THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



527 



THE BELGIANS* 



THE WALLOONS AND FLEMINGS 



The Kingdom of Belgium dates from 1830, 

 when the seven Catholic provinces revolted from 

 distasteful union with the Kingdom of the 

 Netherlands. A spirit of independence, of re- 

 sentment at injustice, of determination to 

 maintain rights, has always animated this heroic 

 people. 



The ancient Belgae occupied all Gaul from 

 north of the Seine and west of the Rhine. 

 Rheims, Soissons, Amiens, and Beauvais per- 

 petuate the names of the Remi, Suessiones, 

 Ambiani, and Bellovaci, their warlike tribes 

 who fought against Caesar. 



The Belgians now comprise two main fac- 

 tors — the Walloons and the Flemings. 



The Walloons, from a common Teutonic 

 word meaning foreign, are found in southern 

 Belgium, where are Liege and Namur upon the 

 Meuse; in the French department of Nord, 

 with its cities of Lille, Douai, Cambrai. and 

 Valenciennes, and in a few Rhenish villages. 

 They speak French and have a strong attach- 

 ment to France. 



The Flemings are more numerous and occupy 

 the greater part of the kingdom and of the 

 coast of Nord, with Dunkirk. They speak 

 Flemish, a German dialect. Originally German 

 in lineage, they are above all intensely national 

 and have equalled the Walloons in courage and 

 devotion. During the last war the Germans 

 resorted to every artifice to alienate them from 

 the Walloons, but without avail. 



In 1910, of the 7,571,000 Belgians, 3,221,000 

 spoke only Flemish, 2,833,000 only French, and 

 871,000 both French and Flemish. The Bel- 

 gian Government at first opposed official use 

 of Flemish, but in 1878 it was made equal with 

 French in the courts and administration and 

 in 1883 in the schools. The Flemish provinces 

 were made bi-lingual. 



Full religious liberty is enjoyed. The great 

 majority of the people are presumably Roman 

 Catholic, but since 1891 no questions are asked 

 at the census regarding communion or profes- 

 sion. 



At the beginning of the world war, in 1914, 

 the area of the kingdom was 11,373 square 

 miles. A Conference of the Great Powers in 

 1831 determined the boundaries between Bel- 

 gium and the Netherlands. Though obliged 

 by circumstances to recognize Belgian inde- 

 pendence, the Conference did not sympathize 

 with the authors of a revolution. In conse- 

 quence, the boundary line was traced to the 

 disadvantage of the Belgians. To the Dutch 

 were assigned peoples east of the Meuse, who 

 were strongly pro-Belgian ; also both banks of 

 the Scheldt, thus cutting off approach by sea 



* See also, in National Geographic Maga- 

 zine, "Belgium the Innocent Bystander," by 

 William Joseph Showalter (September, 1914), 

 and "Belgium's Plight," by John H. Gade 

 (May, 1917). 



to the great port of Antwerp except through 

 Dutch waters. One cannot doubt that this in- 

 justice will be rectified. 



Sixteen years ago in his "Living Races of 

 Europe," Hutchinson said: "Bravery, intelli- 

 gence, and energy are strong as ever in the 

 Belgians. They excel in the arts of peace, as 

 formerly they were proficient in the arts of 

 war. They now present an attractive picture 

 of a prosperous, peaceable, and thoroughly 

 comfortable little people." 



The first two sentences are still true, only 

 intensified. The picture of the last sentence it 

 is the privilege of Europe and America to 

 restore. 



THE IRISH 



The word Irish is derived by successive steps 

 from Erin, an early and now purely poetic 

 name for Ireland. 



Myths and legends are handed down regard- 

 ing the origin of the Irish, but little is known 

 of them with certainty before the fifth century. 

 Then they were emerging from the control of 

 the Milesians, who had come no man can say 

 from where, and who apparently had long held 

 the greater part of the island in subjection. 



The Irish, like the Gaelic Scotch and the few 

 inhabitants of the Isle of Man, belong to the 

 Goidelic or Gaelic branch of the Celtic family. 

 This Celtic element is the permanent fact in 

 Irish character and the controlling fact in Irish 

 history. None the less, it is true that few peo- 

 ples are more composite than the Irish. Into 

 their structure are built the English, Scotch, 

 Welsh, Danish, Norwegian, and French. Ex- 

 terminating wars, forced expatriation, enlist- 

 ment of more than 400,000 Irishmen in Euro- 

 pean armies during the space of sixty years, 

 drained the native population. Colonization, 

 many times repeated, brought in hosts of for- 

 eigners, and must, of necessity, have disturbed 

 the equilibrium of racial life. 



And yet, the Irishman has absorbed the blood 

 of them all and appropriated the language of 

 his conquerors, remaining all the while a typical 

 Celt — typical in habit of mind, disposition, char- 

 acter, and to a great degree in personal ap- 

 pearance. 



Something in the Irish nature seemed to at- 

 tract the strangers who dwelt in his midst. 

 During the first four centuries after the Eng- 

 lish conquest the English settlers of the island, 

 whether of low or high degree, adopted Irish 

 ways, intermarried with the Irish, and adapted 

 their own names to Irish forms. Many of the 

 Irish names, heard most often, can be traced 

 back to such a source. Nor did this tendency 

 entirely cease, even after the religious rancor 

 engendered by the Protestant Reformation. 



The Irish were always religious. For six 

 hundred years their country was known as 

 "The Isle of the Saints." While Latinized 

 lands seemed sinking back into pagan barba- 

 rism, the Irish were founding schools and send- 

 ing missionaries to Scotland, England, Wales, 

 and over western Europe. Saint Patrick, who 



