a 
 
 y 
 
 111 
 
 Froi 
 T 
 
 THE LIBRARY OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 AT CHAPEL HILL 
 
 ENDOWED BY THE 
 
 DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC 
 
 SOCIETIES 
 
 DHi+71 
 
UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPS. ■ Hlli 
 
 10000642529 
 
 i/-hi. %lS) 
 
 This book is due at the LOUIS R. WILSON LIBRARY on the 
 last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it may be 
 renewed by bringing it to the library. 
 
 DATE 
 DUE 
 
 RET. 
 
 DATE 
 DUE 
 
 RET. 
 
 k'«wov 1 P 
 
 APR 2 8 
 
 
 
 -^~ 
 
 - 
 
 m i'fto ! 
 
 _£_i_ 
 
 ?tffl 
 
 1L 
 
 I & 
 
 2GM 
 
 
 Form /Vo. 5 
 
BELGIAN LIFE IN 
 TOWN 6f COUNTRY 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 http://archive.org/details/belgianlifeintowOboul 
 
THE BELFRY OF BRUGES. 
 
BELGIAN LIFE IN 
 TOWN & COUNTRY 
 
 DEMETRIUS C. BOULGER 
 
 
 WITH TWENTY-FOUR 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 LONDON: GEORGE NEWNES, LIMITED 
 SOUTHAMPTON STREET, STRAND, W.C. 
 
 **ol i, *»* THE LIBRARY 
 
 n i j „<&* WE UNIVERSITY Of NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 7^Jfr ATCHAPnu,! 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER FAUH. 
 
 I. The two Races of Belgium ... ... i 
 
 II. The Modern Constitution ... ... 13 
 
 III. The Legislature and the Electorate ... 25 
 
 IV. The Court and Society ... ... 36 
 
 V. Burgher Life in Brussels ... ... ... 46 
 
 VI. The Commercial Classes of Antwerp ... 59 
 
 VII. The Miners of the Borinage ... ... 69 
 
 VIII. The Manufacturing Centres ... ... 80 
 
 IX. Country Life in Belgium ... ... ... 93 
 
 X. The Dead Cities of Flanders ... ... 104 
 
 XI. Education and Religious Aspects ... ... 114 
 
 XII. Law and Justice ... ... ... 126 
 
 XIII. In True Wallonia ... ... ... ... 137 
 
 vj XIV. Amusements and Legends ... ... 14 8 
 
 XV. Literature and Science ... ... ... 160 
 
 A 
 
 XVI. In Leafy Arden ... ... ... 171 
 
Contents 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XVII. Some Popular Types— Men ... 
 
 XVIII. Some Popular Types— Women 
 
 XIX. Seaport and Sailor Life 
 
 XX. The Army and Military Life 
 
 XXI. Colonies and Colonial Aspirations 
 Index 
 
 183 
 i93 
 204 
 210 
 223 
 235 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Belfry of Bruges ... ... ... Frontispiece 
 
 Brussels — House of the Dukes of Brabant ... 4 
 
 Brussels — Statue of Godfrey of Bouillon ... 13 
 
 Brussels — The Maison du Roi ... ... ... 37 
 
 Brussels — The Grande Place ... ... ... 44 
 
 Brussels — Place Brouckere ... ... ... 51 
 
 Antwerp — The Cathedral ... ... ... 62 
 
 A Woman of Antwerp in Grande Toilet ... ... 64 
 
 Bridge of Trous at Tournai ... ... ... 69 
 
 A Flemish Farmer ... ... ... ... ... 99 
 
 Bruges— Maison du Franc ... ... ... 102 
 
 The Brael Bridge at Courtrai 
 
 Town Hall at Oudenarde 
 
 107 
 
 The Cloth Market at Ypres ... ... ... u 
 
 "3 
 
 Louvain — Panorama taken from the Dominican 
 
 Church ... ... ... ... ... 128 
 
 Ostend— Scene on the Sands ... ... ... 148 
 
 vii 
 
List of Illustrations 
 
 PACE 
 
 Valley of the Meuse — Steamer from Namur arriving 
 
 AT DlNANT ... ... ... ... ... 163 
 
 Brussels — The Palais de la Nation ... ... 167 
 
 Dinant— Chateau of Walzin seen from the Lesse 174 
 
 A Brussels Postman ... ... ... ... 183 
 
 Brussels Milkwoman ... ... ... ... 193 
 
 A Flemish Milkwoman ... ... ... ... 197 
 
 A Grenadier ... ... ... ... ... 210 
 
 The Palace Guard, Grenadiers and Carabiniers ... 217 
 
BELGIAN LIFE IN TOWN 
 AND COUNTRY 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE TWO RACES OF BELGIUM 
 
 The most striking fact in the national life of modern 
 Belgium is that two distinct races, in blood and in 
 language, form there a single community and even a / 
 
 united people. In Austria-Hungary there are many 
 races and many tongues, but in Belgium there are only 
 two, and as they almost balance each other in strength 
 and influence, the harmony that exists between them is 
 the more remarkable. These two races are the Walloons 
 and the Flemings. The connecting bond between them 
 is, no doubt, the close political association that has kept 
 Walloons and Flemings under the same administration, 
 since the first union of the State in the fifteenth century 
 by Philip the Good, of the house of Burgundy. The fact 
 that the two races have shared a common political 
 destiny under foreign and native rulers during more than 
 four hundred and fifty years has removed many natural 
 causes of friction between them, and has created some 
 definite belief in their joint and identical interest. It is a 
 fact, which cannot be explained away, that Flemings and 
 Walloons have never in the long course of their combined 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 history, which commenced with the close of feudalism, 
 engaged in a racial war, and this absence of strife has left 
 an abiding impression on their relations. The strongest 
 link, however, in the chain that connects the two peoples 
 of the South Netherlands is provided by identity of 
 religion ; so that the most fruitful cause of all human 
 differences and quarrels has never arisen to create a feucf 
 between Flemings and Walloons. There is, consequently, 
 every reason to conclude that the two races, which in 
 the past never came into hostile collision, are now well 
 content to perform their duties together, and to be known 
 as Belgians. 
 
 When people talk of the Belgians as a modern people, 
 with a history of only seventy-four years, they should 
 not forget that the Flemings have scarcely changed in 
 character, and not at all in their tongue, since the days 
 of the Plantagenets ; and that the Walloons, of Liege at 
 least, are very much what they were in the time of the 
 Prince-Bishops. Under these circumstances, it would have 
 been natural to expect that one language would have pre- 
 vailed over the other, or, at least, spread, while the other 
 contracted. Such has not been the case. The Flemings 
 still speak Flemish, the great majority of the Walloons 
 French, while the Walloons of the Ardennes and parts of 
 the province of Liege retain, for ordinary use, their old 
 ' Romance ' tongue, Walloon. There has been no marked 
 change in the proportions which the three languages bear 
 to each other, except that all the Walloons now speak 
 French. A very small section in the Liege province, on 
 the Prussian frontier, have, however, adopted German 
 instead, but numerically they are insignificant. 
 
 There has never beenany combined or common move- 
 ment, as might have been expected during the long 
 process of forming a new nation, towards the adoption of 
 a single language in either French or Flemish, and this 
 fact is very remarkable in the case of French, which had 
 chances of spreading, through its hold on society and 
 literature, that to onlookers would have seemed almost 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 irresistible. The powers of resistance possessed by the 
 Flemish race have been well displayed in the preservation 
 of their language, and this triumph is rendered more 
 remarkable by the fact that the Flemings, despite their 
 language being of German origin, have never had any 
 German sympathies, and have never received any outside 
 assistance whatever in the successful maintenance of the 
 right to preserve their own speech. As Flemish national 
 energy is just as intense to-day as it was in the time of 
 the Arteveldes, any project for the supersession of the 
 Flemish language by French must now be pronounced 
 chimerical. The French propaganda had every chance 
 in its favour, and a fair field between 1831 and 1855, 
 and it signally failed to gain the mastery. The conditions 
 are never likely to be again so favourable for it, and in 
 the mean time a decisive Flemish triumph has been 
 achieved. The only practical solution of the difficulty 
 is that all Belgians should be bilinguists. At present, 
 this accomplishment is possessed by little more than ten 
 per cent, of the population, and the bulk of these persons 
 reside in Brussels and the province of Brabant, which 
 is intermediate between Flanders and the Walloon 
 countries. 
 
 The difference in the languages of the two races 
 inhabiting what is now Belgium first attracted attention 
 in the divisions of territory that took place soon after the 
 death of Charlemagne, more than a thousand years 
 ago. The fact of the Flemings speaking a German or 
 Tudesque language seems to show clearly enough that 
 they are descendants of the German colonists established 
 on Belgian soil by several Roman Emperors. Clovis 
 also introduced German settlers in the Meuse valley, and 
 finally Charlemagne removed a large number of Saxon 
 families from their homes in Germany to the plains of 
 Flanders. The western districts of Belgium were those 
 in which these immigrants, voluntary or forced, congre- 
 gated. Flemish influence never reached the right bank 
 of the Meuse, and a solid wedge of Walloon territory 
 
 3 
 
Belgian Lih 
 
 separated the Flemings from the Germans. When the 
 Germans became interested in the Netherlands, at the 
 end of the fifteenth century, through the marriage of 
 the Archduke Maximilian with the heiress of Burgundy, 
 the Flemings had lost all sympathy with their kinsmen 
 in blood, and so it has remained ever since. 
 
 While the Flemish people form the German element 
 in the Belgian nation, ethnologically considered, the 
 Walloons represent the Celtic. They have probably a 
 superior claim over that of the Flemings to be regarded 
 as the descendants of the Belgic tribes of the country, or 
 such of them as survived the sweeping measures of 
 Cassar, and they are closely akin to the people of ancient 
 Gaul and modern France. They were probably leavened 
 also by marriage between their women and the members 
 of the Roman garrison, established for several centuries 
 on their soil, just as they were in the sixteenth and 
 seventeenth centuries by association with the Spaniards. 
 The Roman and Spanish types are frequently met with 
 in the provinces of Namur, Luxemburg, and Liege ; and 
 many Roman names, such as Gambrinus, Fabronius, 
 Mamius, and Marius, are to be found to-day among 
 Walloon surnames. 
 
 The Walloons have the more right, then, to pose as 
 the original inhabitants of the country, and their language 
 may be regarded as the ' Romance ' tongue which marked 
 the transition between Latin and French. As Walloon 
 is a living language to-day, the vehicle for the thoughts 
 of the people in large districts, such as Liege and the 
 Ardennes, this race has shown scarcely less tenacity in 
 preserving the idiom of a thousand years ago than the 
 Flemings. But there is one marked difference between 
 them. There is scarcely a Walloon who does not now 
 speak French, whereas the vast majority of the Flemings 
 are only acquainted with their own tongue, and find 
 themselves in a foreign State when they visit the French- 
 speaking parts of the common country. 
 
 As the two races had preserved their own separate 
 4 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 languages during the long centuries that the country 
 was subject to a foreign Power — Germany, Spain, 
 Austria, France, or Holland — it is not surprising to 
 find that the achievement of independence in 1830 
 was followed, at a brief interval, by the appearance of a 
 language difficulty in modern Belgium. The Belgian 
 rising against the Dutch in that year was primarily a 
 Walloon movement. The Flemings, whose community 
 of language with the Dutch provided them with a certain 
 fellow-feeling, and at least prevented their resenting the 
 proclamation of Dutch as the official national language 
 of the Netherlands, were more disposed than the 
 Walloons to accept the Orange dynasty. They might 
 have dissociated themselves from the insurrectionary 
 movement altogether but for the Dutch measures against 
 the Roman Catholic Church, which roused their religious 
 fervour, and even as it was, they left the direction of the 
 movement in the hands of the Walloons of Brussels and 
 Liege. On the success of the movement for national 
 liberation, it was only natural, then, that the Walloons 
 should proclaim French as the official language of the 
 country. At that moment, quite half the population did 
 not understand a word of it ; but seeing that the fatal 
 act of the Dutch, which entailed their expulsion, had 
 been the proclamation of their language as the national 
 tongue to be employed in the Courts, the triumph of 
 French became a necessary part of the national triumph, 
 and any agitation at such a moment on behalf of the 
 Flemish language would have seemed unpatriotic and 
 sympathetic to the Dutch. None the less, a thoughtful 
 man knowing the situation would have declared that 
 such a state of things could not endure permanently. A 
 solution would have of necessity to be found, or the 
 State would split into two fragments at the first crisis or 
 appearance of danger. The only possible solutions were 
 three in number, viz. that the Walloons should give up 
 French and adopt Flemish, which was so inconceivable 
 as to be palpably absurd ; or that the Flemings should 
 
 5 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 drop their language and learn French, which, if not so 
 fantastic, was still highly improbable ; or that both races 
 should master the two languages and become bilinguals. 
 For this last solution, the most equal and the most 
 flattering arrangement to both races, time and the spread 
 of education were essential elements of success. 
 
 The establishment of the modern kingdom of Belgium 
 in 1 83 1 was followed then by that of French in the 
 Chambers, the Courts of Law, and the Colleges as the 
 national language of the new State. It had been em- 
 ployed by society more or less generally since the 
 Crusades. Not a word was raised for or by the Flemings, 
 the vast majority of whom, as has been said, could not 
 at that moment speak a word of French. But before the 
 young kingdom had reached its twentieth year several 
 things had become clearer, and one of these was that 
 the Flemings were quite resolved not to give up their 
 language. The necessary corollary of this tenacity was 
 that they should claim and agitate for the admission of 
 their language to an equal place with French in the 
 country, of which they formed not the lesser part. A 
 French observer, writing in 1855 from Brussels, declared, 
 ' The Fleming is slow, but he moves, and when once he 
 makes up his mind to travel he goes far without stopping.' 
 The observation was called forth by the appointment of 
 a Commission to inquire into the complaints of the 
 Flemish population set forth in numberless petitions. 
 The report of this Commission was strongly in favour of 
 Flemish pretensions. It recommended that Flemish 
 should be placed on an equality with French, and that 
 all. examinations and pleadings in the Courts should be 
 held or expressed in either language or in both. The 
 Government was so surprised at the sweeping character 
 of these proposals that it suppressed the Report, and 
 kept it secret. Its purport only leaked out gradually 
 with the lapse of years. 
 
 The Flemish movement began at Ghent in a modest 
 way about the year 1836. Half a dozen literary and 
 
 6 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 scientific men founded there a Flemish review called 
 Belgisch Museum, and meeting with considerable success, 
 they soon afterwards formed a club, taking as their 
 motto, 'de taal is gansch het volk ' — 'the language 
 is the whole people/ In 1844 Jan Frans Willems, the 
 leader of the movement, summoned a Congress, not, it 
 is true, for a political purpose, but merely to exhort the 
 Government to preserve the literary treasures of Flanders 
 by the publication of its ancient texts. Assent was given 
 to this request, but the necessary funds were not voted 
 for ten years, which proved that the Government regarded 
 the Flemish movement with distrust and even dislike. 
 Willems died soon after the first Congress, but the 
 Congresses went on, and were sometimes held in Holland 
 as well as in Belgium. The work of Willems was con- 
 tinued in a more efficacious manner by Henri Conscience, 
 whose romances stimulated Flemish pride and aspirations, 
 and recalled the great days of Flanders. His ' Lion of 
 Flanders ' (Leeuw van Vlaanderen) became not merely 
 the most popular book of the day, but it idealized for all 
 time the thoughts and longings of the Flemish race. It 
 has, without much exaggeration, been called the Flemish 
 bible. 
 
 The efforts of Conscience were well seconded by 
 those of the poet Ledeganck, whose ballads were sung or 
 recited from one end of Flanders to the other. There 
 were Txiany other writers in the same field, and the 
 Flemish agitation was illustrated by the one genuine 
 literary movement that has occurred in modern Belgium. 
 There were thus two marked and opposing tendencies 
 in the country. The liberation of Belgium had been 
 followed by the undoubted and obvious increase of 
 French influence in official circles. All the sympathies 
 of the Court and the Government were French, but there 
 was no corresponding movement in the literature of the 
 country. The Walloon intellect proved sterile. On the 
 other hand was to be seen a remarkable ebullition, not 
 merely of talent, but of original genius, in the Flemish 
 
 7 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 race, which had so long remained torpid and silent. This 
 literary activity furnished proof of the vitality of the race, 
 and of the strength of its hopes, which precluded the possi- 
 bility of contentment with a subordinate position. The 
 Flemings were resolved not to be a party to their own 
 effacement. It was not, however, until 1861 that the 
 Flemish party succeeded in carrying in the Chamber an 
 address to the King, expressing the hope that justice 
 would be done to ' the well-founded demands of the 
 Flemings.' 
 
 It was soon after this event that a favourable oppor- 
 tunity offered itself for a demonstration calculated to 
 stimulate public opinion. A native of Flanders, brought 
 before one of the courts at Brussels, refused to plead in 
 French, and his attitude was supported and imitated by 
 his counsel. In another case a Fleming accused of 
 murder was tried and sentenced without his understand- 
 ing a word of what passed in court. The most was 
 made of these cases to strengthen the claims of the 
 Netherlanders, as the Flemish party called themselves. 
 There was an obvious need for reform, and the public 
 realized that the concession of the Flemish demands 
 could only be denied at the peril of disintegration. At 
 last a first tangible success was obtained when a law was 
 passed in 1873 to the effect that in criminal cases the 
 court should employ the language of the accused person. 
 After that the Flemish movement progressed rapidly. 
 A Flemish Academy was founded by the State in 
 1886 ; Flemish theatres for the exclusive representation 
 of Flemish plays, or, at least, translations, were set up at 
 the cost of the nation in Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent. 
 Finally, the Flemish text of laws and regulations was 
 declared to be equally valid with the French ; the names 
 of streets, and all public notices in them, were to be 
 printed in the two languages in the five provinces in 
 which Flemish is spoken ; and a fluent acquaintance 
 with both languages has more recently been made an 
 express condition of employment in Government service 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 in the same provinces for minor posts, and generally for 
 those of a superior grade. With these successes the 
 triumph of the Flemish cause may be said to have been 
 made complete. Ostracized after 1830, the Flemish 
 language has gained in the last forty years a position of 
 equality with French as the official language of Belgium. 
 
 The following statistics will be useful for purposes of 
 reference in connexion with the language question. By 
 the census of 1890 the population of Belgium was 
 6,069,321. Of this number 2,744,271 spoke only 
 Flemish, 2,485,072 only French, and 32,206 only 
 German. With regard to those speaking more than one 
 language, 700,997 spoke French and Flemish, 58,590 
 French and German, 7028 Flemish and German, and 
 36,185 French, Flemish, and German. The census of 
 1900 showed that the population had risen to 6,815,054. 
 Of this total 3,145,000 spoke only Flemish, 2,830,000 
 only French, and 770,000 the two languages. 
 
 The struggle of the languages has, therefore, resulted 
 in what may be called a drawn battle. Flemish has 
 gained the position to which the antiquity and solidity 
 of its pretensions entitled it, but French remains the 
 language of society, of the administration, and of the 
 bulk of the literature of the country, while the common 
 language of the people in the eastern and south-eastern 
 divisions is Walloon. There still remains to be found a 
 solution for the political difficulties that must arise in a 
 community so constituted, and it seems as if it can only 
 be found in the direction of bilingualism. This result 
 must be promoted by the stipulation that proficiency in 
 the two tongues is requisite for public employment ; but 
 there are still nearly six millions of people in Belgium 
 who know only one language. The Flemings have pre- 
 served their language by a rigid exclusiveness, and they 
 have always refused to learn any other. The encourage- 
 ment of bilingualism by the authorities is now repre- 
 sented to be an insidious attempt to vulgarize French in 
 Flanders. On the other hand, the Walloons are protesting 
 
 9 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 against the waste of time and uselessness of learning 
 a language which is never heard . in Wallonia. Time 
 may remove these suspicions and complaints, and force 
 home the conviction to the mind of every Belgian that 
 under the peculiar conditions in which his country is 
 constituted, it is the duty of each citizen to master the 
 language of the brother race, which shares the same 
 national fortunes. 
 
 The great bond, however, between the two races is 
 religious union. Bavaria, Ireland, and Belgium have been 
 called the three most devoted children of the Church 
 of Rome, and in Belgium to-day the Flemings are the 
 staunchest of Roman Catholics, and the real supporters 
 of the political influence of their Church. Readers of 
 Motley may remember his describing ' the great majority 
 of the burghers ' of Ghent as belonging to c the Reformed 
 religion.' It would be difficult to discover to-day not 
 only in Ghent, but throughout the whole of Flanders, a 
 single Flemish family which is not attached to the Roman 
 Catholic faith. This religious unanimity makes for the 
 stability of Belgium, because it effectually separates the 
 Flemings from the Dutch, who are practically the same 
 people in race and language. The Walloons never 
 betrayed any sympathies with the Reformation, and their 
 devotion to the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth 
 century was the main cause of the preservation of Spanish 
 rule in the Netherlands, and of the consequent split of 
 the provinces into North and South. But at the present 
 time the Flemings rather than the Walloons are the chief 
 prop of Roman Catholic power in Belgium. The reason 
 for this may be found by comparing the characters of the 
 two races. The Fleming is simple in his habits, and 
 somewhat restricted in his views, but with strong feelings, 
 and a capacity for intense devotion to his convictions. 
 He is averse to change of any kind, and having reconciled 
 himself to the Church of Rome, after a brief lapse three 
 and a half centuries ago, for which a severe penance 
 was paid, he shows no tendency to embark on further 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 theological adventures. The Walloon, on the other hand, 
 is given by character to scepticism and free thought He 
 is far from being a docile servant of the Church, and 
 politically he is quite beyond its control; not that he 
 has any tendency towards any other creed, lhe Uiurcft 
 of Rome has not to fear Protestantism in any form among 
 the Walloons, who only include one Church within ^ then- 
 religious or politico-religious horizon. With them it is a 
 question of the Roman Catholic Church or no Church at 
 all The Walloons are the chief supporters and pro- 
 ducers of the advanced Liberals and the Socialists. With 
 the former the religious sentiment is far from being dead, 
 but with the latter the deposition of the Church is an article 
 of their programme. The Liberals, however, have 
 Ion- been a decaying force. For fifty years they possessed 
 pohtical supremacy in Belgium, and the effort has appar- 
 ently exhausted them. The old leaders are gone, and 
 new ones have not yet been found. The capacity of 
 reproduction seems to have disappeared. The Liberals 
 of to-day have no inspiration and no programme. On 
 the other hand, the Socialists are an active and aggressive 
 body with definite ends, and moving towards a clear y 
 visible goal. In the Walloon provinces they are rapidly 
 winning over, if they have not already won over the 
 whole of the proletariat. Fortunately for the stability 
 of the country, the Flemish population is just as stolid in 
 its support of the Roman Catholic party, which from the 
 political point of view is the only barrier to the spread 
 and triumph of Republicanism throughout the land. I he 
 last election, however, favours a belief that the formation 
 of a new moderate central party is not outside the bounds 
 of possibility, and several eloquent speakers have been 
 discovered who, in the course of time, may become 
 
 popular leaders. .,,-«, u „ 
 
 There is another direction in which the Flemings have 
 done good work. They may claim that much of the 
 present prosperity of the country has been due in a 
 special degree to their efforts. They are hard workers, 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 and the development of the agricultural wealth of East 
 and West Flanders since Belgium became a kingdom has 
 been unexampled. Industrially they have revived the 
 reputation of Ghent, and commercially they have made 
 Antwerp the first or second port of the Continent. The 
 extraordinary material progress of Belgium, which will 
 form the subject of another chapter, furnishes clear proof 
 that the presence of two distinct races side by side, and 
 running together, as it were, in harness, is not incompa- 
 tible with the attainment of a high degree of prosperity. 
 
 12 
 
BRUSSELS — STATUE OF GODFREY OF BOUILLON. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE MODERN CONSTITUTION 
 
 Belgium, one is frequently reminded when writing of the 
 great past of the Belgian races, dates only from 1830. 
 The application of the same arbitrary rule to our own 
 history would exclude much upon which the historian has 
 been wont to descant as contributing to the making of 
 England. However, the existing constitution of Belgium 
 was drawn up in that and the following year, and 
 although the name was suggested for the country in 1789, 
 and again in 18 14-15, Belgique or Belgium was then first 
 adopted as the designation of the nine southern pro- 
 vinces of the Netherlands. The revolt of the Belgians 
 against the Dutch in 1830 was sudden and unexpected, 
 and Belgians still living, who witnessed its scenes 
 when children, speak of it as a misunderstanding. 
 The king, William I., of the house of Orange-Nassau, 
 was undoubtedly well-intentioned, and his son, the 
 Prince of Orange of Waterloo fame, was popular every- 
 where. But one great and irreparable fault was com- 
 mitted. The policy of the Dutch king was ostentatiously 
 shown to include a systematic attempt to change the 
 language of half his southern subjects, and the religion of 
 them all. These innovations, and the steps preliminary 
 to them, were entitled reforms and liberal measures ; but, 
 as was written at the time, ' This king was too much of 
 a Liberal to be a ruler, and too much of a king to be a 
 liberal.' Moreover, Belgium was not Liberal in any 
 
 *3 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Dutch sense of the word, it was Roman Catholic and 
 Conservative, attached to its traditional rights, and proud 
 of the old separate constitutions of the different] pro- 
 vinces. The Fundamental Law of August 24th, 18 15, 
 marked the Dutch ideal, while the Belgians looked to 
 the past when their ' States ' represented the only 
 Constitution to be found on the Continent, and traced 
 back their liberties to the charters of the Baldwins and 
 of Wenceslas. 
 
 Events in Belgium were undoubtedly hastened by the 
 French Revolution of July, 1830, which ended the mon- 
 archy of the Bourbons and established a constitutional 
 one in its place. The Belgians had never felt any 
 attachment for the Dutch regime, and for some years had 
 been openly discontented, but the agitation might not 
 have taken a bellicose form if the change of government 
 in France had not furnished some ground of hope that 
 support would be forthcoming for the cause of the people 
 in a country so closely attached to it by the ties of race, 
 religion, and language. On the 25th of August, 1830, 
 during the performance in Brussels of the opera the 
 Muette de Portici, the populace took fire when the 
 tenor sang the well-known and spirit-stirring words of 
 Massaniello — 
 
 ' Plutot mourir que rester miserable, 
 Pour un esclave est-il quelque danger ? 
 Tombe le joug qui nous accable, 
 Et sous nos coups perisse l'etranger. 
 Amour sacre de la patrie, 
 Rends nous l'audace et la fierte ; 
 A mon pays je dois la vie, 
 II me devra sa liberte ! ' 
 
 The audience rose in their seats, joined in the refrain, 
 and, stopping the performance, rushed into the streets. 
 They then hastened off to attack the residences of the 
 Dutch Ministers, and pillaged them. There were then very 
 few troops in the town, which passed into the possession 
 of the people of Brussels who summoned a Council of 
 
 14 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Notables. King William moved a force of 5000 men 
 under his two sons to Vilvorde, and there can be little 
 doubt that if it had advanced at once it could have stamped 
 out the agitation in blood. King William was not a cruel 
 man, and was all for a pacific solution ; while his son, 
 the Prince of Orange, relied on his popularity. Instead 
 of entering at the head of his troops, the latter rode into 
 the city attended by only six officers. He remained 
 three days in Brussels, and when he left he took away a 
 document which may be termed, as the reader prefers, a 
 petition or an ultimatum, containing the formal wish of 
 the Belgian leaders for separation ' under the Orange 
 dynasty.' 
 
 King William's reply to this message was made ten 
 days later, when in his speech to the Dutch Chambers he 
 declared that he would never yield 'to passion and 
 violence.' At the same time orders were given to the 
 Dutch troops to recover possession of Brussels, and as 
 the Prince of Orange was loth to take any measures 
 against the city in which he had lived so long, the com- 
 mand was entrusted to his brother, Prince Frederick. 
 Brussels was still a walled city, and on September 23rd, 
 the Dutch attacked four of its gates. At two they were 
 repulsed, but at the other two they were successful, and 
 forced their way to the Park facing the Palace. Here 
 they were brought to a halt and found themselves in a 
 trap. The success which had been certain on September 
 1st could no longer be achieved on the 23rd, for in the 
 interval the Brussels insurgents had been joined by a 
 strong contingent from Liege, and the whole of Walloon 
 Belgium was in open insurrection. The Dutch troops 
 in the Park were attacked from all sides, and after 
 three days' fighting, Prince Frederick found himself 
 obliged to extricate himself from a false and dangerous 
 position by a midnight retreat. The Hotel Bellevue was 
 used as a fort by the popular party, and some idea of 
 the severity of the fighting may be formed from the fact 
 that 600 Belgian citizens were killed during those few 
 
 15 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 days. These men are regarded as the Martyrs of the 
 Belgian Revolution, and there is a fine monument to 
 them in the Place des Martyrs, over the trench in which 
 they — ' simples citoyens morts pour la liberie ' — were 
 buried. After this the Orange dynasty was doomed, and 
 the cry became ' Separation and Independence.' 
 
 A Provisional Government had been formed even 
 before the Dutch troops retreated, and its purpose was 
 revealed in the following public notice : — ' The Belgian 
 provinces detached by force from Holland shall form an 
 Independent State.' Envoys were sent to London and 
 Paris to enlist the sympathy of their Governments, while 
 more strenuous measures were taken to expel the Dutch 
 from the country. The Belgian Volunteers, assuming the 
 offensive, gained two successes at Waelhem and Berchem, 
 at the latter of which places the heroic Count Frederic 
 de Merode died of his wounds. Antwerp, excepting the 
 citadel, was occupied before the end of October, and 
 then the five Powers, sitting in conference in London, 
 interposed to bring about an armistice, as the preliminary 
 to some definite arrangement. It had become clear to 
 most minds that the kingdom of the Netherlands, formed 
 in 1815, had practically ceased to exist. If the Brussels 
 movement had been crushed on September 1st, history 
 would have only spoken of the participators as rioters. 
 One short month raised them to the rank of patriots and 
 liberators of their country. On November i8th, the 
 National Assembly, convoked for that day, declared as 
 its first act ' the independence of the Belgian people.' 
 
 It must always be considered a remarkable fact that 
 the Belgian Revolution of August-September, 1830, 
 was immediately followed by the production of a Consti- 
 tution which has stood the test of seventy years. On 
 February 7th, 1831, the Constitution was published, 
 while the Powers were still deliberating over the safe- 
 guards to be imposed on the new State for its own pro- 
 tection and for the maintenance of the balance of power 
 in Europe. The Belgian Constitution is an amalgam of 
 
 16 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 the separate Constitutions of the provinces. It is based 
 on the principle of absolute liberty, and its 139 Articles 
 cover the whole ground of constitutional law in * a con- 
 stitutional, representative, and hereditary monarchy,' such 
 as Belgium was declared to be. Having formed the 
 kingdom, it was necessary in the next place to find the 
 king. The French prince, the Due de Nemours, son of 
 King Louis Philippe, was the first choice of the Pro- 
 visional Government ; but his candidature was withdrawn, 
 as it would have added too much to the power of France 
 in the opinion of other States, and entailed a European 
 war. Application was then made to Prince Leopold of 
 Saxe-Coburg, who had recently declined the throne of 
 Greece, and by so doing rendered a considerable service 
 to European diplomacy. Prince Leopold, the widower 
 of the Princess Charlotte, only child of George IV., 
 was then resident in England, and had made a reputa- 
 tion which his subsequent career did not belie. He 
 accepted the offer, declaring that ' Human destiny does 
 not offer a nobler or more useful task than that of 
 being called to found the independence of a nation, and 
 to consolidate its liberties.' On June 4th, 183 1, he was 
 proclaimed King of the Belgians, and on July 21st his 
 inauguration took place, with much ceremony, in Brussels. 
 The creation of the kingdom of Belgium supplied the 
 Dutch with an excuse for resuming hostilities, and re- 
 lying on the supposition that the Powers would certainly 
 quarrel among themselves sooner than allow the French 
 to take up their position in Belgium, a Dutch army 
 marched on Louvain and Brussels. 
 
 The Belgian national forces were at that moment 
 badly organized, and the Dutch outnumbered them. 
 After one reverse at Hasselt, King Leopold summoned 
 the French army, which had been held in readiness on 
 the frontier, to his assistance. On the same day that the 
 Dutch invaders arrived in front of Louvain, the French 
 deliverers entered Brussels. Threatened also by the 
 British Government, which prepared to send a fleet to 
 
 17 C 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 the Scheldt, King William countermanded his orders 
 and recalled his army. Unfortunate for the Belgian 
 national forces, this brief campaign served to increase the 
 reputation and popularity of King Leopold, 'whose 
 courage, coolness, and energy,' in the words of General 
 Belliard, 'alone saved the Belgian army from annihilation.' 
 This remark had special reference to his skilful dispo- 
 sitions after the rout of the Belgians at Hasselt, and to 
 the fortitude he displayed in opposing with half-disciplined 
 and discouraged troops the advance of the Dutch army 
 on the capital. The Dutch troops having withdrawn, 
 the French also retired within their frontier, but the 
 attitude of Prussia, Austria, and Russia towards the new 
 State was more than dubious, and their refusal to receive 
 King Leopold's envoys was calculated to raise Dutch 
 hopes. Curiously enough, the Belgians encountered 
 graver perils after the Dutch had retired from the whole 
 country, with the exception of Antwerp citadel, and one 
 or two fortified places (Luxemburg and Maastricht) than 
 before. The Twenty-four Articles of the final London 
 Protocol of October 15th, 1831, did not accord with the 
 aspirations of the Belgians, who were compelled to cede 
 the greater part of Luxemburg, which is now the Grand 
 Duchy, and the portion of Limburg that lies east of the 
 Meuse. If the Belgians did not like the loss of provinces 
 inhabited by men of their own race, the Dutch openly 
 resented the conditions of the Protocol, and refused to 
 adhere to it. Inspired with hope by the attitude of the 
 three Powers, which formed the Holy Alliance, King 
 William once more prepared for war. During the same 
 period, King Leopold also concentrated all his efforts 
 and attention on the reorganization and increase of the 
 Belgian forces. Having succeeded in obtaining votes 
 for military purposes to the extent of three millions 
 sterling, he raised the army to a strength of 100,000 men, 
 and, by the admission of impartial observers, it had 
 improved to such an extent from what it was at the 
 time of the battle of Hasselt, that it could have dealt 
 
 18 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 effectually with its Dutch opponents without any external 
 assistance. 
 
 During this critical period, England and France stood 
 staunchly beside Belgium, and King Leopold's marriage 
 in August, 1832, with the Princess Louise, eldest 
 daughter of King Louis Philippe, strengthened the 
 relations between Brussels and Paris. Notwithstanding 
 that all the other Powers ratified the Protocol, King 
 William refused his assent, and retained possession of 
 Antwerp citadel with a garrison of 5,000 men. In 
 October, 1832, it was decided by England and France 
 that this defiance of the will of Europe could no longer 
 be tolerated, and that the Dutch must retire from 
 Antwerp. The Belgians, having 100,000 men ready to 
 take the field, were most anxious to be allowed to 
 recover Antwerp themselves, and considerable difficulty 
 was experienced in restricting them to the passive role 
 that the Powers imposed on them. In November, a 
 French army, 50,000 strong, commanded by Marshal 
 Gerard, and accompanied by several of the Orleans 
 princes, entered Belgium for a second time, under the 
 terms of a convention concluded with the British Govern- 
 ment, and laid siege to the citadel of Antwerp, which 
 the commandant, General Chasse, refused to evacuate 
 without an order from his sovereign. The defence of 
 the citadel under great difficulties, and against an over- 
 whelming force, was prolonged for over three weeks, but 
 when the wall had been breached, and everything was 
 ready for an assault that could not have been resisted, 
 General Chasse' capitulated. His defence excited general 
 admiration throughout Europe, and this was increased 
 when it became known that the Dutch commander of 
 the Scheldt flotilla, sooner than yield up his ships, had 
 burnt or sunk them. The closing scenes of Dutch 
 authority in Belgium were thus redeemed by a rare 
 display of fortitude and courage. Immediately after the 
 surrender of Antwerp, the French army was withdrawn ; 
 but it was not until 1839 that King William finally gave 
 *9 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 way by adhering to the London Protocol and with- 
 drawing from the forts on the Scheldt below Antwerp. 
 
 The support given by the French army and diplomacy 
 to the Belgians naturally earned their deep gratitude. 
 By the arrangement between the two Powers, France 
 played a more prominent part than England, but those 
 in authority well knew that the latter had as much to do 
 with the establishment of Belgian independence as any 
 other State. If England had not heartily co-operated 
 with France, France could not have acted at all. In the 
 words of Louis Philippe, ' Belgium owes her independ- 
 ence and the recovery of her territory to the union of 
 France and England in her cause.' 
 
 At the same time, the gratitude of the Belgians in 1832 
 was more effusive in its expression to the French than to 
 this country. Even now they are prone to magnify the 
 role of France and to minimize that of England in the 
 great national crisis of seventy years ago. Marshal 
 Gerard's troops had hardly recrossed the frontier, when a 
 motion was made in the Belgian Chamber to express the 
 gratitude of the Belgian people to France by demolishing 
 the Lion monument at Waterloo. The speaker also 
 disparaged the services rendered by England. The 
 Government opposed this motion, which was defeated, 
 and M. Nothomb, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, paid 
 the following tribute to this country, whose share in their 
 liberation and independence is too little appreciated by 
 the Belgians : — 
 
 ' The battle of Waterloo opened a new era for Europe, 
 the era of representative government. I will not say 
 anything about the strange manner in which this speaker 
 has distorted that historical event. I will confine myself 
 to saying that if the battle of Waterloo had been won by 
 those who came to help us the other day, all would have 
 been over with our nation for many a long day, and this 
 capital in which we meet might be no more than the 
 chief town of the department of the Dyle. I have been 
 asked what England has done for Belgian independence, 
 
 20 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 for the liberty of the world. What has she done ? But 
 is contemporary history ignored? She was the last 
 asylum of freedom while a Conqueror held Europe under 
 his iron sceptre; she sustained a gigantic struggle to 
 restore independence to this Continent. What has she 
 done in the last two years ? She stretched forth her 
 powerful hand first over France and then over Belgium, 
 and she said to the other Powers, "You shall not interfere 
 with these two revolutions ; " and those two revolutions 
 remain untouched. What has she done for us in par- 
 ticular? She has, among other things, prevented the 
 subdivision of our territory. When the refusal of the 
 Due de Nemours was known, plans for sharing and 
 distributing our soil became general. It was England 
 who opposed this project with greater energy than 
 any one else. What has she done in the last three 
 months ? She concluded in our interest a striking treaty 
 with France, she broke away from all her traditions by 
 her rupture with Holland.' 
 
 Having attained its independence, Belgium entered 
 on the path of peaceful progress in the character of a 
 neutral State among the nations, and enjoying in its 
 domestic affairs the privileges conferred by the Con- 
 stitution of February, 1831. Its neutrality was put to 
 a severe test in 1840, when war between England and 
 France seemed imminent, and there were some poli- 
 ticians who hoped that Belgium, in recognition of past 
 services, would declare herself the ally of the French. 
 The Belgian Government had a more correct view of 
 its position and duty, and declared that its policy was 
 that of ' sincere, loyal, and strong neutrality.' 
 
 In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war confronted Belgium 
 with a fresh crisis. Her neutrality had been pro- 
 claimed, but the question in doubt was whether she 
 could maintain it by force of arms, if necessary ; in 
 other words, whether it was a 'strong' neutrality as 
 well as a sincere. In 1840 it was only a matter of a 
 proclamation against an eventuality; but in 1870 the 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 responsibility was a real one, and not free from danger. 
 The Belgian army was mobilized, and sent to the frontier 
 to guard it, and after the battle of Sedan a large number 
 of French soldiers fled into Belgium, and were interned 
 there during the continuance of the war. Some German 
 soldiers who crossed the frontier in pursuit were treated 
 in the same fashion. For a second time the principle 
 of Belgian neutrality had been successfully and peace- 
 fully vindicated ; but in this instance it must always be 
 remembered that the result was largely due to the active 
 intervention of the British Government, which signed a 
 treaty with France, and another with Prussia, engaging 
 itself to declare war upon the Power that violated 
 Belgian territory. 
 
 The important point to be remembered is that while 
 Belgium is a State whose neutrality is guaranteed by 
 the chief Powers, she retains in undiminished force the 
 responsibility of making her neutrality respected, and, 
 in the extreme case of invasion, of affording effective 
 co-operation to those who intervene for her protection. 
 This she could have done in 1840, and in a minor 
 degree in 1870, but a careful reorganization of her 
 military system is needed to enable her and her friends 
 to co-operate efficaciously in the future. 
 
 The Belgian Constitution declared the monarchy to 
 be hereditary, after his acceptance of the crown, in the 
 family of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, in the male 
 line. His marriage with Princess Louise of Orleans 
 has been mentioned. Their family consisted of two 
 sons and one daughter. The elder of the sons, born 
 in April, 1835, succeeded his father as Leopold II. in 
 December, 1865, and is still reigning. He married the 
 Austrian Archduchess Marie Henriette in 1853, and 
 by her had one son and three daughters. As the Salic 
 law prevails in Belgium, it is unnecessary to say any- 
 thing of the female descendants of Kings Leopold I. 
 and II., except that the daughter of the former, the 
 Princess Charlotte, married the unfortunate Archduke 
 
 22 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Maximilian, who became Emperor of Mexico, and was 
 shot at Queretaro in 1867. The only son of Leopold II. 
 bore the title of Duke of Brabant, and died in 1869, 
 when, failing any subsequent male issue, the succession 
 passed to the king's brother, the Count of Flanders, 
 born in 1837. This prince married in 1867 the Princess 
 Mary of Hohenzollern, sister of the King of Roumania, 
 and by her has had two sons and two daughters. The 
 elder son, Prince Baudouin or Baldwin, was endowed 
 with a bright and attractive personality, and he was 
 immensely popular with the people. His death in 1891 
 was felt as a national calamity. His brother, Prince 
 Albert, the last male descendant of the first king, then 
 became heir-presumptive, and fears were entertained 
 that the house of Saxe-Coburg might eventually become 
 extinct in Belgium, and the State find itself confronted 
 with the dangers arising from a vacant throne. These 
 fears were removed by the marriage of Prince Albert to 
 a Princess of Bavaria in 1900, and by the subsequent 
 birth of a prince, who bears the name of Leopold, and 
 promises to become, in due course, the third ruler of 
 his name. The continuance of the dynasty has been 
 further ensured by the birth of a second prince quite 
 recently. 
 
 There is no reason, therefore, why Belgium should 
 not long continue a hereditary monarchy in the family 
 of the prince who took so prominent and honourable 
 a part in founding its liberties. It is also a Constitu- 
 tional State with safeguards against absolutism, and the 
 Monarch's power is strictly circumscribed by the Con- 
 stitution. The consideration of this part of the subject 
 can be best undertaken in another chapter, dealing 
 more specifically with the politics of the country. The 
 origin of modern Belgium has been described because 
 knowledge of the facts connected with it is essential 
 to any useful acquaintance with the people or their 
 country; but that would be a very shallow view to take 
 of Belgium which arbitrarily decided to ignore all that 
 
 2 3 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 preceded 1830, and to treat the Belgians as a nation 
 which, at the furthest, only dates back to Waterloo. 
 In national spirit, as well as in their political privileges, 
 to which the Constitution of 1831 only gave a new form, 
 the Belgians of to-day are the direct and natural repre- 
 sentatives of the Flemish craftsmen, the proud burghers 
 of Brabant, and the Walloons of Liege and Luxemburg. 
 
 24 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE LEGISLATURE AND THE ELECTORATE 
 
 The Belgian Constitution presented on February 7th, 
 1 83 1, to the National Congress, and accepted by it with 
 unanimity, is chiefly remarkable for having proclaimed 
 and established the complete liberty of the people in all 
 the departments of civil activity. It decreed freedom of 
 conscience, of education, of the Press, and also the right 
 of meeting. As a constitution it was far in advance of 
 any system existing on the Continent, and the lapse of 
 seventy years has not rendered necessary any material 
 change in its provisions. The changes introduced in 
 1894 related either to minor points, or to the important 
 extension of the electoral vote. That is to say, the 
 Constitution remained substantially unchanged, while a 
 remarkable alteration was introduced in the qualification 
 and number of the electorate. The second change, in 
 1900, was merely the modification of the Electoral Law 
 to the extent of subjecting the results of any election to a 
 process of proportional representation for the protection 
 of minorities. 
 
 The Constitution provided that the government of the 
 country should be formed by a King, a Senate, and a 
 Chamber of Representatives. The King was to be a 
 constitutional sovereign with defined powers, but with 
 the throne hereditary in the male line of his family. 
 The Senate was to consist of 76 elected members, and 
 26 nominated by the Provincial Councils, and the period 
 
 2 5 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 of membership was to be for eight years. The Chamber 
 was to contain 152 representatives, elected for a period of 
 four years, but retiring in sections at the end of every two 
 years. No one can become a Senator before he is 40, 
 or a Deputy under 25. An appeal to the country, which 
 could only be made by the King, of course entailed the 
 evacuation of every seat pending re-election. Sons of 
 the King, or Princes of the Belgian Royal House, become 
 members of the Senate by right of birth, on arriving at 
 the age of 18, but they have no vote before they are 25. 
 Until the revision in 1894, the qualifications -of electors 
 were fixed by Article 47 as follows : (1) owners of ;£8o 
 in the funds ; (2) principal occupier of a house valued in 
 large towns at not less than ^100, and in villages at 
 .£50; (3) holders of diplomas and certificates; and (4) 
 those who pass, after attaining their majority, an exami- 
 nation. By this system the electoral body was small and 
 exclusive, and Belgium presented the anomaly of a 
 perfectly free country, ruled by only the upper class of 
 citizens. These qualifications were simplified, by the Act 
 of 1893, into the following comprehensive definition, 
 ' all Belgians (males) are entitled to one vote on attaining 
 the age of 25, and on having resided in the same com- 
 mune for one year.' The electorate was thus increased 
 so as to include the larger half of the nation. Important 
 modifications and additions were also introduced into the 
 system in 1894 that will require fuller explanation. 
 The revision of this year covered a somewhat wider 
 ground than the qualification of the electorate, although 
 its salient feature was the extension of the franchise. 
 The first constitution related exclusively to Europe, and 
 had not contemplated the possibility of Belgium having 
 colonies or possessions beyond the sea. The formation 
 of the Congo State, with its possible reversion to Belgium, 
 altered the position. A new Article was introduced to the 
 effect that the garrisons of such possessions must be 
 composed of volunteers. Another Article strengthened 
 the hands of the Sovereign by providing that the Prince 
 26 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 who married without his consent should forfeit all his 
 rights. The Constitution of 1831 had made Belgium a 
 constitutional monarchy, and the subsequent Articles of 
 Agreement with Prince Leopold had fixed the succession 
 in the heirs male of that prince ; but nothing was said 
 as to what would happen if the situation should arise 
 when there were no 'heirs male.' A new Article, 
 No. 6r, was accordingly introduced, providing that ' in 
 default of male heirs the King can nominate his suc- 
 cessor with the assent of the two Chambers ; and if no 
 such nomination has been made the throne shall be 
 vacant.' The apprehension which led to the insertion of 
 this Article has now been allayed in a natural manner 
 by the marriage of the heir-presumptive. 
 
 The payment of members of the Representative 
 Chamber, rendered necessary by its becoming more 
 democratic, was fixed at 4000 francs (£160) a year, with a 
 free pass on the railways between their constituencies and 
 Brussels. Senators, however, remained unpaid, but have 
 the same privilege as representatives on the railways. 
 These minor changes were quite overshadowed by the 
 important addition of the plural vote, which formed the 
 striking and original feature of the revision of 1894. Up 
 to that date the Belgian citizen who possessed the neces- 
 sary property qualification had a single vote. In 1893 
 there were 137,772 voters. The Socialists loudly de- 
 manded universal suffrage — the simple formula, one man, 
 one vote — the concession of which it was, and is still, feared 
 would sweep away all the established political landmarks 
 in the country. At the same time it had become clear 
 that the old exclusive system could no longer be main- 
 tained. It was useless assuring the Belgians that they 
 occupied the freest country in Europe, so long as the 
 great majority of them did not possess a vote. Some- 
 thing had to be done to satisfy the people, and at the 
 same time to save society from the real or imaginary 
 perils which it perceived ahead, through an increase of 
 the electorate. Various suggestions were made in the 
 
 27 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 spring of 1893, but none of these found favour until 
 M. Beernaert brought forward his resolution in favour of 
 the establishment of the plural vote. The state of the 
 country, in which strikes and disorders prevailed, lent 
 emphasis to the argument that something must be done 
 to avert grave trouble. M. Beernaert's scheme, by re- 
 moving the property qualification, gave every Belgian a 
 vote on reaching the age of 25, and by his ingenious 
 addition of extra votes for certain qualifications, which 
 doubled or trebled the voting strength of the wealthy and 
 educated classes, he provided a safeguard against Social- 
 ism. He thus satisfied popular opinion for the moment, 
 and allayed the fears of society at the same time. His 
 resolution was carried by the overwhelming majority of 
 119 to 14, and became law in April, 1894. 
 
