Star.
London, England, 1831-06-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE JOURNALS.

TI3IP.S.—PRINCE LEOPOLD AND THE THRONE OF
1;t Lt; IV 31.—1 t appears that there is what may be called the
;allure, at least for the present, of the Belgic arrangement.
11,! crown being on particular conditions, presented to Prince
Leopold, has Lien by him refused !

" King Charles of this not having need,
" Thanks you as much as if he did,"
was the answer that the witty Rochester gave in the person of
is master to an imaginarypetition of the Commons tendering a
mutilated constitution and diminished rights to the King. The
Belgians do not tender a mutilated constitution to the Prince,
out offer him more of a country than it belongs to them
to give • in consequence of which, his Royal Highness
has declined their crown. The protocols of the great
Powers do not assign Limburg and its territory to Bel-
gium, but these the Belgians assume to themselves with.
cut leave, and invite Prince Leopold to govern the aug.
rstinted state. The result Is, as we have said above, that
;le has declined the offer. The Belgians have now, there.
:ore, to seek another King. Whom they may find we
know not ; but we must say, that he is a bold man who
shall accept the crown on conditions which France and
England prohibit. In fact, the Belgians have not ad.
vanced a step : they have merely chosen Prince Leopold
instead of the Duke de Nemours. The other and main
questions are in Oulu quo.
POST.—Prince Leopold, as we ventured in the first in.
stance to predict, has prudently refused the proffered Crown
of Belgium. The ostensible ground of this refusal is the
becoming deference of his Royal Highness to the decision
of the Five Great Powers, as expressed in the confer-
ence held on Monday, against the unjust pretensions of
the Belgian Government to the district of Limburg, in
manifest injustice to the King of Holland. All this Is
highly plausible, and looks well in a political view,
showing as it does a just sense of the iniquity and folly
of the wretched faction to whose gross misrule alone
can be attributed the present ruinous state of Bel-
gium. But the real fact is, that prudential, more than
political considerations, have wisely governed the decision of
his Royal Highness. He well knows how to distinguish
betw:en an ample comfortable settlement in England and the
;,uclrious situation in which he would find himself as the
n..ul of a revolted state, and a people incapable of duly appre-
L•ating the benefits of a good and safe government ; and has
prudently determined to enjoy what he quietly and safely pos-
sesses rather than risk the consequences (fearful necessarily in
:bele nature) of assuming an insignificant Sovereignty under
the most precarious and degrading tenure. The obstinate
telly of ti.e Belgic government will cause the English and
French Ministers to be immediately recalled from Brussels :
and if this necessary proceeding does not serve to convince
the misrulera of Belgium of their errors, they will soon expe.
rime.: the natural consequences of their temerity. Dispatches
announcing the determination to this effect were yesterday
sent off to Lord Ponsonby, at Brussels. The Belgic depu-
tation has not yet reached London.
111:RALD.—If Prince Leopold has refused the Crown
of Belgium, we cannot say we regret it. His near alliance
with the Royal Family of England, and the almost pa-
rotid situation in which he stands with regard to the
::..ir-presumptive of the Throne, makes it not improbable
t!.at his Belgic politics, which afford no present prospect
of a tratquil arrangement, would entangle England in
Continental broils—and that, too, on the wrong side of a
great principle, as the affairs of Hanover did in former
limes. We never expected to bee the day when a Whig mi.
nistry in England would lend themselves to the views of the
Holy Alliance," from whose fatal connection Mr. Canning
had the energy to sever the destinies of England when he
advised the Crown to recognize the independence of the South
Antsrican republics without asking the permission of the
Courts of Vienna or Berlin, or even deigning to enter into a
),:.rtnership of protocols with the diplomatic agents of the
Northern Autocrat. It is because we wish well to the present
Gaiiiirnment that we are sorry to see them keeping such com-
pany. If they allow their flatterers to betray them still fur-
ther into errors, we shall have the conscious satisfaction of
hating given them wholesome advice, in the exercise of that
independence of opinion, in which consists the vital usefulness
of the press. We reprobrated the conduct of the late Adini-
nistiatinn in enlisting itself, as far as it then dared to go, on
th.i side of the " enlightened King of the Netherlands"
:zainst the Belgians. The members of the present
)linistry, then in opposition, took the same view of the
•11,*(ct in Parliament, as we did In the Press. If we
iorport men because they profess certain principles, we
cAnnet admire conduct which bespeaks a dereliction of
then: principles. We have no right to Intermeddle in
the internal affairs of Belgium. When Mr. Canning
was most anxious that Portugal should adopt that Con.
AtitUtion which Don Pedro had sent from the Brazils
for her acceptance, he nevertheless said, " It is not the
Juty nor the practice of Great Britain to offer suggestions
fur die regulation of the internal affairs of foreign States.
It would not be for us to force that Constitution on the peo-
ple of Portugal, if they were unwilling to receive ii." Thus
Canning would not use dictation or compulsion, to in-
duce a foreign State to adopt liberal institutions ; but our
present Government threatens Belgium for not regulating
her own affairs, as a confederacy of Continental despots
please ! We hope they will retrace their steps before it be
too late.
T I EC —We have received a -

proceeding, and the public at large have an interest in the
means of such oppression being put en end to. An opulent
establishment may bear up against it, but to an Individual
such a prosecution would have been utter ruin. Notwith.
standing the pertinacity with which the accusation was
made, there was a circumstance which induced us, from the
first, to believe that it would turn out to be without founda-
tion, and to be fabricated with some sinister purpose ;
which was, that Lord Grey,—the Honorary President
of the County Fire Office, continued to remain so
which we were quite sure he would not have done, had there
been even the most distant grounds for the charge of defraud.
ing the Revenue brought against it by the Commissioners
of Revenue Inquiry. A Peer of his high and honourable
character, we felt, assnred, would have withdrawn his name
instantly, had be not been abundantly satisfied that the accu-
sation was utterly unsupported. We again repeat, that the
whole of this affair might be taken up by Parliament, and
it behoves those Commissioners to promote this In justice to
the late Chairman of the Board of Stamps: for there never
was a public servant of the Government more wronged than
he has been. But for the total change of system that may
hereafter be looked for, suspicions would have been always
attached to a Commission of Revenue Inquiry.

Mr. BURFORD'S NEW PANORAMA of BOMBAY.
On Siturday last we had the pleasure of viewing Mr.
Burford's new Panorama of Bombay, which we think is
the most interesting of any which that gentleman's magical
powers have transplanted from the East. The scenery of
Bombay—including the sea—so many islands, one of which
it is well known, contains the almost miraculous excavation
of Elephanta—the shipping in the harbour—the mountain.
ous scenery of the adjoining continent—and the whole clothed
in the peculiar vegetation of the East—present to the spec-
tator &diversity of objects, which no former Panorama has
possessed to perhaps an equal extent. The painter has very
tastefully introduced the Cottage occupied once by the
Eliza of Sterne, into the picture ; and thus given an interest
to the oriental scene, by connecting it with the tender asso-
ciations of the west.