ovinces were in revolt.

It was now clear to everybody that the national party in Belgium would
not consent even to a personal union with Holland. As the union of the
two countries formed a part of the treaty of Vienna, every European
power had a legal right to employ force to prevent its disruption, and
Russia and Prussia both desired active intervention. In France, on the
other hand, there was a loud popular demand for the reannexation of
Belgium to France, of which it had formed a part from 1794 to 1814.
Louis Philippe saw that he could not resist this demand if the Belgian
insurgents were coerced on the side of Prussia, and therefore announced
that Prussian aggression would be met by a French expedition to Belgium
to keep the balance even, until the question should be settled by a
congress of the powers. On September 25 Talleyrand had arrived in
England. He quickly obtained the adhesion of Wellington to the principle
of non-intervention. The duke had been among the first to grasp the fact
that reconciliation of Dutch and Belgians was impossible, and that the
intervention of the powers would necessitate a European war, to avoid
which the union of the two countries had originally been designed. He
agreed therefore to a separation of the countries on condition that
France should bind herself to observe the arrangements of the congress
of Vienna in 1815 and should take no separate action in Belgium.

On Talleyrand's suggestion it was decided to refer the question to the
conference already sitting in London for the purpose of settling the
Greek question, which would of course have to be reinforced by
representatives of Austria and Prussia for the present purpose. Mole,
the French foreign minister, would have preferred Paris as the seat of
the congress, but the King of the Netherlands absolutely refused to
entrust his cause to a conference meeting in a city where opinion ran so
strongly against him. On October 5 he made a formal appeal to the
powers for the aid guaranteed him by treaty, but the demand came too
late to induce Wellington to swerve from the policy of non-intervention,
and on November 4 the conference of London began its labours by
proposing an armistice in Belgium, which was accepted by both parties.
This left Maastricht and the citadel of Antwerp in the hands of Dutch
garrisons, and Luxemburg in the hands of a garrison supplied by the
German confederation. Every other place in Belgium was in the hands of
t