 A brief statement of the qualifications of electors will 
 make the matter clear to the reader. Every Belgian 
 citizen, on reaching the age of 25, is entitled to one vote in 
 any commune in which he has resided for twelve months. 
 One extra vote is given to every elector on reaching the 
 age of 35, provided that he is married or, if a widower, 
 has legitimate children, and provided that he pays 5 francs 
 of personal taxation, or is exempted from such payment by- 
 reason of his profession. Two extra votes are given to 
 any elector who is proprietor of real estate, with a mini- 
 mum cadastral revenue of 48 francs, or has an investment 
 in State stock, or the State Savings Bank, producing 
 100 francs annually. The two extra votes are also given 
 to any elector, (1) holding certain diplomas set forth in 
 Article 17, or (2) filling Government offices and profes- 
 sional situations enumerated in Article 19. The maxi- 
 mum number of votes under any heads, separate or 
 collective, is three. The result of this measure was that 
 the number of voters increased from 137,772 in 1893, to 
 1 5354)^9 1 in 1895, and the voters in the latter year 
 represented 2,085,605 votes. As the new law also 
 made voting obligatory, all elections would have to be 
 decided by a full poll. The consequences of this law 
 
 28 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 were not precisely what its author anticipated. M. Beer- 
 naert conceived it to be a Liberal measure, which would 
 diminish the power of the Catholic Right, contribute to 
 the more equal distribution of political power between 
 the several parties, and in the end strengthen the Liberal 
 centre. At the time of the passing of the measure, the 
 Chamber contained 93 Catholics and 59 Liberals of all 
 shades of opinion. In the Senate were 7 2 Catholics and 
 30 Liberals. A Catholic administration had held office 
 for over ten years. The balance of parties, after the 
 election of 1896, was as follows: 112 Catholics, 12 
 Liberals, and 28 Socialists. In the Senate the figures 
 were 70 Catholics, 31 Liberals, and 1 Socialist. The 
 Catholic Government is still in power, and the hopes of 
 establishing a strong central party between it and the 
 Socialists are still unrealized. On the other hand, the 
 Socialists have increased in numbers, and have taken 
 as their political cries universal suffrage, and ' one man, 
 one vote,' which means the abolition of the plural vote 
 which has come to be regarded as the safeguard of 
 Belgian society. 
 
 The next and last constitutional reform arose out of 
 the main result of the Electoral Law of 1894, which had 
 confirmed and strengthened the Catholic ascendency. 
 The originator of that law had always intended to sup- 
 plement it by a measure in favour of proportional repre- 
 sentation, that is to say, for the protection of minorities, 
 and, if his party had not deserted him, he would have 
 carried a law in 1894 to that effect. At last, in 1899, 
 the necessity of effecting some change in the return 
 of representatives was generally admitted. The session 
 of that year was marked by stormy scenes, during which 
 several Ministers resigned, including M. Vandenpeere- 
 boom, the head of the Government. The scenes in the 
 Chamber found their counterpart in the streets, and the 
 threats of the Socialists pointed under a thin veil to revo- 
 lutionary proceedings. It is unnecessary to go into the 
 particulars of the discussions that attended the passing 
 29 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 into law of the system called proportional representation. 
 It will suffice to describe here what it is as completing 
 the electoral system of Belgium. The result of the 
 plural vote having been to confirm the Catholic party's 
 ascendency, to strengthen the Socialists who took the 
 place in the Chamber of the Extreme Left, and to weaken 
 the Liberals, it naturally followed that the last-named 
 were eager for a change that would bring them nearer to 
 the power they had enjoyed under the limited electorate 
 down to 1884. The victory of proportional representa- 
 tion was prepared by the application of the system to 
 communal elections, and in 1 899-1 900 it was extended 
 to the election of the national representatives. By this 
 system Belgium was partitioned into a number of electoral 
 districts, and each district has the number of its members 
 apportioned in accordance with the total strength of each 
 party or political programme in that district, As a rule, 
 there are only the three chief parties, but the presence 
 of Catholic-Democrats, or other factions, may raise the 
 number to four, or even five. The number of seats held 
 is divided by the number of parties or opposing candi- 
 dates, and then distributed in the proportion of the total 
 followers of each. The smallest minority, therefore, is 
 sure of one seat. Sanguine Liberals predicted before- 
 hand that this system would practically equalize parties, 
 and estimated the strength of the Chamber to be returned 
 in 1900 at 80 Catholics and 72 Liberals and Socialists 
 combined, independent of the results in the 14 new seats 
 created. Others thought it would make little or no change 
 except to transfer some Socialist seats to the Liberals. The 
 returns, including the 14 new seats, which raised the 
 total of representatives to 166, gave the following as 
 the strength of the three parties, after the first election 
 under proportional representation held in May, 1900: 
 — 95 Catholics, 35 Liberals, 34 Socialists, and two 
 Catholic-Democrats. In that year there were 1,452,232 
 voters, possessing 2,239,621 votes. 
 
 If the Belgian Constitution, drafted in a time of great 
 3° 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 emergency, has only required modification in matters 
 which the increase of population and the march of 
 democratic ideas have brought up in every country, it is 
 because it was based on the principles of a very compre- 
 hensive and unfettered liberty. The hopes of 183 1 were 
 more than fulfilled. In 1856, on the 25th anniversary of 
 the formation of the kingdom of Belgium, it was declared 
 that ' the King had neither violated one of its laws, nor 
 assailed one of its liberties, nor given any legitimate 
 cause of complaint to any of our fellow-citizens. In the 
 midst of commotions which have shaken so many 
 Governments, Belgium has remained faithfully attached 
 to her prince, and to the institutions bestowed upon 
 her.' Partly to the merits of her Constitution, partly to 
 the tact of her first King, Belgium escaped the troubles 
 of 1848. She has, indeed, had no serious internal 
 troubles in the seventy odd years of her national history. 
 The general strike of 1893 and the disorders of 1899, 
 however disagreeable at the time, and perhaps ominous 
 for the future, were merely passing incidents, not entitled 
 to rank as grave national dangers. 
 
 Latterly there has arisen a cloud on the horizon of 
 Belgian political life in the Socialist party. Socialism is 
 a spectre in other Continental States, and it was regarded 
 with apprehension in Belgium long before there was a 
 Socialist Deputy in the Chamber. Perhaps it was more 
 dangerous before it could send thirty loud and angry 
 voices to disturb the harmony of the Palace of the Nation. 
 Its programme is still summed up in one phrase and one 
 chief demand, the concession of the principle of universal 
 suffrage. As, however, so much is said and written 
 about the programme of the Socialists, and of the dangers 
 that would follow from its realization, it may be as well 
 to give a summary of its purport. In the first place, it 
 demands universal suffrage for both sexes over twenty- 
 one years of age; some of the Socialists have since 
 modified their opinion on the enfranchisement of women 
 and would abandon the female voting clause. The next 
 
 3i 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 claims are the abolition of the plural vote and of the 
 Senate. So far the points are political. The social 
 demands are more serious, viz. State support of all 
 children attending schools; freedom of justice, the State 
 to bear all costs ; salaries, the maxima and minima, 
 as well as the hours of labour to be fixed by law and 
 scheduled ; all mines and forests to be public property, 
 and worked for the benefit of the people, etc., etc. This 
 is the programme of the party led by M. Vandervelde, 
 and as it is directed against the rights of property and 
 capitalists it can easily be imagined how hateful the mere 
 name of Socialist is to the moneyed classes. Curiously 
 enough, M. Vandervelde, the Socialist leader, is a wealthy 
 man himself and rather appreciative of the good things 
 of this world. Some of his opponents have suggested 
 that he should carry out his own theories by subdividing 
 his property among his followers. 
 
 All the Socialist programme, however, must not be 
 pronounced shadowy and unattainable. A wise Con- 
 servative administration would not delay in making 
 concessions on reasonable points, such as the hours of 
 labour, and by these concessions it would do much to 
 remove existing dissatisfaction. With regard to the 
 plural vote, it must be evident that it constitutes 
 a system that cannot permanently endure. It was 
 the temporary expedient of a society easily frightened 
 by the raising of spectres, and it has secured a lull 
 while men's minds become more reasonable and 
 tranquil. How long it will continue in force no one 
 can pretend to know, but the consideration that makes 
 it impossible to regard it as a permanent feature in 
 Belgium's political system is that it is based on distrust 
 of the Belgian people themselves. The day must come 
 when the Belgians, who enjoy so perfect an equality in 
 most respects, will insist on their having also an equal 
 power in voting. The very failure of proportional re- 
 presentation to seriously diminish the Catholic majority, 
 or even to shake its long-retained ascendency, makes 
 
 32 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 this result all the more certain, and brings the change 
 nearer. 
 
 Nevertheless, there is no immediate likelihood of the 
 existing Chamber voting what it would consider its own 
 destruction any more than there is of the Socialists gain- 
 ing a majority at the elections under the present system. 
 Things will go on in the present temporizing fashion 
 until the opinion of the country has become formed as 
 to fresh issues. The Socialists may never be able to 
 put their programme into force ; but, on the other hand, 
 they are prevented from abandoning it, because their 
 followers would resent it as an act of treachery. They 
 have attained political importance, partly by asserting 
 the legitimate rights of labour, and partly by taking 
 advantage of the deplorable ignorance of the masses who 
 have supported them. What that ignorance is may be 
 gathered from the incident that, when the troubles of 1893 
 occurred, the mot tfordrew&s given out that the miners of 
 the Borinage were to go into Charleroi to bring back 
 Universal Suffrage. Accordingly, each woman provided 
 herself with a bag or a basket, and when they reached 
 Charleroi they replied, to those who asked them why they 
 carried this article, that ' it was to bring back the S. U.' 
 
 The recognized leaders of the Socialist party are 
 Messrs. Vandervelde, Lorand, and Anseele. Of these 
 M. Vandervelde, long considered the leading orator in 
 the Chamber, has been already mentioned. That he is 
 not devoid of caution was shown in 1899, when he 
 arrested the development of the Socialist outbreak with 
 the caustic remark that the revolvers of his followers 
 would be of little avail against the Mausers of the Garde 
 Civique. M. Lorand is a good debater, but as he is 
 opposed to everything, he is a destructive and not a 
 creative politician. M. Anseele is the most extreme of 
 all the Socialist deputies. His harangues indicate the 
 man of action rather than the orator. He has more of 
 the stuff of a mob-leader, if acts were substituted for 
 words, than either of his colleagues. 
 
 33 D 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 At the same time there are reasons for thinking that 
 the worst danger from Socialism in Belgium has passed 
 by, not because the Socialist programme has undergone 
 any change, but because safeguards have been provided 
 against its realization. These are of two kinds. In the 
 Chamber itself the return of the Liberal party in con- 
 siderably increased numbers, which places it on an 
 equality with the Socialists, and with the addition of 
 several new men of undoubted ability and promise, as the 
 result of the 1900 election, has imposed some restraint on 
 the Socialist members. The Liberals operate to some 
 extent as a brake on the extreme violence of the most 
 advanced section of the Chamber. The presence of gifted 
 orators, such as M. Paul Hymans and M. Huojomans have 
 proved themselves to be, imposes a limit to the authority 
 of M. Vandervelde, whose influence through the fervour 
 of his language was felt even by his opponents. The 
 second safeguard is of a more definite character. In 
 1892-3, when the outbreak of Socialism was most violent, 
 the forces at the disposal of the authorities were insuf- 
 ficient, and if its leaders had realized the weakness and 
 unpreparedness of the Government at that moment a 
 revolution might have been brought to a temporarily 
 successful issue. Warned by this experience, the Govern- 
 ment determined not to be caught napping again, and in 
 the following year it organized the Garde Civique. This 
 step was tantamount to arming the bourgeois class in its 
 own self-defence. There is no doubt whatever that this 
 body of armed citizens would, on any serious occasion 
 arising, deal promptly and resolutely with all rioters in 
 the chief cities. It may be compared to the force of 
 special constables organized in London on any great 
 emergency, with this important difference, that its 
 members are armed with rifles and bayonets instead of 
 staves. The recent addition to the army of 15,000 pro- 
 fessional or long-service soldiers as volunteers will add 
 greatly to the trustworthiness of the army in times of 
 civil disturbance, and effectually dispel the growing 
 
 34 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Socialist hope that the youthful conscripts would not fire 
 upon them. 
 
 It is safe to say, none the less, that the Belgian Con- 
 stitution has answered its main object, which was to keep 
 Flemings and Walloons joined together in one State, 
 and to ensure that its form of government should be a 
 hereditary monarchy. The country has been exceedingly 
 fortunate in weathering both internal and external perils 
 during three quarters of a century, and the one serious 
 danger that has revealed itself from Socialism is less 
 acute than it was a few years ago. The praise that has 
 been lavished upon it by the public men of Belgium, read 
 in the light of history, does not appear ill-deserved or ex- 
 cessive. The revision of 1893-4 removed some doubtful 
 points and added new clauses to meet fresh circumstances. 
 Even if the laws applying to the discovery and manifesta- 
 tion of public opinion have to be further modified at 
 some future date, by the abolition of the plural vote and 
 the adoption of universal suffrage, the Constitution 
 would not need any alteration so long as Belgium remains 
 ' a constitutional and hereditary kingdom.' 
 
 35 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE COURT AND SOCIETY 
 
 The Court of Belgium, although it was created under 
 what might almost be called popular influences, has 
 established as severe an etiquette as exists at larger and 
 older courts with historical associations and an inherited 
 ceremonial. This tendency was certainly increased 
 under the influence of the two successive queens, Marie 
 Louise of the house of Orleans, and Marie Henriette of 
 that of Hapsburg. The first King was a great upholder 
 of the monarchical dignity, and, during a long period of 
 his reign, showed it by keeping himself in a state of 
 seclusion from his Ministers. He was never easily ac- 
 cessible to any one. Such a charge cannot be brought 
 against his son, King Leopold II., who is sometimes 
 accused of being too easily accessible, because he wishes 
 to see men with his own eyes, and to judge them and 
 the public questions with which they are connected for 
 himself. But, notwithstanding this personal condescen- 
 sion, the regulation of Court ceremonial has been just as 
 strict under the Second Leopold as under the First. 
 
 The seat of the Belgian Court is the Palace of Brussels, 
 facing the park, at the opposite extremity of which stand 
 the ' Palais de la Nation ' and some of the Government 
 offices. Despite its plain exterior, its interior is bright 
 and attractive, and the throne-room is one of the finest 
 in Europe. The palace was built in the middle of the 
 eighteenth century by the Austrian Archduchess Marie 
 
 36 
 
;^ 
 
 1 
 
 ■i 
 
 
 i 
 
 BRUSSELS — THE MAISON DU ROI. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Christine. The old palace of Brussels, known either as 
 the Castle of Caudenberg or as the Palace of Brabant, in 
 which the Duchess of Parma received the celebrated 
 Protest of the Beggars, was destroyed by fire in 1731. 
 It occupied the ground now covered by the Place Royale, 
 and its extensive grounds included the site of the present 
 palace, the park, and much of the boulevards. Prince 
 Charles of Lorraine, during his long governorship, resided 
 in the Palais de Nassau, the residence of William of 
 Orange, which has now been converted into the record 
 office, library, and museum of modern pictures. During 
 the Dutch regime the present Palace of Brussels was occu- 
 pied by the Prince of Orange. At present the palace is 
 flanked on one side by the somewhat unsightly building 
 which was formerly the residence of the D'Assche family, 
 but which is now used as the office of the Civil List, the 
 rooms and stables of the guard intervening between 
 the two buildings. At the other end of the facade is 
 the Hotel Bellevue, the proximity of which is certainly 
 incongruous with the dignity of a palace. It was con- 
 structed at the same time as the palace under a favourable 
 lease, granted by the Empress Maria Theresa, and in 
 external aspect harmonizes with the palace. An ar- 
 rangement for the acquisition of this hotel has recently 
 been made on behalf of the King of the Belgians. It 
 has thus become possible to extend the front of the 
 palace from the old Hotel d'Assche to the corner of 
 the Rue Royale, which will allow of the expansion of 
 the existing palace into one of the finest royal residences 
 in Europe. A law was passed in the summer of 1903 
 for the necessary appropriation of land, including a 
 portion of the Park. 
 
 The Brussels palace is used as the official headquarters 
 of the Sovereign, rather than as a residence for the King. 
 The Court receptions at the New Year, and all Royal 
 banquets or other entertainments, are held there, and the 
 official work of the King, in his dual capacity of Belgian 
 ruler and Sovereign of the Congo State, is performed in 
 37 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 this building. The Court officials — the Court Grand 
 Marshal, the King's Private Secretary, and .the Superin- 
 tendent of the Civil List — are also located in the palace. 
 But the residence of the Royal Family is at the chateau of 
 Laeken, which lies in a fine park to the north of Brussels, 
 and about four miles from the palace. The old chateau , 
 which was a favourite residence of the First Napoleon, 
 and which was made historically famous as the place 
 from which he dated the order for the Russian campaign, 
 was destroyed by fire in 1889, though it was soon rebuilt 
 on the same spot. Laeken is more remarkable for its 
 orangery and glass-houses than for the chateau itself, 
 although the new additions to the main building may in 
 a few years alter this description. In the lifetime of the 
 late Queen of the Belgians, the two garden-parties given 
 at Laeken always marked the close of the Brussels season. 
 One of the most popular excursions of the Brussels 
 citizens at the end of the summer is the visit to the 
 Laeken conservatories and gardens, which are opened 
 to the public for a certain number of days after the 
 Court has gone into the country to Spa or Ostend. There 
 are reports that it is proposed to add considerably to the 
 size of the chateau at Laeken, but its charm will always 
 be its rural position on the verge of a great city. 
 
 Other Royal residences in Belgium are the Royal chalet 
 at Ostend, the late Queen's villa at Spa, and the chateau 
 of Ciergnon. Of these only the first is in regular use, 
 and it is the King's favourite summer residence. The 
 villa at Spa was left by the Queen to the controller of 
 her household, and has ceased to be a Royal residence. 
 A new Royal residence is being built at Ostend, and when 
 it is completed the old chalet will be devoted to some 
 public use. The chateau of Ciergnon, beautifully situated 
 on the Lesse, has not been occupied for many years, but 
 its situation in close proximity to the Royal preserves at 
 Villers will make it a favourite residence again whenever 
 the Sovereign happens to be fond of sport. The present 
 King, unlike his father, has never taken any interest in 
 
 3* 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 covert or any other shooting. The Comte de Flandre, 
 the King's only brother, has a fine palace in the Rue de 
 la Regence, facing the Gallery of Old Masters, and also 
 the Chateau des Amerois, with large coverts and wild 
 boar shooting, in the Ardennes, close to the French 
 frontier. His son, Prince Albert, heir-presumptive to 
 the Belgian throne, occupies a house in one of the 
 fashionable squares, and has latterly used Ciergnon as a 
 country seat. 
 
 Society in Brussels is divided into several clearly dis- 
 tinguishable groups. There are, first of all, the few 
 representatives left of the old Netherlands nobility, with 
 their pedigrees and papers dating back to the Crusades 
 and the founding of the order of the Golden Fleece in 
 the Burgundian epoch. These families, restricting the 
 list to those who have preserved their ancient importance, 
 are those of De Ligne, D'Arenberg, Chimay, Croy, 
 Merode, D'Assche, and Lalaing. Of these families Be 
 Ligne and D'Arenberg are more Austrian in the first 
 case and German in the second than Belgian. The 
 Prince de Ligne maintains a house in Brussels, the 
 famous park at Beloeil, which is the cradle of his race, 
 and a chateau de chasse in the Ardennes ; but his palace 
 is in Vienna, and his titles and honours are Imperial and 
 Austrian. The Duke D'Arenberg represents in the 
 female line the German family of his name, also a branch 
 of the Croys, and still a third of the De La Marcks of 
 the Ardennes, but in the male line he is a De Ligne. His 
 favourite residences are in Germany, and his chief func- 
 tions are those of an officer of the Garde du Corps. But 
 he still keeps up a country place at Aerschot, and his 
 residence at Brussels is the most famous private hotel or 
 palace in the city, and was formerly well known to 
 tourists for its picture gallery, but this has lately been 
 removed to Germany. The Hotel D'Arenberg stands 
 above the little square called the Petit Sablon. It is 
 surrounded for the greater part by a high wall, which 
 effectually conceals its extensive and well-wooded garden, 
 
 39 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 in which there are several ponds. Part of the old building 
 was destroyed in the fire of 1889, but the wing then 
 saved, which represented the residence of the famous 
 and splendour-loving Count Egmont, has lately been 
 demolished and rebuilt. A little further up the Rue 
 des Petits Carmes was the Hotel Culembourg, in which 
 the famous Oath of the Beggars was taken in 1566. 
 It has long been demolished, and the new barracks of 
 the Grenadiers now stand on the spot which was formerly 
 occupied by a convent, and afterwards by a prison. 
 There have of late years been repeated rumours that 
 the present Duke D'Arenberg contemplates selling his 
 Brussels residence to the town, which is desirous of 
 making some improvements in this quarter. It is pro- 
 bable that sooner or later this scheme will be carried 
 out. 
 
 The five other families in the list are more exclusively 
 Belgian than the two great houses just named, which 
 have their seats in other countries as well. They have 
 not merely their estates in the country, but the careers 
 of many of the scions of these families lie in its public 
 service. They have held all the chief posts in the 
 Government or the diplomatic service of the country. 
 A Count de Merode has been Prime Minister, and 
 his grandfather was put forward as eligible for the 
 office of first Belgian King or President in 1830. 
 Prince de Carignan-Chimay was long Foreign Minister ; 
 and Count de Lalaing has just been appointed Minister 
 in London. Others have proved that they are worthy 
 descendants of the men whose names figured in the first 
 list of the Golden Fleece. This small and exclusive set 
 stands at the head of Belgian society. 
 
 Other clear social divisions are composed of the 
 officials, the haute finance, literature, and artists. Political 
 personages enjoy no special consideration socially on 
 account of their being members of the Legislature : in- 
 deed, it is rather the reverse. The majority of them are 
 regarded as persons requiring or seeking emolument; 
 
 40 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 those whose material prosperity is beyond doubt are held 
 in some way to diminish their own importance by be- 
 coming Deputies. There are, of course, a few exceptions 
 to this rule, as, for instance, in the case of M. Woeste, 
 who is regarded by the Catholic party as sacrificing his 
 own convenience for the benefit of the cause. These 
 remarks do not apply either to the Senators, who are 
 unpaid, conduct their proceedings in a dignified manner, 
 and have comparatively little legislative work to occupy 
 their time and attention. 
 
 It is very different with the permanent officials of the 
 great departments. Employment in the Cabinets or 
 Secretariats of the chief offices is much sought for, and 
 considerable social influence and position are needed to 
 obtain admission into them. The permanent officials of 
 Brussels are, therefore, a highly representative class, and 
 contain in their ranks some of the best ability in the 
 country. A leading English statesman once declared 
 that the real rulers of England were the permanent 
 officials. This remark might be applied with equal force 
 to Belgium, in the sense that the officials, if not rulers, 
 are the directors and manipulators of the Administration. 
 An official who has risen to be head of a department has 
 therefore a recognized place in society, and is often a 
 welcome guest in the most exclusive set, where the finan- 
 cial magnate could never gain admission. It is certainly 
 curious and not easily to be explained why this is so, but 
 there is no disputing the fact that the bureaucrat occupies 
 a superior place in the social scale to members of the 
 bar and men of letters or art. The explanation is perhaps 
 to be found in the wish to know what is going on, and 
 the permanent official is supposed to be the depository 
 of many secrets. But it is none the less the fact that, as 
 an observant foreign member of the corps diplomatique at 
 Brussels once said to the present writer, ' At the dinners 
 of the most exclusive families there will always be one 
 official.' 
 
 Members of the bar, judges, and officers of the army, 
 4i 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 as such, do not by virtue of their rank command the 
 recognition that they receive in other countries. This 
 is equally true of writers, artists, and musicians. The 
 Belgians are not great readers, and perhaps this explains 
 why literature as a profession does not stand as high in 
 their estimation as it ought to do. Music and painting 
 are far more appreciated, and Belgians will even get 
 enthusiastic about the works of their compatriots in these 
 arts when the prose of the most graceful writer is practi- 
 cally ignored outside his own comparatively small circle. 
 But the painter or musician, however admired and 
 appreciated, does not effect an entrance into society by 
 right of his talent. As the consequence of this the 
 successful painter generally quits Brussels for Paris, 
 where all doors are opened to him, and the successful 
 musician becomes cosmopolitan, spending the greater 
 portion of his year in the capitals of Europe and even 
 of America. 
 
 The members of the haute finance form another set, or 
 almost a colony, in the Belgian capital. Some of the 
 largest fortunes in Europe commenced in a very small 
 and humble way at Brussels. The threads of many 
 important undertakings might be traced to a single reel 
 in that city. Some of the finest houses on the boulevards 
 and in the avenues are occupied by men whose names 
 are pillars of strength in the stock exchanges of Europe. 
 The majority of these financiers are Jews, not Belgians, 
 and their predominance in the world of finance almost 
 revives the time in the great age of Flemish prosperity, 
 when ' only Jews and Lombards were allowed to deal in 
 money.' As Belgium is essentially a business country, 
 it naturally follows that the financial magnates of 
 Brussels stand high in society. Their establishments are 
 the best appointed, their carriages and horses are the 
 most showy, and their dinners and entertainments the 
 choicest and most sought after in Brussels. Their in- 
 fluence is the greatest in the land — greater than that of 
 the permanent officials, whose means are limited. But 
 
 42 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 there are some circles into which all their wealth will not 
 gain them admission, and among the mass of the bour- 
 geois classes there is felt for them a strong and increasing 
 dislike, which may one day develop dangerous tendencies. 
 It is quite a common complaint to hear Belgian journa- 
 lists and politicians declare that their country is being 
 exploited by the Jews. There is, of course, no real 
 truth in this assertion, but certainly the Jews are not 
 popular among the Catholics. 
 
 In addition to Brussels society, the three important 
 cities Antwerp, Liege, and Ghent have social sets of 
 their own, each marked by special features and charac- 
 teristics. At Antwerp the rich merchants who inhabit 
 the fine mansions along the avenues that have been laid 
 out over the site of the old enceinte entertain hospitably, 
 and give the tone to the life and fashion of the place. 
 The society is mainly Flemish, and employs that language 
 in familiar conversation. At Ghent and Liege the social 
 magnates are manufacturers rather than merchants. At 
 Ghent, where society is more exclusively Flemish than at 
 Antwerp, there are still to be seen the residences of some 
 of the old Flemish families which constituted the civic 
 nobility of the cities of Flanders, and in which the digni- 
 ties of sheriff and burgomaster had become hereditary. 
 The governors of the Flemish provinces are carefully 
 selected from their ranks, and such names as Liedekerke, 
 Ryhove, and Van Kerckove preserve to the present age 
 families that were prominent in the days of the Arteveldes. 
 At Liege society is just as pronounced from the Walloon 
 point of view. Here French is the language of society, 
 and Flemish is never heard. The great source of wealth 
 is manufacture, and the workshops which have turned 
 Seraing and Liege itself into a vast congeries of chimneys 
 and furnaces support a considerable society in a state of 
 luxury. At Liege, unlike Ghent and Antwerp, a large 
 number of the wealthy residents have villas and country 
 houses outside the city, and consequently the streets of 
 Lidge do not present long rows of fine houses as at 
 
 43 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Antwerp. On the other hand, the surrounding hills 
 which make the Liege panorama so fine are dotted at 
 frequent intervals with fine suburban residences in charm- 
 ing gardens. The prosperity of Liege is in no way 
 behind its western rivals, and Walloon society is quite 
 as gay and hospitable as that of Flanders. It is said, 
 however, that there is an increasing tendency among 
 those who have made their fortunes or who have retired 
 from the active direction of their business concerns to 
 migrate to Brussels, and to settle down in the capital, 
 where the attractions are undeniably greater. 
 
 Speaking generally, society throughout Belgium is con- 
 trolled by local considerations, and is even in the capital 
 not comprehensive of several sections of the community. 
 Class keeps to class, profession to profession, interest to 
 interest. There is the society of Brussels, which is partly 
 noble, partly official, and partly financial. It has not yet 
 assimilated literary, artistic, or even political elements. 
 In the other great cities it is exclusively commercial and 
 industrial. The Court life of Brussels is not of sufficient 
 activity to provide an instrument for the fusion of classes. 
 The occasions when the palace opens its doors are few. 
 The formal receptions show the invited in groups, and in 
 groups they remain. The State banquets are given to 
 definite bodies — the Senate or the Chamber. The less 
 formal dinners have as their motive some business nego- 
 tiation, or the discussion of an external question, which 
 may relate to a railway in Africa or a concession in 
 China. 
 
 On the whole, however, society in Brussels manages to 
 enjoy itself, and if the vie i?itime is simpler than in London 
 or Paris, the social intercourse is on a sufficiently active 
 scale to make the Brussels season a very gay one. It 
 commences with the close of autumn and the return of 
 the families from their holidays at the seaside or the 
 country. A country trip, whether it lasts for three months, 
 as with the leisured class, or for only a fortnight, as with 
 the well-to-do shopkeeper, is regarded as an indispensable 
 
 44 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 condition of existence. All have returned by November, 
 and the opera season has begun a month earlier, and 
 continues until the following June. Lent imposes a 
 break on the round of festivities, and the very wealthy 
 flit to the Riviera or the Cote d'Azur, as it is generally 
 called in Belgium. After Easter the season reopens with 
 renewed fervour for a short period. The drives down 
 the Avenue Louise to the Bois de la Cambre, the gallops 
 round the sinuous tracks made for horsemen between the 
 alleys of lofty limes and sycamores, become more crowded, 
 and are often continued further afield through the forest 
 of Soignies to Groenendael or Tervueren. Of late years 
 horse-racing has taken a firm hold on the public fancy, 
 and the race-meetings in the Bois are frequented as much 
 by the populace, which goes there by train or tram, as 
 by society, which has its own carriages and motor-cars. 
 The popularity of the race-meeting, which was at first 
 looked at askance by society, furnishes evidence of the 
 scarcity of outdoor amusements. As the summer advances 
 the outdoor concerts of the Vauxhall Gardens, which 
 form part of the park, are substituted for the opera, and 
 for the good people of Brussels, unable to prolong their 
 villegiature beyond a fixed period, they provide an agree- 
 able and never-failing attraction. Society has taken up 
 in turn croquet, lawn-tennis, and ping-pong; but as its 
 most favourite role is to find amusement without exertion, 
 these games have only a fleeting vogue and success. 
 
 45 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 BURGHER LIFE IN BRUSSELS 
 
 The typical life of the Belgian people is perhaps to be 
 found best revealed in the household of the Brussels 
 citizen. Leaving aside the very small stratum of what 
 may be called Society, the mode of life among the great 
 body of citizens, above the working classes, is very 
 much the same, notwithstanding differences of income, 
 occupation, and education. Whether the head of the 
 household be a lawyer or a trader, a manufacturer 
 or a shopkeeper, who is well enough off to live away 
 from his shop, there is less class difference, so far as 
 the daily routine of life goes, than would be found in 
 any other European community. The explanation is, 
 that at heart the Belgians are a simple people, whose 
 chief characteristic, strengthened by harsh experience 
 for many generations, is thrift. There is a complete 
 absence of all ostentatious display. It would be as 
 impossible to estimate a man's income from the interior 
 of his house as it would be to assign his profession or 
 business from his appearance in the street. This appear- 
 ance of equality is very largely due to the two not 
 disconnected facts, that the first object with every 
 Brussels citizen is to become proprietor of his own house, 
 and that the houses of Brussels are built very much 
 after the same pattern. This, of course, does not apply 
 to the fashionable boulevards or the Avenue Louise, 
 but in all the by-streets and suburbs now spreading 
 
 46 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 out in every direction, houses are being run up, lofty 
 and narrow, all seemingly fashioned by the same archi- 
 tect. The Belgians have an aversion to being mere 
 tenants, regarding the payment of rent as so much loss 
 of money ; and a house, or the money to purchase one, 
 is considered the best kind of dot that a young woman 
 can bring to her husband. The price of a house con- 
 taining seven rooms, besides kitchen, runs from a thousand 
 pounds in the fashionable suburbs like St. Gilles, to 
 five hundred in the outer suburbs like Etterbeck. There 
 is, in addition, a tax of ten per cent, payable to the 
 commune, with a share to the State, on the conclusion 
 of the purchase. Having paid the price, the proprietor 
 is practically relieved from all annual payments, for 
 the taxes to the commune are exceedingly low, and do 
 not amount to more than six per cent, on the estimated 
 rent, which is about one-eleventh of the purchase sum. 
 Ten per cent, will pay the commune, the supply of 
 water, and that of gas as well, and for this reason 
 Brussels has been called the paradise of the small 
 householder. There is no doubt that the free possession 
 of a house lies at the root of the Belgian citizen's 
 comfort, and explains how, with a very small income, 
 he can occupy a decent house which externally does 
 not differ materially from one the occupant of which 
 may have ten times his income. 
 
 It is only on entering these houses that some idea can 
 be formed of the status of the occupant. Among those 
 families whose income is not in proportion to the 
 exterior of their residence, the interior will reveal the 
 fact by its bareness and absence of decoration, whereas 
 those who are comfortably off will expend large sums 
 on painting and gilding. The Belgians are noted for 
 their good taste in the way they decorate the inside 
 of their houses, and as the house is really theirs, they 
 do not mind spending very considerable sums in this 
 way. It is the same with the furniture, which is always 
 as good as the owner can afford in the reception-rooms. 
 
 47 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Every Belgian house has what may be called its show- 
 rooms, and their contents will give the clue at once 
 to the degree of prosperity the family has attained. 
 There may be a thousand pounds' worth of furniture 
 and objets (Fart in the room, or there may be only ten 
 pounds' worth. In either case it is the best that the 
 owner can show. 
 
 There is one thing that these rooms have in common, 
 no matter what the position of the occupant, and that 
 is the air of being rarely used. It is more like the 
 model-room into which the furniture provider invites 
 his customer for the purpose of deciding the style in 
 which he proposes to furnish, than an actual living-room. 
 The Belgian's first investment is to buy his house, and 
 his second is to lay in a stock of furniture. As both 
 are intended not merely to last a lifetime, but to be 
 handed down in the family, the most scrupulous care 
 is taken of every article. A shade of anxiety may be 
 traced on the worthy owner's face if a visitor moves in 
 a chair or brushes past a table. Sometimes these good 
 people let off a floor, often to English visitors, with the 
 view of saving something for a holiday, or through some 
 needed economy ; and if the rooms are well furnished, 
 the urgent request is made not to spoil the furniture 
 ('z'/ tie faut pas alnmer les tumbles'), I knew of a case 
 where the iteration of this injunction became so irksome 
 that the English tenants left twenty-four hours after 
 entry, because they were afraid to sit on the chairs. 
 
 Into the regular living-rooms no stranger is allowed to 
 penetrate, but the casual opportunities afforded during 
 long residence in the country enable one to see that 
 they are very bare and plain. As a rule, the dining- 
 room is in close proximity to the kitchen, so that the 
 necessary domestic service is reduced to a minimum. 
 There is, of course, in most houses a dining-room 
 upstairs, but this is only used on the very rare occasions 
 when an entertainment of some sort is given. The 
 Belgians are not prone to the display of much hospitality 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 among themselves. They do not dine often at one 
 another's houses. The members of the same family 
 meet occasionally, but, as a rule, their dinners in common 
 are to celebrate some family event, such as a marriage, 
 or an engagement, or a first communion. The case is 
 practically unknown of taking a friend home to have 
 'pot-luck.' To do so would seriously disconcert the 
 lady of the house, who is probably in neglige until she 
 goes for her afternoon promenade. 
 
 The life of the house, like the life of the whole 
 country, begins at an early hour. By eight o'clock, probably 
 every family in Brussels will have finished their break- 
 fast, and if they are near the markets in the lower town 
 or in the communes, each of which has its market, they 
 will have purchased their provisions as well. This early 
 rising is indispensable, as all the offices, and in fact the 
 whole business of the city, commence at nine punctually. 
 This means that the person engaged must leave his 
 house between eight and half-past, in accordance with 
 the distance he has to travel ; but as there are electric 
 trams now in all directions, the journey, from even the 
 outer suburbs, can generally be accomplished with much 
 rapidity. The Belgians take only a light breakfast, which 
 is almost universally cafe mi lait, rolls and butter ; but of 
 late years the doctors have been recommending a more 
 substantial meal after the English fashion. Those who 
 are not too pressed in the morning by their occupations 
 are now adding to their breakfast one or two dishes, but 
 such luxuries, as they are called, are taken by but a very 
 small number of persons. 
 
 The offices close at twelve, and all business is stopped 
 at that hour for the purpose of dining. The men, who 
 have rushed off in the morning to be at their posts 
 in good time, rush back to their houses at a still greater 
 speed to enjoy the chief meal of the day. By this time 
 the stimulating effect of the morning coffee has long 
 worn off, and the bread-winners are simply faint and 
 famishing. It is perilous to protract an interview with 
 
 49 e 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 a Belgian official when the clock hand points to ten 
 minutes to twelve. Politeness will scarcely prevent his 
 displaying the anxiety and displeasure with which he 
 begins to apprehend that some minutes of his cherished 
 two hours are going to be poached from him. The best 
 business in the country is done before eleven o'clock in 
 the morning. After that hour it is no exaggeration to say 
 that the needs of exhausted nature begin to assert them- 
 selves. 
 
 The midday meal, which commences, as a general 
 rule, at half-past twelve, is the most substantial of the 
 whole day. It is always a hot repast and always 
 opens with a soup. The Belgians are hearty, not to 
 say great, eaters, and it takes a good hour to allay their 
 hunger. The general drink is beer — wine is drunk rarely 
 and sparingly — and a cup of black coffee is taken at the 
 end as a digestive rather than as a stimulant, and then 
 the journey is made back to the office or business, which 
 resumes work at two o'clock. The work of the afternoon 
 is done more leisurely than that of the morning, and 
 chiefly consists of the correspondence resulting out of 
 the transactions of the morning. The offices work late, 
 always till six, and often till seven or after. Then the more 
 or less w T eary toiler returns home to his supper, which is a 
 simple meal, probably the remains of the dinner, assisted 
 with something purchased on the way back from a 
 cfiarcutier. Having to get up so early, the Brussels 
 citizen goes to bed in good time. Very soon after nine 
 o'clock all the lights will be out in the ordinary house- 
 hold five nights out of the seven. The Belgian is not a 
 reader ; the morning and evening newspapers satisfy 
 all his wants in that direction; hence there is nothing 
 to keep him from his w T ell-earned repose. 
 
 The life au restaurant is a far less marked feature in 
 Brussels than in Paris. It is rather expensive, even at 
 the cheapest restaurants, and the family man will only 
 indulge in it occasionally. Those whose work lies in the 
 lower town, where the bourse and business offices are, 
 
 5° 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 sometimes are obliged to take their dinner in one of 
 the numerous second-class restaurants off the Boulevard 
 Anspach. In any of these a hot plat, with beer and 
 coffee afterwards, can be obtained for a franc and a half. 
 In the same quarter of the town, but chiefly round the 
 Grand Place and the square of the Monnaie theatre, 
 are some of the first restaurants in the city : the Filet 
 de Sole, the Riche, the Etoile, no longer what it was 
 in the reign of M. Dot, the Gigot de Mouton, etc. 
 These are not so well known to the tourist as those 
 in the upper town, e.g. Freres Provencaux, Regence, 
 Globe, and Strobbe, the last-named in the Avenue 
 Louise. Fashion and excellence vary, suddenly and 
 without apparent reason ; but perhaps the best cooking 
 in Brussels is now to be had at the Filet de Sole and 
 the Provencaux, while at the Globe, which is far less 
 expensive than either, the cuisine is surprisingly good. 
 But if the Brussels paterfamilias does not habitually 
 patronize the restaurant, he makes a great effort to dine 
 out on Sunday evening, and to take the grown-up 
 members of his family with him. He may not, in the 
 majority of cases, be able to do this more than once a 
 month, but during the summer he will probably patronize 
 every week one or other of the cafes encircling the 
 Bois de la Cambre, and take his Sunday supper with his 
 family al fresco. Even if the repast is limited to one 
 dish for himself and his wife, and tartines or gauffres 
 for the children, he will sit there the whole evening 
 drinking not immoderately light beer, such as gueuze 
 lambeck or bock. It is a significant indication of the 
 prevalence of the same views of life throughout the 
 nation, that while the humble citizen is enjoying himself in 
 the less pretentious cafes, Society is doing very much the 
 same thing on the terrace of the fashionable Laiterie in 
 the Bois, or farther off at Groenendael, which is reached 
 by a delightful drive through part of the old forest of 
 Soignies. Then the concerts given in the Vauxhall 
 Gardens by the orchestra of the opera are an additional 
 
 5i 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 attraction, and on Sundays in particular bring together a 
 large audience outside the enclosure. To get an idea of 
 the real life of Brussels, one must go about the boule- 
 vards and to the popular resorts on Sunday evenings. 
 Then the people can be seen enjoying themselves in their 
 own quiet, undemonstrative way, and if there is some 
 music going on their contentment is complete. A band 
 is maintained by the municipality, and plays daily in the 
 park facing the palace. Military bands also play there 
 occasionally, and in the Bois. The band of the regiment 
 of Guides is first-rate and has been heard in London 
 and Paris. 
 
 One of the most marked predilections of the Belgian 
 character is his enthusiasm for music. Most nations are 
 ruled by laws, but it would be easier to govern the 
 Belgians by music. Every commune, not merely in 
 Brussels but throughout Belgium, has its band or 
 sytnphonie, and most of those of any size or importance 
 have two, for politics come into the question. There will 
 be the Catholic Band and the Liberal Band, and even 
 the Socialists — with a programme destructive of every- 
 thing else that is national — conform to the popular 
 feeling, and march to the sound of drums and trumpets. 
 The chief or at least the most frequent occasion for the 
 public appearance of these bands is for the funeral of some 
 old or prominent resident, when the symphonie commwiale 
 will attend and lead the procession to the strains of the 
 Dead March. But in their own halls they always give 
 one or two concerts in the course of the year. 
 
 Bearing in mind this trait, it is not surprising that the 
 opera is exceedingly popular. The Theatre de la 
 Monnaie is an opera house, not a theatre, and is noted 
 for the excellence of its orchestra and general manage- 
 ment. It has a remarkably long season, beginning in 
 October and going on without interruption to May. A 
 very fair company is attached to the theatre, and occa- 
 sionally singers with a European reputation are engaged 
 for a time. This is especially the case after Easter. 
 
 52 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Formerly, debutantes of exceptional promise rather 
 inclined to the Monnaie as the scene for their first 
 appearance, because they might feel sure that, if they 
 had the least claim to merit, the appreciative Brussels 
 audience would give them a cordial greeting; and in 
 the event of failure none would be more indulgent. 
 
 Brussels is well known in the musical world for its 
 excellent College of Music, and, indeed, the facilities for 
 studying music in all its branches are great, and to be 
 enjoyed at a very reasonable charge, any Belgian 
 student of promise paying nothing at all. For this 
 reason many English and other foreign families take 
 up their residence in Brussels and send their sons or 
 daughters to the Conservatoire, in the Rue de la Regence, 
 where they have to pay only eight pounds a year. This 
 institution enjoys a State subsidy, and is more or less 
 under State direction, showing that the Government 
 recognizes the important place music has in the estima- 
 tion of the public. The concerts given by the students 
 at the end of each term, in connexion with the distribu- 
 tion of prizes, are attended by great crowds. Owing to 
 the large number of persons interested, tickets are only 
 distributed to the relatives of the students attending the 
 college. A large number of Conservatoire certificate- 
 holders have become subsequently famous in the ranks 
 of musicians and singers. Concerts are given occasion- 
 ally by Mons. Ysaye and other well-known performers 
 at the Salle d'Harmonie, at the bottom of the Montagne 
 de la Cour; and when that hall is too small for the 
 audience expected, in the large theatre called the Alham- 
 bra. There is not a house exclusively reserved for light 
 opera in Brussels, but the Monnaie has of late years 
 somewhat extended its programme from its old restricted 
 cultivation of the grand opera. 
 
 There are a considerable number of theatres in Brussels, 
 but not one that could be singled out as the theatre par 
 excellence of the city. A national theatre is, indeed, a 
 conspicuous want in the capital of Belgium, and it is 
 
 53 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 surprising that the State, which looks after most things, 
 has never thought of supplying one. In the upper town 
 there are only two theatres, both very small, viz. the 
 Pare, which is the most fashionable, and the Moliere, 
 near the Porte de Namur. In the lower town there are 
 half a dozen or more, none very distinguished, and all 
 devoted to light comedy. The drama is sometimes 
 to be seen at the Alhambra, and the Flemings have a 
 theatre of their own, in which a play of the great days 
 of old, like Thys van Uylenspiegd, sometimes creates a 
 sensation. As a rule, the theatres arouse but languid 
 interest, if compared with the opera, unless the latest 
 Paris success flits northward to amuse and attract the 
 Belgians for a short spell. 
 
 One of the most striking features of Brussels is the 
 long avenue, bordered with two rows of noble lime 
 trees, which forms the centre of the boulevard in the 
 upper town, forming a half-circle, from the top of the 
 Jardin Botanique to the Porte de Hal. These trees were 
 planted by Prince Charles of Lorraine, in the middle 
 of the eighteenth century. At that time the old walls 
 of the town followed the same curve as, and imme- 
 diately beyond, this avenue. After the war of indepen- 
 dence the walls were demolished and several new 
 quarters were constructed, such as the fine Rue de la Loi, 
 and the Quartier Leopold. Less than thirty years ago 
 the Avenue Louise was completed with its promenade 
 of one mile and a half under limes and chestnuts, its 
 ride for the same distance, and the broad carriage drive 
 between. Part of the roadway is occupied by the 
 electric tram-line. The avenue is bordered on each side 
 by fine modern houses, many of them in a blue grained 
 stone, which is very effective. Although these houses 
 are quite modem, and contain many improvements which 
 are not to be found in the houses of the older quarters 
 of the town, the Quartier Louise is not so fashionable 
 as the Quartier Leopold, On the other hand, the 
 former contains the bulk of the English colony, and its 
 
 54 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 fine gravel soil adds greatly to its reputation for healthi- 
 ness. The Avenue Louise terminates at the entrance 
 to the Bois, and it runs in a southerly direction, parallel 
 with the road that leads to Waterloo. Within the 
 last six years another fine avenue has been laid out in 
 an easterly direction to the Park of Tervueren. This 
 avenue is really a prolongation of the Rue de la Loi, 
 beyond the grounds of the Cinquantenaire, where the 
 last exhibition was held. It is about six miles long, 
 and a large number of handsome houses have been 
 constructed for a considerable distance along the 
 route. When all the arrangements have been completed, 
 it will be one of the finest drives in Brussels. There 
 is an electric tramway along the avenue to Tervueren, 
 which was once a Royal park. It is now occupied by 
 the Congo Museum, and excursions there are very 
 popular. There are some fine woods and several large 
 lakes in the grounds. The old castle of Tervueren was 
 the country seat of the Dukes of Brabant, and in the 
 Abbey Church hard by many of them were buried. 
 Halfway the route is intersected by the road to Groe- 
 nendael, which eventually arrives at the village of 
 Waterloo. 
 
 For a city which, with its suburbs, contains not much 
 over half a million people, Brussels covers an immense 
 extent of ground, and as the tendency of the inhabitants 
 is to move out into the suburbs, a rapid and cheap means 
 of conveyance is absolutely essential. This has been 
 provided in the admirable service of electric trams which 
 run in all directions. Without these it would be quite 
 impossible for so large a number of the Brussels popula- 
 tion to live at a distance of three or four miles, and even 
 more, from their work. No one who has enjoyed the 
 facilities of getting about in Brussels can have failed to 
 regret that London has not been provided with some 
 similar means of locomotion. Insular prejudice has 
 kept the antiquated horse-bus on the streets for twenty 
 years after the introduction of the electric tram on the 
 
 55 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Continent ; and even now that a change is practically 
 decided, the prejudice against laying down a tram-line 
 in the streets is so great that motor-omnibuses are to be 
 allowed to pursue their independent tracks at the discre- 
 tion of their drivers — expert or inexpert, cool or nervous 
 — through the crowded thoroughfares of London, in- 
 stead of adopting the simplest and safest system. The 
 Brussels trams work in a regular fashion, without inter- 
 fering in the least with the vehicular traffic. The driver 
 keeps his finger incessantly on the alarum-bell, and at 
 first the continuous noise offends the ear, especially in 
 the more narrow streets ; but this soon passes off, and the 
 ' kling-ting ' of the tram-car attracts no more notice than 
 the jar of the omnibus along the roads at home. Indeed, 
 the noise of a heavy waggon on the paved streets is far 
 greater and more difficult to get accustomed to. I re- 
 member when I first went to Brussels saying to a Belgian 
 gentleman that the Brussels streets were very noisy, 
 whereupon he rejoined : ' And so are London streets.' 
 It seemed to me at the time that he was quite mistaken, 
 and even that he had said something absurd ; but when 
 I returned to London some months later, I found the 
 noise far worse than the noisiest Brussels street, which 
 is evidence in its way of how thoroughly one gets 
 accustomed to whatever goes on around. 
 
 The main electric tram-line in Brussels is that which 
 connects the Northern and Southern railway-stations by 
 the upper boulevards. These stations are on the same level, 
 and between them run the broad boulevards of Anspach 
 and Hainaut. By this direct road, paved with asphalt, 
 the distance is about one mile and a half; whereas by 
 the route followed it is over five miles. At the Porte de 
 Namur and the Porte Louise there are cross routes, both 
 starting from Schaerbeek, and proceeding to either the 
 Bois or to Uccle, a suburb at the end of the Chaussee de 
 Charleroi. One of these routes passes in front of the 
 King's Palace, while the other continues across the 
 Place Royale, down the Rue de la Regence to the Palais 
 
 56 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 de Justice, and then up the Avenue Louise. Among 
 other important lines may be mentioned that down the 
 Rue de la Loi to the Cinquantenaire, and the line starting 
 at the back of the Chambers for Tervueren. There is 
 another line by the Chaussee of Waterloo to a point not 
 far from that village which is, however, four miles from 
 the Lion. Besides these regular tramways there are still 
 some horse-omnibus routes, a few running along rails, 
 between the upper and lower towns, as well as along the 
 lower boulevards; but during the summer of 1903 an 
 electric tram was laid between the two stations, and 
 continued to Laeken. The tram-lines are admirably 
 managed, and the fares are cheap. Each carriage is 
 divided into two compartments — first- and second-class — 
 and the platform at each end is also used for passengers. 
 There is a driver and a ticket-collector to each car ; but 
 when the train is made up of two carriages, as is 
 generally the case, there is only one driver. The fare in 
 the first-class is only a halfpenny more than the second, 
 and threepence will take one from the Bois to either of 
 the chief stations. The tram-cars have fixed stopping- 
 posts • but there are numerous arrets facultatifs which it 
 takes some time, however, for the stranger to discover. 
 The only drawback is that the platforms, especially in 
 fine weather, are often so crowded as to make it difficult 
 for fresh arrivals to get on to the tram or into the interior, 
 which may be empty. The Belgian passengers are not 
 very active in making way — it is not intentional rudeness 
 — and sometimes there is a little more hustling than is 
 pleasant or necessary. But anything of this nature in 
 Brussels pales into insignific ance beside the free-fight for 
 a seat on a London omnibus at a crowded hour of the 
 day. 
 
