Part 19

_Justice._--The administration of justice is very fully organized, and in the Code Belge, which was carefully compiled between 1831 and 1836 from the old laws of the nine provinces leavened by the Code Napoleon and modern exigencies, the Belgians claim that they possess an almost perfect statute-book. The courts of law in their order are _Cour de Cassation_, _Cour d'Appel_, _Cour de Premiere Instance_, and the _Juge de Paix_ courts, one for each of the 342 cantons. The _Cour de Cassation_ has a peculiar judicial sphere. It works automatically, examining every judgment to see if it is in strict accord with the code, and where it is not the decision or verdict is simply annulled. There is only one judge in this court, but he has the assistance of a large staff of revisers. The _Cour de Cassation_ never tries a case itself except when a minister of state is the accused. The president of this tribunal is the highest legal functionary in Belgium. There are three courts of appeal, viz. at Brussels, Ghent and Liege. At Brussels there are four separate chambers or tribunals in the appeal court. Judges of appeal are appointed by the king for life from lists of eligible barristers prepared by the senate and the courts. Judges can only be removed by the unanimous vote of their brother judges. There are twenty-six courts of first instance distributed among the principal towns of the kingdom, and in Antwerp, Ghent and Liege there are besides special tribunals for the settlement of commercial cases. Of course there is the right of appeal from the decisions of these tribunals as well as of the regular courts. Finally the 342 _Juge de Paix_ courts resemble British county courts. Criminal cases are tried by (1) the _Tribunaux de Police_, (2) _Tribunaux Correctionnels_, (3) and the _Cours d'Assises_. The last are held as the length of the calendar requires. Capital punishment is retained on the statute, but is never enforced, the prisoner on whom sentence of death is passed in due form in open court being relegated to imprisonment for life in solitary confinement and perpetual silence. The chief prisons are at Louvain, Ghent and St Gilles (Brussels), and the last named serves as a house of detention. At Merxplas, near the Dutch frontier, is the agricultural criminal colony at which an average number of two thousand prisoners are kept employed in comparative liberty within the radius of the convict settlement.

_Pauperism._--For the relief of pauperism there are a limited number of houses of mendicity, in which inmates are received, and houses of refuge for night shelter. At the _beguinages_ of Ghent and Bruges women and girls able to contribute a specified sum towards their support are given a home.

_National Finance._--The budget is submitted to the chambers by the minister of finance and passed by them. The revenue and expenditure were in the years stated as follows:--

+-------+----------------------+---------------------+ | Year. | Revenue. | Expenditure. | +-------+----------------------+---------------------+ | 1880 | 394,215,932 francs | 382,908,429 francs | | 1895 | 395,730,445 " | 410,383,402 " | | 1903 | 632,416,810 " | 627,975,568 " | +-------+----------------------+---------------------+

The revenue is made up from taxes, including customs, tolls, including returns from railway traffic, &c., and the balance comes from various revenues, return of capital, loans, &c. The following are the principal items of expenditure (1903):--

Service of debt 143,065,352 francs Sovereign, senate, chamber, &c. 5,289,087 " Departments, foreign office 3,751,636 " " agriculture 12,253,957 " " railways 165,086,019 " " finance 34,479,674 " " industry 19,905,589 " " war 63,972,473 " " public instruction 31,799,105 " " justice 27,168,032 " Minor items 4,179,046 " ----------- Total 510,949,970 " ===========

The difference is made up of "special expenditure." The total debt in English money may be put at 126 millions sterling, which requires for interest, sinking fund and service about 5-3/4 millions sterling annually. The rate of interest on all the loans extant is 3%, except on one loan of 219,959,632 francs, which pays only 2-1/2%.

