XXV. 1831. 70. It Commence ment of to and position and forces on sides. The Dutch army, when it thus threw down the gaunt- CHAP. let to the greatest powers of Europe, was in a very efficient state, and, considering the resources of the country by which it was maintained, surprisingly numerous. consisted of 70,000 men, recruited from the veteran hostilities, soldiers of Prussia, Germany, and Switzerland, attracted to the standard of King William by the ample pay the two offered by the Dutch government, of whom 40,000 were stationed on the frontier in three corps: one under General Van Gheen, which had orders to move upon Antwerp from Breda; the second, under General Georges, was in front of Maestricht; while the third was stationed between them, and was to advance upon Brussels. On the other side, the Belgians had collected 12,000 men, who were dignified by the name of the Army of the Scheldt, at Malines, which was commanded by Leopold in person; while another corps, 10,000 strong, under General Daine, was stationed between Maestricht and Hasselt. The composition of these troops, however, was not such as to 1Ann. Hist. inspire any hope that they would be able to withstand 435; Cap. the shock of the veteran troops who were collected Louis round the Dutch standards, for they were nearly all raw 420. levies, chiefly composed of the rabble of towns,1 ill equipped traité de paix, changent toutes les combinaisons. Le contenu inattendu de cette pièce a d'autant plus douloureusement affecté sa Majesté, que, d'après ce qui en résulte, la Conférence n'a pas jugé devoir accueillir une seule des observations multipliées produites par les plénipotentiaires des Pays Bas. La plupart de ces articles semblent le résultat d'un concert avec ceux qui exercent le pouvoir en Belgique. Mais sans s'arrêter à cette apparence, il est de fait qu'ils furent simultanément communiqués à la Belgique et à la Hollande, et que principalement on ne consulta point sur leur contenu, le Cabinet de la Haye, comme sa Majesté, avait bien droit de l'attendre. `A l'exemple des souverains les plus puissans, il pourra céder à la nécessité en abandonnant à leur sort ceux de ses sujets qui se sont soustraits à son autorité, mais jamais il ne leur sacrifiera les droits de la Hollande. Or, un examen réfléchi l'ayant convaincu que les articles préliminaires livreraient à la merci de l'insurrection les intérêts les plus chers de la patrie, il ne peut dès-lors les accepter, et doit derechef réclamer de la part des cinq puissances, comme j'ai l'honneur de le faire en son nom. Désormais c'est une querelle, un débat entre la Hollande et la Belgique, états indépendants et séparés ; il a ainsi le droit de paix et de guerre, sans qu'il y ait néces sité d'une intervention des puissances."-Protestation du Roi Guillaume, 26th June 1831; CAPEFIGUE, vol. v. pp. 173, 175. xiv. 433, v. 182, 185; Blanc, ii. CHAP. and worse disciplined, and totally destitute of the firmness XXV. and confidence in each other requisite to success in the 1831. 71. of the Bel gians. and 22. field. The corps of the Prince of Orange crossed the frontier Total defeat on the 5th, and made itself master of Diest without opposition; from whence, advancing on its left towards Aug. 3, 10, Haarlem, and on its right to Sichem, it interposed between the enemy's corps at Malines and on the Meuse, and rendered their junction impracticable. This was in itself a great advantage, which would probably be decisive of the issue of the campaign; but it was rendered still more important by what soon after occurred with the Dutch left on the Meuse. The Belgians were there attacked on the road between Hasselt and Tongres by General Georges' corps, and routed with such facility that the affair could not be called a battle. At the first shot the Belgian infantry took to flight; their artillery, in the confusion, fired on their own men, taking them for enemies; and the cavalry completed the disorder by wheeling about and trampling under foot their own foot-soldiers in the general flight. In frightful confusion the whole army fled to Liege, with the loss of its whole artillery, caissons, and baggage, leaving Brussels uncovered to its fate. That city was now at the mercy of the Dutch troops; for on the very day when this disaster happened to the army of the Meuse, Leopold, finding his right entirely uncovered, retired towards Louvain, and took up an intrenched position in front of that town. There he was followed by the Prince of Orange, attacked, and routed with so much facility that it was with great difficulty he escaped, after losing all his artillery, into Louvain, where he was shut up next day by the victorious Dutch. Leopold himself 1 Ann. Hist. behaved with great gallantry in this affair, but he could 435; Cap. not communicate his own spirit to the revolutionary rabble v. 185, 186; Louis whom he commanded.1 In these disastrous circumstances, Blanc, ii. 422. he wrote an urgent letter to Marshal Gérard, who commanded the French army on the frontier, to hasten his xiv. 434, XXV. 1831. march; and a limit was thus put to the progress of the CHAP. Prince of Orange, when he was at the gates of Brussels, held his rival blockaded in a town which could not hold out three days, and when, according to the republican journalists," Belgium was within a hair's-breadth of destruction. "* 72. tion of the army in But it was no part of the policy of France to allow this opportunity of re-establishing their influence in Flanders Intervento be lost, or of the new-born liberal policy of England French to interfere with such an extension of the power of their Faders ancient rival. On the contrary, the governments of both countries leant to the new-born revolutionary State, and regarded with jealousy the