The natural wealth and industrial resources of B. have always been more or less modified by the political relations of the country. In the middle of the 13th c., Bruges as its chief seat of manufactures, had surpassed all its neighbors in industry, and had established a flourishing commerce with the Italians. After the discovery of Amer ica, Antwerp took the place of Bruges, and was regarded as a northern Venice. But the unhappy period of Spanish oppression and the war in the Netherlands deeply depressed Belgian commerce, which suffered still more at the peace of Westphalia,when Holland monopolized the navigation of the Scheldt. The river was again opened at the close of the 18th c., when the French had invaded the Netherlands, and Napoleon caused the harbor of Antwerp to be rvstored and enlarged. At the cost of Amsterdam, Belgian commerce received a new impulse by the union of B. with Holland, as settled by the congress of Vienna; but scarcely were hopes revived, when the revolution of 1830 changed the prospects of the country. The treaty signed in London, April 19, 1839, gave to Holland the right to levy a toll of two-and-sixpence per ton on all vessels navi gating the Scheldt. The privilege of navigation on the inland waters between the Scheldt and the Rhine was purchased by B. for an annual payment of £50,000. In June, 1839, this privilege was virtually taken away by the government of Holland, and, in 1843, with additional expense to .B., the new treaty of navigation was ratified by both parties.
During this crisis preceding the development of a free commerce. 13. had not neglected her internal resources. The societ6 de commerce de Bruxelles, the hanque the Belgique, and other associations for the extension of trade, bad been formed; and May 1, 1834, the government adopted the scheme for a railway-system the most complete of any on the continent. The center of the Belgian net-work of railways is )Ialiues, whence lines are carried out in all directions. The n. line goes to Antverp and its harbor; the w., by Ghent and Bruges, to Ostend; the s.w., by Brussels and Mons, to Quievrain and the borders of France, not far from Valenciennes; and the e., by Louvain, Tirlemont, Liege, Verviers, and extending to the confines of Prussia. There were in 1874 open for con veyance in B. 2105 m. of railway lines; of these 838 m. were in the hands of the state, and the rest were worked by companies. The cost of the permanent way and buildings of these lines has been about £18,280 a mile. The net revenue at present is stated to be £1508 a mile. The working of the post-office in B. was, in 1874, as follows: Private letters, 58,036.628; official letters, 6,035,861; packets, 30,094,207; newspapers, 58,825,598. On Jan. 1, 1875, there were in that country 479 post-offices, 474 telegraph stations, and the total length of telegraph lines was 3066 m., the length of wires, 12,806 miles. B.,
along with France, Italy, and Switzerland, entered on a monetary league in 1865, in which the four states agreed to adopt the French decimal system of coins, weights, and measures. In 1873. the imports amounted to £96,992,320, and the exports to £86,556,000. These sums include the value of " goods in transit." Excluding the latter, the value of purely Belgian imports iu 1875 was R52,284,120; of exports, £44,072,080. The com mercial intercourse of B. with Great Britain, in 1S76, amounted to £13,848,293 for exports, and £5,875,407 for imports. Among the principal articles of export are coal, flax, linen, woolen and cotton,goods, glass, firearms, and nails More than a third of the whole is consigned to France, and half of the remainder to Germany, England, and Holland. The maritime commerce is chiefly carried on in British ships, the native ship ping, which is not increasing, being in 1876 only 59 vessels, of 50,186 tons, with 255 fish ing-boats. .The unit of the Belgian monetary system is the franc.
The intellectual improvement of B. has not kept equal pace with its material pros perity. The lack of political independence, which has forced the best energies of the country into foreign centers of activity, and the variety and confused mixture of dia lects, have retarded the growth of the national intellect, and the formation of national individuality. An independent national literature, acting as the bond of is pure national unanimity, was not possible, under such unfavorable conditions, to which may be added the facilities afforded for supplying, the people with cheap reprints of foreign works. The Flemish element—the most important—seems indeed to have become conscious of its capabilities in respect to literature; but a genuine expression of the entire Belgian mind will first become possible when the Walloon element also begins to develop a freer form of speech along with its own peculiar modes of thought. The royal ac–deiny of arts and sciences at Brussels is at the head of several other unions for scientific pur poses. Among the most celebrated names in Belgian literature and science, may be mentioned—QUetelet in mathematics, Altmeyer the historian, Fetis the musical critic, Conscience the Flemish poet and novelist, Willems the philolori., st, and Baron and poke in literary history and criticism. Painting and architecture formerly flourished in the wealthy old towns of Flanders; but after the brilliant epoch of Rubens and his pupils, a long period of dullness followed. In modern times, a revival of art has taken place, as may be proved by the names of the painters. Wappers, Dc Keyser, Gallait, De Bicfve, Verbockhoven, etc.; the sculptors. W. Gcefs, Simonis, Jehotte, Fraikin, etc.; the engravers, Calamatta, Brown, and Meunier; and the medalists, Wiener and Hors.