68 



BELGIUM. 



December 31, 1866, was 4,829,320; and on 

 December 31, 1867, was estimated at 4,897,794. 

 According to an official statement of July 1, 

 1868, there were at that time, in Belgium, 

 4,928,814 Roman Catholics, 8,193 Protestants, 

 1,522 Jews, and 1,844 connected with other 

 ecclesiastical denominations. The Catholic 

 clergy received from the state, on salaries, 

 3,800,000 francs. The Protestant (inclusive of 

 the Anglican), 60,000 francs, and the Eabbis 

 25,000 francs. As regards nationality, the 

 Flemish part of the population in the northern 

 provinces is estimated at 58 per cent, of the 

 total population; and the Walloon, in the 

 southern provinces, at 42 per cent. In the 

 eastern districts of the provinces of Luxem- 

 burg and Liege there are about 30,000 Ger- 

 mans. 



The ministry* remained during the year 

 without change. The budget for 1869, as 

 approved by the Chambers, fixed the revenue 

 at 174,691,700 francs, and the expenditure at 

 176,163,041 francs. 



The exports and imports of Belgium, in 

 1866 and 1867 were as follows (value in mil- 

 lions of francs) : 



The Belgian Government and Chambers 

 placed an interdict npon the transfer of the 

 "Great Luxemburg Railway" to the "Eastern 

 Company " of France. Considering the part 

 which railways now play in warlike opera- 

 tions, and the geographical situation of the 

 Luxemburg line, the Belgians discovered in 

 the proposed transfer a possible menace to 

 their independence. Besides, by a recent 

 decree, all French railways are placed under 

 the direct control of the Minister of War, and, 

 if the Eastern Company had been allowed to 

 buy up the Luxemburg Railway, the result 

 would have been to give the French War 

 Office authority over an important branch of 

 the international communications of Belgium. 

 In putting a veto on this bargain, the Belgian 

 Parliament only availed itself of a discretion- 

 ary power which is both claimed and exercised 

 by the governing power of every other state in 

 Europe. The negotiations relative to this 

 matter resulted in a triumph for Belgium, the 

 French Government being obliged to with- 

 draw its pretensions. The contracting parties 

 agreed that the Great Eastern of France and 

 the Luxemburg of Belgium might conclude 

 conventions for traffic with each other. The 

 Eastern Railway may henceforward run 



* See the namea of the ministers in the AHEBICAN AN- 

 KXTAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1868. 



through-trains between Antwerp and Basle, 

 the management of which, while upon Belgian 

 territory, will be in the sole charge of Belgian 

 railway officers. Reductions in the tariff may 

 be made between stations in France and 

 stations in Belgium, provided that such re- 

 ductions are not inconsistent with the tariff of 

 the Belgian line. No reduction is to take 

 place in the rates between Switzerland and 

 Holland, which might induce Swiss shippers 

 to send their goods to Dutch ports rather than 

 to those of Belgium. 



The following convention was agreed upon 

 between the United States and Belgium, on 

 the subject of naturalization, and signed at 

 Brussels, November 16, 1868 : 



The President of the United States of America and 

 his Majesty the King of the Belgians, led by the 

 wish to regulate the citizenship of those persons who 

 emigrate from the United States of America to Bel- 

 gium and from Belgium to the United States of 

 America, have resolved to make a convention on 

 this subject, and have appointed for their plenipoten- 

 tiaries, namely : The President of the United States 

 of America, Henry Shelton Sanford, a citizen of the 

 United States, their minister resident near his 

 Majesty the King of the Belgians ; and his Majesty 

 the King of the Belgians, the Sieur Jules Vander 

 Stichelen, Grand Cross of the Order of the Dutch 

 Lion, etc., his Minister of Foreign Afiairs; who, 

 after having communicated to each other their full 

 powers, found to be in good and proper form, have 

 agreed upon the following articles : 



ARTICLE 1. Citizens of the United States who may 

 or shall have been naturalized in Belgium will be 

 considered by the United States as citizens of Bel- 

 gium. Reciprocally, Belgians who may or shall 

 nave been naturalized in the United States will be 

 considered by Belgium as citizens of the United 

 States. 



ART. 2. Citizens of either contracting party, in case 

 of their return to their original country, can be pros- 

 ecuted there for crimes or misdemeanors committed 

 before naturalization, saving to them such limita- 

 tions as are established by tne laws of their original 

 country. 



ART. 3. Naturalized citizens of either contracting 

 party, who shall have resided five years in the 

 country which has naturalized them ; cannot be held 

 to the obligation of military service in their original 

 country or to incidental obligation resulting there- 

 from in the event of their return to it, except in cases 

 of desertion from organized and embodied military 

 or naval service, or those that may be assimilated 

 thereto by the laws of that country. 



ART. 4. Citizens of the United States naturalized 

 in Belgium shall be considered by Belgium as citi- 

 zens of the United States when they shall have 

 recovered their character as citizens of the United 

 States, according to the laws of the United States. 

 Eeciprocally, Belgians naturalized in the United 

 States shall be considered as Belgians by the United 

 States when they shall have recovered their charac- 

 ter as Belgians, according to the laws of Belgium. 



ART. 5. The present convention shall enter into t 

 execution immediately after the exchange of ratifica- 

 tions, and shall remain in force for ten years. If at the 

 expiration of that period neither of the contracting par- 

 ties shall have given notice six months in advance of 

 its intention to terminate the same, it shall continue 

 in force until the end of twelve months after one of 

 the contracting parties shall have given notice to the 

 other of such intention. 



ART. 6. The present convention shall be ratified by 

 the President of the United States, by and with the 

 advice and consent of the Senate, and by his Majesty 



