Among the privileges granted by this document, was an express stipulation that no subsidy should ever be granted by the province without the consent of Ghent.

This charter would have been conclusive in the present emergency, had it not labored under the disadvantage of never having existed.

It was supposed by many that the magistrates, some of whom were favorable to government, had hidden the document.

Lieven Pyl, an ex-senator, was supposed to be privy to its concealment.

He was also, with more justice, charged with an act of great baseness and effrontery.