BELGIUM. 



75 



tion obtained from the free city of Hamburg. 

 The members of the churches are composed 

 chiefly of persons of the laboring classes, and 

 the churches are not recognized by the govern- 

 ments of the German states. The conference 

 was attended by about 275 delegates. The re- 

 ports showed that the past three years had 

 been more fruitful than any similar period in 

 the history of the Bund. A net increase was 

 returned of 2,821 members, there having been 

 5,518 additions by baptism against 2,694 losses. 

 The present number of members in Germany 

 was 24,021, and the whole number in all the 

 Union was 29,556. The number of churches 

 had increased from 124 to 149, the number of 

 preachers and helpers from 200 to 300, and the 

 number of pupils in Sunday schools from 18,452 

 to 21,524. Twenty-five chapels and churches 

 had been built, 15 of which were in Germany. 

 The publishing interests were in a prosperous 

 condition. A debt of nearly $4,000 had been paid 

 within the past three years, and about $2,000 

 from the profits had been given to the sick fund 

 and to the support of the work of colporteurs. 

 The publishing house, which was established at 

 Hamburg in 1828, had at last reached a self- 

 supporting basis, and was able to give from its 

 profits to missionary work. Seven periodicals 

 were published ; 127,000 copies of a religious 

 almanac had been printed ; 61 books had been 

 issued, with total editions of 382,635 volumes ; 

 and 132,549 Bibles and Testaments had been 

 printed. The establishment still occupied rented 

 quarters. About half of the sum required to 

 build a house of its own had been collected. 

 The conference decided that when a publication 

 house is built it shall be in some more central 

 oity than Hamburg ; and a committee was ap- 

 pointed to consider the question of location, and 

 report to a future meeting of the conference. 



BELGIUM, a monarchy in western Eu- 

 rope, hereditary in the male line of the house of 

 Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.' The Constitution of Feb. 

 7, 1831, was revised on Sept. 7, 1893. The Sen- 

 ate contains half the number of the House of 

 Representatives. Senators are elected for eight 

 years, one half retiring every four years; 

 twenty-six of them are elected by the provin- 

 cial councils, and the rest by the direct suffrage 

 of citizens paying at least 1,200 francs of direct 

 taxes, or possessing real estate worth 12,000 

 francs a year, and being, if the Legislature so 

 decrees, over thirty years of age. Representa- 

 tives are elected in the proportion of 1 to 40,- 

 000 of population for four years, one half re- 

 tiring every two years, by the direct suffrage of 

 all male citizens over twenty-five years of age, 

 and domiciled for a year in the commune, ex- 

 cept such as are disqualified by law. Plural 

 votes are allowed : 1 supplementary vote to each 

 citizen thirty-five years of age having legitimate 

 issue and paying a personal tax of 5 francs ; 1 

 vote to every citizen twenty-five years of age 

 who possesses 2,000 francs' worth of immovable 

 property or derives an income of 100 francs 

 from the public funds, or savings-bank deposits ; 

 2 supplementary votes to every citizen who has 

 a diploma of superior instruction, or who fills or 

 has filled a public office or a position presump- 

 tively implying superior education. A Deputy 

 receives 4,000 francs annual pay and free pas- 



sage on the railroads between his home and the 

 seat of legislation. The new Constitution not 

 only quintupled the number of electors, but 

 made voting obligatory. 



The reigning sovereign is Leopold II, King of 

 the Belgians, born April 9, 1835. The heir pre- 

 sumptive is the King's nephew, Prince Albert, 

 born April 8, 1875, in whose favor the Count of 

 Flanders, his father, resigned the right of suc- 

 cession. 



The ministry, which was organized on Oct. 

 26, 1884, consisted in the beginning of 1894 of 

 the following members : President of the Coun- 

 cil and Minister of Finance, A. Beernaert; Min- 

 ister of Justice, J. Lejeune: Minister of the 

 Interior and Public Instruction, J. de Burlet : 

 Minister of Agriculture, Industry, and Public 

 Works, L. de Bruyn ; Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs, Count de Merode-Westerloo ; Minister 

 of War, Lieut.-GTen. J. J. Brassine ; Minister of 

 Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs, J. van den 

 Peereboom. 



Area and Population. The area of Bel- 

 gium is 29,455 square kilometres or 11,373 

 square miles. The population at the census of 

 1890 was 6,069,321, and on Dec. 31, 1892, it was 

 computed at 6.195,355, of which number 3,090,- 

 466 were males and 3,104,889 females. The 

 population at the time of the census comprised 

 5.897.888 Belgians, 56,306 Netherlanders, 47,338 

 Germans, 45,430 French, 9,716 Luxemburgers, 

 4,523 English, 7,318 other Europeans, and 807 

 non-Europeans. The language statistics show 

 that 2,485,072 spoke only French, 2,744,293 

 Flemish only, 33,026 no language but German, 

 700.519 French and Flemish, 58.059 French and 

 German, 7,195 Flemish and German, 36,185 all 

 three languages, and 4,972 foreign languages. 

 Of the total population, 826,502 men and 255,001 

 women were employed in mining, manufactur- 

 ing, and agricultural industries, 215,559 men and 

 111,532 women in commerce, 505,847 men and 

 153,440 women in intellectual and liberal pro- 

 fessions, 509,261 men and 362.246 women in 

 various occupations, and 1,151,093 males and 

 2,199,592 females were dependent or without 

 occupation. The density of population in Bel- 

 gium is 548 per square mile. The number of 

 marriages in 1892 was 47,209 ; of births, 177,485 ; 

 of deaths, 133,693 ; excess of births, 43,792. The 

 number of emigrants was 22,532 ; of immigrants, 

 21,774; excess of emigration, 758. The popu- 

 lation of the chief cities at the end of 1892 was : 

 Brussels, 183,833 within the boundaries and 

 488,188 with suburbs ; Antwerp, 240,343 ; Liege, 

 155,898; Ghent, 151,811. 



Finance. The ordinary revenue for 1891 was 

 346,346,000 francs, and the extraordinary 55,- 

 601,000 francs; while the ordinary expenditure 

 was 338,723,000 francs, and the extraordinary 

 63,445,000 francs; making the total receipts 

 401,947,000 francs, and disbursements 402,168,- 

 000 francs. The budget for 1894 makes the 

 total ordinary revenue 349,316,198 francs, de- 

 rived mainly from the following sources : Rail- 

 roads, 139,000,000 francs ; excise taxes. 42,182.- 

 409 francs; direct property tax, 24,812,000 

 francs ; customs, 24,505,570 francs ; registration 

 dues, 20,200,000 francs; succession duties, 19.- 

 575.000 francs ; personal taxes, 19,180,000 francs; 

 securities, bank, amortization fund, etc., 15,723,- 



