h and a Belgian town._

(4) _All the inhabitants of the Netherlands thus having equal
constitutional rights, they shall have equal claim to all commercial and
other rights, of which their circumstances allow, without any hindrance
or obstruction being imposed on any to the profit of others._

(5) _Immediately after the union the provinces and towns of Belgium
shall be admitted to the commerce and navigation of the colonies of
Holland upon the same footing as the Dutch provinces and towns._

(6) _The debts contracted on the one side by the Dutch, and on the other
side by the Belgian provinces, shall be charged to the public chest of
the Netherlands._

(7) _The expenses required for the building and maintenance of the
frontier fortresses of the new State shall be borne by the public chest
as serving the security and independence of the whole nation._

(8) _The cost of the making and upkeep of the dykes shall be at the
charge of the districts more directly interested, except in the case of
an extraordinary disaster._

It is not too much to say that, if the provisions of these Articles had
been carried out fully and generously, there might have been at the
present moment a strong and united Netherland State.

On July 21 the Articles, as approved by the Powers, were returned to the
Sovereign-Prince, who officially accepted them, and on August 1 took
over at Brussels the government of the Belgic provinces, while awaiting
the decisions of the Congress, which was shortly to meet at Vienna, as
to the boundaries and political status of the territories over which he
ruled. The work of the Congress, however, which met in October, was much
delayed by differences between the Powers. Prussia wished to annex the
entire kingdom of Saxony; and, when it was found that such a claim, if
persisted in, would be opposed by Great Britain, Austria and France,
compensation was sought in the Rhenish provinces. Thus the idea of
strengthening the new Netherland buffer-state by an addition of
territory in the direction of the Rhine had to be abandoned. It must be
remembered that the Sovereign-Prince on his part was not likely to raise
any objection to having an enlarged and strengthened Prussia as his
immediate neighbour on the east. William was both brother-in-law and
first cousin of the King of Prussia, and had spent much of his exile at
Berlin; and he no doubt regarded the presence of this strong military
power on his frontier as the surest