Under the wise and enlightened reign of Leopold I, a prosperous Period of 34 years, Belgium became a united and patriotic com munity. Arts and commerce flourished, and a place was taken in the family of nations upon which the Belgian people could look with un alloyed satisfaction. During the French Revo lution of 1848 Leopold was supposed to have declared his willingness to resign the crown if his subjects wished it, but there is no historical foundation for that statement although many Belgians believed it. Yet the fact that the crisis which shook most of the thrones of Eu rope passed harmlessly over Belgium con firmed the stability of the monarchy at a crit ical moment. The explanation may perhaps be found in the intensely democratic character of the Constitution framed in 1830-31. By its provisions the King, while nominally endowed with all the prerogatives of executive power and even the rights of initiative, is neverthe less so strictly hand-tied by ministerial control that his power is practically non-existent. "Our Constitution . . . breathed hatred of the past King and fear of the future King. It snatched from the Crown the faculty of doing good or evil." Leopold I died in 1865, regretted and respected. He began the task of molding the Belgian people; it was continued with equal prudence by his eldest son and successor, Leo pold II.
Leopold I had ruled for 34 years; notwith standing all constitutional limitations, it was his will, and not that of his ministers, which prevailed on important occasions. Leopold II (q.v.) was destined to reign 10 years longer than his father, and to illustrate the political theory of a "benevolent despotism.° A man of iron resolution, shrewd business sense and not overburdened with ethical ballast, he widened the narrow vision of his people, built up an amazing degree of prosperity, carried the Bel gian flag far beyond the narrow confines of his kingdom by commerce and colonitation, and literally fulfilled the grandiose promises he made on taking the accession oath. The out standing feature of his reign is the acquisition and development of that rich territory now lcnown as the Belgian Kongo (q.v.). Between 1886 and 1894 Belgium was convulsed with labor strikes, socialist risings and universal clamor for electoral reforms. The worlcing men's party threatened to organize a general strike if their grievances were not speedily recognized. At the end of 1889 the 28,000 workmen in the coaling district of Charleroi joined the movement without abandoning for a moment a perfectly calm and legal attitude, and gained a complete victory on economic points in dispute. From this developed a po litical strike, and a few weeks later an assem bly in Brussels of 50,000 workmen from every part of the country demanded, with all the calm that the knowledge of their power gave them, an extension of electoral rights. For nearly five years the struggle raged in the country and in the Parliament before a modi fied system of universal suffrage was adopted. Leopold II died in 1909. His only son had died in childhood, since when the succession de volved upon Leopold's brother, Philippe Eu gene, Count of Flanders, who immediately re nounced his right of succession when his first son, Prince Baldwin (Baudoin), was bont To prepare him for his eventual inheritance the young prince was carefully educated, but he died suddenly of pneumonia in 1891, at the age of 21. The second son of the Count of Flanders, Prince Albert, then 16 years of age, became heir-presumptive to the throne, and succeeded his uncle, Leopold II, on 17 Dec.
1909. See ALBFAT I, KING OF THE BELGIANS.
The new King proved himself a monarch of a different type from his predecessors. Of great stature and masterful will like his uncle, his character and demeanor run in entirely different channels. Before he had been five years on the throne he became a king without a country, an exile with his family and gov ernment. The main events of his short reign
before the war were inherited troubles— the religious strife and the question of military reforms.
Bibliography.— Baedeker's 'Belgium and Holland, including the Grand Duchy of Luxem bourg' (15th ed., Leipzig 1910) ; Balan, L., (Soixante-dix ans d'histoire de Belgique' (Brussels 1890) ; Banderkinken, 'History of the Formation of the Belgian Principalities in the Middle Ages' ; Banning, E., (La Belgique au point de vue militaire et internationale (Brussels 1901) ; Bavary, Ch. Victor de, (His toire de la revolution beige de 1830) (Brussels 1876) ; Bouche, B., (Les ouvriers agricoles en Belgique' (ib. 1914) ; Boulger, D. C., 'Belgium of the Belgians' (London 1911) ; id., (History of Belgium) (Vol. I, 1902; Vol. 11, 1909; rev. ed., London 1913) ; Bumpus, F., 'Cathedrals and Churches of Belgium' (London 1909) ; Char riaut, H., (La Belgique moderne' (Paris 1910) ; Delplace, 'Belgium under French Rule'; id., (Belgium in the Reign of William 1'; De schamps, Le Chevallier, (La constitution inter nationale de la Belgique' (Brussels 1901) ; Errera, (Das Staatsrecht des kiinigreichs Bel gien) (Tiibingen 1909); Essars, (Banking in Belgium) (in (A History of Banking in All the Leading Nations,' Vol. III, New York 1896); Garcia de la Vega, (Royaume de la Belgique' (Brussels 1883) ; Genonseaux, (La Belgique • physique, politique, etc.) (ib. 1878); Griffis, W. E., (Belgium, the Land of Art' (New Yorlc 1912) ; Hanslik, E., (Das Kiinigreich Belgic& (Berlin 1912) ; Holland, Clive, (The Belgians at Home' (London 1911); Hymans, (Histoire parlementaire de Belgique de 18301 1880' (Brus sels 1878-80); jacquart, C., (Etude de la de mographie, statique et dynamique, des agglom erations urbaines, et specialement des villes beiges' (Brussels 1903) ; id., (Mouvement de l'etat civil et de la population en Belgique pendant les annees 1876-1900'; id., (Brussels — La mortalite infantile dans les Flandres); id., Essais de statistique morale— I, Le suicide) (Brussels 1908) ; II, (Le divorce et la separation du corps' (ib. 1909); id., (La criminalite Beige, 1868-1909) (Louvain 1912) ; Jourdain, A., and Stalle, L. von, (Dictionnaire encyclopedique de geographie de Belgique' (Brussels 1895 et seq.); Julin, (Le recensement general des industries et des metiers en Belgique an 31 Octobre, 1896' (in La Reforme Sociale, Vol. IX, Paris 1900) ; Juste, 'History of Belgium); id., 'Memoirs of Leopold, King of the Belgians); Laveleye, (Le parti clerical en Belgique) (Leipzig 1874), a statement from the Liberal viewpoint; Leroy, (Geographie generale de la Belgique, (Namur 1889); Lavisse, E., (ed.), (Histoire generale' (Vols. X, XI, XII, Paris 1898-1900); Mac Donnell, J. de C., 'Belgium: Her Kings, King dom and People) (London 1914); id., 'King Leopold II; His Rule in Belgium and the Kon go' (ib. 1905); Martel, H.,