had been adopted by their
predecessors. When the revolution first broke forth in the Netherlands,
the king called on his allies for troops. These were refused by the
English government; but his next request, for the assembling of a
conference, was granted. By subsequent acts of that assembly, the
principle of separation between the two countries was established; and
the task imposed on the present government was to settle the terms on
which a separation should take place, so as to provide for the interest
and security of all parties. The difficulties encountered in performing
this task arose from the obstinacy of the Dutch monarch. By the
armistice which his majesty had invoked in November, 1830, the citadel
of Antwerp was to be evacuated in fifteen days; but the possession of
that fortress enabled him to harass the Belgians, and to intercept their
trade on the Scheldt, and therefore he refused to give it up. England
and France, failing to obtain the co-operation of the other three
powers, were obliged to have recourse to force: Antwerp was besieged
by the French troops, and an embargo was laid on Dutch vessels by Great
Britain. These vigorous measures disconcerted all the calculations of
the Dutch monarch and of his partizans. At the beginning of this year
Antwerp, supposed to have been impregnable, surrendered to Marshal
Gerard. This event, together with the embargo laid on Dutch vessels,
produced the convention of the 21st of May, by which the Belgian
question was settled. This convention provided, "That immediately on the
ratifications being exchanged, the embargoes laid on by Great Britain
and France should be removed, and the vessels and cargoes restored, and
that the Dutch garrison which had defended the citadel of Antwerp should
return to Holland with all their arms and baggage: That Holland should
not recommence hostilities against Belgium so long as a definite treaty
had not settled their mutual relations; that the navigation of the
Scheldt should be free, which was explained in a supplementary article
to mean, that it was to be placed on the same footing as it had been
prior to the 1st of November, 1812: That the navigation of the Meuse
should be opened, subject to the provisions of the convention of Mayence
of the 31st of March, 1831, relative to the navigation of the Rhine:
That the communications between the frontier of North Brabant and
Maestricht, and between that fortress and Germany, should be unimpeded: