BELGIUM INDEPENDENT The Powers wished the congress to give the crown to the prince of Orange, but instead of doing so it elected the duke of Nemours, the son of Louis Philippe (Feb. 3, 1831) . For the sake of pre serving peace, the king of France refused his consent. The con gress then set up a regency. The office of regent was entrusted to the president of the congress, Surlet de Chokier. There ensued a period of anarchy, and France tried to take advantage of it to bring about the partition of Belgium between itself and Holland. Lord Palmerston took a firm stand in favour of the decisions which had been adopted. The election of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg as king put an end to the crisis. The conference drew up a treaty of Eighteen Articles (June 26, 1831) regulating the separation between Belgium and Holland. It was accepted by the congress, and on July 2 i Leopold, who had made his con sent conditional on the acceptance of the treaty, arrived in Brus sels and took the oath of allegiance to the constitution.
The Treaty of Twenty-four Articles.—Some days later, William invaded Belgium (Aug. 2, 1831 ) . His troops easily de feated the Belgians, who had not been able to organize an army. Leopold appealed to France, and with the consent of the con ference, Louis Philippe sent Marshal Gerard to restore the posi tion. The Dutch retreated before him without an action.
The conference then replaced the treaty of Eighteen Articles by a much less favourable treaty of Twenty-four Articles (Oct.
14, 1831) . Leopold accepted it, but William protested against the forcible measures used against him, and refused to sign the treaty. His resistance was not broken down even when France and Great Britain blockaded the Dutch ports and when the citadel of Antwerp was bombarded by the French, who captured it on Dec. 23. On May 21, 1833, however, William agreed to conclude a provisional convention with Palmerston and Talleyrand for the maintenance of the status quo. This was all in favour of the Belgians, who not only continued to occupy Limburg and Luxemburg, which they would have had to hand back under the Twenty-four Articles, but contributed nothing to the debt of the kingdom of the Netherlands, for which Holland remained ex clusively responsible.
William was thus obliged to accept the Twenty-four Articles on March 14, 1838. Belgium attempted to obtain their revision, but only received certain financial concessions. Parliament' de cided to accept the provisions which constitute the treaties of April 19, 1839. Peace was thus restored between Holland and Belgium, and Holland recognized the new kingdom. Part of Luxemburg was allotted to Belgium, and the rest became a Grand Duchy which was a member of the German confederation under the sovereignty of William. Limburg and Maestricht remained in the possession of Holland. In return, Belgium was recognized as an "independent and perpetually neutral State" under the guarantee of the Powers.
Up to this point the Catholic and Liberal Parties, whose joint action had made the success of the revolution possible, had worked together in parliament. They began to diverge soon after the existence of the State had been guaranteed by the treaties of The system of coalition ministries was gradually replaced by that of ministries representing the party which had a majority in the chambers. After the disturbances of 1856 which led to the resigna tion of the Catholic ministry of de Decker and brought Rogier's Liberal ministry into power, the new system was regularly applied.
The fall of Louis Philippe, whose daughter, Louise Marie, Leo pold had married on Aug. 9, 1832, and subsequently the coup d'etat of 1852 by which Napoleon III. became emperor of the French, placed Belgium in a difficult position. The freedom of the press which prevailed in Belgium made it possible for French refugees in that country to carry on republican propaganda against Napoleon III., and this gave rise to unpleasant incidents which gave some show of justification for the annexation schemes which the emperor was thought to cherish. As early as 1853 the king made efforts to induce parliament to grant funds by means of which Antwerp was surrounded with a ring of forts to serve as a stronghold for the army in case of war.
Admirable measures were taken to assist the economic develop ment of the country. After 1849 a policy of free trade was grad ually substituted for protectionism. A national bank was founded in 185o; the local octrois (dues on foodstuffs brought into towns) were abolished in 186o; in 1863 the dues payable by ships sailing up the Scheldt to Antwerp were redeemed. Between 186i and 1863, commercial treaties were concluded with a large number of countries.
