ch arms, and
requested that the troops should be allowed to remain till the frontier
fortresses should have been demolished in accordance with the protocol
of April 17. In a somewhat insulting message Palmerston threatened a
general war sooner than allow the French troops to remain. The most that
France could obtain was that 12,000 men might remain a fortnight longer
than the rest and that a number of French officers might enlist in the
Belgian service.

The conference now returned to the task of effecting a settlement in
accordance with the terms of the protocol of June 26. On October 15 it
provided for the partition of the grand duchy of Luxemburg between
Holland and Belgium and for the indemnification of Holland with a larger
portion of Limburg than had belonged to her in 1790. At the same time
provision was made for the freedom of the Scheldt, and the debt was
reassessed, 8,400,000 florins of _rentes_[136] being assigned to Belgium
and 19,300,000 to Holland. Along with this protocol a letter was sent to
the Belgian plenipotentiary, promising that if Belgium accepted it, the
powers would undertake to obtain the consent of Holland. The protocol
was converted into a treaty by the adhesion of Belgium on November 15.
Meanwhile the King of the Netherlands had appealed to the tsar against
the action of the western powers and of the Russian plenipotentiaries at
London, and the tsar had in consequence refused to ratify the treaty
till the King of the Netherlands should have given his consent. That
consent was slow in coming. It was only on June 30, 1832, that Holland
agreed to the exchange of territories and the reduction of Belgium's
share of the debt, and even then questions remained as to the dues on
the Scheldt and the transit of goods through Dutch Limburg. The Belgians
refused to negotiate further until the citadel of Antwerp should be
surrendered; the Dutch on the other hand refused to surrender it till a
definite treaty should be signed and ratified. On October 1 France, with
the approval of the British government, proposed to suspend the payment
of the Belgian share of the interest on the debt until the citadel of
Antwerp should be surrendered, and to deduct from the share of the
principal payable by Belgium, 500,000 florins of _rentes_ for each week
that should elapse before the surrender. The three eastern powers
refused to agree to any coercion of Holland, and, in consequence, Great
Britain and France determined