determined period of
time, and then an allotment in land might be
awarded to the minister according to their ac-
tual amount. The payment of these smaller
tithes, and an indefinite demand for the discharge
of some of the sacred offices of our Church, have
most materially tended to excite complaints and
disaffection, and to alienate the hearts of the
people front their pastoral superintendents."
There is one formidable difficulty in the way of
this plan, and that is the suspicion that the
clergy would prove hereafter the same disho-
nest administrators of the property of the Church
thit they have hitherto proved. The Church of
Ireland, for instance, possesses the fee of one
million of the best acres of the country ; but the
system of underlettiog, through the taking of
fines, has left to the Church but a small portion
of the annual value of this property till the leases
fall in. His Lordship allows that this is one of
the most formidable objections which have been
brought forward aeamst the measure. fit
thinks, however, that the evil might be guarded
against by proper regulations. With respect to hi)
impropriations, his Lordship sees no valid ground
why enactments, which may be deemed neces-
sary in the case of the clergy, should not with
equal justice be extended to the case of lay impro-
priators. We like greatly the tone of the Bishop's
pamphlet. It breathes the very spirit of phi-
lanthropy. It is somewhat new to hear it ad-
mitted that the clergy ought not to share in
the increased produce obtained by the applica-
tion of capital to the soil. Till lately the
clergy have stoutly opposed all change of the
existing system. Bishop Horsley, that Leviathan
of the Church of England, in a Sermon
preached at the Anniversary of the Sons of the
Clergy, expressly says, " Nor less fatal to out
order would be any change in the tenure of ec-
clesiastical p perty 4—especially the favourite
project uf au exchange of tithes for an equivalent
in land." Thi was the burden of the song of

