A fee of registration, of the amount of fifteen francs, is paid annually by each student; and the sum of two hundred francs, or about eight pounds, annually paid, admits to all the courses of any one faculty; fifty additional francs, entitle the student to add one or more courses, in other faculties. Prizes are annually distributed for excellence. In the foundation of this free institution, may be traced the progress of public opinion in Belgium, with regard to popery. The Catholic University, recently established, by the Belgic bishops, at Mechlin, is entirely exclusive: all the functionaries must be Roman Catholics, and must take an oath of obedience to the episcopal body.

LETTER III.

Road through the forest of Soignies-Waterloo-Carnage at this and the preceding battles-Road to Namur-Country near the city-Its situation · - Churches, including the Cathedral Heights-Sunday fair-Fête de la Sainte Vierge-Historical Sketch, from the Roman Invasion-Battle between Cæsar and the Nervii-Frankish dominion-Dependence on the EmpirePetty States-House of Burgundy-Spanish connexion and dominion-Charles V.-Philip II.-William of Nassau-Cruel persecutions-Atrocities of Alva-Union of Utrecht-Assassi nation of William-Ancient opulence of the Cities of Brabant and Flanders-Archduke Albert-Louis XIV. and the Triple Alliance-War of the Spanish succession-Peace of UtrechtAustrian dominion-Incorporation with France-United Kingdom of the Netherlands-Leopold of Saxe Coburg, first King of the Belgians.

MY DEAR FRIEND: The Namur road led us to Waterloo through part of the ancient Arduenna, mentioned by Cæsar,-now the forest of Soignies. The village church is an affecting spectacle, its walls being lined with marble slabs, to the memory of the officers who fell on the melancholy field of Britain's

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glory. At Mont St. Jean, a small hamlet, upwards of a mile farther on, the road gradually rises; and at the distance of another half-mile, you come to the farmhouse, which was the key to the British position, being the centre round which the allied army was arranged nearly in the form of a quadrant, across the two diverging roads leading from Mont St. Jean, to Nivelles and Genappe. You now lose sight of the forest, and an ascent conducts to the ridge along which the British army was placed. The road to Genappe crosses the position of its centre, where stood the tree, now cut down, near which the Duke of Wellington and his staff were posted, between two sand-banks, during the greater part of the action. Near the same spot are two monuments, one to Colonel Gordon, and the other to the officers of the German legion, who here fell.

In the distance, on the left, is pointed out the wood from which, at the close of the day, the Prussians emerged to extinguish the last ray of hope for the French army, and to inspire the British for the final effort of the dreadful struggle. On the right, marking the spot where the Prince of Orange was wounded, is a mound from the summit of which those of us who were here before, obtained a commanding view of the field. This huge pyramid, if left as a mere earthen tumulus, without being crowned by the Belgic lion, would have remained, in all future time, a most impressive monument to the

thousands of the slain; for it is no less than two hundred feet high, which is the elevation of the barrow of Alyattes, in Asia Minor, probably the largest in the world.

The road led close by La Haye Sainte, near which farm-house the terrible conflict took place, between the British troops and the imperial guard of Napoleon; and at a distance, on the right, in the middle of the valley, was the château of Hougomont, the scene of a most murderous and continued conflict, and the spot where a number of the wounded of both armies perished in flames. This château lay between the original positions of the two armies; and behind it was placed the second division of the French, under Jerome Bonaparte, who began the battle by an attack on the British troops, which was accompanied with a dreadful fire of artillery. We now passed the little inn of La Belle Alliance, near the place where the road crossed the centre of the position of the French army; and where Napoleon remained during the greater part of the battle, till he made his last charge at the head of his imperial guards.

This battle was unquestionably one of the most memorable that ever occurred in the history of the world; whether we consider the elements that mingled in it, or the magnitude of its results. It presented the spectacle of the flower of European armies, combined to give a mortal blow to the insuffer

able ambition of the mighty Goliath of war, who for so many years had been the terror of all Europe; and had kept the continent in awe by the thunder of his arms. It was the last storm raised by that great disturber of the world; and it was signally marked by the fury with which it raged; for nothing could exceed the terrific violence of the French charges, the indomitable steadiness and energy with which they were repelled by the British, or the destructive reprisals taken by the Prussians, for their defeat at Ligny, on the retreating French. And the consequences of this sanguinary conflict were nothing less than the final downfall of Napoleon, the pacification of the continent, and the elevation of Britain to the highest pitch of influence among the powers of Europe. The guide who conducted some of us on a former visit to this field of blood, then crowned with the fruits of harvest, said that he made one of about four thousand persons who were employed, for a whole week, in burying the slain !

It is computed that, in this battle, which took place on the 18th of June, 1815, and that of Ligny on the 16th, the carnage amounted to no less than about seventy thousand men,—an awful example of the ravages of war, and awakening the appalling reflection that these myriads of human souls were hurried into eternity, and the presence of their Judge, reeking with each other's blood, and often breathing the most malignant passions;