XXV. 1831. CHAP. of the liberal party concurred in offering it to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Cobourg, by whom it was, after some hesitation, accepted. This hesitation was produced by a doubt as to the extent of territory which was to belong to the new kingdom on the side of Limburg and Luxembourg, as his declinature of the crown of Greece had been occasioned by the exclusion of Candia from its limits. Having, however, received satisfactory assurances from the British government on this point, he accepted the proffered diadem, and soon after made a public entry with great éclat into Brussels. M. de Talleyrand had strongly supported the British government in its efforts to procure that nomination; for he foresaw in that nomination a termination of all discord between France and England on the subject, and the only real security v. 165, 169. for the new-born royalty of Louis Philippe against the now scarcely disguised hostility of the northern powers.1 1 Ann. Hist. xiv. 400, 415; Cap. 65. Change which this election made on of Holland and Belgium. But although the veteran diplomatist was undoubtedly right in supposing that the election of the widower of the Princess Charlotte, and the personal friend of the leading the views Whigs in England, would remove all jealousy on the part of its cabinet to the new arrangement in the Low Countries, yet it was very far from having the same effect on the relations of Holland and Belgium themselves; on the contrary, it much aggravated the causes of irritation between these two rival states. The Belgian congress, which was audacious in proportion to its weakness, and could with difficulty be brought to reason or a just sense of its situation by the threatened hostility of the five powers, no sooner found itself supported by England, from whom most hostility was to be apprehended, than it rose in its demands, and insisted upon the cession of Luxembourg and Limburg to the new kingdom. On the other hand, the King of Holland was determined to make no more concessions, and to bring the negotiations which appeared to be interminable to an end; he formally intimated to the Belgian govern June 1. XXV. 1831. ment his acceptance of the conditions of separation CHAP. between the two states, as fixed by the protocols of 20th and 27th January last, and that if the Belgian government did not intimate their adherence within five days, he would consider himself entitled to act for himself. In making this declaration, William was in secret much influenced by irritation at the election of Prince Leopold to the throne of Belgium. He had all along been supported by a strong party, composed of the most Ann. Hist. respectable, though not the most numerous citizens in 416; Cap. Belgium; and it was not till the election of Leopold was Louis declared that he lost the hope he had always entertained 419, 420. of the crown being tendered to one of his own family.1 xiv. 414, v. 167, 168; Blanc, ii. Britain regarding The same election caused the feelings of the govern- 66. ment which now ruled the destinies of Great Britain to Change in the policy undergo a still more decisive change towards him. Eng- of Great land was now convulsed by the reform passion, and it was only by feeding it that the Whig Ministry could retain Belgium. possession of the reins of power. As such, it naturally felt a secret leaning and partiality for a popular, and a distrust of a conservative power. Belgium was the advanced-work of the revolutionary, Holland of the legitimate monarchies. France was the protector of the former, Russia of the latter. This state of things-new in recent British history, though well known in the days of the Reformation-now began for the first time to influence the foreign policy of the country, and Holland was the first power which experienced the change. Leopold was a constitutional monarch; he was the élève of Great Britain, the personal friend of the existing Ministers, and they had placed him on the throne. In all these respects William of Holland was the very reverse he stood on hereditary right; he was the protegé of the Holy Alliance, the pupil of Russia. Thus the ancient and longestablished alliance with Holland insensibly turned, first into coldness, and ere long into hostility; while, on the other hand, sympathy of feeling and identity of party XXV. 1831. CHAP. interest was rapidly converting the ancient jealousy of France into a feeling of cordial amity, which ere long terminated in alliance. Thence the immense importance of the political changes in Great Britain which were in progress at this time, and have occupied so large a portion of this history. They brought on not only an alteration in the internal constitution of Great Britain equivalent to a revolution, but an entire change in the alliances of Europe, and in the foreign policy of its principal monarchies. 67. the lan Luxem bourg. Luxembourg was the point where this change in the Change in foreign policy of Great Britain first appeared. It has been already mentioned that by article 2d of the Act of guage of England and France Separation between the two states, which had been sancregarding tioned by all the powers, it had been stated that the province should belong to Holland, as part of the ancient patrimony of the house of Nassau.