every son of the Church till lately. Whether
the plan will prove acceptable to the landowners
we cannot say. It would, no doubt, at once
set cultivation free from the shackles which tithes
impose on it. Though the Bishop's pamphlet
regards merely the conversion of tithes, he ad-
verts to the distribution of the Church property.
" No one (he says) would give a more unhesi•
tating assent, nor a warmer support than him-
self, to any prospective regulations, which, with-
out invading the existing rights of individuals,
might secure a better provision for the poorer
labourers in our vineyard ; and which might thus
obtain for them the increased affections and re-
spect of an attached and grateful people. And
the present state of our Church, it may be ob-
served, would afford peculiar facilities for the
accomplishment of such a measure, according
as ecclesiastical vacancies in sinecures might
happen to occur." The Bishop of Bath and
Wells is, as is well known, a great patron of the
plan of giving allotments of land to cottagers.
He has himself given allotments on his demesne
at Wells to more than two hundred tenants, and
not one of them, he says, has had a summons
or a warrant served 'upon him. Of these,
" two aged persons alone now receive assistance
from parochial pay. In short, the natural ten-
dency of the plan is to raise the poor man in
the scale of being; to make him a better citizen,
a better man, and a better Christian." A friend
about 30 miles from the metropolis, possessed
of about four hundred acres, has long been in
the habit of letting patches of one, two, three,
and four acres, though he was strongly dis-
suaded on the ground that he would only make
poor, but out of the numerous holders of about
one hundred acres he has so distributed, not one
has received a farthing from the rates; and the
only favour shown was to a widow left with
seven children, who brought them up without
any charge on the parish ; and that was to ex-
empt her from rates. One of the great causes of
the demoralization of the peasantry in England,
is, no doubt, their being without property. A
French peasant is never without property. He has
a house and a piece of land, on which he labours
when he is not labouring elsewhere. The Bishop
thinks, that one good effect from making the
clergy proprietors, would be their being thereby
enabled to let out to the poor, for spade cultiva-
tion, a quarter or half an acre, according to the
size of their families. " The advantages accruing
from this measure are great and incalculable.
The manager of his little plot cheerfully and
profitably occupies all the leisure hours of the
poor man, his wife, and family—hours which
might otherwise have been ruinously wasted in
-oine one or other of those beer-houses, with
which, alas, not only the highways, but even the
lanes of our villages, too much everywhere
abound."—Morning Chronicle.
The promulgation, just now, of the King of
Holland's answer to the ultimatum of England
and France, is a matter of little interest, inas-
much as it had been previously known that the
answer was, in substance, a direct refusal to the
demand of surrendering the citadel of Antwerp,
and the forts and places dependent upon it. The
Order in Council, laying an embargo on Dutch
vessels, was both a practical announcement and
a consequence of that refusal. This being the
sum and substance of the answer, it is of no
consequence in what diplomatic language it is
conveyed, though, from the calm and quiet tone
of the document, we would infer more deter-
mination than if it were written in a fiercer anti
more vehement strain. As, however, the King
of Holland does not only give his decision, but
his reasons for it, let us see what those reasons
are. The first is, that the Conference have no
right to call upon him to evacuate the citadel of
Antwerp before the treaty between Holland and
Belgium (that of the 15th Nov.) shall have been
ratified. The second is, that the King holds the
citadel and its dependencies as a security for
lobtaining equitable terms on the final arrange-
ment between the two nations. As to the first
of the above reasons, it is valid or invalid, ac-
cording to the previous acts of the Congress,
made the evacuation of the citadel dependent
upon, or independent of, the ratification of the
(he treaty between Belgium and Holland. The
King of Holland asserts the former proposition,
and charges the Conference with acting in con-
•radiction of their own previously declared inten-
tions, for he says " to effect the evacuation at
a time anterior to the exchange of ratifications,
would be acting in opposition both to the, formally
announced intentions of the Conference, and to
the assent which has been given to them by
the Government of the Netherlands." Let
those who are learned in the history of the "pro-
tocols" say which party is right. For our own
part, we would as soon think of treading the
mazes of the Cretan Labyrinth, in danger of
being devoured by the Minotaur, as to eneoun-
er once more the horrors of attempting to unra
vel the elaborate perplexities with which the pen
of Lord Palmerston has bewildered the Belgic
qUestion and the common sense of mankind ;
What matters it when:this sapient negotiator, con-
scious that his diplomatic quill has achieved the
climax of confusion, draws the sword to cut the
knot which he has spent two years in tying. As
o the second reason, it proves that the King of
Holland has no very high opinion of the ho
nest' of the Conference as a body. Like a cal-
culating and sagacious Dutchman, he prefers
security to empty professions of good faith.
The parties to the Anglo-Gallic Convention
dislike this talk about security as heartily as .Sir
John Falstqff, when he exclaimed, " I would as
Ref he put rats-bane in my mouth as attempt to
->top it with security." But the King of Hol-
land has a better security than the citadel of
Antwerp in the sympathy and secret encourage-
ment of the despotic Powers. Supposing he
save up Antweep without a blow, or the,
French took possession of it by force of arms,
and delivered it up to the Belgians, is the
question at issue between Holland and Bei-
m= thereby settled ? Far from it. Nei-
ther- the freedom of the Scheldt—to keep which
closed was one of our pretexts for going to
war in 1793—n0r the navigation of the in-
ernal waters of Holland, by Belgic vessels,
thereby brought nearer to a solution. These
questions, and some minor ones, contain within
hemselves sufficient elements of confusion to
create another act of the martial drama, or,
what would be still more afflicting to the world,
another year or two of protocols, reducing com-
merce to a gambling speculation, and exhaust-
ing the patience of mankind. Notwithstanding
the warlike demonstrations with which England
and France now resound, as preparatory to an
immediate settlement of the question by the
sword, a great deal of mystification still hangs
over the affair—mystification as dense as the
Dutch fogs in which the mol ements of the
Anglo-Gallican fleet will soon be enveloped.
Our correspondent at Brussels, who is generally
well informed, says that " Lord Palmerston Ile-
Iver had, nor has at the present moment, the