 The extreme facility for getting about in Brussels 
 by means of the trams is one of its chief attractions as 
 a place of residence. As has been said, it is the main 
 cause why the suburbs are spreading far out in every direc- 
 tion, so that there are now streets of houses leading to 
 
 57 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 places that only a few years ago were primitive country 
 villages. It is one of the privileges of the Belgian 
 citizen that he can generally fix his home in a suburb 
 which is almost the country, and where he can have his 
 vegetable garden and his poultry. 
 
 58 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE COMMERCIAL CLASSES OF ANTWERP 
 
 To a very great extent, the prosperity of Belgium is 
 revealed in the commercial activity of Antwerp, and the 
 commercial classes of that city form a community which 
 more nearly resembles our own than any other in 
 Belgium. The pursuit of over-sea commerce has broad- 
 ened the view of the merchants and shippers of the great 
 port on the Scheldt, and there is less of the communal, 
 or as we should say parochial, spirit about them than any 
 other section of the Belgian people. They are stationed 
 at Belgium's window to the outer world, and they realize 
 better than the rest of their countrymen the precise place 
 filled in it by their small country. They know, for instance, 
 that the affairs of this planet are not bound up in the 
 petty questions that engross the attention of professional 
 politicians in the Rue de la Loi. Consequently they 
 keep aloof from politics and concentrate their energies 
 on making money. 
 
 Of all the cities of Belgium there is not one with a 
 more interesting past, or a more prosperous present, than 
 Antwerp. When Bruges lost the premier place as a 
 centre of commerce through the closing of the Zwyn, 
 Antwerp stepped into its shoes, and in the time of 
 Charles V. it attained the zenith of its prosperity. Its 
 population exceeded 130,000, and some authorities have 
 put it as high as 200,000. Guicciardini, the Italian 
 envoy, at the beginning of the reign of Charles's son 
 
 59 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 and successor, Philip II., described in glowing terms its 
 commercial activity, which exceeded that of Venice. 
 Alva first arrested its prosperity and Parma dealt it 
 the final blow. The city which in 1566 could boast of 
 130,000 inhabitants, contained in 1589 no more than 
 55,000. A large proportion of its citizens and their 
 families had sought and found new homes in England. 
 After the cessation of the troubles of the sixteenth 
 century, Antwerp suffered from the closure of the Scheldt 
 by the Dutch, and when the French occupied Belgium in 
 1794, its population did not exceed 40,000. Its modern 
 prosperity began one hundred years ago, when Napoleon, 
 believing that he could make it the first port of the 
 Continent, assigned large sums for the excavation of two 
 docks and a line of quays. It did not, however, receive 
 the impulse which has made it one of the most important 
 ports of the Continent until 1863, when the freedom of 
 the Scheldt was obtained by purchase from the Dutch 
 Government. Since that occurrence the number of ships 
 making use of the port of Antwerp has trebled, while 
 their tonnage has increased fivefold. In consequence 
 of this increase Antwerp needs a larger port, and schemes 
 are under discussion for providing new docks and quays, 
 and even a fresh channel to the river, by means of what is 
 called the grande coupure, which would save a consider- 
 able bend in the Scheldt between Antwerp and the sea. 
 This large project has encountered quite as much opposi- 
 tion as it has received support, and is never likely to be 
 carried out. But there is no doubt that Antwerp does 
 not possess the accommodation it has need of, and that the 
 port will have to be enlarged. 
 
 If the traffic has outgrown the port, so also has the 
 population the town. When the Scheldt was freed in 
 1863, it had 125,000 people; it now contains 330,000. 
 Antwerp is, as is well known, a fortress of great strength, 
 but the town is surrounded by an enceinte, which is the 
 finest work of its kind in the world, except where the 
 river makes it unnecessary. The present enceinte was 
 
 60 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 finished in i860, and replaced the old one of the Middle 
 Ages. It signified a very large addition to the area of 
 the town, as the new enceinte is eight and a quarter miles 
 in length, as compared with the two and a half miles of 
 the old. But the growth of population has proved so 
 rapid that people say there is not room for the present 
 inhabitants. The large suburbs of Berchem and Borger- 
 hout absorbed by the new enceinte afforded some relief, 
 but the pressure within the town has again become 
 serious, and must, before many more years, be relieved 
 by some means or other. One proposal is to remove 
 the enceiiite. Another is to extend the town down the 
 Scheldt on land reclaimed by means of the grande 
 coupure. A third is to develop the land on the left 
 bank of the Scheldt and to connect it with the town on 
 the right bank, by several tunnels passing under the 
 river. It has never been forgotten locally, that Napoleon 
 considered the left bank of the river the preferable side, 
 and wished to found a town round the fine fort known as 
 the Tete de Flandre. 
 
 Antwerp, although it lies fifty-six miles up a river, 
 part of which might be called more appropriately an arm 
 of the sea, is a seaport open to the largest steamers. 
 The principal portion of its trade, therefore, is that of 
 transmitting and receiving merchandise. It is the gate 
 of Belgium from and to the oceans, for Ostend, its only 
 rival, is limited to the conveyance of passengers and of 
 light articles, such as vegetables and fruits, to and from 
 England. There is and never can be any serious rivalry 
 between the two places. Ostend is in communication 
 with Dover and the Thames, while Antwerp is in touch 
 with all the countries of the world. Shipping, therefore, 
 plays the preponderating role in the commercial life of 
 Antwerp, and it is certainly strange to find that notwith- 
 standing all their enterprise and industry, the Belgians 
 have practically no marine of their own. Almost the 
 whole of their trade is carried on in foreign vessels. 
 The only important exception is the line of steamers 
 
 61 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 plying to and from the Congo, which is subsidized by 
 the Congo Free State. These steamers were built at 
 Hoboken, three miles above Antwerp, on the Scheldt, 
 where the Cockerill firm of Seraing have a yard. State- 
 ments have frequently been made that this yard is to be 
 enlarged, and that shipbuilding is to be taken in hand 
 on a large scale, but up to the present nothing important 
 has been accomplished. There is, however, valid reason 
 to believe that something before long is to be done, and 
 a training-ship for young officers is being constructed. 
 
 Be that as it may, the present high prosperity of the 
 place has been reached without a Belgian marine, and, 
 as a matter of fact, the great bulk of its trade has been 
 carried on under the British flag. Of late German com- 
 petition has been creeping up, and makes a good show 
 in the port statistics, but it is still a long way behind 
 ours. In the agency business on shore it is different. 
 Not merely are there a great many more German firms 
 than English, but they are so numerous that they appear 
 almost as the equals of the Belgians. They are careful, 
 however, to screen their nationality as much as possible, 
 and as an instance of this it may be mentioned that they 
 do not claim the usual foreigner's exemption from service 
 in the Garde Civique. 
 
 Apart from the shipping interest, the Antwerp market 
 is one of the most important in Europe for several 
 articles of commerce. The prices of rubber and ivory 
 are practically regulated on the Continent by its quota- 
 tions. Antwerp has greatly benefited by the import of 
 caoutchouc or rubber from the Congo State. In 1902 
 the value of this raw material was estimated at five 
 million kilogrammes (5000 tons), sold at an average of 
 seven francs a kilo, or about ^1,500,000, and Antwerp 
 now ranks after Liverpool, but, of course, at a respectful 
 distance, in the rubber market. Coffee, hides, leather, 
 and timber are dealt in to very large amounts. The daily 
 transactions on the Bourse are very considerable, and the 
 activity displayed in the sale and purchase of securities 
 
 62 
 
ANTWERP — THE CATHEDRAL. 
 

 C r 
 
 k> 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 reveals the presence of a wealthy and enterprising business 
 class. It is here that the real stock exchange transac- 
 tions of the country are carried out. There are Bourses 
 at Brussels and the other large towns, but their business 
 is small in comparison with that of Antwerp, and they 
 generally follow its lead. The Bourse of Antwerp is a 
 fine building, constructed thirty years ago on the site of 
 the old edifice, which was burnt down in 1858. The 
 original Bourse, one of the finest Gothic buildings in the 
 country, was built in 1531 at the cost of an Antwerp 
 merchant, named Van der Beurse, who presented it to 
 his fellow-citizens as a meeting-place for merchants. It 
 is said that the word Bourse is derived from his name. 
 The magnitude of the commerce of Antwerp may be 
 gathered from the fact that Belgium's exports exceeded 
 129 millions sterling, and her imports were over 145 
 millions in 1902, and that so far as they were sea-borne, 
 nine-tenths of them passed through Antwerp. 
 
 The wealthier of the Antwerp merchants reside in fine 
 and attractive-looking houses that border the broad 
 boulevards laid out over the line of the ancient wall. 
 These houses are singularly bright, and many of them 
 are highly artistic. Unlike the Brussels mansion, which 
 is uniformly white, except in the new parts of the town 
 such as the Avenue Louise, the Antwerp residence is 
 generally brick of several colours, with bright green 
 wooden shutters, or volets. The boulevards form a 
 semicircle in the town extending from the fine new 
 picture gallery on the Place du Peuple in the south, to 
 the Grand Bassin in the north, and the centre is occupied 
 by gardens, decorated with statues, as well as by a 
 broad carriage- and tram-road. As the line of boulevard 
 extends for over three miles, the effect is impressive, 
 and it is certainly increased by contrast with the older 
 parts of the town where the streets are narrow and 
 tortuous. 
 
 The Antwerp merchant, probably on account of his 
 greater knowledge of and intercourse with the outer 
 
 63 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 world, is far more hospitable in his habits than any 
 other class in Belgium. He will invite a foreign visitor 
 to dinner, and he will get friends to meet him. He will 
 make it his object to reveal his own manner of life, and 
 what his class think on the social side of existence. He 
 likes to be a little ostentatious in his entertainment, and 
 to bring forth the best of his wines and his cigars. Nor is 
 this done by any exceptional effort, as is so often the case 
 in Brussels, when one cannot help feeling that any special 
 entertainment has only been provided by upsetting the 
 w r hole household. In Antwerp it is made perfectly clear 
 that the host is quite accustomed to receiving friends 
 and visitors in the intimacy of his family life ; it is an 
 every-day occurrence. In another point Antwerp society 
 leads the country, and that is in respect of conversation. 
 In other cities the conversation is very limited in the 
 range of subjects, being generally devoted to local or 
 family matters, but in Antwerp interest is taken in any 
 questions that may happen to attract the attention of the 
 world generally. No Belgians read much beyond the 
 newspapers, but the Antwerp citizen reads more than any 
 other Belgian. 
 
 If one wishes to get a good general impression of 
 Antwerp society, the place to go to is the Opera at the 
 Theatre Royal on Sunday afternoon. The house is 
 always packed. In the stalls, the boxes, and the parquet, 
 especially the last, which corresponds to our dress-circle, 
 may be seen the most prominent representatives of the 
 wealth and prosperity of Antwerp. As the opera season 
 is in the winter, the show of furs is imposing, and a 
 double row of carriages awaits to bear the representatives 
 of the city's plutocracy back to their homes. A very 
 similar scene is repeated at the Flemish Theatre in the 
 evening, but here the middle class of merchants and shop- 
 keepers is more in evidence. In both the scene suggests 
 a high order of comfort, and the possession of material 
 blessings, and speaks volumes for Flemish energy and 
 its results. It must be borne in mind that the Walloons 
 
 6 4 
 
A WOMAN OF ANTWERP IN GRANDE TOILETTE. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 have had no part in the building up of the modern 
 prosperity of Antwerp. It is altogether a Flemish 
 achievement, and Antwerp of the twentieth century 
 renews in a modern dress the life in Bruges of the 
 fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and of its own in the 
 first half of the sixteenth. 
 
 Reference has been made to the hospitality of the 
 Antwerp citizens in their own families. But entertain- 
 ment generally plays a large part in its daily life. There 
 are at Antwerp some of the best restaurants to be found 
 anywhere in Belgium, and at the principal hotel, the 
 St. Antoine, the ctiisine has a well-deserved reputation. 
 The civic entertainments are generally held in the large 
 hall of the Zoological Society on account of the number 
 of guests, and the only complaint that can be made 
 against them is that there are too many courses and that 
 they last too long. It is not at all unusual for a banquet 
 that commences at eight to reach the last line of the 
 menu only at midnight. These banquets bear some 
 resemblance to those at the Guildhall or Mansion House, 
 and the burgomaster and sheriffs (echevins) often attend 
 them in state. The present burgomaster, M. Van 
 Ryswyck, has long held that office, and is famous among 
 his countrymen for his oratorical gifts. His reputation 
 has not been gained without good justification for it. 
 
 In the Middle Ages the Belgian cities were dis- 
 tinguished from each other in the following distichs : — 
 ' Nobilibus Bruxella viris, Antwerpia nummis, Gan- 
 davum laqueis, formosis Bruga puellis, Lovanium doctis, 
 gaudet Mechlinia stultis' — which may be translated 
 thus : ' Brussels for its noblemen, Antwerp for its 
 moneyed men, Ghent for its neck-cords (referring to its 
 submission in 1540), Bruges for its pretty girls, Louvain 
 for its learned men, and Malines for its fools.' It is said 
 that Malines got this reputation because one night a 
 citizen declared that the cathedral was on fire, and all 
 his neighbours turned out to extinguish it, when after 
 many efforts they discovered that the fire was only the 
 
 6c F 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 moon shining through the open towers of St. Rombaud. 
 With regard to Antwerp, it may still be pronounced 
 famous ' for its moneyed men. 5 
 
 In speaking of Antwerp, it is impossible to forget that 
 there is another side to its life besides its commercial 
 character. It is a great fortress — the bulwark, as it has 
 been called, of Belgian freedom. When this statement 
 is made the minds of most people revert to the siege of 
 Antwerp in 1832, but the citadel which General Chasse' 
 defended so courageously against a French army twenty 
 times as numerous as his own force has long disappeared, 
 with the rest of the old fortifications, the old Scheldt 
 Gate on the Steen being the only survival of that period. 
 Antwerp, as a fortress, is quite as new as it is as a town. 
 The left bank is defended by the strong fort Tete de 
 Flandre, which might almost be regarded as a citadel, 
 and lower down the Scheldt are Fort Isabelle and Fort 
 Marie. These and the enceinte built round the town in 
 1859-60, supplemented by the small fort of Berchem, 
 constitute the inner defences of Antwerp. In their way 
 they are admirable, and the enceinte, with its wet ditch 
 and caponnieres thrown out to protect each of the seven 
 gates on the east and south sides of the rampart, is a 
 very remarkable work. The caponnieres mentioned are 
 used as the arsenals of the place. But these defences 
 are now out of date, or rather, they are reduced to a 
 second order of utility. They are useless to keep off the 
 fire of long-range artillery, but they provide an efficient 
 defence against any attack by infantry or cavalry. They 
 guarantee the rich city behind them against a coup de 
 main. Those persons who had lightly proposed to 
 remove the enceinte, so that the town may spread out, 
 have overlooked the fact that this would render possible 
 the capture of the city, and of the government which 
 presumably had found shelter therein, by a raid of the 
 invader's cavalry, notwithstanding that the forts surround- 
 ing the place were still keeping the foe at bay. Con- 
 sidering Antwerp in the light of a national refuge-place 
 
 66 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 an enceinte, therefore, is absolutely indispensable, and if 
 there is no other way of getting over the difficulty from 
 the increased population, a new one will have to be 
 constructed along a more advanced circumference. As 
 this must entail enormous expense and a corresponding 
 advance of the outlying forts in order to keep the new 
 portion of the town out of the range of the enemy's guns, 
 it is possible that some alternative plan will be adopted, 
 such as that of building a fresh town on the left bank. 
 
 In addition to the enceinte, the scheme of defence of 
 1859 provided for the construction of eight forts in a 
 semicircle, drawn about two miles in advance of the 
 enceinte. These forts commence on the north near 
 Wyngene, where the country that would be flooded in 
 war time ends, and terminate in the south near Hoboken. 
 In 1870 they were further strengthened by a new fort at 
 Merxem, and two redoubts. The increased range of 
 artillery soon showed that even these forts would not 
 save the city of Antwerp from destruction, as it could be 
 bombarded over their heads. 
 
 It was consequently decided in 1878 that a second 
 line of advanced forts should be built at a distance rang- 
 ing from six to nine miles from the enceifite. It was also 
 decided that these forts should number fifteen ; but after 
 five had been constructed, the fit of energy passed off, 
 and for years Antwerp has been left in a practically 
 defenceless state. In 1900, two more were taken in 
 hand with the view of protecting an uncovered gap of 
 fourteen miles in breadth on the Lierre. There still 
 remain eight missing forts to complete what was pro- 
 nounced to be necessary as long ago as 1878. Considering 
 the vital interests at stake, the apathy shown in dealing 
 with this matter is extraordinary and inexplicable. A 
 sum of ^600,000 has at last been voted for the comple- 
 tion of the missing forts. 
 
 In 1878, the defences of the left bank were also 
 improved. They then consisted of Fort St. Marie, 
 which, supplemented by the small fort of La Perle, and 
 
 67 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 the large Fort St. Philippe, guarded the river below 
 Antwerp. In the year named, the forts of Cruybeke 
 above Antwerp and of Zwyndrecht west of the town 
 were added, and the entrenched camp of the left bank is 
 even now considered fairly complete. What would be 
 the military requirements should a large town be created 
 on the left bank as well does not come at present under 
 the head of practical questions. 
 
 The commercial side of Antwerp somewhat obscures 
 its military role. The busy merchants who jostle one 
 another as they hasten through the Place de Meir, or the 
 Longue Rue Neuve, overshadow the large garrison that 
 is always present at Antwerp. But it is impossible to 
 overlook the fact that the one cause of its importance is 
 closely connected with the other. Antwerp is the large 
 and prosperous centre of commerce that it is, because it 
 is the bulwark, or, if not that, then the last ditch, of 
 Belgian independence. If there is a vigorous Belgian 
 nation in any part of the country, it is to be found at 
 Antwerp. Its commercial classes stand in the forefront 
 of the life of the country, and they represent its highest 
 form of patriotism. They are in great need of effectual 
 protection for their city, which justifies this digression on 
 the subject of the fortifications of Antwerp. 
 
 68 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 THE MINERS OF THE BORINAGE 
 
 One of the most remarkable centres of national life is 
 to be found in the coal-mining district known as ' le 
 Borinage,' which signifies the place of boring. Here is 
 to be found a state of society that does not exist in any 
 other part of the country, and the miners are a type 
 quite distinct from the rest of their countrymen. It 
 would be unfair to judge other Belgians by the mining 
 population, which has been allowed to sink — not merely 
 by the character of its work, but by the deficiencies of 
 education, supplemented by the poisonous effect of the 
 fiery and deleterious beverages which the miners too 
 freely imbibe — into a state of physical and mental decay. 
 The Borinage district lies south of Mons, but it 
 extends westwards as far as Quievrain, on the line to 
 Valenciennes. The mines now extend further north than 
 the original Borinage district, and the railway from Tournai 
 to Charleroi, passing by Mons and Marchienne, traverses 
 for a great part of the distance the mining district, the 
 trollies passing from the collieries to railway trucks, or 
 canal barges overhead, as the train glides along. The 
 whole of the southern portion of the province of Hainaut 
 is given up to mining operations, and more than 100,000 
 persons are actually employed in them. Some idea of 
 the importance of this industry may be gathered from 
 the fact that whereas the output sixty years ago was only 
 two million tons a year, it now exceeds twenty millions, 
 
 69 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 and has shown for many years past a considerable annual 
 increase. There seems to be no valid ground for appre- 
 hension lest this increased activity should entail an early 
 exhaustion of the mineral. The extension of the coal 
 area to districts not included in the original Borinage 
 has also contributed to banish that fear. The mines are 
 owned and worked by societes anonymes, or joint-stock 
 companies. There are no royalties to landowners, and 
 the State waived any claim to participate that it might 
 have advanced in the first place because its main object 
 was to develop national industry. It is understood that 
 it will not show itself so disinterested with regard to any 
 new coalfields that may be discovered and made pro- 
 ductive. The mines of Hainaut have, therefore, been 
 exploited to exceedingly great profit by the small body 
 of capitalists who became interested in them in the first 
 place, and who tried to keep them a close preserve until 
 the shares were got rid of at high premiums on the 
 Bourse. The halcyon days of the mine-owners were 
 those before the organization of labour. Then the 
 Belgian miner toiled for as many hours underground as 
 he would have done above, and he received a wage 
 which, in the most favourable case, did not reach a 
 pound a week. That is more than twenty years ago, but 
 it had been the general practice during more than two 
 generations, and it has left a deep, if not indelible, mark 
 on the old mining families. Among these it seems as if 
 there had sprung up a fresh race of dwarfs, men under 
 four feet eight inches, women shorter still, and children 
 who look as if they will never reach even this height. 
 They are stunted and emaciated, and they are easily 
 distinguishable from the rest of the population as the 
 third and fourth generation of the old mining population. 
 At Frameries and Paturages, where mining has been in 
 existence for a century, this type is very obtrusive. 
 
 In no country of Europe did the miners have a harder 
 battle to fight in order to obtain more indulgent treat- 
 ment and a fairer living wage than in Belgium, The 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 extreme ignorance and illiteracy of the miners left them 
 more or less at the mercy of their masters, and outside 
 sympathy and support were long arrested by the grave 
 assurance that, if the miners were to work fewer hours 
 and to receive more wages, the Belgian mines could not 
 compete with foreign mines, and would have to close 
 altogether. Of course there was not the least ground 
 for this assertion, but it served its turn, and enabled the 
 owners to remain for a longer time masters of the situa- 
 tion. This state of things could not have endured as 
 long as it did but for the extremely small sum upon 
 which a Belgian workman can maintain himself and his 
 family. 
 
 There comes an end, however, to any system that does 
 not take into account the actual necessities and the 
 natural aspirations of the men who support it. Capital 
 had ruled the roast for so many years in Belgium, that 
 it looked as if its position was inexpugnable, and as if 
 the miners were consigned to perform the part of helots 
 to the end of the chapter. But the labour party had 
 been growing steadily in influence and organization long 
 before its members possessed a vote, and the spread of 
 Socialism was, it must be admitted, strengthened by the 
 legitimate grievances of the labour classes. The move- 
 ment of the Parti Ouvrier reached its height in the year 
 1892, when a general strike was carried out, and after 
 intense suffering the mining population rose in what 
 was practically armed rebellion the following year. At 
 Charleroi, and throughout the Borinage generally, riots 
 occurred, and even when the military were called out 
 the result was left doubtful. A more serious calamity 
 indeed seemed not impossible, as the loyalty of the 
 young troops was called in question. At this juncture 
 the mine-owners gave way under pressure from the 
 Government, and a new scale of payment was introduced 
 which, if not all that the men desired, was fair and 
 reasonable. By this scale the average miner's wage was 
 raised to between twenty-five and thirty-five shillings a 
 
 7i 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 week, and that of women and boys to from twelve shillings 
 to one pound. The maxima might, indeed, be greater but 
 for the protective measures adopted by the miners them- 
 selves in the restriction of the output. The labour party 
 organized a scale of production which, while it restricts 
 the maximum earnings of any workman, ensures the 
 prolonged existence of the mines themselves. The limit 
 thus placed on the output of any single mine has rendered 
 it the more necessary to discover fresh mines, both in 
 Hainaut and elsewhere. The fifty per cent, increase in 
 the coal produce of the country during the last ten years 
 represents the total furnished by these new pits, some of 
 which are in Hainaut, while others are in the Liege 
 district. 
 
 Satisfactory as the arrangement of 1893 was in the 
 main, especially as it was followed in the next year by 
 the conferring of the franchise on every Belgian on 
 attaining the age of 25, so that the victory was twofold, 
 the miners have, on one or two occasions since, displayed 
 a feeling of resentment towards their employers. The 
 differences between labour and capital in Belgium are 
 far indeed from being finally composed, and the relations 
 between the miners and the mine-owners are not merely 
 wanting in cordiality, but reveal marked antagonism and 
 extreme enmity. In 1899 tne troubles of 1892-93 were 
 nearly breaking out afresh. It was difficult at the time 
 to discover whether the miners had any serious grievance, 
 or whether the Socialist agitators were merely resorting 
 to the cry of labour wrongs for the purpose of strength- 
 ening their political programme for the attainment of 
 universal suffrage. At all events, while the political 
 agitation was at its height in the streets of Brussels, the 
 miners of the Borinage and their close confederates, the 
 men engaged on the iron and steel works at Charleroi, 
 made demands for an improved scale of pay and for 
 shortening the hours of labour. 
 
 The owners of the mines and the smelting works 
 declared that these requests were inadmissible, and that 
 
 72 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 they could only be granted by their accepting a loss 
 which would soon compel the closing of the mines, and 
 the consequent cessation of all enterprises dependent 
 upon them. Notwithstanding the firmness of the owners 
 and the general belief that they were within their rights, 
 all the preliminaries for a strike were arranged, and in 
 some cases the men even came out ; but in the meantime 
 the agitation in Brussels had collapsed. The Socialists, 
 finding that the Government had made the necessary 
 preparations to put down disorder, and that the bourgeois 
 class was quite equipped to take action by means of the 
 Garde Civique, abandoned the campaign, and orders 
 were issued not to proceed with the strike. Evidence 
 was thus furnished that the grievances of the miners 
 could not have been very great, and that their position 
 was far from being intolerable, as it undoubtedly was 
 in 1892. The rate of wages and the hours of labour 
 reverted, after the 1899 scare, to the scale established in 
 1893, but it is impossible to say whether general content- 
 ment remained behind. Whether the last chapter is 
 written or not in the struggle between capital and labour, 
 one thing is certain. The hands of the authorities 
 are now much stronger than they were in former 
 years, and labour questions will have to be fought out 
 on their merits, without the interposition of political 
 agitators. 
 
 A visit to the Borinage is not a pleasant experience, 
 and the closer the acquaintance made with the life of 
 the mining population the less attractive does it appear. 
 All mining work, apparently, must be accompanied by 
 a deterioration in the moral as well as the physical 
 qualities of the population so engaged, and this must be 
 especially marked where the education of the people has 
 been notoriously backward and neglected for generations. 
 In Hainaut the majority of the miners are illiterate, and 
 this condition of things will not be altered until the State 
 makes education compulsory, and places restrictions in 
 the way of the indiscriminate employment of children 
 
 73 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 on the mines ; for their non-employment underground 
 is no real remedy. No one has interested himself in 
 the moral and intellectual development of this class of 
 the population, because the State, in carrying out its 
 theory of perfect liberty, does not concern itself with 
 such matters, and leaves the whole responsibility to 
 the commune and the parent, while the Church, having 
 lost all influence over the mining population, is only 
 too glad that these hostile classes should be left in a 
 condition of almost utter ignorance. 
 
 But the most potent of all the reasons which produce 
 this result is that boys and girls, as soon as they have the 
 physical strength, which is supposed to be at twelve 
 years of age, are taken on the mining establishment 
 and employed above ground. They thus become bread- 
 winners, and the smattering of learning that they may 
 have acquired as infants is soon reduced to the capacity 
 of signing their names. The employment of children 
 of tender years lies at the root of the ignorance of the 
 people of the greater part of a large province. It is 
 this practice which has led to the following custom 
 among the mining population. Immorality, and especially 
 that which takes the distressing form of girl-mothers, 
 is general and widespread. It has always been the 
 concomitant of the close employment of the two sexes 
 in mines and mining operations, and if it seems some- 
 what worse in Hainaut than in our own Black Country, 
 it is because the mining population in Belgium is so 
 completely detached and cut off from the rest of the 
 community. To the proprietors, with rare exceptions, 
 the miners are mere beasts of burden, in whom they 
 do not affect to feel the least interest. No steps what- 
 ever are taken to improve the lot of the miners, to 
 elevate their ideas, or even to provide them with amuse- 
 ment or recreations. There are no clubs, except the 
 cercles of the Socialists, and the only places of resort 
 are the estami?iets and cabarets that are to be found in 
 practically every third and fourth house. The custom 
 
 74 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 referred to is that the miner seeks as a wife the woman 
 who has had the greatest number of illegitimate children, 
 because they will contribute to the household expendi- 
 ture. It is quite a common thing to find in a miner's 
 house a married man with one or two children of his 
 own, and four or even more sons and daughters of the 
 wife by different men in the pre-nuptial state. It is 
 scarcely going too far to say that morality does not 
 exist in the Borinage; but the greatest curse in this 
 community is the large number of immature mothers, 
 and the consequent inseparable deterioration of the whole 
 race. The evil has been allowed to reach such a pass 
 that the success of any remedies must now be slow 
 and uncertain, and as yet none are even talked of. 
 But certainly something could be done to improve edu- 
 cation and to restrain the employment of children. No 
 doubt the miners themselves would at first be the most 
 determined opponents of any such change, because the 
 existing evils are mainly due to their own selfishness 
 and evil habits. The consequent diminution in the 
 earnings of the family could, however, be made up by 
 the increased exertions of the men. 
 
 Ignorance and immorality explain the low condition 
 to which the mining population has sunk, but even 
 these causes would not have produced so appalling a 
 result if they had not been supplemented and aided 
 by the prevalence of drunkenness. As there is no 
 restriction on the sale of drink, every house can retail 
 intoxicating liquors, and in many places where it is 
 procurable there is no external appearance of the place 
 being a drinking-shop. The room of the cottage will 
 contain a few chairs and benches, besides a table, and 
 the liquor comes from a cupboard or an inner room. 
 In warm weather the table and chairs are placed outside, 
 and on Sundays and feast days there is not one of 
 these houses which will not be crowded with visitors. 
 The only amusement known to this people is to drink 
 and to get drunk. There are no abstainers or half 
 
 75 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 abstainers among them. The only distinction lies 
 between beer-drinkers and spirit-drinkers. The beer- 
 drinkers are the more reasonable drunkards of the two. 
 Having soaked themselves with faro, they sleep it off. 
 Not so the spirit-drinkers, for when they have finished their 
 orgies they are half mad with the poisonous alcohol which 
 they have imbibed, and the greater number of crimes 
 are perpetrated by this class among the miners. Crime 
 of all kinds is prevalent, and the reports of the Hainaut 
 assizes are not pleasant reading. The tine explanation 
 of the evils that follow this spirit-drinking is to be 
 found in the character of the spirit itself. In name it 
 is gin or genievre, but it bears little or no trace of that 
 origin. What it is, no one outside the place of manu- 
 facture — which appears to be unknown — can correctly 
 declare, but by the smell it would seem to be mainly 
 composed of paraffin oil. This beverage, called schnick, 
 is the favourite spirit with the miners. It is sold at 
 one penny for a large wine-glass and one halfpenny 
 for a small, and official statistics show that a large 
 majority of the miners drink a pint of this stuff every 
 day of their lives, while it is computed that there are 
 not fewer than fifty thousand who drink a quart. In 
 the latter total are no doubt included many who are 
 not miners, but the majority of them are. In Belgium 
 the drink question is aggravated by the poisonous 
 nature of the intoxicant and by the admitted inability 
 of the Government to devise any means of preventing 
 adulteration. Lest the reader should imagine that there 
 is some exaggeration in the figures just given, it may be 
 mentioned that the total consumption of spirits in the 
 country during a year exceeds fifty quarts per head of 
 the population. This being the case, it will not appear 
 surprising that an extreme toper consumes a quart of 
 spirit a day. The consequences of this excess are to 
 be seen in the increasing number of lunatics and 
 alcohol-maniacs confined in the State asylums, and it 
 is observed that of late years the proportion of women 
 
 7 6 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 has been largely increasing, so that it is now not much 
 short of one to two. 
 
 The Government of Belgium is, of course, aware of 
 these facts, and a visit to the Borinage will quickly 
 convince the most sceptical of the extent of the mischief 
 already done, which becomes more glaring every year. 
 But it has been afraid to grapple with the difficulty by 
 passing, for instance, a law to oblige all places where 
 drink is on sale to have a license. The absolute 
 immunity of the drink-shop from all control, the tacit 
 permission given to every house to be at the will of 
 its occupant a public-house, and the fact that there is in 
 existence one drinking-place for every five adults, explain 
 the situation. The State has refrained from interference 
 so long, through its regard for the liberty inscribed in its 
 Constitution, which includes its citizens' liberty to get 
 drunk, that the difficulty has assumed appalling propor- 
 tions. To interfere with a practice in which every one 
 can put forward some evidence of a vested interest is a 
 perilous step. 
 
 On the other hand, the Government is confronted with 
 the prospect that if the evil is allowed to continue un- 
 abated, the deterioration of the race which has become 
 marked in certain districts like the Borinage must bring 
 about a national decline that will constitute a grave peril 
 to the country. If the Government is afraid to diminish 
 the number of houses by imposing licences, it might 
 well grapple with the minor problem of arresting 
 adulteration, and putting an end to the consumption of 
 pernicious substitutes for gin. Unless it does something 
 practical for the mitigation of the evil, it will be con- 
 fronted one of these days with a peril that may overtax 
 its resources, and that must damage its reputation. 
 Ignorance, immorality, and drunkenness have made the 
 mining districts of Belgium a black spot in the national 
 life, and the sooner an era of reform is commenced the 
 better. " Ces gens la sont des brutes" a Belgian noble- 
 man once said to me, when speaking of these very 
 
 77 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 miners j but a wise Government admits no brutes among 
 the nation committed to its charge. It cannot help 
 individual exceptions, but in Hainaut the description 
 applies to a large community counted by tens of thousands. 
 
 Coal is the most important product of Belgium, and its 
 possession lies at the base of much of its prosperity. 
 The output for the year 1902 was 23,462,819 tons, of 
 which only 7,000,000 were exported. Belgium also 
 imported 3,600,000 tons from Germany and England. 
 When the Hainaut mines began to be worked with 
 greater activity, there were fears that they would not be 
 able to stand the increased output, and it was a common 
 opinion among Belgian experts that they would soon be 
 exhausted. Such has not proved the case. The output 
 has largely increased, and signs of exhaustion are still 
 absent. None the less there has been considerable 
 relief, owing to the discovery of an entirely fresh coal 
 area in the district of Campine, which is part of the 
 province of Limburg. It may be some years before 
 this coalfield can be put into active development, 
 because intricate questions of law have to be decided 
 as to private owners' rights and the claims of the State. 
 What seems already established, although contrary to our 
 own law, is that the owner of the surface of the earth 
 does not possess the mineral deposits which lie under it. 
 Should the State establish its claims, and decide in favour 
 of making the Campine mines a national undertaking, then 
 it must be hoped that steps will be taken to prevent the 
 repetition of some of the vicious, unhealthy, and degrading 
 practices that have grown up in the province of Hainaut. 
 
 In the last session of the Chambers, the Belgian 
 Government brought in and passed a bill increasing the 
 excise on spirits by 50 per cent. This measure may 
 do some good, but the concoction in which spirit has no 
 part will obviously escape duty. The temptation to put 
 deleterious liquors on the market will be increased, and 
 even should the new Act increase the revenue it will 
 not diminish intemperance. 
 
 73 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 By the last census, the official deductions from which 
 are not yet completed, 277,997 men and boys, and 
 15,266 women, are employed in the mines and metal 
 industries. The larger half, say 150,000, work on the 
 mines. The railway system of Belgium, it may be re- 
 marked, is excellent, and managed for the greater part 
 by the State — State railways, 2516 miles; private com- 
 panies, 334 miles. Travelling is cheap, the trains are 
 punctual, and the system of season-tickets is admirable. 
 Light railways and steam or electric tramways supple- 
 ment the main lines, and are worked in conjunction 
 with them. 
 
 79 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE MANUFACTURING CENTRES 
 
 The activity of Antwerp, of which I have already spoken, 
 is due to the development of the manufacturing centres 
 throughout the country. If Ghent, Liege, and Seraing 
 did not exist, the exports of Antwerp could not have 
 reached their present imposing figures. The prosperity 
 of Belgium is the result of the productive capacity of its 
 citizens, and this is shown in the sphere of manufacture 
 as much as of agriculture. Large portions of Belgium 
 seem to be given up as completely to factories as Flanders 
 is to vegetable-fields, and the Borinage to coal-mines. 
 The coal and iron of Hainaut are the gifts of nature, 
 but the products of Ghent, Seraing, Verviers, and other 
 places too numerous to name, are due to the ingenuity 
 and toil of man alone. 
 
 Of all Belgian cities Ghent has the best associations for 
 English people. As the home of the Arteveldes — who were 
 the most sincere upholders of the alliance with England 
 that Belgium ever produced — and as the birthplace of 
 John of Gaunt, its name has been familiar to us from our 
 childhood. It is also the capital, as it were, of that 
 Flemish race with which we are in an ethnological sense 
 more closely connected than with any other Continental 
 people. The history of this once proud city contains 
 much of, if not all, the pathos and tragedy of the Belgian 
 epic. Until that pacification of 1540 to which reference 
 is made in the Latin lines that are so often quoted by 
 
 80 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 way of distinguishing between the cities, Ghent was a 
 Power in itself. It fell because it did not realize that 
 its pre-eminence among Flemish communes was no proof 
 that it could beard the ruler of a great Empire with 
 impunity. It retained the insolence of power long after 
 it had lost the substance, and its fall was both ignominious 
 and irretrievable. In the seventeenth and eighteenth cen- 
 turies, Ghent suffered in a special degree from the blight 
 which fell generally upon Flanders. The grass grew in 
 its streets, the canals were unused, and the population 
 steadily declined. From being the rival of potentates 
 and States, Ghent sank into the position of a second-rank 
 provincial town. The city that had once boasted of its 
 quarter of a million inhabitants, and of how with its 
 dependent towns it could put 80,000 combatants in the 
 field, contained less than 40,000 citizens when the French 
 occupied the country in the Revolutionary period. At 
 that time the principal occupation of the citizens of 
 Ghent, and the main source of such prosperity as they 
 possessed, was horticulture, and Ghent, which had been 
 famous for its gloves, became better known for its flowers. 
 It has not lost this reputation to-day, and the flowers from 
 the glass-houses of Ghent are in much demand, and sold 
 all over the country \ but at the same time it has dis- 
 covered new and more profitable industries in the last 
 century. 
 
 The first and the main cause of the return of prosperity 
 to Belgium was, it must be admitted, the establishment 
 of peace. It ceased in 1795 to De tne cockpit of 
 Europe, and even during the Waterloo campaign a 
 hostile force was on Belgian soil for no more than five 
 days, and Charleroi, then a small place of no importance, 
 was the only one of its towns to undergo military occupa- 
 tion. The cessation of strife, waged by foreign armies 
 on its territory, was the first and main cause of the revival 
 of Belgian industry. Men were able to turn their atten- 
 tion to more remunerative work than the cultivation of 
 the fields with some reasonable prospect of enjoying 
 
 81 G 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 the fruits of their labour. While a larger area was brought 
 under cultivation, commerce, however timidly, began 
 to appeal to the townspeople. The population, long 
 stationary, commenced to show signs of expansion. 
 
 Ghent was the first place to feel the new influence. 
 Admirably situated for purposes of trade by means of its 
 water communication in many different directions, Ghent 
 was able, in the days before railways, to despatch its 
 wares by the cheap and sufficiently expeditious transport 
 provided by canal and river barges. It thus found con- 
 venient markets in Brussels, which always enjoyed a 
 certain prosperity as the residence of a Court, and in 
 Antwerp, which was largely dependent on the country 
 lying at its back. In the old days the weavers and fullers 
 of Ghent had made its prosperity. It was, therefore, 
 natural that when the revival of the place commenced, 
 the thoughts of its citizens should turn in the same 
 channel. The first factory set up in modem Ghent was 
 one for cloth, during the French occupation, and it was 
 busily employed in turning out a large part of the 
 material used in providing Napoleon's soldiers with their 
 uniform. During the Dutch rule, which extended from 
 1815 to 1830, the manufacture of cotton goods was 
 introduced ; but this did not become at all general until 
 after the year 1839, when the independence of Belgium 
 was rendered more assured by the recognition of the fact 
 by Holland. After that event, cotton and woollen manu- 
 factures became a staple industry in Ghent, and the out- 
 put increased every year, so that it seemed no undue 
 exaggeration to speak of it as the Belgian Manchester. 
 The prosperity of Ghent received a rude interruption in 
 1 861 through the outbreak of the American Civil War, 
 which cut off the supply of cotton, and produced the 
 greatest distress. The suffering was increased by a 
 serious outbreak of cholera, and for a time it seemed as if 
 Ghent had only risen to fall again. After the conclusion 
 of the struggle in the United States, the enterprise that 
 had been interrupted reasserted itself, and the cholera 
 
 82 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 having led to many sanitary improvements, the city took 
 on a new lease of life. The lace and embroidery 
 industry, which had been carried on in a modest way in 
 the houses of the workpeople themselves, was transferred 
 to factories, and was developed with all the appliances of 
 capital and science. An entirely new business was intro- 
 duced by the opening of works for the construction of 
 engines and agricultural implements. There is, therefore, 
 no doubt as to the activity of the business life of the city. 
 No proof, indeed, can be clearer than that its population 
 now exceeds 160,000. Ghent, besides being an active 
 commercial and manufacturing centre, is also a fine city, 
 and a pleasant place of residence. It contains some very 
 interesting monuments of its mediaeval grandeur, and 
 although the bell of mighty Roland is heard no more in 
 the land, there is an effective carillon of forty-four bells 
 in the belfry, from which it used to give forth ' victory,' or 
 1 the alarm for fire.' 
 
 In striking contrast to Ghent is Seraing, where the 
 greatest foundry and engine-works of Belgium were 
 established by an Englishman two years after Waterloo. 
 This was Cockerill, who fixed upon Seraing as the best 
 spot for his enterprise, in which he had the cordial sup- 
 port of King William I. of the Netherlands, who sub- 
 scribed half the capital. The site for the works, which 
 now cover 260 acres, and employ 15,000 workpeople, 
 was happily chosen at an old chateau with extensive 
 grounds, which had once been the summer residence of 
 the Prince-Bishops of Liege. The chateau is still used as 
 the house of the resident director, and as a library. 
 Formerly the spot was one of the most picturesque in 
 the environs of Liege. Now both banks of the river are 
 lined with furnaces and factories, for Jemeppe, Ougre'e, 
 Sclessin, and Tilleur are imitators of Seraing. The valley 
 is also carboniferous, and there are numerous coal-mines. 
 The Liege collieries rank next to those of Hainaut in 
 importance, and some authorities think that they will be 
 productive for a longer period. 
 
 83 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Seraing is situated five miles above Liege on the right 
 bank of the Meuse. There is communication between 
 the two places by river-steamer, tramway, and railway. 
 By the last census its population exceeded 38,000, and it 
 may be assumed that every one resident in the town is 
 connected with or dependent on the Cockerill establish- 
 ment. In 1 83 1, after the separation of the two countries, 
 Cockerill repaid King William his share of the capital, 
 and remained sole proprietor until his death in 1840. 
 The concern was then turned into a company, with the 
 modest capital of half a million sterling. In 187 1 the 
 capital was increased, and the descendants of Cockerill 
 having died out or retired, the business became exclu- 
 sively Belgian. Reference has been made to its ship- 
 building branch at Hoboken on the Scheldt. The record 
 of the Seraing works is a very remarkable one, especially 
 in the construction of railway and other steam-engines, 
 of which close on 60,000 have been turned out since the 
 commencement of that branch in 1835. With its present 
 staff it can construct annually 150 locomotives, 2000 
 engines, steam and hand, and 300,000 quintals (or 15,000 
 tons) of font for bridges, etc. The iron casements for 
 the new forts at Namur and Liege itself were cast in the 
 Seraing foundries. Seraing may be compared in some 
 respects to the Armstrong works at Elswick and the 
 Krupp works at Essen, and it is well to remind the 
 Belgians that their country owes this now national 
 undertaking to the capital and enterprise of an Englishman. 
 
 Seraing is, in a certain sense, only an annexe of the 
 important city of Liege close by. In many respects 
 Liege is the most remarkable place in Belgium, remark- 
 able for its magnificent position, for the activity of its 
 citizens, and for its history, which has, in a certain sense, 
 been detached from that of the rest of the country. Liege 
 is the natural and typical capital of the Walloon country, 
 just as Ghent is of the Flemish. Both cities are now at 
 the height of their prosperity, and contain about the same 
 population. If, however, Seraing and Chenee were 
 
 84 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 included as suburbs of Liege, which they are in reality, 
 Liege would have a very marked superiority over Ghent. 
 There is probably more wealth in Liege than in Ghent, 
 but there is also more misery. The poor quarters of the 
 town on both banks of the river are very repulsive, and 
 the old dilapidated lofty houses, built up against the 
 side of the mountain on which stands the citadel, are 
 not worse than the new tenements across the river at 
 Bressoux. The staple industry of Liege, upon which its 
 prosperity depends, is the manufacture of arms, and this 
 fact has led to its being called the Birmingham of Belgium. 
 There is one distinctive practice which brings out the 
 marked difference between the two countries and peoples. 
 Our gunsmiths work in shops where weapons are turned 
 out by the thousand. In Liege the individual works in 
 his own abode, and takes each single weapon on com- 
 pletion to the gunshop for sale. It is said that there are 
 40,000 working gunsmiths in Liege and its suburbs. It 
 would appear a risky means of livelihood, for each piece 
 is carefully inspected and tested before acceptance at the 
 warehouses, and the least defect is said to cause summary 
 rejection. Opinions differ as to the quality of Liege fire- 
 arms, but there is one point in which they beat all com- 
 petitors, and that is in lowness of price. An enormous 
 business is done in single-barrelled guns, that are sold at 
 fifteen shillings apiece. As this class of gun has a rapid 
 and sure sale, the preparation of first-class weapons has 
 grown less attractive for the workman, who thinks only 
 of earning his living in the easiest and surest way, and 
 who seems to be quite content when he makes a pound 
 or twenty-five shillings a week. With the view of arrest- 
 ing this tendency, and preventing the loss of an important 
 branch of the trade, several factories for the manufacture 
 of rifles have been opened of late years, and there is also 
 a cannon foundry. The last-named and one of the rifle 
 factories belong to the State. It may be added that the 
 former is now busily occupied casting the new guns for 
 the Belgian artillery. At all times the citizens of Liege 
 
 8S 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 have been noted for their independent, and it might even 
 be said quarrelsome, spirit. The fact that each man is 
 more or less his own master has greatly contributed to 
 keep alive the sentiment of independence, and the work- 
 ing classes are organized by leagues, societies, and clubs. 
 The Socialists are very powerful, but there is also a 
 genuine Catholic, or, as we should say, Conservative, 
 party among them. 
 
 Among other manufacturing centres less widely known 
 than Ghent and Liege, which are springing into importance, 
 are Gembloux, Ath, Renaix, and Diest. At Gembloux 
 the State railways have established their engine and 
 carriage works, which employ several thousand hands. 
 There is also a factory for excellent cutlery at this place. 
 Ath, on the Dender, is the centre of the important lime 
 manufacture, and being in direct water communication 
 by river and canal with most parts of Belgium, it is able 
 to deliver this article by the most economical mode of 
 transport. Renaix has developed an important cloth 
 industry, and Diest is the centre of the brewing enterprise 
 of the country, and might be compared to Burton-on- 
 Trent. Marines is still famous for its lace, although 
 Grammont, interesting as the first of the communes to 
 receive a charter, is running it hard in the matter of 
 ' point.' Tournai produces most of the carpets to which 
 Brussels gives its name. Artistic carpets are also pro- 
 duced at Termonde, where there are extensive oil works. 
 Verviers, a large town east of Liege, flourishes on a con- 
 siderable manufacture of woollen goods and of glass. 
 Within the last few years the competition of German 
 works at Eupen has been so keen that several of the 
 Belgian glass companies have suspended operations. A 
 new industry is being developed in cement and a com- 
 position that serves as an excellent pavement. In no 
 manufacturing district of Belgium are the vicissitudes of 
 trade through external competition greater or more sudden 
 than at Verviers. 
 
 The condition of the artisan classes in Belgium is 
 86 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 probably better than in France, although it falls a long 
 way below that of English workmen, especially in respect 
 of hours of labour. These are unquestionably long to 
 excess, and are really fixed by the will of the employer. 
 The language of the law on the employment of children 
 is very instructive. No child can be employed in a 
 factory or warehouse until it is twelve, which means that 
 all children of the working classes begin their life of toil 
 at twelve. This explains the stunted appearance of the 
 population of the larger towns and manufacturing districts. 
 The law says, in the second place, that no child under 
 sixteen is to be kept at work for more than twelve hours 
 a day. If the young can work for this length of time, it 
 will be understood that an adult is assumed to be capable 
 of doing more. At the same time, the long hours do not 
 hang as so great a burden on the Belgian working man 
 as they would on the British. The race has always been 
 accustomed to early hours, and as there are no great 
 distractions except on fete days, the Belgian takes his 
 pleasure in his work. Of course he does not work so 
 hard as the British workman used to do and still does on 
 piecework, and a very considerable portion of his time 
 must be deducted for gossip, rest, and sheer idleness. 
 Still, this relief is not possible in all employments, and 
 in the foundries, for instance, the hours of labour are 
 excessive. The Belgian capitalist has benefited thereby, 
 and is fond of representing that when the hours are 
 reduced the trade will depart elsewhere. The thought 
 does not seem to have occurred to him that a man may 
 do more work in fifty hours a week than he will in 
 seventy-two. 
 
