NEWS OF THE WEEK.

BELGIUM still continues to occupy a large share of public attention ; but rather for what has been effected, and what is in contempla- tion, than for what is doing. The next great [era of the revolution,. which the people of Brussels have brought about so wonderfully and so unexpectedly, will be the assembling of the Notables. The Provisional Government has issued a document of some importance, preparatory to the meeting, on whose deliberations the future destinies Of Belgium must in a great measure de- pend. The regulations both for the electors and elected, but espe- cially for the latter, are sufficiently liberal : there is, however, no mention of ballot ; which, deeply as the French are indebted to its healthy influence, and fond as the Belgians profess to be of every thing that bears the stamp of France upon it, is rather surprising. There can be no doubt that in its present state of excitation the country will return— indeed popular violence will compel it to re- turn—an assembly conformable to popular feeling, of which DE POTTER and the Provisional Government may be looked on as the expositors. If the ballot had been used, the influence of the mere mob would have been as effectually neutralized as in France the influence\ of the King had been. The Notables vale are to assemble may represent the mass of the people ; but it will admit of a question if they represent the mass of the electors. The honest way, if the Provisional Government wished that the voice of the lower ranks should predominate in the elections, its it has done in the revolution, was to recommend a system of universal suffrage. By limiting the suffrage to such as pay local or govern- ment taxes, they virtually concede the point, that the opinion of the middle ranks is best entitled to determine the future condition of the state ;. and by leavingthat opinion open to the influence of a power which has prevaifed over, the middle ranks, and brought about a revolution in which they were all but unwilling, to join, they make the lowest ranks the only real electors. The following is the document in question: it is headed "National Convention Elections," and professes to emanate from the Central Committee of the Provisional Government.

"With reference to the commission intrusted with the preparation of a constitu- tion for Belgium, and to propose an ordinance to regulate the elections of a national etinvention ;

"Taking into consideration that the convention summoned to determine with re- spect to the interests of Belgium ought to be a true national representation, it is therefore now necessary to adopt a direct and liberal system of election; "Nevertheless, taking into consideration that circumstances demand prompt assembling of the convention, and that a system of election which should retain no- thing of the foundation of the ancient electoral system would occasion delay, and that the mode of election In which we shall now proceed is only temporary, "It is decreed- " I. The National Convention shall be composed of two hundred Deputies. "II. The members of the National Convention shall be chosen directly by the citizens.

"Op ELECTORS. •

"in. To constitute an elector, it is necessary, "1. To be a Belgian by birth or naturalization, or to have resided six years in Belgium.

"2. To be at least twenty-five years of age. "3. 'To pay the proportion of contribations which the usages of the several towns and districts have appointed, according to the respective localities, for admission to the electoral colleges.

"4. To form the electoral census, described in the preceding article, there shall be reckoned to each elector the direct taxes which be pays throughout Belgium. "The taxies paid on account Of a Wife shall be reckoned in favour of the husband: those which his mother shall have deputed to him in favour of the son of a widow; and in favour of a father, shall be reckoned the taxes on the property of his children under age. -- : "5. Imposts and taxes shall be reckoned to an elector, according to the scale of their imposition for the year 1839, and-previously to- the date of the present decree. 4!6. The electoral censins shall be verified, either, by an extract from the list of taxes Or by the receipt of the-Current year or 14 the infdrination of the receiver of taxes, or by enrolment upon the last electoral lists.'

"7. The following are, in like manner, electors, without any electoral census being required of them, provided they fulfil the two first conditions of article 3 :— counsellors, judges of the tribunals, justices of peace, advocates, attorniei, notaries; doctors of law, in science, in letters and philosophy, of medicine, sur- gery, or midwifery.

"8. The elections shall take placety administrative districts. "9. The electors shall assemble at the elections in the administrative district Where they have their actual domicile.

"Op ELIGIBILITY.