least intention of enforcing the treaty as it now
stands. He will act with De Broglie (and the
Doctrinnaires)until that Minister has assured a
majority in France ; and then, relying on the Ca-
tholic influence in Belgium,he will persuade Leo-
pold to propose to the Chambers the ultimatum
of the 30th of June. Prussia is playing a deep
game. She has pushed England and France
into this famous treaty. She is aware that sooner
or later the mask must be withdrawn, and Pal-
-1 merston and De Broglie bound and fettered by
treaties and pledges. It is then she will make
her own bargain for the preservation of peace,
and the ci devant principality of Liege will be
an advantageous addition to her Rhenish pro-
vinces. Holland will have her commercial in-
terest insured, and Belgium become a purely
agricultural country." That Prussia is playing
a deep game we believe ; and we also believe
that the view with which she " acts her part" on
the theatre of Belgic " pacification" has a more
extensive scope of ambition than the latter part
of the above hypothesis implies. The King of
Holland accuses England and France, as the
Russian Plenipotentiaries did, of having, by the
adoption of warlike measures, violated the peace-
ful character of a mediation which the Conference
had formally announced. Certainly if Prussia
now permits that character to be departed from,
it will take care that it shall not eventually be to
the detriment of the claims of Holland. Their
interests are too closely interwoven to be sepa-
rated on this occasion.—Morning Herald.

The chief points of the convention between
France and England of the 22d ult., which was
extremely simple in its form and nature—which
embraced no question of doubtful right—but
which was intended only to secure the enjoy-
ment of rights already acknowledged, and the
execution of conditions already ratified, have
been sufficiently understood in this country for the
last fortnight. It is, however, useful to produce
the document itself; that the correctness of our
outline may be ascertained by a comparison with
the original, and that the Dutch answer, which we
likewise to-day insert, may be better appreciated
by knowing the exact words of the summons to
which it is a refusal. In publishing a copy of
the former, it gives us great pleasure to remark,
that its guarded terms and restrictive conditions
render it more satisfactory than it appeared at
first in a general outline ; and that the latter, by
its necessary brevity, betrays a weakness and bad
faith, which have run through all the Dutch
correspondence with the Conference, but which
Dutch diplomacy has hitherto concealed from
general notice by a thick veil of sophistical com-
mentary. The dates of the summons have been
correctly stated—the time allowed for the Dutch.
answer, and the period fixed for commencing
the allied operations, appeared at the first
announcement of the convention—and the na-
ture and composition of the force to be em-
ployed were likewise exactly made known ; but
the tenour of the preamble to the convention,
and the terms of the four articles, are now for
the first time revealed to the public, or were be-
fore only known by inference from the previous
conduct and professions of the two Allied Go-
vernments. The preamble proceeds broadly on
the undeniable admission that all the five Pow-
ers had made efforts to arrive at the execution
of the treaty of separation in vain,—that the
way of negotiation had failed,—and that the
peace of Europe would be endangered by fur-
ther delays in the settlement of a question
already discussed for two years, and already ar-
ranged in the opinion of every statesman be-
yond the dikes of Holland. It contains an
expression of regret that the other three mem-
bers of the Conference are not prepared at this
moment to concur in the active measures which
France and England conceive themselves en-
gaged to undertake, but gives no hint that they
will encounter from them any other obstacle than
a passive dissent. The words of the preamble
thus explain the Russian note in answer to the
communication of the Convention, which some
of the Tories attempted to erect into a bug-
bear of war. The fourth article is more
satisfactory than the words of the preamble.
Nothing could give a more deadly blow
to the unjust suspicions attempted to be raised
against the honour of the French Government,
or to the allegations of ambitious purposes, with
which the attack on Antwerp was said to be
undertaken. The excessive reserve agreed to by
the French Government in the employment of
its troops in Belgium,—the strict limitation of
their duties to a specific object, and of their
stay in Belgium to the termination of their ap-
pointed auxiliary service,—their perfect abroga-
tion of all selfish or ambitious views in stipulating
that they shall not even temporarily, occupy a
fortress captured by their arms, but shall transfer
it immediately to their Belgic allies,—all these
precautions and restrictions, we say, must satisfy
even the most scrupulous Tory in this country,
or even the Emperor of Russia, that the expe-
dition is as safe for Europe as it is necessary
for the execution of a treaty which his Imperial
Majesty has ratified. Indeed, unless the French
Government had itself suggested these precau-
tions, or been actuated by the most sincere
desire of removing all reasonable grounds of
alarm from the most timid, it might have
deemed their proposal by a third party as
a kind of insult to their national character,
because betraying a distrust of the na-
tional honour. The advantage of such precise
stipulations, however, will be admitted, though
there could be no reason for doubting the good
faith of our neighbours. For want of a similar
precision in the terms on which the French Go-
vernment acted in the autumn of 1831, the
French army which entered Belgium re-
mained longer than it was thought absolutely
necessary on this side of the water, and thus
occasioned a contest between suspicion on the
one hand and pride on the other,—between a
continued call to evacuate, and a resistance to
alleged dictation,—which at one time threatened
a serious rupture. As the French can take
possession of no fortress, and cannot remain a
day in Belgium beyond the accomplishment of
their stipulated object, without a positive breach
of treaty, we shall be spared on this occasion
the repetition of last year's discussions and
heart-burnings. Seeing the peremptory though
guarded terms of this convention,—the force
which it must bring into the field,—and the total
abandonment of the Dutch cause by the abso-
lute Courts of the continent,—it must appear
strange that his Dutch Majesty should have
continued to resist. That surprise will
be heightened on reading the frivolous pre-
texts on which he grounds his resistance, and
exposes the welfare of his subjects. The)
amount to three, and we will venture to say
that they would scarcely impose on a schoolboy
who had read one-twentieth part of the pub-
lished documents as a task. He refuses to
evacuate Antwerp because, by the original treaty,
the evacuation was to be posterior to the • ratifi-
cations of the treaty. This is no doubt true ;