 From a careful estimate made by a Belgian statistician 
 the average earnings of the Belgian artisan are thirty-three 
 pounds a year, as against forty-two in England. It is 
 not quite clear how he arrives at the figures so far as this 
 country is concerned, but in Belgium he includes child- 
 labour, which explains the lowness of the figure. Personal 
 inquiries showed me that in Liege and Ghent the 
 
 87 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 workmen expect to earn as a minimum four francs a day, 
 or about a pound a week. They seem to be perfectly con- 
 tented when they can make five francs ; but in addition 
 to the earnings of the man must be put those of his wife 
 and children. These sums go nearly twice as far as in 
 England for three reasons. The Belgian workman is not 
 a great meat-eater, his wife is a far better cook and 
 manageress than the same class of person in England, 
 and thrift is the national virtue and characteristic as con- 
 trasted with the waste and bad management generally 
 displayed and gloried in by the British workman's better 
 half. To take one instance of this difference. There is 
 not a woman in Belgium who cannot make an excellent 
 and nourishing soup, which forms the foundation of the 
 national diet, whereas it would scarcely be going too far 
 to say that soup is never seen in the homes of our work- 
 ing men. Soup and bread form the principal part of the 
 food of the Belgian workman ; but the bread is full of 
 sustenance, and not like that consumed by our people. 
 Owing to a perversion of the popular taste, skilfully engi- 
 neered by German bakers, the old household loaf, which 
 was full of nourishment, has been practically abandoned 
 by our working classes in favour of a semi-fancy loaf, 
 largely composed of German yeast, which has incom- 
 parably less sustaining qualities, but a little more of the 
 flavour of cake. As a consequence, the working classes 
 of the towns, and especially of London, where the German 
 baker has practically ousted every other, exhibit such 
 marked indications of physical deterioration as to threaten 
 a national peril, since children are now brought up on 
 bread which has little or no nutritive qualities. 
 
 The daily life of the factory operative is not as easily 
 described as that of the miner, who lives under special 
 conditions which differentiate him from the regular com- 
 munity. But the mill-hand, the potter, or the lace-maker 
 will pursue the mode of living agreeable to himself, in 
 complete obliviousness of what his fellow-workers may 
 do, except in regard to points of common trade interest. 
 
 88 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 The bond that links him to his class is that not of his 
 work, but of his commune, which is the chief source of 
 Belgian unity. Hence any attempt to give an account 
 of the daily life of all factory operatives, as something 
 fashioned in the same pattern, would be incorrect and 
 misleading. At the same time, there are some points 
 about the Belgian artisan which may seem of interest. 
 His condition of life and general well-being furnish no 
 inexact index to the national welfare, and, speaking rela- 
 tively, they may be pronounced quite as high as in 
 any country of Europe. The Belgian operative has 
 command of all the necessaries of life, and he has also 
 a surplus left for some of its luxuries, or, at least, 
 some of its relaxations. His hours of labour may be 
 many, but they are lightened by some hours of amuse- 
 ment, and a not infrequent holiday ox jour de repos. If 
 the cafe does not suffice for his leisure hours, there is 
 always the cercle — Catholic, or Liberal, or Socialist ; and 
 the cercle will have its band of music, its dances, and 
 other annual or more frequent celebrations. The life of 
 the operative is consequently by no means dull or un- 
 varied. It is no dreary round of labour ; there is ample 
 time for pleasure, and the Belgian character, whether 
 Walloon or Flemish, is not prone to take its pleasures 
 sadly. 
 
 If the conditions of life among the operatives or artisans 
 are examined more closely, it will be found that their 
 material well-being is better than first impressions would 
 incline one to think. It is quite true that in regard to 
 housing the Belgian operatives were, until recently, very 
 badly off. In the towns they occupied on the tenement 
 system the older streets, which fashion and respectability 
 had long abandoned. Crowded together, under con- 
 ditions which precluded all considerations of sanitation 
 and even of decency, up side-streets or alleys which the 
 rest of the world carefully avoided, the quarters occupied 
 by them presented all the repellent features of our old 
 rookeries. These may still be found in all the great 
 
 8 9 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 cities, but a movement of reform has been set on foot, 
 and the communal authorities have commenced a cam- 
 paign for purging them of these plague spots. The 
 execution of these reforms must take a certain time, but 
 already the displacement of the working classes from 
 their restricted quarters to the suburbs, where workmen's 
 cottages have been specially constructed for them, has 
 to a certain extent taken place. In some towns more 
 progress has been made than in others. For instance, 
 Brussels has carried the campaign of expulsion much 
 further than Liege or Antwerp. This has been rendered 
 possible by the excellent systems of tramways and light 
 railways, which bring the workman to his place of labour 
 rapidly and cheaply. In every other respect than housing 
 the Belgian operative is well off. His own wages may 
 not be high, but they are supplemented by the earnings 
 of his wife and his children, all of whom commence to 
 be bread-winners at an early age. Taxes do not affect 
 him directly ; what he pays is contributed indirectly, and 
 in such a form that he never realizes the payment. Food 
 is cheap ; drink is cheaper still. There is no lack of 
 amusement, and much of it gratuitous. Professional 
 politicians tell him that he has his grievances, but he 
 does not appear to be conscious of them himself. 
 
 In another respect the Belgian working man enjoys an 
 advantage which enables him to get the most out of his 
 small wages. He has his political associations and clubs. 
 The ' Parti Ouvrier ' is organized throughout the kingdom 
 for political agitation and the attainment of universal 
 suffrage. But, in addition, certain co-operative societies 
 have been formed for retailing to their members practically 
 all the articles of which they can have any need. These 
 exist in all the large towns, but the two largest are those 
 known as the Maison du Peuple in Brussels and the 
 Vooruit in Ghent. At these stores everything is sold 
 at the cost of production, plus five per cent, for the 
 administration, from a loaf to the furniture of a house. 
 An excellent loaf weighing nearly two pounds and a hal 
 
 90 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 is sold for twopence, and at the Maison du Peuple in 
 Brussels over 160,000 such loaves are sold each week. 
 As there are 16,000 members, the average consumption 
 is ten loaves a week, which would exceed that in the 
 family of, at all events, the London working _ man. 
 Latterly these societies have taken an active part in the 
 struggle with drunkenness by excluding spirits and beer 
 from their lists, and in the refreshment-room attached to 
 their stores coffee and lemonade are the only beverages 
 sold. Although I have only mentioned two societies, there 
 are in Belgium about four hundred of the same nature. 
 Most of them are small in numbers, as the total of the 
 members is under 60,000, and the Maison du Peuple 
 and the Vooruit contain over one-third of the number. 
 There are also saving- and sick-fund branches attached 
 to most of these societies. The basis on which they 
 are formed is a monthly payment of three francs to the 
 former and one franc to the latter. For these subscrip- 
 tions a member is guaranteed medical attendance and a 
 franc a day during illness, and his annual savings are 
 practically doubled by the additions made to them under 
 the law by the State and also by the province, while 
 there is a further voluntary grant by the society itself. 
 As the most staid Belgian workman deems that he has 
 the moral right to spend a franc a day on his drink, it 
 does not seem to be asking him to practise much self- 
 denial to put by one franc a week for a rainy day. It is 
 right to mention that there are no grounds for supposing 
 that he grumbles at having to do so. Whether the new 
 State Pension Bill will encourage thrift or not remains to 
 be seen. The measure came into force in 1900, and by 
 it the Government undertakes to pay every working man 
 in need after he is sixty-five an annual pension of sixty- 
 five francs (£2 12s.). The amount, which is less than 
 twopence a day, will seem ludicrously small to English 
 ears; and thirty years ago M. Frere-Orban, one of 
 Belgium's greatest public men, suggested that the State 
 should pension all workmen over fifty-five with a hundred 
 
 91 
 
Belgian Lite 
 
 and fifty francs (^6), or, as some one said, with half a 
 franc a day, bar Sundays and fete days. On this allow- 
 ance an old man in Belgium, especially in the provinces, 
 could subsist very fairly, whereas the grant sanctioned 
 will leave him still a candidate for charity. Be that as 
 it may, there have been a great number of applicants 
 for the pension — far more, indeed, than the Government 
 expected, so that it had to revise its estimates. The 
 number of applicants exceeded the anticipated number 
 by 30,000, and when the Government sent back the lists 
 for more careful compilation the local committees were 
 unable to reduce the number to any extent ; thereupon 
 they were dismissed. This circumstance, among others, 
 has led to the imposition of fresh taxes, the chief of 
 which is the increase of the excise. This may be regarded 
 as an ingenious manner of getting the working classes 
 to pay for their own old-age pensions out of their earlier 
 habits of self-indulgence, and if it produces the expected 
 increase, the amount of the workman's pension will, no 
 doubt, be increased also. So far the increase has been 
 much less than was anticipated. 
 
 Taking a comprehensive view of the position of the 
 working classes in Belgium, it will compare not unfavour- 
 ably with that of those in any other country. In one 
 particular only is there pressing need of amelioration, 
 and, as we have seen, that is the length of the hours of 
 labour. It is probable that a reform would already have 
 taken place in this matter but for the fact that political 
 questions have become mixed up with social problems. 
 The agitation is not one for eight or nine hours a day as 
 the regular spell for the working classes in factories, but 
 it is one for universal suffrage, the abolition of the plural 
 vote, and the fettering of capital by the enforcement of 
 Socialist theories of distribution and joint participation. 
 It is unfortunate that these political matters have been 
 connected with labour questions, and that natural conces- 
 sions have been deferred by the fear of what those to 
 whom they were made might do afterwards. 
 
 92 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 COUNTRY LIFE IN BELGIUM 
 
 As considerably more than half the population of 
 Belgium resides outside the towns, the conditions of 
 country life form quite as important a part of the nation's 
 existence as those of the bourgeois classes. There are 
 parts of the little kingdom, such as Luxemburg and 
 Campine, where the population is sufficiently sparse to 
 leave something like the accepted conditions of genuine 
 country life ; but in Flanders, Hainaut, and Brabant, the 
 population is so dense that the farms and cottages 
 occupy practically every available spot that can be 
 utilized for a building without diminishing the area of the 
 cultivable ground. Leaving aside the mining districts, 
 the western provinces of Belgium present in the main the 
 appearance of vast market-gardens without a hedge or 
 a wall. The boundaries are marked by nothing more 
 than an insignificant trench. The cultivation of wheat 
 and cereals generally is being increased ; but this is due 
 more to the absorption of new land reclaimed from forest 
 or heath than to the abandonment of vegetables. In 
 Flanders, which was formerly given up exclusively to 
 the cultivation of roots, however, it is not uncommon to 
 see nowadays part of a half-acre plot assigned to a wheat 
 crop, and the rest to cabbages. 
 
 If one wished to study the agricultural system of 
 Belgium, and to see what has been accomplished there, 
 a visit should certainly be paid to the district called 
 
 93 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Pays de Waes. This district lies west of the Scheldt, 
 and south-west of Antwerp, and extends almost to Ghent. 
 Its chief town is St. Nicolas, and Lokeren, another 
 town of the Waes country, is scarcely less important. In 
 1839, the whole of the district was a wild uncultivated 
 tract. Now it is an unbroken expanse of gardens and 
 fields, sustaining a resident population of five hundred 
 persons to the square mile. There has been no such 
 transformation scene in any part of Europe, and it would 
 be a good experiment to tempt some Belgian agriculturists 
 to see what they could accomplish in Ireland. 
 
 Throughout the two Flanders, which produce more 
 than half the total crops of the country, there are no 
 large landed proprietors, and the soil is parcelled out in 
 small lots among the peasants themselves. The farmer 
 class in these provinces exists only to this extent, that 
 where the commune owns the lands it has chosen to 
 sublet them to a farmer with the means to work several 
 hundred acres instead of dividing the land into allot- 
 ments. But in Flanders the farmer is the exception, 
 and the small proprietor of anything up to five acres is 
 the rule, while in Hainaut and Brabant it is different. 
 There the farmer class is in the ascendant. A historical 
 cause lies at the root of this difference. Up to the 
 French occupation in 1795, the soil of Belgium was the 
 property in the main of the representatives of the aris- 
 tocracy, civic as well as feudal, and of the Church. The 
 religious orders were the chief proprietors, owning more 
 than double the cultivated land possessed by the nobles. 
 This was explained by the fact that the Church owned 
 lands to make them revenue-producing, and possessed 
 the capital to do so. The nobles were not rich in 
 capital, and a very large proportion of their territorial 
 possessions consisted of forest and unreclaimed land. 
 As they kept these possessions for the chase, they did 
 not even think of developing them. When the French 
 Republic annexed Belgium, all the lands possessed by 
 churchmen and nobles were at once made forfeit, and 
 
 94 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 the actual occupiers and tillers of the soil came into 
 possession. At that time Flanders was just as much an 
 agricultural country as it is to-day, and there was a large 
 population actually existing upon it. The French law 
 was practically carried out, and the Flemish peasants 
 became the owners of their own ground, and have 
 remained so to this day. But in the other provinces the 
 same conditions did not prevail. Only a small portion 
 of the soil was under cultivation, the population was 
 scanty, and with local exceptions there were no peasants 
 eager to take over the estates that had fallen vacant and 
 that were at their disposal. Moreover, the land had to 
 be cleared and won over for cultivation, which required 
 capital. For these reasons a race of peasant proprietors 
 was not created in Brabant and Namur as had been 
 done in accordance with easily discoverable natural laws 
 in Flanders. When the heat of the Republicans cooled 
 down, there is no doubt that many of the former proprietors 
 recovered their possessions partly by occupying what no 
 one else claimed, and partly by repurchase from the 
 State or the commune on nominal terms. This tendency 
 became more marked under the Emperor Napoleon, and 
 especially after he made his peace with the Pope. After 
 his overthrow, there was a general recovery of territorial 
 possessions by the aristocracy, subject to the recognition 
 of the rights of occupation that had accumulated in 
 twenty years. But in Flanders nothing of the sort took 
 place. There the new rights entirely displaced the old 
 title-deeds. 
 
 The class of great landed proprietors in Belgium is 
 exceedingly small, and there are many of the old noblesse 
 without any land at all. Those who are more fortunate 
 possess, as a general rule, not more than a thousand acres 
 round their country residence, and the only great estates, 
 according to our ideas, are to be found in the Ardennes 
 and Campine, where land possessed little value until a 
 quite recent period. \ The history of the estate of the // 
 Duke of Wellington, as Duke of Waterloo, in Belgium 
 
 95 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 furnishes an instance of what took place when the repre- 
 sentatives of the ancient owners recovered the non-pro- 
 ductive portion of their estates. The duke was granted, 
 as a reward for his great victory in Belgium, a portion of 
 the old forest of Soignies. It was about 5000 acres in 
 extent ; but the only income the great duke ever derived 
 from it was from the timber, which must have been quite 
 insignificant. Upon his death, his son and successor was 
 confirmed in the possession of this estate, after some 
 persons had represented that it was only granted for the 
 life of the first duke. He then expressed the opinion to 
 some Belgian officials that the estate about which so 
 much stir was being made was really valueless, where- 
 upon Baron Lambermont advised him to place it in 
 the hands of the regisseur or manager of the Due d' 
 Arenberg, who had vastly improved the estates of that 
 nobleman at Enghien and elsewhere. The advice was 
 followed, and in a few years the timber was all cut down 
 and sold, and on his part of the old forest a number of 
 farms were created. The estate then for the first time 
 brought in an income ; | but the story is merely told here 
 to illustrate the process which went on generally in 
 Belgium outside Flanders after Waterloo, and in a still 
 more marked degree after the establishment of an 
 independent kingdom. 
 
 The conditions of life among the agricultural classes 
 of Flanders would be considered intolerably hard by the 
 agricultural labourer in England, and even the sense of 
 possessing the land on which they toil would not atone 
 for them. The Flemish peasant, or proprietor, labours 
 all day, and his day is the long one from sunrise until 
 well after sunset. Any one who has lived in the Belgian 
 provinces has seen grey figures moving along the roads 
 or across the fields, while gleams of light alone showed the 
 dawn of the coming day. They wish to be at their work, 
 discontinued late the night before, as soon as there is 
 sufficient light to enable them to resume it. They are 
 working for themselves, and very likely they would 
 
 96 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 grumble if they were asked to do it for a master. But 
 it is not only the men, but also the women who work 
 thus. There are, of course, household duties and work 
 at home to be performed ; but these do not prevent the 
 women and girls from toiling in the fields as well. 
 Market-gardening carried on in the fashion of the Con- 
 tinent, where nothing is wasted, cannot be considered an 
 altogether pleasant or even healthy occupation. It is 
 certainly not calculated to elevate those who take part in 
 it in intelligence, and as a matter of fact the vast body of 
 Flemish labourers in the fields are sunk in a state of 
 extraordinary ignorance for the twentieth century. Their 
 education is practically nothing at all, but they are sound 
 Catholics, and it is not thought to be to the interest of 
 the Church, or the party that claims that designation, 
 that they should progress in worldly knowledge. 
 
 To judge the people of the Flemish plains by a cursory 
 inspection, the conclusion come to would probably be 
 that they must be exceedingly miserable and unhappy, 
 and it requires a far more intimate knowledge than most 
 foreigners are ever likely to take the trouble to acquire to 
 discover that such is not really the case. Their worka- 
 day clothes are not of a character to impress the observer 
 with a perception of anything in their favour. They are 
 certainly not picturesque, and they are generally very 
 dirty. They all wear the wooden sabot, yellow in colour 
 and clumsy in form. Their stockings are always coarse 
 worsted and grey. Their short trousers are always tied 
 with a ribbon above the calf, and they wear a linen 
 smock. The usual headgear of the men is a cap with a 
 peak, and the women have linen bonnets with a kind of 
 hood over the forehead. If their dress is plain, their 
 living is still plainer. Their breakfast consists of no 
 more than coffee and rye bread, their midday meal of 
 bread and butter, or grease — tartine — with which they 
 sometimes have cheese or a little cold bacon, and their 
 supper of soup and bread. On Sundays and fife days 
 they have hot bacon, and occasionally rabbits or fish. 
 
 97 h 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Fresh meat never comes their way, and is practically 
 unknown. On the other hand, they eat great quantities 
 of vegetables, cooked and uncooked, and dandelion 
 salads are the luxury of the Belgian peasant. It is 
 somewhat difficult to get at an idea of the results of 
 their toil ; but the average amount of the produce of the 
 land has been reckoned at five hundred francs, or twenty 
 pounds, the half-acre. On this sum a Flemish family 
 will contrive to live, having no rent to pay, and supple- 
 menting the produce of the field with a pig and poultry. 
 There are 650,000 men and boys employed in agriculture 
 alone. 
 
 In order to correct the depressing effect of the spectacle 
 of these peasant proprietors in their weekday costumes, 
 when they strike the observer as mere drudges bound in 
 misery, it is as well to take a glance at the same people 
 on Sundays going to or returning from mass. The 
 whole population goes ; there are no non-attendants here, 
 except from illness and those who are bedridden. And 
 what do we see ? All the men wear respectable black 
 suits and boots ; the women are well dressed and carry 
 themselves well, and there are bright-coloured parasols 
 to protect from the sun the girls and young women 
 who have been toiling in the fields all the week with 
 no protection save a linen hood. It is difficult to 
 realize that these are the same people ; but it is quite 
 clear from their animated conversation and laughter 
 that they are far from unhappy or dissatisfied with their 
 lot. 
 
 In the Walloon country the conditions of agricultural 
 life are quite different. The country population is scanty, 
 and the cultivation of the land is in the hands of farmers 
 who have rented it from the landowners or from the 
 communes. The inhabitants show a tendency to gather 
 in little towns, and not to spread over the country in 
 detached cottages close to their work, but separated from 
 their fellow-beings. When the outskirts of a townlet or 
 large village are passed, not a house will be met with 
 
A FLEMISH FARMER. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 along the road until the next village is reached. Now, in 
 Flanders the cottages are scattered all over the country, 
 and dot the chaussee, or high-road. There is another 
 marked difference. In Flanders the country house, with 
 any extent of garden or park land attached, is quite a 
 rarity. There are still a few old manor houses left, but 
 they have only a small piece of ground round them. 
 But in Liege, Limburg, and Luxemburg it is different. 
 There are still a certain number of old chateaux and 
 chalets left, and rich manufacturers from the cities have 
 built a good many new country houses. All these have 
 gardens and coverts attached to them. Some of the old 
 houses are singularly picturesque and striking, such as 
 the chateau of Mirwart ; and the chateau of Dave, with its 
 forest of many thousand acres, is quite imposing. The 
 majority of the old country houses resemble a manor house 
 or mediaeval farm in England. They are almost uniformly 
 built in a yellowish-brown stone, which is taken from the 
 Luxemburg quarries. They have generally farm-build- 
 ings attached, sometimes in unpleasant proximity to the 
 residence. These old houses harmonize with the land- 
 scape, and suggest the existence of a country life which 
 might be compared with that of our own land. But 
 none of the members of the petite noblesse, to which they 
 mainly belong, have much income, and consequently 
 their mode of living is conducted on lines of the strictest 
 economy. They are also very exclusive, not so much 
 perhaps from family pride — for the history of these 
 families is quite provincial, and the majority of their 
 names have never been heard of outside their little circle 
 — as from the dislike to being eclipsed by the wealthy new- 
 comers from the towns. They keep to themselves and 
 their own set, giving a few dinners in the course of the 
 year to their relatives, and inviting a few of their neigh- 
 bours whom they regard as equals. These dinners are 
 always held at one o'clock, and the afternoon is passed 
 in testing the quality of the host's Burgundy, the 
 favourite wine of the Belgians, which is nowhere found 
 
 99 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 in greater perfection than in the cellar of an Ardennes 
 connoisseur. All these country gentlemen call them- 
 selves sportsmen, but there is very little game on which 
 they can exercise their skill, owing to the absence of any 
 system of preserving. Rabbits alone can be described 
 as plentiful. It is the fashion, however, for a certain 
 number to club together and rent a chasse in one or other 
 of the forests owned by the communes. Here a certain 
 amount of game of a miscellaneous sort is to be had, and 
 during the season a subscriber may hope to get as his 
 share some venison and a little less wild-boar. Pheasants 
 are only to be found on the well-stocked preserves of the 
 Count de Limburg Stirum, and a few other noblemen. 
 Teal and wild-duck still abound, however, on the upper 
 courses of the Ourthe, and woodcock and snipe are also 
 plentiful throughout the Meuse valley. During part of 
 the season everybody is allowed to snare these birds at 
 their pleasure. 
 
 In striking contrast with these old houses, representing 
 the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, are the modern 
 villa or chalet, which the manufacturer or shopkeeper, 
 having made a competence, constructs as his maison 
 de ca??ipag?ie. These are always built in some brick 
 or stone of glaring colours. White, red, and yellow 
 are the favourite colours, with green verandahs and 
 window-frames, and grey or blue slate roofs. It is, in 
 fact, the favourite town house transported bodily into 
 the country, and to which covered balconies for the 
 purpose of enjoying the air and the view have been 
 added. They are evidence of the liking that the Belgians 
 have for country life, although they do not add to the 
 beauty of the landscape. There must always be some- 
 thing incongruous in the appearance of a yellow match- 
 box-like house, rising out of the wooded crest of a hill, 
 that presents in itself a charming and perfect bank of 
 verdure. At the same time it must be allowed that this 
 attraction of wealthy families from the towns to the 
 country is a benefit for the inhabitants of those provinces 
 ioo 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 where there has never been much wealth or any rich 
 class of residents to develop them. Every favoured spot 
 in the region named has its well-to-do resident from 
 Liege or Brussels, and as soon as one settles down 
 others follow at no long interval. The La Roche valley, 
 for instance, is overlooked by a considerable number of 
 these villas, and many Liege manufacturers permanently 
 reside at their country houses on the banks of the Vesdre 
 and the Ambleve. These new-comers, although they 
 evince a partiality for the country by fixing their resi- 
 dence in it, do not take up with the pursuits of the 
 country. They really live a town life in the country. 
 They do not drive much in the sense of traversing 
 distance, and they walk less. They only saunter about 
 their places, if the phrase may be used. Even gardening, 
 in which they take most interest, is done in a languid 
 fashion. They pass a great part of the day in the open 
 air, sitting on their balconies admiring the view which 
 they have been specially built to command, and which 
 their owners see every day without its palling on them. 
 In fact, they have raised the habit of doing nothing in 
 the open air to the level of a science. 
 
 Formerly the provinces of Luxemburg, Namur, and 
 Liege contained very little but forest or heath land, and 
 it was the fashion to speak of the soil as too poor to pro- 
 duce anything. In those days the population had little 
 or no means of earning a livelihood, except as foresters 
 or by work in the quarries. But all this is changing. 
 The forests have been much thinned, and in many parts 
 have quite disappeared. Poor as the soil may have been, 
 it now raises crops. The uplands are rich with corn-fields 
 in the summer ; in the valleys are meadows and orchards ; 
 and it is a curious sight to see the cows being led to eat 
 the grass which is sown in narrow strips between the 
 crops, so that they may not stray on to the ground under 
 cultivation. As the consequence of this change in the 
 character of the country, the existence of the Walloon 
 peasantry is less hard and penurious than it used to be, 
 
 IOI 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 There is a great deal more life and activity in the country, 
 and consequently there is more money. 
 
 The houses of the Walloon peasantry are more sub- 
 stantial and attractive-looking than those of Flanders. 
 They are generally built of stone, and slates are easily 
 obtainable from the numerous slate quarries; while in 
 Flanders the houses are brick, covered with stucco, which 
 is generally painted, or rather washed, with a yellow 
 mixture. The ground-floor usually consists of one large 
 room that is both sitting-room and kitchen, while at the 
 back there is a wash-house. Two or three bedrooms 
 overhead and a loft under the roof generally complete 
 the accommodation. There is often a cellar, and a pent- 
 house for the storage of wood : for the collection of 
 undergrowth in the forests is unrestricted, and at the 
 commencement of winter there is a free distribution of 
 firewood by the communes. Poultry and the small 
 vegetable-garden supplement the earnings of the house- 
 holders, and during the summer months at least there is 
 plenty of work going on through the large influx of 
 visitors from other parts of Belgium and from foreign 
 countries. The Walloon is just as restricted in his diet 
 as his Flemish co-nationalists. He lives on meagre fare, 
 and flourishes on it ; but he does not work as hard as 
 the Flemings do. He is more easily contented, and 
 spends a good deal of his day in gossip. The "Walloons 
 of Liege are, however, different from those of Luxem- 
 burg. They are a bigger and a burlier race, probably 
 because they are meat-eaters, and they are the most 
 impressive type among the Belgian nationalities. 
 
 Country life in Belgium is pleasant enough during the 
 fine weather of summer and autumn, but in the winter it 
 requires all the available philosophy of those who have 
 to remain in the provinces. There is practically nothing 
 to be done. Those who have to gain their own living 
 depend during the winter on what they have put by in 
 the summer. If it has been a good season they are 
 comfortable ; if visitors have been few, they are pinched, 
 102 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 and relieved when the spring brings fresh hope. Those 
 who have not the care of daily existence upon their 
 shoulders pass through the winter months in a state 
 of stagnation, or overpowered at last by ennui, rush 
 off to Brussels or Liege. As has been said, rural 
 Belgium is merely a repetition of town life ; there is no 
 genuine country life at all. A Belgian goes into the 
 provinces to move at his ease, to enjoy the open air 
 when it is fine, and to hurry back to his city as soon as 
 the leaves are off the trees, and the November mists and 
 snow begin to put in an appearance. The less fortunate 
 country gentleman, who has no town residence, has to 
 put up with things. The only excitement he will be likely 
 to have is when the wild-boar are driven by the cold to 
 leave the forest for the farms in search of food, and then 
 a great battue is organized, in which he will take a leading 
 part. 
 
 103 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 THE DEAD CITIES OF FLANDERS 
 
 The contrast between the Ardennes and the tame, flat 
 scenery of Flanders and northern Belgium generally is 
 not more marked than that between the bustling activity 
 of Brussels, Antwerp, Liege, and Ghent, on the one hand, 
 and the sleepy tranquillity of the once famous cities of 
 Flanders on the other. Great as their names are in 
 mediaeval history and romance, Bruges, Courtrai, and 
 Ypres have long been classed as dead cities, while 
 their neighbours and former rivals or dependencies, 
 Commines, Poperinghe, and Audenarde, have been almost 
 forgotten. Even if they remained quite as dead as 
 they have been alleged to be, they must, however, always 
 possess a profound interest for the student of history, the 
 archaeologist, and even for the dreamer who, out of their 
 old-world charm, is able to evoke the memories of their 
 storied past. 
 
 Of all these places, Bruges has best preserved its 
 ancient grandeur. A portion of the old walls still re- 
 mains, the gates which were closed behind Maximilian 
 are to day in use, the house of the Franc, or the free 
 district, which was classed with Bruges as one of the 
 States, looks down on the canal, dead and stagnant as 
 itself, and the Cathedral that witnessed the installation 
 of the Knights of the Golden Fleece, and the funeral of 
 Charles the Bold, is still frequented by the religious 
 of the old city, and visitors from all quarters of the 
 104 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 world. But in the other cities of Flanders little is left 
 to call up the memory of perished greatness. They 
 preserve some monument of the past — a church, a town 
 hall, or a belfry — which, in spite of not always judicious 
 renovation, represents with sufficient fidelity the period 
 of the great communes, and that is all. 
 
 It is somewhat remarkable that Bruges has not 
 shared in the marked industrial revival that has taken 
 place at Ghent in the last fifty years. When Belgium 
 became an independent kingdom there was no great 
 disparity in their respective populations, although it 
 used even then to be said that a large number of the 
 citizens of Bruges were beggars. To-day Ghent has 
 nearly four times the population of Bruges, the result of 
 the energy which revived its prosperity, while Bruges, the 
 old sister city, has remained sunk in indigence, through 
 the inertia of its own citizens. This different result 
 might appear the more remarkable since of the two places 
 Bruges seems to possess the greater natural advantages. 
 It is, for instance, nearer the sea, with which it has 
 long possessed communication by two canals, one to 
 Terneuzen and the other to Ostend, both of which were 
 navigable by ships of a certain tonnage. But they were 
 used to only a moderate extent, and it is probable, when 
 the work to which I am about to refer has been com- 
 pleted, that they will be abandoned. 
 
 Ten years ago a project was set on foot to connect 
 Bruges with the North Sea by a new canal sufficiently 
 deep for large ocean-going steamers. In the days of her 
 greatness, ships used to proceed direct from England and 
 the Mediterranean to Bruges, or rather to Damme, which 
 lies just outside one of the city gates. There was then a 
 navigable river or inlet from the sea called the Zwyn, 
 but this was gradually filled with sand, and ceased to be 
 available by ships in the year 1489. From that date the 
 prosperity of Bruges steadily declined, and it has long 
 been a thing of the past. The existing canals are not 
 suitable for enlargement, and one has the defect of 
 105 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 debouching in Holland. The Manchester Ship Canal 
 suggested the idea of constructing an entirely new channel 
 to the sea, that should make Bruges, as its promoters 
 somewhat grandiloquently said, a seaport. Work on this 
 ship canal was begun in 1897, and is still in progress. 
 As the distance is only ten miles, the rate of construction 
 has not been rapid; but slow and sure is a Belgian cha- 
 racteristic. The line of the canal is traced in an almost 
 due northerly direction from Bruges through Dudzelle 
 to a point on the coast a ■ little west of Heyst. The 
 name of Zeebrugge has been given to the new outlet, 
 and in the hope of making the pier-head a place of call 
 for ocean steamers passing from other ports to the 
 Atlantic, an iron pier, ending in a stone breakwater 
 and jetty, has been carried out over a mile into the sea 
 to reach the navigable channel from and to the Scheldt. 
 To effect this object a further prolongation of the pier 
 has become necessary. It is thus hoped to make Bruges, 
 which would be close to the sea, and a preferable port to 
 Antwerp for traffic with this country, once more the 
 great emporium and distributing centre of Flanders, and 
 when persons interested in the supremacy of Antwerp 
 expressed apprehension lest Bruges thus restored might 
 injure their city, the assurance was given that it was 
 intended to develop the large province of West Flanders, 
 where apart from agricultural prosperity affairs had for 
 many generations been stagnant. The main idea of the 
 canal, then, is to restore life and activity to the long dead 
 cities of Flanders. Up to the present there is not much 
 evidence of any such change. The Bruges of the Early 
 Flemish exhibition in 1902 was the same quiet and life- 
 less town, apart from the foreign tourist, that it has been 
 at any time during the last century. There were a great 
 many more tourists, and the hotels were uncomfortably 
 crowded, but that was the only difference. Still, no one 
 can say what may happen when ocean liners are berthed 
 in the new Bassin de Commerce, and the old ramparts are 
 as frequented by foreign sailors as the quays at Antwerp. 
 
 106 
 
THE BRAEL BRIDGE AT COURTRAI. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Modern activity and mediaeval peace cannot long subsist 
 side by side, and the erection of factories and warehouses 
 must prove too much for the prolonged existence of such 
 old-world, stone-flagged streets as those of Vieux Bourg 
 and Notre Dame, in which the grass may sometimes be 
 seen springing up between the flags. 
 
 The monuments of Bruges — the Halles with their 
 world-known Belfry, and the Hotel de Ville, represent- 
 ing in part or in whole the thirteenth and fourteenth 
 centuries, the still older Chapelle du Saint Sang, the 
 fine Cathedral of St. Sauveur, and the finer Church of 
 Notre Dame, the Hospital of St. Jean, with its priceless 
 Memlings, and the Gothic Church of St. Jacques — these 
 will all remain; but whereas they now form part of a 
 town whose appearance harmonizes with them, they will 
 become, under the effect of modem improvements, curi- 
 osities of a past that will have finally disappeared and 
 left them alone as its representatives. It is the inevitable 
 march of civilization and prosperity. There will be fewer 
 beggars; but, on the other hand, Bruges will no longer be 
 the place for families that wish to economise. For many 
 years Bruges was the seat of a considerable English colony, 
 which settled down there because living was cheap, 
 and because there were good educational facilities. But 
 for some time this colony has been diminishing from 
 natural causes, among which may be named the increase 
 in the cost of living and the closing of some of the best 
 schools. It is no longer the fashion, as was once the 
 case, to send young Englishmen to Bruges to learn 
 French. If they go to Belgium at all nowadays, they 
 go to Brussels. The principal residents of Bruges are 
 some of the old Flemish civic families who, having made 
 a sufficient fortune elsewhere, fix upon Bruges for their 
 abode, and lead a retired life behind the walls of some 
 of the old-fashioned stone houses, of which all that the 
 visitor can see are the porte ccchere and the windows, 
 carefully screened with lace curtains, and protected by 
 strong wooden shutters, which are fastened by a key on 
 107 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 the outside. They are very proud, these people, notwith- 
 standing their simplicity, and lead a life of strict exclusive- 
 ness. Their chief if not their only friends are their 
 relations ; but despite a good many in-marriages, this 
 system of limiting the acquaintance to blood-connexions 
 still allows of a considerable society. In Bruges it has 
 been kept a little more exclusive through the absence, prac- 
 tically speaking, of the rich manufacturer and tradesmen. 
 These have gone elsewhere, or remain where they made 
 their fortunes, and no fortune has been made in Bruges 
 for centuries past. It has all the respectability of an 
 English provincial town, with a quaintness and sadness 
 that while they last are all its own. 
 
 Courtrai, by reason of the great part it played among 
 the Flemish communes, has a fair claim to rank next to 
 Bruges in importance and interest. In the past each 
 of them had a population exceeding 200,000. To-day, 
 Bruges has a little more than 40,000 and Courtrai 
 about 30,000 inhabitants. But the contrast between 
 them could not be greater than it is. Bruges pre- 
 serves much of its ancient appearance, and possesses 
 monuments that will always make it one of the 
 most original cities of Europe ; but Courtrai possesses 
 nothing in its aspect, position, or monuments at all calcu- 
 lated to recall the days of its prosperity and fame. The 
 church of Notre Dame, which was commenced by the 
 ninth Baldwin in n 99 and completed in 121 1, has been 
 several times restored, and even the Counts' Chapel, 
 which is two centuries later, has suffered much, and the 
 figures of the Counts and Countesses have been restored 
 within the last few years, which gives them a brand-new 
 appearance. The finest thing in the church is com- 
 paratively quite modern, Vandyke's painting of the 
 Erection of the Cross, one of his masterpieces. But 
 of the Courtrai that fought and won the Battle of the 
 Spurs, and that paid heavy contributions to Maximilian 
 and to Charles the Fifth, virtually nothing is left. The 
 town is uninteresting even in its modern aspect, and the 
 108 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 activity of the present-day builder in erecting factories 
 for the linen industry and residences for their owners 
 and workpeople, which is visible in all directions, is not 
 of a nature to embellish the town or to make it more 
 picturesque. 
 
 There is one thing, however, that Courtrai is, and 
 always has been, proud of, the memory of the Battle of 
 the Spurs, fought underneath its walls in July of the year 
 1302. This battle not only established the reputation of 
 the Flemish footmen, who there inflicted the first great 
 defeat that the chivalry of France had ever suffered, but 
 it practically saved Flanders from falling to the House of 
 Anjou. The occasion of its six hundredth anniversary 
 in 1902 was seized for a great local celebration. The 
 fites went on for a good fortnight, and on the site of the 
 marsh of Guinegate, in which the French horsemen were 
 overwhelmed, a monument was erected. The city walls 
 that looked down on the marsh, and from which the 
 women and children watched the progress of the struggle, 
 have long since disappeared, and the centre of the battle 
 is now a grass-grown avenue. The seven hundred pairs 
 of gold spurs hung up in the church of Notre Dame gave 
 their name to the battle, but it is uncertain how long 
 they remained there. All that is shown at the present 
 time are a few wooden copies gilded over to resemble 
 the originals. Yet the good people of Courtrai are not 
 so dull of mood as not to think that in the brave days 
 of old their ancestors did a fine thing for liberty on that 
 summer morning so long ago. For that reason the 
 citizen of Courtrai squares his shoulders and thinks 
 himself a fine fellow in a way that would seem pre- 
 sumptuous if attempted by a man of Bruges. At the 
 same time the commercial activity of Courtrai is some 
 proof that Flanders contains the germs of a new life. 
 Courtrai has become the Larne of Belgium. Its linen 
 manufactures are well known in foreign countries, and 
 its table necessaries are almost famous. The population 
 has doubled in a little less than thirty years. If that fact 
 
 109 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 does not conclusively prove vigorous life and strenuous 
 activity, then the conclusions generally drawn from 
 statistics must all be erroneous. 
 
 Ypres, the third of the Flemish cities, has not felt the 
 touch of revival that has fallen on Courtrai, though, on the 
 other hand, it has finer monuments of the past. The 
 intense trade rivalry of the Flemish cities was their bane 
 and weakness. We shall see how Ypres treated Pope- 
 ringhe ; but Ypres itself suffered heavily at the hands of 
 Ghent in 1383, when many of the weavers took refuge 
 in England. From that year its decline was rapid, and 
 Ypres ceased to play a prominent part in the councils 
 of Flanders. Its two great memorials of that olden time 
 are the Clothmarket Hall and the Cathedral of St. 
 Martin, both dating from the thirteenth century. The 
 Hall is the oldest specimen of its kind in Belgium, and 
 it is practically untouched. The facade is about 460 
 feet long and is simple and severe, presenting a double 
 row of ogival windows, small turrets at each end, and a 
 lofty belfry in the centre. The belfry is about 230 feet 
 in height, and is flanked by small towers. The only 
 additions to the building in modern times are the statues 
 placed in niches on the facade of thirty-one Counts of 
 Flanders and thirteen Countesses. In its way there is 
 not a finer or more typical monument to be seen in 
 Belgium. The Cathedral of St. Martin is well entitled 
 to be placed in close proximity to it. It also dates from 
 the thirteenth century, although the tower w r as not added 
 until the fifteenth. The whole is a very fine specimen of 
 late Gothic, and the interior contains some very fine 
 oak carving and a richly decorated organ-loft. Bishop 
 Jansenius, the founder of the Jansenist sect, is buried in 
 a Gothic cloister which formed part of the older church 
 that occupied the same site. The Hotel de Ville is also 
 an interesting monument of the sixteenth century, but 
 the effect is rather diminished by the presence of a large 
 number of modern pictures somewhat garish in colour. 
 The present prosperity of Ypres, such as it is, is derived 
 no 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 from a modest lace industry, supplemented by the fact 
 that a considerable amount of activity and life is 
 brought to the place through its being the spot where 
 the riding-school for officers of the Belgian cavalry has 
 been established. 
 
 Audenarde, or Oudenaerde, is another Flemish city of 
 old repute. Lying sixteen miles east of Courtrai, on the 
 banks of the Scheldt, its fortunes were generally linked 
 with those of Ghent. Its chief attraction is its Hotel de 
 Ville, which competes with that of Louvain as the most 
 ornate in Belgium. It was built in the reign of Charles 
 V., and underwent a process of restoration some years 
 ago that has done less mischief than such processes 
 generally accomplish. There is an extremely fine oak 
 chimney-piece in the council chamber, but otherwise the 
 interior is disappointing. Audenarde, famous as the 
 birthplace of Margaret of Parma, and for Marlborough's 
 victory over the French in 1708, supports some local 
 industries which make it resemble rather Ghent than the 
 cities of West Flanders, which lie out of the beaten track. 
 Comines, lying at the apex of a triangle, of which the 
 base would be formed by a line drawn from Ypres to 
 Courtrai, is showing some symptoms of revival, but it 
 has no other claim to notice than that of being the birth- 
 place of Philip de Comines, the chronicler of the reign of 
 Louis XI. Poperinghe, west of Comines, once threatened 
 the supremacy of Ypres, but the citizens of that town 
 came down upon it in overwhelming force and put an 
 end to its pretensions by fire and sword. This was in 
 1 313, and when Ypres itself was served in similar fashion 
 by Ghent in 1 383, the retribution seemed only just. Of its 
 former greatness Poperinghe preserves only the fine church 
 of St. Bertin, which dates from the thirteenth century. 
 Furnes is the last of these old Flemish towns that need 
 be named. It is now a placid place, chiefly noticeable 
 because it is the centre of the butter-producing district 
 and as the station for La Panne, a fashionable bathing 
 resort on the sea-coast. In the Middle Ages it stood 
 
 in 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 high in the second rank among Flemish cities ; now it 
 has only 5000 inhabitants. Its chief memorials of the 
 past are two unfinished churches, both commenced in 
 the fourteenth century on the large scale that the im- 
 portance of Furnes at that time seemed to justify, but 
 which owing to its rapid decline no one has since had 
 the courage to complete. 
 
 For those who wish to make a visit to these Flemish 
 towns south of Bruges, Ypres is the best stopping point 
 as well as the most important from the character of its 
 monuments. There is convenient railway communica- 
 tion between all the places named, and a few hours in 
 each will satisfy the curiosity of the most inquisitive 
 visitor. Audenarde is within easy distance of Ghent. 
 The impression made on the visitor to West Flanders 
 at the present time is that there is an immense agri- 
 cultural activity, and that the towns are, to some extent, 
 waking up. Courtrai in particular shows symptoms of 
 marked progress, and the banks of the Lys are covered 
 with factories and warehouses. What will happen at 
 Bruges is still uncertain. The ship canal may turn it 
 into a noisy port and place of trade. On the other 
 hand, the port and landing-stage on the coast may be 
 frequented by passing steamers and used as a regular 
 place of call ; but the canal behind it may not have much 
 traffic, in which case Bruges will continue to be very much 
 what it is. There is even a possibility that the opinions of 
 the critics who took a pessimistic view of this ship canal 
 at the commencement will be confirmed, and that the 
 inroads of the sea and the heavy deposit of sand carried 
 with it will, before many years, close the entrance to the 
 new canal — at least for large steamers. The breakwater 
 has been so constructed as to throw a protecting arm in 
 front of the entrance to the canal, and a very large 
 expenditure in addition to the original estimate of 
 ;£i, 1 00,000 has already been incurred. Apart from 
 this enterprise and its at present unascertainable in- 
 fluence on the fortunes and aspect of Bruges, there is 
 
TOWN HALL AT OUDENARDE. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 nothing likely to hasten greatly the development of the 
 old cities of Flanders. They are benefiting in their turn 
 from the growing prosperity of the rest of the country, 
 but West Flanders, with its sand-bound coast, must 
 always lie outside the main stream of commercial 
 activity in Belgium. Its population is not likely to find 
 any more profitable pursuit than that, so long carried on, 
 of agriculture. 
 
 "3 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 EDUCATION AND RELIGIOUS ASPECTS 
 
 Considering the illiteracy of the larger half of the 
 population of Belgium, it may be surprising to learn 
 that a primary school exists in every commune, over 
 6500 in number, and that the law of the land is free 
 education for those who cannot pay for it. The course 
 in these schools should produce better results than are 
 obtained by it, for it embraces a good deal more than 
 the three R's. While history and geography are com- 
 pulsory, drawing and singing are optional. The girls are 
 taught to sew, and the boys are instructed in the provinces 
 in the rudiments of agriculture, and in the towns in a 
 trade. If the prescribed course were carried out with 
 good superintendence it should produce adequate results. 
 The true explanation of the inadequate results ensuing 
 from a system of what might be called compulsory 
 education is to be found in the fact that all primary 
 schools are managed by the communes, and not by the 
 Government. Any private school, which means for the 
 great majority one attached to a religious order, may be 
 selected as the communal school, and so far as female 
 education goes this is the rule. Its directors have to 
 conform to the law and to rest content with the meagre 
 grant of Government and the contribution, fixed by the 
 commune, from parents who are assumed to be able to 
 pay something for the education of their children. This 
 contribution is fixed by reference to the taxes paid, and 
 114 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 persons who pay less than ten francs annually to the 
 State are free everywhere, while in the largest towns, 
 where a higher scale is in force, the limit is thirty francs. 
 
 In the primary schools education, except for those 
 who contemplate entering some department of the 
 administration which entails passing through the ecoles 
 moyennes, practically ceases at twelve, when the age of 
 labour is reached, although the law assumes that educa- 
 tion continues until the child is fourteen. What is 
 learnt before twelve under far more favourable circum- 
 stances than prevail in Belgium is soon forgotten, and 
 the illiteracy of the country is to be explained by the 
 inevitable relapse following the premature interruption 
 and discontinuance even of primary education. It is 
 probable also that the poor results attained are traceable 
 to the deficiencies of the teaching staff, which is recruited 
 from the pupils of the schools themselves. Those who 
 pass from the primary school to the hole moyenne, and 
 take a certificate at the latter, are eligible for a master- 
 ship, and the appointment is made solely by the communal 
 authorities. State supervision only comes in to the 
 extent of stipulating that the teacher shall possess this 
 certificate, and that he shall not receive a lower salary 
 than iooo francs, or £40 a year. Considering that the 
 prizes of the profession are headmasterships, for which 
 the pay ranges from £48 in small to £g6 in large towns, 
 it will be evident that even in Belgium, where all regular 
 salaries run in low figures, no very high order of intel- 
 lectual attainment is expected. The only additions that 
 are possible to those salaries are an allowance for house 
 rent, ranging from £8 to ^32 a year, according to the 
 size of the town, and an annual increase of £1 a year 
 U P ^ £24 a year. The maximum salary after twenty- 
 four years' service is, in a small commune, £80 a year, 
 and in a town of over 100,000 inhabitants, of which 
 there are only four in Belgium, ^152 a year. 
 
 The State comes in to the extent of providing District 
 Inspectors, who are required to visit their schools once 
 ii5 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 a year, and to hold quarterly meetings of the teachers 
 in their districts. These District Inspectors are in turn 
 subordinate to Chief Inspectors, of whom there is one 
 for each province, or nine in all. They are supposed to 
 visit the schools once in two years, and they report 
 direct to the Minister of Education. The maximum 
 salary of a District Inspector is ^180 a year, and of a 
 Chief Inspector ^300 a year. These salaries are only 
 reached after many years' service. The most careful 
 inspection cannot, however, remove the defects of the 
 system, which arise from the fact that education is 
 discontinued at too early an age to leave any durable 
 impression. This is especially the case in Flanders and 
 Hainaut, where there is a general demand for child 
 labour. No marked improvement can be expected 
 under communal control, which is lax in the sense of 
 being easily satisfied and devoid of any high ideal. If 
 things are kept in the old groove all is considered well ; 
 the thought of progress is not seriously entertained. 
 
 The influence of the Church is exercised in the same 
 direction. By the law the teaching of religion, which 
 forms part of the subjects in primary schools, is not 
 compulsory, and children need not attend the class 
 while instruction is being given in that subject. The 
 law also enjoins respect for other creeds than the Roman 
 Catholic faith ; but as there are no other creeds except 
 10,000, mostly foreign, Protestants and 4000 Jews, this 
 stipulation does not impose much restraint on the 
 harmony of the playground. Practically speaking, the 
 influence of the Church is supreme, and where the inter- 
 vention of the Socialist element causes absence from 
 the prayer hours, it may be shrewdly suspected that a 
 practical revenge is taken by not paying great attention 
 to the progress of the defaulting pupils. Moreover, it is 
 an established maxim of the Church of Rome that 
 education, far from being an aid, may be an obstruction 
 to salvation, the only matter in its creed of essential 
 importance. 
 
 116 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 The ecoles moyennes, to which only a comparatively 
 small minority from the primary schools pass, give better 
 results, and the education of the middle classes is 
 acquired in them, or in the somewhat superior schools 
 called Athenks Royaux. The real cause of the superiority 
 of these institutions is that they are not wholly dependent 
 on the commune, but are controlled to some extent by 
 the Minister of Education, whose department makes all 
 appointments to the teaching staff, and, where it provides 
 the funds, prescribes the books that are to be used. The 
 law left the right to the provinces and communes to 
 establish these middle schools, and to retain the control 
 of them subject to the two conditions named. This was 
 due to the desire of the Catholic party to prevent 
 education becoming a strictly State affair, as desired and 
 recommended by the Liberals. One of the leaders of 
 the Clericals on that occasion laid down the following 
 principles in the Chamber : — ' Instruction is not a public 
 obligation, it is the duty of the parent and not of the 
 State. The State may, under certain circumstances, 
 come to the father's aid by opening for his children 
 teaching establishments, but it has not the right to force 
 these establishments on any one.' Views such as these 
 explain the backwardness of education in Belgium, for 
 they reflect the principles held by the most powerful 
 political party in the country. 
 
 The Athenks are the highest form of scholastic 
 institution in the country. They are entirely independent 
 of the commune, and, in a certain sense, they are under 
 the direct supervision of the King, hence the use of the 
 term 'royal.' Classics and mathematics are taught in 
 them, and some arrangements are made for the reception 
 of boarders by the assistant-masters. There are only 
 twenty Athen'ees throughout the country, and some of 
 these, such as the one at Bouillon, have very few pupils. 
 The Jesuits have a first-class school in Brussels, and the 
 best education is obtainable there of any institution in 
 the country. 
 
