90 



BELGIUM. 



tives, M. Berge, addressed an interpellation to 

 the Minister of Foreign Affairs concerning a 

 note which the Belgian Government was re- 

 ported to have received from the Government 

 of Germany on account of the anti-German 

 spirit of the ultramontane press of Belgium 

 and the attitude of the Catholic priesthood. 

 M. Berge deplored the violent language used 

 by some papers against Germany, but insisted 

 that the Belgian constitution guaranteed free- 

 dom of the press, and that the Government 

 could not be held responsible for the language 

 of newspapers. The minister, in reply, stated 

 that no note on the subject under discussion 

 had been received from Germany, but took oc- 

 casion to recommend to the Belgian papers 

 to observe a moderate and impartial attitude 

 with regard to foreign affairs, in order that the 

 friendly relations now existing between Bel- 

 gium and all foreign powers might be strength- 

 ened. 



Toward the close of the session, in May, the 

 Liberal members, especially the former minis- 

 ter, Frere-Orban, made a violent attack upon 

 the Minister of Finance, M. Malou. He en- 

 deavored to prove that the financial adminis- 

 tration of the ultramontane ministers had al- 

 ways been injurious to the country, and in 

 support of his assertion gave the following offi- 

 cial figures: front 1841 to 1847 (ultramontane 

 ministry), excess of expenditure, 36,584,000 fr. ; 

 from 1848 to 1854 (liberal ministry), excess of 

 revenue, 38,584,000 fr.; from 1855 to 1857 

 (ultramontane ministry), excess of expendi- 

 ture, 3,059,000 fr. ; from 1858 to 1869 (liberal 

 ministry), excess of revenue, 34,803,000 fr. 

 From 1870 to 1873 (ultramontane ministry), 

 probable excess pf expenditure, 29,292,000 fr. 

 Besides, the public debt had been increased 

 since 1870 by 338,000,000 fr. The minister, in 

 defense of his administration, stated, that the 

 ordinary budget from 1871 to 1873 showed an 

 excess of expenditure ; and that the excess of 

 expenditure over revenue in the extraordinary 

 budget, as well as the increase of the public 

 debt, was solely caused by the large number 

 of public works undertaken by the Govern- 

 ment. 



The results of the elections held in June for 

 the two Chambers of the Belgian Legislature 

 were in so far favorable to the Liberals, that the 

 Catholic party lost a few seats in the Senate as 

 well as in the House of Representatives. The loss 

 was, however, not sufficiently large to change 

 the complexion of either of the Chambers, or to 

 endanger the continuance of the Catholic min- 

 istry. The new. Senate had a Catholic majori- 

 ty of four, and the Chamber of Representatives 

 of fourteen. The defeat most keenly felt was 

 that of the Minister of Public Works, Beer- 

 naarts, who, in Soignies, had to give way -to 

 a Liberal candidate. (He was subsequently 

 chosen at a supplementary election.) Other 

 places, where the Liberals defeated the candi- 

 dates of the Catholic party, were Verviers, 

 Thuin, and Charleroi. On the other hand, 



however, the Catholic party defeated the Lib- 

 erals in one of the largest cities of the king- 

 dom, Ghent, where the excitement ran very 

 high, and as many as ninety-five per cent, of 

 the inscribed voters took part in the election. 

 As in former years, the Liberal party main- 

 tained its ascendency in the Walloon, and the 

 Catholic party in the Flemish districts. 



In compliance with an invitation from the 

 Russian Government, an International Con- 

 gress, composed of representatives of all the 

 governments of Europe, met at Brussels on 

 July 27th, to discuss a number of questions re- 

 lating to warfare. On the proposal of one of 

 the members, the Congress decided that abso- 

 lute secrecy should be observed respecting its 

 proceedings. The presidency of the Congress 

 was offered to the Belgian Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, and, on his declining to accept it, Baron 

 Jomini, the Russian delegate, was nominated 

 president. M. Borchgrave, of the ministry of 

 Foreign Affairs, was appointed secretary to 

 the Congress. The Congress was closed on Au- 

 gust 28th, when the protocols were signed by 

 all the delegates except those sent by England 

 and Turkey. It appears from the protocols, 

 that most of the sections were agreed to with 

 but slight modifications. At the second sitting, 

 Baron Lambermont declared that, if Belgium 

 were invaded, she would resist to the last ex- 

 tremity, and thus, he said, he would vote -for 

 no resolution which might tend to diminish 

 the means of national defense, or restrain the 

 citizens in their duty toward their country. 

 Subsequently, Sir A. Horsford, the British del- 

 egate, read an abstract from his instructions, 

 ordering him to abstain from discussing any 

 point that would concern such general princi- 

 ples of international law as are not yet uni- 

 versally recognized and accepted ; and Baron 

 Jomini, on the part of Russia, said he would 

 not consent to restrain in any way the right 

 of self-defense. With regard to the military 

 authority on an enemy's territory, the Russian 

 scheme proposed that an army occupying an 

 enemy's country might insist on the public offi- 

 cials continuing to exercise their functions un- 

 der its control, and also on their taking an 

 oath. This proposal was considered by the 

 committee on August 12th, and, finding no sup- 

 port, was superseded by a clause providing that 

 functionaries invited and consenting to con- 

 tinue in office should enjoy the protection of 

 an invader, and should not be removed unless 

 they violated the obligations they had under- 

 taken. The scheme also proposed, that the 

 army of occupation should have the right of 

 collecting taxes already existing. General 

 Voigts-Rhetz, one of the German delegates, 

 suggested that, in case of inability to collect 

 existing taxes, equivalent imposts might be 

 raised, and that the army might suspend some 

 taxes and impose others. After some discus- 

 sion, the committee adopted, subject to fur- 

 ther consideration of its terms, a clause em- 

 powering the levy of existing taxes and the 