_Army and National Defence._--The army is divided into the regular army, the gendarmerie, and the _garde civique_. The Belgian regular army is thus composed: infantry, one regiment of carabiniers, one of grenadiers, three of _chasseurs a pied_, and fourteen of the line, all these regiments having 3 or 4 active and 3 or 4 reserve battalions apiece; cavalry, two regiments of guides, two of _chasseurs a cheval_, and four of lancers, all light cavalry; artillery, four horse, thirty field, and seventy siege batteries on active service; engineers, 140 officers and 2000 men. The train or commissariat has only 30 officers and 600 men on the permanent establishment. Belgium retains the older form of conscription, and has not adopted the system of "universal service." The annual levy is small and substitution is permitted. In 1904 the number inscribed for service was 64,042. Of these only 12,525 were enrolled in the army, and of that number 1421 were volunteers, who took an engagement on receipt of a premium. The effective strength of the army in 1904 with the colours was 3406 officers and 40,382 men. To this total has to be added the men on the active list, but either absent on leave or allowed to return to civil life, numbering 70,043. It is assumed that on mobilization these men are immediately available. The reserve consists of 181 officers and 58,014 men, so that the total strength of the Belgian army is 3587 officers and 168,439 men. The field force in war is organized in four infantry and two cavalry divisions, the total strength being about 100,000. The peace effective has not varied much since 1870, but the total paper strength is 75,000 more than in that year. In the years 1900-1904 it increased by 8000 men. The gendarmerie is a mounted force composed of men picked for their physique and divided into three divisions. It numbers 67 officers and 3079 men, but has no reserve. It is in every sense a _corps d'elite_, and may be classed as first-rate heavy cavalry. The total strength of the _garde civique_ in 1905 was 35,102, to which have to be added 8532 volunteers belonging to the corps of older formation, service in which counts on a par with the _garde civique_. Some of the latter regiments, especially the artillery, would rank with British volunteers, but the mass of the _garde civique_ does not pretend to possess military value. It is a defence against sedition and socialism. The defence of Belgium depends on five fortified positions. The fortified position and camp of Antwerp represents the true base of the national defence. Its detached forts shelter the city from bombardment, and so long as sea communication is open with England, Antwerp would be practically impregnable. Liege with twelve forts and Namur with nine forts are the fortified _tetes de pont_ protecting the two most important passages of the Meuse. The forts are constructed in concrete with armoured cupolas. Termonde on the Scheldt and Diest on the Dender are retained as nominally fortified positions, but neither, could resist a regular bombardment for more than a few hours, as their casemates are not bomb-proof.

The training camp of the Belgian army is at Beverloo in the province of Limburg, and at Braschaet not far from Antwerp are ranges for artillery as well as rifle practice. The Belgian officer is technically as well trained and educated as any in Europe, but he lacks practical experience in military service.

_Mines and Industry._--The principal mineral produced in Belgium is coal. This is found in the Borinage district near Mons and in the neighbourhood of Liege, but the working of an entirely new coal-field, which promises to attain vast dimensions, was commenced in 1906 in the Campine district of the province of Limburg. The coal mines of Belgium give employment to nearly 150,000 persons, and for some years the average output has exceeded 22,000,000 tons. Other minerals are iron, manganese, lead and zinc. The iron mines produce much less than formerly, and the want of iron is a grave defect in Belgian prosperity, as about L5,000,000 sterling worth of iron has to be imported annually, chiefly from French Lorraine. The chief metal industry of the country is represented by the iron and steel works of Charleroi and Liege. Belgium is particularly rich in quarries of marble, granite and slate. Ghent is the capital of the textile industry, and all the towns of Flanders are actively engaged in producing woollen and cotton materials and in lace manufacture. The bulk of the population is, however, engaged in agriculture, and the extent of land under cultivation of all kinds is about 6-1/2 million acres.

_Commerce._--The trade returns for 1904 were as follows:--

_Imports--_ General Commerce 4,426,400,000 francs Special Commerce (included in General Commerce) 2,782,200,000 "

_Exports--_ General Commerce 3,849,100,000 " Special Commerce (included in General Commerce) 2,183,300,000 "

The general commerce includes goods in transit across Belgium, the special commerce takes into account only the produce and the consumption of Belgium itself. The trade of Belgium has more than trebled as regards both imports and exports since 1870. The following table shows the amount of exports and imports between Belgium and the more important foreign states:--

