FOREIGN AFFAIRS.
In France, this year was likewise distinguished by tumults. In Paris and Lyons especially there were great disturbances; and at the latter place the riot of workmen advanced to such a height that the Duke of Orleans, accompanied by Marshal Soult, was dispatched thither with extraordinary powers to quell the revolt. In the Netherlands, after Prince Leopold had accepted the crown, which he did in the month of June, Holland, on the 1st of August, declared the armistice to be at an end, and prepared to enforce by arms the rights which Europe had, on a former occasion, declared to belong to the king of that country. A Dutch army entered Belgium, and routed the Belgian forces at Hasselt and Louvain, which latter city it captured. This army, however, subsequently retired before a large French force which arrived at Brussels for the defence of the country. The marches of the Dutch and French armies became a subject of debate, in consequence of which the French troops were recalled. Another set of articles was framed by the conference, which declared that the acceptance of them should be compulsory. Belgium readily accepted them, but they were rejected by Holland. After this, a treaty was signed between the five powers and Leopold, who was recognized by them as King of Belgium; but the Dutch plenipotentiaries entered a strong protest against this instrument, feeling a certainty of being aided in their pretensions by some of the contracting powers, and by a strong party even in Great Britain. The state of possession however, at the close of the year, remained undisturbed; the King of Holland having declared that, although he would not desist from his military armaments, he would employ them at present only for the purposes of defence. In Spain, this year two attempts at insurrection were made; but they were followed by defeats, arrests, and executions. In Portugal, where Don Miguel’s cruelties continued unabated, the hopes of the constitutionalists were revived in the return of Don Pedro, with his daughter. Donna Maria, to Europe, and his preparations for a descent on Portugal. Don Miguel made every exertion to put the forts of the Tagus into a state of complete preparation to repel the expected attack; but all his efforts were weakened by the want of money; and at the close of the year his usurped throne was in danger of being overthrown. Insurrections were also, this year, prevalent in Italy. They occurred in Parma, Modena, and the Papal States, and were put clown by Austrian interference. Greece, during the same period, for whose pacification the powers of Europe had laboured so long, was a scene of violence and war. The popularity of Capo d’Istria, either from his too great attachment to Russian interests, or from the jealousy and discontents of the chiefs, unused to control and jealous of power, had rapidly declined. In consequence of this he became suspicious and tyrannical; and before the year closed he lost his life by assassination. This year was fatal to the liberty of Poland. Driven to insurrection by the faithless and tyrannical conduct of Nicholas, betrayed by France, deserted by England, and persecuted in their low estate by Austria and Prussia, the Poles, after heroically struggling with the armies of Eussia, were finally subdued. Warsaw was captured; the Polish armies disbanded; the nobles degraded; and thousands of every rank, age, and sex subjected to the most cruel punishments, and the nationality of the country destroyed, so far as human ingenuity could accomplish so fell a destruction. Poland rose for a desperate struggle against the Russian giant, and astonished the world with its prowess; but it proved unequal to stem the crushing movements of the Muscovites.