persons as they may deem unqualified. When, from the summing up of the registers, it shall appear that the majority are satisfied with the persons thus submitted to their election, they shall be regarded as the representatives of the whole Dutch people. On the day appointed for the meeting of these notables or leading men, the members repaired to the New Church at Amsterdam, where his Royal Highness the Prince of Orange, accompanied by his two sons, arriving at half past eleven, opened the business with a speech. After a congratulatory introduction, relative to the happy change which had restored him to his country, he reminded the assembly that he had said, upon the declaration of the majority of the nation, that they deposited the rights of sovereignty in his hands, that he assumed them upon one condition, which was that of a constitutional code, analogous to the wants of Holland, and the present state of Europe, and which should amply provide for freedom of person, security of property, and all the civil rights which distinguish a people really free. A committee of men whose patriotism and intelligence were above suspicion, had drawn up the plan of that constitution, the bases of which would be communicated to them; and as he did not wish this to be a mere idle ceremony, he recommended the subject to their most serious consideration. Mr. Van Maanen, first president of the high court of justice of the United Netherlands, then addressed the assembly, and explained succinctly the principles of the constitution. His Royal High ness next delivered the plan of the constitution to the president, and returned to his palace amidst the acclamations of the people ; and about two in the afternoon, a general discharge of artillery announced the acceptance of the constitution. The majority in its favour is said to have been 458 to 25. On the following day his Royal Highness took the oath to the constitution, and on that occasion again addressed the assembly. He observed, that exactly four months had elapsed since his return to the Netherlands, during which period the progress made in the restoration of the state, had much surpassed all that could have been expected. Foreign powers had not only by words, but by deeds, manifested their satisfaction at the recovery of independence by the Netherlands, and the conferring of the sovereignty upon his house. The most important of their foreign relations, that with the generous British nation, would soon acquire a new degree of intimacy by the marriage of his eldest son. The devotion of the country to the good cause had enabled him, notwithstanding the exhaustion of its finances, to raise more than 25,000 troops, for the most part well armed and equipped; whilst its unanimity had been displayed by the prompt organization of the militia, the levy in mass, the national guards, and now by the acceptance of the constitution. He concluded with promising to apply himself to the immediate enforcement of that constitution, and carrying into effect all the requisite arrangements. On April 6th, the Prince Sove reign issued his Letters Patent for the appointments which were placed under his authority, by the constitution. They consisted in governors of all the provinces, in the members and counsellors of the council of state, in the members of the assembly of the States General for the different provinces, in the ministers of state for the civil and military departments, and the members of the council of commerce and colonies. The superior direction of the war department in all its branches was conferred upon the Hereditary Prince, as general in chief. All the powers of the nation being thus vested in persons nominated by the head of the new government, the public tranquillity was effectually secured, which, indeed, there appeared no disposition in the people to disturb. The Catholic Netherlands, or Belgium, had in the mean time been filling with allied troops, and the French garrisons had been gradually withdrawn from the more remote stations. They had made some movements for the purposes of contribution or depredation, and Bruges and Gheut had for some time been in their hands; but at length, on intelligence of the events at Paris, the garrison of Bergen-op-Zoom mounted the white cockade, and threw open its gates; and general Maison received orders from the new French minister at war to cease all hostilities, and regard the allies as friends. The Crown Prince of Sweden having written to general Carnot, governor of Antwerp, acquainting him with the deposition of Napoleon, and proposing to him to surrender his fortress, and join the allied troops, that distin guished person, who can only be paralleled by the republican offi cers who served under Cromwell, returned for answer; that he com manded at Antwerp, in the name of the French government, which alone had a right to fix the dura tion of his office, and the orders of which he should obey when incontestably established on new base. On April 18th he published a proclamation to his soldiers, informing them that the wishes of the nation being fully declared