the Catholic church its establishment and its privileges. Sire, the existence and the privileges of the Catholic church, in this part of your kingdom, are inconsistent with an article of the plan of the new Constitution, by which equal favour and protection are promised to all religions. Since the conversion of the Belgians to Christianity, such a dangerous innovation has never been introduced in these provinces, unless by force. The attempts of Joseph the Second to maintain it were fruitless. The tyranny of the last French government established it in theory; but no religious troubles ensued, because the head of the state protected the Protestant sects as little as he did the Catholic church. After this, however, the declared enemy of all religion was overthrown. The Belgian Church recovered all her spiritual rights. In the Ordinance of the 7th March, 1814, which the Commissioners of the allied powers expressly confirm ed, the general Government of Belgium declared, "Henceforward the ecclesiastical power, and the temporal power, will be inviolably maintained in their respective limits, as they are fixed by the common law, and by the ancient constitution of the country." rejected schism and heresy from the bosom of the church. The Christian Emperors thought it their duty to maintain these laws, and to secure their execution, as may be easily seen in the collection of edicts upon this subject. From Charlemagne down to the unhappy epoch of 1781, and the following years, all the Sovereigns of this country in every age, exclusively protected the Apostolic Roman Catholic religion, and secured to it the undisturbed enjoyment of all the rights and privileges in the possession of which they found it. The Council of Trent, all whose resolutions were published in these Provinces, and have thence the effect of ecclesiastical law, after confirming all the old laws of the Church, which fix the spiritual jurisdictions, the rights of the Bishops, of the Chapters, of the Universities, and in general of the regular and secular clergy, commanded the bishops to see to the execution of them, and carefully to watch not only over the maintenance of the sacred pledge of the faith, but also that of the laws, which concern the essential discipline of the Catholic Church, and secure the consistency and the inviolability of its government. These, Sire, are the duties of the bishops of these provinces, and the laws of the country have constantly allowed and facilitated the fulfilment of them, till a higher power prevented them in part from discharging them. Sire, we do not hesitate to declare to your Majesty, that the canonical laws, which are sanctioned by the ancient constitutions of the country, are incompatible with the projected constitution which would give in Belgium equal favour and protection to all religions. The canonical laws have always istence and privileges, has the in If your Majesty, when you secure to the Belgic church her ex tention, tention, as we conjecture, to maintain the entire execution of the holy canon law, we are incapable of duly expressing our thanks to your Majesty for it. But we most respectfully take the liberty to lay before your Majesty an article of the new constitution, which, in securing the same protection to all religions, would be incompatible with the free and entire exercise of our official duties. We are bound, Sire, incessantly to preserve the people entrusted to our care, from the doctrines which are in opposition to the doctrines of the Catholic church. We could not release ourselves from this obligation without violating our most sacred duties; and if your Majesty, by virtue of a fundamental law, protected in these provinces the public profession and spreading of these doctrines, the progress of which we are bound to oppose with all the care and energy which the Catholic church expects from our office, we should be in formal opposition to the laws of the state, to the measures which your Majesty might adopt to maintain them among us, and in spite of all our endeavours to maintain union and peace, the public tranquillity might still be disturbed. And since, by Art. 136 of the proposed Constitution, the public exercise of a form of worship may be hindered, when it might disturb the public tranquillity; it follows, that the free exercise of our religion might be hindered by a possible consequence of the use of the rights and liberties of the Catholic church in these provinces. We dare not conceal from you, Sire, that such regulations, if they were confirmed by your Majesty, could only lead to a renewal of the troubles which desolated these provinces in the sixteenth century, and that they must sooner or later alienate the hearts of your faithful subjects in this part of your kingdom, with whom, attachment to the Catholic faith is stronger and more lively than in any other country in Europe. Already the proclamation of your Majesty, which announced that the new Constitution should insure the liberty of religions, and give all equal favour and protection, filled every heart with consternation. It is known that this dangerous system is one of the main articles of the modern philosophy, which has been the source of so many misfortunes to us; that evidently aims at exciting indifference to all religions, at lessening their influence from day to day, and at destroying them in the end entirely. We are bound, Sire, to tell you the truth in its full extent. The clergy of these provinces have not observed without pain that your Majesty has been persuaded to exclude them from the assemblies in which the great interests of the state were discussed; that the plan of the new Constitution contains honourable distinctions for the nobility, and that the clergy, once the first class in the state, are deprived of them; that it will not even have the right of being represented in the Provincial Assemblies, that its influence on the acceptance acceptance of the new Constitution is carefully removed, so that the inost distinguished members of the clergy, according to the expressions of your Majesty's proclamation, are not among the persons most worthy of the confidence of their fellow-citizens; lastly, that they are not allowed to inscribe their disapproving votes on the lists of the notables. All these are measures which (we say it with grief to your Majesty), can appear to us only as an unhappy omen for the future, since your Majesty's ministers already account the opinions and votes of the whole clergy for nothing, upon subjects which are as much within their cognisance as that of other private persons, nay, their peculiar province, as far as the interest of religion is concerned. It is impossible to calculate all the ill consequences that may arise from the continuation of such a plan. For if the Catholic clergy are no more to be consulted upon the concerns of the church-if it is decided that they can have no share, or at least only an accidental share, in making the laws, especially those relative to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, how can they hinder any encroachment upon the inalienable rights of the episcopal dignity, which belong to the existence of the Catholic church, and to