protection.

Such, Gentlemen, are the principal titles to approval with which the Provisional Government appears before the nation and its representatives. As for relations with foreign countries, we have not thought it advisable to enter into any such under the circumstances in which the nation and we ourselves are placed. Be sides, we know for certain, and we can give you the positive assurance, that the principle of nonintervention will be strictly observed towards us. We therefore thought that free Belgium ought to found its independence by its own force, always ready to oppose whoever should attempt to impede this sacred right.

"Since we took this resolution, we have received from the five great Powers recent and official communications, which we are happy to be able to lay before you on this solemn day. These communications fully confirm the assurances previously given, and make us hope, with the speedy cessation of hostilities, the evacuation, without any condition, of the whole territory of Belgium,

"Gentlemen, you are going to finish and to consolidate our work. Found the edifice of our future prosperity on the principles of the liberty of all-of the equality of all in the eye of the law-and of

the most rigid economy. Let the people be called to profit by our revolution-let the expenditure of the state be diminished in the proportion of its real wants—the salaries of public functionaries reduced, so as to be no more than a just indemnity for the time and talents which they devote to the country. Lastly, the suppression of useless offices, and of the numerous pensions too often granted to servility, will enable you to consummate the work of our national representation.

"And we, Gentlemen, in whatever situation we may be placed, we shall support, by all our wishes, by all our means, by all our efforts, this patriotic work; too happy, after its complete success, to mingle in the ranks of the people, who will both have conquered and insured the benefits of victory.

"In the name of the Belgic people the National Congress is installed.

(Signed)

"DE POTTER.

"ALEX. GENDEBIEN.
"C. ROGIER.

"Baron EмM. D'HOOGVORSt.
"JOLLY.

"J. VANDERLINDEN.
"F. DE COPPIN.

"By order,

"L. A. VAN DE MEYER."

parison between it and the present period.

"Called to defend you, I was not slow in recognizing the elements of grandeur which the country still possessed. It is upon these elements that I have founded the system which has restored you to yourselves. In the midst of political agitation you had decreed your rights. But this resolution was not sufficient. It was necessary to confirm it by war and victory. I have succeeded in my administration with as much good fortune as in combating for you. I have been led by Providence beyond even the wishes which you were enabled to form. Twenty years ago, ancient and warlike Sweden did not contain more than 2,400,000 inhabitants. Its population now approaches 3,000,000. Your committee has made known to you, that it was then loaded with a debt of 53,000,000 of rixdollars: 44,000,000 of this debt have already been redeemed.

"Your taxes, in 1812, amounted to the sum of 2,650,000 rixdollars. They have been diminished successively by nearly a fifth. Your ancient direct contributions have likewise received a considerable alleviation. In opening your session, I announced to you that the Bank had increased its cash by nearly 1,000,000. On closing your Session to-day, I can add, that, without exceeding the capital of 30,000,000 of notes, these same metallic funds have been augmented, during 1829, by nearly 800,000 rix-dollars. The junction of the two seas has cost the state 5,000,000; the work is approaching its conclusion. This bold conception entirely belongs At its origin it was

to you.

unanimously agreed to. It has since been the subject of controversies, which I am happy to think I have contributed to allay.

"My administration, obliged to interrupt its operations for the purpose of observing the source of the obstacles it experienced, felt bound not to expose the new powers and the national spirit it had re-created to hazardous chances. It has withdrawn this peninsula from the calamities of civil dissensions, and their fatal effects. I have overcome the attractions of ambition and the power of arms— I have rendered them the auxiliaries of the majesty of the laws. I have been more a conciliator than a monarch-more a magistrate than a sovereign. I have endeavoured to elevate the legislative prerogatives without losing sight of the moral lever of royalty. Finally, I have sacrificed every thing to the union and the welfare of these two realms. Sensible of their common wants, the Swedes and the Norwegians have ceased to shed their blood and impoverish each other.

"It is my study to give to the rising generations the qualities without which the citizen loses his energy. Those qualities are truth and justice. With them Scandinavia will continue independent. From the legal authority with which those who govern are invested, flow national security and national glory.

"After having secured your rights, all my efforts have been directed to the maintenance of the fundamental compact. I have preserved it untouched. Peace and tranquillity are the objects of my care. To consolidate these happy results, I have placed the

throne in the bosom of the nation ---I have placed it under the national safeguard.

"Covered by the shield of concord, henceforth we shall be able to perfect our code, and to render its execution easy by the simplicity with which it is drawn up. This clearness, required as much by the people as by the judges, will give security to all; and the mature deliberation of the lawyers will be able to guide the resolutions to be taken at the approaching Diet.

"It is principally upon the right of succession, on that of property, and of the safety of mortgages, that we must fix our thoughts. Creditors and debtors all stand in need of finding strong guarantees in the revision of our laws. I repeat to you what I have already declared on another occasion, nations do not resemble individuals. The latter often commit an injury, by wishing to repair too much at a time. Nations, on the contrary, I can wait for the consolidation of their interests from the slow march of time, and the experience of the past. Let us give security to all interests, and let us act in such a manner, that the man who lives by his labour may have no cause to fear being deprived of the means of his existence. If our representation requires to be improved, let us never forget, that the four orders have formed for three ages the constituent basis of the monarchy.

"The increase of pay to functionaries, both civil and military, was demanded by necessity. I have seen, with satisfaction, the application which you have made to this object, so eminently useful, of the surplus of our revenues.