 117 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 There are four Universities in Belgium, two subject to 
 the State, and two what are called ' free.' The former 
 are at Liege and Ghent, the latter at Brussels and 
 Louvain. ' Free ' means not under the State ; those of 
 Brussels and Louvain represent the opposing parties in 
 the State. Brussels is Liberal, and Louvain is Clerical 
 and Catholic. There is nothing remarkable in the course 
 beyond its comprehensiveness, and at the State Universi- 
 ties there is a branch for technical instruction, which is 
 of the greatest possible value for those who intend to 
 become architects, engineers, mining-engineers, and land- 
 surveyors. There is probably not a better teaching 
 college in Europe for all departments of engineering 
 than the technical school at Liege University. The 
 duration of the academic year is nine months and a 
 half, divided into two equal halves, so that the studies 
 are only twice interrupted for two months, in August and 
 September, and for a fortnight at Easter. The system 
 has another merit in its remarkable cheapness. The 
 annual fee for any of the courses varies from eight to 
 ten pounds, and after the first year's payment the 
 student has the right to attend all subsequent lectures in 
 the same subject without further payment. A consider- 
 able reduction is offered to those who wish only to attend 
 a limited course of lectures. 
 
 Besides the technical branches of the Liege and Ghent 
 Universities, there are some special schools for practical 
 training that enjoy almost as high a reputation as they 
 do, and that have the power of granting diplomas, which 
 are highly prized. Among these may be named the 
 School of Mines at Mons and the Institute of Commerce 
 at Antwerp. The period of instruction in the Mons 
 school covers four years, and the only fee is an entrance 
 one of less than five pounds. The Commercial Institute, 
 controlled by the Antwerp Corporation, is an admirable 
 training-college for clerks, correspondents, and business 
 managers. The most promising pupils are given a 
 special grant to spend twelve months in England, France, 
 118 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Germany, or America, to study the commercial methods 
 of those countries. It is not exaggerating to say that 
 Belgian merchants have thus a supply of trained clerks 
 at their disposal, while those of this country have had 
 to take their employ'es untrained, and do the best they 
 can with them after engagement. There are minor 
 technical schools on most branches of industry scattered 
 throughout the country, but those of the greatest 
 importance have been mentioned. 
 
 With the view of retaining some hold on those who 
 enter the workshop, the Catholics have organized schools 
 for apprentices, called St. Luke's Schools, in many of 
 the towns, and especially in Flanders. No fees are 
 required in these schools, which are very popular. 
 Female education is not so advanced, but the courses 
 of medicine and law have been thrown open to women. 
 The school of technical instruction for women _ in 
 Brussels has done excellent work during the last thirty 
 years. It undertakes to instruct a woman in any trade, 
 from lace-making to cooking and the management of 
 the house. Several similar schools have been established 
 throughout Belgium ; but the Brussels school is acknow- 
 ledged to take the lead. In the province of Hainaut 
 there are special schools of household management, 
 which originated in a private experiment by the Prince 
 de Chimay. 
 
 Taking a broad and comprehensive view of the state 
 of education in Belgium, the following general conclusions 
 seem safe. With regard to the masses, more especially 
 in agricultural Flanders and the mining district of 
 Hainaut, primary education produces few and fleeting 
 results. Little is learnt, and that little is soon forgotten. 
 There is a general illiteracy that provides statistics which 
 seem to condemn the educational system of Belgium in 
 toto. If we pursue our investigations a little further, 
 this condemnation will be qualified by the discovery 
 that the middle schools are doing good work, and that 
 if they were completely taken out of the hands of the 
 119 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 communal authorities they would probably do better. 
 Then we come to the Athenees Royattx, where a classical 
 education is obtainable on very easy terms ; but they are 
 languishing institutions, because nobody in Belgium seems 
 to want a classical education except persons in the 
 wealthier classes, who send their sons to a special school 
 like the Jesuits' College at Brussels already referred to. 
 Even there classical instruction is confined to the chosen 
 few, and can be combined with what is called the 
 modern course. Finally, there are the technical schools 
 and colleges which equip a large section of the com- 
 munity for the battle of life. These are admirable in 
 design and efficient in organization. Until comparatively 
 recently we had nothing like them, and even now it is 
 doubtful if our corresponding institutions produce as good 
 results. Clearly it will not do to say off-hand, as some 
 do, that education is backward in Belgium and that 
 illiteracy and drink go together. There is a large section 
 of the nation that may be termed neglected and backward. 
 But another section enjoys very fair opportunities of 
 becoming educated, while the technical schools are not 
 to be equalled out of Germany, and some of them are 
 not to be surpassed there. The following figures will 
 give the reader some means of making a comparison 
 for himself. In 1902 there were 205,000 children under 
 six at infants' schools, 786,000 at primary schools, and 
 only 23,000 altogether at Colleges, Athenees, and Ecoles 
 Moyennes. 
 
 An account of education in Belgium would be incom- 
 plete without some reference to the numerous scholastic 
 establishments where non-Belgians, mostly English, are 
 received as pupils. The proportion between English and 
 Belgian scholars varies, in some the majority are of one 
 country, in others the numbers will be about equal. 
 But the schools in which the English system and 
 model are aimed at are confined to Brussels and 
 Bruges, and this observation applies exclusively to those 
 for young ladies. There have always been a few resident 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 English tutors who take a limited number of pupils, but 
 these exceptions apart, English boys if they go to school 
 in Belgium must go to a Belgian school like any native 
 subject. It is different in the case of girls. There are at 
 least ten excellent young ladies' schools in Brussels in 
 which the foreign element is quite as important as the 
 Belgian, and there is certainly one which is exclusively 
 English and American. On the whole, the instruction 
 imparted in these schools is as good as can be obtained 
 at home, and for those willing to learn there are great 
 facilities for improving their French — especially in the 
 mixed schools. At some of the strictly Belgian schools 
 day boarders are received, and with genuine catholicity 
 difference of creed is overlooked. The fees in these 
 instances are very reasonable, and the cost of the quasi- 
 English establishment is about the same as in England. 
 
 The subject of religion is intimately associated with 
 that of education in Belgium. All religions are allowed 
 in Belgium, but the State religion is that of the Church 
 of Rome, and it is stipulated in the constitution that the 
 Sovereign must belong to it. This clause had to be 
 waived in the case of Leopold I., who, while he married 
 a Roman Catholic, and allowed his children to be brought 
 up in that faith, stoutly declined to change his own. 
 There are resident in the country about 10,000 Protes- 
 tants, chiefly English and members of the Reformed 
 French Church. The Belgians are Catholics, and where 
 they are not fervent believers it is simply because they are 
 generally sceptical, and not because they lean towards any 
 other creed. The field-preachers, who produced a great 
 impression in Flanders in the sixteenth century, would 
 fare badly if they reappeared on the same scene to-day. 
 The head of the Church is the Archbishop of Malines, 
 who happens at the present time to be a Cardinal as well. 
 This prelate is Cardinal Goossens, whose influence and 
 power throughout Flanders are exceedingly great. He 
 is described by those who know him as a man of great 
 talent and resolution. He does not obtrude himself on 
 121 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 public notice, but works behind the scenes. There is 
 a popular saying to the effect that ' the King is powerful, 
 but Dr. Goossens is more powerful.' His admirers thought 
 that he would have been Pope one day or other; but 
 the Roman Curia loves not the determined and tenacious 
 Fleming. Under the Archbishop are the five Bishops of 
 Liege, Ghent, Bruges, Tournai, and Namur. There is a 
 salary from the State to each of these Church function- 
 aries, that of the Archbishop being over ^800 a year, and 
 of the Bishops over £600 a year apiece. Each bishopric 
 is divided into communes, to each of which a cure is 
 appointed. He receives not more than £$2 a year and 
 a house. The cure may be considered the rector of the 
 parish, and in any commune of importance he is allowed 
 the assistance of one or two vicaires, who fill the position 
 analogous to a curate. The vicaire rarely receives F a 
 higher salary than ^30 a year, but he has rooms in the 
 cure's house, to which a good vegetable garden is generally 
 attached. A certain portion of the church offerings is 
 set apart for the maintenance of the priests. Each 
 bishop maintains a considerable staff in his seminary, 
 and the members are qualified in some form or other to 
 receive a State salary, which is passed into a common 
 fund. There is another functionary who deserves to be 
 mentioned, although he is nominally an outsider. This 
 is the Papal Nuncio, who, although really an Ambassador, 
 cannot sometimes forget that he is a cleric and interferes 
 with the Belgian bishops. In this he generally comes 
 off second-best, as these bishops will not permit any 
 outside interference with themselves or their flock. 
 
 The power of the clergy is very great in Belgium, and 
 in some parts they are omnipotent. This influence is 
 largely increased by the knowledge that if the cures have 
 but small salaries the Church is rich. Religious orders 
 have always flourished in Belgium. In the eighteenth 
 century they held two-thirds of the cleared land, and 
 although they suffered during the French Revolution, 
 they suffered less than might have been expected. The 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 establishment of the modern kingdom of Belgium restored 
 their chances, and they took the fullest advantage of 
 them. In 1846 there were 779 religious houses with 
 only 11,989 inmates, but in 1866 the totals had risen to 
 1 3 14 houses and 18,162 members. In 1890, the latest 
 year for which statistics are available, the numbers were 
 1643 houses and 30,000 inmates. Some idea of the 
 value of the Church possessions may be gathered from 
 the fact that the movable property of the religious bodies 
 in Liege alone has been valued at one million sterling. 
 It would not be an exaggeration to value the total 
 possessions of the Church in Belgium at fifty millions 
 sterling. These resources needed no supplement from 
 the State to make it the most powerful organization and 
 the best equipped for offensive political operations in the 
 country. 
 
 It is impossible not to admire the skill and persistency 
 with which the Roman Church has fought and won a 
 stubborn fight in Belgium. At one time it seemed as if 
 its influence had become a thing of the past. Thirty 
 years ago, or even less, it was consigned to a back seat 
 in politics, and in the control of education its wish 
 counted for little. The Liberals were in power and had 
 long been in power. They gave, or intended to give, 
 the control of primary education to the State ; and once 
 the Church lost its hold on the infant mind, anything and 
 everything became possible. Then the Clericals stirred 
 themselves to action. They recovered the control of 
 education by having it vested in the commune. They 
 appealed to the religious fervour and devotion of the 
 unlettered Flemings ; and the Clerical party was re- 
 turned to power in 1884, with an overwhelming majority 
 that has kept it there ever since. By systematic organiza- 
 tion, the Church has retained its hold on the popular 
 mind in a remarkable manner, considering the extent to 
 which Socialism and scepticism prevail among the in- 
 dustrial classes. The main principle upon which it has 
 acted has been to acquire a dominant influence over the 
 123 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 youthful mind, and to retain it by keeping up a direct 
 interest in and practical control over the individual during 
 his worldly career. There are in Brussels 5000 waiters 
 and messengers who are on the list of the Catholic 
 League, and there are nearly as many girls in domestic 
 service and shops included in the same League. 
 
 Many Roman Catholics in Belgium think it a mis- 
 fortune and a direct injury to their religion, that the 
 names Catholic and Clerical have been given to what is 
 strictly the Conservative party in the State. The Church 
 thus incurs odium in matters about which it feels very 
 little concern. This way of looking at the matter is not 
 quite as true as it appears. The policy of Rome sees far, 
 and knows well the danger of eliminating any matter of 
 human interest from its programme, as not being of a 
 nature to affect its position at some future time. Thus, 
 for instance, it would seem at first sight that the Catholics 
 as a religious body could have no possible motive for 
 opposing the introduction of a bill abolishing the privi- 
 lege of pre-emption in the Army. Yet they are opposed 
 to it because they believe that the compulsory and 
 uniform enforcement of conscription will weaken their 
 influence and increase the amount of irreligion. It 
 cannot be denied, however, that the Church of Rome 
 has, by descending into the political arena, incurred 
 much odium which, if it had kept to its own sphere, 
 would have been avoided. On the other hand, the 
 undoubted good work performed by the parish priests, 
 and by many of the religious institutions, must not be 
 overlooked or disparaged. The advice of Monsieur le 
 Cure is generally sought for in every difficulty throughout 
 the communes of Belgium, and, as a rule, it is given 
 disinterestedly. Now and then there is a scandal in 
 which some young vicaire is concerned ; but considering 
 the enforced celibacy of the clergy, these cases are 
 remarkably rare. The monks and nuns of the various 
 orders give themselves up to some special task. Much 
 of the hospital work in the country is done by the latter. 
 124 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 And they not merely do the nursing work in the hospitals, 
 but they have hospitals of their own for imbeciles and the 
 deaf and dumb. Just as the Jesuits have a high-class 
 school in Brussels for youths, so have the Ursulines one 
 for young ladies at St. Hubert. The Trappists make 
 beer and cheese, and are also excellent farmers. The 
 Carmelites may provide nothing of practical utility, but 
 their music and singing are superb, and add much to the 
 enjoyment of their congregations. Apart from politics, 
 the representatives of the Roman Church are doing 
 in all parts of Belgium good work which has earned the 
 gratitude of those who benefit by it, or come under 
 its influence. 
 
 125 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 LA IV AND JUSTICE 
 
 At the same time that the Provisional Government was 
 drawing up a Constitution for the country in 1830-31, it 
 was also charged with the task of preparing a code of 
 laws and justice. This was to be based on the old laws 
 of the nine provinces, adapted to modern requirements 
 and leavened by the Code Napoleon. The 'Codes 
 Beiges,' which took several years to compile, fill a large 
 volume, and the Belgians believe that they possess in 
 them a model collection of laws. They are not, perhaps, 
 so well satisfied with the manner of dispensing them, 
 and especially with the extent to which litigation may 
 be protracted. The law, they say, is slow and costly, 
 especially in commercial matters and questions of in- 
 heritance, which furnish the bulk of the cases carried to 
 the Court of Appeal. This objection is heard in other 
 countries besides Belgium, and does not reflect on the 
 justice of the laws in any special degree. 
 
 As the decisions in all cases have to be in conformity 
 with the statute law, they are examined by a revising court 
 called the Cour de Cassation. This court works automati- 
 cally, as it were, for no action on the part of either plaintift 
 or defendant is needed to set it in operation. It examines 
 every judgment, and when it finds that it is not in har- 
 mony with the written law, it simply annuls it. The 
 Cour de Cassation never tries cases itself, except when 
 a Minister of State is the accused. The Cour de 
 
 126 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Cassation is the highest court of the realm, and has 
 only one judge. He is assisted by a considerable staff of 
 revisers, but he gives his decisions alone. These are 
 only heard of when a judgment or sentence is reversed, 
 as in the majority of cases ratification follows as a matter 
 of course. 
 
 Next to the Cour de Cassation come the Courts 
 of Appeal, of which there are three. One sits at 
 Brussels, another at Ghent, and a third at Liege. Each 
 of these courts has several judges, and at Brussels there 
 are four separate chambers, or tribunals, for the Court of 
 Appeal. The judges are appointed by the King for life ; 
 but a list of eligible persons, who, of course, are barristers 
 or avocats, is first prepared by the Senate and the mem- 
 bers of the courts in which a vacancy has occurred. 
 There is no regular retiring scale or rule, but if a judge 
 is incapacitated by age from discharging his duties, he is 
 allowed to retire and still receive his full salary, which 
 ranges from ;£8oo to ^1200 a year. There is one 
 characteristic that the whole of the judicial and official 
 classes in Belgium have in common. They remain at 
 their posts until they actually break down. There are 
 more octogenarians in the Belgian public service than in 
 any other country of Europe. In Belgium, a judge is 
 appointed for life, and in theory he cannot be removed 
 from his post ; at least the King who appoints him cannot 
 remove him, though if he does anything discreditable, his 
 brother judges can pass a vote, which must be unanimous, 
 to the effect that he is no longer worthy to sit among 
 them, and he is then removed. 
 
 Below the Courts of Appeal are the Courts of First 
 Instance, in which all civil processes have to commence. 
 There are twenty-six of these courts, which may be 
 found in all the principal towns. They are supple- 
 mented by tribunals of commerce, before which com- 
 mercial disputes are first argued ; but these only exist in 
 Antwerp, Ghent, Liege, and a few other places where 
 such cases are likely to be- numerous. The lowest court 
 127 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 of all is that of the Juge de Paix, which combines the 
 functions of our County and also of our Police Courts. 
 All local disputes are brought before the Juge de Paix, 
 whose sentence in the majority of offences against the 
 law takes the form of a small fine. Where the offence is 
 deemed grave, the prisoner is committed to the Assizes. 
 There are 222 Juge de Paix Courts in the country. 
 
 Criminal cases are supposed to be tried before the 
 Court of Assizes, and these vary in number with the 
 amount of crime in the calendar. In 1898 there were 
 89 Assize Courts, before which as many as 42,732 per- 
 sons were arraigned. The bulk of these cases could not 
 have been very serious, as throughout the year there were 
 never at any time more than 4000 prisoners in the gaols, 
 All criminal cases, including those of treason and offences 
 under the Press laws, have to be tried before a jury, which, 
 as with us, is composed of twelve citizens. The jury 
 system represents one of the oldest of Belgian privileges, 
 having been ceded to the people as long ago as the 
 Grammont Constitution in the year 1068. 
 
 The punishments imposed by the criminal courts are 
 far lighter than ours, and although capital punishment 
 remains on the penal code, it is never inflicted. The 
 condemned prisoner is sentenced in form to death, and 
 he is removed to the solitary cells in the prison of 
 Louvain, where he passes the remainder of his days in 
 silence. Those who have had experience in Belgium of 
 the perpetual silence system describe the punishment 
 as being far more severe and terrible in its consequences 
 than death. The advocates of the retention of capital 
 punishment lay stress on its deterrent influence, but it 
 has none in Belgium, for although it remains on the 
 statute book, every one knows that it is never inflicted. 
 
 The excessive leniency shown to all accused persons 
 in the courts of the Juge de Paix is the great defect in 
 the administration of justice in Belgium. The dominant 
 idea in these courts which sit in the Hotel de Ville is to 
 preserve harmony in the commune, and not to create bad 
 
 128 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 blood. A stabs B because he is found courting A's 
 young woman. The wound is not very serious, and has 
 disappeared by the time the case comes on. The Juge 
 de Paix reads the culprit a sermon, and fines him five 
 francs. In the mean time the friends and neighbours 
 have made peace between the combatants, and if all is 
 well, the whole party proceed to spend the five francs 
 and more in their favourite drink-shop. But sometimes 
 it is not so happily adjusted. The assailant may be a 
 ruffian, and hastens to signalize his escape by perpetrat- 
 ing a worse outrage on his rival or on the girl whose 
 preference is the ostensible cause of the affair. A worthy 
 Brussels citizen once described a little affair to me which 
 aptly illustrates the defects, or rather the complete help- 
 lessness, of the petty law in his country. His servant 
 was washing the trottoir in front of the house. A youth, 
 of the kind we would call nowadays a Hooligan, came 
 along and upset her pail out of sheer mischief. The 
 servant remonstrated with him on his conduct, where- 
 upon he struck her with a heavy stick across her right 
 arm. The arm was severely injured, and incapacitated 
 the servant for work during several weeks. On my 
 asking what punishment the fellow got, I received the 
 answer, 'Nothing; but what would you have? I could 
 have brought the culprit before the Juge de Paix, who 
 would have fined him twenty francs, and all his relations 
 and friends would have set themselves to work to do me 
 an injury for inflicting that loss on them. Truly our 
 police have not enough power.' This was the complaint 
 of a prosperous inhabitant of Brussels. 
 
 As a general observation, it may be said that the 
 Belgian police devote all their time to watching the 
 criminal classes, the men and women who have under- 
 gone a term of imprisonment, and that it does not come 
 within their conception of duty to attempt to regulate 
 the affairs of ordinary citizens. For this reason a good 
 deal of latitude is left to the citizen in respect of self- 
 defence, as, for instance, against housebreakers. It is 
 
 129 K 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 perfectly legitimate for a householder to fire upon and 
 kill any one breaking into his house, although he may be 
 in the full security of an upper story, and the burglar be 
 only testing the door-latch. With the exception of such 
 extreme cases as this, the law of Belgium for petty 
 offences is based on the theory that lenience is the wisest 
 course, and provides the best way of preventing recruits 
 joining the criminal classes. 
 
 Any English family contemplating taking up its resi- 
 dence in Belgium for a time should carefully study the 
 law of tenancy before committing itself for a definite 
 term, for the law is very strict on the point that if the 
 tenant has a grievance against the landlord he must dis- 
 charge his liability under the contract — that is, pay for 
 the whole term — before he can get a hearing. In the 
 case of a foreign tenant, too, who has no immovable 
 property in the country, the landlord has very extensive 
 powers of summary seizure for the purpose of securing 
 himself against possible loss. It has been said that an 
 English plaintiff has no chance of redress in a Belgian 
 court. I have no reason to think this statement to be 
 true, but it is certain that ignorance of the law in Belgium 
 very often disqualifies a plaintiff without even a hearing. 
 
 Belgian lawyers boast that the distinctive merit of 
 their courts is that the sentences given forth in them 
 cannot differ from the intention and provision of the law. 
 If they do differ they are reversed, and the penalties 
 fall to the ground. There is no inequality of sentence, 
 because everything is done according to prescription, 
 and the greatest pains are taken by dispassionate persons 
 in controlling the record. The Cour de Cassation is 
 swayed neither by the rhetoric of the advocate nor by 
 sympathy with the accused. That is one side of the 
 picture, but there is another. By the law of Belgium a 
 man is tried for what he is accused of, and this is carried 
 out with rigid consistency. If he is found not guilty of 
 that particular and precise crime he is acquitted. In 
 many cases the issue is simple and direct ; the accused 
 130 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 has done a thing or he has not done it. But there are 
 many matters in which the deed cannot be disputed, but 
 there is an opening for difference of opinion as to the 
 degree of culpability. For instance, a man is killed, 
 but the killer may commit murder, or manslaughter, or 
 merely homicide. In Belgium, it is necessary to be very 
 specific in the counts of a charge, or an undoubtedly 
 guilty person will escape scot free. 
 
 Stronger evidence could not be advanced in proof of 
 this than information candidly placed at my disposal by 
 a very clever Belgian lawyer and publicist with reference 
 to the notorious Stokes case. Stokes was the merchant- 
 missionary shot or hung by the Capitaine-Commandant 
 Lothaire in Congoland. This officer was brought by 
 the representations of the British Legation at Brussels to 
 trial, and the indictment quite simply laid to his charge 
 the crime of murder alone. The Legation no doubt took 
 counsel with some Belgian advisers in the framing of 
 the indictment ; but intentionally or otherwise it was 
 faulty, for all minor counts were omitted. As my 
 Belgian informant — I believe he was one of the counsel 
 on our side — told me with a pleasant smile, ' Of course 
 the court had no difficulty in acquitting Lothaire, for 
 whatever his offence it was not murder.' The result of 
 the Sipido case was due to a somewhat similar miscarriage 
 on a technical point. 
 
 The Belgian bar is recruited from the students of law 
 at the different Universities. They attend the lectures 
 of the legal course, and having received their diplomas 
 as doctors in law are qualified on the payment of 
 moderate fees to practise in the courts. They do not 
 appear in the cases before the Juge de Paix. I believe 
 there is no reason why they should not, but it almost 
 seems as if they thought it beneath their dignity to do 
 so. Nor do they appear often in the Assize Courts, 
 unless it is a cause ceVebre. In these cases there is very 
 rarely much, if any, money thrown away on the defence. 
 The accused know fairly well what to expect, and accepts 
 
 131 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 it with a certain philosophy. The presence of a be- 
 capped avocat from Brussels will not materially reduce 
 the _ sentence, but it will the savings of the culprit's 
 family. 
 
 The Belgian lawyers work almost exclusively in the 
 Courts of Appeal, the Tribunals of Commerce, and in 
 private litigation. The fees paid them are on a moderate 
 scale, but occasionally, in an important case, a leader in 
 the Appeal Court will receive a daily fee of a hundred 
 pounds. A successful barrister regards his service as an 
 avocat either as the probationary period for a judgeship, 
 or as the source from which he derives the income that 
 enables him to be a politician. For instance, M. Beer- 
 naert, who has been Prime Minister and also President 
 of the Chamber, is still a practising barrister in the 
 Brussels Court of Appeal, and perhaps it is not going 
 too far to call him the leading lawyer as well as politician 
 of his country. Solicitors do not fill the same position 
 of importance that they do among us. One of the ex- 
 planations is that a considerable portion of their duties 
 is performed by the notaire, an important personage in 
 Belgian life, of whom something must be said presently. 
 The solicitor, or avoue, has studied law like the avocat in 
 the University, and taken his diploma. But his work 
 consists in giving a legal form to documents, preparing 
 wills, etc. He does not instruct the avocats in the same 
 way as English solicitors draw up the case for barristers, 
 and it is permissible for the client to treat direct with his 
 counsel. Their principal work lies in the conduct of 
 litigation outside the courts, and in instructing the 
 huissiers (sheriff's officers) in the collection of debts. 
 The avou'es are not a numerous body, and they are also 
 to be found only in the principal towns. Throughout 
 Belgium there are probably not a hundred practising 
 avou'es altogether. 
 
 The 7iotaire> or notary, has no legal training or position, 
 but he discharges all the business side of a solicitor's 
 profession with us. All sales and transfer of house 
 132 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 property and land have to be executed before him in 
 order to possess validity. He is a commissioner of 
 oaths, and in, at least, the provinces he is the custodian 
 of family papers and documents. He is also consulted 
 in all matters of business, and no Belgian would think 
 of purchasing a property before he had taken the advice 
 of his notary. A good deal of banking business passes 
 through his hands, for he often takes charge of the 
 money of his clients, and makes them advances as 
 required. In country towns he is the most important 
 man in the place, for not only does he know every- 
 body, but he holds in his hands the information which 
 enables him to judge the financial position of every one 
 in the town and the surrounding district. Far more 
 than the parish-priest is he the keeper of the public 
 conscience. As notaries are paid a definite fee or a 
 commission on the amount of money that passes through 
 their hands on the sale or purchase of property, they 
 generally are able to save a considerable sum of money 
 during their lifetime. They have also opportunities of 
 purchasing land or houses on favourable terms. Their 
 daughters are thus often the possessors of a tempting 
 dot, which enables them to marry an officer in the army 
 or a member of the petite noblesse. As a body the 
 notaires are an honourable class, and this explains the 
 great confidence reposed in them. But of course there 
 are exceptions, and since speculation on the Bourse 
 has increased of late years, paragraphs in the newspapers 
 are sometimes seen announcing the failure and flight of 
 a notaire. The principal interest from the general point 
 of view of such an incident is that there is then revealed 
 the magnitude of the sums entrusted to the custody 
 of the notaires. Some years ago there was a rather 
 notorious case in one of the southern towns, when a 
 notaire made away with over a million francs of his 
 clients' money. 
 
 All criminal prosecutions are undertaken by the Pro- 
 cureur du Roi. He differs from our Public Prosecutor 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 in this respect, that he conducts the prosecution himself 
 in court. A certain number of barristers are salaried 
 by the State for this purpose, but when many cases are 
 in progress any barrister may be retained to act as 
 Procureur du Roi. 
 
 There are maisons d' arret in all the small towns or 
 Assize districts, and in the large towns there is a maison 
 de surete. Prisoners are kept in these pending trial. 
 At Brussels there are three of the latter — one for women, 
 formerly in the Rue Petits Carmes, occupying the site of 
 the Hotel Culembourg, but now in the Ancien Hopital 
 Militaire, in the Rue des Minimes, and two for men. 
 Of the latter, one is an old building in the Rue des 
 Minimes on the side of the hill on the top of which 
 Brussels stands, and the other is a new and extensive 
 building at St. Gilles flanking the Chaussee de Charleroi. 
 A new prison to take the place of the one in the Minimes 
 is being built at Forest. The two chief prisons of Belgium 
 for prisoners after sentence is passed are situated at 
 Louvain and Ghent. At Ghent there is also a reforma- 
 tory for youths. It was here that Sipido was incarcerated 
 after he was brought back from France. Belgian prisons 
 are under the control of the Minister of Justice, who 
 selects suitable candidates for the posts of the Governors 
 and Deputy-Governors, who are appointed by the King. 
 They have the reputation of being well managed, and 
 although released prisoners have not yet contracted the 
 bad habit of publishing the record of their infamy and 
 its punishment, the general impression is that Belgian 
 prisoners do not suffer great hardships in prison. 
 
 The complaint made by the Brussels householder as 
 to there not being a sufficient number of police is not 
 surprising, considering that the total police force of 
 Brussels does not exceed five hundred men, and many 
 of these are employed in the administration and are never 
 seen in the streets at all. In accordance with population 
 this force, as compared with that in London, is only 
 one-third of what it ought to be. Some increase has 
 
 134 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 been made of late, including a body of bicyclists, but the 
 total is still inadequate for a great city covering so large 
 an extent of ground as Brussels. The police are armed 
 with a short sabre, and since the Socialist disturbances of 
 1899 they have carried a revolver. There is a dangerous 
 criminal class in Brussels which congregates chiefly in 
 the Rue Haute, a sort of Seven Dials, and the suburb 
 of Schaerbeck. The greater portion of the offences in 
 which violence plays a part are committed by professional 
 criminals. The bulk of the citizens are extremely well 
 behaved and give no trouble to the police. One ex- 
 planation of the ease with which the population is 
 managed lies in the system of compulsory registration 
 at the police-office, and thus the authorities can put their 
 hands at once on any member of the community, or 
 at least ascertain that he or she has quitted the fixed 
 address. Servants are compelled to notify their changes 
 of situation, all of which are recorded in a little book 
 which they submit to the examination and control of the 
 police. The inspection of the livret of any servant is 
 sufficient to reveal her personal history. 
 
 It is the fashion in England to sneer at the Brussels 
 policeman, and he is generally represented as a very 
 puny fellow, devoid of physical strength and courage. 
 He used to be a favourite butt of Pimch. As is often 
 the case, the facts are not as they are popularly repre- 
 sented to be, although it maybe admitted that during the 
 last ten years considerable attention has been paid to 
 the reorganization of the force and to the physique of 
 the men composing it. It is consequently improved 
 from what it was. Taking the corps as a body, they are 
 a set of self-respecting men, who are held in respect by 
 the community. As a force they are popular, which 
 shows that they do not abuse their authority. Some of 
 the misconception that has arisen in the British mind 
 about them is due to the fact that it is not part of the 
 duty of a Brussels agent de police to give information to 
 the tourist and traveller, and consequently when accosted 
 
 135 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 in a matter-of-course sort of a way, as if he was a mere 
 official intended to wait on strangers, he used no doubt 
 to give very often a brusque answer, or no answer at all. 
 On the other hand, if approached in a proper manner, 
 with the customary slight elevation of one's hat, he will 
 salute in return and give all the information at his dis- 
 posal as cheerfully as do our own excellent constables. 
 The newspapers contain every day one or more instances 
 of exceptional courage and devotion to duty on the part 
 of agents de police. 
 
 136 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 IN TRUE WALLONIA 
 
 Although the original home and birthplace of the 
 Walloon race cannot be found and specified with the 
 same precision as in the case of the Flemings, there is 
 no question that Liege may be called its central point. 
 On the south it may be considered to be bordered by 
 the Hautes Fagnes ; westwards it extends to the borders 
 of Brabant, its eastern limit is Aix-la-Chapelle, which 
 is historically a Walloon city, and on the north it 
 touches the modern province and old Duchy of Limburg. 
 Except the portion which has been German for cen- 
 turies, and which has in Montjoie the most typical of 
 all Walloon towns, the province of Liege represents 
 the true home of the Walloons. The origin of the 
 name Walloon appears to be the German word c welch,' 
 cultured or civilized. We may take it that this title 
 was given to the settlers in the productive and attractive 
 Meuse valley by the other tribes of Austrasia long- 
 before Liege had come into existence, and at a time 
 when Tongres, Herstal, Landen, and Aix-la-Chapelle 
 were the important towns of the Walloon country. 
 Herstal sprang into fame because the Merovingian kings 
 established there a hunting residence. These places 
 became more famous as the cradle of the succeeding 
 dynasty of the Carlovingians, or Carolovingians. Landen 
 was the birthplace of the first Pepin who is distin- 
 guished by its name, Herstal gave birth to the second, 
 i37 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 and the third Pepin or the Short was born at Jupille, 
 on the opposite bank of the Meuse to Herstal, and 
 supposed to have been another villa for the chase in 
 the forest that covered the greater part of this region. 
 Many places dispute the honour of having given birth 
 to his son and successor, Charlemagne, but the claims 
 of Herstal or Jupille are probably better than those 
 of any of the others. At the same time it may be noted 
 that volumes have been filled with learned theories on 
 the subject without any absolutely certain result, for 
 none is possible. The citizen of Herstal is just as proud 
 and confident of the fact as his neighbour of Jupille 
 across the river, and both are now small places, mere 
 suburbs of Liege. On the other hand, Aix-la-Chapelle, 
 which claimed the honour of being the birthplace of the 
 greatest historical figure between Caesar and Napoleon, 
 was undoubtedly his favourite residence and holds his 
 tomb. 
 
 The character of this region differs considerably from 
 the other provinces of Belgium. It is more rugged than 
 any part of the Ardennes, stands on a higher elevation, 
 and although the growth of population has been followed 
 by the general clearing of the woods, a visit to the 
 Hautes Fagnes or the forest of Hertogenwald will 
 convey some idea of what it must have been like in 
 the days of the famous Mayors of the Palace. The 
 valley of the Vesdre, despite the presence of numerous 
 factories and villa residences, presents a savage aspect 
 that is not to be found in any other part of the country. 
 The little stream forces its way between dark and over- 
 hanging rocks, and the railway from Liege into Prussia 
 passes through twenty-five tunnels in as many miles. 
 Throughout this region the oak used to abound, and 
 in the beautiful woods on the summit of the range 
 behind Chaudfontaine the king of trees can still be found 
 in great numbers. There is also an extensive oak forest 
 round the chateau of Argenteau near Herstal. 
 
 The chateau of Argenteau, beautifully situated, is the 
 
 138 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 seat of the Counts Mercy-Argenteau, the most famous of 
 whom was the Ambassador sent by the Empress Maria 
 Theresa to Paris in the time of Queen Marie-Antoinette, 
 and whose memoirs throw so much light on the period. 
 Not far from it commence the limits of the hitherto 
 neutral district of Moresnet, which, owing to the inability 
 of Prussia and the Netherlands to come to an agree- 
 ment about the frontier in 1815, was left autonomous. 
 Moresnet consists chiefly of a mountain that contains 
 large and valuable zinc deposits. It is about three 
 miles in length, and a mile and a half broad. A little 
 time ago some stir was made by a rumour that a pro- 
 ject had been formed for opening there the gambling- 
 tables that the Belgian Parliament had caused to be 
 closed at Spa and Ostend, and now it is stated that 
 Moresnet is about to lose its distinctive character, Prussia 
 and Belgium having come to an agreement to divide it 
 between them. 
 
 The Hautes Fagnes, called in German Hohe Venn, 
 extend from the Ambleve to the Prussian frontier and 
 across it. The popular watering-place, Spa, is situated 
 within their limits, and also the Baraque Michel, which 
 is the highest mountain in Belgium, viz. 2080 feet. 
 The exact origin of the word Fagnes has not been 
 ascertained, but it signifies an uncultivated elevated 
 plateau, covered with heath and forest. The name 
 without the adjective is applied to a district between 
 the Sambre and Meuse near Chimay, but the Fagnes 
 generally known as such is the plateau lying south-east 
 of Liege. It forms the highest altitude between the 
 basins of the Rhine, Moselle, and Meuse. This region 
 is the home of legend and folk-lore. The people are 
 intensely superstitious, and believe in ' the little men ' 
 who rule in the woods during the night time, and who 
 sometimes come into the villages and do the villagers' 
 work for them. These genii are called sottais. There 
 are numerous customs which show a remote origin. 
 One is that of sending the children on the first Sunday 
 139 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 in Lent to collect wood and brushwood at all the 
 houses for the purpose of lighting bonfires on the 
 hills. Those who refuse become very unpopular, and are 
 supposed to make themselves liable to attack the next 
 day by the children who employ the burnt sticks for 
 the purpose of blackening their faces. In the Vesdre 
 valley it is the accepted popular opinion that the souls 
 of the departed live in the trees, and on All-Souls-Day 
 children are strictly forbidden to cut wood for fear of 
 disturbing them. At Verviers itself the children go 
 about swinging pots of live coals, and begging for 
 centimes for the poor souls. The Walloon country is 
 certainly the home of folk-lore, and volumes have been 
 written on the subject. 
 
 In character, the pure Walloon is the finest and most 
 distinctive type in Belgium. Leaving aside the degenerates 
 of town life, he is a man of good height and fine 
 physique. Indeed, it is not uncommon to see men of 
 immense burliness, built like an ox, as the saying is, who 
 seem a survival of the turbulent age of Charles the Bold, 
 Louis XI., and the wild-boar of the Ardennes, so admir- 
 ably portrayed in Scott's ' Quentin Durward.' The type 
 is generally dark in both sexes, but it is entirely free from 
 the swarthy element, due to the Spanish connexion, which 
 is specially marked in Brabant and Luxemburg. It will 
 be remembered by students of history that Liege quite 
 escaped the troubles of the second half of the sixteenth 
 century, and remained passive, but independent, under 
 its Prince-Bishops. Consequently the Spaniards never 
 had anything to do with Liege or its dependent districts. 
 The Walloon is a man of very considerable energy, 
 throws himself into whatever interests him with equal 
 determination and animation, and although somewhat 
 prejudiced against any outside interference or innovation, 
 he has built up, by hard work and steady perseverance, a 
 great local prosperity. Guicciardini, the Italian envoy, 
 much of whose description of the Belgian races is true 
 to-day, although he wrote in the sixteenth century, said 
 140 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 of the people of Liege : ' The citizens of Liege are 
 industrious people, very ingenious, of much spirit, ready 
 to undertake anything. The Walloons are undaunted by 
 any kind of work, their ardour communicates itself also 
 to their women, who share with them the rudest toil.' 
 
 In old days the Walloons were noted for their turbu- 
 lence and spirit of independence. In the Middle Ages, 
 the Flemish weavers of Ghent were considered stiffnecked 
 and quarrelsome, but the good people of Liege were 
 always deemed able to go a little further in the way of 
 combativeness than any other Belgians. It was Charles 
 the Bold who first tamed their haughty spirit, or rather 
 made them suffer for it. Perhaps in doing this he 
 reduced his own power and resources, and paved the way 
 for his own discomfiture at the hands of the Swiss. 
 It is unnecessary to tell the story of his capture and 
 punishment of the city, but his subsequent expedition 
 against Franchimont is less known, and will bear re- 
 peating. Franchimont is in the Hautes Fagnes, and lies 
 a few miles north of Spa, on the road to Pepinster, 
 the castle of Pepin, as the local authorities say, but with 
 doubtful truth. It possessed a strong castle, held by a 
 Marquis, who took his title from the place and who con- 
 trolled the foresters and mountaineers of this region. 
 When Charles the Bold and his hostage Louis XI. sat 
 down before Liege, a summons for aid was sent to all the 
 dependent towns, and among others to Franchimont. In 
 its case the summons was readily responded to. The 
 chief marched with his retainers and the foresters of the 
 Hautes Fagnes to the rescue. The night surprise which 
 so nearly succeeded, as told in the chronicle of Corn- 
 mines and the pages of ' Quentin Durward,' was the deed 
 of the men of Franchimont. After the capture of Liege, 
 Charles marched to Franchimont, destroyed the castle, 
 and, having killed many of its inhabitants, returned with 
 a considerable number of prisoners of both sexes, whom 
 he summarily got rid of by throwing them off the Lidge 
 bridge into the Meuse. 
 
 141 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Such was the end of Franchimont in history, but it 
 lives in legend. Scott's lines, in ' Marmion,' perpetuate 
 the story : — 
 
 ' Did'st e'er, dear Heber, pass along 
 Beneath the towers of Franchemont, 
 Which like an eagle's nest in air 
 Hang o'er the stream and hamlet fair ? 
 Deep in their vaults, the peasants say, 
 A mighty treasure buried lay, 
 Amass'd through rapine and through wrong 
 By the last Lord of Franchemont.' 
 
 The story goes that the devil in the guise of a hunts- 
 man keeps watch and ward over an iron chest buried 
 below the castle. As excavations have been made and 
 nothing found, the tradition has no longer even local 
 value. The eminence on which the castle stood is of only 
 slight elevation, standing above the streamlet called the 
 Hoegne, which flows into the Vesdre, and of the ruins 
 scarcely anything remains. The hundred years since 
 Heber visited the place have wrought a great change, 
 and the materials of the old castle have been freely used 
 in the construction of the modern village of Theux. 
 
 The turbulence of the Walloons was well established, 
 quite apart from the local history of Liege. The great 
 district of Hesbaye — called in mediaeval documents Hes- 
 bagne — separates the principality from Brabant. It was 
 an early seat of Walloon colonization, and Tongres was 
 their capital before Liege came into existence. The 
 Walloon chiefs, who had erected strongholds in this 
 country, resented any intrusion into their territory, 
 killing and plundering all travellers. Hence the saying 
 became common: 'Whoever enters the Hesbaye is fought 
 on the morrow.' Travellers soon gave this district a 
 wide berth, and having no one else to fight, the Walloon 
 chiefs began to fight with one another. In the thirteenth 
 century the first of these wars between Walloon Capulets 
 and Montagus broke out between the Awans and Waroux, 
 and when that feud ceased to supply excitement through 
 142 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 the deaths of all the principals, a fresh quarrel and cause 
 of strife were provided by the Grignoux and the Chiroux. 
 They were a brave, reckless people, whose legends would 
 make a long story. 
 
 Perhaps the following incident gives as good a proof of 
 their fearlessness as any other. The devil figures in most 
 of their legends, and in this he took on himself the form 
 of a pretty woman, whom one of the Hesbaye chiefs found 
 weeping by a fountain. He took her home to his castle 
 to supper. In the morning the devil revealed himself in 
 his true form. The undaunted Walloon merely remarked, 
 'When you get back to hell tell them that you were never 
 better entertained.' The characteristics of the mediaeval 
 Walloons were preserved by their descendants in the 
 sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, during 
 which the Walloons fought well in the service of their 
 foreign masters. It was at St. Quentin in 1557 that 
 the Walloons first obtained the recognition of Europe 
 as first-class fighters, and the reputation of their infantry 
 as the most efficient and formidable force on the 
 Continent remained undisputed for nearly a century. 
 Conde's victory at Rocroi in 1643 was the first defeat 
 they had suffered, and so far as courage went, they had 
 rarely fought better. It is of this period that Schiller 
 speaks in his Wallenstein, when he says of one of his 
 characters, ' Respect him, for he is a Walloon.' But it is 
 quite a mistake to assume, as some do, that the martial 
 records of the Walloon race end with Rocroi. The Wal- 
 loon contingent of the Imperial Army, after the Austrian 
 rule was established in the Spanish Netherlands, was a 
 corps delite. Belgian officers, and especially Walloons, 
 rose to high command in the Imperial Army, from the 
 time of Merode, in the war of the Spanish succession, to 
 that of Clairfayt and Beaulieu, in the wars with the 
 French Republic. When France succeeded Austria as the 
 dominant power in the South Netherlands, the Walloon 
 contingent was transferred to the former by one of the 
 clauses of the Treaty of Luneville. The Belgians did 
 143 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 not preserve all their distinctive regiments in the French 
 service, but at least the Latour Dragoons continued an 
 old and honourable name. In the army of the Empire, 
 Belgian troops had a good reputation, and General 
 Thiebaut considered them better than French troops. 
 After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, over 2000 Belgians 
 who had received the Legion of Honour returned to 
 their homes. In an earlier chapter the opinion has been 
 expressed that the success of the Belgian rising in 1830 
 was mainly due to the courage and dash of the Liege 
 volunteers under Charles Rogier, in other words, to the 
 co-operation of the Walloons. This active participation 
 explains the selection of Liege as the scene of the great 
 exhibition to be held in 1905 in honour of the seventy- 
 fifth anniversary of the declaration of Belgian in- 
 dependence. Certainly so far as site is concerned no 
 selection could have been better, and the broad and 
 swift-flowing Meuse, as it sweeps round Mount Ste 
 Walburga, presents a panorama to which there are 
 few equals in Europe. Great efforts are being made 
 in order that the exhibition should prove a success and 
 worthy of the occasion, and thus with a mixture of 
 pride and business capacity a national celebration will 
 be made to serve a practical purpose in giving the 
 already well-known productions of Liege factories a 
 still wider reputation. Both the King of the Belgians 
 and Prince Albert are taking a lively interest in the 
 preparation of the exhibition. 
 
 If any one wants to get a favourable impression of the 
 Belgian nation, it is to Liege that he should go as a place 
 of residence, and from that city visit the towns and villages 
 famous in the history of the Walloons. The facilities of 
 intercommunication are great, the hotels are better, 
 taken as a whole, than in any part of Belgium, the air 
 is bracing and invigorating, the villages are clean, with a 
 complete absence of the fumieres that detract from the 
 pleasantness of the Ardennes, and they contain a healthy 
 and hospitable population. The English tourist knows 
 144 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Liege and Spa, but beyond those places he is never seen 
 in the true country of the Walloons. 
 
 Liege, the city founded by the Bishops of Tongres, who 
 transferred their seat there in the tenth century, and of 
 whom the most famous was Bishop Notger — it was said 
 of him that God made Notger, but Notger made 
 Liege — has already been treated of as a manufacturing 
 centre. But, like Antwerp, it has another and quite a 
 different role. Liege is a fortified position of the greatest 
 importance, because it stands in the path of any army 
 advancing from Germany. Until the year 1890 its 
 defences were obsolete. They consisted merely of the 
 Fort of La Chartreuse, on the right bank of the Meuse, 
 and the citadel on the left ' crowning the lofty and im- 
 posing Mount Ste Walburga. As a protection for the city 
 of Liege, these forts were valueless, even before the great 
 increase in the range of artillery. It was in 1888 that 
 after long discussion the Belgian Chamber passed the 
 necessary votes for the fortifications of the Meuse Valley. 
 These consisted of the defences of Namur and Liege by 
 a circle of detached forts, so that not merely the towns 
 themselves should be rendered safe against bombardment, 
 but that the passage of the Meuse should be rendered 
 impossible. Both systems are the same, and were carried 
 out on the plans and under the personal direction of 
 General Brialmont. The forts axe forts a coufiole, with guns 
 that are raised and lowered automatically. The cannon 
 in them carry their shell for over ten miles. To each 
 fort is attached a barrack, and the forts, where possible, 
 are connected by a military road, and even in some 
 instances by a tram-line. I say where possible, because 
 the forts are on different sides of the river, and at Namur 
 the Sambre intervenes in the system as well as the Meuse. 
 Of the two positions Liege is infinitely the more im- 
 portant, although the theory upon which they were 
 constructed was that Namur would" close the Brussels 
 road to the French, and Liege that from the German 
 frontier. As Namur does not in any way command the 
 145 l 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Charleroi and Mons roads to Brussels, it follows that it 
 does not fulfil the role assigned to it. It is merely the 
 fete de pont at the important junction of the Sambre and 
 Meuse. On the other hand, Liege does fulfil the role 
 imagined for it, because it commands all the roads from 
 Germany into Belgium. The successful defence of Liege 
 would therefore keep Germany off Belgian territory in the 
 event of war. Liege, as a strategical position, is indeed of 
 the first importance, not merely for the defence of Belgium, 
 but on the map of Western Europe having regard to its 
 present political conformation. In fact, it may be doubted 
 if there is a more important fortified position in the part 
 of Europe with which this country might become con- 
 cerned than Liege. 
 
 Under these circumstances a brief description of the 
 system of defence at Liege will not be out of place. The 
 outlying forts are twelve in number, and stand upon a 
 circumference measuring 31 miles, and the average 
 distance between them is 2\ miles. The intervening 
 country is therefore fully commanded by rifle-fire from 
 the adjacent forts. Six of the forts are on the right 
 bank of the Meuse, and six are on the left. The former 
 are the more important, or at least they would be 
 exposed to the first attack. They are in their order from 
 north to south — Barchon, Evegnee, Fleron, Chaudfon- 
 taine, Embourg, and Boncelles. Of these the forts at 
 Fleron and Chaudfontaine are the most exposed to 
 attack, and would be the immediate object of any coup 
 de main from the side of Germany, as they protect the 
 main line of railway from Cologne. Their possession 
 would open the door into Belgium, for the defence of the 
 other forts of Liege would be then practically impossible. 
 Remembering that future wars are likely to be of sudden 
 commencement, and that the main object with the 
 opposing commanders will be to snatch some material 
 advantage within the first few hours after the signal is 
 given, it becomes clear that only the inclusion of Belgium 
 within the field of warlike operations is necessary to 
 146 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 make the possession of Liege a vital point, on which the 
 result of the first campaign might depend. The forts on 
 the left bank of the river are, taking them in the same 
 order as those named, but on the western curve — Pontisse, 
 Liers, Lantin, Loncin, Hollogne, and Flemalle. The 
 last-named is on the Meuse, some distance above Seraing. 
 They complete the defences of Lidge, but they would 
 only be called into action in the event of a regular 
 investment of the place. The value of all forts depends 
 on the adequacy of the force defending them, and there 
 is no doubt that the regular garrison of Liege is very 
 small. At one time these new forts, which cost altogether, 
 including armament (Namur and Liege), four millions of 
 our money, were only tenanted by a sergeant and a 
 corporal's guard. Of late years this has been increased 
 to a company, but by an extraordinary oversight there 
 was no officers' accommodation, and every evening the 
 officers on guard went back to the regimental mess in 
 Liege, slept in the town, and only returned the following 
 morning. For the longer half of the twenty-four hours 
 these forts then were left without an officer. In 1902 a new 
 arrangement came into force by which one officer has to 
 pass the night in each of the forts or casemates, as they 
 are officially termed. It is curious that after sinking so 
 much money in these defences the most elementary pre- 
 cautions are neglected in providing for their security. 
 