the privileges which your Majesty insures to it? May they not be arbitrarily lessened in national assemblies, when the clergy have no influence, or, at the most, a very precarious one? Experience has proved how important it is that the clergy posVOL. LVII. sess a high rank in the state. The respect they enjoy, extends to the religion itself, which teaches it. However great the personal merit of the servants of the church may be, yet, in our times, if it is not supported by high rank and legal privileges, which ennoble the functions of the priesthood in the eyes of the people, the clergy can oppose but a weak bulwark to the disorders which they have continually to contend with. The internal peace and welfare of a state depends chiefly on the state of morals. There are no good morals where there is no religion. As things now stand, religion is more or less respected in proportion as its servants are more or less honoured and respected according to the existing laws. It is easy to confine the good in due bounds, but the wicked dare every thing against a clergy which does not enjoy a certain respect in the state. Your Majesty has doubtless remarked that the Catholic religion which was established again in France by the Concordat, did not produce the expected effect, because by the system of the Sovereign the Clergy enjoyed no rank, no consideration, no influence in the state. They were to be accounted as nothing. They were oppressed by all the inferior authorities: they soon became, as it was intended they should, incapable of doing good, or of preventing evil. We have the confidence that your Majesty will deign, in the submissive and respectful representations which we make to you, in the frank expression of our 2 D sentiments, sentiments, to see only the fulfilment of our most important duties, under present circumstances, only a new proof of our devotion to your sacred person, only the sincere wish that your Majesty may reign over these fine provinces in constant peace, by a perfectly paternal government, and by a powerful and durable union between the Clergy and the Royal Authority. We are, with the profoundest veneration, your Majesty's most humble, obedient, and faithful servants, (Signed) Prince MAURICE of Broglio, July, 28, 1815. Speech of the King of the Netherlands on opening the Assembly of the States General of the United Netherlands. Hague, August 8. High and Mighty Lords,-A few months ago I announced to the States General the union of all the Netherlands under the Royal Sceptre; but that this union may be permanent and beneficial, it is not enough that all the inhabitants be united under one Sovereign; they must, besides, be most intimately bound together by the same laws and the same institutions; the partywalls raised under other circumstances must be removed, and they must mutually regard each other as inhabitants of one house, and children of one family. Your High Mightinesses know that such are also the views of the united Powers of Europe in establishing the new Monarchy.— Faithful to the principle of every where maintaining and preserving the already established relalations, they have especially required that our Constitution shall be maintained, and only altered in so far as the change of circumstances should, upon common deliberation, appear to demand. My own wishes coincide with this determination. I have chosen for the revision of the Constitution those measures which appeared to me most adapted to the end proposed. Men assembled from all the provinces of the kingdom, without any other end in view than the welfare and glory of their countrymen, have fulfilled the important task, and, in their dispassionate, concordant, and confidential deliberations, I have seen, with joy, a new and flattering presage of the fraternal union of all my subjects. These deliberations still continued, when the tumult of war, unexpected, and with unusual rage (but, God be thanked, for a short time only) surprised our territory. The danger, though short, was urgent; but the courage of our warriors was superior to the danger. No consideration, no examples of a neighbouring country even, could make one doubt a moment of the security of engagements voluntarily taken .by by the Netherlanders; and now, that in a period of danger, united under the banner; of independence, and by the side of our generous allies, they have confirmed their vows by deed; I flatter myself that the nation and all Europe partake my conviction and my confidence. History shall one day shew in the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo two illustrious pillars of the new State of the Netherlands, and happy the fathers are on whose sons the lot has fallen to raise these pillars with their arms, and to dye them with their blood. of services useful to the State, to the public institutions, to the defence of the country; and, in general, the royal power is great enough to secure the welfare of the community, but insufficient to oppress or injure a single subject. If these observations are just, we may, under the direction of the new Constitution, with increased ability, and with confidence in the future, continue and complete what, under the Divine blessing, is already begun, designed, or prepared for the honour and the welfare of the Netherlands. To your High Mightinesses is confided the solution of this question. Each of you knows the high importance of his mission, and each of you will strive to acquit himself of it with that zeal which we at all times, but especially in times like these, owe to our dear untry. The plan which is to be considered in this Assembly should not be offered you by me, since, in the review of the fundamental law, scarcely one article was laid aside by which the dearest rights of our nation was secured. But every care has been taken to extend these rights as much as possible, and to define them more clearly, that the new political union may have the stamp of an enlightened Convention between the British and eye, and of the national character. The inviolability of the judicial authority remains irrevocable, and liberty of conscience is guaranteed to the fullest extent. No property can be declared confiscated, no opinion or thought checked in its course. The meanest citizen is at liberty to make his voice heard even at the Throne. The people retain their representation; the Provincial Assemblies a suitable degree of power. The burdens of the State are freely voted, and equally borne. The revenues to be accounted for, according to fixed rules, can be employed in the hands of the King to no other ends than to the payment no Dutch Governments. In the name of the most Holy and Undivided Trinity. His Majesty the King of the Netherlands, and his Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, being both highly desirous of promoting and confirming the harmony and good understanding which so hap pilly subsist between their states, by bringing into actual operation that part of the stipulations of the first of the additional articles of the Convention of Aug. 13, 1814, which imports, "that the sub"jects of his Majesty the King of "the Netherlands, being landed proprietors in the colonies of 2 D 2 "Demerary, |