BELGIUM. 



57 



Austria, (iront Britain, Prussia, and Russia, on 

 N'nv. !.", 1S;U. The reigning sovereign i> [.><>- 

 jxild II. horn April 9, 1N:{,">, who succeeded his 

 father, Leopold I, the first King, on Dec. 10, 

 ISIM. Tin- order of succession is in the direct 

 male line. The heir-presumptive is Prince 

 Alln-rt, lioni April 8, 1875, the sole surviving 

 sou of the Kind's only In-other Philippe, Count 

 of Flanders. The legislative power is vested 

 in the Senate and Chamber of Representa- 

 tives, both elective bodies. The Chambers 

 meet annually in November, and must sit at 

 least forty days. The King may dissolve one or 

 both ; in such case elections must be held within 

 forty days, and the new Parliament assemble 

 witnin sixt\ days. The members of the Senate 

 and of the Chamber of Representatives, accord- 

 ing to the law in force at the beginning of 1892, 

 were chosen by the direct suffrage of all male 

 citizens twenty-one years of age who paid 40 

 francs a year in direct taxes. The number of 

 voters on the registers in 1890 was 133,039, being 

 about 1 to 45 legal citizens. The Chamber in 

 1891 had 138 members. The Representatives 

 are elected for four years, half going out every 

 two years. The Senators are half as many, and 

 their term is eight years, half being renewed 

 every four years. 



The Ministry, constituted on Oct. 26, 1884, 

 which was still in office in 1893, was composed 

 of the following members: President of the 

 Council and Minister of Finance, A. Beernaert; 

 Minister of Justice, J. Lejeune; Minister of the 

 Interior and of Public Instruction, J. de Bur- 

 let ; Minister of War, Gen. C. Pontus ; Minister 

 of Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs, J. II. P. 

 Vandenpeereboom ; Minister of Foreign Affairs, 

 Prince de Chimay: Minister of Agriculture, In- 

 dustry, and Public Works, L. Debruyn. 



Area and Population. The area of Belgium 

 is 29.455 square kilometres, equal to 11,373 square 

 miles. The area and population of the nine 

 provinces at the census of Dec. 31, 1890, and the 

 density of population, were as follows : 



There were 3,062.656 males and 3.084.385 fe- 

 males. Of the total population, 22(i.?~>!) males 

 and 17.549 females (244.308 in all) were employed 

 in mining and metallurgical industries; 199,333 

 males and 87,411 females in agriculture and gar- 

 dening. 1.2.'5(i,744 altogether: 40,401 males and 

 2 l.~>'.i."> females in the raising of animals, 64,996 

 altogether: 227,553 males and 179,346 females, 

 406,899 altogether, in miscellaneous industrial 

 occupations; 143.229 males and 101,018 females, 

 244.247 altogether, in commercial pursuits ; 457,- 

 010 males and 192,114 females in professional 

 and official occupations, 649,160 in all ; 504.584 

 males and 409,257 females were in various other 



occupations, or independent, 913,841 in all; and 

 1,010,072 males and 1,824,913 females were with- 

 out profession or status. 



The number of marriages in 1890 was 44,596 : 

 the number of births, 176.595, not including 

 stillborn ; the number of deaths, 126,545 ; ex- 

 cess of births over deaths, 50.050. The number 

 of emigrants in 1890 was 21,675, which was 217 

 more than the number of immigrants. 



The Army. The standing army is raised 

 partly by conscription, substitution being per- 

 mitted, and partly by enlistment. The annual 

 recruit is 13,300 'men. The nominal term of 

 service is eight years, but the actual period is 

 less than three years. The strength of the army 

 on the peace footing is as follows: Infantry, 1.- 

 880 officers and 25,515 men ; cavalry, 348 officers 

 and 5,309 men ; artillery, 447 officers and 7,507 

 men ; engineers, 96 officers and 1,449 men ; gen- 

 darmerie, 61 officers and 2,385 men ; staff, train, 

 administrative services, etc., 556 officers and 2,- 

 158 men : total, 3,388 officers and 44.323 men. 

 The number of guns in peace is 200, and the 

 number of horses is 7,200, besides 1,623 for the 

 gendarmerie. The war strength is 154,780 men, 

 with 240 guns and 14,000 horses. In addition to 

 the regular army a garde civiqiie is organized, 

 which numbered 44,339 men in 1890. Gen. 

 Brialmont in June, 1892, was succeeded as head 

 of the engineers by Gen. Lienart, and Gen. lleu- 

 rard was appointed inspector of artillery, in 

 place of Gen. Nicaisse. The two military cir- 

 cumscriptions were converted into four, with 

 headquarters at Ghent, Antwerp, Liege, and 

 Brussels. A special general staff was appointed 

 to put the fortifications of Liege, Nainur, and 

 Antwerp in a state of defense^ 



Finances. The total ordinary revenue of the 

 Government is set down in the budget for 1892 

 as 342,546,190 francs, of which 24.496,000 francs 

 are derived from property taxes, 18,915,000 francs 

 from personal taxes, 6,680.000 francs from trade 

 licences, 1.600,000 francs from mines, 23,483,056 

 francs from customs, 41,420,235 francs from in- 

 ternal revenue duties, 24,400,000 francs from 

 succession duties, 18.510.000 francs from regis- 

 tration duties, 6,000000 francs from stamps, 1,- 

 481,000 francs from other indirect taxes, 138,- 

 000,000 francs from railroads, 4,100,000 francs 

 from telegraphs. 10,620,200 francs from the post 

 office, 2,605,000 francs from navigation dues and 

 pilotage, 1,280,000 francs from domains and for- 

 ests, 15.415,200 francs from the amortization 

 fund and securities and from the National Bank, 

 and :>..">40,000 francs from repayments. 



The total ordinal- v expenditure is estimated at 

 339,502,685 francs, divided as follows: Interest 

 on the debt and sinking-fund charge, 103.221,- 

 797 francs; civil list and dotations, 4,576.100 

 francs; Ministry of Justice, 17,293,135 francs; 

 Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 2.496,363 francs; 

 Ministry of the Interior and Public Instruction, 

 23.216,997 francs : Ministry of Public Works, 1 7.- 

 088,428 francs : M inist ry of Railroads, Posts, and 

 Telegraphs, 103.3 17.02*' francs : Ministry of War, 

 |ii.!M;<>.:>S2 francs; Ministry of Finance, 15,539,- 

 200 francs ; gendarmerie, "4,264,500 francs ; re- 

 payments, 1.528.500 francs. 



The funded debt in 1892 amounted to 2,053,- 

 560.000 francs, and the floating liabilities to 20.- 

 000.000 francs, besides which there were annui- 