•

-"N. 'Every citizen.of at least twenty-five years complete, a Belgian by birth, or, hav- ing obtained the right of naturalization,may be a deputy to the National Convention If he be a resident of Belgium. All snifters who had established their domicile in Belgium previously to the formation of the ci-desant kingdom of the:Netherlands, M14 who have continued to reside therein, are considered- as natives. "11. It is not require!' that the deputy shall have his domicile in the province for which he shall be elected.

"PARTICULAR REGULATIONS.

" 12. The administrations of towns shall furnish, without delay, and upon the basis of the present decrees, the lists made in 1830 for admission to the electoral colleges.

"13. The administrations of rural communes shall, in like manner, furnish lists of the citizens of their communes, who, in pursuance of this decree, fulfil the con- ditions required of electors. "14. All citizens who possess a right to be electors, are invited, in the name of their country, to take the necessary steps in the local administrations of their ac- tual domiciles, in order that they may be enrolled on the fists, or to assure them. selves that they have been officially inscribed.

"15. The local administrations shall complete the fists by the 20th inst. and publish them on the same day ; they shall receive appeals during the four following days, and decide upon them. so that the lists may be closed on the 25th Of October. 16. A decree will speedily fix the number of deputies to be elected by each ad- ministrative district, the day of election, and the course of electoral proceedings."

The Provisional Government has appointed a committee to draw up a form of Constitution. It consists of Messrs. VAN MEE- NEN, DE GERL ACHE, THIELEM ANS, DEVAUX, DE BROUKERE, FABRY, BALLIN, LAUDE, and Timm. A communication has, it appears, been made to Count DE MErtomg and M . VANDER WEYER, by the Prince Royal, in which his Highness requests from these gentlemen their opinions on the best and most effec- tual means of reconciling his interests and those of the Belgic people. The Count and M. VANDER 1,VEyEa state, in a no .7,- dressed to the editors of the Journal des Pays Bas cu h proud position of the public journals in a revolutionized that they had returned for answer to his Serene Highness, that the right to treat with him belonged to the National Congress, which was alone competent to decide on the destinies of the country ; that they could not, as he had wished them, proceed to An,verp, unless so commissioned by the people. They added, tha' the retreat of the Dutch troops beyond the Moerdyk, the re- tur a the prisoners, and such like popular acts, might possibly les public indignation, and" avert the effects of the aversion wli 'I involved all the members of the House of Nassau." This somv equivocal expression seems to have alarmed the advo- cates for a republic, or at least for a final and entire disconnection of Belgium and the House of Orange ; for the next day, (the 10th) DE POTTER and ROGIER found it convenient to explain it away, in the following communication addressed to the same parties :- c think it our duty to state that the- ;1.n f"the Pri: having been sent only to Messrs. Merode and Vander Weyer as private indivi- duals, they alone had to answer him. We, however, assent to the prin- ciples expressed by those gentlemen in the communication made by them to their fellow-citizens. Like them, we profess, anti believe it' our duty to profess, at this moment, no political opinion except that of our un- alterable attachment to the cause of the independence Of Belgium. Two. important questions will soon be submitted to the National Congress,— namely, that of the form of government which is henceforth to prevail in Belgium, and that of the power which tile people will choose to carry it into effect. These questions will be decided by the National Congress, which is alone calculated to do so. We submit beforehand to the will of the people, whose organ it will be."

The conclusions drawn from the conduct of the Provisional Government, and from the character of its members, are various. The Times of yesterday seems to lean to the opinion that a re- public will be established in Belgium. Our contemporary argues chiefly on the well-know it principles of DE POTTER, which are exemplified by a passage quoted from one of the letters produ; 2.(1 at his trial.

"My own honour," he said, "is superior to that of all Kings joined to all their knaves. I see in them the born enemies of all human dignity, of all that offers the slightest opposition to their will, however just it may be,—in short, I see in them men who detest all show of manly cha- racter, whilst their favours, their prodigalities, and what they call their honours, are heaped on the vilest slaves who prostitute themselves to their caprices."

