482 



BKLGIUM 



French officers were taken into the service ; the 

 native officers were obliged to undergo ;m exam inn - 

 tioji. The king nlso sent to London full powers to 

 the Belgian minister, Van de \Veyer, in order to treat 

 on the final arrangement with Holland, according to 

 Ihe proposals of the conference. Sir KolxTt Ailair, 

 the British minister, and the French minister, general 

 Billiard, assisted him. 



September 8, 1831, the chambers met. The most 

 pressing business was the re-organization of the army. 

 The king appointed colonel de Brouckerc minister 

 at war. His proposal to introduce French officers 

 into the Belgian army was adopted by the chambers. 

 A committee of Enquiry investigated the conduct of 

 the Belgian officers, whose, disgraceful conduct, dur- 

 ing the war with Holland, had brought the young 

 kingdom to the brink of ruin. General 1 )aine, the 

 commander of the army of the Meuse, who had 

 been sliamefully defeated, was, however, acquitted in 

 March, 1832. The French general Desprez was 

 placid at the head of the Belgic stall'. Another 

 Fn nch general, baron Evain, was also active in the 

 re-organization, and numerous French and German 

 officers and privates entered the Belgian army. A 

 law was even passed empowering the king, in case 

 of necessity, to open the Belgian territory (which liad 

 been left by the French auxiliary army on Septem- 

 ber 26) to foreign troops. The new Belgian army 

 amounted, in October, 1831, to 54,000 men, with 

 120 cannons ; and, in the following March, it was to 

 comprise 86,000 men. 



The budget of this year, for the Belgian depart- 

 ment of war, amounted to 29,553,878 guilders, owing 

 to the great deficiency of military stores and equip- 

 ments. This explains the great deficit in the finances 

 of the yonng kingdom. It was necessary to cover it 

 by loans contracted in Paris under liard conditions. 

 In the budget of 1831, the deficit amounted to 

 9,833,143 guilders; the revenue being 41,892,585, 

 and the expenditure 51,725,728 guilders. According 

 to the budget of 1832, the deficit would amount to 

 19,372,121, the diminutions in the budget being 

 calculated at 2,000,000 guilders. According to this 

 budget, the ordinary and extraordinary expenses of 

 the government had increased, since the budget of 

 1831, not less than 37,668,328 guilders, because the 

 expenses occasioned by the public debt, which, in 

 1831, were only 3,532,028 guilders, have been aug- 

 mented so much by loans, that the extraordinary and 

 ordinary expenses for 1832 (without the above reduc- 

 tion) amounted to 89,394,048 guilders, and the re- 

 venue for that year was only calculated at 68,021,927 

 guilders, of which the ordinary revenue amounted to 

 31,421,927 guilders, and the loans yet to be paid, to 

 36,000,000 guilders * 



A protocol from London (October 15, 1831), con- 

 taining the definitive treaty of peace between Bel- 

 gium and Holland, consisting of twenty-four articles, 

 concluded in the name of the five great powers pre- 

 sent at the conference, was laid before the representa- 

 tives, October 20, by the minister of foreign affairs, 

 J)e Meulenaere. He observed that Belgium, though 

 this treaty exacted sacrifices from her, could not 

 think of its rejection since the downfall of Poland. 

 The chamber adopted it on November 1, by fifty-nine 

 votes against thirty-eight, and the senate by thirty- 

 five against eight: king Leopold sanctioned it on 

 November 15. But the king of the Netherlands de- 

 clared that he did not accept the twenty-four articles. 

 While this monarch continued the negotiations, a 



The wealthy cities of Belgium also suffered great rinan- 

 cial embarrassments. Brussels bad, in 1832, a deficit of 

 SOO.OOO guilders; and in March, 193-2, not less than 2000 

 pauper families received aupport from Leopold's govern- 



U.L-!lt. 



new protocol arrived at Brussels, November 1*, l>y 

 which the London conference formally acknowledge 

 prince Leopold as king of the Belgians. BelgW 

 ministers were now duly appointed in i'aris and Lon- 

 don; at the former court, Lehon, at the latter, 

 Sylvian van de Weyer ; but Austria, Prussia, and the 

 other states, would not receive the ministers sent to 

 announce to them Leopold's ascension of the throne, 

 wishing to delay acknowledging him until William, 

 king of the Netherlands, had done so. They long 

 delayed receiving Belgic ministers ; and it is but <i 

 short time since the semi-official paper, the Austrian 

 Observer, mentioned the kingdom of Belgitun for 

 the first time. 



Meanwhile, the ministers of the five" powers in 

 London had signed (November 15) the treaty of 

 twenty-four articles, accepted by Belgium, and, in a 

 twenty-fifth article, had guaranteed its execution, and 

 declared that it should be ratified within two months. 

 By the fifty-fourth protocol, this period was prolong- 

 ed to January 31. But Russia, Austria, and Prussia, 

 induced by the representations of king William, still 

 delayed the ratification of the treaty of November 

 15, appearing desirous to await the declaration of the 

 king of the Netherlands. They considered the 

 alteration of some articles, at least, necessary, and in 

 no case were inclined to force king William to accept 

 the whole twenty-four. In spite of these delays, 

 England, France, and Belgium ratified the articles, 

 January 31, 1832, at London ; and the protocol of 

 exchange of ratifications was left open for the pleni- 

 potentiaries of Russia, Austria, and Prussia. A new 

 term was set on March 15 ; but this was also extend- 

 ed to March 31, in consideration of peculiar circum- 

 stances. 



By the above- mentioned treaty of November 15, 

 which was rejected by Holland, 1. Belgium is to con- 

 sist of the former southern provinces of the Nether- 

 lands, with the exception of part of Luxemburg, of 

 Limburg on both the banks of the Meuse, and of 

 Maestricht, with its territory.* 2. Within these 

 limits, Belgium is to be an independent and per- 

 petually neutral state. & The free navigation of 

 the rivers is acknowledged, according to the stipula- 

 tions of the congress ol Vienna. 4. The use of the 

 canals/which pass through Belgium and the North- 

 ern Netherlands, is common to Doth countries : the 



* The area. of the former southern provinces, with the 

 parts now to be ceded to Holland, is estimated at 13,140 

 square miles, and the inhabitants (according to Quetelet 

 and Sniits) at 4,004,000, two-thirds of whom are people 

 living in the country. After the above cession, Belgium 

 would contain about 11,230 square miles, with 3,620,506 

 inhabitants. The following table is taken from the Weimar 

 Almanac for 1832 : 



Statistical Table. 



