which you may wish to lay before his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, I send copies of the despatches I have sent home by Major Stanhope.

I trust in all this his Royal Highness will see not only a proof of my zeal to be useful to the cause, but will be satisfied that the enterprise must have been successful, had the troops, particularly of the right attack, not been sacrificed in small, unsupported bodies-a misfortune which I endeavoured to prevent, by the orders that were given to the different columns of attack. I have the honour to remain, &c.,

THOMAS GRAHAM.

Sir Thomas Graham to Lord Bathurst.

Head-quarters, Calmhout, March 11, 1814 My Lord-I have the honour to inform your lordship that General Bizanet, the Governor of Bergen-op-Zoom, allowed Lieutenant-Colonel Jones to come here with letters from General Cooke, in consequence of which I sent in my aide-decamp, Major Stanhope, with full powers to conclude an agree ment relative to an exchange of prisoners, a copy of which I have the honour to enclose,' agreeably to which, all but the wounded were marched out from Bergen-op-Zoom yesterday, for the purpose of being embarked for England, as soon as the navigation of the river shall be open; and I trust that my conduct in pledging my honour to the strict observance of this agreement will be approved of, and that an immediate release of French prisoners of corresponding rank will take place with the least possible delay.

I must not omit this opportunity to express my entire satisfaction with the indefatigable zeal of Lieutenant-Colonel Jones relative to the comfort of the prisoners, and my

1 To this passage my copy of this despatch has the following marginal note, probably by Lord Clancarty :-"The copy of this agreement is not sent the principal feature is an obligation not to serve till regularly exchanged, rank for rank.”—EDITOR.

obligation to that officer and to Major Stanhope on this

occasion.

I am anxious to do justice to the conduct of General Bizanet, which, truly characteristic of a brave man, has been marked from the first with the most kind and humane attentions to the prisoners. He has sent me the name of an officer, prisoner in England, formerly his aide-decamp; and I would gladly hope that, in compliment to the General, this officer would be immediately released without exchange.

Major Stanhope, who can better than anybody inform your lordship of all particulars you may wish to be informed of, is purposely sent as the bearer of my despatches, which makes it unnecessary for me to add more.

I have the honour to be, &c.,

THOMAS GRAHAM.

Lord Castlereagh to Edward Thornton, Esq.

Chaumont, March 14, 1814. Sir-I enclose copy of a despatch addressed to the Earl of Clancarty, in reply to one received from his lordship, on the subject of the Low Countries. As this letter develops the general system of the Allies on this important question, and, as the Prince Royal very properly desired to be assured that the Allied Powers were prepared to support the interests of the people of Brabant upon a peace, before his Royal Highness encouraged them to encounter the hazards of an armament in their own defence, I am anxious you should submit the whole without delay to his Royal Highness, trusting that it must prove altogether satisfactory, and enable his Royal Highness to act with satisfaction to his own feelings in the command of that army, with which the troops to be levied in Brabant will be combined.

When the Prince Royal has digested his arrangement for the conduct of operations, I should be glad to be favoured

VOL. IX.

A A

with a confidential communication of his Royal Highness's

views and sentiments.

I have, &c.,

CASTLEREAGH.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Clancarty.

Chaumont, March 14, 1814.

My Lord-I beg you will express to the Prince of Orange the sense entertained by the Allied Sovereigns of the dignified and liberal manner in which his Royal Highness has been pleased to signify his readiness, in conjunction with the other Powers, to place the corps of Dutch troops destined for service in the Pays Bas, under the command in chief of the Prince Royal of Sweden.

The letter addressed to your lordship by M. de Hogendorp, has been maturely considered by the Allied Ministers, and I have had the advantage of conversing with M. de Spaen on the subject. Your lordship is also probably aware that a deputation, composed of the Duke of Beaufort, the Marquis of Chastelet, and two other persons of distinction, have been at the head-quarters, charged, on the part of the Provisional Government established at Brussels, to ascertain, as far as possible, the intentions of the Allies with respect to their future fate and interests. These deputies have been received by the Allied Sovereigns and their Ministers with every mark of respect and attention. Their presence has led to a very full consideration of this important subject, and I have now the satisfaction to enclose to you the result of these deliberations, in the shape in which it was delivered to these deputies this morning, previous to their departure. They are authorized to communicate the sentiments of the Allies, as therein expressed, to their countrymen, on their return; and this document will form the basis of a Proclamation to be issued, on the part of the Allied Powers, by the Governor to be forthwith appointed, upon assuming his functions.

It is quite clear that the prevailing wish of the people of

1

Flanders is to return under the dominion of the House of Austria. The Emperor has been quite explicit in declaring that, however gratified his Royal Highness [? Imperial Majesty] must be by this testimony of their affection and fidelity, he cannot, in justice to them or to himself, embark in the defence of provinces so distant from the mass of his dominions.

Their inclination would perhaps have led them, in the next place, to look to a separate system, under an Austrian Prince : this we have all combated, as inconsistent with the preservation of their independence. They begin to understand that to be free they must be strong; to be strong, they must be incorporated into a large system, and under proper arrangements and securities. Holland is the connexion, which, failing in their being reclaimed by Austria, there is every reason to suppose will be the most acceptable and congenial to the sentiments of the people.

You will perceive that the great Powers have been quite explicit in their offer of protection. They are assured, whatever may be the contrariety of sentiment in the Low Countries upon other subjects, that there is but one determination as to the resistance which all are disposed to oppose against their return under French authority. This being the state of the question, the object is to arm and organize the country for its own defence as rapidly as possible, under the protection of the Allies. This levy will be effectuated according to the existing system of Central Administration; the military Government acting through the local civil authorities, of which the Provisional Government at Brussels is to be considered as the head.

This, it is conceived, will best combine the national sentiment with the furtherance of the service, and will at once relieve the Prince Royal of Sweden, in the chief command of the Allied Army acting in the Low Countries, from the endless details of an administration inconsistent with his high functions.

In forming this system of administration, the object has been to put forward an Austrian authority, as the one, in the first instance, most congenial to the habits of the people. In order, however, that no misconception may be produced by this step, the Emperor and his Minister have declared that it is not to be considered as indicative of any permanent connexion, but a species of mediation, on the part of a Sovereign whom they regard, to see them justly and happily settled upon a peace.

There is but one opinion that, to make Holland or Belgium capable of sustaining a real independence, upon the confines of France, they must form one State. To this system, evidently wise and necessary in itself, the good sense of both nations will speedily accommodate. In the mean time, the object is to secure a plan of administration the least calculated to provoke a conflict of political sentiment, and to turn the minds of the people to the defence of the country, in the first instance, against France.

I beg you will submit these arrangements to the Prince of Orange, and I trust his Royal Highness will be of opinion that the Allied Powers, perfectly agreed in sentiment upon the expediency of uniting the Low Countries, or the greater part of them, to Holland, under his Royal Highness's sway, have adopted that course which is, upon the whole, most likely to lead to that auspicious result, without doing violence to any of the existing prejudices of either nation.

Lord Castlereagh to Lord Clancarty.

Chaumont, March 14, 1814.

My Lord-I omitted, in my last despatch, to state that it was proposed that the Governor of the Low Countries should be assisted in the discharge of his functions by an Austrian, Russian, Prussian, and Dutch Commissary, or Intendantalso, that the Prince of Orange should be allowed to accede to