daunted into the very throat of war, sprung on the cannon that was pointed against them, turned them against their enemies, and boldly converted the engines of slavery and oppression into instruments of freedom.

Foreign nations were convinced that the Flemings were able (though not altogether without assistance) to make a successful stand; and their hopes now corresponded with their wishes. The march of the Prussians, after so great and decided victories on the side of the Flemings in so great force to the confines of the Netherlands, menaced nothing hostile to the avowed opponents of the House of Austria. The interposition of a new and powerful barrier, by the erection of the Netherlands into an independent state against the ambitious encroachments of Austria and of France, was an event greatly to be desired by the King of Prussia and the United Provinces, and consequently in some measure also by England, with whom these powers were in close alliance. Pacific and commercial states and individuals calculated the immense harvest to be expected from the full growth of industry, directed by the inspiring breath of liberty, into a thousand channels; while men

of cultivated minds, lovers of the arts and sciences, formed the most pleasing expectations from their revival in their former seat; from the connexion in small states between each individual state and the public; from that spirit of emulation which would subsist among the different states of the confederation, each retaining its own peculiar form of government; and that unity of design and action which would be given in any popular and common enterprize or cause to the exertions of the whole United Belgic states. Though divided from the Seven United Provinces by government, they would be united more and more by congeniality of manners, and the sympathies arising from commercial intercourse, and a common devotion to liberty, and hatred of despotism. Liege, and other small states adjacent, would naturally apply for admission into so prosperous a confederation. And, on the whole, the spirit of the ancient Grecian republics, though modified by a difference of climate, would unite and exalt the Belgic and other states in their neighbourhood, to a height of prosperity and improvement unexampled perhaps in what we know of the history of the world.

Other

cided on these by vote, passed resolutions, and proposed several reforms with respect to the subjects of their discussion. Among their other acts, soon after the expulsion of the Austrians from Brussels, they drew up, printed, and published, a paper, under the title of "An Address to the States of Brabant," in the name of the people at large, but more particularly of the subscribers. In this piece, subscribed by 2,000 names, among which were not a few of respectable character and condition, they pointed out many defects in the new arrangement of public affairs, and the constitution arising out of it; com. plaining, above all things, of the inedequate share possessed by the commons, and even the greater part of the other two estates, the nobility and the clergy, in the national representation. The reasoning employed in this address, or in general by what we shall call, for the sake of precision, the democratical party, was to the following purpose:-"The sovereign power, on the dismission of the Emperor, and the declared independence of the Belgic provinces, was exercised with great propriety by the statesgeneral: even in former interregnums the same had been exercised by the states in former times. The authority which pro re natâ they have assumed, can only be temporary and provisional; and for their assumption of this authority, as well as their use of it, they are responsible to the Belgic nation. It is most absurd in the partisans of aristocratical despotism to maintain the authority of the states-general, even

to perpetuity, on the ground of aversion to innovation, and a regard to the preservation of the ancient constitution. The ancient constitution of the Austrian Netherlands is no more: it fell by the stroke that cut off its head: in that head, Joseph II. of Austria, representative of the Dukes of Burgundy, the functions of the other branches of the legislature centered. They were not original and absolute, but relative and conditional. They had a reference to the sovereign, on the one hand, and to the people, on the other, whose privileges it was their duty and business to protect against the encroachments of the sovereign. They were a barrier, an intermediate power between the sovereign and his subjects. The sovereign power being annihilated, or, what is worse, the sovereign power being superadded to that of the states-general, where is there to be found a power between the people and this new, alarming, and monstrous aristocracy?

"The states of Brabant, the freest of all the provinces, and the model to which the rest wish on all occasions to conform, is composed of three orders, the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate; it might, therefore, be naturally imagined that these three orders would involve, in one shape or other, a pretty fair representation of the Belgic nation; but this is by no means the case. There is no representation whatever of the great body of the common people, nor of the clergy, nor even of the nobility and gentry: the right of sitting

mocrats.

