DUTCH ORDER OF THE DAY.

"Brussels, June 27.

"His Majesty, informed by my reports of the glorious victories to which you have contributed, with so much bravery and fidelity, has charged me with the commission, equally agreeable and flattering to my heart, to testify to you, my fellow-citizens, his entire satisfaction with your conduct in the several actions that have taken place. I cannot give you, brave warriors of the Netherlands, a stronger proof of the approbation of our beloved and august sovereign, than by making you acquainted with the tenor of the letter which his Majesty has addressed to me, and which is conceived in these terms:

"The Hague, June 24.

"Your reports of the 17th and 22d inst. have given me inexpressible satisfaction.

"As a sovereign and a father I doubly feel the joy which the happy result of so many obstinate combats has generally excited, for I have the certainty that my troops have had a glorious share in them, and have seen, in the Son of their Prince, a brave example of the most dangerous duties they have to perform.

"I desire that you will acquaint, with my complete satisfaction, all the brave warriors of the Netherlands who fought under your command at Quatre Bras and at La Belle Alliance. Tell them that all their fellow-countrymen have their eyes fixed on them with admiration and gratitude, and are proud of the firmness and courage which they have displayed. Let them know that the blood they have shed has irrevocably effaced the last doubt that might have subsisted on the solidity of this new kingdom, and the union of its inhabitants. Assure them that they shall always have in me a true friend of their noble profession, and a protector of valour and of all military merit.

"Do you yourself find the reward of your devotion, and an alleviation of your wounds, in the honour of being to the brave warriors of the Netherlands the organ of the sentiments consecrated to them by their king and their country.

"Continue then, my countrymen, to walk in the path of honour; your King acknowledges your services, and the country honours you. As for me, I feel my wounds only because they keep me for a time at a distance from you. My most ardent desire is to join you, again to combat the common enemy, and bravely to lavish our blood and our lives for the king and country.

66

(Signed) WILLIAM, Prince of Orange.”

THE SWISS PROCLAMATION.

General Order addressed to Colonel D'Affry, Commandant of Division, at Basle.

"Switzerland, faithful to its old principles, had declared itself for the defence of its frontiers. A Convention with the powers armed for the restoration of the repose of Europe consecrated this declaration. On the part of Switzerland no hostile step was taken against multiplied offences. The communications with Switzerland were intercepted without previous notice, and dispositions made for attack. In the mean time the flower of the French, commanded by Napoleon Buonaparte, was completely routed on the plains of Flanders, by Wellington and Blücher.

"When Buonaparte had brought to Paris the news of his own defeat, and it was seen that they could no longer shake the torches of war over all Europe, but that the avengers of perjury and of the rupture of peace would advance without halting, the authors of those calamities endeavoured to avert their consequences by a stroke of the pen. Buonaparte again renounced that throne, after having, fifteen months before, formally abandoned, for himself and his posterity, the bloody sceptre of iron with which he had so long oppressed Europe. At that moment his Generals sent heralds to the right bank, and to the centre of our army, to ask a suspension of arms, though no hostilities had yet taken place. While this request, accompanied by a promise that nothing hostile should be undertaken against us, was transmitted to the authorities of the Confederation, on the same day, the 28th, in the evening,-all at once, against the law of nations, without any reason, the fortress of Huningen bombarded the town of Basle; thus breaking their word of honour, always held sacred by brave soldiers, and attacking the Swiss territory by the mischief they have inflicted on our confederates of Basle.

"Soldiers, arm to punish the authors of injustice. We must watch that no part of our frontiers be violated by an enemy without faith. Call to mind the invasion of 1798; the atrocity of bombarding a town without its being besieged, without notification, and without cause, is a repetition of the same perfidy. We must put it out of the power of such an enemy to injure us; therefore, comrades, prepare to combat for justice and honour, for liberty and country. May God bless the powerful Confederation, of which we form a part, and to which the most sacred duty attaches us.

66

"BACHMANN,

"General in Chief of the Confederation."

Head-quarters at Berne, June 29, 1815."

BLUCHER'S FAREWELL TO THE BRAVE BELGIANS.

Marshal Prince Blücher to the brave Belgians.

"My army being on the point of entering the French territory, we cannot leave you, brave Belgians! without bidding you farewell, and without expressing our lively gratitude for the hospitality which you have shown to our soldiers. We have had an opportunity of appreciating your virtues. You are a brave, a loyal, and a noble people. At the moment when danger seemed to threaten you, we were called to give you aid: we hastened to obey the call, and it was much against our will that we found ourselves compelled, by circumstances, to wait so long for the commencement of the contest, which we should have been glad to see begin sooner. The presence of our troops has been burdensome to your country; but we have paid with our blood the debt of gratitude which we owed you, and a paternal government will find means to indemnify such among you as have suffered the most by the quartering of our troops.

66

Adieu, brave Belgians! The remembrance of the hospitable reception you have afforded us, as well as the recollection of your virtues, will be eternally engraven on our hearts. May the God of peace protect your fine country! May He remove from it, for a long period, the troubles of war! May you be as happy as you deserve to be! Farewell! "BLUCHER."

"Head-quarters, Marbes-le-Château, June 21st, 1815."

FROM THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TO THE MAYOR OF BRUSSELS. "Paris, August 13th, 1815.

