The Sun.
London, England, 1832-07-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Doubts have for some time past existed as to
the probability of the Belgic negotiation leading
to any favourable result. Those doubts have
latterly Peen accumulating, and the question
seems now, at length, to have reached a point,—
and to have assumed a form,—ithich ought to
fill the steadiest and most reasonable mind with
apprehension for the immediate, if not the final,
consequences. Between sixty and seventy pro-
tocols, or interlocutory conventions, to which
England, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and (to the
latter portion of the series) Belgium, have been
subset-thing parties, bear witness to the real dili-
genne,—and to, at least, the apparent anxiety,
for a successful issue, with which the labours of
the London Conference have been carried on for
more than eighteen months. The declared and
o'teosible effect of their industry has been the
dissolution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands,
fter an uneasy existence of fifteen years, and the
erection of one of its fragments into the little
monarchy of Belgium. Against the terms of
this dissolution, and of this creation, the King
of Holland has constantly and loudly protested.
On the part of the old United Provinces, he ob-
jected-Ist, to the navigation of the Belgic flag
within the Dutch waters on the same conditions
as that of Holland ; and 2d, to the responsibility
of Dote!) credit for so large a portion of the common
debt as was assigned to it by the acts of the Allied
Ministers. In the mean time there were two
other parties, reluctant co-operators in the general
work of Congress. The German, Russian, and
British Courts would, if they could, have pre-
vented the dismemberment of the Dutch-Flemish
kingdom, and France must have seen with deep
though suppressed vexation, the separate esta-
blishment of a new state, out of materials which
all ranks and parties of Frenchmen, from La-
marque to Polignac, have agreed (however dif-
fering on every other point of policy) that it
was a French object of the highest necessity to
incorporate with the dominions of that great
country. Beth classes of negotiators—those of
France and those of other Powers of Europe—
were induced reciprocally, by a dread of the in-
calculable evils of a general tvar, each to sur-
racier its favourite project, Germany, Russia,
and England, to acquiesce in the dismember-
ment of the leingdom of 1815, and France to
forego the appropriation of the Belgic portion to
her own territory. In consequence of this mu-
tual harmony, or fear, the existence of the new
kingdom has been decreed unanimously, and
confirmed, defined, and provided for by proto-
cols almost innumerable. That, so far as the
separation went, it was a wise decision of the
Powers in Congress, is attested by the judg-
ments of all sober-minded men, amongst others
by the Duke of Wellington (on that side of
tae question an arbitrator beyond dispute),
who declared that it was politically impos-
s6le for Holland and the Netherlands to remain
any longer incorporated. The King of Hol•
land, seeming to concur in the abstract necessity
of a separation, has to the last persisted in re-
jecting the terms attached to it by the Congress,
and upon the two grounds above referred to,
viz., the internal navigation, and the unjust dis-
tribution of the debt. Instead of yielding gra-
aually to the urgent counsels or remonstrances
of the allied Powers, his Dutch Majesty appears
to have become more fixed and stubborn in op-
position as the general dissatisfaction of the
members of the Congress at the delay of a final
arrangement was more manifest. The most
recent reply of this Prince to their representa-
tions is said to have been the most intractable of
all ; and there are other indications of the secret
views of his cabinet, one of which we now deem
it our duty to advert to. In this days Times
will be found a letter, copied from the illessager
des Chambres of the Ist inst., and purporting to
be dated at the Hague on the 22d ult. We
have, or fancy we have, reason for suspecting
that the writer of the said letter was not far from
the person of the King of Holland when it was
composed ; and, in fact, that it speaks not only
the sentiments of that pertinacious monarch upon
the whole Belgian case, but those likewise of
ar.other Court, whose experienced Minister,
lately in London, has nevertheless affixed his
mane to one of sixty odd protocols, which
it is the avowed aim of the Dutch letter-writer
to frustrate and overturn. We need only
refer the reader to this expose of the scheme
hich it is now proposed to substitute
for the arrangements so solemnly decided
on by the Conference, to prove the utter
disgrace and ridicule which would attend its
adoption at this hour, on the part of the allied
Courts. The advocate or organ of King Wil-
liam (of Nassau) uses but little circumlocution
to recommend to Louis-Philippe, that he shall
take to himself the whole of Belgium, save only
the sea-coast of Flanders, to the Scheldt, in-
cluding Ghent, and so much of Brabant as
embraces Antwerp, and the command of that
river. Limburg anti Luxemburgh, it may be
presumed, are the bait to be held out to Prussia
for her support in this project of partition. Let
it for the sake of argument be admitted, that if
Holland were left in possession of Antwerp, the
coast of Flanders, and the course of the Scheldt,
Great Britain might have but slight cause to
apprehend any injury to her maritime or com-
mercial interests from such a settlement. Let
it even be acknowledged, that, however seriously
the German Powers would feel themselves af-
fected by a further projection of the French terri-
tory towards the Meuse, there could be no im-
mediate cause to fear for English security, or
well-being, from an outspread of France in that
eastern and inland quarter. But with these ad-
missions, which, however, we do not ourselves
allow, the tolerance of England must end. The
protocols which have marked the successive stages
of an elaborate negotiation, and have placed on
record the deliberate decisions—the promises
and pledges of this country and her allies,
are not to be regarded as so much waste paper,
and to be flung aside in bitter mockery of the
important interests created under them of ail
imperial and royal honour, and of all national
and public faith. Belgium has been erected into
a sovereign State. Leopold has become a re-
cognized King, and has long since entered on
his high functions. Is it then for the conve-
nience of the King of Holland, or for a flash of
French popularity to M. Talleyrand, and to the
tottering throne of Louis-Philippe, that such a
series of grave and binding transactions is to be
at once unravelled, and the voluminous accession
made to the public law of Europe during 1$
months by the accredited Ministers of all its
leading Powers, is to be capriciously annihi-
lated ? England must employ her best moral
means to avert a catastrophe so shameful.
Prussia and Austria wit!, if any decency be left
in the Cabinets of Princes, join their exertions
to hers ; and Belgium herself; if she really feel
what she professes,—a just attachment to her
King, and the pride of national independence,—
will not be slew to intimate her eagerness for the
instantaneous interference of Great Britain and