4 



BELGIUM. 



of UM General Association ! NYw Hampshire, 

 corporal* member of the A. H. I . F. M., a 

 trMUe of Kimball Union Academy, a trustee 

 and secretary of Kcene Academy until bi- 

 death, and prominent in all the educational and 

 religions movement* of the day. In 1866 and 

 1849 be wasa member of the Sew Hampshire 

 Legislature, and chaplain of that body. He 

 published many sermons, dissertations, and 

 aaaya, and was, till near the cloae of his long 

 H frequent contributor to religions and 

 theological reviews and periodical*. Dart- 

 mouth College conferred on him the degree of 

 li. I >. in 



BK1.GIUM, a kingdom of Europe. Leopold 

 II., King of the Belgians, was born April 

 , 1885 ; son of King Leopold I., former Duke 

 of Saxe-Coburg, and of Princess Louisa, daugh- 

 ter of King Louis Philippe of France ; ascended 

 the throne at the death of bis father, Decem- 

 ber 10, 1885; waa married August 22, 1868, 

 to Marie IK-nrivtte. daughter of the late Arch- 

 duke Joseph of Austria, born August 28, 1886. 

 Offspring of this nnion are three daughters: 

 1. Louise, born February 18, 1868. 2. Ste- 

 phanie, born May 21, 1864 ; CU'im-ntine, born 

 July 80, 1879. Heir-apparent is the brother 

 of the King, Philip, Count of Flanders, born 

 March 24, 1827, lieutenant-gem ml in the ser- 

 vice of Belgium; married April 26, 18C7, to 

 Princr<w Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringcn, 

 born November 17, 1846; offspring of the 

 union is a eon, Baldwin. The king has a civil 

 list of 8,800,000 francs. 



The area of this kingdom is 11.873 square 

 miles; population on January 1, 1871, accord- 

 ing to an official calculation, 6,087,106 ; at the 

 last census, in 1866, it was 4,827,888. About 

 64 per cent, of this population belong to the. 

 Flemish, and 44 per cent to the Walloon- 

 French nationality ; the former prevails in the 

 northern, the latter in the southern provinri -. 

 About two per cent of the entire population 

 ; to other 



nationalities. The population 

 of the large cities was, on January 1, 1871, as 

 follow* l 



MR 



u :.' 



Ooertnl 1B.1M 



4.067 



o-Suod*..... B.7W 

 S.4 



Nearly U* entire population professes the 

 Roman Catholic religion : tho number of 

 ProtesUnta i* only shout 18,000; the number 

 of Jews. 1,600. Part of the salary of d 

 e of all religions denominations li paid by 

 the state, the budget of 1870 appropriating 

 l.MVNMi francs (1 franc a hca.l) to Homnn 

 CMholir.; 69,000 franm (15 francsahca.li to 

 Prr4*UnU; and 11,880 francs (7* francs a 



' Fin,...:. I.,. 



head) to the Jews. At tin- head of the Catho- 

 iiirch are one Archbishop i.Maliiicsi. mid 

 five bishops (Bruges, Ghent, Liege, Xuinur, 

 and Tournsy). The number of secular priests 

 is about 6,070, the number of convents and re- 

 ligious bouses, 1,814, with 18,000 members 

 (2,991 male, 15,100 female). The Protestant 

 Evangelical Church, which is under a synod, 

 numbered, in 1872, 14 ministers; the Anglican 

 Church, H ; the Jews have a central synagogue 

 in Brussels; three branch synagogues of the 

 first class at Antwerp, Ghent, and Liege, and 

 two of the second class at Arlon and Namur. 



In 1880 the number of children attending 

 school was 298,000; in 1846, 489,000; iu 

 1866, 664.000; in 1869, 693,879 (302,869 male 

 and 290,610 female), or 11.7 per cent, of the 

 total population. The number of primary 

 schools was 6,641. There also were, at tho 

 end of the year 1869, 1,703 schools for adults, 

 nearly all established by different communi- 

 ties, by manufacturing corporations and pri- 

 vate individuals ; 92 secondary schools, sup- 

 ported by the state or by the commune i\\ ith 

 15,166 pupils in 1869), among which were 10 

 royal athenaeums, 68 secondary schools, sup- 

 ported by the clergy or by individuals ; 4 uni- 

 versitics ((ihent, Uece, Lou vain, and Brus- 

 sels the two former belong to the state. Lou- 

 vain is a Catholic, and Brussels a liberal insti- 

 tution), each with four faculties philosophy 

 and literature, mathematics and natural sci- 

 ence, law, medicine, to which, in Louvain, a 

 fifth faculty, theology, is added ; the aggn 

 number of* students was, in 1869, 1,898. of 

 technical schools there were, in 1869, 6 theo- 

 logical seminaries, 1 school of civil engineers 

 (connected with the University of Ghent); 1 

 mining school (connected with the University 

 of Liege), 2 schools of art and manufactures, 

 connected with tho same universities, 1 com- 

 mercial school at Antwerp, 1 agricultural 

 institute at Gemblonx, 1. academy of fine arts, 

 1 military and 1 war school t Brussels, 26 

 schools of industry, 2 of horticulture, 2 of 

 navigation, 2 conservatories of music. From 

 tin- official report on the illiteracy of the mili- 

 tiamen, it appears that, in'18G9, 24.8 per cent, 

 of tho militiamen were unable to read and 

 write; in 1805 the percentage was 29.4; in 

 1864, 29.0; for 1870 the sum paid by the state 

 for public education amounted to 6,800,000 

 francs. Hitherto French, though the language 

 of the minority, has maintained supremacy 

 as tho language of instruction, but a strong 

 party is endeavoring to gain n more prominent 

 ion for the Flemish language. Their aim 

 is to have more hours of instruction in Flemish, 

 and to make it an obligatory study, while hith- 

 erto it has only been optional. It. is likewise 

 demanded that a knowledge of this language 

 fihnll he a <|tia]itication for holding public offices, 

 and for professorships in superior and pro- 

 fessional schools. 



The ministry in 1873 was composed of the 

 following seven members, all belonging to the 



