nied by his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, at half past 1 o'clock, by the following speech: High and Mighty Lords, The extraordinary session of your High Mightinesses, which I open to-day, has been rendered absolutely necessary by the pressure of lamentable events. In peace and friendship with all the nations of our quarter of the globe, the Netherlands lately saw the war in its colonial possessions happily ended. The kingdom flourished through order, commerce, and industry. I was studying the means of alleviating the burdens of the people, and gradually to introduce such ameliorations in the internal administration as experience recommended, when suddenly tumults broke out at Brussels, and then in some other places in the kingdom, marked by scenes of pillage and conflagration, the description of which must be afflicting to my heart, to the national feeling, and to humanity. In expectation of the co-operation of your High Mightinesses, whose convocation was my first care, all the measures have been promptly taken which depended upon me in order to check the progress of the evil, to protect the well-disposed against the evilminded, and avert from the Netherlands the horrors of civil war. To search into the nature and origin of the events, and to fathom with your High Mightinesses the object and the consequences of them, is at this moment less necessary for the interests of the country, than to inquire into the means by which tranquillity and order, the Government and the law, may be not only re-establised for the moment, but rather be permanently consolidated. Meantime, amidst the strife of opinions, the violence of passions, and the existence of different motives and objects, it is a most difficult task to combine my cares for the welfare of all my subjects with the duties which I owe to them all, and which I have sworn to before them all. I have therefore, called upon your wisdom, patience, and firmness, that I may be able, strengthened by the concurrence of the representatives of the people, to determine with them what is proper to be done under these lamentable circumstances, for the welfare of the Netherlands. In many quarters it is thought that the welfare of the state would be promoted by a revisal of the fundamental law, and even by a separation between countries which are united by treaties and by the fundamental law; but such a question can only be discussed in the manner which is prescribed by the same fundamental law, to the observance of which we are all bound by a solemn oath. I require on this subject the opinions of your assembly, given with that frankness and calmness which its great importance so especially requires; while I, on my side, wishing above all things the happiness of the Netherlanders, whose interests are confided to me by Divine Providence, am perfectly ready to co-operate with your assembly in the measures which may tend to promote it. This extraordinary meeting is your deliberations during the last also intended to inform your High extraordinary session of the Mightinesses that the interest of States-General-the wisdom, the the kingdom, in the midst of all prudence, and the patriotism of that has taken place, absolutely which you have given proofs up-` requires that the militia shall re- on this occasion, have not been main embodied beyond the time followed by a result which has fixed by the fundamental law. fulfilled my expectations. I had The provisions for the public ex- reason to expect, particularly afpenditure which will arise from this ter the perfect accord which was and from many other consequen- manifested between the Sovereign ces of the insurrection, may be and the Representatives of the made for the present from the nation, that an immediate and credit already opened, but the fur- constituted examination of the ther regulations must be a subject desires which have been manifor your deliberations in the ap- fested, would have exercised all proaching ordinary session. the moral influence necessary to re-establish everywhere, in the meantime, repose and tranquillity. My expectation has been deceived in a deplorable manner. Up to that period, obedience to the laws, and the preservation of the legal forms, were always the first considerations, and principally favored those desires and complaints. At a later period, the impetuous passions of a blind and excited multitude were not controlled by reflection—they lighted up a violent rebellion, and the efforts of the army of the State to second the hopes of the wellintentioned were insufficient to put down the revolt. Your High Mightinesses, I depend on your fidelity and patriotism. Mindful of the storms of revolutions which have passed over my head, I shall as little forget the courage, the affection, and the fidelity which shook off the yoke, consolidated the existence of the nation, and placed the sceptre in my hands, as the valor which, in the field of battle, supported the throne, and secured the independence of our counFully prepared to meet reasonable wishes, I shall never yield to party spirit, nor consent to measures which would sacrifice the prosperity of the nation to passion or violence. try. To reconcile as much as possible all interests, is the wish of my heart. The Speech of the King of the Hague, October 18. Noble and Mighty Lords, Even before their arrival at Brussels, the military forces destined for the protection of the inhabitants had been assailed, although they had previously received a solemn assurance of indulgence and peace; in that city they experienced the most murderous resistance. Since then, the armed opposition against the legal Government has extended more and more in The zeal which characterised the southern provinces; and its progress has been so alarming and so rapid that, for the defence of the faithful provinces of the Netherlands, and the security of their commerce, I took the necessary measures with respect to the sea and land forces, declared moveable a part of the Communal Guards, prepared for a levy en masse, and called for a voluntary arming of the inhabitants of those countries. The enthusiasm with which this appeal was received, and the fresh marks of attachment to my house which I received on that occasion, have afforded some mitigation to the pain with which my heart is afflicted, by the idea that a handful of rebels was able to detach such a favored and interesting population from a Government under which they had attained a degree of prosperity and riches before unknown to it, and enjoying as well in its public and private rights, as in its political, civil, and religious liberties, the largest share of protection. The expectations that the greater part of that population would, after mature reflection, wish for the return of those benefits, decided me to invest my beloved son, the Prince of Orange, with the temporary government of those parts of the southern provinces which remained faithful, and to confide to him the care of procuring the re-establishment, as far as possible, of