BELGIUM. 



ually responsible to the Chambers, consisted in the 

 beginning of is<)(> of tin- following members: 

 President of the Council and Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs. .1. de Muriel : Minister of Finance, P. de 

 Smct dc Naycr: Minister of Justice, V. Begerem; 

 Minister of War. (Jen. -I. J. Brassine ; Minister of 

 Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. J. II. P. Yanden- 

 peeivbooin : Minister of the Interior and Public 

 Ins! ruction. M. Schollaert : Minister of Agriculture 

 and Public Works. L. de Mruyn ; Minister of In- 

 dustry and Labor, M. Nyssens. This ministry was 

 constituted on Oct. 26, 1884, after the electoral de- 

 feat of the Cabinet of M. Fivrc-Orban, which or- 

 ganized secular education. On May 25, 1895, M. de 

 Burlet assumed the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, 

 previously held by the Count de Merode-Westerloo, 

 giving up the portfolio of the Interior and Educa- 

 tion fo M. Schollaert, while M. Nyssens entered the 

 Cabinet in the newly created post of Minister of 

 Industry and Labor. M. de Burlet resigned the 

 premiership and M. de Smet de Nayer was ap- 

 pointed President of the Council on Feb. 26, 1896, 

 retaining the Finance portfolio, that of Foreign 

 Affairs being given to Baron Favereau. 



Area and Population. In proportion to its 

 area, which is now 11,373 square miles, Belgium 

 has the largest population of any country in Eu- 

 rope except Saxony, numbering 6,341,958 on Dec. 

 31, 1894. The two sexes were almost equal, 3,163,- 

 9!)7 males to 3,177,961 females. The number of 

 marriages in 1894 was 47,735; births, 181,466; 

 deaths, 118,213 ; surplus of births, 63,253. Immi- 

 gration exceeded emigration in that year by 6,333. 

 Brussels, the capital, had a population of 507,985, 

 inclusive of suburbs ; Antwerp, 256,620 ; Liege, 

 160,848 ; Ghent, 155,746. 



Finances. The revised budget for 1896 makes 

 the total ordinary revenue 355,609,678 francs, of 

 which 25,111,000 francs are derived from property 

 taxes, 19,480,000 francs from personal taxes, 7,000,- 

 000 francs from trade licenses, 800,000 francs from 

 mining royalties, 26,172,133 francs from customs, 

 42,3 17,296 "francs from excise, 20,525,000 francs 

 from succession duties, 19,850,000 francs from regis- 

 tration duties, 6,000,000 francs from stamps, 5,758,- 

 000 francs from various other indirept taxes, 144,- 

 000,000 francs from railroads, 6,200,000 francs from 

 telegraphs, 13,272,300 francs from the post office, 

 1,565,000 francs from navigation dues, 3,215,500 

 francs from domains and forests, 10,195,400 francs 

 from funds and securities, 3,818.049 francs from re- 

 payments, and 330,000 francs from exceptional 

 sources. The total ordinary expenditure is esti- 

 mated at 354,309,122 francs, of which 104,562,885 

 francs are for interest and sinking fund of the pub- 

 lic debt, 4,830,760 francs for the civil list and dota- 

 tions, 20,007,090 francs for the Ministry of Justice, 

 2,552,610 francs for the Ministry of Foreign Af- 

 fairs, 24,738,458 francs for the Ministry of the In- 

 terior and Public Instruction, 19,737,033 francs for 

 the Ministry of Public Works, 106,733,614 francs 

 for the Ministry of Railroads, Posts, and Tele- 

 graphs, 47,282,702 francs for the Ministry of War, 

 1T.4!6,220 francs for the Ministry of Finance, 

 4.680,750 francs for the gendarmerie, and 1,687,000 

 francs for repayments. 



