that bold fpirit of freedom, which had animated and characterized the great cities in the days of their greateft fplendour and independance. After placing in a ftrong light the nature and conditions of the inaugural oath and compact, they commented with a freedom and plainnefs of language not often heard at courts, on the repeated flagrant violations of them which had of late taken place. After recounting the various heads of grievance which we have already feen, they boldly afferted that peculiar and extraordinary privilege and fecurity to the liberties of the people, which the conftitution of Brabant has eftablifhed, by fpecifically ordaining," That if the fovereign "fhall infringe upon the articles "of the joyous entry, his fubjects "fhall be difcharged from all duty "and fervice to him, until fuch "time as due reparation thall be "made for fuch infringement." This grave and spirited memorial gave a form and a fanétion to the fpirit which already prevailed, and was a fignal for difplaying it. In the mean time, as if the caufes of difcontent had not been already fufficiently numerous, the fruitful genius of innovation found means to extract from the cold and abftrufe science of theology materials for kindling a new flame, which being speedily communicated to all the orders of the church, which was now fo clofely united with every other part of the flate, political interefts, and the fenfe of common danger concurred, in renewing and enforcing the impreffions of education. Louvain, one of the three principal cities of Brabant, his long been noted for its ancient and fplendid univerfity, whofe numerous colleges are very richly endowed, and contained a prodigious number of ftudents. It was once held refpectable for its learning, but has loft much of its character in that refpect, through the obftinacy with which it has adhered to the ancient fchool forms and opinions, which neceffarily fhut out all thofe means of improvement which have been fo happily adopted in modern times by other great feminaries of infruction. This univerfity has long been particularly noted for its attachment to the papal fee, and the extraordinary reverence with which it regarded the fupreme pontiff; difpofitions which, as they leffened in other places, feemed to acquire additional ftrength here, and which could by no means recommend them to the favour of the fovereign in the prefent reign. Some reforms had been lately adopted by the fovereign, which, if they had not been too haftily purfued, and carried to too great an extent in the first inftance, might probably have proved serviceable in time, and under the government of caution and prudence, to the interefts of literature. But the first effay was made upon fuch tender and forbidden ground, and fo total a contempt fhewn of all addrefs and management in conducting the approaches, that it was eafily feen what the iffue would be. Thofe, whofe duty it is to teach, will not readily fubmit to learn; and perhaps they may not be unreasonable in capecting the correction of their errors rather from argument and perfuafion, than from the hands of power, and the eloquence of edicts. The the fovereign for the study of theology, was ordained to fupply their place; an edict being published, that all thofe youth who were defigned for the church thould repair to the general feminary to purfue and finish their theological ftudies. The doctrines of teachers, and the principles of education, which regulate the morals and fashion the lives of a whole people, are not eafily changed, nor ought they to be fo: but they are not incapable of reformation, because they cannot be reformed in every way. But this was not all, the conduc A wife government, by the introduction and encouragement of fomething better, will gradually draw away the tribute of affections and opinions, and leave the obfolete and deferted error to perish in filent oblivion, or compel it to adopt the new improvement, which all the force of legislative prohibition and injunction could never have effected. The first of the imperial reforms in the univerfity of Louvain extended to the facred fcience of theology; or at leaft to the overthrow of that fyftem of it which had hitherto been profeffed and taught in the university. We are to obferve, that this science had till now been taught in particular colleges, appropriated to that purpose, in the univerfity; and that exclufive of thefe, each bishop had a peculiar feminary, in which all the youth of the diocefe, who were deftined to holy orders, were bred up under his own eye, until the time arrived for profecuting their degrees in the univerfity. The religious orders had likewife their peculiar feminaries for the education and inftruction of their novices; the auftere fyftem of whofe future lives, any more than their uncouth garb, being ill fuited to mixing in the crowds and noife of a vast university, and in the licence of a populous city. All thefe colleges and feminaries were now abolished, and a general feminary, established at Louvain by of the new feminary was placed in the hands of frangers and foreigners. As if the clergy and fchools of the Flemish nation were not competent to the education of their own youth, and were incapable of inftructing in the paftoral duties thofe defigned for the church, a rector and profeilors were fent from