We have no doubt that DE POTTER prefers a republican to a monarchical form of government ; but it does not follow that he can establish a republic in Belgium ; and though he could, it does not follow that he would do so. There are, we believe, many theoretical republicans in England, who would not stir to procure a republic, but on the contrary would strenuously oppose those who did. Men . of sense will in such cases look to the governed as well as the government. There is no state of society to which freedom is not preeminently beneficial. Before a man can learn to use his legs, he must be unmanacled. But there are many stiles .of society in which freedom depending on a republican government, where the people are both subjects and kings, may be impracticable. What man in all Belgiuni could at this momest_ so completely command the suffrages of his countrymen, as to placed in the office of its President, or Consul, or by what- ever name the chief magistrate might be called ? We hardly think DE POTTER could, and assuredly there is none else. And if DE POTTER did, how miserably weak, whether against foreign aggression or domestic faction, must his government -be I Ldok to the French Government, with a great nation that needs fear no enemy from without, and all but unanimous within—to how much embarrassment it is subjected, because a monarch whose capital is .. a thousand miles distant hesitates—only hesitates—to recognize it. In what condition would Louis PHILIP have been, had not Great Britain so promptly and so honourably stretched out the band of fellowship to him ? The greatness and the unanimity of France would, we admit, have carried her through had all the Kings of Europe set themselves against her: but Belgium is small, and it is not unanimous ; and the breakers which might beat in vain on the one would speedily swamp the other. For these considerations, therefore,—first, that a monarchical form of government is most likely. to remain unassailed from without, and secondly, because as a monarch or as the permanent head of any government, the Prince of ORANGE is the only person who appears likely to win or to keep the suffrages of his countrymen,—we strongly incline to the belief that his overtures, unless he mar their probable issue by some notable act of folly, will he accepted.

The Chronicle of yesterday has the following piece of information.

" We learn from a gentleman of honour arid veracity, arrived from Belgium, that the Provisional Government maintained its popularity, and that the Belgian army was daily receiving reinforcements, and completing its orgainization. The amount of armed force at the command of the Provisional Government had already attained to nearly eighty thousand men, completely equipped ; and nothing less than the conquest of all the Belgian towns would satisfy the demands of these patriots. Throughout Belgium good order and tranquillity prevailed. Neither arms nor provi- sions were wanting.

All this we can easily believe, without in any degree departing from the opinion that we have expressed respecting the ultimate settlement of the revolution • and which, unless we have been misinformed, is the same as that now entertained by DE POTTER himself.

DUCPF.TIAITX, EvEriAnn, and.Pi.nriNcicx have been released from confinement, on parole ; they arrived at Brussels on the 11th. Immediately on their arrival, they received a commission to re- turn to Antwerp for the purpose of negociating, an exchange of prisoners, and they left Brussels next day for the purpose of exe- cuting it. The whole of the property of the House of Orange in Belgium has been sequestrated. This might oppose some diffi- culty to the election of the Prince, were a decree of appropriation to follow thehsequestration ; but this is not likely. There was a re- port very confidently spread in the beginning of the week, that Prussia had directed a large force upon Belgium, for the purpose of occupying the fortresses. The fact is, that so many of the fortresses are already in the hands of the patriots, that anything like a surprise is now impracticable. They hold, besides several places of smaller importance, the citadels of Liege, Namur, Durant, Charleroy, Marienbourg, Mons, Tournay, Phillipeville- what could Prussia do against these places, were her forces be- fore them? They are not to be taken by a coup de main; and before she had time to take them by any other method, she would i have a hundred thousand Frenchmen n her skirts. It is true that the King of Prussia, "under the extraordinary circumstances," as he says, "in which he finds himself placed," has appointed his brother commander-in-chief of the Rhenish provinces, but—we must repeat the conviction formerly expressed by us—with defen- sive, not offensive views. Indeed, Belgium seems more alarmed at the prospect of assistance than of opposition from without. And as the presence of foreigners—by which is meant Frenchmen, as no other foreigners are going thither—would tend, if their numbers were great, to prevent a reconciliation between Belgium and the House of Orange, to which all Frenchmen are patriotically opposed, the disinclination of the Provisional Government to en- courage their immigration may be received as a pretty decisive in- dication of their own feelings that way. The Courrier des Pays Bas of Saturday contains the following decisive intimation of the views of the Provisional Government regarding the intention of _their friends.

