Independently of the fact that the Allies disdained to consult the feelings of the Belgian people, they appeared to have lost sight of the moral history of the Netherlands, and to have forgotten those deep-rooted hatreds, jealousies, and dissensions, both religious and political, that had divided the two peoples since the time of their separation in the sixteenth century. Count Charles Van Hoogendorp, a prominent member of the Dutch chamber, in a pamphlet entitled _Séparation de la Hollande et de la Belgique_, October, 1830 (Amsterdam), himself acknowledged the lack of sympathy between these peoples: “The difference of national character had engendered grievances, and these grievances had excited universal discontent, and national animosity. The division between the two countries existed _de facto_. Instead of a fusion, all the means employed to amalgamate the two people had only served to disunite them still further. This discontent was not the birth of a day; it dates from the first union of the two states.” After peace had been restored in 1815, when Napoleon had suffered defeat at Waterloo, difficulties began at once. In March, 1814, Holland had adopted a constitution. Inspired by the old laws of the United Provinces, it was in the main strongly Protestant. Eleven Dutch, eleven Belgians, and two delegates representing Luxemburg were appointed to transform this constitution into one that could be applied to the new kingdom of the Netherlands. The commission proposed the introduction of equality and toleration for all creeds throughout the kingdom, and the creation of a two-chambered Parliament in which Holland and Belgium were to have an equal number of representatives, although the Belgians had 50 per cent more population. No national capital was specified, but the King was to be invested both at Amsterdam and at some city in Belgium. On these principles a fundamental constitution was drafted and submitted contemporaneously to the Dutch States-General and to the notables of the different Belgian provinces. The Dutch passed it unanimously; the Belgians rejected it by a vote of 1,603 to 527. This rejection was partly due to the unwillingness of the Belgian notables to legalize religious equality. The Dutch King, William I, decided to meet the difficulty in a simple manner. He announced that all who had abstained from voting should be counted as voting for the act, and that the 126 hostile votes still remaining as a majority against the act after counting in its favor those refraining from voting should not count, as the principle of religious liberty had been imposed by the Congress of Vienna and had to be observed. This method, which the Belgians called “Dutch arithmetic,” gave to the act 933 votes in its favor as against 670 hostile votes, and it was declared passed.