At this time the working classes did not have the right to vote, and the long-standing discontent to which this gave rise facili tated the spread of socialist opinions amongst them. In March 1886 there was a riot at Liege which was followed by very serious outbreaks in all the industrial districts. They were repressed with much bloodshed. The Beernaert ministry ordered an enquiry into the position of the workers, and it was found that social reforms were long overdue and must be undertaken without delay. From 1889 onwards a series of laws were adopted on workers' housing, the employment of women and children, factory inspection, work men's compensation for accidents, and so on.
The constitution restricted the suffrage to a minority of the nation, and its extension was demanded with increasing vigour by the progressives and socialists. In 1890 the chambers voted in favour of the principle of the revision of the constitution. The delays which occurred in carrying out the revision gave rise to dangerous agitation, but the revised constitution at last received the royal assent in Sept. 1893. Universal suffrage was established, but the system was tempered by plural voting, which gave more than one vote to electors fulfilling certain conditions as regards income, age, education and family. The reform of the electoral system was completed by the adoption of proportional represen tation in The Flemish Question.—The progress of democracy gave increasing scope to the Flemish movement. Although freedom to use either language is one of the principles of the Belgian consti tution, French alone was used for legislative and administrative purposes in the years which followed the revolution. French was as a matter of fact the language of the enfranchised middle classes both in the Flemish and the Walloon provinces. Between 1840 and 185o, however, there began to be protests against a state of affairs which placed the Flemish language in a position of infe riority and was injurious to the rights of those who used it. In 1856 the Government set up a commission to study the question of linguistic grievances. It was, however, some time before par liament began to adopt a series of laws intended to redress those grievances. The Government set up a Flemish Academy in 1886. In 1898 an act was adopted establishing the equality of the two national languages; laws were thenceforward adopted both in French and in Flemish. In 1912 a private bill proposing to trans form the University of Ghent into a Flemish university was laid before parliament. In 1914 it was laid down that in the Flemish speaking districts of the country, elementary education must be given in Flemish. The flamingants did not form themselves into a separate party, and it should be noted that their demands were not directed against their Walloon compatriots, towards whom they felt no national hostility. They simply desired that the State should give the Flemish-speaking Belgian the same treatment as the French-speaking Belgian, and that not merely in law but in fact. The French language nevertheless continued to spread. In 1910 there were in Belgium 2,833,334 persons speaking French only, 3,220,662 Flemish only, and 871,288 bilingual.
The system of military service based on selection by lot, with the possibility of providing a substitute, meant that in practice the well-to-do classes were exempt. This constituted a social injustice and a danger to which the king for a long time drew attention without success. The revision of the constitution strengthened the position of the partisans of personal service, and that system was adopted in Dec. 1909. A few days later, on Dec. 17, Leopold II. died at Laeken after a reign of 43 years.
The Congo.—From the beginning of his reign, Leopold endeav oured to develop the colonial policy of Belgium. His personal interest in the exploration and commercial development of the equatorial regions of Africa led, in the creation of the Congo Free State, to results which had originally not been anticipated. The Comite des Etudes du Haut Congo, formed in 1878 at the instance of the king and mainly financed by him, had developed into the International Association of the Congo, of which a Belgian officer, Col. M. Strauch, was president. Through the efforts in Africa of H. M. Stanley a rudimentary State was created, and through the efforts of King Leopold in Europe the International Association was recognized during 1884-85 by the Powers as an independent State. Declarations to this effect were exchanged between the Belgian Government and the association on Feb. 23, 1885. In April of the same year the Belgian chambers authorized the king to be the chief of the State founded by the association, which had already taken the name of Etat Independant du Congo. The union between Belgium and the new State was declared to be purely personal, but its European headquarters were in Brussels, its officials, in the course of time, became almost exclusively Bel gian, and financially and commercially the connection between the two countries became increasingly close. In 1889, King Leo pold announced that he had by his will bequeathed the Congo State to Belgium, and in 1890 the Belgian Government, in return for financial help, acquired the right of annexing the country under certain conditions. It was not until terrible reports of mis government created a strong agitation for reform in Great Britain, America and other countries responsible for having aided in the creation of the State, that public opinion in Belgium seriously concerned itself with the subject. The bill for annexation was finally passed in Sept. 1908. The full story of the Congo enter prise will be found under AFRICA, CONGO FREE STATE and BELGIAN CONGO.