Germany, to whom were committed the entire charge of the general feminary, and the exclufive inftruction of all youth defigned for the miniftry; the new profeffors being themselves independent of the ftatutes and rules of the univerfity, and free from the infpection and all controul of the bithops. This general importation of foreign inttructors, and foreign principles of inftruction, was to affix by authority a ftigma of barbarisin upon a whole nation, upon a church very early established, and long held refpectable, and upon an opulent, powerful, and very numerous body of clergy. The bishops not only complained of a direct invafion of their rights, but declared that in a little time they should be rendered incapable of difcharging their most important function, as they could not admit men into holy orders, of whofe education, morals, or religious principles, they had no knowledge. The univerfity exclaimed loudly at fo unexampled a violation of all their laws, inititutions, and privileges. Sufpicions Sufpicions were entertained and fpread which rendered the new profeffors extremely odious, and ferved to communicate the difcontent of the clergy to every order and part of the people. The new profeffors in religion, as it had been observed of the new minifters of government, happened to be natives of thofe remote provinces of Germany, where not only the opinions of Proteftantifm were held to be prevalent; but it was faid, that the errors of Arianifm, Socinianifm, and of the Moravians, were fcarcely lefs general. Their principal, the abbé Stoeger, who was rector, had likewife publifhed a body of ecclefiaftical hiftory, in which, though otherwife a work of merit, he was faid to have treated the decrees of popes and councils with lefs reverence than was suited to the character of a catholic prieft. There was accordingly a general outcry, that religion was in immediate danger; that the Low Countries, which had fo long gloried in holding the catholic faith in its higheft and original purity, were now to be contaminated with heterodox opinions, and the principles of the rifing generation corrupted at the fource of knowledge; whilft that holy religion, which Louvain had fo long preferved without ftain within her walls, was to be defiled by the foul taint of herefy. In this ftate of things the minifter thought proper to add new fuel to feed the flame. He iffued an order to father Godefroi d'Aloft, visitor of the capuchins at Bruffels, to fend the young ftudents of his order to be educated in the general feminary. The vifitor refufed to comply with this order, on the ground of the deep fenfe with which he was impreffed of the imminent danger to which the young capuchins would be expofed from the heterodox doctrines of the German profeffors; and concluded a Latin letter, though breathing fomewhat of a fanatical spirit, with a declaration that he rather chofe to endure perfecution for the fake of the truth, than to obey the unlawful commands of prices. This refufal fo much irritated the minifter, that Godefroi was commanded to depart from Bruffels in twenty-four hours, and to quit the dominions of the emperor within three days. This violent act excited much indignation. It not only afforded a new fubject of complaint to thofe who were zealous in religion, and ftrengthened the abhorrence to the general feminary, but it increased the apprehenfions of the progress of arbitrary power, which were already fo generally entertained. For the laws of Brabant ordain, that no perfon fhall be punished but by due form of law, declared by the fentence of a proper magiftrate; and thus an opportunity was taken in fhocking religious prejudice, to violate civil right. But the principle of irritation was extended to many other acts, and all at the fame point of time. Mr de Hondt, a man of irreproachable character, and an eminent merchant of Bruffels, had held a contract for fupplying the army in the Low Countries with forage. The term of this contract had expired, his accounts were examined in the customary manner, liquidated and clofed, and the whole tranfaction was to all appearance ended. But fufpicions having arifen upon an after-thought, that fome unfair tranfactions had taken place in the department of contractors and commiflaries, he was included in a charge brought before that tribunal at Bruffels, to which the cognizance of fuch caufes fpecially belonged. Mr. de Hondt had put in his anfwer to the charge, and the affair was proceeding in due courfe of law to a decifion, when he was enfnared into a public office belonging to government, where he found himself inftantly furrounded, and seized by an armed foldiery, who, after a few hours confinement on the spot, forced him into a carriage; and though he was labouring under a fevere and dangerous indifpofition, transported him by the moft rapid journies, as it was afferted, in chains, and under an armed guard, to Vienna. 