Certainly, my lord, this result is deplorable, but I have at least the conviction that, in order to avert it, I have been ready, in the name of my august sovereign, to sacrifice every thing except the honour, the independence, and the Sovereign rights of that magnanimous and free nation whose interests I defend.

I request your excellency to accept the renewed assurance of my very high esteem and consideration.

H. DE ZUYLEN DE NYEVELT. To his Excellency Earl Grey, &c.

Downing Street, Nov. 13, 1832. Monsieur le Baron,-I have this morning had the honour of receiving your excellency's letter of yesterday, and though it does not appear that any advantage can be derived from the continuance of a correspondence not passing through the usual official channels, there are some passages in your excellency's letter which I cannot suffer to pass without observation.

Your excellency states that the project of the cabinet of Prussia was proposed by you as a basis, not of a negotiation, but a treaty, which you were prepared immediately to sign. This, your excellency will excuse me for saying, appears to be nothing more than an objection to a word. The Prussian project was drawn up here by certain members of the Conference,

the participation or knowledge of the British government; was afterwards proposed by the Prussian plenipotentiary at the Hague to the Netherlands' government, but never communicated to the Conference, nor officially to his majesty's secretary of state.

A copy of that project was given to me by your excellency on the 9th instant, and on examination it is found, both as to what it omits and what it proposes, exposed to many serious objections and difficulties, which could only be removed by further explanation and discussion. Though your excellency, therefore, might have been prepared to subscribe to that project as the basis of a treaty, it could not in its present form be accepted without the consent of the Belgian government, nor agreed to by this government without many material alterations. Was I not, then, justified in saying that the proposal made to me on the 9th instant contained nothing more than an offer to accept the project of the Prussian cabinet as the basis of negotiation, and that there appeared nothing certain in it but further delay, which the present state of affairs would no longer admit?

With respect to the amount of duty to be levied on the navigation of the Scheldt, it is true that your excellency stated that you had the power to agree to the reduction of duty proposed by the Netherlands' government, of three florins a-ton to a lower rate. But your excellency never specified at what rate you were prepared to fix this duty. This, therefore, was in itself a subject of further discussion, upon which no agreement could take place without the con

currence of the Belgian government; and here again, upon this single point, if it had been the only one, a further delay, no longer possible, was necessarily required. I must here observe, that if the question of the navigation of the Scheldt has been treated as one affecting the European powers, it has been so only in consequence of the claims of the Belgian government having been founded on the treaty of Vienna, by which the general rights respecting the navigation of that river have been secured.

Upon the transit duty through Limburg, I must correct a misap prehension into which your excel lency appears to have fallen as to what passed with relation to this matter in our interview of the 27th inst. I certainly never intended to admit the claim of the Netherlands' government to levy such a duty. I knew it was expressly precluded by the 11th article of the treaty of the 15th of November, which had been consented to by all the Five Powers. In giving up those portions of Limburg which belonged to Bel gium previous to 1790, the Belgian government deprived itself of an uninterrupted communication with Germany through its own territories. The right of free passage, subject only to barrier duties for the maintenance of the roads through that part of the territory which was henceforth to belong to Holland, with a route to be established through Sittardt, was considered as a part of the compensation to be made to Belgium for the advantage of which she would thus be deprived. It was impossible for me, therefore, to admit the claim of Holland, but, anxious to find the means of

an amicable adjustment, I threw out, not as a proposition which I was authorized to make, but as a suggestion of my own, that possibly this point might be settled by an arrangement for a new route, to be made to the south of Maestricht; expressly stating, however, at the same time, that this could only be done by a negotiation, to which Belgium must be a party, and for which time was no longer left, unless the citadel of Antwerp should be previously evacuated. This opinion 1 repeated still more positively and distinctly, supporting it by reasons which appeared to me conclusive in the second interview which I had the honour of having with your excellency on the 9th inst.

It is not, therefore, on the part of his majesty's government that the difficulties have arisen which have hitherto prevented a satisfactory termination of these unhappy differences. It has been, during a negotiation of two years, our wish to bring about such a conclusion. The same desire still continues, and will be acted upon with sincerity and good faith whenever an opportunity shall present itself. I have, like your excellency, been educated in a belief of the intimate union of interests between Great Britain and Holland, and look anxiously for the moment when the relations of friendship, so essential to the prosperity of both, shall be re-established between them. Hitherto, I am compelled to say, the proceedings of your government have not appeared to correspond with this desire; nothing but propositions, declared by all the Five Powers, up to the 1st of October last, to have been inadmissible, have been received, till at last, "all

hope was excluded of bringing the government of the Netherlands, by the ordinary means of negotiation, to a direct agreement with that of Belgium."

It was when this state of things had produced the necessity of the measures in which Great Britain and France are now engaged, that a new proposition has been made, which, for the reasons already given to your excellency, cannot be deemed sufficient to suspend them. I am therefore compelled again to state to your excellency, that the evacuation of the citadel of Antwerp must now be considered as an indispensable preliminary to any further negotiation. But, in insisting on this condition, I must repel the charge of requiring any sacrifice of the honour and independence of your nation. The honour and independence of Holland are dear to Great Britain, and in making the demand which your excellency so positively rejects, though a similar demand has, at the same time, been made on the Belgian government, the only object of his majesty's government is to obtain a satisfactory security for the successful prosecution of the work of peace, to the accomplishment of which its endeavours will still be earnestly and zealously directed.

I cannot conclude without repeating to your excellency, that though, in the hope of its leading to a satisfactory result, I have not objected to a departure from the established usage in the discussion which has taken place between us, it would be more convenient, if your excellency should wish to make any further communications, that they should be addressed in the usual way to the Foreignoffice.

