41^ ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1915. 



altogether French. Knowledge of French as an educational and 

 business requirement accounts for its occurrence in Flanders. The 

 Eomanee language, therefore, tends to supersede the Germanic idiom 

 as a national vernacular. Utter absence of Flemish in the Belgian 

 Congo constitutes perhaps the strongest evidence in favor of French 

 as Belgium's national language. 



The linguistic dualism is traceable to the period of the Roman 

 conquest. Intercourse at that time between the Belg£e dwelling south 

 of the Via Agrippa and the Romans, who were pushing steadily 

 northwards, was intimate. The Latin of the Roman invaders, modi- 

 fied by the Celtic and Germanic of the native populations, gave birth 

 eventually to the Walloon of subsequent times.^ 



The Belgse of the lowlands farther north, however, successfully 

 resisted the efforts made by the Romans to conquer them. The 

 marshes of their nether country and the forested area which was 

 to be laid bare by the monks of the middle ages constituted a strong- 

 liold, in the shelter of which Germanic dialects took root. 



At a later date the growth of the temporal power of the Roman 

 Church witnessed the establishment of a number of bishoprics over 

 districts segregated irrespective of linguistic differences. Perhaps 

 one of the most notable facts of Belgian history is found in the fact 

 that its linguistic and political boundaries have never coincided. 

 Every century is marked by renewal of the age-long clashes between 

 the Germanic and Romance races which have been thrown in con- 

 tact along the w^estern end of the line of seA'erance between the plains 

 of northern Europe and the mountainous southland of the continent. 



In recent 3'^ears a keen struggle for predominance between Flem- 

 ings and Walloons is observable in Belgium. Language had been 

 adopted as the rallying standard of both parties. Aggravation of 

 this feud may yet lead to secession. The Flemish provinces might 

 then cast their political lot with the Dutch. The languages spoken 

 in Holland and Flanders are practically identical. Religious differ- 

 ences alone have stood in the way of political fusion in the past. 

 The revolt of the Netherlands from Spanish authority had led to 

 the independence of Protestant provinces only. Flemish princes, 

 swayed by religious scruples, refused to side with the Protestant 

 communities whose political connection had been established by the 

 Union of Utrecht in 1579. At present the severance of religious 

 from political issues and the menace of absorption by Germany 

 may drive the Flemings to join their close kinsmen of the lowlands 

 on the north. A state formed by this union could be named the 

 Netherlands in all propriety. Its geographical foundation would 



1 The Belgae of Cipsar are probably roprpspntfd by the 'I'outonic popiihntions of northern 

 France, Flanders, and Batavia rather than by the Walloons. 