In the same year the anxiety to which the international situa tion gave rise led the Broqueville ministry to pass a measure for the general reorganization of the army on the basis of universal military service, the reform to be completed in five years.
The international crisis which came to a head in July 1914 found Belgium unprepared for war, in spite of her recent military laws. The neutrality of Belgium and Luxemburg had been guar anteed by the five Great Powers (Great Britain, France, Prussia, Russia and Austria) in the treaties of 1839, which bound the guaranteeing Powers to intervene if either party to a war violated that neutrality. On July 3o, following the precedent in 1870, Sir Edward (Viscount) Grey addressed a message to the French and German Governments, drawing their attention to this point and asking for an assurance that Belgian neutrality would be respected. The German Government declared itself unable to answer this question ; and on Aug. 2 invaded Luxemburg and sent Belgium an ultimatum calling on her to allow the German troops free passage across Belgian territory. If the request was refused, Germany would treat Belgium as an enemy. To this note Belgium, which had mobilized 15 classes of militia on July 31, replied by a formal refusal on Aug. 3. Parliament accepted war unanimously, and the Socialist Party assured the Government of its unreserved support. The leaders of the Liberal and Socialist Parties, MM. Goblet d'Aviella and Hymans and M. Vanderveide, joined the Government as ministers without portfolio.
In order to disorganize the country, Germany sought to exploit the linguistic differences between Belgium's northern and southern provinces with the help of the so-called parti activiste. The "acti vists" consisted of a small minority of persons who expected Germany to be victorious. The Flemish party energetically dis avowed them ; and to the last the nation maintained its anti German attitude, encouraged by exhortations of Cardinal Mer cier (d. Jan. 1926). From 1916 on, various decrees abolished the French language in the previous bilingual administration of Flanders. On March 21, 1917, a decree was issued dividing Belgium into two distinct linguistic regions, with administrative centres at Brussels and Namur. All ministries were doubled, the Flemish remaining in Brussels, the Walloon moving to Namur. French became the only official language in the Walloon district, Flemish in the west. The use of German and Flemish was, how ever, authorized in Walloon territory. The activistes attempted to organize a new independent Flemish State under German protec tion. On Feb. 11, 1918, an enormous demonstration was held in Brussels against separation. German troops dispersed the crowds, but, in face of the unanimous protests of the Belgian authorities, Germany did not dare recognize a legislative authority for the Raad van Vlaanderen. With ceaseless energy, however, she con tinued her efforts to foster linguistic differences, notably by flem icizing the University of Ghent (1916) .
The stoppage of overseas exports ruined Belgian industry. Un employment increased enormously, reaching 65o,000 in 1916. Germany desired to recruit these workmen for her own use, but met with obstinate refusals. On Aug. 14 and 15, 1915, the first decrees appeared ordering severe penalties for persons who re fused to work for Germany. At the same time, commissions were sent from Germany to take out of the Belgian workshops every thing which could be used beyond the Rhine, and to destroy sys tematically all machinery which could not be transported to Germany. By June 3o, 1918, 167 factories had been completely destroyed, and 161 were on a list of the governor-general's for immediate destruction. Of the S7 blast furnaces, 26 had been razed to the ground, 20 put completely out of action. Only the mines necessary for Germany were spared.
On Feb. 18 and July 21, 1917, work was forbidden in all fac tories and workshops except by special permission. At this moment Germany ordered the stoppage of all public works under taken by the provinces and communes for the relief of unemploy ment. These steps were preliminary to the plan of deporting the Belgian working population. In November the military authorities requisitioned able-bodied men between the ages of 17 and 6o throughout the whole country. Inhabitants on the lines of com munication were mostly sent to the Yser or North French fronts, to construct railways, prepare routes and dig trenches, often within the range of artillery. The other workmen were concen trated in great camps in Germany, whence they were dispatched to German factories or labour battalions; 5 7, 718 were transported to Germany, 57,541 to the front; 2,531 died in consequence of ill-treatment.
