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BELGIUM. 



The reigning sovereign is Leopold II, born 

 April 9, 1835, who, on Dec. 10, 1865, succeeded 

 his father, Leopold 1, a prince of Saxe-Coburg, 

 who was elected King of the Belgians by a Na- 

 tional Congress on June 4, 1831, after the seces- 

 sion on Oct. 4, 1830, of Belgium from the Neth- 

 erlands. A treaty was signed on Nov. 15, 1831, 

 by Austria, Great Britain, Germany, Russia, 

 guaranteeing the perpetual neutrality and invio- 

 lability of Belgium. The heir to the throne is 

 IMiilippe, Count of Flanders, born March 24, 

 1837, the king's only brother, who has one son 

 living, Prince Albert, born April 8, 1875. 



The Council of Ministers appointed on Aug. 5, 



1899, was composed as follows: President of the 

 Council and Minister of Finance and of Public 

 Works, Count de Smet de Naeyer; Minister of 

 Foreign Affairs, Baron P. de Favereau; Minister 

 of Justice, M. van den Heuvel ; Minister of Agri- 

 culture, Baron van den Bruggen; Minister of the 

 Interior and of Public Instruction, M. de Trooz; 

 Minister of War, Major-Gen. A. Cousebant d'Al- 

 kemade; Minister of Railroads, Posts, and Tele- 

 graphs, M. Liebaert; Minister of Industry and 

 Labor, Baron Surmont de Volsberghe, who re- 

 signed on Aug. 20 and was succeeded by Gustave 

 Francotte. 



Area and Population. The area of Belgium 

 is 11,373 square miles. The population in 1902 

 was 6,693,000. The census of that date makes it 

 6,693,810, or 589 to the square mile, an increase 

 of 624,489 in ten years. The number of mar- 

 riages in 1899 was 55,765; of births, 194,268; of 

 deaths, 126,963; excess of births, 67,305. The 

 number of divorces in 1899 was 563. The num- 

 ber of immigrants in 1900 was 29,231, and of 

 emigrants 25,064; net immigration, 4,167. The 

 population of the principal towns on Dec. 31, 



1900, was as follows: Brussels, including sub- 

 urbs, 561,782; Antwerp, 285,600; Liege, 173,- 

 708; Ghent, 160,949; Mechlin, 56,013; Ver- 

 viers, 52,203. 



Finances. The ordinary revenue of the Gov- 

 ernment in 1899 amounted to 483,372,000 francs, 

 and the ordinary expenditure to 570,442,000 

 francs. In 1900 the ordinary revenue was 491,- 

 905,000 francs. For 1902 the budget estimate of 

 revenue was 489,040,050 francs, of which 26,438,- 

 000 francs are derived from property taxes, 

 21,629,000 francs from personal taxes, 9,000,000 

 francs from trade licenses, 1,600,000 francs from 

 mines, 43,355,806 francs from customs, 68,725,640 

 francs from excise, 2,902,000 francs from various 

 taxes, 30,200,000 francs from registration and 

 other fees, 19,720,000 francs from succession 

 duties, 8,000,000 francs from stamp-duties, 913,- 

 000 francs from fines, 2,105,000 francs from rivers 

 and canals, 204,370,000 francs from railroads, 

 10,000,000 francs from telegraphs, 15,910,230 

 francs from posts, 1,510,000 francs from steam- 

 boats, 2,985,000 francs from domains and forests, 

 14,999,300 francs from profits of the Bank of 

 Belgium and other chartered enterprises, and 

 4,677,074 francs from repayments. The total ex- 

 penditure for 1902 was estimated at 488,344,403 

 francs, of which 133,781,107 francs were for in- 

 terest and sinking-fund of the public debt, 5,115,- 

 276 francs for the civil list and dotations, 26,791,- 

 400 francs for the Ministry of Justice, 3,283.988 

 francs for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 30,160,- 

 181 francs for the Ministry of the Interior and 

 Public Instruction, 12,412.756 francs for the 

 Ministry of Agriculture, 16,448,800 francs for the 

 Ministry of Industry and Labor, 160,327,494 

 franc-s for the Ministry of Railroads, Posts, 

 Telegraphs, and Telephones. 55.205.371 francs for 

 the Ministry of War, 34,498,820 francs for the 



Ministry of Finance and of Public Works, 7,334,- 

 210 francs for the gendarmerie, and 2,076,000 

 francs for repayments, etc. 



