27 OCTOBER 1832, Page 10

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

THE OBSTINATE KING OF HOLLAND.

" OBSTINACY," says BURKE, "is certainly a great vice ; and in the changeful state of political affairs, it is frequently the cause of great mischief." If any one doubt the correctness of this remark, or if any additional lesson be required to impress its truth upon the minds of men, it would be amply furnished by the recent con- duct of the King of Holland. The comfort and happiness of mil- lions appear to be totally disregarded by this infatuated Monarch, should their preservation present any obstacles to the gratification of his ambitious wishes and unholy resentment. It may suit the purpose of slavish politicians to give the name of firmness and patriotism to his Majesty's persevering hostility to his quondam subjects in Belgium: to us it appears to be the extreme of po- litical wickedness. To undertake a war of aggression without a prospect of securing the attainment of its ultimate object—to de- stroy the peaceful habits and exhaust the hardly-earned resources of his present faithful subjects, for the purpose of bringing ruin upon his former ones—what sharper scourge, what more direful calamity, can man inflict upon his fellow men, than this ? The King of Holland says in his last speech, that he relies upon the loyalty and devotion of his subjects, and thus boldly defies all foreign aggression. But no aggression on his territory is intended. The surrender of the Citadel of Antwerp is all that is required. That.once accomplished, the hostile fleet and army retire ; and if his Majesty is determined to fight notwithstanding, he must needs become the aggressor himself, and encounter France and England on Belgic ground. Now, the Dutch troops may be very brave fellows in their own swamps and fortresses. History proves clearly enough, that they will fight like tigers in defence of their gable- roofed dwellings and stagnant canals. But they have always been considered as indifferent soldiers when merely contending for pay, or plunder, or foreign conquest. We do not think any the worse of their nation on that account. But it renders any expec- tation which their Monarch may entertain of reconquering Belgium more absurd than if the spirit of his troops was ardent, enterprising, and delighting in the rapture of the strife, like that of the French soldiery. If, however, his Dutch Majesty relies upon the aid of Russia and Prussia, and is desirous of kindling war all over the Continent, for the chance of obtaining the military occupation of Belgium, and punishing its inhabitants for their revolt, it will be difficult to find terms sufficiently expressive of our contempt for his folly and indignation at his wickedness. But so it has almost invariably been with the Monarchs of the earth; and the false colouring which dishonest or bewildered his- torians have thrown over their greatest crimes, has tended in no small degree to encourage their recommission. Louis the Four- teenth, in his latter days, is described as a noble old man, strug- gling with calamity, and sustaining himself with majestic firmness in the midst of the ruin of his empire. The plain English, the true account of the matter, is simply as follows. Louis, having been compelled to abandon the unrighteous conquests of his former career, chose rather to grind his people to the dust by taxes and conscriptions than to conclude a peace, which would have se- cured to France her own territory, and healed the wounds which festered to her centre : and why ? Because, forsooth, his own ho- nour and dignity were concerned in making the people fight till they could fight no longer ; and his honour and dignity were Matters quite distinct from the wellbeing of his subjects. When Mr. ADAMS, the first Ambassador from the United States, was presented at Court, GEORGE the Third told him, that, "as he was the last man in his dominions to acknowledge American inde- pendence, yet, having at length yielded, he would also be the last to attempt its subversion." This we have frequently heard ap- *tided as a very noble speech, and it certainly sounds well. But as to the latter clause in the sentence, we may remark, that there was no great merit in promising not to attempt an enter- prise which recent and bitter experience had clearly proved would be abortive and ruinous. The declaration that he was the last man in England to acknowledge the independence of the Colonies, seems to us to be a very disgraceful and unnecessary admission. As ruler of the land, he ought to have been the first to have dis- cerned the consequences of the American revolt; and his tardy sacrifice to necessity ought to have been spared by a timely and willing homage to reason. It is well known that the war was carried on mainly to gratify the vindictive feelings of the King ; but a dis- creet Monarch would at any rate have endeavoured to keep his own secret, and not have revealed it at the very first interview to the triumphant Republican.

When will men agree to call things by their right names, and learn to distinguish between firmness in a good cause and obsti- nacy in a bad one? "I will go," said LUTHER, when urged by his -friends to take care of himself and remain at home—" I will go to the Diet of WOIMS, though there were as many devils on the road as tiles upon the house-tops." But LUTHER went to contend in the cause of religious liberty, for the sacred and inaliedable right of millions to worship God according to their consciences; and therefore it is that we applaud the fierce, resolution of his reply. Had the same been uttered by the Cardinal Legate, who went to Worms for the express purpose of compelling men to worship God in opposition to their consciences, would there have —been any merit in it?

Thus the King-of Holland may rest assured, that he occupies a vet y different position. from that of the first great Prince of his house, who fought the Spaniards to the last ditch in the cause of civil and religious liberty. And the address which would have been justly applauded as magnanimous and spirit-stirring, when delivered by a sovereign eager to incite his subjects to resist a domineering invader, becomes nothing better than an obstinate bravado in the mouth of one who aims only at carrying fire and sword into the bosom of a peaceful country, and whose infamous designs are frustrated by a superior force.

The occurrences of every day seem to follow each other for the express purpose of teaching the nations of the earth the important lesson of curbing the power of .Princes, and rendering them the- servants, not the masters of their people. Whether their thrones be elective or hereditary, the necessity for watching and restraining them remains the same. What is sport to them, may be death to us. If the Dutch nation have not discovered the truth of this saying already, it may be shortly made manifest to them in the de- struction of their commerce and the slaughter of their citizens.