 Enough has been said to show the important part 
 that Liege plays in the national defence of Belgium. It 
 stands for the Walloon half of the country in precisely 
 the same manner that Antwerp does for the Flemish, as 
 the bulwark of its security and independence. It is 
 liable to far the greater danger of the two, because 
 it is the sentinel on an exposed frontier. Moreover, 
 Antwerp is a strictly defensive position, whereas the 
 possessor of Liege will have in his hands the best possible 
 base for offensive measures either eastwards or westwards. 
 
 147 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 AMUSEMENTS AND LEGENDS 
 
 Some one has said that the Belgians work fifty-two weeks 
 a year, including Sundays. An exception must be made, 
 however, for fete days, when all work is discontinued. 
 There is no compulsory religion by the Constitution, but 
 the fete days are those of the Church — Easter with its 
 Carnival, Pentecote or Whitsuntide, and the Assumption 
 in mid-August. Besides these there are the Fetes Nation- 
 ales, held by order of authority on the four days from 
 23rd to 26th July, and the King's/^ has been incor- 
 porated with them. Pentecote and the Assumption are 
 really holidays of one day each, and as they occur during 
 the summer they are observed by all who can afford the 
 expense by making excursions to some favoured spot on 
 the Meuse, in the Ardennes, or elsewhere. As travelling 
 is cheap, and as clubs are formed to share the expenses 
 in common, a clerk or an artisan from Antwerp or Liege 
 can visit the Han grottoes, La Roche, or the Castle of 
 Bouillon for a comparatively small number of francs. 
 Special trains commence running at an early hour in the 
 morning, and continue bearing their human freights to and 
 fro across the little kingdom until long past nightfall. The 
 trains are packed to repletion, and the holiday-makers 
 are exceedingly boisterous. It is an occasion on which 
 timid persons and foreign visitors should stay at home. 
 
 The other holidays are more especially fete days, in 
 the sense that they are celebrated locally, and each city 
 
*>0*,n •', Atf. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 and even commune has its own special and typical 
 display. Those of Lent, distributed at intervals of a 
 fortnight between the Little Carnival, Mi-Careme, and 
 Grand Carnival, are very much of the same character 
 throughout the country. In Brussels the Carnival enjoys 
 a special vogue, on account of its being the capital and a 
 pleasure-loving city. Dances are given in every petty 
 casino or dancing-hall, while at the Opera House a grand 
 masked ball is provided for those who can purchase the 
 ten-franc tickets. The upper boulevards are crowded 
 with domino-wearers, the pleasant avenues are covered 
 with a shower of pink and green confetti, but it is in the 
 lower town that the battle of the Carnival is waged with 
 the greatest animation and vigour. A procession of 
 carriages following a prescribed route is held during the 
 day, passing through the Place de la Monnaie, which is 
 supposed to be the place of inspection. Those who take 
 part in it are masked for their own protection against 
 the fusillade of confetti encountered along the route, and 
 especially at the points of blockage which frequently 
 occur. In the evening the rougher element gains the 
 ascendant, especially in the covered galleries, and it is 
 not always harmless confetti alone that is thrown. The 
 police have introduced some regulations with the object 
 of controlling the disorder and of preventing the crushes, 
 in which people have lost their lives or met with serious 
 injury, but they have not been very successful. 
 
 The Carnival is, of course, general throughout Belgium, 
 but perhaps it is more animated in the Walloon provinces 
 than in Flanders. The prettiest celebration of all used 
 to take place at Spa in the lifetime of the late Queen of 
 the Belgians, and a small section of Belgian society 
 endeavoured to emulate there the gaiety of the Riviera. 
 The battle of the flowers round the Pouhon used to be 
 an extremely pretty sight, but now that the patronage of 
 the late Queen exists no longer, it is to be feared that at 
 least the Carnival attractions of Spa will become a thing 
 of the past. 
 
 149 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 The Fetes Nationales are made the occasion of 
 much jubilation. They signalize the stirring events of 
 September, 1830, when the people of Brussels rose 
 against the Dutch. One of the most touching scenes is 
 the procession of the few survivors of the Belgian Volun- 
 teers who took part in the rising to the Place des 
 Martyrs, where they lay wreaths on the monument to 
 their gallant comrades. The Burgomaster appears in 
 state with the sheriffs, and the Veterans, as they are rightly 
 termed, are entertained at a dejetmer. Another of the 
 days is marked by a military review or march past of the 
 garrison before the Royal Palace. It is a fair occasion 
 to inspect Belgian troops, and if allowance be made for 
 the nature of the road, a paved chaussk, with many in- 
 equalities, which would throw any troops out of line, the 
 inspection will not give rise to unfavourable comment. 
 The horses of the Guides are excellent for light cavalry, 
 although they may seem a little pampered, and not hard 
 enough in condition for real active work. The Grena- 
 diers are big fellows, but the little Carabiniers, who in 
 stature might be compared to the Goorkhas, march past 
 best of all the infantry. The fetes are generally brought 
 to a conclusion by a marche des flambeaux round the 
 Boulevards at night, and sometimes there are fireworks 
 on the island called Robinson Crusoe, in the Bois. 
 
 During the summer the principal communes, which 
 make up the city of Brussels and its suburbs, hold their 
 kermesses. The kermesse in Brussels is now little more 
 than a country fair is with us. There are merry-go- 
 rounds, shooting-galleries, swings, a small menagerie, 
 perhaps, and a theatrical troupe. The music is generally 
 supplied by the band of the commune, but the most 
 noise comes from the mechanical barrel organs, which 
 are almost incessantly at work. The old allegorical 
 representations, however, which used to form the main 
 feature of the kermesse are now rare or wholly absent. 
 During the kermesse of Brussels itself, the effigies of the 
 Mannekin, and of some of the heroes of Brabant history, 
 150 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 are carried through the main streets of the lower town. 
 Everard T'serclaes, who recaptured Brussels from the 
 Flemings in the fourteenth century, is perhaps the popular 
 hero in these processions, and his representative comes in 
 for a big ovation. The kermesse itself is held in the Boule- 
 vard de Jamar, close to the southern station. Of the other 
 kermesses held in the suburbs nothing in particular need be 
 said. Each town has its own particular/^, and no useful 
 purpose would be served by attempting to give a cata- 
 logue of them. It is better to select a few which will 
 convey an idea of the survival of mediaeval traditions in 
 a country that seems in many respects given up to the 
 material concerns of modern life. At Mons the annual 
 fete occurs on Trinity Sunday, and is called the parade 
 of Lumecon, which is the Walloon for limafon, a snail. 
 The allegory represented is none other than the legend 
 preserved in so many varying forms throughout Christen- 
 dom of St. George and the Dragon. At Mons the hero 
 is called Gilles de Chin, and the dragon is represented 
 as some indescribable monster, which kept a Princess a 
 prisoner in the forest near the town. The dragon is duly 
 killed on the pretty Grand' Place below the old citadel. 
 The great curiosity formerly displayed on this occasion, 
 but now shown only in a wooden facsimile, was the Mons 
 cannon, which is alleged to have been used at Crecy, 
 where a contingent from Mons fought on the side of the 
 English— the Queen of Edward III. being Eleanor, 
 Countess of Hainaut. At Hasselt, the capital of Lim- 
 burg, situated at the opposite extremity of Belgium to 
 Mons, the local fete is held on the day of the Assumption, 
 viz. 15th August. This is the celebration of Virga Jesse, 
 the patron of Hasselt. Hasselt, situated in the midst of a 
 forest of nut trees in olden days, derives its name from hazel- 
 bosch, i.e. hazel-wood. Several routes met at Hasselt, 
 and many travellers passed by it. An image of the Virgin 
 Mary was attached to a large tree near the present town, 
 and travellers deposited offerings there to secure good 
 luck on their journey. In course of time a town grew up 
 151 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 round the shrine, and the inhabitants handed down the 
 legend of Virga Jesse. In the fourteenth century it became 
 a place of pilgrimage, and a chapel having been built for 
 the purpose, the statue was deposited therein, and on 
 Assumption Day it was carried in procession through the 
 streets. In the eighteenth century the ceremony was altered 
 from an annual affair to one of every seven years. The 
 statue is supposed to be very old, and shows the black- 
 ness of age. A handsome crown, with stones presented 
 by one of the Popes, and estimated to have cost ^300, is 
 placed on the Virgin's head for the procession ; and among 
 the possessions of the shrine is a fine velvet mantle, also 
 covered with jewels, and thrown over the statue for the 
 procession. 
 
 All the ceremonies of the fete do not partake of a 
 religious character. There are reminiscences of the time 
 when the people of the Hazel Wood were heathens, and 
 the distinctive feature of the fete is not the bedecked 
 statue, but the streets and lanes bordered with fir trees, 
 which temporarily convert Hasselt into its original forest. 
 For weeks and even months before, all the women and 
 children of the place are engaged in collecting the 
 required wood from the forest, so that the smallest house 
 may have its fir tree planted in front of it. Triumphal 
 arches are erected at fixed points, and at each of these a 
 halt is made by the procession, so that a scene in the 
 legendary history of Hasselt may be enacted. Hendrich, 
 the first inhabitant of the place, is represented living his 
 primitive life in his hut, with his wife, his goats, and his 
 pigs. His representative is allowed to smoke his pipe, 
 as the good people of Hasselt cannot imagine a state of 
 happiness without one. 
 
 Another scene is that of the knight who loses his way 
 in the forest, to whom the Virgin makes a miraculous 
 appearance, and leads him to the hut of Hendrich. 
 There are many other scenes, but none rouses the same 
 excitement as the effigy of the giant, who once held the 
 whole forest in terror. He is represented as an enormous 
 152 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 figure covered with armour and seated on the trunk of a 
 tree, the whole drawn through the streets on a triumphal 
 car. He is called the ' Lounge Man,' or the Big Man, 
 and when he comes out in the procession the excitement 
 is even greater than on the appearance of the statue with 
 the supposed miraculous properties. By a curious arrange- 
 ment, the statue contains a reservoir of thick pea-soup, 
 which is distributed gratuitously to all comers. At the 
 last celebration in 1898, there were 30,000 visitors, many 
 coming from Holland and Germany to see it, and there is 
 no reason to believe that the next septennary will show 
 any decline in popularity. 
 
 Many of the popular processions partake of the character 
 of pilgrimages, such as the anniversary at Notre Dame 
 de Montaigu. This shrine was founded by the Archduke 
 Albert and the Archduchess Isabella at the beginning of 
 the seventeenth century, and it was under the patronage of 
 the late Queen of the Belgians, who used to drive herself 
 from Laeken in order to be present on the occasion. 
 The procession from Rochefort to Foy Notre Dame, not 
 far from Dinant, possesses a great attraction for the 
 people of the locality, and every seven years there is 
 a regular march of a large part of the population, 
 in addition to the annual pilgrimage. The story goes 
 that Foy Notre Dame got its reputation during a severe 
 outbreak of plague in the sixteenth century for the 
 remarkable cures effected, in the cases of those who 
 paid it a pilgrimage. The interest to-day lies in the 
 revival of the procession which a Count of Rochefort 
 organized during a time of great trouble from the 
 prevalence of the plague. The men who take part in 
 it are drilled for weeks beforehand by an ex-soldier, 
 and all the farmers combine to form a cavalcade, in 
 which the chief figure is the Count of Rochefort. The 
 old and the children follow in carts and vehicles of all 
 kinds. A start is made at daybreak on Whit-Monday, 
 and it is late in the evening when they get back. On 
 entering the town they are received with a salute from an 
 153 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 old cannon borrowed for the occasion. The last proces- 
 sion was in 1899, and it will be in 1906 that the time 
 will arrive for the next. The pilgrimage to St. Hubert 
 is more of a religious undertaking than the semi-popular, 
 semi-religious festivities that have been described. In 
 the first place a considerable number of the participants 
 are the sick and suffering, and the special disease for 
 which a visit to the shrine of St. Hubert is supposed to 
 be efficacious is the terrible one of hydrophobia. Under 
 such circumstances the ideas of amusement and jocularity 
 that are so natural to the Belgian mind in other revivals 
 become repugnant and impossible. The legend of St. 
 Hubert, the patron saint of hunters, is one of the best 
 known. The place where the disbelieving officer of the 
 Emperor Charlemagne met the stag with the shining 
 cross between its antlers, is marked by a chapel in the 
 forest still called La Converserie, or the place of con- 
 version. He gave his name to the forest as well as the 
 town, and his tomb is still shown in the crypt of the 
 church, which has been rebuilt several times over it. 
 The existing church was purchased for ^1500 by the 
 Bishop of Namur, during the French Revolution, and 
 thus saved from destruction when the lands dependent on 
 the Abbey were sold by auction, and fetched ^80,000. 
 It is said that as many as 30,000 pilgrims proceed every 
 year to St. Hubert on the Saint's anniversary. 
 
 Among popular legends none has been better preserved 
 than the story of the Four Sons of Aymon, and their 
 wonderful horse Bayard. The legend relates to the time 
 of Charlemagne, the great Emperor of Western Europe, 
 who had much difficulty in keeping his turbulent vassals 
 in order. Among these the most troublesome was Duke 
 Aymon and his four sons, Renault, Allard, Guichard, and 
 Richard, all men of enormous stature and strength, 
 Renault, the biggest, being not less than sixteen feet in 
 height, according to the story. Aymon had also a 
 brother named Buves, of Aigremont. Aigremont lies not 
 far from Huy, and still boasts of a fine castle belonging 
 154 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 to Count d'Oultremont, and it was once the seat of 
 power of the Wild Boar of the Ardennes. Buves refused 
 to take part in Charlemagne's expedition against the 
 Saracens, and when the Emperor sent one of his sons to 
 remonstrate with him, Buves murdered him. The Em- 
 peror came with a large force to punish him, and Buves 
 was killed in battle. Then the four sons of Aymon swore 
 vengeance and fled to the Ardennes, where they built 
 the castle of Montfort stronger than Aigremont had been, 
 and the ruins of which may still be seen on the Ourthe. 
 They surrounded it with three walls, and defied the 
 Emperor. Renault fought on horseback, and his cousin 
 Mangis, son of Buves, gave him the magic horse Bayard, 
 which could run as fast as the wind, and never grew 
 tired. For seven years the sons of Aymon held their 
 own, but at last the Emperor came with a mighty force, 
 and captured the castle by force or fraud. Among his 
 retinue was Duke Aymon himself, whom he obliged to 
 follow him, and may have employed to deceive his sons. 
 Be that as it may, the Castle of Montfort was taken and 
 destroyed, and the four sons of Aymon barely made 
 their escape by mounting all together on the horse 
 Bayard. On this occasion they escaped, and are next 
 heard of in Gascony, where they drove out the Saracens. 
 The King of Gascony, named Yon, was not grateful, and 
 gave them up to Charlemagne, but they fought their way 
 through his forces. Their end is shrouded in mystery. 
 Of Renault it is said that he became a monk at Cologne, 
 and also that while directing some masons in their work 
 he was ignominiously thrown by them into the Rhine and 
 drowned. He was subsequently canonized, and there 
 is a fine monument to him at Dortmund, in Westphalia. 
 
 There are more details in the chronicles as to the fate 
 of the horse Bayard. It was at last captured by some 
 of the men of Charlemagne, and brought before the 
 Emperor, who addressed it as follows : ' You have often 
 upset my plans, and now you are in my power you shall 
 upset them no more.' He then gave orders to tie a heavy 
 *55 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 stone round the horse's neck, and to throw it into the 
 Meuse, which was done. But Bayard shook off the 
 stone and swam to the other bank of the river, and, 
 giving three neighs of triumph, disappeared into the 
 forest. The legend goes on to declare that the horse 
 was really immortal, and that he may be still coursing 
 through the Ardennes, although he carefully avoids the 
 sight of man. The legend of the sons of Aymon and 
 the horse Bayard is to Belgian children what that of 
 King Arthur is to us, but it is only at Termonde that 
 there is a representation annually on the Grand' Place of 
 some of the incidents in their career. 
 
 In Hainaut there is a curious survival of the Middle 
 Ages in the number of archery clubs that exist,' and in 
 the popularity of the exercise. The archers take the 
 pursuit quite seriously. They may be seen in consider- 
 able numbers on Sundays at all the stations between 
 Tournai and Mons, proceeding to the butts of their 
 special society. The bow used is really a long-bow such 
 as was used at Crecy, and is carefully kept in an oil-skin 
 or leather case to prevent the string getting damp. A 
 quiver containing the arrows is carried at the side or over 
 the back. For festive or ceremonious occasions there is 
 a showy uniform, of green or other coloured jerkins, a 
 bonnet of the same colour, with a feather, and leather 
 trousers, tight fitting to below the knee, with buskins. 
 The archers of Hainaut enjoy the patronage of the 
 authorities, and possess privileges that have a very 
 remote origin. The services they used to render in 
 return are no longer of any practical value, and they 
 represent a mere tradition. 
 
 Of late years a considerable change has been passing 
 over the school-life of Belgium, at least among the well- 
 to-do classes. More attention is paid to outdoor games 
 and sports than formerly. Cricket has not become as 
 popular as football and hockey, for the reason that the 
 cricket-field attached to the school does not exist, while 
 football has to be played on the asphalt or stone yard. 
 
 156 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Some of the football teams from Ghent, Brussels, and 
 Antwerp are quite efficient. There are rowing clubs at 
 Brussels, Ghent, and Antwerp, and a Ghent crew has 
 figured twice at Henley, and its admirers hope yet that 
 it will carry off the honours. Golf has been taken up by 
 the smart set, and the wild heaths of the Campine and the 
 dunes behind Ostend are admirably adapted for links. 
 To the public mind in Belgium, however, golf is still an 
 exclusively English amusement, and a few years ago 
 nobody would have assumed that a Belgian could play 
 it, at least in Belgium. The following little adventure 
 happened to a party of Belgian gentlemen who had 
 formed a golf club not far from Antwerp. It was in the 
 year 1900, when the anti-English feeling on account of 
 the Boer War was at its height, that these gentlemen, 
 attired in the regulation costume of knickerbockers, etc., 
 were returning from their game, when some Flemish 
 boys began shouting, 'A bas les Anglais,' or rather its 
 equivalent in Flemish. The boys were joined by others, 
 and soon there was a small crowd. Finding the matter 
 had gone far enough to be pleasant, the Belgian golf 
 enthusiasts turned round and delivered their pursuers an 
 edifying lecture in the best Flemish dialect. Whether 
 anything was said reproving them for their outbreak 
 against the English I know not, but at least they were 
 informed in unmistakable terms that some of their fellow- 
 countrymen wore knickerbockers and played golf. 
 
 The games of the people are few and simple. In a 
 considerable number of the estaminets a notice appears 
 that there is a billiard table. This will be found to be a 
 miniature concern, and, of course, without pockets, for the 
 French game. Still more frequently the notice will have 
 the attractive word ' Quilles,' and a skittle-alley will be 
 found in the back garden, or more generally in a passage 
 at the side of the house. If there is a really national 
 game in Belgium it is skittles. What skittles is for in- 
 doors, the jeu de bal is for out-of-doors. This is played 
 in all the towns in the open squares, and even in the 
 157 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 streets. It consists in hitting a tennis-ball from one 
 player to the other with the hand, or more often with a 
 wooden instrument, half bat half glove, that fits on the 
 hand. This bat, as we should term it, is called gant, or 
 glove. The communes institute competitions on fete 
 days, and give prizes to the most skilful player. In the 
 cafes the men play dominoes, more rarely backgammon 
 or bac, and still more rarely chess. Still greater pleasure is 
 probably derived from gossip, while they sit at their ease 
 in the cafes sipping their pecque or gin. On a fete day a 
 very large number of the holiday-makers will spend the 
 whole day passing from one cabaret to another, restrict- 
 ing their visits to those kept by their friends and perhaps 
 by their relations. It would be difficult to compute how 
 many glasses they imbibe altogether on these occasions, 
 especially as in some parts of the country there is a 
 half measure of pecque retailed for a halfpenny. 
 
 Music perhaps affords the greatest amount of pleasure 
 to the Belgian mind, and the bands of comparatively 
 small places attain a very considerable degree of efficiency. 
 During the summer they perform several evenings a week ; 
 but perhaps they are heard to the greatest advantage 
 when they turn out to attend the funeral of some re- 
 spected resident in the commune. A funeral is the 
 spectacle that gives the foreigner the most favourable 
 impression of the Belgian people. As the procession 
 moves to the church the band leads the way giving 
 forth probably Chopin's ' Marche Funebre ; ' when the 
 music stops, the priest, who follows, escorted by at least 
 two acolytes bearing the holy ensign, intones the lessons 
 of the dead ; then come the family mourners, the females 
 veiled so as to be invisible, and finally the crowd of 
 friends, acquaintances, and even personal strangers, 
 practically the whole male population of the commune 
 or townlet which can possibly be present. When the 
 funeral is that of a young female, girls and children, 
 probably her playmates, attend as an escort to the coffin, 
 which is always borne to the church on men's shoulders. 
 
 158 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 It is a very affecting sight, and reveals true kindness of 
 heart and sense of fellow-feeling. The Belgian's respect 
 towards the dead is one of his most cherished traditions. 
 Let not the English tourist refrain from paying his 
 tribute too, by uncovering as the coffin and chief 
 mourners go by. 
 
 59 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 LITERATURE AND SCIENCE 
 
 In the chapter relating to the development of Flemish 
 political influence, it was shown how the movement was 
 preceded by an epoch of remarkable literary activity. 
 The names of Conscience and Ledeganck are the greatest 
 in the Belgian literature of the nineteenth century; 
 but towards the dawn of the twentieth there appeared 
 two new literary leaders, Maeterlinck and Verhaeren, 
 whose intellect belongs rather to the new century than 
 the old. It is not a little curious that it should have 
 been reserved for Flemish writers to show that there 
 existed in the French language a rugged force and a 
 capacity for expressing popular emotions in popular 
 language that had not previously been discovered. The 
 ' Douze Chansons ' of the former and the ' Jan Snul ' of 
 the latter writer were revelations of linguistic power and 
 originality. To these names must be added that of 
 Camille Lemonnier, who stands for the Walloon world 
 as the two others do for the Flemish. His remarkable 
 work, Le Male, has recently been crowned as a chef 
 cToeuvre by French Societies not over lavish in distributing 
 their laurels abroad. 
 
 It is as well for the reputation of modern Belgium that 
 there has been this manifestation of literary genius by 
 some of its citizens, for otherwise it might be declared 
 that the whole nation was absorbed in the pursuit of 
 material prosperity, and had lost the secret and the 
 160 
 
in Town and Country- 
 desire of intellectual vigour. For to tell the truth, litera- 
 ture in Belgium has few rewards. It brings neither great 
 fortune nor great fame unless the individual's reputation 
 spreads beyond the narrow limits of the kingdom and 
 becomes European. The Flemings, as a race, are proud 
 of their writers, but now that they have taken to writing 
 French, which is only understood by one-tenth of the 
 race, their popularity can never equal that of the author 
 of the ' Leuw van Vlaanderen.' At the same time there 
 has never been any lack of literary activity in Belgium. 
 The number of painstaking searchers into the voluminous 
 and intricate historical records of the country has been 
 beyond easy computation. Their names are to be found, 
 not merely on the title-pages of separate works, but as 
 contributors to the long series of volumes issued by 
 historical and literary societies, many of which enjoyed 
 only a brief and obscure existence. The researches of 
 Gachard, Kervyn van Lettenhove, and others have pro- 
 duced results that have led to a reconstruction of history. 
 One instance may be referred to. Every English reader 
 knows Motley's picturesque and belief-compelling portrait 
 of Cardinal Granvelle. Yet new facts and documents 
 have been discovered which in skilful hands might pro- 
 vide the material for showing that after all he was only 
 a reasonable and moderate statesman. 
 
 The Flemish records at Ghent have not been more 
 carefully compiled and annotated than those of Liege, 
 and the only difference between them is that whereas 
 the former dovetail into, and to a great degree actually 
 constitute, the national history, the latter possess a purely 
 local importance, and seem to lie outside the main course 
 of Belgian history. To the generation of record-hunters 
 and record-preservers succeeded another of historians, 
 who utilized the materials garnered by their industry. 
 Even when the cares of office were on him M. Nothomb 
 was still more distinguished as a man of letters than as a 
 statesman. In diligence and industry it would be diffi- 
 cult to surpass M. Theodore Juste, who produced a score 
 161 M 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 of volumes upon passages in the history of his country, 
 as well as one solid work treating it as a whole from the 
 time of Caesar. In popularity M. Nameche has displaced 
 M. Juste, and his ' General History ' has been adopted 
 for the schools. Within the last few years M. Pirenne 
 has been engaged upon a history that is full of promise, 
 but up to the present he has only reached the Burgundian 
 period. Among philosophical works the maxims of the 
 late M. Emile Banning, a public servant of approved 
 merit, would take a high place in any literature, while 
 General Brialmont, his friend and fellow-worker, who 
 died recently, has enriched military bibliography with 
 many works, of which a life of Wellington is perhaps the 
 most remarkable. 
 
 There has, therefore, been no lack of writers in Belgium 
 since it became independent, and a list of Belgian authors 
 and their works would fill a good-sized volume. But 
 none the less literature does not take the high place in 
 the social life and public estimation of the country to 
 which it is entitled. If this is true of serious literature, 
 it is still more true of journalism, although journalists in 
 Belgium cannot complain, as serious writers do, that they 
 lack an audience. The Belgians do not read much, but 
 they read newspapers, and as the journals are of limited 
 size they read several of them in a day. The main 
 defect of journalism in Belgium is that it writes to please 
 the passions rather than to increase the intelligence and 
 educate the opinions of its readers, It fixes upon some 
 subject that happens to be prominent — recent instances 
 are the Dreyfus case and the Boer War — and all its 
 comments are subordinated to the attempt to foment the 
 passions and prejudices of its readers. Every bit of 
 news, true or false, is turned to the purpose of demon- 
 strating that the people or cause which has had the mis- 
 fortune to incur the displeasure of Belgian journalism is 
 wholly in the wrong or completely unworthy. 
 
 During the South African War many instances of this 
 character occurred. One may be given. A London 
 162 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 telegram was published stating that the Argentina revenue 
 showed a deficit, but the sub-editor altered it by accident 
 or design to an English deficit, and the worthy editor, 
 full of mistaken zeal, at once dashed off a leader full of 
 confident assertion that proud Albion stood on the verge 
 of ruin. The incident is typical of the manner in which 
 writers in the Belgian Press are carried away by their 
 preconceptions, until they persuade themselves that the 
 only temple of Truth in Europe is to be found in the Rue 
 des Sables, the Brussels Fleet Street. 
 
 There are many political writers who produce from 
 time to time pamphlets or treatises dealing with the 
 questions of the hour, and this form of literature is by 
 no means unpopular or unremunerative. While our 
 publishers look askance at pamphlets, their colleagues in 
 Belgium are favourably disposed to them. In the first 
 place, the Belgian reader does not care for too solid fare. 
 If it is to appeal to him it must be light, compact, and, 
 above all things, cheap. In the second place, the amount 
 risked by the publisher or the author is proportionally 
 small, and this pleases his caution. The number of 
 readers who will pay a franc for a small treatise is large 
 even in Belgium, and the probable sale may be safely 
 estimated by a knowledge of how far the views contained 
 in the work are in accord with the wishes and prejudices 
 of one or other of the two political parties. 
 
 Brussels has always been a favourite home of the 
 pamphleteer. In the time of the Austrian rule there was 
 quite a deluge of pamphlets as the precursor of the 
 Walloon revolt, and Count Kaunitz, the Austrian states- 
 man, endeavoured, but in vain, to crush the movement 
 by summary measures. The period of 1814-T5, before 
 the formation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, was 
 also one of great activity in pamphleteering, and at 
 that time the cry was even raised for a republic under 
 the style of the United States of Belgium. The rising 
 of 1830 was preceded by a campaign of ephemeral 
 literature now completely forgotten, but which gave the 
 163 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 keynote to the movement. So at the present time 
 pamphlets frequently appear on the question of universal 
 suffrage, the condition of national defence, including the 
 privilege of pre-emption, and the Congo colony. 
 
 Besides the pamphleteer there is an instructor of the 
 public called a confirencier^ to whom we do not possess 
 an exact counterpart, for the title of lecturer does not 
 convey the same idea here. Our men of science and 
 letters give lectures, but that is only done as a mode of 
 drawing attention to what they have discovered or intend 
 to describe in a book. On the other hand, the lecturer, 
 as known in the United States, where lecturing has 
 enjoyed a great vogue, does not give a fair idea of the 
 Belgian conferencier, who is always a man of exceptional 
 academic and literary distinction. Perhaps the most 
 correct description of this personage is to say that he 
 resembles a University lecturer with us, who, in place of 
 confining himself to his class or his college, will come into 
 the drawing-room and address a select audience on some 
 serious and talked-of question which he has carefully 
 studied and considered from different points of view. 
 The great merit of a co7iferencier is to be brief. He has 
 to enunciate all the principles underlying the subject in 
 a succession of apothegms, and, above all, he must not 
 exceed twenty minutes in discharging his task. The 
 most successful conferencier of his day was M. Nys, whose 
 lecture on ' The Neutrality of Belgium ' is quite a tow de 
 force, and whose talent has been rewarded with a Judge- 
 ship in the Court of Appeal. 
 
 Enough has been said, perhaps, to show that there is 
 no inconsiderable amount of literary life in Belgium, 
 notwithstanding that the public is engrossed in material 
 pursuits, and that the opinion in general is in favour of 
 earning money instead of fame. Up to the present, 
 however, the display of true literary genius has been 
 restricted to the Flemish race; but the old exclusive 
 partiality for their own tongue is not retained by the 
 writers of to-day, who are employing French as the 
 
 164 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 means perhaps of achieving a wider distinction. Thus 
 it almost naturally happens that the distinguished writers 
 Maeterlinck and Verhaeren have taken up their residence 
 in Paris. In the sphere of politics the pen is mightier 
 than the sword, and the combats of parties in the 
 Chamber of Deputies are preceded and accompanied 
 by the appearance of brochures, which place the issues 
 before the country as they are regarded by Catholics, 
 Liberals, or Socialists. 
 
 The literary club does not exist as we understand it. 
 There is a Cercle Artistique et Litte'raire, very exclusive, 
 in which the literary man is conspicuous by his absence. 
 There is a circle of journalists, which is a society 
 rather than a club, and which is at the other end of the 
 social ladder. Halfway between the two is the Cercle 
 Africain, a club primarily devoted, as its name implies, to 
 those interested in the Congo, but which is, to a great 
 extent, a literary institution. It occupies a picturesque 
 old building known as the Hotel Ravenstein, which stands 
 on the brow of the hill formerly crowned by the palace 
 of the Caudenberg. The gentlemen who contribute to 
 the Congo Beige and the Congo Illustri, as well as the 
 better-known Mouvement Geographique, make it their 
 headquarters, and lectures are periodically given there 
 by officers returned from Central Africa. 
 
 The artistic world of Brussels and Antwerp is some- 
 what more prominent than that of letters. The people 
 have a genuine passion for music, and consequently those 
 who excel in it have the assurance that they have only 
 to possess some merit to achieve a certain popularity. 
 There is a further inducement to take up the study of 
 music because the course at the Brussels Conservatoire 
 is free to all Belgians, and there are prizes of different 
 kinds for those who display exceptional merit in either 
 composition or execution. Moreover, the Conservatoire 
 is the recruiting-ground for the bands and orchestras 
 of the country, so that the humblest student may 
 imagine that he is qualifying for a career in life. The 
 
 165 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Conservatoire has undoubtedly produced some remark- 
 able musicians, of whom at the present day M. Ysaye is 
 the best known. 
 
 The arts of painting and sculpture are recovering 
 something of their lost preeminence and popularity in 
 the Netherlands. The historical school founded by 
 Gallait and Wauters, with the dawn of independence, 
 still flourishes. The young school of Belgian painters 
 are brilliant colourists, but when they achieve any dis- 
 tinction they flit to Paris, and their reputation becomes 
 French. The most brilliant of all Belgian painters is 
 Alma Tadema, for, although Dutch by birth, he was 
 educated and trained in the Antwerp school, and Sir 
 Laurence, like his great predecessor Sir Antonio Van 
 Dyke, has done his best work in England. The prizes 
 of supreme success and merit are too few to detain the 
 greater class of artist at home. Belgium has also pro- 
 duced a long array of meritorious sculptors. The 
 equestrian statue of Godfrey of Bouillon, in the centre 
 of the Place Royale, is one of the grandest works of its 
 kind, and will perpetuate the name of Eugene Simonis. 
 The statues of Rubens and Van Dyke at Antwerp are 
 scarcely less worthy of praise and reflect credit on the 
 brothers Geefs. Antwerp is specially rich in statues 
 produced by the modern school, and William Geefs, the 
 better known of the two brothers, is represented in 
 Brussels by the figure of the first Leopold that crowns 
 the Column of the Congress. Much of the talent of the 
 sculptor has been devoted to the embellishment and 
 restoration of the old churches and town halls of the 
 country. Many of these possessed niches which were 
 supposed to or did hold statues, and many modern 
 sculptors have been engaged in restoring or complet- 
 ing them during the last thirty or forty years. The 
 Counts' Chapel at Courtrai is a striking instance in 
 point, and similar work has been done outside the Town 
 Hall of Ghent. There is one sculptor of great promise 
 whose name may be mentioned, because he is half English, 
 166 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 the Count James de Lalaing, a member of the famous 
 family of Hainaut. 
 
 Among Belgian architects of the last century, Guimard, 
 who built the Palais de la Nation, and Poelaert, the 
 designer and constructor of the grandiose Palais de 
 Justice at Brussels, are the best known and need alone 
 be mentioned. The Palais de Justice, which covers 
 more ground than St. Peter's at Rome, occupies a site 
 on the southern extremity of the hill on which stands the 
 upper town. The site has been happily chosen, for it 
 dominates the valley that separates the two lines of hills, 
 and the massive pile is seen to the fullest advantage. 
 Poelaert sought his inspiration in the Eastern World. 
 The Hall of Karnak and the palaces of the Assyrian 
 kings served him as a model, but the dome is that of St. 
 Peter's. Nearly twenty years were occupied in erecting the 
 building, and about ^1,200,000 was spent on it, at which 
 some Belgians occasionally make a wry face to-day as 
 so much money wasted. On the other hand, the Belgians 
 should feel some satisfaction in knowing that if it had 
 been constructed by any of their neighbours it would 
 have cost twice as much. There is no lack of patriotism 
 in wishing that our London Law Courts and the Brussels 
 Palais de Justice could change places. 
 
 The profession of architecture is one of the most 
 successful and best remunerated in the country. This 
 arises from two causes, the necessity of providing new 
 residential quarters for the increasing population, growing 
 visibly in wealth as in numbers, and the embellishment 
 of the principal towns, either by the restoration of old 
 monuments, or by the construction of new buildings 
 adapted to the requirements of modern days. King 
 Leopold II. is taking the lead in inaugurating a regular 
 plan for the improvement of Brussels in an aesthetic 
 and architectural sense, which will make it worthy of 
 its picturesque site. Not merely are new palaces 
 and stations in course of construction, but the streets 
 and squares in the new quarters are being laid out 
 167 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 on a definite plan, and in a style that has been pre- 
 viously approved of by the authorities. Architects are 
 thus having a busy and profitable time of it. Among 
 their greater undertakings of lasting importance may 
 be mentioned the buildings in connexion with the 
 new docks and quays destined to make Brussels a 
 seaport. 
 
 In science, especially in engineering, Belgians have 
 taken a high place. The courses at several of their 
 Universities are specially framed to give every one a 
 chance of pursuing that career with credit and success 
 if he chooses. As mineralogists, surveyors, and geologists, 
 they have every opportunity of doing good and useful 
 work in a country whose prosperity depends on the 
 development of its resources on the surface of the earth 
 and beneath it. Belgium is so thickly populated, and 
 the population continues to increase at such a rapid rate, 
 that the greatest anxiety is felt by thoughtful Belgians lest 
 the plethora of inhabitants should suddenly produce a 
 decline in the national wealth and prosperity because 
 shared by too many persons. Science, represented by 
 engineering in the first place, is one of the chief agencies 
 to which the authorities look for averting a national peril 
 that might entail a national collapse. Hence the public 
 rejoicing when it became known that the Campine, which 
 was, practically speaking, unproductive, contained in its 
 bosom coal deposits that may rival and must materially 
 supplement those of Hainaut. A careful examination of 
 this extensive coalfield, on which fifty shafts have already 
 been sunk, some to a depth of 2000 feet, has shown 
 that the anticipations as to its wealth have been in 
 no way exaggerated. The deposits reveal good steam 
 coal as well as anthracite. Belgian engineers are 
 especially good in the construction of railways. They 
 display marked ingenuity in turning or evading great 
 natural difficulties, and they work with a closer eye to 
 economy than many of their competitors. This is 
 especially true of light railways, which are made on a 
 168 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 narrow margin of profit at which our plutocratic con- 
 tractors would scoff. 
 
 Finally, medical science has been highly developed in 
 Brussels. The courses at the two great hospitals, St. 
 Jean at one end of the town and St. Pierre at the other, 
 are largely attended by those who have taken the 
 necessary diplomas in the Universities, as well as by 
 foreigners. The medical degree of Brussels used to 
 be much coveted. Any foreigner who wishes to practise 
 in the country must possess it, but it is usually conferred 
 honorarily on any medical man who possesses equivalent 
 degrees in another country. Belgian doctors have the 
 reputation of being specially clever in cases of fever 
 and cholera. The terrible epidemic of the latter in 
 1866-67 gave them many opportunities of studying the 
 disease that did not fall to the medical practitioner in this 
 country. That epidemic was also the cause of a generally 
 improved system of sanitation in the chief cities. Ghent 
 was in a special degree purified, from the hygienic point 
 of view. Brussels, at least the upper town, has been 
 carefully drained. There is not a more sanitary city in 
 Europe, and the supply of water, now that the waters 
 of the Bocq, a tributary of the Meuse, have been added 
 to those of the old springs in the forest of Soignies, 
 is excellent and abundant. Science in Belgium is well 
 represented by these improvements, for it takes a 
 practical utilitarian form, which thoroughly appeals to 
 the genius of the nation. 
 
 Enough has been said to show that the intellectual life 
 of the country is not dead. In the arts and the sciences 
 the activity is by no means inconsiderable, and this is 
 the more remarkable because the remuneration is small 
 and the prizes are few. It is true that most people work 
 in Belgium for small salaries which to Englishmen of 
 the same grade seem a mere pittance, but the recom- 
 penses of any intellectual pursuit are in a still more 
 striking degree inadequate. I have reason to say 
 that there is not an artist, musician, or author who 
 169 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 by his earnings in Belgium and from Belgians makes 
 ^500 a year, and that the successful journalist is very 
 fortunate if he can make as much as ^300. These 
 earnings appear to us wretched, but they are not out 
 of proportion with those of Ministers of State at ^800, 
 and Judges at a trifle more. There is, however, another 
 hardship that literary men have to endure, and that is the 
 want of social recognition and status. I have heard 
 rich merchants scoff when the name of some clever writer 
 among their own fellow-countrymen was named. It is well 
 for a literary man in Belgium to have some definite place 
 in society on his own account, or by reason of his family, 
 or, failing these, to be at least a functionary. Otherwise 
 he will fare badly. The artist, whether musician or 
 painter, has a better chance. For him there is always 
 an entrance to Bohemia, and, if he cannot discover that 
 country, in Brussels, Paris is not far off, and there are 
 over a million of his countrymen resident in the French 
 Republic. 
 
 170 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 IN LEAFY ARDEN 
 
 The greater part of Belgium might be fitly compared to 
 a factory district in one half, or a market-garden in the 
 other. The smoke-laden country of Charleroi and the 
 Borinage, of Liege and Seraing, presents as little that 
 may be termed attractive as the flat and heavily manured 
 vegetable fields of Flanders. But there is one splendid 
 exception in the region commonly called the Ardennes, 
 which includes the province of Luxemburg and por- 
 tions of the provinces of Namur and Liege. Here 
 Belgium possesses a playground and a health resort 
 which in its way will bear comparison with anything 
 in Europe. The light railways have made the greater 
 part of the Ardennes easily accessible ; but there are 
 still bits left here and there of the virgin forest, which 
 may have given shelter to the Belgian tribes in the 
 time of Caesar. For the Belgians, outside this recog- 
 nized holiday resort, business, and not pleasure, is the 
 order of the day; but here, amid the pure charms of 
 the country, they seek and find the change and recrea- 
 tion that enable them to endure the atmosphere of 
 the cities or manufacturing districts during the greater 
 part of the year. With the Belgians, a change to the 
 mountain air of the Ardennes at some period of the 
 year is almost as much a matter of course as the sea- 
 side trip in July, August, and September, and on fete 
 days, even in the winter, thousands of members of clubs 
 
 171 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 and societies from all the large towns swarm into 
 this region to visit some of the local curiosities, such as 
 the Han grottoes, or merely to breathe ' the grand air of 
 the country ' {Je grand air de la camp ague). 
 
 The region is bounded on two sides — the north and 
 the west — by the river Meuse. On ithe east it is flanked 
 by that part of Rhenish Prussia which is known as the 
 Volcanic Eiffel, and on the south there is France for the 
 chief part, and the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg for a 
 shorter distance. As the part of France touched is also 
 portion of the ancient Ardennes, the scenery remains 
 unchanged for a certain distance from the frontier, and 
 this is especially the case in the woods extending north 
 of Sedan to Bouillon on one side, and Florenville on the 
 other. Here a few yards into the brushwood, flanking 
 the Belgian road, takes one on to French territory. The 
 elevation varies between 400 feet and 2000 feet at the 
 Baraque de Fraiture, which is the second highest point 
 in the country. Two principal lines of railway pass 
 through it from north to south. First there is the main 
 line from Brussels to Switzerland, passing by Namur, 
 Jemelle, Libramont, and Arlon, which are all convenient 
 halting-places, or junctions, for different parts of the 
 Ardennes. Further east there is the main line from 
 Pepinster for Verviers to the Grand Duchy. Between 
 the two are connecting lines from LiCge to Huy and 
 Ciney, from Liege to Jemelle, and from Gouvy to 
 Libramont. On the western side, Jemelle and Roche- 
 fort are connected by an excellent light railway with 
 Dinant on the Meuse, which is itself in communica- 
 tion with Namur by a line of railway that connects 
 further south with the French system at Givet. In the 
 summer there is also an excellent steamboat service on 
 the Meuse between Namur and Dinant. The best bits 
 of Meuse scenery occur in this strip and for a short 
 distance above Dinant, the steamers proceeding as high 
 up as Hastiere. Another light railway branches off in a 
 southerly direction at Houyet, and forms a loop round 
 172 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 the southern frontier, which it does not approach nearer 
 than from five miles at Florenville to twenty at Bertrix. 
 A steam-tram connects Paliseul, one of the stations on 
 this line, with Bouillon, and another is in course of con- 
 struction from Bertrix to Herbeumont, which may be 
 continued into France, linking on with the French 
 system near Messempre. These lines will render more 
 accessible the beautiful Semois Valley, to which reference 
 will be made hereafter. 
 
 In the centre of the picture stands La Roche, con- 
 nected on one side by a tramway with the station of 
 Melreux, but on every other separated by over twenty 
 miles of road from a railroad. Between it and St. 
 Hubert exist some of the finest parts of the ancient 
 forest, and the valley of the Upper Ourthe adds many 
 romantic features to its sylvan glories. St. Hubert 
 itself, although famous for its shrine in honour of the 
 Hunter Saint, and for the annual pilgrimage which is as 
 numerously attended as that to Lourdes, presents no 
 attractive features to the traveller beyond the fact that it 
 provides an excellent stopping place for those who wish to 
 drive, cycle, or walk through the best portions of the old 
 forest. The best way to accomplish this object is to 
 divide the available time equally between La Roche and 
 St. Hubert. By this arrangement the whole of the 
 valley of the Upper Ourthe can be explored, including 
 the picturesque townlet of Houffalize, which is exceed- 
 ingly popular with the Belgians, because it stands high, 
 and enjoys a great reputation for salubrity. 
 
 For the purpose of description, the Ardennes may be 
 divided into four groups, the valleys of the Lesse, the 
 Semois, the Ourthe, and the Ambleve. Of these the 
 Lesse is the best known by English travellers, but, with 
 the exception of a very small portion of this stream 
 between Anseremme and Houyet, the Semois is by far 
 the most beautiful river, and passes through the most pic- 
 turesque scenery in Belgium. The Lesse rises a little 
 west of Libramont, and joins the Meuse at Anseremme, 
 173 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 two miles above Dinant. One of its remarkable features 
 is that it passes underground at Han, and flows through 
 the celebrated grottoes at that place. A little below 
 Han it sweeps round the Royal chateau of Ciergnon, 
 dominating a picturesquely wooded hillside. Although 
 in the springtime much of the landscape is rendered 
 brilliant by the bright and luxuriant gorse, which turns 
 the surrounding heights into mountains of seeming gold, 
 the striking portion of the river only commences at 
 Houyet, and is limited to the twelve miles of its meander- 
 ing course down to the Meuse. At first the river flows 
 in a broad channel, which in flood time spreads over the 
 adjacent meadows, between great hills not less than 
 500 feet above the valley, and covered from base to 
 summit with trees of various kinds, but chiefly beeches 
 and pines, which in October present a glorious mass of 
 autumn tints. The cliffs are fully concealed with vege- 
 tation, and there is little that is savage or sombre. The 
 crest of the hills on the right bank is occupied by the 
 Chateau d'Ardenne, once a Royal residence, but some 
 years ago converted into a hotel. During the life of Leo- 
 pold I. it was used as a shooting-box, and the sport over 
 the 16,000 acres attached to it used to be very good; 
 but as his son and successor had no tastes in the direction 
 of sport, the place fell into neglect, until five years ago it 
 was converted into a fashionable hotel. In the first king's 
 time he resided in a tower which commanded the best view 
 of the Lesse, and this was said to be his favourite retreat. 
 This Tower of the Rock {Tour du Rocher), as it is called, 
 forms a conspicuous object in the landscape, and is 
 the only part of the chateau which can be seen from 
 below. The chateau itself stands at a distance of two or 
 three hundred yards from this tower. 
 
 Below this point the river takes a more savage form. 
 The meadows have contracted, the surrounding cliffs are 
 less covered with trees, and the river cuts its way through 
 a narrow channel flanked by the walls of nature. The 
 light railway passes through a succession of tunnels, the 
 174 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 river-path, no longer close to the stream, often leaves 
 it, and mounts, falls, and remounts with the exigencies 
 of the locality. After six miles of increasing grandeur, 
 the wildest and most characteristic feature of the Lesse 
 is reached in the rocky heights of Furfooz, with their pre- 
 historic caves. The path has crossed to the left bank of 
 the river at Hulsonniaux, so that a full view is obtain- 
 able of this magnificent cliff, which presents an impass- 
 able barrier to the river, and turns it round its base. 
 The cliff side is battered and breached by the storms of 
 countless centuries, and its grey and reddish side, with 
 many a clough, looks like the wall of a fortress that has 
 withstood a long siege. The caves of the reindeer age 
 are exceedingly interesting, although all the human bones 
 and utensils found in them have been long removed to 
 the Museum at Brussels. One cave is in the side of the 
 cliff at only a slight elevation above the river, and it is 
 commonly believed that this cave was used as a place of 
 burial. 
 
 A little below Furfooz is a further collection of caves 
 at Chaleux. In one of these was found a human jaw- 
 bone of a very early period. The panorama which com- 
 mences at Furfooz is completed at Walzin. Here the 
 river takes another bold sweep beneath a massive cliff, 
 which extends from the ruined tower of Caverenne to the 
 restored chateau of Walzin, and forms an imposing amphi- 
 theatre above the river. The chateau of Walzin was 
 built in the thirteenth century, and was once the strong- 
 hold of the Counts d'Ardenne and the De la Marcks. 
 It stands sheer with the cliff, and the skill with which it 
 has been restored by its modern proprietors reflects 
 much credit on their good taste. From Walzin the final 
 stretch of the river to Anseremme is short, and calls for 
 no particular notice. Formerly the junction of the 
 Meuse and the Lesse was considered one of the pretty 
 views on the former river ; but the useful has overcome 
 the picturesque. The fine stone bridge that has been 
 thrown across the Meuse of recent years at this point, 
 175 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 and which serves for the railway as well as for ordinary 
 traffic, has quite destroyed the view favoured of old by 
 artists. The excellent hotel accommodation obtainable 
 at Dinant near one end of the Lesse valley, and at 
 Rochefort at the other end, has made the whole of this 
 district better known to English travellers than any other 
 portion of the Ardennes, while the curious grottoes at 
 Han and Rochefort, as well as the prehistoric caves 
 round Furfooz, provide objects of interest that attract 
 the merely inquisitive as well as the learned. 
 
 The valley of the Ourthe is much less known, and 
 while it presents none of the striking features of the 
 Lower Lesse, it passes through much pretty scenery. 
 The name of the main stream is given indifferently to 
 two of its upper courses, one, the longer, rising near Libra- 
 mont, and the other, which is much shorter, on the eastern 
 frontier near Prussian territory. The two branches join 
 about twenty miles above La Roche. The Ourthe flows 
 into the Meuse at Liege. The two most picturesque 
 places on its banks are Durbuy and La Roche. Durbuy 
 is situated in a striking position on the river, concealed by 
 hills, which overlap each other ; and on approaching it 
 from Barvaux, a turn of the road suddenly reveals its 
 ruined castle and ancient bridge. There are few better 
 subjects left in Belgium for the artist, and it has not 
 become hackneyed. Durbuy is quite a little place ; it 
 has been called a little gem. 
 