legal order, by means of persuasion, in the rebel provinces. In this manner, by an administrative separation, I prepared, as much as depended on myself, the development of the opinion man ifested by the States-General in their last extraordinary session; and by this means I was enabled to devote my attention more exclusively to the northern provinces, and to employ their strength and resources solely for their interest. At the same time, I gave to all my subjects, and to the whole of Europe, a proof that nothing had been neglected to bring back the misguided to a sense of their duty. Fortified with the deep consciousness of having kept the solemn oath which I took respecting the fundamental law, and of having unceasingly labored to cooperate, as far as was in my power, in the promotion of the prosperity of the people of the Netherlands, I wait with calmness the result of those measures, and the issue of the important deliberations to which the events which are taking place in southern provinces give rise at this moment on the part of my allies, who guarantee the existence of this kingdom. In general, the army, by its bravery and moderation, has worthily fulfilled my expectation. Nevertheless, however, I have to deplore that lately so great a portion of the troops, seduced by erroneous opinions or deceptive promises, should have suffered themselves to be so misled as to break their oaths, forget their duty, and abandon their flags. These circumstances, so different from a state of peace in which the kingdom is now placed, have obliged me to open your present session at the Hague. It is agreeable to me to be able to communi cate to you on this occasion, that I continue to receive from foreign powers an assurance of the sincere interest which they take in the evils which afflict our country, and of their friendly senti ments. It is not less agreeable for me to be able to inform your High Mightinesses, that the courage and perseverance of the army has put an end to the war that desolated the island of Java; and that, according to the latest accounts, the desired tranquillity reigned in the other parts of our ultramarine possessions. Continual rains have in general injured the harvest. I have taken all the precautions which were in my power to provide, during the approaching winter, for the wants of the poorer classes. ever, this measure must be regulated by legislative provisions, which will be submitted to your High Mightinesses during the present session. Whatever may be the difficulties of the moment, it is imperative to fulfil the engagements relative to the redemption of the debt of the state, and I propose, in consequence, to present to your Assembly a project for the purchase and redemption of the public debt. Energetic means of repression and punishment are necessary to prevent the acts and menaces to which the evil-disposed might have recourse, to disturb the public mind; and, if such were possible, to extend the revolt even to the faithful provinces and cantons. I invoke for this purpose The internal situation of the the co-operation of your High kingdom forms, for the moment, Mightinesses. In the meantime, an insurmountable obstacle to a I have been compelled, by the correct estimate of the receipts urgency of the occasion, to make and disbursements for the ap- the preliminary arrangements in proaching year. Consequently, that respect, and to direct measit has appeared to me proper to ures of precaution and surveilsecure, as much as possible, the lance with reference to foreigners continuation of what exists. A and travellers. project of law which tends to this end, and according to which all the changes which were contemplated will remain without execution, will immediately be presented to your High Mightinesses. In virtue of the declaration made at the opening of your last extraordinary session, I adopted a measure proper to provide for the most pressing wants of the Treasury; the patriotism of the citizens makes me hope that it will have entire success. How In order to satisfy the just desire manifested on many occasions by your High Mightinesses, I had fixed on the first day of February next, as the period for the introduction of the National Legislation, and of the judicial institutions. The revolt which has broken out in the southern provinces, prevents at this moment the fulfilment of that desire for a fixed period, and consequently the previous establishment of the High Court cannot be effected. Noble and Mighty Lords, The rapid course of the events, by which for some time past this kingdom has been shaken, may have an influence on several other of our institutions; the issue of these events cannot yet be foreseen, and the very unexpected news that has been received today from Antwerp, gives a further proof of the daily progress of a real separation between the two great divisions of the kingdom. However, I wait the issue with confidence, for my conscience is tranquil. I may always reckon upon your concurrence, upon that of the faithful provinces of the north, as well as upon the support of my allies, who will maintain the political system of Europe, and I find myself still at the head of a people whose religious sentiments offer the best guarantee of the tutelar protection of the Almighty. RUSSIA AND POLAND. Manifesto of the Polish Nation. When a nation, formerly free and powerful, finds itself compelled by the excess of its ills to have recourse to the last of its rights to the right of repelling oppression by force-it owes to itself, and to the rest of the world, to divulge the motives which have induced it to sustain by arms the most holy of causes. The Chambers of the Diet have felt this necessity, and, following the spirit of the revolution of the 29th November, and acknowledging it to be national, they have resolved to justify themselves in the eyes of Europe. The infamous machinations, the vile calumnies, the open violence, and the secret treachery which accompanied the three dismemberments of ancient Poland, are but too well known; history has already branded them as a political crime. The deep and awful mourning which this violation spread throughout the country has never been laid aside, but has been religiously preserved even until now; the unspotted standard has never ceased to wave at the head of our valiant army; and, in all his military migrations, the Pole, carrying from country to country his household gods, has cried out for vengeance for the outrages committed against them. Cherishing that noble illusion, which, like every other grand idea, has never failed in the end to be realised, he believed that whenever he fought for the cause of liberty he was fighting for his own country. This country at length re-established her existence; and, although restrained within narrow limits, Poland received from the great warrior of the age her native language, her rights and liberties-precious gifts again augmented by the greatest of hopes. From that moment his cause became ours-our blood became his right; and when his |