is, I hear, very
confident of the result of the campaign, and no doubt he has for him the
prayers of all the pious in England against those atheistical fellows the
French; and these prayers will surely elicit a "host of angels" to come
down to aid in the destruction of the Pandemonium of Paris where Satan's
lieutenant sits enthroned. The reflecting people here are astonished that
Napoleon does not begin the attack. The inhabitants of Belgium are in
general, from all that I can hear or see, not at all pleased with the
present order of things, and they much lament the being severed from
France. The two people, the Belgians and Hollanders, do not seem to
amalgamate; and the former, though they render ample justice to the
moderation, good sense, and beneficent intentions of the present monarch,
who is personally respected by every one, yet do not disguise their wish to
be reunited to France and do not hesitate to avow their attachment to the
Emperor Napoleon. This union does not please the Hollanders either, on
other grounds. They complain that their interests have been sacrificed
entirely to those of the house of Orange, and they say that from the
readiness they displayed in shaking off the yoke of France, and the great
weight they thereby threw into the scale, they were entitled to the
restitution of all their colonies in Asia, Africa, and America. The
colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon are what they most regret; for
these colonies in particular furnished ample employment and the means of
provision for the cadets of patrician families. If you tell them they have
acquired the Belgic provinces as an indemnification, they answer: "So much
the worse for us, for now the patronage of the colonial offices must be
divided between us and the Belgians."

The preparations for the grand conflict about to take place are carried on
with unabating activity; the conscription is rigorously enforced and every
youth capable of bearing arms is enrolled. Almost all the officers of the
Belgian army and a great proportion of the soldiery have served with the
French and have been participators of their laurels; one cannot therefore
suppose that they are actuated by any very devouring zeal against their
former commander; nor have I found amongst the shop-keepers or respectable
people with whom I have conversed, and who have been falsely represented as
having suffered much from the tyranny of Napoleon, any who dislike either
his person or