+---------------+--------------------+--------------------+ | | Imports. | Exports. | +---------------+--------------------+--------------------+ | France | 465,684,000 francs | 346,670,000 francs | | Germany | 351,025,000 " | 505,473,000 " | | England | 335,404,000 " | 392,324,000 " | | Holland | 240,873,000 " | 268,781,000 " | | United States | 222,301,000 " | 86,324,000 " | | Russia | 212,119,000 " | 26,671,000 " | | Argentina | 198,913,000 " | 41,508,000 " | | British India | 141,669,000 " | 25,860,000 " | | Rumania | 102,174,000 " | 3,949,000 " | | Australia | 58,190,000 " | 12,087,000 " | | Congo State | 53,100,000 " | 14,049,000 " | | China | 8,770,000 " | 25,546,000 " | +---------------+--------------------+--------------------+

In the relative magnitude of the annual value of its commerce, excluding that in transit, Belgium stands sixth among the nations of the world, following Great Britain, the United States, Germany, France and Holland. The principal imports are food supplies and raw material such as cotton, wool, silk, flax, hemp and jute. Among minerals, iron ore, sulphur, copper, coal, tin, lead and diamonds are the most imported. The exports of greatest value are textiles, lace, coal, coke, briquettes, glass, machinery, railway material and fire arms.

_Shipping and Navigation._--Belgium has no state navy, although various proposals have been made from time to time to establish an armed flotilla in connexion with the defence of Antwerp. The state, however, possesses a certain number of steamers. In 1904 they numbered sixty-five of 99,893 tons. These steamers are chiefly employed on the passenger route between Ostend and Dover. The total number of vessels entering the only two ports of Belgium which carry on ocean commerce, namely Antwerp and Ostend, in 1904 was 7650 of a tonnage of 10,330,127. Among inland ports that of Ghent is the most important, 1127 ships of a tonnage of 786,362 having entered the port in 1904. The corresponding figures for ships sailing from the two ports first named were in the same year 7642 and tonnage 10,298,405. The figures from Ghent were 1128 and 787,173 tons. Whereas the lines of steamers from Ostend are chiefly with Dover and London, those from Antwerp proceed to all parts of the world. A steam service was established in 1906 from Hull to Bruges by Zeebrugge and the ship canal.

_Internal Communications._--The internal communications of Belgium of every kind are excellent. The roads outside the province of Luxemburg and Namur are generally paved. In the provinces named, or in other words, in the region south of the Meuse, the roads are macadamized. The total length of roads is about 6000 m. When Belgium became a separate state in 1830 they were less than one-third of this total. There are about 2900 m. of railways, of which upwards of 2500 m. are state railways. It is of interest to note that the state railways derived a revenue of 249,355 francs (or nearly L10,000) from the penny tickets for the admission of non-travellers to railway stations. Besides the main railways there are numerous light railways (_chemins de fer vicinaux_), of a total length approaching 2500 m. There are also electric and steam tramways in all the principal cities. The total of navigable waterways is given as 1360 m. Posts, telegraphs and telephones are exclusively under state management and form a government department.

_Banks and Money._--The principal banking institution is the Banque Nationale which issues the bank-notes in current use. In 1904 the average value of notes in circulation was 645,989,100 francs. The rate of discount was 3% throughout the whole of the year.

The mintage of Belgian money is carried out by a _directeur de la fabrication_ who is nominated by and responsible to the government. The gold coins are for 10 and 20 francs, silver for half francs, francs, 2 francs and 5 francs. Nickel money is for 5, 10 and 20 centimes, and the copper coinage has been withdrawn from circulation.

