The attention which for some time past has been fixed
on the Congress, has during the last week been directed solely to the
King of Belgium. His progress has been noted by our brethren of the Daily Press with a minuteness which even the novelty of his elevation hardly warranted. If we do not exceedingly mistake the sober and business-loving temper of the times, the processions of Kings—with the exception of our own, in whom we feel a sort of personal and private interest—are looked upon by the people of England with much and growing indifference. We shall merely trace the line of King LEOPOLD'S advance to the capital of his newly-acquired dominions. The King travelled, as we stated last Saturday, by the way of Calais ; where he arrived, in an English steam-boat, about six o'clock in the afternoon. He was met by General BELLIARD, and the Mayor of Calais, and the National Guard, which escorted him to DESSEIN'S. The civil and military authorities were invited to dine with the Prince, and the town was decorated with flags almost as profusely as it had been in July last year. Early on Sunday morning, the royal party set
- outfor Ostend, by way of Gravelines and Dunkirk. The King's re- - ception at both of these towns, as well as at Fumes, and indeed, at every village, hamlet, and homestead along the road, seems to have been exceedingly hearty. The cavalcade, which consisted of five or six carriages, conveying, besides the King and his immediate suite, the five Deputies who had brought from Belgium the intelli- gence of his election, and an escort of cavalry, arrived at Ostend about five o'clock. The whole of the streets of Ostend were deco- rated with boughs of trees, and its inhabitants appeared in their gayest holiday trim. At eight o'clock on Monday the King left Ostend; he arrived at Bruges at noon. He breakfasted in Bruges, and, after walking over the town, resumed his journey. He arrived at Eccloo about four o'clock, and in the evening of the same day he reached Ghent.
The reception of the King at Ghent, notwithstanding the lan-
guage of the Orange journals, was as warm and as hearty as in any of the towns he had passed through : in the evening the illu- mination was general and brilliant. On Tuesday, at noon, LEOPOLD left Ghent ; and in the evening of the same day he arrived at the palace of Lacken, in the immediate neighbourhood of Brussels.
The Congress assembled on Wednesday ; when the Regent ad- dressed them in a long speech, the principal topic of course being the arrival of the King. On the same day, several laws of form were passed ; and the Congress decreed that they should sit, in their legislative capacity, during the forty days which must elapse from the coronation until the assembling of the new Chambers. The Congress met on Thursday for the last time in its capacity of constituent assembly, to receive the resignation of the Rezent. We subjoin the account of the ceremony from the Times of this morning. "At twelve o'clock, the members of the Congress, with the President and Regent at their head, Caine on foot from the Hall of Assembly to the Place Royale, and took their place on the royal platform near the throne. The King left Lacken at eleven o'clock, and proceeded on horseback, ac- companied by the Commander of the Civic Guard, and the Governor of the Province, by a squadron of the cavalry of the Civic Guard, to the gate of the city, where he was met by the Burgomaster and a deputation of the corporation. The cortege then entered the gate, and proceeded slowly amidst the ringing of bells and the acclamations of the crowded windows and streets. The streets were lined on each side by a double file of soldiers and Civic Guard. The utmost order and regularity prevailed throughout. Bands of music were stationed at different intervals along the line. The Royal cortege appeared in the grand square at ten minutes . past one o'clock. The King was handed up the steps of the temporary throne by a deputation of the Congress. He sat down, uncovered, on a seat prepared in front of the throne. The Congress also sat down. " The Regent then stood in front of the King, and read a speech, in which he resigned his powers. M. C. Vilain XIV. then read the whole of _ the constitution ; upon which M. de Nothomb, the youngest of the secre- ,..taries of the Congress, stood forward and read the oath, which he then presented to the King. Leopold read it over, and then rose from his seat, and advanced to the front. He then slowly, and distinctly read the oath, in the following, terms I swear to observe the constitution and the laws of the Belgian people, and to maintain the national independence and the integrity of the territory.' A table was then brought, and Leopold signed the Constitution. The President, the Vice-Presidents, and Secre- taries of the Congress, signed the document as witnesses. " Leopold, at three minutes past two o'clock, went up to the throne, and standing on the steps, read an address to the Congress and people. The King then ascended his throne, and received the homage of all his subjects."