“MR. MAYOR,

"I take this opportunity to write to you in order to thank you, to request you to make known my gratitude to the inhabitants of Brussels and the environs, for the care and kindness they have shown to the wounded officers and soldiers of the army under command. The services which we have had in our power to

my

* The acts of humanity of the inhabitants of Brussels, if particularised, would occupy many pages. But it ought not to be left unknown the signal service of the Mayor on this occasion;-he literally and figuratively gave wine and beer when water was required. An inhabitant of the name of Troyaux made his whole establishment a complete hospital, finding, without any previous consideration for remuneration, every possible comfort and subsistence for the unfortunate needing his kindnesses. A female, who had realised a little independence by selling lace, lodged and relieved the distresses of a great many. The fair sex indiscriminately, in high or low circumstances, were animated with the most solicitous attention. The regard of these brave people towards the English was brotherly and affectionate; and many of the inhabitants went to find our countrymen in the field, and brought them to their homes; and crowds met them on the road with refreshments of every kind.

render the city of Brussels, in saving it from the hands of a cruel enemy, by the efforts that have been made, and by the bravery of the troops, almost under its very walls, gave us reason to hope that the inhabitants would relieve, as far as lay in their power, those who had been the victims. But I did not expect the tender care, the kindness, which the inhabitants have displayed towards us, and I beg you to believe, and to let them know, that their conduct has made upon us all an impression which will never be effaced from our memory.

"I well know of what value, on such occasions, is the example of the magistrates, and I beg you, Mr. Mayor, to believe that I duly appreciate that which you have given.

"I have the honour to be, Mr. Mayor,

(Signed)

"Your most obedient and humble servant,

"WELLINGTON, Prince of Waterloo."

To the Prefect of the Department of the Seine.

"Paris, July 10, 1815.

"Sir,-Your agreeable letter of the 9th, which I have had the honour to receive this morning, has been read in the original, as you desired, to Highness Prince Blücher, of Wahlstadt.

"After the reiterated orders which I have received for the raising of the contributions imposed by this Prince on the city of Paris, it is not long in my power to avoid those coercive measures which are rendered necessary, by the tergiversations employed to elude my propositions. At the receipt of this letter, you and several of the inhabitants of Paris are placed as hostages under a military guard, and if we do not receive, this very day, a part of the contribution in question, you, as well as the other hostages, will be conveyed to the fortress of Graudenz, in West Prussia. This measure has been dictated to me by the Commander-in-Chief. You and your fellow-citizens cannot tax it with injustice, when I remind you of the overtures which I have, several times, made you respecting the demands of Prince Blücher. You know that in 1806, 1807, and 1808, Prussia, under the administration of M. Daru, not only lost its prosperity, but was ruined by the enormous mass of requisitions and exactions to which it was subjected: you know what was done in 1809, 1810, and 1811, to exhaust the kingdom; nor can I dissemble that in 1812, though then in alliance with France, several of our provinces suffered treatment, of which the most cruel enemy would hardly have been guilty. It was in 1813 that we shook off the yoke of tyranny; the victorious arms of the Allies delivered France from a dynasty under which that fine country had groaned for so many years.

"The inconceivable efforts which Prussia made to support the great contest, after six years of oppression, signalised by all kinds of extortion and arbitrary treatment, put it out of our power to make a suitable provision for the equipment, the pay, and other wants of the armies again called forth to combat Buonaparte and his adherents. France, now delivered, cannot refuse its gratitude to the conquerors of the common enemy, when one reflects on the persevering courage and patience, in the midst of numberless privations, which they have shown during the most extraordinary efforts; but this gratitude must not consist, as in 1814, in empty words, but in deeds. You pretend that the contribution of 100 millions of francs exceeds the ability of your city. Ask Count Daru what Berlin (a city of one quarter of the size of yours) was obliged to furnish? and you will be convinced it greatly exceeds the demands of Prince Blücher from the capital of France. If we treated your provinces as you did ours, from 1806 to 1812, the contribution to be imposed, according to that standard, might exceed your ability. But, far from using reprisals, we have hitherto demanded only the reimbursement of the expenses of the war; for the budgets of our finances have no head for the exorbitant impositions levied in foreign countries, such as were found in the budgets of France previous to the year 1814. Last year the conquest of Paris ended the war. In this campaign the same conquest has been the object of our labours; to attain it we have been forced to make promises to the troops,-not such promises as the French leader made to his army before the defeats on the Katzbach, near Calne and Dennewitz, which hindered him from performing them, but such as generous conquerors make to modest soldiers, whose welfare they value, and whose courage they know how to appreciate.*

"It is by the contribution that these promises must be fulfilled; and I cannot conceive, Sir, how it happened, that in those three days that we have been negociating on this subject you have not got together a sum on account sufficient to show your good will to the Prince, who must not be deceived in his hope of fulfilling his promise to his soldiers, who are used to depend on his

* The Editor begs to add the reported account of the several exactions made by the French during the last twenty years, viz. :-In Flanders, Brabant, and Holland, in 1794 and 1795, 14 millions sterling; in Italy, at different times, 17 millions; in Brabant, Flanders, and Holland, since taking possession of them, 48 millions; in the Austrian states, 13 millions; in Prussia, 25 millions (150 millions of dollars); in Hamburg, Saxony, Westphalia, and Hanover, 23 millions; in Spain and Portugal, before and after the war, 35 millions: together, 175 millions sterling. Besides this are to be reckoned the expenses caused by the presence and support of the French troops, the English subsidies, taxes, and loans on account of the war (700 millions): the whole will amount to 958 millions. Add to this the above 175 millions, and the whole makes the enormous sum of 1133 millions sterling, the 45th part of which was only recovered from France.