The Ambassadors of the Five Powers have at length finished
their labours in the cause of Holland and Belgium. At a meet- ing which began on Friday night and was prolonged to four o'clock on Saturday morning, it was finally determined that Hol- land should retain the left bank of the Scheldt, part of Limbourg, and the half of Luxembourg : the other half of Luxembourg goes to Belgium in plenary sovereignty: the latter kingdom also retains Liege, and of course Antwerp, with the free navigation of the river : Maestricht continues with Holland. The interest of the debt is apportioned between the two states in such a way that Belgium will pay about one-third. This arrangement, which differs both from the protocol founded on by Holland and from the eighteen articles afterwards submitted to Belgium, has been de- clared by the Ambassadors to be final and irrevocable ; and in consequence, the Conference is broken up, and its functions for good or for evil to either party are at an end. Henceforth, the contest, if there be one, must be waged by other weapons than protocols.
The session of the Dutch States General, which is regulated by law, and which, in consequence, although the previous session ended on the 15th only, was opened on the 17th, has produced a long speech from the Dutch Monarch ; in which, however, there is not the slightest allusion to the transactions of the previous Saturday.
The Belgian forces are now, from the indefatigable labours of the French officers, in a respectable condition ; so that if a second rupture takes place, they may reasonably expect to come out of it with more honour than they did out of the last affair of arms.
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