but was it not then contemplated that the treaty
would be accepted and ratified by Holland as
soon as by Belgium ? Was it ever dreamt of
that another year's negotiations should be passed
with a Belgic fortress in possession of Holland ?
All the great points of debt, and territory, and
independence, have been settled and agreed to.
Some minor articles have been reserved for ad-
justment between the parties when both become
independent. Belgium is willing to treat for
the adjustment of these when her territory is
freed from hostile occupation, but not till then ;
and to render negotiation interminable or agree-
ment impossible, his Dutch Majesty will only
consent to surrender the portion of that territory
which he holds when there shall be no points to
adjust. His second announced motive reveals the
whole secret of his violent and interested policy.
He pretends no right of sovereignty over Ant-
werp, but he avows that he holds it as security or
a pledge for obtaining more profitable condi-
tions in the treaty of separation. He thus de-
clares his distrust of his allies,—of the justice
of his cause—of his own independent power to
make his rights respected,—and, in order to
compel Leopold to yield him some more florins
per ton on the shipping which enters the Scheldt,
points his cannon on the cathedral of Antwerp,
and threatens destruction to thousands of peace-
ful citizens. Thus the highwayman's alternative
of " your purse or your life " is to be realized in
Dutch policy, and defended in Dutch State
papers. We hardly know how to state the third
pretext in the Dutch answer. It would appear
to say, that because in the opinion of the King
of Holland the points of difference between him
and Belgium are now reduced to almost no-
thing, therefore that they give his Dutch Ma-
jesty an additional claim to retain territory not
his own, and to risk a contest with the two
greatest Powers of Europe for an object which
he is ready to abandon. The whole of these
notable arguments may be reduced to one—" I
shall not surrender Antwerp till I sign and ratify
a definitive treaty of separation, and I shall not
sign and ratify a definitive treaty of separation
so long as I find an excuse for delay or chance
of resistance." The sword of the French army
will cut the knot of this entangled logic.— Times.
The appointment of Sir Thomas Denman is
now completed; and we think it must be a
source of great satisfaction to Lord Grey and
his colleagues, that they have conferred one of
the highest distinctions in their patronage upon
a man, whose character both public and private
is unsullied by a single stain. It is an irre-
fragable proof of the retrenching and economical
principles of the present Ministry, in which the
new Chief Justice of the Court of King's Bench
most honourably participates, that the salary of
that office is to be henceforth reduced by 2,0001.
a-year, and so much will be the saving to the
public. There is not, indeed, a man in this
country, nor ever was within our recollection,
whose services as a Judge deserved 10,0001.
a-year, at the present value of money, and in
the present state of the country : 8,000/.
a-year will be the future salary of the Chief
Justice, and no one can say that it is nut
amply sufficient. The salaries of the other
Judges—we speak in no disparagement of
those eminent persons, but in a strong feeling of
the oppressive burdens borne by the people—
ought to undergo a similar reduction. 4,000/.a-year
is an ample stipend for a Puisne Judge, and the
possessor of it would really be more on a level
with that order of the gentry of the country with
which he mingles, and in which he forms his
connexions, than he is at present. He is at
present needlessly raised above his station, in the
single article of money, at the public expense.
It is said that the Judges generally quit lucra-
tive practice at the bar when they are raised to
the bench. We will not stop a moment to dis-
pute their talents, which we admire, or the re-
muneration of them, at which we rejoice. But
it will be observed, that if they have been suc-
cessful advocates, they have made fortunes, and
are the better able to dedicate the evening of their
lives to the service of the country on moderate
salaries. The Judges are usually compared with
the Bishops in the temporal advantages and
emoluments of their situations. An advocate may
reach the bench, and a clergyman obtain the
mitre, about the same age. The barrister is in
this respect better off than the clergyman, for it
must be observed that the latter has seldom had
any previous means of making a fortnne by his
profession like the former. We again say we
speak in no disparagement of the Judges, who
have had so good an example set them,—we
speak only in strong commisseration of a country
burdrned with taxes. We may, however, add,
that there is much exaggeration in the talk
about barristers sacrificing lucrative practice.
We have considerable doubt whether more than
three out of the present fifteen Judges ever ac-
quired a salary at the bar equal to their judicial
salaries.
t hecsinecure,
1f
0I is
jrt
uastl
eunderstoodeosshtipsiialer a
are
to
sinecure,
larthatde some
sucaet of
reduced
acohredt e
o
abo-
lished. This is right : no really useful office
should be abolished, but remanet fees, and all
the vexatious expenses which impede the march
of justice, should be swept away. Beneficial
labour should of course be fully remunerated.—
Times.

