first attentions and a priority of duty.  The demands of Napoleon for attentions and duties were so exorbitant, that rather than be instrumental in the infliction of the miseries which a compliance with them must occasion, Louis resigned his throne.  Napoleon then incorporated the United Provinces into his empire, “as an alluvion,” for such he termed them, “to the Rivers of France.”  Scenes of the most grinding oppression followed:  the Batavians were relieved from it by the fall and abdication of Napoleon.

[Sidenote:  XIV. 3.  Establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.]

Before this event, William V. died, leaving a son, called from his pretensions to the stadtholderate, William VI.  We have seen that, on the death of the Emperor Charles V. all the seventeen provinces, composing the Netherlands, devolved to Philip II. his son; the successful defection of the Seven United Provinces has been mentioned; the ten remaining provinces were afterwards transferred to the House of Austria, and were inherited by the Emperor Joseph II.  The French made an easy conquest of them in an early stage of the Revolution.

We now reach the ultimate fate of both the divisions of the Netherlands.  The congress of Vienna, by an act of the 9th June 1815, created and conferred upon this prince, THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS, consisting of the seventeen provinces, and a portion of Luxemburgh.  It is confessedly the first among the kingdoms of the second order.

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It was our wish to present our readers with a sketch of the literary history of the Netherlands, during the period treated of in this chapter; but after most diligent and extensive searches, both in the British and foreign markets, we have not been able to discover materials for it; persons of acknowledged learning, both in Germany and the Netherlands, have assured us that no such history exists.

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APPENDIX

I.

REFERRED TO IN PAGE 188.

SOME ACCOUNT OF THE FORMULARIES, CONFESSIONS OF FAITH, OR SYMBOLIC BOOKS, OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC, GREEK, AND PRINCIPAL PROTESTANT CHURCHES.

The constitutions of the Roman Catholic, and Protestant Churches, differ in nothing more, than in the following important points:  The Catholic Church, acknowledges the authority of the Scriptures, and, in addition to them, a body of traditionary law.  She receives both under the authority, and with the interpretation of the Church, and believes that the authority of the Church in receiving and interpreting them is infallible.  The Protestant Churches generally profess to acknowledge no law but the Scriptures, no interpreter of the Scriptures, but the understanding and conscience of the individual who peruses them.