The patriots of Belfast were not more fortunate in the adaption of their civilitiesthey addressed the Convention, in a strain of great piety, to congratulate them on the success of their arms in the "cause of civil and religious liberty.

The decline of the town was due partly to the break-up of the Hanseatic system; partly to the rise of English ports and manufacturing towns; but still more, and especially as compared with our Flemish cities, to the silting of the Zwin, and the want of adaption in its waterways to the needs of great ships and modern navigation.