pretensions of William, the protegé of the Holy Alliance, and the advanced guard of the legitimist sovereigns. No sooner, accordingly, was the intelligence of the crossing the frontier by the Prince of Orange received in Paris and London, than orders were sent by the two governments for their respective forces to advance. The English fleet made sail from the Downs for the mouth of the Scheldt; the French army received orders instantly to cross the frontier and march upon Louvain and Brussels. With transports of joy the French troops began their march, the soldiers chaunting songs of victory; they were marching against the Holy Alliance; they were recommencing the career of the Grand Army; they were going to level the Lion of Waterloo! Forty thousand men, in the highest state of discipline and equipment, crossed the frontier on the 9th, and on the 12th the vanguard entered Brussels at the very moment xiv. 435, when the victory of Louvain had opened to the Prince of v. 187, 190. Orange the gates of the capital. 1 Ann. Hist. 436; Cap. and with Fortunately for the peace of Europe, the good sense of 73. the King of Holland, which was equal to his resolution, Armistice, led him to appreciate the dangers of his situation if he drawal of persisted any farther in hostilities. He had received a communication, signed by the ambassadors of all the five Aug. 13. * "La Belgique était à deux doigts de sa perte."—L. BLANC, vol. ii. p. 422. the French troops. XXV. 1831. Aug. 6, CHAP. powers, to the effect that they were unanimously resolved to put a period to hostilities so eminently hazardous to the peace of Europe, and that France and England, in interposing to prevent them, acted in the general interest, and with the concurrence of all the powers. In effect, a protocol was signed on the 6th, which regulated the intervention, declared that the Conference was satisfied that the French and English intervention was done in the intent and in order to preserve the peace of Europe, and provided that they should not cross the frontier of Old Holland, and neither invest Maestricht nor Venloo, and that the French troops should retire within the French frontier, and the English fleet to the Downs, as soon as hostilities ceased between the Dutch and Belgians. As soon as he was informed of this resolution on the part of the five powers, William despatched orders to the Prince of Orange to stop hostilities, and retire within the frontiers of Holland. The order reached him at Louvain, on the 13th, and he immediately concluded a convention with General Bel1 Protocol, liard, who commanded the French advanced guard, in virtue of which the Dutch troops withdrew within their 1831; Ann. own frontier, and the French, after some delay, retired Aug. 13. No. 31, Aug. 6, Hist. xiv. Cap. v. 189, 190. 147, App.; to their own country, without having had the satisfaction of destroying the Lion of Waterloo in the course of their expedition.1 74. Nothing but the preponderance of France and EngRenewed land, from their united policy and geographical position, and reasons' SO near the seat of hostilities, and the danger to which the northern they themselves were exposed by the still doubtful con conferences, which made powers acquiesce in them. test on the shores of the Vistula which will immediately be recounted, could have induced the Northern Powers to look quietly on, while the western potentates took upon themselves, in this manner, to arrange the affairs of Flanders at their own pleasure, and keep up by force the revolutionary state of Belgium, at the very moment when it had in reality fallen under the restored dominion of its lawful sovereign. In truth, the powers engaged in the XXV. 1831. Conference were as much divided on the subject, notwith- CHAP. standing their apparent unanimity, as Holland and Belgium; and it was with great difficulty a rupture was prevented between them. A spark would then have lighted the flame of a general war; and had the affair of Poland been settled three months earlier than it actually was, the French invasion of Belgium would have proved that spark. But the terror of a general war, for which they were wholly unprepared, and an undefined dread of revolt in their own dominions, if a strife of opinion were openly waged in Europe, prevailed over these views, and a sort of tacit agreement took place between the five powers, to the effect that France and England should be permitted to arrange at pleasure the affairs of Belgium, provided they allowed Russia and Prussia at will to settle those of Poland. 75. vantages Holland by this But although hostilities were thus stopped in Flanders, and William was prevented from recovering the lost part Great adof his dominions, at the very time when he had decisively gained by defeated the rebels in them, yet he gained much, both in material advantage and moral influence, by the brief irruption. passage at arms which had taken place. Short as the period of hostilities had been, it had proved both the vigour, patriotism, and unanimity of Holland, and the weakness, disunion, and inefficiency of Belgium. It was now demonstrated beyond all dispute, that the Belgian revolution had been the work merely of the heated democrats of a few great towns, and had no foundation in the solid sense or settled wishes of the great majority of the inhabitants of Flanders; for the revolutionary state, with four millions of inhabitants, had been vanquished in a few days by the conservative with two millions and a half. It was now evident to all the world that a popular dynasty could not stand of itself in Flanders, and that, if not propped up by the adjoining liberal Governments of France and England, it would at once fall to the ground. These conclusions flowed so evidently |