in favour of the restora tion of the Bourbons, it became their duty to acknowledge them; and he concluded by an oath in his name, and those of the other commanders, to defend Antwerp to the last extremity in the name of Louis XVIII. The Dutch admiral Verhuel, also, as late as April 16th, had deferred his surrender of the Texel, but a negotiation was going on with him, and in the mean time, he had declared that he would allow a free passage to all trading vessels. The war in Italy was still vigorously maintained by the viceroy Beauharnois, who had to make head against the Austrian general, and the king of Naples now in co-operation with him. The French general of division, Grenier, having marched from Reggio by Guastalla, to make a junction with the viceroy, the king of Naples, on March 5th, after reinforcing the Austrian advanced guard, caused an attack to be made on the division of Severoli, in which he drove it back with considerable loss under the walls of Reggio; and on the 7th, his movements threatening to cut off the enemy's retreat on Parma, they evacuated Reggio, and retreated behind the Enza. On March 9th, an English fleet of 45 transports, convoyed by two ships of the line, and some frigates, which sailed from Palermo, entered the port of Leghorn, and disembarked a body of 8,000 men. Lord Bentinck, who arrived from Naples, issued a proclamation to the Italians, in which he stated the purpose of Great Britain to be the effecting of their deliverance from tyranny, and called upon them to unite in the same cause. The events which had taken place at Paris, were still unknown on the right bank of the Po, near the middle of April. On the 12th of that month, the king of Naples forced the passage of the Taro, and pursued the enemy as far as Firenzuola. On the following day he renewed his attack, and threw a bridge over the Sacca, in which operation he was vigorously opposed, but without preventing its execution. The Neapolitan army then advanced within a league of Placentia. Considerable loss was sustained on both sides in these actions, which, like those at Toulouse, may be reckoned among the useless expenses of the war. All further military operations were closed by the armistice, concluded on the 16th, between the viceroy and the commanders of the allied forces. By this convention, the French troops were to cross the Alps, and the Italian troops to continue to Occupy all that portion of the kingdom of Italy, which had not yet been possessed by the forces of the allies. The important city VOL. LVI. of Genoa in the mean time had been the object of the expedition from Sicily, under the command of lord W. Bentinck, of the success of which, detailed in the London Gazette, the following is a summary. After the occupation of Spezia, his lordship, having been informed that there were only 2,000 troops in Genoa, determined to make a rapid advance upon that city, in order to gain possession of it, whilst yet in a defenceless state. On his arrival. at Sestri, he found that the garrison had been reinforced to between 5 and 6,000 men; he however determined to proceed, and the enemy was gradually dislodged from the strong intervening country. On April 16th, dispositions were made for attacking the enemy, who had taken a very strong position before Genoa, extending from forts Richelieu and Tecla by the village of St. Martino to the sea, through a country thickly covered with country houses, only communicating with each other by narrow lanes between high walls. The attack began at daybreak on the 17th, and the Italian troops, with the Calabrese and Greeks, obtained possession of the two forts. The attacks on the enemy's right were made by Major-general Montresor's division, supported by that of Lieut.gen. Macfarlane. The defence was long maintained through favour of the intersected nature of the ground, but at length the enemy was turned, and obliged to retire precipitately into the town. At noon the army took a position in front of the most assailable part of the city, and on the same day sir Edw. Pellew's squadron of [D] men of war anchored in front of Nervi. In the evening a deputation of the inhabitants arrived with a request that his lordship would not bombard the town, and desiring a suspension of arms for a few days, as, by the accounts from France, it was probable that peace must soon follow. The reply was, that these were arguments to use with the French general, who ought to abandon a place which he could not defend; and on the next day, after several communications, a convention was signed, by which Genoa was to be evacuated by the French troops, and to be taken possession of by the combined English and Sicilian army, and three ships of war were to enter the harbour. The magazines and property of the French government were to be placed under the seals of the British government, and every thing belonging to the French marine, to be delivered to the British navy. The losses on either side in making this acquisition were not considerable. The military occurrences in Spain during this year have been of little importance. The