limits and duration, it affords at least a melancholy proof, that "to every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven-a time to get, and a time to lose." And yet, so high was the eminence to which Holland had arrived, that in her fallen state she still retains some vestige of her ancient renown, some faint glimmer of her "glory extinct," some indication of what she was. she had become a second Tyre! Her marine was respectable, and the Cape of Good Hope gave security to her Asian possessions. La Hollande, ennemi fier, intrepide, heureux, Sa fureur le fait craindre aux deux bouts de la terre, Look at her monopolies, her united East which, at the close of the sixteenth century, When we look steadily at Holland, and view her as she stands now, in the nineteenth century, in all her weakness, we can with difficulty believe that it is the same nation which only a few generations back, having shaken off the Spanish paralysis which cruelly deadened her energies, had so miraculously established her dominion at home and abroad, driven the Portuguese from their settlements, multiplied her colonies, and, to the amazement of mankind, so rapidly became the great magazine of the world*. "There was not a manufacture she did not carry on, nor a state to which she did not trade." She loaded herself with the shawls, the silks, the linens of India-she rigidly monopolised Ceylon, its cinnamon, its coffee, and its pearls. Java, and all the spices of the East were her own-cotton, rice, sugar, all found their way into her storehouses * In hac regione mercantur Itali, Hispani, Lusitani, Britanni, Scoti, Galli, Germani, Americani, Orientales, aliique ex omnibus penè orbis plagis. BLAEU. S'il n'y connoit le fer que par ses hameçons, Nor will it appear strange that, though limited to a population of less than two millions, under the stimulating advantage of her characteristic perseverance, Holland should have made such progress in aggrandisement. She was diligent, and studiously turned every thing to account-her fisheries, her endless manufactures, her very cheese and butter, all these things, though small in themselves, were minutely attended to. Like Midas, whatever she touched was turned to gold!— her very bogs became lucrative, and her thousand canals gave rapid and easy circulation to her commercial pursuits and products. That country, as pertinently stated by a celebrated geographer, affords unquestioned evidence that human industry is powerful to overcome every disadvantage of climate, of nature, and even of situation. Where, indeed, shall we look for a nation that has given more illustrious proofs of noble daring, of honesty and public spirit-that has so wonderfully magnified her power, so raised her fame, and so established her reputation-though now ruinously on the wane-as this nation has done? A fact which admirably illustrates at once the aptness and propriety of her armorial device, the Concordia res parvæ crescent of Sallust, which in 1579 was assumed by the States, to show how essential they considered a perfect union to their preservation. A circumstance particularly to be remembered for the salutary maxim it conveys, that in union there is strength, and that the first step to stability is for a nation to be of one heart and of one mind! But whilst we eulogise Holland, and willingly give her praise where praise is due, it will hardly be expected that we should commend the sinister and selfish bearing of a prince who seems to consider pertinacity, in a cause totally indefensible, on grounds, too, which all Europe reprobates, as a demonstration of firmness, a proof of monarchical spirit! Having entered upon his grand climacteric, when political sins cease to be pardonable, and when, if ever, even a monarch should have acquired, if not wisdom, at least experience and discretion, William of Holland has wofully disappointed the expectations of mankind. Had the king's grandson, William or Alexander, swayed the Dutch sceptre, some allowance would have been made by the friends of legitimate government for the extravagance of recent counsels, -puerility of judgment, and even a little bluster would have been imputed to the thoughtless buoyancy of youth, and goodnaturedly excused. But really, at threescore and two, the tragi-comic scenes, which, under the histrionic management of Baron Chasse have been so curiously enacted sur le théatre d'Anvers, were neither in good taste nor in good policy; they were neither bonne comedie, ni bonne tragedie. Whatever might have been the moderation of the ci-devant Prince Stadtholder before, by strange eventful war, "He met that crown," the undignified ill-concerted measures that have of late years prevailed, must infallibly lower him in the opinion of Europe. His system of protocolling, so indecently practised upon the London conference, though possibly à l'Hollandoise, does no credit to his majesty. The idea of putting the key of the Scheldt in his pocket, and, coute qui coute, of setting France and England at defiance, until Belgium was once more at his feet, and Leopold at Claremont, was so egregiously bombastical that we are truly happy to find it at last abandoned! When, on the conclusion of the French war, in their fancied omnipotence and distempered zeal, it pleased the Holy Alliance to annex Belgium to Holland, they would have deemed it loss of time, and probably a dereliction of duty, to have calmly consulted their understandings, or considered whether they were borne out by justice. It did not occur to them that they were giving away that which was not theirs to give—that they were turning over four millions of freemen like a herd of swine, and stripping them of their rights, privileges, and immunities, which it was not very likely they were ready slavishly to surrender-that they were doing violence to their nature-violence to that sacred spirit of rational liberty and inde VOL. II.