82 



BELGIUM. 



vested in Belgian coal and iron works has 

 yielded, it is calculated, not over 2 per cent, 

 per annum during the past ten years.^ In 1885 

 there was a great strike in the Borinage, and 

 the miners brought their grievances forward 

 pacifically, but nothing was done. The coal- 

 trade was generally believed by the miners to 

 be more prosperous than usual, but a steady 

 reduction of wages had been enforced. The 

 first alarm was created on March 18, at Liege, 

 by an anarchist meeting, which was called to 

 celebrate the anniversary of the Paris Com- 

 mune. The meeting was orderly, but when 

 the audience left the hall they were attacked 

 by armed police, their flags destroyed, and the 

 people roughly handled. The miners, incited 

 by one Wagener, of Herstal, then began to de- 

 stroy property and plunder shops and hotels. 

 A number of the rioters were arrested, among 

 them the leader. The disturbance took the 

 form of a general strike among the miners in 

 the Liege district, and soon extended to the 

 surrounding districts. Strikes against reduc- 

 tions of wages were the ostensible cause of 

 the riots, but the discontented workmen began 

 to attack property and capital in every direc- 

 tion. All work was stopped throughout the 

 districts of Li6ge, Charleroi, and Mons, and 

 manufactories of all kinds, especially glass- 

 works and iron-works, were attacked by the 

 rioters, and in many cases destroyed ; villages 

 were plundered, and many country-houses 

 were pillaged. The civic guard was called out, 

 and stationed at points threatened by the 

 strikers. Collisions between the rioters and 

 troops were frequent, and many lives were sac- 

 rificed. The Sariemont colliery was attacked 

 by 300 rioters, who were fired upon by the 

 troops, with a loss to the former of fourteen 

 killed and wounded. In attempting to stop 

 the work of the mines at Carnieres and Res- 

 saix, the rioters were again fired upon, after 

 having been ordered to disperse, and three 

 men were killed and fourteen wounded. For 

 several days the strike gained headway in Li6ge 

 Charleroi, Tournai, Mons, and the neighbor- 

 ing districts, and great damage was done to 

 private property. Toward the end of March 

 the former rates of wages were restored in the 

 mines, and the striking miners returned to 

 work. During the strikes over fifty men were 

 killed or wounded, and property of the value 

 of millions of francs destroyed. At Gosselies 

 a large glass-factory was burned, and five man- 

 sions destroyed. The glass-works were a 

 model establishment, employing 950 men. 

 They were defended by 32 lancers, who were 

 soon routed by the mob armed with stones. 



By the 26th of March the general strike be- 

 gan in the industrial district of Charleroi, the 

 seat of the Belgian glass industry. At Lodelin- 

 sart three glass- factories were destroyed. Coal- 

 mines, glass-works, rolling-mills, and foundries 

 in various localities were forcibly closed by 

 rioters. At Acoz gendarmes charged into a 

 crowd and wounded several persons. At Cha- 



teaulineau there was a collision with troops, 

 and many were hurt on both sides. The sol- 

 diers in some cases refused to use their weap- 

 ons against the people, and there were several 

 trials of privates and non-commissioned offi- 

 cers for insubordination. The glass-works at 

 Jumet, and several country-houses in the neigh- 

 borhood of Ligny, Fleurus, and Chassart, were 

 burned on March 27. Other important glass- 

 works and two convents were set on fire. At 

 Roux seven men were killed and eight wound- 

 ed. The army reserves were called out, and a 

 large military force concentrated at Charleroi. 

 A body of strikers who attempted to enter the 

 town were fired upon, and some of them killed. 

 Ball-cartridges only were served out to the 

 troops. A state of siege in the districts affect- 

 ed by the strikes was proclaimed on March 

 28. The production of window-glass had out- 

 stripped the demand, and caused the Belgian 

 manufacturers to reduce their output to one 

 third less than in 1885. Many men were thus 

 thrown out of employment, while the wages of 

 the rest were reduced 10 per cent, or more. 

 The overproduction in Belgium was traceable 

 to improvements, notably the great tank-fur- 

 naces, invented by Siemens, adopted by a few 

 of the large manufacturers. The Belgian glass- 

 blowers, whose difficult and exhausting trade 

 was handed down from father to son, consid- 

 ered that these large capitalists, who, besides 

 displacing men by mechanical improvements, 

 sought cheaper labor among the peasantry, had 

 robbed them of their occupation, in which, ow- 

 ing to the superiority of Belgian glass, they 

 would otherwise be able to compete with all 

 the world. The smaller manufacturers, who 

 were fast being driven out of business, held the 

 same belief. This was the cause of the acts of 

 incendiarism committed by the infuriated work- 

 men, who burned the great factories in the 

 hope of bringing back the old conditions. 



At Brussels there were meetings at which 

 the police and the Government were denounced 

 for the course they had taken, and when the 

 police interfered the crowd attempted to make 

 a demonstration before the Royal Palace, but 

 were violently dispersed by the police. The 

 radical press argued that such disturbances 

 could not occur if the workingmen possessed 

 the right of suffrage and representation of their 

 interests in the legislature. Some newspapers 

 proposed that the Government should purchase 

 the coal-mines. The leading Clerical organ 

 said that the social question must thenceforth 

 take precedence of political questions. On the 

 1st of April there were 15,000 men on strike 

 in the Charleroi district and many thousands 

 elsewhere, but in the Liege district and other 

 places where the troubles first broke out, com- 

 parative quiet prevailed when the disturbances 

 began around Charleroi and Mons, and the 

 men were now returning to work, having ob- 

 tained concessions. 



With 12,000 troops in the Charleroi district, 

 disorders were easily checked, and on April 