The public d'ebt amounts to 2.215.376.147 francs, 

 bearing 3 and :', per cent.. except 219.'Ci!.f>:;2 

 franes. which is the Belgian share of the debt of 

 the old kingdom of the United Netherlands, from 

 which Belgium separated in is:!<). On this part 2* 

 per cent, inten-t is paid, and the interest and 

 sinking fund of the main debt are more than cov- 

 ered by the earnings of the railroads for which the 

 principal lo;m> were contracted. 



Commerce. In the Lrencral commerce of 1894 

 the imports v, ere valued at 2,703,080,783 francs, and 



the exports at 2,424.560,429 francs. The imports 

 by sea were 1,303,816,413 francs, and by the land 

 front iers l.:>!)!>.264,370 francs in value; the exports 

 by sea 1,051,239,594, and by land 1,373,320,835 

 francs. The imports for home consumption in 

 1894 amounted to 1,574.500,000 francs ; exports of 

 Belgian products, 1,803,700,000 francs ; transit 

 trade, 1,120,900.000 francs. The values of the 

 principal special imports were as follow; Cereals, 

 258,225,000 francs: textile materials. 140,561,000 

 francs; chemicals and drugs, 88,957,000 francs; 

 minerals, 71,965.000 francs: timber, 68,594.000 

 francs; gums and resins, 67.280,000 francs; woolen, 

 cotton, and silk fabrics, 57,687,000 francs ; oil seeds, 

 55,423,000 francs; coffee, 54,522,000 francs; hides, 

 52,174,000 francs: metals, 44,340,000 francs ; animal 

 products, 39,787,000 francs; live animals, 35,557,- 

 000 francs; meat, 27,035,000 francs; wine, 26,- 

 173,000 francs; coal and coke, 21,206,000 francs; 

 flour, 20,166,000 francs; linen, cotton, and woolen 

 yarns, 19,723,000 francs; fertilizers, 18,522,000 

 francs; machinery, 17,181,000 francs; butter, 15,- 

 378,000 francs; tobacco, 11,111,000 francs. The 

 principal exports of Belgian produce and manu- 

 factures and their values were as follow : Yarns, 

 87,937,000 francs ; coal and coke, 76,245,000 francs ; 

 cereals. 73,699,000 francs; machinery and car- 

 riages, 68,446,000 francs ; chemicals and drugs, 61,- 

 437,000 francs; raw textiles, 59,388,000 francs; 

 textile fabrics, 57,074,000 francs; steel, 56,624,000 

 francs; leather, 55,712,000 francs ; iron, 50,761,000 

 francs; glass, 50,324,000 francs; meat, 44,649,000 

 francs ; sugar, 39,785,000 francs ; animal products, 

 34,678.000 francs; zinc, 30,062,000 francs; ferti- 

 lizers, 27,856,000 francs ; oil seeds, 26,223,000 francs ; 

 horses, 23,579,000 francs; minerals, 22,601,000 

 francs ; bitumen, 19,092,000 francs ; colors and 

 dyes, 17,997,000 francs. The values of the special 

 imports from and exports to the principal commer- 

 cial nations were in 1894, in francs, as follows : 



Navigation. During 1894 there were 7,727 ves- 

 sels, of 6,513,730 tons, entered and 7,273, of 6,542,- 

 962 tons, cleared at Belgian ports. Of the total 

 tonnage entered, 2,434,663 tons represent 3,834 ves- 

 sels arriving from British ports, and 538,486 tons 

 244 vessels from American ports ; of the clearances, 

 4,926 vessels, of 3,860,998 tons, were bound for 

 England and 225, of 502,329 tons, for the United 

 States. 



The commercial marine of Belgium in 1894 con- 

 sisted of 5 sailing vessels, of 917 tons, and 50 

 steamers, of 78,272 tons ; total, 55 vessels, of 79,189 

 tons. 



The Army. Every Belgian is liable to be drawn 

 for military service at the age of twenty years, but 

 he may pay for a substitute a price not in excess of 

 1.800 francs. By conscription and voluntary en- 

 listment the strength of the active army is con- 

 stantly kept up to about 13,300 men with the colors. 