1 Such an open contempt of the forms of juftice ftruck every man with dread and with horror; while Auftrian defpotifm, military government, chains, dungeons, and Vienna, became infeparable ideas, and filled every imagination. It was in vain that the miniftry endeavoured to glofs over the act, by pretending that Mr. de Hondt's contract for forage rendered him fubject to military law. The people were by no means in a temper to liften to fuch arguments. Madam de Hondt loft no time in addreffing and publishing a fpirited memorial to the ftates of Brabant (although they were not yet affembled) in which, with the dignity of a Roman matron, the feemed not lets fenfible of the violence offered to the laws and conftitution of her country, than of her own particular injury; but strongly called upon them to affert her caufe as that of the public, and to discharge their duty with effect, as the guardians of the rights and privileges of the people. The eyes of all men were now directed to the meeting of the states, and their minds fufpended until they could form fome conclufion, from their proceedings in the outfet, of what they might farther hope or expect. This affembly was convened at Bruffels in the month of April, and foon relieved the minds of the people, by fhewing that the fpirit of their anceftors was not yet extinct. When they were requefted, according to the ufual forms, in the name of the fovereign, to grant the customary fubfidies, they totally refufed to treat in any manner upon the fubject of fubfidies, until the grievances of the people were fully redreffed. They then iffued orders to the collectors and receivers of the public revenues, forbidding them, on pain of inftant fufpention from their offices, to pay any regard or obedience to the commands of the new intendants or their commiffaries. Having given this fpecimen of the fpirit by which they were actuated, and earnest of the conduct which they intended to purfue, they proceeded to vindicate the rights of the conftitution in a moft ípirited remonftrance to the governors general. In this piece, having declared their undoubted rights, and stated in ftrong colours the numerous infractions of the conftitution which had taken place, particularly by the new edits, which had been publithed contrary to law, without their confent, or any communication with them, they particularly specified the violation of the compact between the fovereign and his fubjects, by wresting the great feal of Brabant from thofe hands in which the con ftitution ftitution had lodged it, and placing it in those of the minifter. They then ftated the mockery put upon themselves, and equal violation of the laws, by the fubftitution of a fingle deputy to fupply the place of their committee; and pointed out the deplorable fervitude with which the provinces were openly menaced, by the new and extraordinary powers with which the intendant and his commillaries were furnished. They recited the violent acts in religious matters, as part of the fame arbitrary fyftem with the late edicts; and particularly complained of the injury to the ftates, and the violence offered to the confiitution, by withholding from them the abbots, who formed an effential part of their body. They afferted that the fyndics, in their memorial, had held up a true picture of the afflicted ftate of the nation, of the decline of commerce, and of the apprehenfions with which all ranks of men were feized; and they added, dire&ly from themtelves, that thefe apprehenfionswere no longer vain forebodings, for that the reign of defpotifm and military government was already begun, and had fully difplayed itfelf in the feizure of Mr. de Hondt, who was forced from his dwelling by an armed foldiery, and carried away, to be tried by the laws and the tribunals of a country to which he was not amenable. They reprefented, in ftriking colours, the effects that muft enfue from the profecution of this arbitrary fyftem-the fall of commerce, the emigration of the citizens, and the defolation of thofe flourishing provinces, whofe riches and credit had fo often been fuc. cefsfully employed in the fervice of the house of Auftria. The court of Bruffels was aftonithed, and not a little difturbed, at the vigorous measures purfued by the ftates, which it feems 'far exceeded what was expected. The minifter thought at firft that every thing muft bend to the weight of authority, and endeavoured to intimidate the ftates into a compliance with the requifitions of government; but he found to his difappointment that the members were not to be fhaken by menaces, and that they refolutely perfevered in their refufal of granting fubfidies until their grievances were redreffed. While things were in this ftate, a circumftance took place which afforded a new opportunity of thewing their spirit and firmnefs. Mr. Vandernoodt, a counsellor of Brusfels, and an eminent advocate in the caufe of liberty, published a treatife addreffed to the ftates, in which, from ancient records and documents, he traced out and elueidated the conflitution of Brabant; the ftates not only ordered this treatife to be read in their prefence, but decreed public thanks to the author, for having fo ably and f● juftly vindicated the rights of the people. On the firft of May the ancient tribunals were to ceafe, and the new to commence acting; but the ftates forbid the council of Brabant to pay any regard to that decree, and commanded that tribunal to maintain itself in the excrcife of its functions. The council obeyed the flates, and though now deprived of that fately edifice which the city of Bruffels had erected folely to be the feat of that tribunal, they exercifed their functions with full effeet eliewhere, boldly declaring, that the pretended new tribunals were |