Tnis similarity in the vegetable productions of Eng land and 13elgium might lead us to expect a correspond ing similarity in their climates : and observation confirms this supposition. The climate of Belgium closely re sembles that of the south or England : the air, though cold, is healthy; frequent sea-breezes keep it in a state of purity ; and as the soil, owing to its sandy nature, is far drier than that of Holland, as it is also far more ele vated with regard to the level or the waters,—the mists ancl tempests, the wet and cloudy winters of me northern provinces, are much less common here.
The comparison which Belgium may sustain with England, io regard to its climate, and the productions of its soil, will fail, if extended to the interior of its rocks. Belgium has lew minerals; and those few not valuable or extensively distributed. Some copper and lead at Namur, some iron in Luxemburg and Hainaut, some calamine and zinc near Limburg, one or two coal-mines in the tract between NIaestricht and Charleroi are all it has to boast or in this respct ; and the scantiness of na ture has been slightly compensated by the diligence or skill of the inhabitants. Their mines have never been judiciously managed; their coal mines, in particular, till the late war, by excluding all regular intercourse with Britain, forced the people to depend on their own re sources, were almost entirely neglected : they are now increasing in importance and productiveness, though still far within the limits of their capability.
The levelness of surface, which is unfavourable to the discovery and working of rnines, is highly advanta geous, in another respect, by the facility it affords for constructing. canals. In Belgium, as in Holland, canals perform the services which roads perform elsewhere : they intersect the country in every direction, and form the usual mode of communication from one town to another. Some of them are as old as the tenth century ; they abound in all quarters at present ; and the existing go vernmem, avoiding the niggardly policy of its predeces sor, is anxious to keep them in repair. The rivers of Belgium are not unlike canals in their appearance, and equally useful to commerce. None of them are of great length ; but thc slowness of their descent accumulates their waters, and allows them to be navigated far above their mouth. The ..tlaese, or Meuse, is the most inte resting in its scenery. It rises in France, front the ele vation that gives birth also to the Aube, the Nlarne.aod the Saone; and after riceiving the Sanahre at Namur on its left side, and the Atwaller on the right at Liege, it joins the Waal by several outlets in Northern, or Dutch Brabant. Bctween the towns just mentioned, its shores exhibit, on a smaller scale, of the romantic scene ry w hich adorns those of the Rhine. The Scheldt, as far inferior in beauty tu the Nlaese, as it is superior in uti lity fur trade, rises also in France, near Boliain in the Aisne Dapartment ; is augmented by the Lys on its left side at Ghent, by the Dender and Rupel on its right ; and dischar ges itself by. two large channels, the eastern Scheldt, which passes by Bergen-op-Zoorn, arid the wes tent Scheldt, which passes towards Flushing, as well as by a multiplicity of smaller ones, the interlacements which give rise to the islands ol Zealand. The Scheldt is not so long as the Thames, but like that stream it deepens and widens to a great extent by the resistance of the sea. e By means of those rivers, their subsidiary streams, and the canals which connect them with each other and with the Rhine, Belgium has an expeditious and safe com munication with all places in the north of France, with the west of Germany, and even with Switzerland. Such
advantages for commercial intercourse were soon laid hold of by the inhabitants. The fertility of their soil, their fortunate position in regard to neighbouring nations, combined with those advantages to introduce an exten sive and flourishing trade during the early ages. The wealth which this generated and diffused over the towns of Belgium, secured their political freedom at a period when, excepting Italy, nothing like freedom, or even well organized despotism, existed in the world : and this new stimulus re-acted powerfully on the cause which had produced it. The first enterprises of the Belgians were directed to the neighbouring coasts of Britain and Denmark. The wool brought hack from the former employed thousands of workmen in Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp : and before the middle of the twelfth centory, Flemish cloths were widely sold over France and Ger many. Ali eady, in the preceding century, the ships of Friesland were to he found in the Belt; some of them even ventured to visit the Levant. Without a compass, these enterprising mariners had the courage and skill to approach the Pole, and coast round the northern capes of Russia. From the towns of the Baltic, Belgium ac quired a portion of the Oriental trade, the course of which was at that time by the Black Sea through Russia to those regions. In the thirteenth century, it is true, this trade began to fail ; the crusades had opened a new path for the commodities of India by the Mediteiranean; the states of Italy seized upon the lucrative employment of transporting them ; and the Hanseatic League was formed in Germany. But those changes, while they alteted the diteetion of the Flemish trade, greatly in creased its quantity. 13elgium SOUJI became the empo rium of Europe, the point of corninunication between the north and the south. Seamen had not vet univer sally adopted the use of the magnet; and even such as had, were accustomed, according to their former prac tice, to elect) slowly along the coasts, doubling every promontory, and scarcely on any account venturing into the open seu. The thou consumed in such voyages may easily be conceived. But the harbours of the Baltic are often frozen during winter, and inaccessible to any ship. Vessels, therefore, which could not eatily traverse the wide distance from the Mediterranean to the Belt. in a single season, were glad to find a place of union mid way between both. Belgium, with an immense extent of country behind it, and connected with it by cahals and navigable streams, open also by safe harbours to the ocean on the west, seemed expressly suited for such a purpose. It was not slow to profit by its citcurnstances. Staples were ei ected in all the principal towns. Portu guese, Spaniards, Italians, French, Eng,lish, Germans, Danes, Swedes, travelled thither with merchandize from all quartets of the globe. The competition of sellers lowered the price; domestic industry was quickened by the existence of a near and abundant market ; and the Plinces of the country, awakening at length to their true interests, encouraged the merchant by important privi leges, and protected his foreign speculations by special treaties with external powers. United among them selves, the Flemish towns at last ventured to renounce the Hanseatic Confederation, and even to defy that pow erful enemy wherever it opposed thetn. The Hanse merchants, when the harbours of Spain were shut against them, felt constrained reluctantly at length to visit the markets cf their rivals, and purchase Spanish goods in the staples of 13e/gium.