The battle of Waterloo consolidated the kingdom of the Netherlands.  The wound of the Prince of Orange was perhaps one of the most fortunate that was ever received by an individual, or sympathized in by a nation.  To a warlike people, wavering in their allegiance, this evidence of the prince’s valor acted like a talisman against disaffection.  The organization of the kingdom was immediately proceeded on.  The commission, charged with the revision of the fundamental law, and the modification required by the increase of territory, presented its report on the 31st of July.  The inauguration of the king took place at Brussels on the 21st of September, in presence of the states-general:  and the ceremony received additional interest from the appearance of the sovereign supported by his two sons who had so valiantly fought for the rights he now swore to maintain; the heir to the crown yet bearing his wounded arm in a scarf, and showing in his countenance the marks of recent suffering.

The constitution was finally accepted by the nation, and the principles of the government were stipulated and fixed in one grand view—­that of the union, and, consequently, the force of the new state.

It has been asked by a profound and sagacious inquirer, or at least the question is put forth on undoubted authority in his name, “Why did England create for herself a difficulty, and what will be by and by a natural enemy, in uniting Holland and Belgium, in place of managing those two immense resources to her commerce by keeping them separate?  For Holland, without manufactures, was the natural mart for those of England, while Belgium under an English prince had been the route for constantly inundating France and Germany.”

So asked Napoleon, and England may answer and justify her conduct so impugned, on principles consistent with the general wishes and the common good of Europe.  The discussion of the question is foreign to our purpose, which is to trace the circumstances, not to argue on the policy, that led to the formation of the Netherlands as they now exist.  But it appears that the different integral parts of the nation were amalgamated from deep-formed designs for their mutual benefit.  Belgium was not given to Holland, as the already-cited article of the treaty of Paris might at first sight seem to imply; nor was Holland allotted to Belgium.  But they were grafted together, with all the force of legislative wisdom; not that one might be dominant and the other oppressed, but that both should bend to form an arch of common strength, able to resist the weight of such invasions as had perpetually periled, and often crushed, their separate independence.

SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER

A.D. 1815—­1899