XXIX. 1833. yet the prestige of her name was great, and her navy CHAP. could soon be brought into a condition to blockade those of all the other powers in Europe. Austria, disquieted about her Italian possessions, and seriously alarmed at the disposition evinced in Hungary in favour of the Polish insurgents, was in no hurry to commence hostilities; Prussia, doubtful of the support of Russia, and in a great measure dependent on her foreign trade, was fearful of throwing down the gauntlet to two powers, the one of which might blockade her harbours, and the other endanger her Rhenish provinces; and Russia herself, exhausted by the Polish war, which had both deranged her finances and occasioned a prodigious loss of men, was not in a condition to undertake a distant crusade for the extinction of the revolutionary principle in western Europe. Then the Dutch government, how firm and resolute soever, felt that they could not rely on the active support of the northern powers; and as the French army, after the reduction of the citadel of Antwerp, made it over to the Belgian troops, and immediately returned into France without attempting any farther hostilities, the main cause both of alarm and prolonged warfare was at an end. They were no longer threatened in their own country; to regain Antwerp or Belgium singlehanded in the face of the combined forces of France and England, was obviously out of the question. On the other hand, Belgium was not less interested in coming to an accommodation; for as long as hostilities continued, its commerce was almost entirely interrupted in Holland, which had the command of the mouths and lower parts 133, 134; of the Scheldt and the Meuse, the principal arteries iii.468,469. of the State.1 1 Cap. vii. L. Blanc, 96. May 19, From these circumstances arose a greater facility in the negotiations relative to the Belgian question. It Treaty of had in effect been resolved in all substantial points the French invasion, which prevented the King of Holland from regaining the throne in 1831, and the capture by 1833, between Hol land and Belgium. XXIX. 1833. May 19, 1833; rati CHAP. of Antwerp in 1832. The negotiations accordingly were resumed, and came to turn chiefly on the lesser points of trade and commerce, in which the Dutch government evinced great determination. At length, however, all the difficulties were overcome, and on the 19th May 1833 a convention was agreed to, and signed by all the fied May 29. parties, which brought this protracted and anxious dispute to a termination. Without going back on the separation of Belgium and Holland, and the limits of the two kingdoms, which it assumed as definitively settled by the treaty between the five powers signed at London on the 15th November 1831, this convention was directed to the adjustment of the differences still existing between the contending parties, and this it did in a manner extremely favourable to Belgium. It was provided that all the Dutch vessels which had been seized by English or French cruisers should be forthwith released, and restored with their cargoes to their respective owners, and that all Dutch prisoners, either by land or sea, should be immediately set at liberty. On the other hand, Holland engaged not to recommence hostilities against Belgium, and to leave the navigation of the Scheldt open, as it had been prior to November 1, 1832. The commercial navigation of the Meuse, of which Holland commanded the lower part, was also opened to vessels bearing the Belgian flag, on condition of paying the duties fixed by the 1 Conven- tariff of Mayence for the states of the German Confederation. The contracting parties engaged immediately to commence negotiations for the conclusion of a definitive xvi. 133, treaty, which could not be a matter of any difficulty, as the whole matters of importance in dispute between them were already adjusted.1 tion, May 19, 1833; Moniteur, Ann. Hist. and 339, 340, (Doc. Hist.) When the new kingdom of Belgium was in this manner so completely brought under French influence, and made in fact to owe its existence to French protection, the importance of the barrier-fortresses against that power was no longer felt. Flanders having become, not the XXIX. 1833. 97. .ment of the treaty. 1832. barrier of Europe against France, but the outwork of CHAP. France against Europe, the gigantic fortresses in its territory, which had been erected to act as a curb upon the ambition of that power, were no longer felt as necessary on Abandoneither side. They had ceased to be a protection to Europe; barrier they were not required as a protection for France. Her March 6, own triple line of fortresses was sufficient for her defence; and such was the strength of the German Confederation, that the states belonging to it did not feel the want of any extraneous protection. Thus, by common consent, the famous barrier against France, which England and Holland had so earnestly contended for in former days, and which had been the object of such costly war, was abandoned, and the treaty for its preservation was rescinded. By a convention concluded at London between France, England, and Belgium, on 6th March 1832, the latter power was relieved from the