Foodstuffs began to grow short in Nov. 1914. Immediately on occupation, the German Government had repealed all measures taken by the Belgian Government to ensure rationing. Public authority had now no further power to intervene, and private initiative stepped in. Committees sprang up everywhere. A cen tral committee was founded at Brussels under the title, Comito Central de Secours et d'Alimentation, under Ernest Solvay. The committee desired to import foodstuffs from England, but the British Government refused. Finally, von der Goltz having prom ised to exempt all imported foodstuffs from requisitioning, the British Government consented to allow their import under su pervision of the embassies of Spain and the United States. The "Commission for Relief in Belgium" was set up to organize the supervision. The activity of the Comite Central acquired enor mous importance, and extended throughout the country. It then changed its name to Comite National de Secours et d'Alimenta tion. By Dec. 31, 1918, it had distributed foodstuffs to provincial committees to the value of over 31 milliard francs (2 2 milliards for Belgium, I milliard for France) . The profit made on the sale of foodstuffs was used to organize charitable works at an expendi ture of 1,300,000 francs. After America's entry into the war H. C. Hoover resigned his post as president of the commission for relief, and a Spanish-Dutch committee took over the work.
Belgium was represented by Hymans, Vandervelde and Van den Heuvel at the Peace Conference, but was not admitted to the de liberations of the Council of Ten. At the second plenary session of the Peace Conference the Belgian, Canadian and certain other delegates protested against the control assumed by the "Big Five"; and from that time more scope was given to the representatives of nations other than the principal allied and associated Powers. Hymans played an important part in drafting the Covenant and Vandervelde in framing the constitution of the International Labour Office. By the Treaty of Versailles Belgian neutrality was abolished. Germany renounced in her favour her rights over Moresnet and the Walloon cantons of Eupen and Malmedy (q.v.). Belgium was confirmed in the possession of these two cantons by the League of Nations. The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, on July 25, 1921, entered into a customs, railway and consular union with Belgium. In Africa, Belgium received the mandate for the Urundi and the Ruanda, representing part of the territories con quered by the Belgian army, which was operating with the forces of the British empire during the war. (See RUANDA-URUNDI.) After the war the problem of Belgium's international status took on a new form. Belgium was anxious to free herself of the restrictions on her right as a sovereign state to form defensive alliances, especially as the guarantee of neutrality which had been substituted for this right had proved ineffectual. The Treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain and Neuilly accordingly contained the provision that Germany, Austria and Hungary recognized that the treaties of 1839 no longer conformed to the requirements of the situation, consented to their abrogation and accepted in advance whatever arrangements might be made to replace these treaties by the principal allied and associated Powers, or by any of them in concert with the Governments of Belgium and of the Netherlands.
The logical consequence of the new position was a military con vention concluded in Aug. 1920 between Belgium and France, after full consultation between the respective general staffs. In Nov. 1920 the two Governments informed the League of Nations that the military alliance had been concluded, and that it was of purely defensive character. Belgium offered to conclude a similar agree ment with Great Britain; indeed, her ardent hope was to see a Belgo-Franco-British entente established. This could not be achieved ; but Belgian foreign policy has endeavoured to maintain the traditions of the entente and to reconcile the British and French points of view. In the Locarno Pact (q.v.) Oct. 16, 1925, Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain and Italy took note of the abrogation of the treaties for the neutralization of Belgium. A treaty signed in Paris May 22, 1926, by Great Britain, France and Belgium confirmed the abrogation of these treaties.
Belgium's policy has naturally been mainly influenced by the two problems of security and reparations (see the articles under those headings). Under the influence of the latter problem she joined the French in their occupation of the Ruhr (q.v.). In order to arrive at a practicable settlement of the reparations question, Belgium repeatedly sacrificed her rights of priority for the benefit of her Allies (e.g., July 192o, Aug. 1921, July 1922). Belgium became a non-permanent member of the Council of the League of Nations on its formation, and remained so until 1927. Paul Hymans was elected the first president of the League.