The answer of the Dutch Minister to the in-
solent and unjust demand of France and Eng-
land, which appears in our paper of this day,
will be read with intense interest on account of
the important consequences to which it seems
destined to lead, and with unqualified respect
and admiration, we may also add, on the part of
all who know how to appreciate the sublime
combination it presents of moderation and firm-
ness, in circumstances which must on all hands
be allowed to expose both ofthose qualities to the
severest trial. The Government of the Nether-
lands seems to have determined that, so far as
regards the tone of its reply to their domineer-
ing and iniquitous demand, its perfidious and
implacable enemies should be unable to find any
ground of criticism or objection. To the argu-
mentative portion of this document the aggres-
sive Governments of France and England,
and the writers whom they employ, are of
course bound, by their position and their deter-
minations, to object ; but all that can be said on
their behalf can only be a repetition of what has
been said already, and said until mankind are
disgusted and indignant at the bold iniquity of
the plea ; and the whole of it amounts merely to
intended victim
theeivstiiiol
You are unable to resist us. We are
tthhies—wi:lf and you are the lamb." And one
branch of this assertion at least is undeniable.
They are acting the character of the wolf admi-
ranly in their conduct towards Holland. Their
may,tgitlhieilioieeewytvieyahvcaebuate,i
ttliiocrcootoi bnmasoipl yee
rtf teeuidy Antwerpnch
oiomii
stn°tetb.r
Governments of France and-England at
novt?lincleitctespqau:oheulfteteqcdhuishonesty the most flagrant and revolt-
ing, and of absurdity and self-contradiction the