greatest part of their country being freed from their invaders by foreign aid, the Spaniards appear to have been content to wait for the course of decisive events to effect their total liberation, whilst the French were reduced to a merely defensive part, with forces continually diminishing by drains for service at home. The civil affairs of Spain will make a very interesting chapter; but at present, we shall confine ourselves to those which were previous to the resumption of monarchical government. On the 5th of January, the Regency and Cortes removed to Madrid, where they were received with all the solemnity due to the national representation and government. The Cortes commenced its session on Jan. 15th, and on the 17th were waited upon by general Villacampa, governor of Madrid, accompanied by his staff. In a subsequent sitting they were informed by the Regency, that the emperor of Austria had sent an envoy with a note, in which he expressed a desire for the re-establishment of the ancient relations between the two countries. About the begin ning of the year, Napoleon, sensible that Spain had been effectually rescued from his grasp, employed his art to work upon his captive Ferdinand's mind by a treaty, in which his restoration was covenanted on the condition of his procuring the evacuation of Spain by the English, with other articles favourable to the views of the French ruler. The treaty was in consequence signed, and sent to Spain by the hands of the duke de San Carlos, the Spanish plenipotentiary, who brought two letters to the Regency, one from Ferdinand, the other from Napoleon. The former they read; the latter was returned unopened. The Regency communicated the business to the Cortes at a secret sitting, which body expressed its entire satisfaction with what the other had done, and framed a decree which was publicly read at a sitting on the 30th. After a preamble expressing the desire of the Cortes to give a solemn testimony of good faith towards their allies, and perseverance against the enemy, it confirms the decree of the extraordinary Cortes in 1811, by which the king was not to be acknowledged as free, or obeyed, till he had taken in the bosom of the national congress the oath prescribed by the constitution; it directs what is to be done by the generals on the frontiers upon intelligence of the king's approach, prohibiting the admission of any armed force with him, or of a single foreigner about his person; and it specifies the ceremonial to be observed on presenting the constitution to the king, and receiving his oath on its acceptance. The reading of this decree was accompanied with the applause of the auditors. A conversation ensued, respecting the publication of documents for the information of the people, when a member named Senor Reyna rose, and announcing that he had a motion to make, began with say ing, "When our Sovereign Ferdinand was born, he was born with a right to the absolute sovereignty of the Spanish nation." He was immediately called to order by a number of voices; but insisting on his liberty as a representative of the people to utter his sentiments, he proceeded to assert, that it was indispensable that Ferdinand VII, as having by the abdication of Charles IV, acquired the right of being king and lord of his people, should be in the exercise of absolute sovereignty the moment he crossed the frontiers. The greatest indignation was excited against the member by this unqualified, declaration of the highest monarchical principles, both among the deputies and the auditors in the gallery, and mo tions were tumultuously made for calling him to account. At length, Reyna being ordered to leave the hall, after some further discussion, the affair was voted to be referred to the consideration of a committee. It is to be added, that the regency communicated to the English ambassador an explicit account of all that had passed relative to the treaty, of the contents of Ferdinand's letter, and of their own conduct in consequence, than which nothing could be more honourable and decided; as, on the other hand, it was manifest from the terms of the treaty, which were published, that Ferdinand had entirely lent himself to the designs of Napoleon. Intelligence arrived at Madrid from the Baron d'Eroles, that the French garrisons of Lerida, Me quinenza, and Monzon, capitulated on Feb. 18th, remaining prisoners of war. It was afterwards announced that Gerona, Olot, and Puycerda were freed; that the blockade of Barcelona was become more strict, the enemy, after having severely suffered in a sally, remaining quiet; and that the French were in possession of only three or four fortresses in Catalonia, together with Peniscola and Murviedro. The state of affairs in France would now no longer permit the detention of Ferdinand. On March 24th, a message was sent by the secretary of state to the Cortes, informing them of the receipt of a letter signed by king Ferdinand VII, acquainting the Regency with his intention of setting out on the 13th, from Valencey for Perpignan, and his anxiety to arrive speedily in Spain, coming |