This is one illustration, and I regret to say, only one out of many of the ruinous effects of the “Repeal of the Union,” In Ghent, from its peculiar position and the active genius of its population, its results have been felt with more severity than elsewhere, though its influence is discernible, to a greater or less degree, in every quarter of Belgium. The merchants of Ghent, however, make no secret of their dissatisfaction, and exclaim boldly against the indifference or incompetence of the ministry to adopt measures for their redress. In an especial degree, their dissatisfaction manifests itself against the present minister of the interior, M. Liedtz, who having been a lawyer, is presumed to be imperfectly acquainted with commerce, and is said to be as unjustly partial to agriculture, as he is coldly indifferent to trade. One gentleman complained bitterly that having, some time since, accompanied a deputation to an interview with the minister on the subject of the decline of the cotton trade, M. Liedtz abruptly ended the conference, almost before they had opened their grievances, by exclaiming:--“Come, now we have heard enough about cotton--how are your cows?” In Ghent, business has always been conducted, not only upon an extended scale, but upon the most solid and steady basis; bank accommodation and discounts are unknown, in fact, in Belgium, and a bill, if drawn at all, is, as a general rule, held over to maturity, and collected by the drawer. This may, in a great degree, account for the trifling balances which suffice to produce a suspension of business. In an annual document, published officially, I presume, I perceive that although the number of failures in Ghent for the year 1839, amounted to twenty, the amount of their united deficiencies did not exceed 198,000 francs.[28]