The Treaty of Versailles guaranteed Belgium priority for the sum of 2,000,00o gold marks on reparations account. In addition her allies declared themselves ready to transfer Belgium's war debt (5,600,000,000f r.) to the German reparations account. In 1925 the United States required from Belgium recognition of her war debt, although the remission of this debt had been foreseen by the treaty. An arrangement was concluded with America regarding this debt on Aug. 18, 1925.
The question of the Schelde was not solved by the Treaty of Versailles. Belgium attempted to reach a modes vivendi on this subject with Holland; but no arrangement could be reached, as Holland laid claim not only to the sovereignty of the waters of the Schelde, but also to the sovereignty of the Wielingen channel which would have made possible the complete isolation of Bel gium from the sea. On April 3, 1925, a new treaty was signed settling the relationship between the two countries. In 1927 a general treaty was drafted by the Belgian and Dutch Govern ments, which was accepted by the Belgian parliament but rejected by the parliament of the Netherlands.
The reconstruction of the devastated regions, valued at over 35 milliard francs, called for very great sums; military pensions, indemnities for damage caused by war, unemployment doles swelled the budget disproportionately. In 1919 the public debt had risen from four milliard francs before the war to 13 milliards, and passed 3o milliards in 1921. At the same time the fall of the exchange continually increased the cost of living, necessitating a great increase of salaries and readjustment of wages. The de mand for social legislation increased greatly. On Dec. I, 1919, the working day was reduced to eight hours. To prevent or diminish conflicts, national councils, formed by delegates of the masters and the workmen in equal numbers, with an official as president, were set up after the Armistice. The action, although devoid of any legislative backing, was often successful. Similarly in the mining industry, especially in the basins of the Centre and Borinage, a whole system of arbitration was set up, freely organ ized by the masters and workmen. The financial measures of the Government were also democratic in tendency, including income tax, super-tax and an increase in succession duties.
The fall of the exchange impoverished the middle classes, holders of state papers and mortgages and small house owners. This was further accentuated by the housing law, permitting tenants to continue to occupy their dwellings, limiting the rent to a sum not exceeding 12 5 % of the pre-war rents, while building costs had increased by 700%. On the other hand, the quick re covery of industry contributed to enrich the industrial and com mercial classes. The high price of living also improved the con ditions of the peasants, who spent enormous sums on acquiring land. Thus the middle classes were in a difficult situation between the rich capitalists on one side and the workmen and peasants on the other. The activity of the banks drained out all the free money in the country, and gave real power to the great financial establishments.
The considerable improvement in the condition of the working classes increased the power of the trades unions. The Socialist party formed the Banque Beige du Travail, while the increased wealth of the peasants gave the Banque des Boerenbonden very great financial and political power. The political result was the weakening of the Liberal Party, which was recruited from the middle classes, an access of strength for the Socialist and Catholic Parties, and an increase of the democratic element. The passing of a law which re-established the legal personality of associations not aiming at profits (June 27, 1921) also deserves mention. This law met a real demand, and the country is now covered every where with charitable, scientific or social associations. The relig ious establishments are all under this form.
The intellectual life of Belgium revived. The Association Inter nationale des Academies chose Brussels for its centre. On Aug. 19, 192o, an Academie de League et de Litterature Francaise was formed at Brussels. The status of legal personality benefited the free universities of Louvain and Brussels and the universities of Ghent and Liege. The profits realized by the Commission for Relief in Belgium went to constitute a university fund, with a capital of 8o,000,000fr., for the development of the sciences in Belgium. Each university was further endowed with a capital of 20,000,00o francs. A war archives department was established to collect all documents bearing on the history of the war between 1914 and 1918. The period of restoration was blessed with a truce in the political struggle; unlimited universal suffrage from the age of 21 was introduced at the demand of the Socialist Party; female suffrage, which was claimed by the Catholic Party, was granted for communal elections.
