166 



BELGIUM. 



of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg, elected King of the 

 Belgians by the National Congress of Belgium, 

 Jane 4, 1831, accepted the offer July 12, and 

 ascended the throne July 21, 1831. Heir-ap- 

 parent of the crown, Leopold, Duke of Bra- 

 bant, born April 9, 1835. 



According to the charter of 1831, Belgium is 

 ,a " constitutional, representative, and heredita- 

 ry monarchy." The legislative power is vested 

 in the King, the Chamber of Representatives, 

 and the Senate. The Chambers meet annually 

 in the month of November, and must sit for at 

 least forty days. The Chamber of Representa- 

 tives consists at present of 116 members, elected 

 in 41 electoral districts. The right of suffrage 

 is exercised by all citizens who pay a small 

 amount of taxes. The eligibility is made depend- 

 ent upon being a Belgian by birth, or being nat- 

 uralized, and having attained the twenty-fifth 

 year of age. Every second year one-half of 

 the Chamber of Representatives is renewed. 

 The members of the Senate, just one-half the 

 number of Representatives, are chosen for eight 

 years, and one-half of their number retire every 

 fourth year. To be eligible as a Senator, it is 

 necessary to be a Belgian by birth or naturali- 

 zation, to be forty years of age, and to pay in 

 direct taxes no less than 84. But if, in 

 a province, the number of persons paying this 

 amount of taxes is not at least in the propor- 

 tion of one to six thousand of the population, 

 the list is enlarged by the names of such citi- 

 zens as stand next on the tax roll. The Bel- 

 gian constitution guarantees to every citizen 

 personal freedom and liberty of conscience. 



Belgium is divided into nine provinces, the 

 extent and population of which is as follows : 



The largest cities are Brussels, with 181,799 

 inhabitants ; Ghent, 121,255 ; Antwerp, 117,- 

 324 ; Liege, 99,905. The foreign commerce of 

 Belgium in 1862 was: imports, 588,754,000 

 francs ; exports, 502,120,000 francs. 



The arrivals and departures at the Belgian 

 ports in 1862 were as follows: Arrivals, 3,629 

 vessels, of 694,800 tons ; of these there were 

 587 Belgian ships, of 71,490 tons; clearances, 

 3,644 vessels, of 696,773 tons, of which 588 

 were Belgian ships, having 72,450 tons. The 

 merchant marine, on Dec. 31, 1862, consisted 

 of 103 vessels, having 28,947 tons. 



The great majority of the Belgians profess 

 the Roman Catholic religion. The number of 

 Protestants is estimated at about 13,000, that 

 of the Jews at 2,000. The national treasury 

 pays a salary to the ministers of the acknowl- 



edged churches. Thus the Roman Catholics 

 received, in 1861, 3,628,130 francs; the Prot- 

 estants, 45,099 francs ; the Jews, 9,500 francs ; 

 and the Episcopal Church, 10,300 francs. The 

 Catholic Church has one Archbishop and five 

 Bishops ; the former receives an income of 

 21,000 francs, and each of the Bishops an in- 

 come of 14,700 francs. All the incomes of 

 the clergy are, however, largely increased by 

 the voluntary contributions of the communes. 

 There are 333 convents in Belgium, 42 for men 

 and 291 for women. Education, which was 

 compulsory under the care of the Dutch Gov- 

 ernment, has ceased to be so since 1830. In 

 the budget of 1864, the sum set down for pub- 

 lic education amounted to 4,500,000 francs. Of 

 the young men drawn by conscription in 1856 

 and 1859, there were 



The following interesting facts concerning 

 Belgium are taken from a report made by Mr. 

 Ban-on, the English Secretary of Lgeation at 

 Brussels : 



" The entire population of Belgium is nearly 

 five millions in round numbers ; the number to 

 the square mile is 425, and in East Flanders it 

 is TOO, while in England the population per 

 square mile is only 377, so that Belgium, in 

 proportion to its extent, has the largest popula- 

 tion of any country in Europe. The income 

 is nine millions and a half sterling, or less than 

 2 per head ; whereas the taxation in England 

 and "Wales is 2 18s. 4d. per head. Of the 

 nine millions and a half a considerable portion 

 accrues from national property, such as rail- 

 ways, canals, and crown lands, the amount 

 raised by taxation of all kinds being five mil- 

 lions and a half, or about 1 3s. Od. per head. 

 Fourteen years ago Belgium had a floating 

 debt of a million sterling ; but since then, says 

 the authority we are quoting, ' the debt has 

 gradually decreased and the balance increased, 

 so that in 1862 the floating debt had vanished, 

 and the balance amounted to upwards of four 

 millions.' The management of the funded debt, 

 we are assured, has been equally successful. In 

 this happy condition of things, the surplus rev- 

 enue over expenditure amounts to 360,000, 

 and this sum is devoted to various purposes of 

 internal improvement. In Belgium, taxation 

 is raised principally from three sources direct 

 taxes on property, trade, licenses, and customs 

 and excise duties." 



Mr. Barron shows that the indirect taxes on 

 salt, beer, sugar, wine, and spirits, furnish forty- 

 four per cent, of the revenue raised, and the 

 direct taxes on land and houses thirty-one per 

 cent. 



The most important event in the political 

 history of Belgium of the past year is th* elec- 

 tion of a new Chamber of Deputies, which was 

 held on the llth of August. The struggle 



