86 



BELGIUM. 



had a length of 3,175 kilometres, and the lines 

 worked by companies were 1,246 kilometres 

 in length on Jan. 1, 1887, making a total of 

 4,421 kilometres, or 2,763 miles. The receipts 

 of the state railroads in 1886 were 117,918,- 

 879 francs, and the expenses 66,241,271 francs. 

 On the lines of the companies the receipts 

 were 35,144,278 francs, and the expenses 19.- 

 213,485 francs. The capital expended by the 

 Government in huilding railroads was 929,- 

 697,462 francs up to the end of 1885, while 

 railroads that had been purchased were paid 

 for in annuities representing 319,798,631 francs 

 of additional capital. 



Telegraphs. The numher of dispatches, pri- 

 vate and official, in 1886 was 6,798,108. The 

 length of lines on Jan. 1, 1887, was 3.800 

 miles, with 17,900 miles of wire. The receipts 

 for 1886 were 2,868,650 francs, and the ex- 

 penses, 3,679,250 francs. 



Elections. The biennial elections for one half 

 of the seats in the Chamber, and the quadren- 

 nial elections for the renewal of one half of 

 the Senate were held on June 12, 1888. The 

 Conservatives, who in the last Chamber num- 

 bered 96 against 42 Liberals, and in the Senate 

 42 against 27, were successful, owing to the 

 defection of the Radicals who had previously 

 supported Liberal candidates. In the new 

 Chamber there are 98 Conservatives and 40 

 Liberal?, and in the Senate 51 Conservatives 

 and 18 Liberals. 



The Language Question. The Flemings have 

 recently raised the language question by organ- 

 izing a party to secure for their mother-tongue 

 the equality that the Constitution guarantees. 

 Until Hendrik Conscience demonstrated the 

 literary capabilities of Flemish, and appealed 

 to race pride in his historical and satirical pas- 

 sages, the Flemings were content to see the 

 French employed almost exclusively in official 

 intercourse, in the courts, and in the army, 

 and even cultivated it themselves in their com- 

 mercial and social relations. When their na- 

 tional spirit was finally aroused, the adoption 

 of French as the language of instruction in the 

 Royal Athenaeum, which was opened at Ant- 

 werp in 1886, gave occasion for its manifesta- 

 tion in a storm of indignation that compelled 

 the Government to alter its decision. In the 

 summer of 1887 the King was almost mobbed 

 for delivering a French oration at the dedica- 

 tion of statues to Flemish heroes in Bruges. 

 The inequalities of which the Flemings com- 

 plain are that no official is appointed to a post 

 in southern Belgium without being conversant 

 with French, whereas there are thousands in 

 Flanders who know no Flemish ; that French 

 is the language of public boards and assem- 

 blies and of the army; and, notably, that it is 

 used in military and criminal courts in Flan- 

 ders, even when the accused person speaks 

 only Flemish. The knowledge of French has 

 long been a prerequisite for an appointment 

 in the army. Deputy Coremans, of Antwerp, 

 introduced a bill requiring candidates for com- 



missions to be examined in both languages, and 

 the Government adopted the measure, which 

 simply carries out a provision of the Constitu- 

 tion. Its practical effect would be to exclude 

 Walloons from officers' posts, and after it had 

 been passed by a large majority, the Govern- 

 ment was induced by popular clamor to recede 

 from the constitutional position and support a 

 substitute measure, which merely recommend- 

 ed the study of Flemish. By this action the 

 ministry offended not only the Flemish Liber- 

 als, but the Clericals, who had been its firm 

 supporters. 



Foreign Relations. The Belgium scheme of 

 fortification aroused the jealousy of the Ger- 

 man Government, which endeavored in 1888, 

 with partial success, to force Belgium into a 

 military alliance and secure an understanding 

 by which the fortress of Liege and the rail- 

 roads will be handed over to the Germans in 

 the event of another French war. King Leo- 

 pold's sympathies are supposed to be with Ger- 

 many by reason of family ties and dynastic 

 traditions, while the present Clerical-Conserva- 

 tive ministry is suspected of the same partial- 

 ity or, at any rate, of antagonism to the ruling 

 powers in France. The prevailing sentiment 

 among the people, however, leans toward 

 France. The Liberal party and the entire Wal- 

 loon population of the south are warm friends 

 of the republic, while the Flemings are indif- 

 ferent. By manifesting a desire to exert diplo- 

 matic pressure on Belgium, the German Gov- 

 ernment aroused the anti-German feeling of 

 the country; but since England has refused to 

 renew her pledges in regard to defending the 

 neutrality of Belgium, and is even partly com- 

 mitted to the anti-French alliance, the Bel- 

 gian Government may be constrained to meet 

 the wishes of Germany. Early in 1888 the 

 German minister made complaints respecting 

 attacks on the German Government by a por- 

 tion of the Belgian press. This was hardly 

 done with a view to the immediate abatement 

 of the offense, because the Belgian press is the 

 freest in Europe. The Liberal organs assail 

 the King and his Cabinet with the full liberty 

 that the Constitution accords, and if they use 

 the same license in speaking of German policy 

 the Ultramontane journals denounce the French 

 authorities in terms as immoderate. These 

 representations regarding the press led up to 

 others relative to the French control of the 

 Nord Beige Railroad, which the German Gov- 

 ernment Complained gave an unfair strategical 

 advantage to France, although the railroad 

 from Verviers to the German frontier was in 

 German hands and the entire network of the 

 Duchy of Luxembourg was worked by the im- 

 perial railroad administration of Alsace-Loraine. 

 Finally came the overtures with regard to the 

 occupation of Belgian fortresses by Prussian 

 troops in case France should begin a war 

 against Germany. The French sympathies of 

 the people, especially of the Walloons, who are 

 not only allied to the French in blood and Ian- 