burden of upholding five of the principal barrier-fortresses on the frontier towards France, and the two former powers agreed to their demolition. Stronger evidence of the immensity of the change produced by the Revolution of 1830, and the Reform Bill, could not be conceived, for the barrier thus abandoned had been constructed by the Whig government of Queen March 6, Anne and the Tory government of George IV., and it Hist. xv. had been won by the victories of Marlborough and Hist.) Wellington.1 1 Treaty, 1832; Ann. 497, (Doc. 98. tion to the France by This convention closed the convulsions in northern and central Europe which had arisen from the Revolution of Great addiJuly, and the overthrow of the elder branch of the house power of of Bourbon in France. Immense had been the effect it these had produced, both externally and internally, and it is events. only on a calm retrospect at this distance of time that its vast importance can be appreciated. The shocks of the earthquake still continued to be felt beyond the Pyrenees and in the Levant; but in central Europe, where alone a serious conflict was to be apprehended, the concussion was XXIX. 1833. CHAP. at an end. Great beyond all anticipation had been the addition which they made to the power of France. The revolution of Belgium and capture of Antwerp, followed by the marriage of Leopold to the daughter of Louis Philippe, restored Flanders to French influence nearly as completely as Poland was subjected to that of Russia. A revolutionary state, it could only look for support in a dynasty having a similar origin. The siege of Antwerp had restored that great outwork against England to its service; and the general excitement and real danger to the national independence, from a revolution which placed it in a state of antagonism with Europe, had enabled the Government to augment enormously the national armaments. Four hundred thousand regular soldiers were prepared to carry the tricolor flag into Germany or Italy, while a million of national guards protected the soil of the great nation from invasion. Single-handed she had braved Austria in Italy, and by the occupation of Ancona she held that power in check beyond the Alps; with the support of England she had thrown down the gauntlet at Antwerp to Prussia and Russia, and they had not ventured to take it up. The French, who expected an immediate restoration of the splendours of the Empire from a revolution which freed them from the sway of the Bourbons and the trammels of the Holy Alliance, were dissatisfied because greater external advantages had not been gained; but whoever considers the matter impartially, must see that they were great and lasting, and Europe is still experiencing their effects. 99. Russia. The addition made to the power of Russia, by the And of effects of the same convulsion, was still more considerable. As on every previous and subsequent occasion, an outbreak of the revolutionary spirit added to the weight, and put additional arms into the hands of the Colossus of the North. Hardly had the national acclamations at the defeat of Turkey and Treaty of Adrianople subsided, when the Russian arms achieved the entire subjugation ΧΧΙΧ. 1833. of Poland, and annexed the last remnant of Sarmatian CHAP. nationality to their mighty dominions. The addition thus made to the unity and physical resources of the empire, though by no means inconsiderable, was the least. part of the advantage gained. The addition to the moral influence of, and terror inspired by, the Czar, was a much more material advantage. Russia had now, since England had gone over to the other side, openly taken her place at the head of the conservative powers of Europe, and the uniform success which had attended her arms spread a halo round her name, which added immensely to her political influence. Men despaired of resisting a power which had defeated Napoleon at the head of five hundred thousand men; and the German states in particular, who lay nearest to the Muscovite frontier, and would be the first to be reached by her arms, hastened, by secret alliances or proffered submission, to avert the hostility of a power which they felt themselves unable to resist. 100. on Eng Had England not been convulsed by a revolution in her own bosom-in consequence, in some degree, of the Influence fall of Charles X.-there was no reason why her political land's weight or influence should have been materially affected power. by that event. She might change sides, indeed, and be more exposed to danger; but she might have been as much dreaded and respected as the head of the movement, as she had been as the bulwark of the Conservative party in Europe. But the Reform Bill having invested a new party in Great Britain-the holders of shops or houses rented from £10 to £20-with the government of the State, the result was very different, and such as soon exposed the very existence of the nation to the greatest hazard. The influence of that class of men was incessantly and perseveringly exerted in one direction, and that was, to reduce the national expenditure and diminish taxation, without any regard to the ultimate effect of their reduction. This was done to such an extent, that |