I

The funds granted for the materiel of the army, the defence of the kingdom, and public instruction, have excited my gratitude. have, likewise, to thank you for having accepted my proposition in favour of the proprietors. Public credit, thus established, promises a happy influence on the transmission of estates. It will become a power, if it is continued with discernment. The wishes which you have expressed to me concerning the tax on foreign corn, have been anticipated by my ordinance on the subject. I have reason to hope that it will be equally advantageous to the interest of the cultivators and the consumers.

"Our external relations leave nothing to desire, and those of good neighbourhood are on the most admirable footing. Our navigation must, henceforward, increase, as well in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, as in the seas of America.

"No advantage can be gained without considerable expenses; and

commerce, which vivifies every thing, is one of the branches which most requires the external support of diplomacy and naval expeditions.

"Before I united myself with your king, who adopted me as his son, I was so fortunate as to have acquired the right of saying to you-understand your government. You are indebted to it for the good it has done. You know I have placed my happiness only in public prosperity; and I now pray the Almighty to grant to the country his heavenly support, succour, and benediction.

"In virtue of section 109 of the form of the government, I de

clare your deliberations terminated, and your sittings closed for the present session; and I re

new to you, Gentlemen, the assurance of my royal benevolence."

COUNT CAPO D'ISTRIA to HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS PRINCE LEOFOLD.

Napoli, March 25 (April 6), 1830. "Mon Prince,-Providence does not abandon Greece. I find a fresh proof of this in the generous sentiments which have induced your royal highness to defend the lawful interests of this country, at the moment when its fate was about to be decided. The letter which your royal highness did me the honour of addressing to me, dated 16th (28th) February, affords to Greece the most encouraging assurances as to her future state. She finds them in all the efforts which you, Mon Prince, have made in order that her boundary should be more conformable to her wishes, and that a participation in the choice of her sovereign should be granted to her. "The protocol of the 3rd of February, and the acts annexed to it, are about to be officially communicated to the Greek government. I do not know in what terms; but I presume, from the confidential explanations which have taken place between me and the residents of the three Courts, that these gentlemen will require the strict exccution of the orders with which they are furnished, without admitting any negotiation, not even to settle the forms according to which the arrangements adopted by the Powers are to be carried

into execution.

"If your royal highness will have the goodness to cast your eyes over the decrees of the Congress of

Argos, of which I enclose a copy, you will perceive (1 Dec. Art. 3) that I am not authorized to contract any obligation, in the name and on the part of Greece, respecting the definitive arrangements in question, until the deputies plenipotentiaries shall have taken cognizance of and ratified them.

"However, since the point of view in which the Congress of Argos was bound to regard the treaty of July 6, differs essentially from that in which the high contracting Powers have judged it right to consider that treaty in their stipulations of the month of February; since the Greek government, notwithstanding its repeated entreaties, has not been called upon to take any part in the last negotiations, it can [not] conform to their result without requiring the previous meeting of a national Congress, and without incurring the reproach of thereby compromising the oaths, the dignity, and the rights, of the nation. In fact, the deputies of the provinces assembled in Congress for the purpose of receiving the communication of the acts of the conference of London, would have found themselves, with respect to those clauses which regard the boundary, in the painful alternative either of failing in their most sacred duties towards their constituents, or of not fulfilling those which the gratitude of the Greeks towards their august benefactors so justly imposes upon them.

"On the other hand, the deep

sense of these duties would have induced the representatives of the nation to accept with gratitude all the other arrangements which ensure to it inestimable advantages, and your royal highness would then have had the satisfaction of finding yourself also called upon, by the solemn and unanimous voice of a national assembly, to accomplish the restoration of Greece under the safeguard of the institutions, the bases of which have been laid down by the Congress of Argos. In the present state of things, the above-mentioned considerations, and, in general, the manner in which the Powers have determined to execute their decisions, oblige me to give an immediate answer to the communications which I am about to receive, and to renounce the convocation of a Congress. I shall therefore acquaint the senate and the nation with the motives which compel me to incur so heavy a responsibility, and I hope that the senate will share this responsibility with me, because it participates in the unlimited confidence which I place in the noble and generous intentions of your royal highness, which intentions are so clearly expressed in your letter of the 16th (28th) of February. It is in your breast, Mon Prince, that the Greeks deposit their wishes; and your royal highness, by receiving those wishes with kindness, will enable them to understand and appreciate the extent of that happiness which the Powers design for them, by elevating them to the rank of a free and independent people.

I think it of so great conse quence to submit to your royal highness beforehand the plan which I propose to follow, that I make you acquainted with it, even before

I have received the official communications of the residents of the allied courts, or have addressed any message to the senate upon these important questions. I flatter myself that I shall be able to perform this duty in a few days, and that the senate will itself respectfully express to your royal highness the wishes of the nation.

"I feel convinced beforehand, that the answer which you will deign to give will dissipate every doubt, will calm all minds, and open the hearts of all to sentiments of the most noble and sincere devotion to your royal highness.

"However desirous the ambas sadors of the three Powers at Constantinople may be to fulfil their commission, I doubt whether the evacuation of Euboea and Attica can be effected as quickly as the residents accredited to the Greek government seemed to think. Even supposing the Porte to have delivered the necessary firmans, it is not to be presumed that Omar Pacha and the commandant of Athens will acquiesce without making some difficulties, or opposing some delay. However this may be, it appears to me impossible for the evacuation of the territories now occupied by the Greeks, to take place without again becoming a source of trouble and disturbance for this country, unless it be effected under the following conditions:

"1. That it take place at the same time as the retreat of the Turks from the territories assigned to the new Greek state.

"2. That the commissioners for the demarcation, who are mentioned in the § 9 of the protocol of February 3rd, be likewise charged with the measures relative to this evacuation.