-NO. 11. pendence which nothing can subdue, which no human being is warranted to shackle, and which no earthly power can completely coerce by any means short of positive annihilation—that in so doing they were heaping coals of fire on the head of the Dutch King, and most indiscreetly preparing the elements of future strife and future warfare, by a compulsory union of heterogeneous materials between which there could be no possible affinity. Than such an union what could be more unnatural? It was yoking the ox and the ass to the same plough, which a Lawgiver of greater authority than even the Holy Alliance has pronounced to be an abomination. Nor was the plan adopted by William for the governance of his new dominion such as the state of the case, the circumstances of the times, or the extreme delicacy and importance of the occasion demanded. His government could not but be odious to the Belgians, being based on Dutch principles, and leaning injudiciously to Dutch interests. If he wanted ability to retain Belgium when it was delivered over, shackled, into his hands, how, at his time of life, despite of England and France and of the inveterate opposition of an armed people, will he now find ability to regain it? Hopeless is the thought-vain and desperate the undertaking! The Pope, we are informed, in the plenitude of his superlative arrogance, was most graciously pleased to make a donation of Ireland to Philip of Spain, to him and his heirs for ever! Philip had abundance of ambition, but with all his ambition he would not venture on a seizure; he doubted the pontiff's right to give, and his own power to get and to hold. So that William, with all his gravity, his age, and his national pésanteur, has not shown himself equal to the Spaniard in the common rules of prudence ; and, if not too old and obtuse, would yet do well to take the Spanish monarch for his example! But, with an eye to his queen, a lady respectable for her virtues, his Dutch majesty looks to Prussia perhaps for support-in vain. Frederick is too wise a prince to embark his reputation in a project so senseless, so unjustifiable, so little calculated to do him honour. The general conduct of the Dutch king does no credit to his understanding; it has had no tendency to conciliate the hearts of the Belgians; what effect it has had, or may have, on the hearts of his own subjects, I will not presume to decide. Certainly his S obstinate defence of Antwerp, against the resistless force which France had arrayed for its reduction, was wanton in the extreme-it was attended with an unnecessary and inconsequential destruction of human life-it betrayed a criminal contempt of military axioms, precepts, and principles, and was contumaciously grounded in rashness. But until rashness shall by military men be accounted a military virtue, William will not be held guiltless, nor will General Chassé establish his pretensions to heroism. Nor am I prepared to admire the spirit which moved his majesty to arrogate to himself the sovereignty of the Scheldt. This was a claim to which Belgium could not accede without a dastardly surrender of a right, to which, as an independent state, she must be equally entitled. The idea of William insisting on his right of search, and tariff on all vessels found up the Scheldt, even to Antwerp, now a Belgic port, was insufferably contemptuous as well as contemptible. On these principles, and for these objects, the Dutch court has not blushed to carry on their idle system of frothy protocolling for more than two years! Enough, then, of sophistry and procrasti nation. Let it now be the pride of the Dutch king and his comfort, that, though he has lost Belgium, he has lost that which lawfully was not his own-that he is still king of Holland-a title eminently glorious, if the duties it involves are ably and conscientiously discharged-still monarch over two millions of industrious subjects, whom his pertinacity may peril, and cannot benefit: let him also bear in mind, that it is by consulting their happiness that he will best secure his own. And whilst he magnifies himself on his royal title, he should at least reflect that it was not achieved by his virtue, nor by his prowess; and that as his dynasty accidentally originated in yesterday, it may terminate to-morrow. For, however loyal to the house of Orange, Dutchmen have not forgotten that their ci-devant commonwealth-though in fact a mere oligarchy-was kept up at little charge; that it served their turn passing well; and as their taste for regal splendour and lavish expenditure has certainly not improved, it is probable that with all their attachment to their royal ruler, like Harpagon in Molière, they are still singularly devoted chacun à sa “ petite casseite!” THE TWO HARPS. BY MRS. NORTON. AND dost thou say my heart is cold, As often as the zephyr pleases. In answer to its wild appealing : Years bring no change.-Even tho' we stand Where cold the minstrel's form is lying, Fancy shall see that skilful hand Once more among the sweet strings flying; And music's floating notes shall come, To mock the silence of his tomb! And many an hour, and many a day, Shall memory please herself by bringing Small scattered fragments of the lay That hung upon that wild barp's ringing; Tho' summer breeze caress in vain, And soulless hands awake no strain. Even so the heart, that sad and cold Warms not beneath thy careless wooing, Hath known love's power in days of old, And worshipped-to its own undoing; To life and love and joy shall waken: |