AUTHORITIES.--_Annuaire statistique de la Belgique_ (1905); Beltjens and Godenne, _La Constitution belge_ (Brussels, 1880); _La Belgique illustree_ (Brussels, 1878-1882); _Les Pandectes belges_ (Brussels, 1898); _Annales du parlement belge_ for each year; _Belgian Life in Town and Country_, "Our Neighbours" Series (London, 1904). For geology see C. Dewalque, _Prodrome d'une description geologique de la Belgique_ (Brussels, 1880); M. Mourlon, _Geologie de la Belgique_ (Brussels, 1880-1881); F.L. Cornet and A. Briart, "Sur le relief du sol en Belgique apres les temps paleozoques," _Ann. Soc. Geol. Belg._ vol. iv., 1877, pp. 71-115, pls. v.-xi. (see also other papers by the same authors in the same journal); J. Gosselet, _L'Ardenne_ (Paris, 1888); M. Bertrand, "Etudes sur le bassin houiller du nord et sur le Boulonnais," _Ann. des mines_, ser. ix. vol. vi. (Mem.), pp. 569-635, 1894; C. Malaise, "Etat actuel de nos connaissances sur le silurien de la Belgique," _Ann. Soc. Geol. Belg._ vol. xxv, 1900-1901, pp. 179-221; H. Forir, "Bibliographie des etages laekenien, ledien, wemmelien, asschien, tongrien, rupelien et bolderien et des depets tertiaires de la haute et moyenne Belgique," _ibid._ pp. 223 seq. (D. C. B.)

HISTORY[1]

Final separation of the northern and southern Netherlands.

Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, governor-general.

Successes of Parma.

Albert and Isabel, sovereigns of the Netherlands.

The twelve years' truce.

The rule of the archdukes.

Reversion of the southern Netherlands to Spain, 1633.

The political severance of the northern and southern Netherlands may be conveniently dated from the opening of the year 1579. By the signing of the league of Arras (5th of January) the Walloon "Malcontents" declared their adherence to the cause of Catholicism and their loyalty to the Spanish king, and broke away definitely from the northern provinces, who bound themselves by the union of Utrecht (29th of January) to defend their rights and liberties, political and religious, against all foreign potentates. Brabant and Flanders were still indeed under the control of the prince of Orange and through his influence accepted in 1582 the duke of Anjou as their sovereign. The French prince was actually inaugurated duke of Brabant at Antwerp (February 1582) and count of Flanders at Bruges (July), but his misconduct speedily led to his withdrawal from the Netherlands, and even before the assassination of Orange (July 1584) the authority of Philip had been practically restored throughout the two provinces. This had been achieved by the military skill and statesmanlike abilities of Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, appointed governor-general on the death of Don John of Austria, on the 1st of October 1578. Farnese first won by promises and blandishments the confidence of the Walloons, always jealous of the predominance of the "Flemish" provinces, and then proceeded to make himself master of Brabant and Flanders by force of arms. In succession Ypres, Mechlin, Ghent, Brussels, and finally Antwerp (17th of August 1585) fell into his hands. Philip had in the southern Netherlands attained his object, and Belgium was henceforth Catholic and Spanish, but at the expense of its progress and prosperity. Thousands of its inhabitants, and those the most enterprising and intelligent, fled from the Inquisition, and made their homes in the Dutch republic or in England. All commerce and industry was at a standstill; grass grew in the streets of Bruges and Ghent; and the trade of Antwerp was transferred to Amsterdam. On Parma's death (3rd of December 1592) the archduke Ernest of Austria was appointed governor-general, but he died after a short tenure of office (20th of February 1595) and was at the beginning of 1596 succeeded by his younger brother the cardinal archduke Albert. Philip was now nearing his end, and in 1598 he gave his eldest daughter Isabel in marriage to her cousin the archduke Albert, and erected the Netherlands into a sovereign state under their joint rule. The advent of the new sovereigns, officially known as "the archdukes," though greeted with enthusiasm in the Belgic provinces, was looked upon with suspicion by the Dutch, who were as firmly resolved as ever to uphold their independence. The chief military event of the early years of their reign was the battle of Nieuport (2nd of July 1600), in which Maurice of Nassau defeated the archduke Albert, and the siege of Ostend, which after a three years' heroic defence was surrendered (20th of September 1604) to the archduke's general, Spinola. The Dutch, however, being masters of the sea, kept the coast closely blockaded, and through sheer exhaustion the king of Spain and the archdukes were compelled to agree to a truce for twelve years (9th of April 1609) with the United Provinces "in the capacity of free states over which Albert and Isabel made no pretensions." During the period of the truce the archdukes, who were wise and statesmanlike rulers, did their utmost to restore prosperity to their country and to improve its internal condition. Unfortunately they were childless, and the instrument of cession of 1598 provided that in case they should die without issue, the Netherlands should revert to the crown of Spain. This reversion actually took place. Albert died in 1621, just before the renewal of the war with the Dutch, and Isabel in 1633. The Belgic provinces therefore passed under the rule of Philip IV., and were henceforth known as the Spanish Netherlands.

