Star.
London, England, 1831-03-28 00:00:00

ACT OF THE ASSOCIATION.

Considering it a sacred duty for every Belgian to defend
Lis independence at any price—considering that the Con-
zress has for ever excluded the family of Nassau from any
puwer in Belgium—a decree which was in a degree ex-
:urted by a tyranny of fifteen years' standing, by the burn-
ing of Brussels, the massacre of its inhabitants, and by the
bombardment of Antwerp. An Association has been
iOrmed in Brussels, in order to secure the independence
of the country, and the perpetual exclusion of the Nassau..
The members bind themselves upon their honour to defend
and maintain at any price the independence and nationality
of the Belgians; to fight against the Nassau family; never
to treat with them, no matter to what extremity the country
may be reduced ; and to repel all aggressions on the part of
the foreigner."
The Governor General of the Grand Duke of Luxem-
',,ourg, has issued a proclamation to recall the people to their
)31:,oance, and threatening as to a contrary course.
lCc have little opinion of the effect of the proclamations
of the Duke de Saxe Weimar, or that a counter revolution
in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg or the other Belgian pro-
vinces can in any way be effected. The Duke of Saxe-
Weimar has not made much progress: the month's grace
granted by hini draws to a conclusion. Out of a population
of more than :300,000 inhabitants, 12 persons have sent in
their adhesion, and have gone back to what is called the legi-
timate order of things. " In the name of the Belgian people:
—We Baron Surlet de Chokier, Regent of Belgium, having
considered the ile,:ree of the National Congress, dated March
1831, and having heard the deliberation of our Ministers,
have decreed awl decree as follows : Art. 1. The National'
Congress is convoked for the '29th of March next.-2. Our
Minister of the Interior is entrusted with the execution of
z:.o present dcc.•ee.
lily the 11,gent,

(Signed)

SURLET DE CHOEIER.
F. TIELMANS,
Minister of the Interior."

Brussels, Much 21, 1831.
BRUSSELS, MARCH 23.—1 t seems that the embarrass-
ment, or rather the distress, of our finances, and the critical
situation in which the government finds itself placed by the
notification uhich has been made to it of the speedy execu-
tion of the decision of the Congress at London, has induced
the convocation of the Congress for the 29th instant.
The enemies of our Government impatiently expect'
from that assembly some extreme measure, which will
hasten the overthrow of the present order of things.—
It is affirmed that the Provincial Commission of Manufac-
turers yesterday had an audience of the Regent, who listened
with emotion to the representation of the stagnation of com-
merce and manufactures, and declared that his most ardent
desire was to see a regular Government established, and an
end put to the crisis in which we are, and that couriers had
been sent off to London and Paris with despatches, the object
..f which was to obtain the mediation of France and England
;a the arrangements to be concluded with Holland.

MARC/1 2.s.—The new Ministry is formed: it is com-
)..ed of M. Sauvage—the Interior ; Barthelemy—Justice ;
flans de Steenhiivse— War Devau x —Foreign Affairs.
(The three latter appointments are announced in ordinances
of the Regent. The papers do not contain any ordinance
appointing Al. Saursge.) The Regent has refused to accept
the resignation of Al. de Brouckere, Minister of Fi-
'lure. M. Tichuans is appointed Governor of Liege.

SPIRIT OF THE JOURNALS.
Tiatts.—Sir R. Peel is !ably run down, for we find, that for the
hundtedth time he stammers out that most revolting nonsense about
!flu' merit of the rotten boroughs in sending a dozen clever men to par-
:lament in the space of half a century. How often must we repeat that
the people are as eager in their inquiries for men able to do their business
as any borough patrons can Lc, and that able men alone will be looked
for by the people, whereas tih y are seldom thought of by borough lords
until the whole tribe of brothers, nephews, cousins, &z. have been first
Provided for—and a glorious set of national representatives we find them.
hut why is it (as a gencral question) that such clever men are sought
ut by the borough patron at all ? Is it for the public good that be
promotes them ? For instance, look at the galaxy of youthful genius
vhich shines upon from the Newcastle sky—the graceful Attwood,
• he solemn Sadler. anti Wetherell, who seasons the sober wisdom of
Punch with the classic salt or Grimaldi. These are youths of no mean
promise we admit, but why is it that the Duke of Newcastle resorts
:o them ? What benefit has his Grace, through their agency, bestowed
•ipon the people of England ? Would it not be better that these
personages, nominees for 8.-,teughbridge, dce. &c. should meet in the
hall of Clunibcr rather than in St. Stephen's, forming there
a lit!le domestic solve under the presidency of their patron,
the .age and philosophic Duke, and amuse themselves with
.nventing penal codes for the refractory vassals of Newark, rather than
attempt to humbug the English nation by hashing up for Sir R. Peel