The day was exceedingly fine ; the people were in the best possi-
ble disposition; and the whole reception went of not merely well, but joyously. Among the 'Bruxellois, and indeed all the Belgian nation, there seems but one feeling towards their new monarch. His accession opens to them, and we hope to Europe, an sera of renewed peace and prosperity—
Felix faustumque sit !
The French Chamber of Deputies meets to-day, and not a little interest is felt in respect to the speech which the Ministers mean to put into the mouth of the Citizen King. It is not supposed that it will contain any allusion to the Peerage, although virtually the question is settled. Whether it will allude to Poland, except in general terms, is uncertain ; we hope it will. The Chamber of Deputies is divided, somewhat like our own, into two parties ; the leading feature of the one being its attachment to things as they are, of the other to things as they ought to be. These parties,. again, are divided, like ours, into Ultra and Moderate,—or, as the French term them, from their ordinary position in the Chamber, Extremes and Centres. Between the Centres of the Right and of the Left,—or, as we would call them, the Moderate Tory and Moderate Whig parties,—there is not much difference; the EX- tremes are perhaps not so far removed from each other as they are from the Centres with which they pretend to act. In the late Chamber, previous to the Revolution, the Extreme Right numbered 153 members, the Centre Right 40 ; the Extreme Left 94, the Centre Left 106. Besides these two great parties, there was a third, generally acting with the Right, but occasionally with the Left, which consisted of 30 members. This party, as it happened to be inclined, could give the majority to either. It was by the junction of this independent party with the party of the Left, that POLIGNAC was outvoted. Of the 430 members of which the Chamber of CHARLES the Tenth consisted, only 206 are members of the Chamber which meets to-day. Of 225 Deputies, who, in- cluding the independent party, formed the Right side of the Cham- ber previous to the Revolution of July, only 7 remain; about 70 were rejected at the Revolution, the remainder have been rejected in the late elections. Of the Left, on the contrary, out of 94, who sat before the Revolution, 70 sit in the new Chamber. There is not much danger to liberty in an assembly where the Anti-Re- formers have so decidedly fallen off, and where the Reformers have so firmly stood their ground. The returns to the present Chambers are 206 members re-elected ; 10 elections of deputies who had sat in former Chambers; 197 new members; 35 double returns ; 1 dead, and I irregular election—total 450. The Minis- terial majority is variously estimated ; and indeed it is evident, that in a Parliament freely chosen it must be so. On some ques- tions, in such a Parliament, the majority will be great, on some small. A defeat, in such a case, will not necessarily lead to a change of men, but of measures: it will be received as a proof, not that the Cabinet is distrusted, but that it has gone astray. Considerable apprehension was felt for the safety of the capital on the 18th, the anniversary of the first great blow struck against European tyranny, the capture of the Bastile. The day, however, passed over safely, if not quietly. There was some mobbing, sup- posed to be excited by the Carlists ; and several young men were arrested, some of them armed with pistols. The mob, however, was neither numerous nor bold ; and, what is worthy of observa- tion, instead of being aided by the labouring classes, the latter seem to have heartily joined in putting them down. Private letters from Algiers mention a most disastrous expedi- tion towards Titeri. The French column was pursued, in its march, back to Algiers, by about 40,000 of the natives ; and lost 700 men killed and wounded—only 180 of the latter could be brought away.
From the way in which Donna MARIA, "the young Queen of Portugal," is received in France, and the marked attention paid to
her by the Royal Family, it seems not unlikely that there is a serious intention of aiding her in her claim to Portugal. MIGUEL. is said to meditate a retreat—whither? He is either the most shamefully belied gentleman in all Christendom, or there is but one place in which he can look for a welcome as warm as he deserves.
Previous page