Peace of Munster.

Ruinous consequences of the closing of the Scheldt.

Successive cession of Belgian territory to France.

This connexion with the declining fortunes of Spain was disastrous to the well-being of the Belgian people, for during many years a close alliance bound together France and the United Provinces, and the Southern Netherlands were exposed to attack from both sides, and constantly suffered from the ravages of hostile armies. The cardinal archduke Ferdinand, governor-general from 1634-1641, was a capable ruler, and by his military skill prevented in a succession of campaigns the forces of the enemy from overrunning the country. On the 30th of January 1648, Spain concluded a separate peace at Munster with the Dutch, by which Philip IV. finally renounced all his claims and rights over the United Provinces, and made many concessions to them. Among these was the closing of the Scheldt to all ships, a clause which was ruinous to the commerce of the Belgic provinces, by cutting them off from their only access to the ocean. Thus they remained for a long course of years without a sea-port, and in the many wars that broke out between Spain and France were constantly exposed, as an outlying Spanish dependency, to the first attack, and peace when it came was usually purchased at the cost of some part of Belgian territory. By the treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) Artois (except St Omer and Aire) and a number of towns in Flanders, Hainaut, and Luxemburg were ceded to France. Subsequent French conquests, confirmed by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668), took away Lille, Douai, Charleroi, Oudenarde, Coutrai and Tournai. These were, indeed, partly restored to Belgium by the peace of Nijmwegen (1679); but on the other hand it lost Valenciennes, Nieuport, St Omer, Ypres and Charlemont, which were only in part recovered by the peace of Ryswick (1697).

Efforts of the elector of Bavaria to promote trade.

The Spanish succession.

The Grand Alliance.

The internal history of the Belgic provinces has little to record during this long period in which the ambition of Louis XIV. to possess himself of the Netherlands, in right of his wife the infanta Maria Theresa (see SPANISH SUCCESSION), led to a series of invasions and desolating wars. The French king managed to incorporate a large slice of territory upon his northern frontier, but his main object was baffled by the steady resistance and able statesmanship of William III. of England and Holland. Meanwhile from 1692 onwards brighter prospects were opened out to the unfortunate Belgians by the nomination by the Spanish king of Maximilian Emanuel, elector of Bavaria, to be governor-general with well-nigh sovereign powers. The elector had himself a claim to the inheritance as the husband of an Austrian archduchess, whose mother, the infanta Margaret, was the younger sister of the French queen. Maximilian Emanuel was an able man, who did his utmost to improve the condition of the country. He attempted to promote trade and restore prosperity to the impoverished land by the introduction of new customs laws and other measures, and particularly by the construction of canals to counteract the damage done to Belgian commerce by the closing of the Scheldt. The position of the elector was greatly strengthened by the partition treaty of the 19th of August 1698. Under this instrument the signatory powers--England, France and Holland--agreed that on the demise of Charles II. the crown prince of Bavaria under his father's guardianship should be sovereign of Spain, Belgium and Spanish America. Charles II. himself shortly afterwards by will appointed the Bavarian prince heir to all his dominions. The death of the infant heir a few months later (6th of February 1699) unfortunately destroyed any prospects of a peaceable settlement of the Spanish Succession. Charles II. was persuaded to name as his sole successor, Philip duke of Anjou, the second son of the dauphin, and on his death (on the 1st November 1700) Louis XIV. took immediate steps to support his grandson's claims, in spite of his formal renunciation of such claims under the treaty of the Pyrenees. England and Holland were determined to prevent, however, at all costs the acquisition of Belgium by a French prince, and a coalition, known as the Grand Alliance, was formed between these two powers and the empire to uphold the claims of the archduke Charles, second son of the emperor.

Marlborough's successes.

Peace of Utrecht.

The Austrian Netherlands.

Marquis de Prie in Belgium.

Execution of Francis Anneesens.

Chartered Company of Ostend.