* But no sooner was the election of Leopold as King of Belgium determined on, than the British ministry, forgetting in the heat of party conflict alike the faith of treaties and the lasting interests of their country, passed over to the other side, and announced by a letter of Lord Ponsonby to the congress of Brussels, that, provided they submitted without reserve to the Conference, the latter would use their best endeavours to obtain the grand-duchy of Luxembourg for them by negotiation, and upon giving to Holland a suitable indemnity, and in the mean time protect them from any attack on the part of the German Confederation.+ Justly alarmed at this declared inten *“Les limites de la Hollande comprendront tous les territoires, places, villes, et lieux qui appartenaient à la ci-devant République des provinces unies des Pays Bas en l'année 1790. La Belgique sera formée de tout le reste des territoires qui avaient reçu la dénomination du Royaume des Pays Bas dans les traités de 1815." Luxembourg and Limburg were part of the old patrimony of the house of Nassau, and never were part of Belgium at all.—Protocole, 20th Jan. 1831; Ann. Hist., vol. xiv. p. 410. +“Si la Belgique consent à se placer dans le cercle des états Européens, reconnaissant les traités énoncés, la conférence l'aidera par une puissante médiation à obtenir le Duché de Luxembourg par un traité, et moyennant une indemnité équitable; et, par des moyens assurés, la conférence préviendra toute 1 XXV. tion of despoiling him of part of his paternal inheritance CHAP. on the part of the London conference, and anticipat- 1831. ing nothing but coercion from the "powerful mediation" of such formidable mediators, the King of Holland lost no time in protesting solemnly against any such project Ann. Hist. being entertained, and appealing to the faith of treaties 416; Cap. to maintain him in the possessions of his family, and the limits assigned to him by the mediating powers them- 420, 421. selves.1 * xiv. 412, v. 167, 109; Louis Blanc, ii. 68. the negotia secret treaty Without going into the tedious details of those negotiations, which continued without intermission for the Progress of next two months, and went the length of above fifty tion, and protocols, it is sufficient to observe that neither party of France abated in their demands, and it ere long became evident and Engthat a rupture had become unavoidable. The Belgian Assembly and King Leopold, in secret supported by England and France, insisted that negotiations should be begun between the two states for the purpose of severing the grand-duchy of Luxembourg from Holland, and annexing it to Belgium; while William, in secret supported by Russia and Prussia, as strenuously insisted that nothing remained to negotiate about, that he accepted absolutely and unconditionally the Act of Separation as it had been fixed by the five powers themselves, and declined all proposals of exchange or compromise. Aware that matters were coming to extremities, and that hostilities might ere long break out, England and France entered into a secret treaty, the purport of which was, that Holland and Belgium should be forcibly restrained attaque militaire de la part de la Confédération Germanique pendant la négo- XXV. 1831. CHAP. from coming to blows, and that for this purpose an English fleet should be cautiously collected in the Downs, ready to cross over to the mouth of the Scheldt, and a French army of 40,000 assembled on the Flemish frontier. M. Talleyrand said, in reference to this treaty, that “England and France were two gendarmes who forcibly intervened to prevent a duel;" and had such been the character of the intervention, there could be no question of 1831; Cap. its propriety or justice. But he forgot to add that the Ann. Hist. intervention assumed a very different character when the gendarmes interfered to enable one of the combatants with impunity to rob the other.1 1 Treaty, June 16, v. 170, 171; xiv. 416, 417. 69. The five powers de the Act of and the King of Holland declares war. Aug. 4. June 26. The pretensions of the Belgian Assembly rose in proportion as England and France manifested a disposition viate from in their favour; and at length they arrived at such a Separation, point that they declared they would not be bound by the Act of Separation of the two states. of the two states. Upon this the French and English ministers, Lord Ponsonby and General Belliard, left Brussels. Negotiations, however, still went on in London, and Leopold formally accepted the crown, on condition of the conference giving him the advantages stipulated in eighteen articles, which differed widely from the original Act of Separation, and gave Belgium much more than had belonged to it in 1790, besides leaving the question of Luxembourg open. To this the conference in London agreed, deeming the settlement of the Belgian question by placing Leopold on the throne, an advantage so great that it was worth purchas174; Ann. ing by the sacrifice of some of the rights of Holland. When this resolution was notified to the King of HolBlanc, ii. laud, he declined to accept it, in calm but dignified terms; and orders were given to the troops on the frontier to move forward, while General Chassé announced the ter137, App. mination of the armistice, concluded on the 5th of November preceding, to the Belgian governor of Antwerp.2* 2 Cap. v. 129, 172, Hist. xiv. 432, 433; Louis 420; see * "Les 18 articles que vos Excellences m'ont fait l'honneur de m'adresser, et qui sont proposés aux deux parties comme un base de préliminaires d'un |