The national debt on June 30, 1901, amounted 

 to 2,650,898,150 francs, of which 2,428,111,982 

 francs are loans raised at 3 per cent, interest, 

 2,826,536 francs represent the capitalized value of 

 annuities, and 219,959,632 francs are the share 

 of Belgium in the old debt of the United Nether- 

 lands, a perpetual debt on which 2$ per cent, 

 interest is paid. The loans were raised almost 

 entirely for the building of railroads and other 

 useful and remunerative public works. They are 

 redeemable by means of a sinking-fund. The 

 revenue of the provincial administrations in 1898 

 was 18,819,013 francs, and expenditures 15,938,019 

 francs; provincial debts, 32,207,082 francs. The 

 ordinary revenue of communes amounted to 118,- 

 742,538 francs, and expenditure to 117,144,576 

 francs; the extraordinary revenue to 59,278,223 

 francs, and expenditure to 62,172,216 francs. 



The Army. The standing army is raised 

 partly by conscription, to which every Belgian is 

 liable at the age of twenty, and partly by volun- 

 tary enlistment. The strength of the army on 

 the peace footing in 1902 was 267 staff and supe- 

 rior officers, 1,921 officers, and 27,788 men in the 

 infantry, 370 officers and 5,770 men in the cav- 

 alry, 633 officers and 8,682 men in the artillery, 

 152 officers and 1,703 men in the engineers, 78 

 officers and 963 men in the administrative depart- 

 ments, 210 surgeons, 41 veterinarians, and 71 offi- 

 cers and 2,903 men in the gendarmerie; total, 

 3,743 officers and 47,809 men, with 10,879 horses. 

 The infantry soldiers carry Mauser magazine 

 rifles of the model of 1889, of 7.65 millimeters 

 caliber, holding 5 cartridges. The field-artillery 

 have 204 Krupp breech-loading steel guns of 8.7 

 centimeters bore in the mounted and 7.5 in the 

 horse batteries. Conscripts are allowed to fur- 

 nish substitutes, which the Ministry of War pro- 

 vides on the payment of a maximum price of 

 1,600 francs. The nominal term of service is 

 eight years in the active army and five years in 

 the reserve. Unlimited leave is given after serv- 

 ice w r ith the colors for twenty-eight to thirty-six 

 months. The war strength of the army is 143,000 

 men, with 28.600 horses. It is proposed to in- 

 crease the strength to 180,000 men by shortening 

 the term of service. 



Commerce and Production. Of the total 

 area of Belgium 65.06 per cent, is cultivated, 17.70 

 per cent, is forest, and 17.24 per cent, is waste, 

 marsh, river, road, and building and mineral land. 

 Less than 19 per cent, of the people are depend- 

 ent on agriculture. The production of wheat 

 from 180,377 hectares in 1899 was 3,816,777 hecto- 

 liters; of barley from 40.242 hectares, 1,402.871 

 hectoliters: of oats from 248,693 hectares, 10,101,- 

 950 hectoliters; of rye from 283,375 hectan-. 

 6,543,152 hectoliters; of potatoes from 184.690 

 hectares, 33,246,046 hectoliters; of sugar-beets 

 from 54,099 hectares, 18.068,318 quintals; of 

 other beets from 40,561 hectares, 17,383,656 quin- 

 tals; of tobacco from 2,148 hectares, 34,067 quin- 

 tals. The quantity of hops gathered was 63.911 

 quintals. The annual value of forest products is 

 estimated at 22,000,000 francs. The value of 

 quarry products in 1899 was 55,448,745 francs. 

 The quantity of iron ore mined in 1899 was 201,- 

 445 tons, valued at 1,073,100 francs; the quan- 

 tity imported from Luxembourg and other coun- 

 tries was 2,621.336 tons. There were 125,258 

 persons employed in the coal-mines, which pro- 

 duced 22.072,000 tons, valued at 274,444,000 

 francs. The production of pig iron was 1.024,576 

 tons, valued at 74,404,000 francs; of manufac- 