 La Roche is a place of far greater importance. It lies 
 in a sort of basin, surrounded on all sides by lofty hills. 
 The only approaches are those made by the Ourthe, 
 which casts a loop round it. The road from Melreux, 
 now flanked by the steam-tram, follows the course of the 
 river, and so does one road to Houffalize. There are 
 other roads that have been cut down the hillsides, one 
 from Viel Salm and the Baraque de Fraiture, another 
 from Champion, where the roads to St. Hubert and 
 Nassogne bifurcate. In the centre of the town, crowning 
 the summit of a small rock, which gave the place its 
 
 176 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 name, are the ruins of the old castle, familiarly known as 
 that of the Counts. The woods surrounding La Roche 
 are exceptionally fine, and present its great attraction. 
 Among the local sights is the famous Chateau du Diable, 
 a castle of nature's formation on the model of a robber 
 or baronial stronghold. A good portion of the forest of 
 St Hubert is within driving distance. 
 
 The Ambleve is a tributary of the Ourthe, flowing into 
 that stream near Rivage, a little before it reaches the 
 Meuse itself. The Ambleve rises in Prussia, and flowing 
 past Stavelot, presents its choicest bits of scenery at Coo 
 and Aywaille. The Cascade of Coo is known by pro- 
 bably every visitor to Spa, but a visit to the whole of the 
 valley from Rivage to Stavelot would repay the trouble. 
 There is a light railway for the whole distance, with 
 stations at convenient stopping places, and excellent 
 hotels. 
 
 The fourth and last valley is that of the Semois, which 
 is, beyond doubt, the most beautiful and attractive 
 portion of the Ardennes. The picturesque bit of the 
 Lesse does not exceed ten miles, whereas the Semois is 
 beautiful throughout the greater part of its course, or 
 from Chiny to its junction with the Meuse at Montherme 
 in France. In another respect the Semois surpasses the 
 Lesse, and probably any other stream in Europe, and 
 that is in its sinuous course. It meanders along by a 
 succession of loops, great and little, which are reckoned 
 at a hundred in a course of as many miles. As the 
 Semois lies in the extreme south of Belgium, it was long 
 outside the track of any ordinary traveller ; and the 
 means of getting there, until a few years ago, were confined 
 to the diligence. In those days the Semois was fre- 
 quented by a few anglers, who had discovered the 
 excellence of its trout, and the comfortable character of 
 some of the hotels on its banks. The construction of 
 the southern railway already referred to simplified the 
 question of getting there, but even now a long drive has 
 to be accomplished before reaching some of the most 
 
 177 N 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 attractive spots on the river. Herbeumont, for instance, 
 is a twelve-mile drive from Bertrix, and Alle is about the 
 same distance from Paliseul or Graide. The steam-tram 
 from Paliseul to Bouillon was the first direct communica- 
 tion by rail established with the river, just as that now in 
 course of construction between Bertrix and Herbeumont 
 will be the second. The southern line from Bertrix to 
 Virton also crosses the river at Florenville, but that is so 
 high up as to be of little use. One of the chief charms 
 of the Semois Valley was its inaccessibility, and, in old 
 days, to follow its course on foot upwards from Mon- 
 therme seemed quite an adventure in an unknown land. 
 It is now easy enough to reach ; the French have laid 
 down a light railway from Monthcrmd to Hautes- 
 Rivieres, their border town, and are now urging the 
 Belgians to continue it on their side up to Bouillon. 
 The advent of the railway, however, will destroy the 
 old charm of such places as Vresse and Alle — dear to 
 the angler and the artist. 
 
 Bouillon is the true central point of the district, because 
 it is the only place with any pretensions to be called a 
 town. Famous for the castle of Godfrey of Bouillon, 
 which preserves better than any other that can be called 
 to mind the aspect of the early mediaeval fortress, it 
 must attract the archaeologist, while its position on the 
 only main-road from France into the Ardennes makes 
 it strategically important. But it does not present the 
 advantages for residence that may be found at many other 
 places along the valley. Bouillon is confined on every 
 side, so that no fresh air reaches it, and as the town is of 
 ancient date the houses are old, and the question of its 
 sanitary condition is more than dubious. A local autho- 
 rity has computed that the graveyard has contained over 
 one hundred thousand bodies. Bouillon will fully repay 
 a visit for the inspection of its castle ; but the well-in- 
 structed visitor will pass on quickly to either Alle in one 
 direction or Herbeumont in the other. 
 
 Among the most popular excursions along the whole 
 178 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 of the southern frontier is a visit to the battlefield of 
 Sedan, which can be made with almost equal convenience 
 from any of the places in the Semois Valley. The old 
 post-road is from Bouillon to Sedan, and of late years 
 this has been much improved by the construction of a 
 new road on a different alignment. At Bouillon, too, is 
 the Hotel de la Poste, at which Napoleon III. slept the 
 night after the capitulation at Sedan. The room he 
 occupied is shown, and little heeding the memories of 
 that unfortunate disaster and its victim, the modern 
 tourist may occupy the same four-poster as the fallen 
 Emperor. Bouillon has other memories of the Franco- 
 Prussian War. The place which Turenne called the key 
 of the Ardennes was the headquarters of the Belgian 
 Army protecting the neutrality of the Belgian frontier 
 during that struggle. It was the chief hospital for the 
 wounded Frenchmen who crossed the frontier. Many 
 of them repose in the churchyard high up the hillside, 
 reached by the Avenue of Sighs. Another excursion 
 of a different kind is to the beautifully situated ruins of 
 the once famous Abbey of Orval, about six miles from 
 Florenville, and close to the French frontier. 
 
 The finest bits of scenery on the river are, below 
 Bouillon, the view from Corbion of the high cliff of 
 Rochehaut, or the view from Rochehaut itself of the 
 river sweeping beneath in a wide semicircle round 
 Frahan, and, above Bouillon, the savage channel from 
 Chiny to La Cuisine. Here herons and martin-fishers 
 find a congenial haunt in the rock-strewn passage, and 
 the navigation of the channel on fragile punts is not free 
 from excitement and a sense of danger. The traveller 
 who wishes to make comparisons between the Semois 
 and the Lesse must see these two totally different pano- 
 ramas on the former river before he can be in a position 
 to decide. But apart from these special spots, the whole 
 of the Semois Valley is picturesque, which cannot be said 
 of the Lesse. Its picturesqueness is also entirely due 
 to Nature. There are no ruined or modern castles to 
 179 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 suggest comparisons with the Rhine and the Moselle. 
 Bouillon is the one exception, for the ruins at Her- 
 beumont are hardly perceptible until one has got 
 close to the knoll on which the once famous [castle 
 stood. 
 
 The great attractions of the Ardennes, as a whole, 
 are the invigorating quality of the air over the whole of 
 this plateau, well raised above the plains of northern 
 and western Belgium, and the tranquillity of the life 
 of the people, which forms a refreshing contrast to the 
 bustle of the towns. Here, if anywhere, a perfect rest 
 can be found. The hotels, taken all through the country, 
 are good, clean, and comfortable, with excellent food 
 and cooking. In the month of August, when foreign 
 tourists come to largely swell the number of Belgian 
 residents, who are taking their holiday in the country, 
 the hotels are crowded, and accommodation is difficult to 
 obtain. But if there are no rooms in the hotel, the pro- 
 prietor will always succeed in finding accommodation for 
 his guest at some house in the town or village. The 
 accommodation, however primitive, may always be relied 
 upon as being scrupulously clean ; and when it is remem- 
 bered that the regular price for a bedroom is only one 
 franc a night, this is very remarkable. I shall never for- 
 get reaching Bouillon once about midnight, and finding 
 all the hotels full, and then being taken all over the town 
 with the fireman from the tramcar engine, carrying his 
 lamp, and acting as my guide until a vacant bedroom was 
 found. It was long past midnight when this was accom- 
 plished, and the woman of the house took an infinity 
 of trouble to make me comfortable, although an arrival 
 of this kind must have put her to great inconvenience with 
 the prospect of very little recompense, for they will accept 
 nothing more than the regular price, unless it is put as a 
 gift for the children. 
 
 Life in the Ardennes is moulded in a different fashion 
 from the rest of the country. It is more primitive and 
 simple. The dinner is in the middle of the day, and at 
 180 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 a place like Rochefort, which has two excellent hotels, it 
 consists of five or six courses, and the regular price is 
 two and a half francs, or two shillings, for the meal. The 
 evening meal is called a supper, but there is always one 
 hot dish, and sometimes two. The average rate of the 
 pension is five francs, which at the height of the season 
 is slightly increased. For five shillings a day the tourist 
 can always depend on a good clean bedroom and ex- 
 cellent food. The quality of the cooking varies, but at 
 some of the hotels, such as the Hoffmann at Alle, the 
 Etoile at Rochefort, and the Bellevue at Viel Salm, it is 
 really excellent. Now that the Ardennes are being 
 steadily brought under cultivation, the character of the 
 province is undergoing considerable change. Many of 
 the woods which formerly covered the provinces of 
 Namur and Luxemburg have disappeared, and in their 
 places are ploughed fields and great bare downs, on 
 which flocks of sheep browse. Owing to the ruthless 
 manner in which the country was being stripped bare, 
 a law was passed ordering that when trees were cut 
 down saplings should be planted. In consequence fir 
 and pine woods are being created in all directions. 
 There is also a tendency to plant fruit trees, and pears 
 and apples are doing so well, that some sanguine people 
 are predicting that when the Ardennes cease to be a 
 forest they will become an orchard. It is becoming the 
 fashion of the wealthy merchants to have a country house 
 in the Ardennes, and their villas of every scale of preten- 
 tiousness are to be found all over the province ; but, as a 
 rule, round some town with good railway facilities, like 
 Rochefort. The representatives of the old feudal chiefs 
 are practically extinct. Of those whose home is in the 
 Ardennes, the Count de Limburg Stirum is perhaps the 
 only representative left. But there are numerous repre- 
 sentatives of the country gentry class still surviving. 
 They lead a quiet and retired life of their own, keeping 
 strictly to their own set, giving occasional dinners to 
 their neighbours, enjoying such sport as can be found 
 181 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 where preservation is not attempted outside a very few 
 arge estates, and only getting any great excitement in 
 the winter, when the cold sometimes drives the wild-boar 
 to maraud on the farms. For the resident as for the 
 casual visitor, the Ardennes are a very tranquil and 
 economical place of abode. 
 
 182 
 
A BRUSSELS POSTMAN. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 SOME POPULAR TYPES — MEN 
 
 I am perfectly aware that most English visitors to 
 Belgium give a very unflattering description of Belgian 
 character, and fix upon some national traits or habits 
 to make them subjects of ridicule. This was not the 
 impression I formed of the people during the several 
 years I resided in the country, mixing with all classes 
 of society and visiting parts rarely if ever visited by 
 my fellow-countrymen. There are, of course, disagree- 
 able persons in Belgium as in every other country, 
 but I brought away the most agreeable opinion of 
 the good qualities of the people as a whole, and in 
 saying this I make no distinction between Walloons 
 and Flemings. Both have their attractive side, although 
 the latter are perhaps, on the whole, the more agreeable 
 people to deal with. Leaving for others the unpleasant 
 task of criticism, I only wish to dwell here on some 
 of the popular types as they struck me in a favourable 
 manner. Comparisons are notoriously odious, but in 
 my opinion some of the types would compare favourably 
 with the corresponding class here, although this is more 
 especially the case with regard to the women, of whom 
 I must treat in a separate chapter. 
 
 If I were asked what class of men, taken as a whole, 
 
 impressed me most favourably in Belgium, I should 
 
 have to reply, the postmen. Perhaps my appreciation 
 
 of the intelligence, amiability, and cheerfulness of the 
 
 183 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 Belgian facteur was enhanced by a sense of the dete- 
 rioration that has taken place in London of late years 
 among the carriers of our correspondence. Everybody 
 must have observed the different manner in which the 
 young recruit delivers his letters from that of the 
 older and more serious functionary to whom we were 
 accustomed some years back. Nowadays the London 
 postman has only one object, to get rid of his packet 
 with the greatest despatch. The letters are of no value 
 in his eyes, he crushes them into letter-boxes that are 
 obviously too small to hold them, he does not study 
 the names, and goes blindly by the number, so that a 
 portion of one's correspondence is always at somebody 
 else's house, and it depends on a good neighbourly feel- 
 ing whether it is only hours or days before it comes to 
 hand. I would send these indifferent carriers to hear 
 lectures on the value of letters, and to Brussels to get 
 lessons in the art of delivering them. 
 
 The Belgian facteur has raised the science of deliver- 
 ing letters to the level of a fine art. He works with 
 his head as well as his fingers. He has mastered the 
 first secret of the profession. The important fact on 
 the envelope is not the address, but the name of the 
 person. His object is to find that person. An error 
 in number does not baffle him. There may be no street 
 on the address. The name is called out to the assembled 
 facteurs in the sorting-hall at the Grandes Postes, and 
 the man who goes out to St. Gilles or Etterbeck exclaims : 
 ' There is a person of that name at such and such an 
 address ; give it to me, and I will see if it is for him.' 
 If the person cannot be found this way, the register 
 at the bureau de police is searched. If the name is not 
 there, then only is it returned to the dead-letter office. 
 I have had letters delivered to me which only bore 
 the name Brussels, and I was a stranger in the land. 
 
 There is another art that the facteur has learnt. He 
 is always cheerful of aspect, as if he was the bearer 
 of nothing but good news, and when he brings a 
 
 184 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 registered letter, he quite beams. I have once or twice, 
 however, seen a grave sternness displace the smile, 
 when the dull English man or woman, ignorant of the 
 general custom, omits to give him the three or four 
 sous that is the usual reward for a lettre chargee. It is 
 little omissions of this sort that explain a good deal 
 of our unpopularity on the Continent. The Belgian 
 postman not only delivers the letters, but also the 
 newspapers to subscribers, and I never recollect a paper 
 going astray in the course of three years. Perhaps he 
 is seen at his best on the occasion of the New Year, 
 when it is the custom to send one's visiting-card to 
 all one's friends and acquaintances. Then he works 
 like a Titan to distribute the three million bits of 
 pasteboard in Brussels alone. 
 
 It may be admitted that the Brussels facteur would 
 never be able to get through his work, or to do it so 
 well, but for the electric-trams, which carry him from 
 one end of the town to the other. These are used for 
 another purpose in the matter of correspondence. A 
 letter-box is to be found at the end of each car, into which 
 an express letter, bearing an extra 25 centimes or 2\d. 
 stamp, may be dropped, and it will then be delivered as 
 rapidly as possible, not only in Brussels, but throughout 
 the kingdom. Telegraph-boys are waiting at all the chief 
 stopping places to open these boxes, examine the letters, 
 and take out those for places near at hand. If for the 
 provinces, the letter is taken out at the station, sent 
 off by the next train, and delivered by telegraph-boy, 
 or if the post-office is closed, by the station-porter. 
 No doubt this system works better because the railways 
 are owned and managed by the State. Express letters 
 are in common use in Belgium, and, as worked on the 
 uniform charge of 2^., no matter what the distance 
 may be, are undoubtedly a great public convenience. 
 
 The tram-car employees are also a deserving body. 
 They work very hard during long hours, and yet they 
 always seem fresh and up to the mark. The cars are 
 
 185 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 divided into first and second class, the difference being 
 that in the former there are cushions. The receveurs, 
 or collectors, are often the recipients of a little perquisite. 
 Where the change would be five centimes, or a halfpenny, 
 the fare will often not accept it, whereupon the receveur 
 politely raises his cap. These little favours, especially 
 during the summer-time, total up to a considerable 
 addition to the meagre wages paid by the tram companies. 
 I cannot remember seeing a tram-car collector rude or 
 disobliging to any one, and when a passenger rises too 
 late to stop the car at one of the arrets facultatifs, he 
 will generally express his regret at having got too far 
 to make it possible. Accidents are not as numerous 
 as might be expected, but pedestrians have to be on 
 their guard, especially in crossing behind a stationary 
 car on to the opposite line of traffic. 
 
 The railway officials are another class who come a 
 good deal under one's observation in travelling about 
 the country. If the best side of them is to be seen, 
 they require a little management, and some consideration 
 must be paid to their dignity as State officials. The 
 English tourist is rather prone to address the red- 
 capped chef de gare as if he were a porter at home, 
 appointed for the express purpose of giving bewildered 
 travellers information. That is not included among the 
 duties of a station-master in Belgium. His function is to 
 look after the trains, not the travellers. On the other 
 hand, if the traveller approaches him in the correct 
 manner, which means by raising his hand to his hat, 
 he at once unbends, and will do everything he can to 
 assist him. The railway guards and ticket-collectors also 
 have nothing whatever to do with luggage, and it is 
 infra dig. for them to help to take it out of the carriage. 
 The porters are few in number, and their duties in taking 
 luggage out of the van, etc., monopolize their time, so 
 they, too, are unable to assist travellers. As all these 
 functionaries wear some sort of uniform, it is to them that 
 the English traveller looks for aid which he never 
 186 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 receives, and consequently he or she feels aggrieved at 
 the indifference with which the demand for a porter is 
 received. 
 
 If, however, the traveller uttered the word Commis- 
 sionnaire, there would be no lack of ready hands to 
 carry the baggage, as on every platform a good supply of 
 these men stand ready for a job. They can easily be 
 distinguished by their linen shirts or smocks, and gene- 
 rally have a badge, either on their cap or their arm. 
 These are the railway porters, in our sense of the term, 
 but they have no authority in the station, and must not 
 do anything else but carry luggage. They are to be 
 found outside the station also, but at Brussels a penny 
 ticket has to be taken for them to secure their admission 
 to the platform, even when carrying travellers' luggage. 
 
 Among some national habits that get English travellers 
 into difficulties on the railways, is that of carrying all their 
 belongings in the compartment with them. Now, the 
 carriages on all the cross lines, or chemins defer vicinaux, 
 are very small. There are seats for sixteen persons, and 
 in the tourist season the trains are always crowded. 
 There is really no room in them for any luggage at all, 
 beyond such light articles as can be put in the racks or 
 under the seats. If luggage is carried in the compartment, 
 a certain amount of discomfort must be caused to every 
 other traveller, and unpleasantness follows. A scene of 
 this character once came under my observation, and the 
 offenders in this case were two English ladies. They 
 had found an empty compartment, and under their in- 
 structions the commissionnaire had piled up their luggage 
 on one of the seats assigned for two persons. There 
 were several small portmanteaus, hold-alls, rugs, bags, and 
 baskets, and, finally, a collection of golf clubs. They not 
 only filled the seats, and the rack above, but overflowed on 
 to the gangway. The ladies went away to get some refresh- 
 ment, as the train was not to start for half an hour, in the 
 happy belief that they had secured a whole compartment 
 for themselves and their luggage. As the time of departure 
 
 187 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 drew near, passengers began to arrive and take their 
 seats. Soon fourteen of the seats were occupied, and on 
 the arrival of the ladies, with a commissionnaire bearing 
 more bags, not a place was vacant. The ladies looked 
 round, and turned complaining to the commissionnaire as 
 to there being no seat for them, but that person, raising 
 his cap, muttered, ' Ce n'est pas mon affaire,' and beat a 
 discreet retreat. The ladies, or rather the one who could 
 speak a little French, continued complaining, ' Where are 
 we to sit?' and seemed to expect other passengers to 
 stand up so that their baggage might remain undis- 
 turbed. Finding that they understood French, a gentle- 
 man explained that the seats were for travellers, not for 
 luggage, and removing the bags, etc., on to the floor in 
 the central gangway, said very politely, ' There are your 
 seats, ladies.' This was meant in the way of civility, but 
 our good countrywomen seemed to cherish resentment 
 throughout the rest of the journey, exclaiming, when the 
 sliding door revealed the half of the carriage reserved for 
 smokers, ' Oh ! there was heaps of room in there,' and 
 never thinking for a moment that they had acted very 
 unreasonably, and were wholly in the wrong. There is 
 scarcely a doubt that this incident will be cited by them 
 as a proof of the incivility of Belgian fellow-travellers. 
 
 The Brussels policeman has often been held up to 
 ridicule, but it is altogether undeserved. The cartoon in 
 Punch of the small representative of the law, who has 
 ordered a big Flemish ouvrier in vain to get out of a 
 beershop, ending the colloquy by saying, ' Then stay 
 where you are,' is not more true to life than such 
 skits generally are. In the first place, the Brussels 
 policeman is not so very small, but his loose and 
 comfortable costume does not give him the stiff and 
 imposing appearance of our ' men in blue.' He is really 
 a very active individual, and his courage is beyond 
 question. It must be remembered that the criminal class 
 with which he has to deal is far more dangerous than 
 ours, apart from the alien element in London, which is 
 
 188 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 giving our police authorities a taste of Continental con- 
 ditions. Brussels criminals always carry revolvers, and 
 know how to use them, and as they generally work in 
 couples, a solitary policeman has to be always on his 
 guard. The newspapers are seldom without an account 
 of an affray in which revolver shots are exchanged, but 
 it is very rarely that a criminal escapes the hands of 
 justice. The Brussels policeman is not, however, 
 assumed to be at the service of every pedestrian in search 
 of information. Still, if asked a question with sufficient 
 politeness, he will reply to the extent of his knowledge 
 with equal civility. But his engrossing duty is to watch 
 the criminal classes, and to prevent them doing much 
 mischief. This duty he discharges in an efficient manner, 
 considering that the force to which he belongs is numeri- 
 cally weak, and that the criminal class is proportionally 
 large. 
 
 Passing to a higher class in society, I wish to say a 
 good word for the Belgian officer. He, not less than the 
 Brussels policeman, is made the object of caricaturists, 
 and very unjustly. I have known or met a great many 
 of them, and I have found them intelligent, earnest, and 
 devoted to their profession, although its prospects are not 
 very seductive, and the chances of earning any glory in it 
 seem remote. This is the more remarkable, because the 
 greater number of Belgian officers come from the body of 
 the people. They represent not a separate class or 
 caste, but just the ordinary citizens of the country, and 
 many of them have risen from the grade of sous-officiers. 
 The noble class only enters the Guides, and to a less 
 extent the Grenadiers, Lancers, and Carabiniers. Out- 
 side the Guides there is also a complete absence of what 
 we call ' side.' The Belgian officer is a quiet inoffensive 
 fellow, rather inclined to take the small affairs of his 
 barrack life a little too seriously, but entitled to special 
 credit for the attention he pays to the wants of his 
 men, and to preserving good relations with them. It 
 is not his fault if so little fighting has fallen to his 
 189 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 lot, and if his reputation in real warfare has still to be 
 made. 
 
 The official class in Belgium presents what we should 
 consider the most favourable type of the Belgian gentle- 
 man. An official is always extremely courteous (I speak 
 of the representatives of the higher administration), arid 
 rather a stickler for formality. The pith of his remarks 
 maybe small, but he will cover it with a number of polite 
 phrases, expressed in classic French. The staff of each 
 cabinet, or the inner private office of a Secretary of 
 State, or director of a department, is carefully recruited 
 from the most promising candidates, who are selected 
 for their personal appearance and family connexions as 
 well as their attainments. They have also to undergo, 
 after appointment, qualifying examinations to prove their 
 fitness to pass into higher grades. In the Foreign Office, 
 or Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres, the highest level of 
 excellence is maintained under the guiding influence of 
 Baron Lambermont, Belgium's leading statesman. He 
 stands, at the age of eighty-four, as a living example of 
 the model to which the young officials of his department 
 should attain. There are many stories told of his 
 vigilance and activity, which, by all accounts, remain 
 unabated. It was only the other day that he was invited 
 to arbitrate between England and France on the subject 
 of two disputes in West Africa — not for the first time, as 
 on a previous occasion he received the Grand Cross of 
 the Bath for officiating in a similar capacity. Yet it is fifty 
 years ago since he contributed towards saving in the first 
 place, and developing in the second, the Duke of Welling- 
 ton's estate in Belgium ; forty years since he helped to free 
 the Scheldt, from which event dates the prosperity of 
 Antwerp ; and, finally, twenty years have passed since he 
 represented the Congo State, with consummate ability 
 and tact at the Berlin Conference. Yet he seems as 
 fresh and vigorous in intellect to-day as a man half his 
 age. In his youth Baron Lambermont was an officer in 
 the Spanish Army, and served with much distinction in 
 
 190 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 the first Carlist War. On one occasion he performed 
 an act which decided the victory, and for this he received 
 the coveted Order of St. Ferdinand. This decoration is 
 embroidered on the front of the coat. It is reported of 
 a Spanish Grandee, sent to represent his country at 
 Brussels, that at a reception he came across to Baron 
 Lambermont and said, ' Excuse me, Minister, but it is 
 very extraordinary to me how your Brussels tailors can 
 embroider your coat exactly like our Order of St. 
 Ferdinand.' It never entered his head that the peaceful 
 director of the Foreign Department in Belgium, whose 
 fame as a diplomatist had been European for so long a 
 time, could have performed a military achievement that 
 entitled him to wear the most coveted of Spanish orders. 
 
 Another high official, whom I may select as a favourable 
 type of the Belgian administrator, is the Baron Van Eetvelde, 
 who was for many years the responsible director of the 
 Congo State Government in Brussels. He has not been 
 direcily responsible for the policy pursued since the end 
 of 1898, and in the administration of its affairs, as well as 
 the conduct of its diplomatic relations, he displayed 
 before that time much ability and breadth of view. Some 
 time ago he gave up the onerous office of Secretary of 
 State, and was nominated a Minister of State with less 
 severe duties. He was for some years Belgian Consul 
 General at Calcutta, and possesses an excellent acquaint- 
 ance with the English language and with English opinion. 
 More is certain to be heard of this statesman hereafter. 
 
 Perhaps these detached portraits, taken from different 
 classes, will suffice to show that those who denounce 
 everything Belgian must be either grossly prejudiced or 
 possess but a slight knowledge of what they are talking 
 about. Taking the best specimens in every walk of life, 
 they are a distinctly pleasing people to have relations 
 with. They are franker and more outspoken than the 
 French, while they are not so overbearing and dictatorial 
 as the Germans. They are, indeed, just what their race 
 makes them, halfway between the two. At the same 
 
 191 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 time they are not the easiest men to debate with, 
 for, after the ordinary conventionalities of society are 
 passed, they become very dogmatic and vigorous in 
 the assertion of their own opinions, arguing from first 
 principles, and insisting on the paramount authority of 
 philosophical axioms in complete indifference to the hard 
 facts of this workaday world. I am quite sure that 
 should the Prussians ever force their way down the 
 Avenue Louise the Independance Beige of the previous 
 evening would have contained an editorial descanting in 
 sonorous phrases on the inviolable rights of a little nation 
 to be free, not merely in its own institutions, but in its 
 criticism and censure of others. As a parting advice, it 
 is well not to get into any warm discussion with Belgians, 
 but to listen to the expression of their views, and to 
 confine one's own remarks to safe generalities. 
 
 192 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 SOME POPULAR TYPES—WOMEN 
 
 No one can reside any time in Belgium without form- 
 ing a very high opinion of its women, of their thrift, 
 cleanliness, and capacity for work. Even English visitors, 
 who are always more or less prejudiced against everything 
 foreign, and who have not a word to say on behalf of the 
 men, are impressed in their favour, and make comparisons 
 unflattering to the corresponding class at home. There 
 is, for instance, a complete absence of that tawdriness 
 which is so obtrusive and offensive among our working 
 classes, and the neat and tidy way in which all the women 
 in Belgium, without exception, arrange their hair is a 
 striking contrast with the dishevelled locks or flaunting 
 chignons of their English sisters. A case of a Belgian 
 woman wearing any hair but her own is not to be found. 
 The first impression formed in the country is that the 
 women do all the work, which brings the reflection in its 
 train that the men must have an easy time of it. On the 
 latter point this is corrected by greater knowledge of the 
 subdivision of labour; but the opinion that the female 
 half of the community works as hard as the male will 
 not in any way be modified. Women manage all the 
 shops, from the small groceries and greengroceries up to 
 businesses of importance, and it is only in the largest 
 establishments that men take their place. They will be 
 helped in this task by their children or, if there is one, by 
 the grandfather ; but it is considered somewhat undignified 
 
 193 o 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 for an active man to mind a shop. He will often seek 
 and obtain employment outside the business which his 
 wife stops at home to conduct. All the purveyors and 
 carriers of milk are women, and their little carts, drawn 
 by dogs with their bright brass cans, are one of the sights 
 of Brussels, especially when they are all assembled on 
 the Grand' Place for inspection. 
 
 This inspection takes place at the early hour of 
 six, and consequently finds but few English spectators 
 throughout the year. It is rather an interesting sight. 
 The inspection is held for the purpose of ascertaining 
 whether all the regulations are properly observed or not. 
 The cans are carefully examined with regard to their 
 cleanliness and state of repair, the milk is also tested, 
 and the arrangement of the girth and straps is looked to, 
 lest they should chafe the dog. Latterly a small piece of 
 carpet for the dog to lie on, and a drinking-bowl have 
 been added as part of the essential equipment of a milk- 
 cart. Of course it goes without saying that the quality of 
 the milk on the day of inspection is always exceptionally 
 good, but it must not be supposed that the test is only 
 applied on these fixed occasions. A certain number of 
 police inspectors are sent out every morning to stop 
 vendors of milk, and test their milk on the spot. As it 
 is never known when or where this inspection may be 
 made, the watering of milk is not common. The offence 
 is punishable by fine, but if frequently committed entails 
 the withdrawal of the licence to sell, and that means 
 losing a certain livelihood. 
 
 As reference has been made to the dogs which draw 
 the milk-carts, or barrows, it will be appropriate to say 
 something on the subject of employing dogs for draught 
 purposes, which is common throughout Belgium. With 
 regard to the milk-cart dogs, they are always a large 
 breed of dog, and frequently there are two dogs to a cart. 
 As the sale of milk is profitable, and means that the 
 person engaged in it earns a good livelihood, the se dogs 
 are well fed. They also come in for a certain amount 
 194 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 of scraps at the houses at which they call regularly each 
 morning. So far as any suffering by the dog thus 
 employed is in question, I do not believe there is any. 
 He is in good fettle, and as he is a big, powerful, and 
 combative fellow he is generally muzzled. Leaving aside 
 the broad and comprehensive question as to whether 
 dogs were ever intended by nature for draught work, 
 which was decided in the negative in England only about 
 fifty years ago, I think it may be safely assumed that 
 the employment of these big dogs in the little milk-carts 
 of Belgium is free from positive cruelty. This remark also 
 applies to the same kind of dog employed by the greater 
 number of the laundresses, and by some of the bakers. But 
 as it is permissible by the law of the land to use dogs for 
 draught — or as they are called chiens de trait — it follows 
 that the poor or the lazy use any and all dogs, big or 
 small, well-fed or ill-fed, to drag their cars and carts 
 carrying their goods for sale, and not infrequently them- 
 selves. In the strict economy of the Belgian social 
 system dogs have no right to existence except as beasts 
 of burden. The rich may indulge themselves with the 
 luxury of a chien de maison or a chien de ekasse, but for 
 the Belgians who work, from the peasant to the shop- 
 keeper, a dog has no other interest or value than as a 
 fellow-worker and obedient slave. It is the inevitable 
 concomitant of this practice that cases of cruelty must be 
 frequent, and that the wretched condition of many of 
 the dogs so employed leads to a general condemnation 
 of Belgian character as indifferent to animal suffering 
 and as tolerating a system from which a greater or less 
 degree of cruelty is inseparable. It is unnecessary to 
 dilate upon the spectacles of cruelty which are to be 
 witnessed in every part of the kingdom, and which 
 diminish the pleasure of at least many English visitors 
 who come to stay in the country. 
 
 Of late a sentiment has been springing up among the 
 rich in Belgium that something should be done in the 
 matter. The Belgian Government is notoriously timid in 
 
 195 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 the matter of introducing fresh legislation on any subject. 
 This arises from a mixed feeling that a new law may be 
 regarded as a reflection on the Constitution, and that it is 
 perilous to interfere with the customs of the people. 
 For these reasons it has done and will do nothing in the 
 matter of the employment of dogs for drawing purposes, 
 until at least a marked change has occurred in public 
 opinion on the subject, of which there is at present no 
 sign, except among the wealthy. They have founded a 
 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and in 
 some towns one may see its notices on the walls : ' Traitez 
 les animaux avec douceur.' But it rarely, if ever, brings 
 a case of cruelty into court, and there is good reason to 
 doubt whether it would obtain a single judgment in its 
 favour if it did. A more hopeful sign is the action of the 
 Antwerp Corporation, which has drawn up a set of regu- 
 lations against dogs being worked under a certain size, 
 and requiring the weight drawn to be in fair proportion 
 to the size and strength of the dog. 
 
 To return to our subject after this digression suggested 
 by the Brussels milk-carts. It is impossible for an 
 observer not to be struck by the bright and contented 
 appearance of the women in Belgium. The cares of life 
 weigh lightly upon them, and they find a real pleasure in 
 their occupation. As all the workwomen on ordinary 
 days go about bareheaded, the neatness with which they 
 arrange their hair in the most simple style at once attracts 
 notice. This practice is universal, and in Belgium a 
 woman's hair is her chief glory. In cold or rainy 
 weather they draw a shawl over their heads, and this is 
 the only protection they employ against the weather. 
 Umbrellas are regarded as a luxury that does not come 
 within the purview of the masses. Apart from the care 
 which they bestow on their hair, the most striking points 
 in the appearance of these young women are the trimness 
 of their dress, which is always short, not coming below 
 the ankle, and the activity with which they hasten 
 through the streets on their errands, looking neither to the 
 196 
 
A FLEMISH MILKWOMAN. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 right hand nor the left. In this respect they furnish a 
 marked contrast to the men, who saunter over their out- 
 door work, and generally include a gossip and a con- 
 sommation, or drink, as part of the task of delivering a 
 parcel. 
 
 In short, the women of Belgium, apart from the 
 domestic duties which fall to their lot everywhere, per- 
 form their half of the work of the country, and for some 
 reason or other are more in evidence than the men. 
 They take it quite naturally, and are remarkable for their 
 cheery aspect, and, in fact, a morose or disappointed-look- 
 ing face is scarcely to be seen among them. A main cause 
 of this is no doubt the bright invigorating climate, which 
 enables them to get through their work without fatigue. 
 Another is the early hour at which everybody commences 
 the daily occupation, so that the greater part of the house- 
 hold work and the marketing is done before the ordinary 
 English breakfast hour. Late rising is often attributed 
 to the English as a great fault, and as an explanation of 
 the success of foreign competition. But it is really due 
 to the heaviness of our atmosphere as compared with that 
 in Belgium. I have heard Belgians themselves complain 
 that in London they had as much difficulty in getting 
 up at eight in the morning as they had in Brussels or 
 Liege in rising at six, or even earlier. On the other 
 side of the question it must be noticed that comparatively 
 less work is done on the Continent in the afternoon than 
 is accomplished with us, so that early rising may not 
 signify all the gain that is attributed to it. 
 
 One of the most typical characters in the life of the 
 towns is the patronne^ the wife of the proprietor, or the 
 proprietress herself, of a restaurant or cafe. She sits or 
 stands behind a kind of bar, which is prettily decorated, 
 and which provides a commanding post of observation. 
 The waiters carry the orders to her and she passes them 
 on through speaking-tubes to the kitchen or the wine- 
 cellar. Active work in a cafe or cafe-restaurant rarely 
 commences before midday, but it continues till long after 
 197 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 midnight. The waiters, or garcons, have made everything 
 clean and spruce by eleven o'clock, and shortly after- 
 wards the patronize will take up her position at the bar in 
 anticipation of the work of the day. From twelve to two 
 the place will be crowded, in proportion with its popu- 
 larity, and in the cafe the bustle will continue still longer. 
 But at half-past two the proprietor — who has been not less 
 occupied in his own department, supervising the c/?ef and 
 looking after the wine orders, than his better half — his wife, 
 their daughters, who, if grown up, are also in the bar, and 
 any other children, all sit down to their dejeuner at one of 
 the tables in the cafe. They have deserved their meal, 
 and enjoy it. They criticize their food and the quality 
 of their chefs cooking just as freely and impartially as the 
 casual or regular visitor. They have their bottle of wine 
 for the whole family, and also their glass of beer apiece, 
 the younger members mixing water with the wine, and all 
 drinking a tumbler of water at some stage of the repast. 
 At four o'clock the patronne and her daughters disappear 
 to make preparations for the evening, and if the restaurant 
 is a well-known resort for diners the preparations will be 
 most elaborate. The patronne puts on her jewellery, and 
 the prosperity of the house may be gauged by the size 
 and colour of her diamond earrings. At five o'clock she 
 is back at the post of comma nd,as diners begin to arrive 
 at six o'clock, or even before. More fashionable persons 
 come in at seven, but by eight o'clock all the dinners in 
 the great majority of the restaurants are over. At half- 
 past the family, taking advantage of the lull, which is not 
 broken till after the theatre hour, sit down to their own 
 supper. They do full justice to the repast, and perhaps 
 they have invited some friend or relative to join them, in 
 which case a special bottle of wine may be brought up 
 from the cellar. But, as a rule, they take very little wine, 
 a bottle between five or six persons, and always the 
 lowest priced on the list. From ten till midnight the 
 place is again crowded, and all is bustle and clatter. At 
 midnight the majority of customers will have gone home, 
 
 198 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 but even as late as two in the morning the patronne may 
 be seen at her post ready to see that the belated visitor 
 gets what he asks for. I have used the word ' bar,' but 
 perhaps counter is a more correct term, as no one drinks 
 at it. On entering and leaving it is the proper thing to 
 raise one's hat to ' Madame.' The observance of this 
 simple and easily acquired act of courtesy in shops would 
 much increase the popularity of English visitors. 
 
 As between Flemish and Walloon women it is difficult 
 for an outsider to draw a just comparison. In appearance 
 the Flemings are shorter and slighter than their half-sisters. 
 They are also a fair-haired race, with bright complexions 
 and pink cheeks. The Walloon is far taller and big in pro- 
 portion, generally dark, with pale face and very marked 
 features, although tradition declares that she should be fair, 
 and assigns for dark-haired women a Spanish or even a 
 Roman origin, which is going rather far back. It is not 
 at all uncommon to meet a flaxen-haired woman of grand 
 physique among the Walloons of Liege and Luxemburg, 
 and this is especially the case among some of the old 
 noble families. But, as a rule, the Walloon woman is 
 dark, just as the Flemish is fair. There is more energy 
 about the Fleming and more dignity about the Walloon. 
 The former works harder and calls the latter lazy ; the 
 latter is a better manager, and requires a higher grade of 
 comfort in her domestic life, and is disposed to regard 
 her Flemish sister as being somewhat behind the day and 
 not quite on the same plane of culture as herself. There 
 may be some foundation for this, and if we were to apply 
 the test of cooking, Walloon cooks are pronounced superior 
 in ev*ry way to Flemish. It is said that the Flemings, 
 despite their clean and natty appearance in the streets, 
 are not so scrupulously clean in their domestic arrange- 
 ments as is desirable, and as is undoubtedly the case 
 throughout the Walloon part of the country. Both have 
 a marked partiality for fine clothes and bright colours, 
 and those who have only observed the people in their 
 workaday clothes would not recognize the same persons 
 199 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 as they go to mass on Sundays. The Walloons dress in 
 better taste than the Flemings, and as they are consider- 
 ably taller they carry their clothes more gracefully and 
 with greater effect. The art of dressmaking has been 
 carried to a higher point of perfection among them, and 
 most Walloon girls can cut out their own clothes and 
 make them in the latest fashion. It is quite remarkable 
 to notice the degree to which the art of dressing well 
 is carried among the Walloon women of all classes, 
 especially as there is no corresponding movement among 
 the men. While the men in their Sunday clothes are just 
 ordinary provincials, their wives and daughters might 
 easily be mistaken for Parisiennes. 
 
 It is a common assumption that Belgian women are 
 very fond of pleasure, but it is certain that they get very 
 little amusement. They are supposed to find it in their 
 work and their household duties, for it is only on fete 
 days that regular toil is superseded by what may be 
 called the idea of pleasure-seeking. Even the fine 
 clothes, of which they are so proud, are carefully put 
 away and stored up on return from church, or, at the 
 longest, after the afternoon promenade in fine weather. 
 In the towns, visits are paid on rare occasions to the 
 theatre, and, as work begins for every one at such an 
 early hour, it is not surprising that everybody goes to bed 
 early. Even among the middle classes, when the man 
 goes to his cafe or his cercle to read the newspapers or 
 hear the gossip, his wife remains at home attending to 
 her sewing. It is only on fete days and Sundays during 
 the summer that she expects to accompany her husband 
 and make an excursion to her home, or the theatre, or 
 at the least to an open-air cafe or beer-garden, and see 
 and hear what is going on. This is, or should be, enough 
 to establish the fact, if any doubted it, that the Belgians 
 are an essentially domestic people, who find their pleasure 
 at home in their family work and duties. This domesticity 
 is equally characteristic of the two races, and explains 
 the old Flemish proverb : ' East, west, home's best' 
 200 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 The characteristics which mark the people at large 
 are also found among the leisured and well-to-do classes. 
 The Belgian lady has very much the same views of life 
 as her humbler sister. Money means practically finer 
 clothes, more visits to the theatre, a longer vacation at 
 the seaside or in the country, but the objects that con- 
 stitute her ideas of a pleasant life are practically the 
 same. Society passes its time with a certain lazy in- 
 difference and a complete absence of the exciting whirl 
 of entertainments that constitutes high life in London and 
 Paris. There is a considerable amount of visiting, after- 
 noon teas have become popular, the daily drive to the 
 Bois for those who keep a carriage is de rigueur, and 
 there are occasional charity bazaars ; but these must all 
 form part of the regular existence anywhere of those 
 who have no obligation to work for their living. The 
 chief feature of Belgian society, as of Belgian life gene- 
 rally, is its domesticity. The family and its affairs form 
 the pivot upon which the whole social system turns. It 
 is very creditable and home-like, if the charge cannot be 
 avoided that the result is a trifle dull. 
 
 Belgian ladies dress well and Brussels dressmakers are 
 undoubtedly very skilful and not much, if at all, behind 
 the same class in Paris. The fashions come from Paris, 
 but they reach Brussels before London, and the sight 
 on the boulevards on an early spring morning is very 
 striking. The colours are brighter than are usual with 
 us, and the warm sun and clear air show them off 
 to the best advantage. Then one is able to judge the 
 truth of the French poet's reference to the peau lact'ee, the 
 milky complexion of the fair ladies of Brussels, or les 
 belles Bruxelloises. Notwithstanding their skill and good 
 taste which, although less talked about, is quite equal to 
 that of Paris, the Brussels dressmakers are considerably 
 more reasonable in their charges than those of the 
 French capital, and this is true in a still more marked 
 degree of the milliners. 
 
 Every Belgian lady insists on her husband allowing 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 her each year at least two costumes in the latest fashion 
 for the promenade or for making formal visits. She 
 takes the greatest care of them, never wearing them in 
 the house, so that they remain fresh to the end of the six 
 months, when the change of the season and of fashion 
 exacts the purchase of the new costume. A costume to 
 go en ri/fe, which is the phrase for going to look at the 
 shops, will cost something between two and three hundred 
 francs \ but in every other respect than these two annual 
 dresses the greatest economy will be practised, and the 
 other ordinary house-clothes will all be made at home by 
 the mistress, with the occasional aid of a sempstress. If 
 the wife of an average professional man, or an official, 
 gets thirty pounds a year as her dress-money she is 
 perfectly contented, even if there are two or three children 
 to be clothed out of it. In many cases the lady's parents 
 make her an allowance for dress, which is either part of 
 the original ' dot ' or an addition to it. 
 
 Taking a comprehensive view of the position of women 
 in Belgium, the conclusion to which one must come is 
 that they form a scarcely less important moiety of the 
 nation than the men, and that they contribute as workers 
 in a material degree to secure the remarkable prosperity 
 which the country has enjoyed for so many years. From 
 many points of view they possess either specific merit or 
 present such features of interest as to furnish ground for 
 the belief that their good qualities supply the true source 
 of Belgian prosperity. It would be a good thing for our 
 ow r n country if we could bring over some of their thrift, 
 good management in the household, cheery content in 
 their work and in their station in life, together with the 
 large quantities which we import of the natural produce 
 of the south Netherlands. They throw all their energies 
 into their work, and their chief pride and pleasure lies in 
 doing it well and to the best of their ability. If a young 
 Belgian woman describes herself as a cook, it can be 
 assumed that she has some good reason to call herself one, 
 and that in her degree, of which the salary she asks will 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 j 
 
 be the indication, she is proficient. If she is merely a 
 fille d tout /aire, she will work her hardest from six in the 
 morning till nine at night, and only expect one evening 
 in the fortnight to amuse herself by going to the dance 
 at the little meeting-rooms for servants and their young 
 men which are to be found in even the smallest towns of 
 the kingdom. The women of Belgium appreciate the 
 dignity of labour, and their happiness lies in their work 
 and their capacity for doing it. 
 
 203 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 SEAPORT AND SAILOR LIFE 
 
 Although Belgium has a first-class seaport in Antwerp, 
 despite the fact that it is situated sixty-five miles up a 
 difficult and tortuous river, and a second port in Ostend 
 of considerable value, there is little or nothing in its 
 history of maritime skill or enterprise. The 'sea-beggars' 
 were men of the provinces north of the Scheldt, or Dutch, 
 and after the cleavage of the Netherlands, the one fixed 
 point in the policy of Holland was to keep the Scheldt 
 closed and to prevent Antwerp ever becoming the rival 
 of Rotterdam or Amsterdam. It is only since the free- 
 ing of the Scheldt in 1863 that a marked change has 
 taken place, and if ever Belgium becomes a maritime 
 State, which is not impossible, she will date her growth 
 from that event. 
 
 In addition to the political closing of the Scheldt by 
 jealous rivals, the natural condition of the coast of 
 Flanders will explain the absence of naval activity and 
 the practical non-existence of Belgian sailors until a 
 quite recent period. From Nieuport to Heyst the low- 
 lying coast is fringed by the sand dunes which have been 
 cast up by the sea, and, with the exception of Ostend, 
 there is not a seaport on this treacherous coast, which is 
 rendered especially dangerous for navigation by shallow 
 and difficult channels, and by the dense mists that 
 suddenly arise in the summer as well as the winter. The 
 improvements at Ostend have adapted that place to the 
 204 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 requirements of a port for cross-Channel passenger traffic 
 between England and Belgium, and the approaching 
 opening of Zeebrugge as the calling point for ocean- 
 going steamers at the outlet of the Bruges ship canal 
 will add another port to the coast of Flanders. 
 
 But if there is a dearth of sailors in Flanders, there 
 is a hardy fishing population along this coast, and pro- 
 bably not fewer than 5000 men and boys earn their 
 livelihood on the sea. Of these, nearly one half hail 
 from Qstend, but at Heyst, Middelkerke, Nieuport, and 
 Blankenberghe the bulk of the inhabitants gain their 
 livelihood as fishermen. It is quite a pretty sight to see 
 the fishing-smacks putting out to sea from any of the 
 places named, but more especially from Ostend ; but as 
 this generally happens very early in the morning, it is 
 more often their return than their departure that comes 
 under the observation of the foreign visitor. They are 
 good sea-boats, and although their usual fishing-grounds 
 are only about ten miles off the coast, they sometimes 
 extend their trips to a much greater distance. On the 
 sail of each boat its registered number has to be clearly 
 stamped, with the abbreviated name of the port from 
 which it hails. The largest smacks belong to Ostend, 
 and the majority of them are the property of companies 
 or guilds. Elsewhere the fishermen to a large extent 
 own their boats. The dangers of the coast, especially 
 in the winter, are clearly proved every year by the 
 loss of one or more of these smacks, and collisions 
 with the steamers passing to Ostend and the Scheldt are 
 not infrequent in thick or hazy weather. During the 
 bad weather of the summer of 1903 several such accidents 
 occurred, and on one occasion several boats from Heyst 
 were lost, causing much grief and misery in that place. 
 
 In her fishing population along the coast, therefore, 
 Belgium has the available material for manning a small 
 navy with men accustomed to life at sea. The impression 
 they give is that they are a hardy and wiry set of men, 
 capable of undergoing a good deal of hardship and 
 205 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 privation, and it would be difficult to differentiate them 
 from the Dutch, whose ancient skill and reputation as 
 seamen have not diminished. The Heyst fishermen 
 have a local reputation as making the best seamen, but 
 there is probably no marked difference between the men 
 of one place and those of another. There is certainly 
 nothing in their external appearance to suggest such a 
 difference. The prevalent use of the wooden sabot 
 while on shore gives them a clumsy appearance. On 
 their boats, those who retain the use of the sabot gene- 
 rally wear exceedingly thick worsted stockings, which 
 are rolled over the trousers, and dispense with any other 
 foot covering. The use of the jack or long sea-boot is 
 coming in, and is regarded as evidence of prosperity, 
 but it may be suspected that before the boat has got far 
 out to sea they are laid aside for the plain-stockinged 
 feet. 
 
 The commercial marine of Belgium is exceedingly 
 limited. The two Ostend lines of packets, one for 
 passenger traffic to Dover and the other for fruit, vege- 
 tables, and parcels, as well as passengers to London, 
 employ a certain number of Flemish sailors. The navi- 
 gating staff of these packets is Belgian, and the absence 
 of accident is a tribute to their skill. Engineers as well as 
 officers and crew are Belgians, but the stewards and cabin 
 boys are almost without exception German. Flemings 
 are also to be found on the English subsidized steamers 
 (Elder line) from Antwerp to the Congo, and on the 
 Red Star (German line) from the same port to the United 
 States. Besides these ocean lines, there are a limited 
 number of Belgian-owned ships trading between Belgium 
 and the British Isles chiefly in timber and coal. The 
 bulk of Belgian commerce is carried in British ships, and 
 the majority of the sailors on the Antwerp quays are 
 Britishers. In the last ten years, however, there has been 
 a considerable increase in the numbers of both Flemish 
 sailors and Flemish vessels. 
 
 It is always difficult to fix precisely what may be the 
 206 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 effect produced by a single incident upon a great national 
 evolution, but certainly the Antarctic expedition of 1899- 
 1900, led by M. de Gerlache on the Belgica, furnished a 
 considerable incentive to the movement for endowing 
 Belgium with a national navy. If a nation can produce 
 officers and sailors, as well as men of science, ready to 
 pass a winter in the snow and the ice of the polar regions, 
 it follows that it must be considerably advanced on the 
 road to nautical experience and achievement. It is 
 probable that M. de Gerlache will make a still greater 
 reputation among Arctic explorers, as his ambition turns 
 in that direction. 
 