the cold and stale jest of a natural sympathy between the qualifications
of men of genius and the menial services to which a borough patron
consigns them. This audacious abuse of words could never have been
heard but in an assembly where the multitude of offenders against the
first principle of representative government are to each other a common
protection. Henceforth, when by the wise provisions of the Reform
Bill, the expenses of popular elections shall be reduced almost to no-
thing, a man of character and talent will make his way into the House
of Commons with far more average probability than he now does by
licking the footstool of a lord; and the solid advantage thence acquired
is,"that when there, he must be dependent on the esteem of his consti-
tuents—not on any great man's cupidity or caprice.
Hsitaza.—lf the proposed measure of Parliamentary Reform be
revolutionary in the odious sense of the word—that Is, if it have a
tendency to unsettle the foundations of public order and security—it is
very strange that it should have among its most zealous promoters a
large proportion of that class of persons who are peculiarly sensitive as
to the consquences of any rash or inconsiderate changes in the social
structure, and have more to lose than other people in general by
measures subversive of public confidence, and dangerous to the
public, tranquility. We allude to the merchants and bankers
of London who thronged the Egyptian Hall on Friday, to re.
cord their opinions in favour of the great measure which is
to 'give the people of England a real representation in the
House of Commons, and thereby to restore the beauty and ex-
cellence of the Constitution, which the usurped power of a proud oli-
garchy had nearly destroyed, while they substituted in its place a su-
premacy unknown to the laws, injurious to the just prerogative of the
Crown, and destructive of the political rights of the people. That the
opinions of the merchants and bankers of London upon the subject of
the Reform Bill are of the very first importance is admitted
by the enemies of the measure, who laid the greatest possible
stress upon the declaration lately signed by certain commercial and
moneyed men in opposition to reform ; although the persons who affix-
ed their names to a document, of which, if they acted from no other
motive than pure patriotism' and with no other object than to save the
country from revolutionary horrors, they ought to have felt proud,were
actually ashamed to call a public meeting, and to do that in the light
of day, and in the face of their fellow-citizens, which loses nearly all
its fora by being advocated with that equivocal seal which Ries for re-
tuge to darkness.

TIMES—We publish the report of an anti-reform meeting in Scot-
land, composed of freeholders, magistrates, &c. Tory tools, as may be
well imagined, of the powers heretofore exercising dominion over a
Scottish county. If that report contains matter to excite contempt
or indignation in other respects, in one it has moved our compas-
sion and sincere regret. It presents to us the picture of Sir Wal-
ter Scott—broken down by disease and conscious infirmity, but
urged on by what still remains of the original tendencies
and vivid impressions of his high feudal spirit.—oonde.
scendiog to become, at this heart-inspiring moment, the mourner for
condemned absurdities. Has, then, the living earth whirled on, and
I left the gray novelist alone in his land of self crested mist and light—of
courts, and camps, and chiefs, and dames, and lakes, and towers, and
multifarious witchery ? Long still may this great ruler of the i
realms of fiction enjoy and communicate to others those delights
which an active cultivation of the resources of his own vast domain is so
well calculated to furnish ! Within that region, Sir Walter Scott nerd
indulge no revolutionary tenors : there, no conspiraly can molest his
person—no republican will dream of attempting to undermine Ms
throne. He rules and will rule over a loyal universe; but, alas I who
shall name his successor? This mighty minister to the innocent plea-
sures of his own and future ages would nevertheless do wisely to know
the limits of his proper field, and to act within it. He has made
history, whenever he touched it, a romance. His politics are already a
chimera.

POST.—While the revolutionary press is daily calling upon us to
place our representative constitution in the hands of the present Minis.
ten, in olden that it may be reformed and re-fashioned after their good
pleasure, they never seem to think it necessary to advise us to inquire,
as we should in any matter of minor importance, what is the character
of those in whom a trust of such fearful consequence is to be reposed ?
—Have they shewn great ability ? Have they exhibited un-
impeachable honesty in other public affairs, which they have
attempted to manage? We shall not undertake " boldly to
answer," after the manner of the Times, without 'hewing any authority
for the reasonableness of our answer, but we shall simply refer to the
parliamentary proceedings of the ministry since their accession to office
for a decisive reply. As to their ability, what pledge have they been
able to fulfil ? Into what matter have they thrust their blundering hands
which they have not been obliged to abandon ere it was matured, or to
relinquish from direct defeat, if they attempted to persevere ? If they
lay claim to ability as the ground of their title to remodel the Constitu-
tion of the country, let their Financial Budget and its fate be taken as
a single matter-of-fact argument sufficient in itself to settle that ques-
tion. If they lay claim to perfect honesty and purity of intention, as
giving them a right to be trusted with the manufacture of a new
Legislature, let the public consider the history of their Civil List Com.
mittee, and treat the claim with the contempt which it deserves.