70 



BELGIUM. 



Nearly the entire population of Belgium is 

 nominally connected with the Roman Catholic 

 Church, at the head of which are the Archbish- 

 op of Malines, and five bishops. The other ec- 

 clesiastical benefices consisted, December 31, 

 1874, of 184 deaneries, 230 cures (parishes of 

 the first class), 2,779 suecursales (parishes of 

 the second class), 180 chapels, 1,839 vicariates, 

 114 coadjutors, 26 annexes, 695 oratories and 

 chapels of hospitals, colleges, etc. The num- 

 ber of religious communities of men, in 1866, 

 was 178, with 2,991 inmates ; that of religious 

 communities of women, 1,144, with 15,205 in- 

 mates. The number of mutual-aid societies rec- 

 ognized by the state was, in 1873, 117; their 

 aggregate revenue, 207,918 francs ; expendi- 

 tures, 194,923 francs; capital, December 31, 

 1873, 612,882 francs ; number of mutual-aid so- 

 cieties not recognized by the state, 89 ; receipts, 

 447,309 francs ; expenses, 403,785 francs; capi- 

 tal on December 31, 1873, 480,110 francs. The 

 number of saving-societies for buying winter 

 provisions recognized by the state was four ; 

 expenditures, 28,806 francs; capital on De- 

 cember 31, 1873, 13,879 francs. The number 

 of saving-societies not recognized by the state 

 was eight; expenditures, 86,019 francs; capital 

 on December 31, 1873, 3,340 francs. 



The receipts and expenditures for 1873 were 

 as follows : 



RECEIPTS. 



I. Ordinary Receipts : Franct. 



1. Taxes 142,738,895 



2. Tolls 7,596,197 



8. Stocks and Rentes 74,718,153 



4. Reimbursements 1,978,428 



5. Extraordinary resources applied to the 



general needs of the state 973,203 



II. Special Receipts 118,084,446 



Total receipts 841,088,822 



EXPENDITURES. 



I. Ordinary Expenditures: 



1. Public debt 47,061,392 



2. Dotations 4,455,257 



8. Justice 15,860,895 



4. Foreign Affairs 1,608,488 



5. Interior 16,369,412 



6. Public Works 75,175,858 



7. War 89,866.076 



8. Finances 15,572,812 



9. Outstanding debts and reimburse- 



ments 1,286,622 



II. Extraordinary Expenditures 139,141,616 



Total expenditures 850,898,878 



Deficit 9,809,556 



The public debt at the close of 1874 was as 

 follows : 



LOANS. Francs. 



Two and one-half per cents 219,959,632 



Four and one-half per cents : 



1st series, conversion of 1844 65,864,182 



2d series, emission of 1844 67,488,000 



3d series (1853) 141,284,900 



4th series (1857 and 1860) 65,846.400 



5th series (1865) 68,581,000 



6th series (1867, 1869, 1870, 1871) 77,578,200 



Four per cents (1871) 50,608,800 



Three per cents (1873) 248,250,000 



Floating debt 814,585,000 



Total 994,541,114 



The standing army is formed by conscription, 

 to which every able-bodied man who has com- 



pleted his nineteenth year is liable. Substi- 

 tution is allowed. The legal term of service 

 is eight years, but two-thirds of this time are 

 generally spent on furlough. The strength of 

 the army is to be 100,000 men on the war foot- 

 ing, and 40,000 in times of peace. In 1874 the 

 army was composed as follows: 



Infantry . . 

 Oavalry . . . 

 Artillery . . 

 Engineers . 



Total. 



21,954 

 4,807 

 6,522 



34,216 



57,365 



Total. 



66.335 

 9,174 



13,908 

 2,164 



91,581 



The civic militia or National Guard numbers 

 125,000 men without and 400,000 with the re- 

 serve. Its duty is to preserve liberty and order 

 in times of peace, and the independence of the 

 country in times of war. A royal decree, dated 

 October 20, 1874, divided the kingdom into 

 two military circumscriptions, one embracing 

 the provinces of Antwerp and West and East 

 Flanders, and the second the others. 



The imports in 1873 amounted to 1,422,- 

 700,000 and the exports to 1,158,600,000 francs. 

 (For a detailed statement of the commerce 

 with each country, see ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA 

 for 1875.) The commercial navy in 1873 was 

 composed of 69 sailing-vessels with 46,439 

 tons, and 28 steamers with 30,005 tons. 



The aggregate length of the railroads in op- 

 eration on December 31, 1874, was 3,370 kilo- 

 metres (1 kilometre = 0.62 mile), of which 

 664 were state railroads, and 2,706 belonged 

 to private companies. The aggregate length 

 of the lines of electric telegraph was, in 1872, 

 4,430 miles; that of wires, 15,802; the num- 

 ber of telegraph-offices was, in 1871, 478 ; the 

 number of telegrams sent in 1874 was 2,750,- 

 223, of which 1,849,973 were inland, 693,506 

 foreign, and 206,744 transit telegrams. 



On March 22d the House passed the bill of 

 the Minister of Finance, by which the 12,000,- 

 000 francs which the state owed the Kailroad 

 Building Association were to be paid immedi- 

 ately instead of the time agreed upon. The 

 purpose of the bill was to assist the Bank of 

 Belgium, which had lost heavily by the defal- 

 cation of its cashier, the bank being a creditor 

 of the association. 



On April 8th the new law respecting aca- 

 demic degrees was passed by a vote of 78 to 26, 

 all the Catholics and 19 Liberals voting for it, 

 while 26 Liberals voted against it, and two did 

 not vote. This law provides that in future 

 the universities shall confer the degrees upon 

 their own judgment, while the state will only 

 guarantee their legality after an examination 

 by a special commission. The state, however, 

 reserves the right to subject to a special ex- 

 amination all persons who desire to obtain a 

 government office. The winter session of the 

 Chambers began on November 14th. In the 

 Chamber of Deputies M. Bara brought up the 

 election riots, which had occurred in several 