 An impetus is likely to be given to the movement by 
 the scheme for establishing a national mercantile marine, 
 the first step towards which has been the order to con- 
 struct a training-ship and the bringing together of an 
 efficient training staff. An elaborate scheme of instruc- 
 tion has been drawn up, and the total cost for a naval 
 cadet is not to exceed ^32 a year. The ship, which is 
 not to exceed 2000 tons, is being constructed at the 
 Cockerill works at Hoboken, above Antwerp, and is to 
 be named the Count de Smet de Naeyer, after the Belgian 
 Premier, who, is taking a prominent part in directing the 
 arrangements necessary for the organization of the scheme. 
 It is hoped by this means to form the nucleus of a corps 
 of officers which will make Belgium less dependent on 
 foreign aid in carrying on its trade beyond the seas. 
 
 Whether the movement succeed to the full extent that 
 its promoters expect or not, there can be no doubt that 
 it will result in all lines employed in any way on State 
 service, such as the Congo line, becoming national and 
 manned more or less by Belgian officers and seamen. 
 There is one important fact to be noticed. The move- 
 ment is essentially Flemish, and the Walloons, who know 
 nothing of the sea, from which they have always been 
 cut off, take no part, and probably feel little interest in 
 it. One consequence of the Flemish origin of the move- 
 ment is that that language will have to be employed on 
 207 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 board ship, for the fishermen of the coast know scarcely 
 a word of French. 
 
 The extensive works in progress to make Brussels a 
 seaport — the quays and docks under construction are 
 grandiose — are evidence of the zeal and energy with 
 which the Belgians are throwing themselves into a move- 
 ment that may enable them to get rid of some of their 
 excessive population. A great many years must still 
 elapse before the projected ship-canal to the capital is in 
 working order. The crowded state of the canals and of 
 the smaller rivers, like the Dender and Lys, shows the 
 great need of internal water communication as well as 
 the bustling and restless activity animating commercial 
 and industrial circles in Belgium. 
 
 There is one curious fact suggested by Belgian develop- 
 ment on the sea that has rarely received notice out of 
 treatises on international law, and not often in them. If 
 there is ever to be any marked development of Belgian 
 maritime importance, it must commence at and radiate 
 from Antwerp. Now, the position of Antwerp is anoma- 
 lous, for it is on a river the entrance to which is in the 
 possession of another country. A little below that city 
 Holland owns both banks of the river, and continues to 
 do so until it is lost in the sea. The lower Scheldt is 
 exclusively Dutch, and consequently no State at war with 
 Belgium could send men-of-war up it to attack Antwerp 
 without by the act committing hostilities against Holland 
 at the same time. The question will probably never 
 possess any but theoretical interest, but it may be 
 mentioned that Belgians see in this fact an additional 
 guarantee of their neutrality, and a further proof of the 
 identity of their interests with their northern neighbours, 
 the Dutch. 
 
 Seaport life in Belgium is not more attractive than it 
 is anywhere else. Antwerp, it must be admitted, has 
 acquired a bad name for rowdyism, especially for the 
 systematic swindling of English sailors, who, on returning 
 from a long cruise, were often relieved of their earnings 
 208 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 a very few days after their arrival, and left penniless. 
 It was very difficult to provide a practical remedy for 
 this evil, as the men were themselves to blame as much 
 as any one else, but at last the British Consul solved 
 the difficulty by arranging for the payment of the men's 
 wages by pay-notes, to be recovered on their return 
 to England. In this way the difficulty was overcome, 
 and the troublesome scenes of a few years back have not 
 been renewed. 
 
 Nautical life in Belgium, which, practically speaking, 
 means in this matter Antwerp, is not so picturesque as 
 in Holland, where the population of Rotterdam and all 
 the seacoast towns is typically nautical. Along the 
 quays of Antwerp one may occasionally see a red-breeched, 
 burly sailor with his inexpressibles tucked into grey 
 stockings, but if so it will probably be found that he hails 
 from Flushing or Middelburg. The Flemish sailor has 
 little or nothing about him to distinguish him from any 
 other of his craft, and neither in the colour nor in the 
 shape of his clothes is there anything of the picturesque. 
 The testimony of English captains who have employed 
 Flemings in their crews is, hbwever, favourable to them. 
 They have the virtues of the northern races, Scandinavians, 
 Danes, and Dutch. They are hard workers, easily con- 
 tented, and able to stand privation. But hitherto the 
 Fleming has sailed under a foreign flag in mixed com- 
 panies j it remains to be seen whether he will do so well 
 when working exclusively among his own race and under 
 the national ensign. 
 
 209 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE ARMY AND MILITARY LIFE 
 
 Although Belgium is not a military State in the same 
 sense that its powerful neighbours are, the army plays 
 there a considerable role, and a very large section of the 
 people are interested from one cause or another in military 
 life. In the first place, the existence of the conscription 
 represents a practical reality to the masses, and in the 
 second a very considerable proportion of the well-to-do 
 select the army as an honourable career for their sons 
 in the capacity of commissioned officers. The important 
 position which Belgium fills in the map of Europe, 
 regarded from the strategical standpoint, the not less 
 vital question of the maintenance of the balance of 
 power, and the never absent probability of an occasion 
 arising when it will be necessary for the Belgians to make 
 a great personal effort to defend not merely their neutrality, 
 but even their independence, are calculated to add to the 
 estimation in which their army is held by Belgian citizens. 
 The abolition of the still existing right of pre-emption, by 
 which a substitute can be procured on payment of £68, 
 will remove a class grievance in the unequal incidence of 
 1 the blood tax ' between the rich and the poor, and this 
 abolition is rendered practically inevitable by the ad- 
 mitted failure of the compromise arranged in 1901 by the 
 Army Reform Act for the voluntary recruitment of a 
 body of long-service troops so as to increase the peace 
 effective by 20 per cent. Against the inclination of many 
 210 
 
A GRENADIER. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Belgians time and destiny are slowly but surely proving 
 that they must become an armed nation. 
 
 Although the Walloons gained a high reputation for 
 courage in the service of the foreign occupiers of their 
 country, the distinct military annals of the Belgians 
 commence only with the War of Liberation. That struggle 
 was begun by civilians who did not possess a uniform, and 
 the old prints show that the leaders fought in tall hats. It 
 is not surprising, then, that in the campaign of 1831 these 
 untrained men proved unable to make a prolonged stand 
 against the Dutch regulars, and that on some occasions 
 they were seized with panic. But owing to the exertions 
 of King Leopold a remarkable reorganization of the 
 national forces was effected in the ensuing year, and at 
 the end of 1832 the Belgian army was composed of 
 100,000 drilled soldiers. King Leopold wished that the 
 task of capturing the citadel of Antwerp should be left to 
 him, and from a Belgian point of view it would have 
 been better to have done this ; but the Powers decided that 
 the Belgian army should remain on the defensive. After 
 the peace King Leopold continued throughout his reign 
 to devote special care and attention to the organization 
 of his army, and its military spirit was sustained and 
 increased by his initiative and example. Among his 
 measures may be mentioned the institution of the mess 
 for each regiment in imitation of the English practice. 
 
 The dismantling of the elaborate system of fortresses 
 that had been created after Waterloo, with the exception 
 of Antwerp and Namur, rendered it especially necessary 
 that, however small in numbers, the Belgian army should 
 be excellent in quality, and there is no doubt that before 
 the great war of 1870 it was in many respects quite the 
 equal of its neighbours. Much evidence is obtainable in 
 support of this statement, and the captive Napoleon on 
 his way to Prussia admired the Belgian artillery. But 
 while both the French and Germans have made extra- 
 ordinary progress in their military organization during the 
 last thirty years, so that practically every citizen is a 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 trained soldier, the Belgians have remained stationary, 
 and in some matters have even gone back. To give one 
 illustration will suffice ; the field artillery is precisely the 
 same as it was in 1870. It is true that a new quick-firing 
 gun is to be introduced, but nothing has yet been done 
 in the way of rearmament, and the experiments for the 
 selection of an approved type are not yet completed. 
 
 On a peace footing the Belgian army numbers 47,000 
 men, and on the outbreak of war the reserves increase it 
 to 147,000 men. The infantry is divided into 1 regi- 
 ment of Carabiniers of 4 active battalions and 3 of 
 reserve, 1 regiment of Grenadiers, 3 regiments of foot 
 Chasseurs, and 14 of Line, all of 3 active and 2 reserve 
 battalions. The infantry is, therefore, comprised of 19 
 regiments, or 58 active battalions and 39 reserve bat- 
 talions, or about 100,000 men on a war footing. The 
 peace establishment does not reach half that total, as 
 the active battalions are kept at only four-fifths their 
 strength. The number of infantry officers on active 
 service is nearly 1800. 
 
 The cavalry is composed of 8 regiments of about 400 
 men each. Two regiments are Guides, 2 horse Chasseurs, 
 and 4 Lancers. There are 320 officers on the establish- 
 ment. The Guides have a handsome uniform of scarlet 
 trousers, green tunics and busbies, and are always 
 quartered in Brussels, where they serve as a sort of body- 
 guard or household cavalry to the Sovereign. They have 
 two fine barracks at Etterbeck, and the officers are men 
 of good birth, and many of them represent the old noble 
 families of the Netherlands. There is a cavalry school at 
 Ypres somewhat after the model of the French establish- 
 ment of the same kind at Saumur, but it is admitted 
 to stand in need of reorganization. The whole of the 
 Belgian cavalry is light ; but here, again, the armament 
 has not been brought up to the level required by modern 
 warfare. Taken all through, it is well mounted, many of 
 the horses being purchased in England and Ireland. 
 
 The Belgian artillery, which in the time of Leopold I. 
 212 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 was noted for its efficiency, is divided into three classes, 
 horse, field, and siege. There are 4 horse, 30 field, 
 and 70 siege batteries on the peace establishment, 
 with 500 officers and 4000 men on the active list. 
 In the engineer corps are 140 officers and about 2000 
 men. The commissariat or train numbers 30 officers 
 and 600 men. Thus the total combatant strength of the 
 Belgian army on a peace footing numbers less than 
 50,000 men, and it is computed that on the calling up of 
 the reserves, allowing for the absent, the total would barely 
 reach 140,000 effectives. This force would only suffice 
 to provide adequate garrisons for the fortified positions 
 at Lie'ge and Namur, and for the fortress at Antwerp, 
 thus leaving the capital and the whole of Flanders and 
 Hainaut at the mercy of an invader. Under these cir- 
 cumstances military reformers in Belgium have long been 
 agitating for the abolition of the privilege of pre-emption, 
 the strict enforcement of the law of conscription, the 
 increase of the annual contingent, and the formation of 
 an efficient reserve and territorial army. Up to the 
 present hour no progress has been achieved in any one 
 of the desired directions, although twenty years have 
 elapsed since General Brialmont first drew the attention 
 of his countrymen to the defects of their position. With 
 great difficulty he obtained from the Chamber the grants 
 necessary to fortify Liege and Namur and thus secure 
 the passages of the Meuse, but all his efforts failed to 
 procure the funds for the completion of the trilateral by 
 the fortification of St. Trond, or for the construction of 
 the forts still missing, as already described, in the circum- 
 vallation of Antwerp. It has been said that the Belgian 
 Parliament agreed to provide the bricks required for 
 national defence, but that it has resolutely declined to 
 furnish the men. 
 
 It will give the general reader some idea of the defects 
 of the military system if he will make a comparison 
 between the following sketch by a moderate military 
 reformer as to what his country requires, and the particulars 
 
 213 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 already given about the existing Belgian army. He 
 proposes that the peace establishment should be raised to 
 107,000 men, and that the infantry should consist of 25 
 regiments of 4 battalions each, with an extra battalion 
 for the depot. The cavalry, he says, ought to be in- 
 creased to 10 regiments of 500 men each, always with 
 the colours, and on the declaration of war this total should 
 become not less than 7000. In addition there ought to 
 be territorial cavalry on the model of our Yeomanry 
 of 2000 men. The artillery should be increased to 6 
 batteries of horse and 60 of field, or 396 guns, and the 
 siege artillery so as to number altogether 40 batteries, 
 half of which would form part of the territorial army. 
 The engineer and special corps ought to be raised to 
 4500 men. Behind the active army of 107,000 men 
 should be the first reserve of 77,000, a territorial army of 
 88,500 and a territorial reserve of 95,000, or a grand 
 total of 368,000 men. This would mean an effective 
 force for the defence of the country of at least 300,000 
 men. By this organization, which was sketched by Colonel 
 Adtz of the Belgian staff, there would be adequate 
 garrisons for all the fortified positions and a field army 
 of over 100,000 men to co-operate with the Power or 
 Powers which upheld Belgian independence. Such an 
 organization as this would make Belgium practically 
 secure against invasion. 
 
 After the grave civil disturbances of 1893, it was 
 decided to strengthen the force at the disposal of the 
 authorities for maintaining law and order. There was 
 no immediate prospect of obtaining the increase of the 
 regular army, and therefore it was decided to organize 
 the bourgeois or householder class in the towns into a 
 Garde Civique. The idea, from a social point of view, 
 was excellent, and although the Garde Civique has no 
 serious military value, it provides a considerable safe- 
 guard against the outbreak of any internal disorders. 
 The Garde Civique at present numbers 50,000, and 
 although the bulk of them are infantry, there are a few 
 214 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 regiments of cavalry, the men providing their own horses. 
 A still more limited number form artillery corps, but by 
 a strange coincidence this section, at least at Antwerp, 
 is the most efficient, and might be brigaded with regular 
 siege artillery. The different corps selected their own 
 uniforms, which are very effective, and the regiments hold 
 a weekly parade, every Sunday morning. This drill is not 
 very severe, and they are only required to fire twelve 
 cartridges at the rifle butts in each year. The Garde 
 Ciyique was never intended to supply the military de- 
 ficiencies of the country, but its creation was certainly 
 favourable to the idea of eventually forming a territorial 
 army. In order to maintain its purely civic character, 
 the members are required to doff their uniform immediately 
 after the Sunday parade. 
 
 In addition to the forces enumerated, there is a very 
 fine body of men in the gendarmerie. This is quite a 
 corps d'elite^ and would bear comparison with any other 
 military force in Europe. They are, in the first place, 
 trained soldiers, selected from the ranks of the army for 
 their good physique. They are a combination of mounted 
 policemen and heavy cavalry. In their undress uniform 
 they resemble the tormer, and in their full dress the 
 latter. They are stationed throughout the provinces, and 
 they patrol the high-roads. Much of their work consists 
 in preventing smuggling across the very extended frontiers 
 of the little State. Their number varies between 2500 
 and 3000 men, with only 60 officers; the small pro- 
 portion necessary being a certain indication of their 
 efficiency. It is nowadays kept at its full strength of 
 3000 men. Until 1899 the gendarmerie was a force 
 of which the inhabitants of the towns knew and recked 
 little. On State occasions, such as the King's fife day, a 
 few of them appeared in Brussels in their uniform, with 
 bearskins resembling the Horse Grenadiers of the French 
 army, and the headquarters of the gendarmerie is an 
 imposing building on the boulevards. But in that year 
 there were very serious riots in Brussels, and a social 
 215 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 upheaval seemed possible. It was necessary to have a 
 force at hand on which implicit reliance could be placed. 
 The first division of the gendarmerie^ quartered in the 
 provinces of Brabant, Hainaut, and Namur, was accord- 
 ingly summoned to the capital, and in the street disturb- 
 ances this force distinguished itself by a thoroughness 
 and zeal to which the Brussels mob was quite unac- 
 customed in the regular champions of the law. It was 
 made abundantly clear that, if the gendarmes had been left 
 to deal with the Socialist bands as they thought proper, 
 the population of the Socialist haunts in Brussels would 
 have been seriously diminished. As a consequence, the 
 promoters of disorder were quite disconcerted. M. Van- 
 dervelde then uttered his mot that revolvers were useless 
 against mausers, and the gendarmes became the objects 
 of the fear and the hatred of the Brussels mob, who 
 christened them the Pandours. 
 
 By the admission of Belgian officers, the discipline and 
 training of the infantry soldiers leave much to be desired. 
 Out of deference to public sentiment, which has hitherto 
 not regarded the army with too favourable an eye, no 
 measures have been taken to perfect the force as a 
 military machine. In order not to make the young con- 
 scripts discontented and resentful after they leave the 
 colours, their work is practically confined to learning 
 their drill so that they may march correctly through the 
 streets. In the summer the regiments are sent in 
 rotation for a few weeks each to the camp at Beverloo, 
 in Limburg, where they execute manoeuvres and undergo 
 some real training ; but this lasts for only a very short time. 
 Beverloo is known officially as the camp for ' perfecting 
 the drill of the infantry.' With regard to the national 
 danger arising from the defects in the training of the 
 Belgian soldiers at the present time, no plainer warning 
 has ever been uttered than that of the present King: 
 ' Our military institutions should, with due regard to pro- 
 portion, copy those of the powerful nations on our 
 frontiers. Our tactical units ought to be composed, 
 
 216 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 armed, and trained under conditions analogous to those of 
 our neighbours. If the Belgian system of defence was 
 composed of men less well trained in the military service 
 than those of these countries, it would only enter the lists 
 to be uselessly sacrificed: Well, it is notorious that the 
 Belgian army is so composed at the present time, and, 
 as the King went on to say, ' all delusions on this point 
 must prove fatal.' 
 
 _ The only subjects about which the Belgian public have 
 displayed any interest relate to the development of 
 industry and trade, and to the acquisition of wealth. They 
 have not given a serious thought to the security of the 
 national workshop, with which their own prosperity is 
 bound up. Until these views undergo a complete and 
 thorough change no reorganization of the army is possible. 
 Military enthusiasm remains suppressed, and the routine 
 work is done in a perfunctory manner. The training of 
 the infantry stops with parade instructions, and of the 
 real conditions of modern warfare the men know nothing. 
 The first and essential condition of any army reform in 
 Belgium must be the abolition of the pre-emption 
 privilege, and the conversion of the existing army into a 
 truly national and representative force. The meagre 
 results achieved must be somewhat disappointing to 
 those who know that education for a military career 
 forms a very important part of national education in 
 Belgium as a whole. There are military schools for the 
 sons or grandsons of soldiers at Most and Namur, who in 
 return for their education engage to serve with the 
 colours until they are 24. A curious feature of these 
 institutions is that the teachers are officers detached from 
 their regiments for the purpose of being schoolmasters. 
 Many of these pupils of the State become non-commis- 
 sioned officers, or join the Congo State service in Central 
 Africa^ At Bouillon there is a more advanced school for 
 the training of non-commissioned officers. The average 
 age at which the period of training begins is 16, and 
 by undergoing this preliminary training young men of 
 217 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 respectable parentage escape the drudgery of the con- 
 script private's life, and are drafted as required into 
 regiments as corporals. Reference has been made 
 to the cavalry school at Ypres. There is an artillery 
 school at Brasschaet, not far from Antwerp, as well 
 as a polygon for artillery and big gun practice and 
 experiments. 
 
 A gymnasium and a fencing school have been 
 established at Brussels, and quite recently the regiment 
 of Grenadiers, in which Prince Albert has long been an 
 officer, adopted a course of gymnastics on the model of 
 the Swedish army. The most characteristic feature of 
 military life in Belgium is the officers' mess. This was 
 introduced by the first King, not only because he had 
 seen how well the practice worked in England, but 
 because he wished to maintain the dignity of the uniform 
 by removing the necessity for the young officers dining in 
 cheap and consequently inferior restaurants. The hour for 
 the mess is, however, left to the judgment of the colonel 
 and the convenience of his officers. The Grenadiers 
 dine at their fine officers' quarters or mess on the 
 boulevard at seven in the evening ; but other regi- 
 ments have this regimental meal earlier, generally at 
 5.30. There is no doubt that the mess greatly in- 
 creases the esprit de corps, although married officers 
 object to it. 
 
 The chief, indeed the only, school to pass through, for 
 the grade of officer in the army, is the kole militaire 
 at Ixelles. This institution used to occupy the old Abbey 
 of the Cambre, but a new building has been lately 
 provided for it at the other end of the town, near the 
 Cinquantenaire. Here the course is for two years, and 
 there are two divisions, the first for cavalry and infantry, 
 and the second for artillery and engineers. At the 
 end of two years there is a general examination, and 
 those who pass for the first division are appointed sub- 
 lieutenants in the army and sent to join the regiments 
 selected for them. But the successful candidates in the 
 218 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 second division do not leave the school, but enter on a 
 fresh term of two years, and, on passing a further technical 
 examination, at the end of that period are gazetted as 
 full lieutenants to their branch of the service. The 
 education and training are said to be excellent, and the 
 cost is so reasonable that many persons send their sons 
 to be educated there without any real intention of putting 
 them in the army. 
 
 Close to the military school at Ixelles is the School 
 of War, which is the Belgian equivalent of our Staff 
 College. Its system of instruction has a good reputation 
 on the Continent, and many officers from the smaller 
 States, such as Roumania and Denmark, attend its 
 classes. The course covers three years, and is very 
 severe. Only the successful candidates who pass with 
 honours, and who are under 35 years of age at the time of 
 passing out, get direct staff appointments. The others 
 who succeed in passing the examination without honours, 
 or who are over 35, return to their regiments with the 
 additional designation of ' adjoint d "etat major. ' They 
 are eligible for special appointments, and in the event of 
 there being vacancies in the General Staff, which would 
 probably happen on mobilization, these adjuncts become 
 eligible for the posts. As a rule, there are less than 50 
 officers serving on the staff, and over 200 qualified 
 serving with their regiments. 
 
 In the opinion of competent foreign critics, Belgian 
 officers are very thoroughly trained in the theory of their 
 profession, and their technical knowledge is good. 
 Physically, they give the impression of being rather 
 delicate, and this impression is heightened by their 
 generally wearing an overcoat tightened at the waist by 
 a belt. The neglect under which all military matters in 
 Belgium have languished for over thirty years, until quite 
 recently, has diminished the martial spirit of an army 
 which obtained little or no popular recognition, and 
 which by the international status of the country has had 
 no opportunity of distinguishing itself in real war. And 
 219 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 yet there have been, and still are, some very earnest and 
 competent officers in the higher ranks of the Belgian 
 army, dating only from 1830. The two generals Van 
 der Smissen and Chazal, among those who have gone 
 over to the majority, would have reached high rank in 
 any army on their merits. Among those of a more recent 
 period, General Brialmont stood in his time at the head 
 of the world's military engineers, and General Nicaise, 
 although less widely known, is scarcely less competent 
 in his own sphere as an artillerist. Of younger men, 
 General Wahis, late Colonel of the Grenadiers, has done 
 admirable organizing work since he distinguished him- 
 self by his gallantry in Mexico, and Baron Dhanis and 
 Commandant Chaltin have conducted several successful 
 expeditions in Central Africa under great difficulties. In 
 old days the Belgian races, and especially the Walloons, 
 produced many excellent military chiefs in the service 
 of Spain and Austria, and were the army converted into 
 a truly national force, there can be no doubt that their 
 military spirit would revive. At present there is some- 
 thing unreal about the military resources of Belgium. 
 They have been kept not only suppressed, but con- 
 cealed. Circumstances are changing, and they will have 
 to be displayed in the light of day. After so long a 
 period of inaction and uselessness, it is not surprising 
 that a good deal of renovation and reorganization has 
 to be done. 
 
 Although the army of a neutral State has necessarily 
 few opportunities of distinction, it has the definite 
 obligation of defending the country to which it belongs, 
 no less than any other national force. When the Franco- 
 Prussian war broke out, the Belgian army was mobilized 
 for the defence of the southern frontier. The northern 
 route, unfortunately selected by supreme authority for 
 Marshal MacMahon's army in its advance from Chalons 
 to Metz, brought the combatants into close proximity to 
 Belgian territory. The Belgian army, numbering in this 
 quarter about 50,000 men, under the command of the 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Count of Flanders and General Chazal, was drawn up 
 along the northern bank of the Semois. After the battle 
 of Sedan a considerable number of French fugitives, 
 and some of their Prussian pursuers, crossed into Belgium, 
 and were promptly disarmed. No unpleasantness was 
 occasioned between the Belgians and the Prussians, and 
 the discipline of the Belgian army was highly praised. At 
 that period the armament of the Belgians was quite as 
 good as that of the French. It was probably due to the 
 impression then produced that a proposition was made 
 by France, and supported by England, in December, 
 1876, when the Eastern question was threatening trouble, 
 that Bosnia-Herzegovina should be occupied on a 
 European mandate by 6000 Belgian troops. Apart from 
 the incidents of 1870, the only opportunity Belgian 
 troops have had of distinguishing themselves was in 
 1866, when a Belgian contingent under General Van 
 der Smissen went to Mexico to support the Emperor 
 Maximilian, and earned a good deal of credit in several 
 actions. 
 
 The pay of the Belgian officer is not very high, but 
 he seems able to live upon it. Promotion is slow — on 
 an average it takes twenty years to become a captain — 
 and the prizes of the profession are few, and these are 
 allotted in strict order of seniority. Still, Belgian officers 
 give the impression of being fairly well contented with 
 their profession. It is perhaps for this reason that so 
 few of them volunteer for service in the Congo State, 
 the public force of which is mainly officered from the 
 ranks of the non-commissioned officers at home. An 
 officer's life is not very hard. He has a great deal of 
 spare time ; his uniform obtains for him a certain amount 
 of popular consideration, and his prospects, if limited and 
 slow, are sure. His relations with his men are generally 
 satisfactory, as it is not the practice in Belgium to work 
 the young conscripts too hard. The order of the day 
 is to deal leniently with them, so that" the army may be 
 rendered more popular in the country, and in the hope 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 that those who pass through it may go back to civil 
 life, and report that their stay in the army was not so 
 hard and bad as many political agitators declare. The 
 Belgian discipline is not Prussian. The brutal officer 
 and still more brutal drill-sergeant are unknown in the 
 army of Belgium. 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 COLONIES AND COLONIAL ASPIRATIONS 
 
 The colonial aspirations of the Belgian people, or at least 
 of their rulers, are much older than the founding of the 
 Congo State in 1884. As long ago as 1843 tne nrst 
 King Leopold declared that it was ' necessary to 
 organize regular relations with distant countries ' for 
 the benefit of Belgian trade, and he suggested that f a 
 Company on the model of the Ostend Company of the 
 eighteenth century would render the greatest services to 
 the country.' At that time Belgian aspirations turned 
 chiefly in the direction of Central America, and an 
 expedition, half military and half commercial, was 
 despatched in the year named to found a Belgian 
 colony in Guatemala. No practical result followed from 
 this attempt, the history of which is contained in a 
 number of military reports that have been quite for- 
 gotten. 
 
 The subject of colonial expansion was revived in 
 i860, after the return in 1859 of the present King, then 
 Duke of Brabant, from a tour in the Far East. It is 
 said that he had formed a plan for establishing a Belgian 
 colony in the island of Formosa, and concentrating the 
 efforts of his countrymen on the development of that 
 beautiful island, which the Japanese are now slowly but 
 surely accomplishing. There were other projects besides, 
 but none took any practical form until the present King's 
 attention was turned to Central Africa by the general desire 
 223 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 of all civilized peoples to put an end to the horrors of the 
 slave trade. The Pope took a prominent part in initiat- 
 ing what has been called a modern crusade, and the 
 declamations of the eloquent Cardinal Lavigerie nowhere 
 made a deeper impression than at Brussels. The psycho- 
 logical moment had arrived for giving a definite bent 
 to Belgian aspirations for securing a special outlet of 
 their own in a colonial possession. Time and circum- 
 stances were to give the turn to the enterprise, which, 
 encouraged by religious and philanthropic zeal, was 
 destined to endow the Belgian people with one of the 
 finest and largest colonial possessions in the world. 
 
 It is not necessary to give in great detail the story of 
 the founding of the Congo State, but a summary of the 
 main facts will be found useful. In 1876 King Leopold 
 summoned a Geographical Conference at Brussels, basing 
 his invitation on the ground that there was a generally 
 prevalent desire throughout Christendom 'to abolish 
 slavery in Africa, to pierce the darkness that still envelops 
 that part of the world, and to pour into it the treasures 
 of civilization.' The conference was duly held, and as its 
 result ' The International Association for the Exploration 
 and Civilization of Central Africa' was formed. Four 
 expeditions were successively equipped for the purpose 
 of commencing operations on the scene, and it will give 
 the reader an idea of how completely the situation has 
 altered since that date to state that the base of these 
 expeditions was on the East Coast, in the territory of the 
 Sultan of Zanzibar. The result of these efforts was the 
 founding of the two stations of Karema and Mpala on 
 the lake Tanganyika ; but long before this success was 
 achieved the centre of interest had shifted elsewhere. 
 
 Very soon after the Brussels Conference, Mr. (now 
 Sir) H. M. Stanley reached the mouth of the Congo river, 
 after his wonderful journey across Central Africa. His 
 description of the great inland waterway, stretching across 
 three parts of the Continent and only cut off from the 
 Atlantic by a hundred miles of cataracts, electrified the 
 
 224 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 world. He declared that 'the Power which makes 
 itself mistress of the Congo must absorb, despite the 
 cataracts, all the commerce of the immense basin which 
 expands itself behind that river.' No Power then came 
 forward to claim the prize ; when England signed the 
 treaty with Portugal seven years later it was too late. 
 The King of the Belgians had been much struck by Mr. 
 Stanley's statement. He invited him to Brussels, induced 
 him to enter his service, and founded a new association 
 for exploring the Upper Congo. This enterprise was 
 strictly Belgian and contained the real germ of the Congo 
 State. Finally, Mr. Stanley agreed to lead an expedition 
 for the purpose of establishing stations or blockhouses 
 along the Congo river. Great care had to be taken in 
 sparing the susceptibilities of the Portuguese, who held 
 the mouth of the river. 
 
 The expedition under Mr. Stanley numbered ten 
 Europeans, of whom five were Belgians, and 140 blacks, 
 recruited by himself. The first station was founded at 
 Vivi, the highest point to which boats could get below 
 the cataracts. A road was then constructed from Vivi 
 to Isanghila, at which place navigation again became 
 possible as far as Manyanga, where river navigation 
 ceases until Stanley Pool is reached. Having conveyed 
 his river steamers in sections across the district called 
 after the cataracts, Stanley put them together on the 
 lake just named, and proceeded up the river to establish 
 a line of posts. In the course of five years he completed 
 a chain from Leopoldville to Stanley Falls. Extensive 
 explorations had also been carried on by the despatch of 
 steamers up the great tributaries of the Congo. In this 
 manner much of Central Africa had been brought under 
 the influence of the Belgians, but the measures had been 
 carried on in an unofficial manner, and no one could say 
 exactly what was the status of the Association. Portugal 
 still held the coast, and its pretensions over the hinter- 
 land had never been withdrawn. Yet there could not 
 be a doubt in any one's mind that that Power had lost 
 225 Q 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 for ever the reversion of Central Africa which it had so 
 long cherished. 
 
 The Anglo-Portuguese Convention of February 7, 
 1884, was an attempt to establish Portuguese supremacy, 
 and it had an unfortunate fate. In March of the 
 same year the French Government declared it would not 
 be bound by it, and in April Germany followed suit. In 
 June the two Powers went further, and agreed that the 
 Congo should be placed under international control. 
 Although we were quite in the wrong, and showed gross 
 diplomatic ineptitude, this rebuff was a most unpleasant 
 experience. An Anglo-Portuguese Convention con- 
 cluded on the morrow of Stanley's return in 1876 would 
 have had some justification and chance of success, but in 
 1884 it was useless and impracticable. It was also too 
 late. 
 
 Before France and Germany came to their agreement 
 in June, the status of the Congo Association had im- 
 proved. On April 22, 1884, the United States recognized 
 it as a properly constituted State, and France followed 
 the example the next day. For her complaisance France, 
 however, required and obtained some compensation. 
 The Congo Association entered into the following obliga- 
 tion towards France, viz. that ' it would never cede its 
 possessions to another Power without a prior understand- 
 ing with France, and that if it were compelled to alienate 
 any of its territory France should have the right of pre- 
 emption.' In November, Germany also recognized the 
 new State, and immediately afterwards Prince Bismarck 
 issued invitations for a Conference at Berlin for the 
 purpose of regulating the African question. It is im- 
 portant to remember that the Congo State had been 
 recognized as a State by three Great Powers before 
 the Berlin Conference. The Conference lasted from 
 November, 1884, to February, 1885, and concluded 
 with an Act proclaiming the neutrality of the Congo 
 territory and freedom of trade and navigation therein. 
 Before that x\ct was signed the Congo Association had 
 226 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 been recognized by all the Powers as a State, and thus 
 became the Free or Independent State of the Congo. 
 Separate treaties with the adjacent States defined the 
 limits of its sovereign authority. The most important 
 of these was the one with Portugal, for it secured the out- 
 let to the sea, together with possession of the ports of 
 Banana and Boma, which was indispensable for the 
 development of the State. Another important treaty was 
 signed with France in 1887, by which the right of pre- 
 emption, aleady referred to, was waived as against 
 Belgium. By this arrangement the reversion of the 
 Congo State to Belgium became possible, and when in 
 1890 the King published his will, bequeathing the 
 Central African State to his country after his death, it 
 became clear that one of his chief motives through- 
 out had been to endow Belgium with a colony. 
 
 France's right of pre-emption ,has been mentioned, 
 and as it has been frequently recalled during the recent 
 discussions on the subject of the administration of the 
 Congo State, it is desirable to record some facts which 
 would have to be taken into account if at any time an 
 attempt were made to give it force. This right of pre- 
 emption was given as the price for the recognition by 
 France of the Congo Association as a State. It was of 
 the nature of a private agreement between two parties. 
 It certainly tied the hands of the Congo State, but inter- 
 nationally its validity could not be binding on Govern- 
 ments which were no party to it. Germany would cer- 
 tainly not recognize it, and neither would England once 
 the anti-Congolese mania had abated. Indeed, to let 
 France acquire the best part of Africa must appear too 
 absurd to any one who will give the subject five minutes' 
 consideration. But there is another point. The would- 
 be donors of the Congo State to France overlook the 
 meaning of the word pre-emption. Pre-emption implies 
 purchase; it does not warrant spoliation and robbery. 
 The present value of the Congo State at a moderate 
 computation is forty millions sterling. Are the French 
 227 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 people willing to pay a milliard for it ? If they are, 
 perhaps business might yet be done. 
 
 This possession, which for over eighteen years has 
 been governed as a separate monarchy by King Leopold, 
 covers an area of 900,000 square miles, and contains a 
 population which has been variously estimated, but 
 which cannot be less than 20,000,000. The cost of 
 the creation of the State was defrayed by the King out 
 of his private fortune, and is said to have exceeded a 
 million sterling. It was not until the second Brussels 
 Conference in 1890 that the State obtained the right to 
 levy taxes and impose custom duties. The revenue 
 in that year was less than ^20,000, and the expenditure 
 seven times as great. It was impossible to expect such 
 a state of things to continue. It could only result in a 
 financial catastrophe. The new powers conferred by 
 the Brussels Act raised the annual revenue gradually 
 to about ^"360,000 in 1897, and since that year it has 
 shown a steady annual increase, until the Budget of 1903 
 anticipated a revenue of ^1,100,000, which has been 
 more than realized. It is only within the last three 
 years, however, that an equilibrium has been established 
 between payments and receipts. After some anxiety 
 and a long struggle the Government of this great Central 
 African dominion can now be described as paying its 
 way. 
 
 During the last twelve years the trade of the Congo 
 State has made marked progress, considering that the 
 only railways actually working are the line traversing the 
 cataracts district to Leopoldville and a short railway 
 through the Mayumba district behind Boma. The 
 export trade has risen from half a million sterling in 1895 
 to nearly two millions in 1902, while the imports have 
 shown equal proportional progress, being now computed 
 at nearly one and a half millions. This total will neces- 
 sarily increase with the progress of railway construction in 
 the interior, and it may be mentioned that many schemes 
 have been officially sanctioned, and some are in progress. 
 228 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 Rubber is the chief Congo export. The total value of 
 the African rubber sold on the Antwerp market was 
 about ^800,000 until 1902, when it nearly doubled, 
 reaching in that year a total of 5000 tons, worth, say, 
 ^1,500,000. These figures sufficiently dispose of the 
 absurd story that the present King clears a million a 
 year out of this article, for the rubber is the property 
 of companies, whose shares, largely held by Belgians, 
 are quoted at high premiums. Moreover, the Belgian 
 Foreign Minister has solemnly declared that all receipts 
 from the domaine prive and the Crown domain are passed 
 into the public accounts. 
 
 Belgium has thus acquired the claim to the possession 
 of a vast colony which enjoys present prosperity and pro- 
 mises to become more valuable every year. She is thus 
 the Colonial Power that she first aspired to be in 1843. 
 It has been said that the Belgians would be wiser to 
 attend to the home affairs of their little country and not 
 enter into dangerous competitions beyond the seas. But 
 when the little country by its own energy has raised itself 
 into the position of the fourth trading and manufacturing 
 country of Europe, it has reason to think otherwise. It has 
 just as much right to found colonies, if it can do so, as other 
 nations. What has really passed away is the pretension 
 that because it is a little State it can be allowed privileges 
 that are withheld from great States. By much cleverness 
 and the good fortune without which cleverness may go 
 empty-handed, the Congo State has been founded as, 
 practically speaking, a Belgian Colony. It has many 
 enemies and detractors, and not the least of the operating 
 motives is envy that so large a part should have fallen to 
 Belgium in the scramble for Africa. The Belgians will 
 have some day or other to reckon with this sentiment, 
 and the more carefully they discharge the obligations they 
 contracted under the Acts of Berlin and Brussels the 
 better prepared will they be to meet and repel the attack 
 when it comes in a serious form. 
 
 There are some persons who scoff at the idea of Belgium 
 229 Q 3 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 requiring or possessing colonies. If they were to read M. 
 Alphonse de Haulleville's exhaustive and remarkable 
 work * on the colonizing aptitudes of the Belgians they 
 might change their tone. After tracing the colonial 
 efforts of his race from the dawn of history down to the 
 efforts of the Ostend Company in the eighteenth century 
 to obtain its share of the trade with India, the author 
 makes these two declarations — ' the Belgians, as proved 
 by their past, know how to colonize,' and ' their necessities 
 caused by the plethora of a dense population compel them 
 to colonize unless they are prepared to perish as a nation, 
 or at least behold their existing prosperity depart.' It is 
 not merely the continued remarkable increase in the 
 Belgian population, until it is not far short of seven 
 millions, besides the million or over said to be resident in 
 France ; but the appreciation of the fact that Belgian trade 
 with its neighbours in Europe has been stationary for 
 the last seven or eight years, that has compelled thought- 
 ful Belgians to turn all their attention to extending the 
 national trade by every means beyond the sea. It is 
 thus necessity as much as ambition that has compelled 
 the Belgians to take up seriously the question of colonies 
 and colonial trade. 
 
 There is one serious obstacle in the way of any exten- 
 sive Belgian colonization, and that is the popular aversion 
 to emigration. ' Home's best ' is still the Flemish motto, 
 and there is the greatest difficulty in obtaining volunteers 
 for the Congo, although the Belgians resident in the 
 whole of that vast territory do not reach 1500. How far 
 the pinch of want when it comes may drive the Belgians 
 to seek a new home in those portions of Central Africa 
 which may hereafter be declared suitable for European 
 residents remains to be seen. No such movement to 
 any part of the world has yet revealed itself in Belgium. 
 
 * ' Les Aptitudes Colonisatrices des Beiges et la Question Colo- 
 niale en Belgique,' par A. de Haulleville, 1898. The author is the 
 son of the late well-known publicist in Belgium, Baron Prosper de 
 Haulleville. 
 
 230 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 But if the Belgians object to emigrate they have no 
 objection to exporting their manufactures, and in that 
 sense they appreciate the Congo State as an outlet for 
 their commercial products. If they have any pronounced 
 sentiment in the matter, it is only the disappointment that 
 it has not proved a larger and more profitable outlet. 
 One million and a half's worth of exports to a region that 
 is in their actual possession does not seem a large 
 part of a total export trade of 127 millions. As an out- 
 let for Belgian manufactures the value of the Congo lies 
 more in the future than in the present. But it is different 
 with regard to the exports from Central Africa itself. 
 There a definite source of national wealth has been 
 obtained. Among the advantages to be derived from 
 colonial possessions M. de Haulleville very rightly lays 
 stress on the importance of their producing the raw 
 material which the possessing State knows how to convert 
 into the manufactured article needed by the European 
 market. 
 
 This result has already been produced in the case of 
 caoutchouc, or the rubber plant of the Congo region. In 
 1886 the export of caoutchouc was valued at only ^6000 ; 
 in 1902 it exceeded .£750,000, and in 1903 it reached 
 £"1,500,000. It is impossible to state what is the 
 ultimate sale value of the manufactured articles produced 
 from this supply of raw material. Formerly Brazil was 
 the chief if not the only source of supply, but to-day the 
 price of Congo rubber on the Antwerp market helps to 
 regulate the value of this article on the Continent. It 
 has been declared that the rubber bearing lianas (La?i- 
 dolphia florida) will soon be exhausted, but there does not 
 seem to be any justification for this statement. In the 
 early stages of the exploitation wasteful methods were in 
 practice, but these have long been suppressed, and the 
 greatest care is taken to preserve the lianas. 
 
 The possession of the Congo territory, unduly large 
 as many of its critics pronounce it to be for a small 
 State like Belgium, does not satisfy Belgian aspirations. 
 231 
 
Belgian Life 
 
 In Siam and Persia considerable activity has been shown, 
 and Belgian subjects are placed in good positions -to 
 promote the commercial and political objects of their 
 country. But it is not probable that in these States 
 Belgian activity includes any scheme for founding a 
 colony. Morocco is another country with a stormy 
 present and an uncertain future upon which Belgian 
 attention has been fixed for a good many years. 
 
 It is, however, China that has attracted the largest 
 measure of notice, and that appeals most to the aspira- 
 tions of the colonial school in Belgium. The acquisi- 
 tion of the contract for the trunk line from Peking to 
 Hankow in 1898 was a marked success, although achieved 
 with the joint participation of France, and with the 
 alleged co-operation or connivance of the Russian 
 Government acting under the cloak of the Russo-Chinese 
 Bank. It has naturally whetted the appetite for further 
 successes of the same kind, and a strenuous effort was 
 long made to obtain a share of the so-called Anglo- 
 American concession for the Canton-Hankow line, which 
 is the southern section of the line now in course of con- 
 struction from Peking. The effort has met with success, 
 and quite recently it has been stated that the northern 
 section of this line has passed into Belgian hands. It 
 is also declared that the Belgians possess altogether not 
 less than fifty concessions in China. These contracts 
 mean large orders for Belgian manufacturers of rails, 
 engines, and other railway material, and they probably 
 represent a greater immediate profit than a year's export 
 trade to the Congo. As Belgian interests in China have 
 assumed such importance, and promise to acquire still 
 more, it is not surprising to learn that the Belgian Govern- 
 ment thinks that there should be a Belgian concession in 
 one, or more than one, Chinese trading port. Some time 
 ago Belgian concessions were marked out both at Tientsin 
 and at Hankow, but for some unspecified reason posses- 
 sion has not yet been taken of these sites. A diplomatic 
 difficulty appears to have supervened as to the exact 
 232 
 
in Town and Country 
 
 status of Belgium internationally as ' a neutral State.' 
 The Congo State is just as much pledged to neutrality 
 in Africa as Belgium herself is in Europe, but the exact 
 status of Belgian territorial possessions in China has been 
 deemed obscure. It is now declared that all difficulties 
 with regard to the Belgian concession at Tientsin have 
 been overcome. Leaving this and other cognate matters 
 to be solved by time, it is sufficient to note that the 
 colonizing idea has taken deep root in the minds of 
 intelligent Belgians who think, with M. de Haulleville, 
 that ' colonization is the only safety of the communities 
 upon whom their very prosperity inflicts plethora.' It 
 is quite true that there is another class of Belgians who 
 shrink from the effort required by emigration and who 
 shudder at the very name of the Congo because they 
 believe going there to be synonymous with death. But 
 these timid persons have not prevented the more robust 
 part of the nation from accomplishing what has been 
 accomplished, and no doubt the movement will become a 
 more marked feature than before in the external develop- 
 ment of Belgium. There is no reason why this tendency 
 should excite any adverse criticism or meet with any 
 opposition in England, so long as it remains perfectly 
 clear that the Belgians are carrying out their own legiti- 
 mate business and are not making themselves the tools of 
 other countries whose main object is to injure England. 
 This is a pitfall that the Belgians will have to carefully 
 avoid, and there will be the less excuse for them if they 
 fail to do so, as they are perfectly aware of the suspicions 
 already entertained about their being too subservient to 
 Russia in both China and Persia. These suspicions 
 may be quite baseless, and if so they will soon pass 
 away, but should they be confirmed, Belgian colonial 
 aspirations would unquestionably suffer. 
 
 233 
 
INDEX 
 
 Albert, Prince, 23 
 
 Antwerp, defence of, 19 ; life 
 
 at, chapter vi ; as a fortress, 
 
 66-68 
 Ardennes, the, chapter xvi 
 Army, the, chapter xx 
 Audenarde, ill 
 Aymon and his four sons, 154, 
 
 155 
 
 Bayard, the horse, 154-156 
 
 Beernaert, M., 28 
 
 Belgian officers, 189, 190, chap- 
 ter xx 
 
 Belgium, two races of, 1-12; 
 early history of, 2-4 ; forma- 
 tion of modern kingdom, 13- 
 17 ; created by France and 
 England, 20; neutrality of, 
 21, 22 ; and England, 233 
 
 Berchem, 16 
 
 Berlin Conference, the, 226 
 
 Borinage, the, chapter vii 
 
 Bouillon, 178, 179 
 
 Brialmont General, 162 
 
 Bruges, description of, 104-108 ; 
 ship canal, at, 112 
 
 Brussels, fighting in, 15 ; palace 
 of, 36, 37 ; life in, chapters 
 iv and v ; tramway system 
 of, 56-57 
 
 Campine, the, 78 
 Carnival, the, 149 
 Cassation, Cour de, 1 26 
 Chamber of deputies, the, 25 ; 
 
 payment of its members, 27 
 Charlemagne, 155 
 Chasse, General, 19 
 
 China, Belgian interests in, 232 
 Ciergnon, 38 
 Clubs and club life, 165 
 Cockerill, 83 
 
 Colonies, Belgium, chapter xxi 
 Congo State, the, 224 et seq. 
 Conscience, Henri, 7 
 Constitution, the, 25 et seq. 
 Country life in Belgium, chap- 
 ter ix 
 Courtrai, 108, 109 
 Culembourg, site of, 40 
 
 D'Arenberg, Duke, 39 
 Dogs, question of their employ- 
 ment, 194-196 
 Dutch, rising against, 14 ; re- 
 cognition of Belgian indepen- 
 dence, 20 
 
 Education, chapter xi 
 
 Flanders, Count of, 23 
 Flemings, the, l-3> 5 i condi- 
 tion of life among, 96-98 
 France acts with England, 19 
 France and the Congo State, 
 her right of pre-emption, 227, 
 228 
 Franchimont, 141, 142 
 
 Games, popular, 157, 158 
 Garde Civique, the, 34, 214 
 Gendarmerie, the, 215 
 Ghent, life at, 80-83 
 Goossens, Archbishop, r/22 
 
 Hasselt, fight at, 17 ; fetes of, 
 
 235 
 
Index 
 
 Hautes Fagnes, the, 139 
 Hymans, M. P., 34 
 
 Ixelles, military school at, 
 213 
 
 Justice, instances of its admin- 
 istration, 130, 131 
 
 Kermesse, the, 150 
 
 Laeken, 38 
 
 Lambermont, Baron, 96, 190, 
 
 191 
 Language, the question of, 4, 
 
 5, 8-10 
 La Roche, 176, 177 
 Law, chapter xii 
 Ledeganck, 7 
 
 Legends, 142, 143, chapter xiv j 
 Lemonnier, C, 160 
 Leopold L, 17, 18, 22, 36, 205 
 Leopold II., 22, 36, 144, 167, 
 
 211, 223-229 
 Lesse, the, 173, 174 
 Liege, 84-86 ; fortifications of, 
 
 I45-M7 
 Ligne, Princes de, 39 
 London Protocol, the, 18 
 Louis Philippe, 17, 19 
 
 Maeterlinck, M., 160 
 Martyrs, the Belgian, 16 
 Merode, Count F. de., 16 
 Mining strikes, 7 1 
 Monnaie theatre, the, 14, 52 
 Mons, 151 
 
 Nemours, Due de, 17 
 Nothomb, M., 20 
 
 Orange, Prince of, 15 
 
 Palais de Justice at Brussels, 
 
 167 
 Pensions, old age, 91 
 Plural vote, the, 28 
 Police, the, 129, 135, 136 
 Poperinghe, ill 
 Postman, the Brussels, 183-185 
 Press, the Belgian, 162, 163 
 Proportional representation, 30 
 
 Railway travelling, 186, 187 
 Ravenstein, Hotel, 165 
 Religion, chapter xi 
 Religious orders, 123 
 Rochefort, 153, 176, 181 
 
 St. Hubert, 154 
 
 Seaports and seamen, chapter xix 
 
 Semois, the, 177-179 
 
 Senate, the, 25 
 
 Seraing, 83 
 
 Socialist party, the, 31, 32 
 
 Society, Belgian, 36 et seq. 
 
 Stanley, Sir H. M., 224 
 
 Tervueren, 55 
 Types, national, chapters xvii 
 and xviii 
 
 Vanderyelde, M., 32, 33 
 Van Eetvelde, Baron, 191 
 Verhaeren, E., 160 
 
 Waes country, the, 94 
 
 Walloons, the, 1-3, 5 ; con- 
 ditions of life among, 98, 99, 
 chapter xiii 
 
 Waterloo Lion, the, 20 
 
 Wellington, Duke of, his Bel- 
 gian estate, 95, 96 
 
 Willems, J. F., 7 
 
 Woeste, M., 41 
 
 YrRES, no 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.