2 september 1830: Times hekelt beleid Willem I en legt oorzaak Belgische revolutie bij belastingen

The principles of rottenness, if we may so speak, are, in the relations between the Dutch and Flemings, twofold, - 1st the great increase of taxes imposed on the latter, compared with those payable by them while subjects of France, the object of the accumulated taxation being to equalize their fiscal condition with that of Holland – a provoking ground on which to extend the burdens of a people who had no one kindly feeling towards the Dutch, and whose enmity would only be the more exasperated by so disagreeable a consequence of the connexion forced upon them by the iron hand of conquest. […] The next main grievance of the Dutch connexion for the Flemings is, the exclusion of their goods from the French market, whence previously came the chief demand for Flemish manufacturers then considered in the same light as the produce of the French industry. The decline and ruin of their manufacturers is traced, we do not say how truly, but we know constantly and rigorously, to that same ill-starred connexion.

Is it a wonder then, that the manufacturing classes, combined with the whole body of Flemish tax-payers, - that is to say, the entire nation, - should foster within it a mass of discontent; or that when aggravated by harsh and injudicious administration of the powers of an executive Government, effects should follow, such as we have been for days past lamenting?

Times, 2/9/1830