BELGIUM. 



55 



Affairs addressed a circular, on the 17th of 

 July, to the Belgian diplomatic representatives 

 abroad, in which, on the evidence afforded by 

 letters from the Primate, and a bishop, he ac- 

 cused the Papal Nuncio of having, at a time 

 when it was pretended at Rome that nothing 

 was known of the resolutions of the Belgian 

 bishops, taken part in the framing of political 

 manifestoes containing direct attacks on the 

 Government. He also, upon the same evidence, 

 accused the Pope and his Secretary of State 

 of having approved and praised, but with the 

 most absolute sacrecy, the measures which 

 they declared to the Government of the King 

 they were ignorant of and were unable to pre- 

 vent. Cardinal Nina replied to the circular, 

 July 25th, defending the action of the Vati- 

 can, and accusing M. Frere-Orban of having 

 premeditatedly broken off relations with the 

 Holy Sse. The Premier replied with a review 

 of the course and letters of the Cardinal. 



The elections to the provincial councils were 

 held on the 2ith of May, and resulted on the 

 whole favorably to the Liberal party. 



The biennial elections for the renewal of one 

 half the members of the second Chamber were 

 held on the 8th of June. The Chamber, as it 

 was constituted previous to the elections, con- 

 sisted of one hundred and thirty -two members, 

 sixty-one of whom belonged to the Right and 

 seventy-one to the Liberal party. Of the sixty- 

 six members who were to retire, and whose 

 places were to be filled at the elections, forty- 

 three were of the Right and twenty-three of 

 the Liberal party. The elections, when they 

 were completed, resulted in a net gain of two 

 members to the Liberal party. The single 

 Liberal member from Antwerp was lost, all the 

 candidates of the Right being returned ; but 

 two Liberal members were gained in the prov- 

 ince of Luxemburg, and all of the fourteen 

 Liberal deputies from Brussels were reelected. 

 The Chamber having bsen called in extraor- 

 dinary session to participate in the national 

 festivals, terminated the validation of the elec- 

 tions, and constituted its bureau, August 5th. 

 M. Guiilery was reelected President. 



The National Exhibition in connection with 

 the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of 

 Belgian independence was opened at Brussels, 

 on the 16th of June, in the presence of the King, 

 the Quaen, and the Count of Flanders. The 

 festivities proper in honor of the anniversary 

 were begun on the 18th of July, when the ten 

 thousand civic guards of Brussels and five thou- 

 sand civic guards representing the provincial 

 towns, the troops of the garrison of Brussels, 

 and the divisions which had gone through the 

 manoeuvres at the camp of Beverloo were re- 

 viewed by the King. A statue of King Leopold 

 I, which was erected with the proceeds of a 

 national subscription that was opened after the 

 death of that King, was unveiled in the new pub- 

 lic park at Laeken, on the 21st, by the King. 

 The Minister of the Interior delivered an ad- 

 dress, reciting the events which had led to the 



erection of the statue, and the Governor of 

 Brabant spoke in the name of the subscribers 

 to the monument fund. On the same day a Te 

 Deum was sung in the church of St. Gudule, 

 Brussels, in commemoration of the forty-ninth 

 anniversary of the accession of Leopold I to 

 the throne. The festivities were continued 

 through the rest of July, the whole of August, 

 and a part of September, at the capital and in 

 the principal cities of the kingdom, with meet- 

 ings, exhibitions, horse-races, boat-races, shoot- 

 ing-matches, concerts, military festivals, cav- 

 alcades, illuminations, fireworks, and flower- 

 shows. On the 15th of August both the Legis- 

 lative Chambers met in the hall of the Chamber 

 of Representatives to receive three of the sur- 

 viving members of the Provisional Govern- 

 ment and of the National Congress of 1830 and 

 1834. Of the three surviving members of the 

 Provisional Government, one, M. Rogier, was 

 still a member of the Chamber ; nineteen mem- 

 bers of the National Congress were still living, 

 two of whom, M. Rogier and Canon de Ilaerne, 

 were members of the Chamber, and one, Baron 

 Nothomb, was Belgian envoy to Berlin. After 

 the reception, the members of the Chambers 

 proceeded in procession to take part in a patri- 

 otic festival in the Exhibition building. Depu- 

 tations attended from numerous associations, 

 from the army, from private societies, and bur- 

 gomasters and deputations from the councils of 

 every municipality in the kingdom. Several 

 speeches were delivered, after which the King 

 spoke at considerable length, expressing his 

 gratitude to those to whom Belgium owed its 

 admirable Constitution, describing the progress 

 which had been made by Belgium since 1830, 

 and adding that the country could not forget to 

 p.iy a just tribute of thankfulness to the five 

 great powers. A grand historical cavalcade, 

 symbolical of the past and present of the Belgian 

 nation, took place on the 17th. 



Forty-two petitions, demanding the reestab- 

 lishment of a duty on imports of agricultural 

 products for the protection of agriculturists 

 against the competition of importations from 

 America, were referred by the Chamber of Dep- 

 uties to the Permanent Commission of Industry. 

 The commission in its report on the petitions 

 advised against the reestablish ment of the duty, 

 but called the attention of the Government to 

 various means which might be adopted for the 

 improvement of agricultural industry, such as 

 measures to prevent inundations, and the re- 

 vision of the railway transport tariff. 



An International Congress on Education was 

 held in Brussels in the later days of September. 

 Delegates from France, Germany, Spain, Portu- 

 gal, Russia, Holland, and Chili, took part in the 

 several sections. 



The International Congress of Freethinkers 

 met in Brussels at the beginning of September, 

 and was numerously attended. Reports were 

 read on the historical development and present 

 literature of rationalism in various countries. 

 A committee was appointed on the subject of 