The elections of Nov. 16, 1919, under the new franchise, re sulted in the Catholic Party's losing the majority which it had held since 1884. At first the country was ruled by a "concentra tion" Government, under Delacroix and later by Carton de Wiart; afterwards by a coalition between Catholics and Liberals under Theunis ; then after the elections of April 1925, in which the Socialists obtained 818,852 votes, Catholics 751,011, and Liberals 305,03 2, by a democratic Catholic-Socialist coalition under Goullet and Vandervelde. This ministry made an attempt to stabilize the franc. It failed, and the franc fell from 10 7 to 237 to the pound sterling.
Restoration of the Currency.—In May 1926 Henri Jaspar formed a coalition ministry consisting of representatives of the three great parties of Belgium. He made a vigorous effort towards finanical stabilization, with the help of E. Francqui, who was prin cipally responsible for the currency reform. He obtained from par liamen legislation giving him full powers to carry out the neces sary measures. Belgium was faced with a very serious situation; the internal floating debt amounted to $6,346,000,00o francs, and the foreign debt to S4,000,000 dollars or two milliard francs. On June 7 parliament agreed to impose fresh taxation yielding one and a half milliards. On the same day there was set up an amortiza tion fund intended to give the creditors of the State an assurance that the taxes voted for the amortization of the debt would actu ally be used for that purpose. On July 23 the State handed over the management of its railways to a national railway company. A royal decree was issued on July 31 converting the internal debt ; the creditors of the State were given bonds, the rate of which was guaranteed, entitling them to a share in the profits derived from the industrial exploitation of the railways. Under the influence of these measures, the franc rose to an exchange rate of 175, and it was stabilized at this rate by law. It was guaranteed by the con stitution of a reserve of gold-value securities at the National Bank amounting to 4o% of the value of the currency issued. In order to make the Belgian franc completely independent, a new currency was created, the Belga, which is equivalent to five Belgian francs. The Belga is a theoretical currency unit (one pound sterling is equivalent to about 35 Belgas) .
The Jaspar ministry resigned in Nov. 1927, as the Socialist ministers refused to accept the military reform scheme drawn up by the Ministry of War. A new Jaspar ministry was formed consisting of a coalition between the Catholic and Liberal Parties.
During the years which followed the conclusion of peace, the popularity which the king and queen had acquired during the war did much to help in the maintenance of internal peace and order. In 1927 the king proposed the formation of a Fond National de la Recherche Scientifique to foster the intellectual development of the country. Opened in November, subscriptions speedily amounted to fr. 125,000,000. In June 1928 the king and queen visited the Belgium colony of the Congo. Prince Leopold, the heir to the throne, was married to Princess Astrid of Sweden in Nov. 1926. Activist agitation is still carried on by the "frontist" party (frontpartij), but is of no importance. The communists, who are opposed by the powerful socialist organization, do not appear likely to gain much ground. On the other hand, the Flemish question has become more acute since the introduc tion of universal suffrage. The demand however is still for nothing more than linguistic reforms within the Belgian State. An act adopted in 1921 made Flemish the administrative language of the Flemish-speaking districts of the country. French may, however, be used as well as Flemish in all communications to the public wherever a request to this effect is made by one-fifth of the municipal electors. Flemish is also being introduced in higher education. The University of Ghent was partially flem icized in 1923 ; the Catholic University of Louvain has become a bilingual university. The language position in 1920 nevertheless shows that French is still spreading. At that date there were in Belgium 2,855,835 persons speaking French only, 3,187,073 speak ing Flemish only, and 960,96o speaking both languages.
Recent Years.—In the summer of 1928 the chambers passed an important law on the recruitment and composition of the Bel gian army, and the use of the French and Flemish tongues among the troops. The duration of service with the colours was fixed, as a general rule, at eight months. The currency was stabilized. The management of the railway system was transferred from the State to the Societe nationals des chemins de fer. Great undertakings were decided upon for enlarging the port of Antwerp and the approaches to it and improving its communications with the in dustrial basin of Liege. The Jaspar ministry ended in June 1931. From Oct. 1932 to Nov. 1934 de Broqueville was premier; suc cessive governments were formed by Theunis (Nov. 1934) and van Zeeland (March 1935). On Feb. 17, 1934 Leopold III (q.v.) succeeded his father on the throne. On Oct. 14, 1936, he an nounced a return to the pre-war foreign policy.