I beg your excellency will accept the assurances of my high esteem and consideration, and have the honour to remain,

Your excellency's most faithful and most obedient servant,

GREY. His Excellency the Baron de Nyevelt, &c. &c.

London, Nov. 14.

My Lord,-After the reflections by which your excellency begins and terminates the letter which you did me the honour to address to me yesterday, the 13th inst., I think it right not to delay transmitting a detailed answer. My lord, with regard to your pointing out to me the foreign-office, as the intermediate channel for my correspondence, your excellency knows that I have not the honour to be accredited to his Britannic majesty. My powers are limited to treating with the Conference acting as mediators. On their losing that character, and two of the members who compose it assuming that of belligerents, those powers, in order to be still usefully employed, have need of a kind and strong aid and co-operation in order to prevent their forces from militating against their substance; and where can I find that aid and co-operation but in the statesman who, placed in England above others, regulates at pleasure the mode of transacting business?

It seems to me, therefore, that in an imminent crisis, I could do nothing more useful, more decisive, or in more good faith, than to address myself at once to the chief of the British government, and that with so much the more confidence as he himself had promised to

merge the difficulties of form in the superior interest of peace.

I check myself, my lord, but I do not wish to close this letter without offering to your lordship the tribute of my warmest gratitude for the expressions of interest and kindness towards my country with which yours abounds. It was at an epoch, that of the acceptance of the bases of separation by the king, my august sovereign, when I heard in other quarters the same language. Then, amongst councils which dictated friendship, I believed that the citadel of Antwerp would not in any case be delivered up until after the entire adjustment of our differences with Belgium. Since, however, these bases have remained without fulfilment, I have only met with coldness and indifference. The measures resorted to are but too much in unison with the forgetfulness of an ancient alliance which is now

sacrificed to the exigencies of the day.

God grant, my lord, that the re-assuring expressions which your excellency has addressed to me may be more fertile in results, and that it may not be in vain that the first minister of king William IV. declares that the honour and independence of my country are dear to him, and that he has been educated, like myself, in the sentiment of an intimate union of interest between Holland and Great Britain.

My lord, I have faith in these words.

I request your lordship to accept a new assurance of the very high esteem and consideration with which I have the honour to be, my lord, your lordship's very humble and very obedient servant,

H. DE ZUYLEN DE NYEVELT. His Excellency the Earl Grey.

The Hague, Oct. 15.

Noble and mighty Lords,

During the last months of your late sitting, a strong hope more than once arose, that, by the opening of the present session, I might be able to communicate to you the termination of the weighty difficulties in which our beloved country has been involved for upwards of two years, in consequence of the revolt in Belgium; but my reasonable expectations have not been fulfilled.

The moderation evinced by the northern Netherlands, and the sacrifices which I myself offered, instead of leading to a reasonable adjustment, have ultimately only

produced an augmentation of the demands upon us. You will be convinced, from the communications which I shall lay before you, respecting the state of the negotiations on my part, that on our side we have gone to the utmost bounds of condescension which were traced by the very existence and the honour and independence of the country. In the meantime it is gratifying to me that I am enabled to inform you, that I receive from the foreign powers many proofs of the deep interest they take in our affairs.

It is not less gratifying to me, in this situation of affairs, to give to the assembly the assurance that

our means of defence, on the whole extent of the frontiers, are highly satisfactory and sufficient, and that the state of the land and sea forces, whose experience and discipline, as well as their persevering courage, merit the highest commendation, answer in every respect the endeavours which are unremitting ly employed for that end.

Should, contrary to our hopes, the necessities of the country require a still greater development of force, then sufficient means are prepared by me from henceforth, with a full confidence in the disposition of the nation. The provincial and local authorities have again this year, with order, management, and the best result, executed the labours respecting the calling out and levyings for the national militia and schutters. The recruits show every readiness to join their brothers in arms. Every one of them emulates the regular force in a faithful discharge of his duty. The lot of the families of the defenders of the country is honourably protected and supported; and those in arms are, moreover, encouraged by liberal donations of the inhabitants. Notwithstanding the extraordinary inland equipments, our colonies are provided with the necessary ship ping and troops, and protection is given to commerce and the fisheries. In the transmarine possessions a desirable internal order prevails. The more economical establishment which we have been able to form in the East Indies, and the advancement made there in agriculture (the beneficial influence of which is already felt) jus tify the hope, that our East-India possessions, in future, will open a still more enlarged source for trade and prosperity. Also in the West

India colonies a more simplified form of government has lately been introduced; the saving resulting therefrom, combined with other favourable measures, will immediately lead to an alleviation of the difficulties which there pressed on industry, and the further promotion of which shall be my constant endeavour.

In our commerce and naviga tion there is observable rather an advance than decline. Obstructed in some branches by the force of circumstances, they are, by the enterprise of our merchants and shipowners, considerably extended in others. We thus still occupy, among commercial nations, the station which properly belongs to us, and which, I hope, whatever perfidy or force may endeavour to deprive us of, to secure to my be loved subjects in future.

Agriculture has been blessed with an abundant harvest, and also in many other branches of industry we have enjoyed a share of prosperity, which, amidst the evils that affect our country, should call forth our gratitude.

In every department of the local administrations there has been a regular course; and the several local authorities have discharged their duties with good order and correctness.

The state of our sea and river works is satisfactory, and this year we have experienced no particular misfortunes.

Arts and sciences flourish, though the present state of affairs is so unfavourable. Education, to which every class is indebted for that sense of true liberty, for which the Old Netherlands are so renowned, maintains its eminence.

The destructive sickness which has attacked nearly the whole of