sitting and voting in the assembly of the states is confined to the abbots of male convents, to about twenty-seven out of a numerous nobility, and to a few deputies from the different trades or corporations of the chief cities. Anciently, the smaller cities or towns, and even the villages, were possessed of franchises, which entitled them to seats in the third estate of the national assembly but from the natural process of delegation and sub-delegation in all popular power, the representatives of the people of Brabant, were limited at last to deputies from Louvain, Brussels, and Antwerp. Thus the constitution of the states-general of the Nether lands is the most aristocratical that can be well imagined. This as sembly of men, in the constitution of which the public voice has scarcely any share at all, can never be regarded as the representation, or genius, if we may say so, of the nation. But if they had indeed a title to be regarded in this light, still they would not have any title to assume the reins of government, and to convert a subordinate, or if they will, for the sake of argument, a coordinate, into an absolute power; the parliament of the catholic provinces would, at best, be in the predicament of the parliament of Great Britain during the interregnum occasioned by the late indisposition of the King. Though this assembly was more popular than the states-general, and had fairer pretensions to be considered as the voice of the people, they never conceived the idea of governing the nation, even for a time, by their own authority, but proceeded without delay to the declaration of a regent. Experience had taught

the British nation to consider a perpetual parliament exercising a direct power over the people, without any control, as an object of terror. The partial, summary, and iniquitous proceedings of the English parliament in the time of Charles I. which serve as a beacon to the British, ought also to forewarn the Belgic nation of the calamities to be apprehended from despotic power, whether it be lodged in the hands of one man or of many The states-general are in the situation of a chamberlain or steward, who, on the death of his lord,continues, without any express commission, to manage affairs for the benefit of his lawful heir, to whom he gives an account of his conduct; or of a character known to the Romans and the Roman law, under the name of negotiorum sistor.

"The states-general are therefore responsible to the people for all. that they have done and advised since the deposition of the Emperor: the sooner that they call a national assembly, the more effectually will they secure their own safety, and the tranquillity and security of the commonwealth. If the Belgic provinces are not yet ripe for a civil constitution, framed on the mode of that which is in the act of being reared in France, at least let a successor be appointed to Joseph II.; at least let the constitution, such as it was before the dismission of that ambitious man, be restored; and let improvements be made afterwards as opportunities may invite, and as the spirit of the times may bear or require. Till the old constitution be restored, or a new one established on the basis of liberty and justice, it would be the greatest madness in the triple

alliance,

alliance, or in any other power, to enter into a treaty with the Catholic provinces."

Such principles and pretensions were highly offensive to the two upper orders, who foreseeing that, by the admission of these the influence which they had hitherto exercised with so little control, would be greatly diminished, laboured to quash them, together with the spirit inwhich they originated. For thisend they employed the Curés, or parishpriests, of the towns and villages of the provinces, to visit their respec tive parishioners, and to use their utmost influence for inducing them to sign a counter-address, requesting the states to seize and punish, in an exemplary manner, all those disturbers of the public tranquillity, who wished to introduce innovations and changes in the religion, in the constitution, or in the present form in which the nation is represented by the three orders of the state, which it has chosen for its representatives. The Curés, habituated throughout life to the greatest intimacy and friendship with their parishioners, reluctant to press a measure which they knew to be contrary to the senti ments and inclinations of so great a portion of them, and sympathizing perhaps more with the third estate than the higher orders of the clergy and the nobility, do not seem to have been very zealous in performing the task assigned to them certain it is, at least, that they were not very successful The counter-address received but slow and scanty support: nor is there any certain information that it was ever presented. While the united Belgic states endeavoured to recommend their cause to the VOL. XXXIII.

public by means of the priests, they took care, as far as was possible, that the eloquence of the priests should suffer no counteraction from that of the press; which by a decree passed on the 12th of January, 1790, two days after the declaration of independency and the formation of the new government, was to remain under the same restrictions as formerly; that is to say, that all publications whatever, without exception, should continue as usual, subject to the previous examination and judgment of clerical, or lay-censors, according to the nature of the matter treated of in such publications; and that all printers, booksellers, and hawkers, should be answerable for the matter contained in the books, pamphlets, or papers, which they should publish.

This marked solicitude to keep the minds of men under control, only served to excite the greater dissatisfaction on the part of all who aimed at a more popular form of government. These might be reduced to three classes: 1st, The burghers and inhabitants of towns, reckoning in that number the trading and manufacturing parts of the community, whether living in towns, villages, or any part of the country. 2d, That numerous and still increasing class of men, of various situations and professions, who were smitten with what began about this time to be called the French Contagion. 3rd, Some of the lower nobility, and their descendants, who served in the Belgic army; a great portion of the military men in general, and particularly of brave officers mostly of the third estate, and without whose bold spirit and extraordinary exer E

tions