"The Central Committee, considering that many foreigners come into Belgium, some with honourable intentions of giving assistance against the enterprises of Dutch despotism, but others, in great numbers, to seek an equivocal existence in the midst of embarrassments inseparable from a state of transition, decrees-

" 1st. The Commanders of towns, and the Garde Bourgeoise established in frontier places, as well as the heads of the customhouses, shall con- cert measures with the civil authorities to watch the introduction of foreigners coming into Belgium for purposes other than private affairs. "2nd. Provisionally, and considering the urgency of the case, the said authorities shall not permit the entrance into the country of all who do not justify their motives for coming.

"3rd. All other foreigners not provided with passports, or authority from Government, shall be obliged to justify their resources; and if not, they shall be sent home again.

"4th. It is expressly forbidden to display any foreign flag or cockade, diplomatic persons being alone excepted from the present interdict.

"DE POTTER.

CH. ROGIER.

COUNT FELIX DE MERODE.

SYLVAIN VAN DER WEYER.

J. VANDERLINDEN, Sec."

Conformably to this decree, which is dated the 6th instant, a band of Frenchmen, whose enthusiasm, or some sentiment less respectable, had marched them to Ghent, were, on the 1 lth, stopped at the gates ; and it was only after considerable discussion, and from the interference, as would appear, of the people, rather than from any goodwill of the Government, that they were at length admitted. The French authorities, we may remark,.dis- play every wish of honestly co-operating in repressing these un- called-for intrusions of service: they have issued orders that no armed Frenchman shall be permitted to pass the frontier for the ;impose of assisting the Revolutionists. A. detachment of Belgians- passing through Valenciennes, on the 3rd, was stopped, and ten Frenchmen who had joined them, taken out of the ranks, and sent home.

The question of the character and extent of the outrages per- petrated by the Dutch troops is still agitated by some of our con- temporaries. We consider it unnecessary to say anything on the subject at present. We shall soon have ample and correct mate- rials, as the Central Committee of Government has appointed a commission of fourteen—two notaries and twelve citizens—to examine evidence, and to draw up an authentic account both of the injury done to property and the violence offered to its owners during the partial occupation of the town. A rumour appeared in one of the Brussels journals, which ar- rived last Saturday, of the most incredible character,—namely, that the King of Holland had taken flight from the Hague for England. The pretended in4elligence appeared to us so eminently ridiculous as to be unworthy of notice. To some of our contempo- raries, however, who greatly boast of "exclusive news" and. Con- tinental correspondents, the story of another king running away was too valuable to be neglected ; and, accordingly, on Sunday last, it was placarded by more than one journal, with all the pro minence due to its magnitude and importance. We need hardly say there was not the slightest foundation of truth in it. The King of Holland is indeed so far from thinking of removing, that he has issued a decree authorizing a loan of twenty millions of florins, to be repaid in two years from the 1st of January next,—for the pur- pose, if we may believe the constructions put upon the measure, of compelling the Belgians to accept of his propositions, if they will not do so by entreaty.

There is a rumour of a meeting at the Hague of the Ambassa- dors of the Great Powers—the only named Ambassador is Baron WESSENBERG, from Austria—to settle the question of Belgium. They go, we suspect, to deliberate on the best means of securing the stable after the steed has been stolen—Belgium has pretty well settled the question already.