most gross andtilthcvooenutalednmtepbrtieiobrlaect.otintg;eiTneoxocpehpffaoencsgtiteitolionei
tehveacuraattiifiocnataitonas
to the formally announced intention of the Con-
ference ; " for, and we request the public to
mark this, the Conference having formerly pro-
posed the 20th of July for the evacuation of the
respective territories, " it," when that day ar-
rived, " declared by its note," bearing the very
date of the 20th of July, " that in making this
proposal it had thought that the treaty between
Holland and Belgium would be ratified." Thus,
by their own written words and solemn acts, are
France and England convicted not only of injus-
tice, but of violating their own acknowledged and
recorded principles, from the love of injustice.
The King of the Netherlands declares that he
deems it his imperative duty not to anticipate
the proper period for the evacuation of Antwerr
aud thus part with the security he holds to obtain
equitable terms of separation between Holland
and Belgium. Can any body doubt that he is
right, when the umpires who have undertaken
dictate the terms of this separation have left him
no hope of their impartiality, and when the in•
fluence of France, a Power closely allied with
his antagonist, is proved by the whole course oi
events to preponderate in its Councils ? The
attempt to dictate those terms on the part of
Stateu
France and England is proved by this unanswer-
able psupaprearttioonb:e_an act of naked and un•
disguisedl

" As for military measures destined to realias the eva-
cuations at a time anterior to that fixed diplomatically, it
will suffice to recall to the penetration of the Court of
France bow they would violate the principle so formally
announced, that the Conference of London met never
lose its character of a mediator ; and to add, that if th.
embarrassments (complications) which they would produce
without any motives should put to the hazard, as ma,
be expected, the object of the negotiations of the last tw,
years just at the eve of their solution, the sacrifices which,
Holland has made for the preservation of peace would en
tirely relieve it even from the appearance of having been
the cause of so deplorable an issue."

And yet we are to be told that the King of
the Netherlands will incur the execration of Eu-
rope, and justly forfeit his remaining dominions
and his life, if he should see fit to bombard the
town of Antwerp ; as if he were not bound to
destroy this, together with any other town in the
occupation of his enemies, if he believes such
destruction in any manner likely to conduce to
the successful issue of the conflict thus unjustly
forced upon him. But for its presumed ten•
dency to accelerate the termination of the war
the seizure of the Dutch vessels in the ports of
Great Britain, would be an act of undisguised
and flagitious robbery. And are the hands
of the King of the Netherlands to be tied by
denunciations which he, in common with every
man of common sense and justice, must tho-
roughly despise ? Can the British Government,
or the most stupid of its defenders, be ignorant
that the proclamation of the embargo in the
London Gazette tears at once from the Confe-
rence the mask of mediators they have worn so
long, and utterly annuls every concession the
King of the Netherlands has made to them in
the only character in which he ever recognised
their authority, or even their existence ?- Can
they pretend to doubt that this act legally rein-
states the King of the Netherlands in every right
which was his before the insurrection at Brussels
began ? Will they venture to question the legal
or moral propriety of his proceeding forthwith,
if it shall so please him, to deal with the town
of Antwerp as with a town in the possession,
not of an enemy, but of his own subjects, en-
gaged in actual rebellion? Why, during the
whole two years in which the protocol manu-
facturing has been going on so actively and so
usefully in Downing-street, the Belgian rebels
have been erecting fortresses and pointing
cannon from the town of Antwerp against the
citadel surmounted by the flag of its lawful
Sovereign. Are these works to remain undis-
turbed, now that the allies of the rebels have
put an end to all hope of a pacific accommo-
dation ? Surely not. If the rebels expect to
be spared, let them proceed in all haste to submit
to the authority of their justly-offended Monarch,
and if he commands them, as we hope he will
not delay to command them, to destroy these
substantial symbols and manifestations of their
revolt, let them at their proper peril not fail to
yield a prompt obedience to the just and lawful
behest. The King of the Netherlands is no
longer in circumstances which require him to
temporise with the spirit and principles of insur-
rection ; nor will he, we imagine, pay much re-
gard to the mawkish sentimentalism affected by
the very disinterested counsellors who would
advise liim, in the present emergency, to permit
the power he possesses to remain dormant in his
hands.---Moaning Post.

INSOLVENT COURT, Nov. 8.

Mary Ann Parker was opposed for the creditors by
Mr. COOKE, and supported by Mr. WOODROFFE.
In August, 1829, the insolvent accompanied a Mi,s
Horsfall, a lady of large fortune, to Colesh►ll, in Warwick-
shire, to the house 01 a Mr. Stevens. Miss Horatian was
taken dangerously ill, but thinking herself better, after a
few days proceeded, in company with Mrs. Stevens, the
insolvent and her servant, Sarah Lewis, to the Saracen's
Head Inn, Birmingham. The day after her arrival she
died, and no other person being with her at the tine than
the insolvent. Mr. M'Williarn arrived in a few days
after to make inquiries into the property which the de-
ceased had with her at the time of her death, and upon a
search only 251. were found. The insolvent stated that
sh, had heard her say that she should be obliged to send
to London for money. It was, however, afterwards dis-
covered that the insolvent had got possession of 5001. in
Exchequer-bills, a bank-note for 1001., and 301. in cash,
which she affirmed the deceased gave her as a don►tion
immediately b.4ore her death, and that she had not in-
formed Mrs. M•William of the circumstance because that
lady had said she had been the death of her sister. An
action of trover was brought against her to recover the
bills, and a verdict obtained, but the money had been ex-
pended, and Mr. 111• William, the plaintiff, got nothing. A
bill for a discovery had also been filed, to which an answer
had been put in.

The insolvent, after a very energetic and impressive
admonition from Mr. Commissioner HARRIS, was ordered
to he discharged.
Mr. Edward Parkinson, a clerk in the Accountant-
General's Office (in which his father holds a high official
situation), was opposed on behalf of Messrs. Plowright
and Bond, linen-drapers, with whom he had contracted a
debt to the amount of 27/. for a boa and other articles sup-
plied to leis wife. The insolvent's salary for the last four
years was 1891. a year. After his marriage his expenditure
greatly exceeded his income, and his debts soon amounted
to lOU Wanting a sum of 201. he sold all his furniture
to a broker named Chuck, for little more than that sum.

Mr. COOKE prayed the mercy of the Court, on the
ground that the conduct of the insolvent in getting into
debt was attributable to thoughtlessness, and not to any
intention to take advantage of his creditors.
Mr. Commishioner BOWEN said the insolvent's conduct
was dishonest, as he had contracted debts after he was fully
aware of his insolvency. He then sentenced him to six
month's imprisonment.

One of the candidates for the Pottery borough,
on calling at the house of one of the electors, who hap-
pened to be from home, was accosted by the worthy dame
with—" How do you do, Mr. ? lam very glad to
see you; I have known you a great many years."
replied the candidate, " I hope you are well, I hope Mr.
is well. I have called to solicit his vote." "I am
so sorry he is from home," rejoined the old lady, " he Las
promised the other three candidates, and I am sure he
would promise you, he has known you so long."—Staf-
fordshire Advertiser,