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BELGIUM. 



Augusta Moore, (1859) ; " Pulpit Pungencies " 

 (1866); "Royal Truths" (Boston, 1866), re- 

 printed from a series of extracts prepared in 

 England without his knowledge ; " Prayers 

 from Plymouth Pulpit" (New York, 1867); 

 " Sermons by Henry Ward Beecher : Selected 

 from Published and Unpublished Discourses," 

 edited by Lyman Abbott (2 volumes, 1868) ; 

 " Morning and Evening Devotional Exercises," 

 edited by Lyman Abbott (1870) ; and " Com- 

 forting Thoughts " (1884), by Irene Ovington. 



BELGIUM, a constitutional monarchy in West- 

 ern Europe. The Legislature is composed of a 

 Senate and a House of Representatives. The 

 Chambers meet annually in November, and sit 

 for at least forty days. The members of both 

 Chambers are elected under a property qualifi- 

 cation, which excludes twelve thirteenths of 

 the citizens from the voting franchise. The 

 House is composed of 138 members, elected for 

 four years; the Senate of half that number, 

 elected for eight years. The present ministry 

 was appointed on Oct. 26, 1884, and is com- 

 posed as follows : President of the Council and 

 Minister of Finance, A. Beernaert; Minister of 

 Justice, J. Devolder; Minister of the Interior 

 and of Instruction, J. Thonissen; Minister of 

 War, Gen. 0. Pontus; Minister of Railways, 

 Posts, and Telegraphs, J. H. P. Vandenpeere- 

 boom; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince de 

 Chimay; Minister of Agriculture, Industry, 

 and Public Works, Chevalier A. de Morean. 



Area and Population. The area of the king- 

 dom is 11,373 square miles. The population 

 on Dec. 31, 1885, was estimated at 5,853,278 

 persons, of whom 2,923,902 were males and 

 2,929,376 females. The population of the prin- 

 cipal cities at that date was as follows: Brus- 

 sels, with suburbs, 416,659; Antwerp, 198,174; 

 Ghent, 143,242; Liege, 135,371. The number 

 of births in 1885 was 175,043; of deaths, 117,- 

 775; of marriages, 39,910; increase of popula- 

 tion, 57,268. The net immigration during the 

 year was 5,075. 



The Army. The army is recruited by con- 

 scriplion -and voluntary enlistment. Every 

 Belgian of the age of twenty is liable to serv- 

 ice, but substitution is allowed. The legal 

 period of service is eight years, but the men 

 are not usually required to serve more than a 

 third of that time. The peace effective pro- 

 vided for in the budget of 1887 is as follows : 



The war strength of the army is 103,860 offi- 

 cers and men, 13,800 horses, and 240 guns. 

 There is besides a civic guard, which in 1885 

 numbered 34,597 men, and the gendarmerie, 

 consisting of 2,084 men with 1,379 horses. 



Fortification of the Valley of the Meuse. During 



the war panic in the early part of 1887, when 

 it seemed probable that war would break out 

 before long between France and Germany, the 

 old question of frontier fortifications became 

 an urgent one. Strong hints were received 

 from England, when the sentiments of that 

 country were probed in regard to defending 

 the neutrality of Belgium, that the Belgians 

 could not look for military assistance from 

 that quarter, notwithstanding the international 

 guarantee of the treaty of 1839. The ministry 

 determined on fortifying the Meuse valley and 

 increasing the army. A committee of the 

 Chamber found Gens. Brialmont, Inspector- 

 General of Fortresses, Nicaisse, Inspector- Gen- 

 eral of Artillery, Wouvermans, in charge of the 

 works at Antwerp, Vandersmissen, Commander 

 of the First Military Circumscription, and nine 

 other general officers who were consulted, nil 

 in favor of a first line of fortifications in the 

 valley of the Meuse. The Catholic majority 

 opposed augmenting the army by the introduc- 

 tion of universal obligatory military service. 

 Military authorities were found who asserted 

 that the army was sufficiently numerous to man 

 the new forts, proposed in the plan of Gen. 

 Brialmont, and the central citadel at Antwerp 

 with its chain of outlying forts, and still leave 

 a considerable force to maneuver in the field. 

 M. Frere-Orban, supported by other military 

 experts, opposed, not the principle, but the ex- 

 pediency of the projected fortifications, and 

 insisted on the importance of maintaining a 

 large field army. The Government did not 

 abandon the idea of a central fortress for the 

 army to fall back upon, as provided in the plan 

 of 1857, but proposed to strengthen the works 

 in and around Antwerp. The fortification proj- 

 ect was adopted by the Chamber on June 14 

 by a vote of 81 to 42. The forts will be able 

 to resist the new explosives. Their cost was 

 originally -estimated at 24,000.000 francs, but 

 it will exceed that figure. To arm and pro- 

 vision them will cost 5,500,000 francs. It was 

 also decided to provide the infantry with a 

 new riHe at an expense of 11,000,000 francs; 

 also to complete the outlying defenses of Ant- 

 werp, consisting of a line of forts extending to 

 the Nethe River on one side and to the Senne 

 on the other, which will be a work of four 

 years. The Meuse fortifications were begun, 

 under the direction of Col. Kebers, on August 

 15, but are hardly expected to be in condition 

 for effective defensive operations before the 

 summer of 1889. Six large and six small forts 

 are to be built at Liege, and five large and four 

 small ones at Namur, while Huy is to be made 

 a fortified post. The plan for the disposition 

 of the available military forces is as follows: 

 army of campaign, 67,732 men; Antwerp gar- 

 rison, with a flying column 12,000 strcfne, 35,- 

 785 ; at Termonde, 4,796 ; at Diest, 2,594 ; at 

 Liege, 6,997; at Namur, 5,124; at Huy, 541; 

 depot troops and territorial gendarmerie, 5,422 ; 

 total, 129,191 men. The ministry claim that 

 they can mobilize 100,000 troops in the first 



