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Kings of Spain: Senate

GOVERNMENT. - The Constitution of 1831 declared Belgium to be a constitutinal, representative and hereditary monarchy, the legislative power being vested in the King, the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate. Power emanates from the people, and can be exercised only according to law. This places all upon strict equality. There is personal liberty guaranteed to all, and freedom of opinion and religious worship is established. All religious sects are endowed by the State, and annual grants are made for educational and charitable purposes. The home is secure, justice is open to all, the press is free, the trial by jury is established, and letters are inviolable. The succession to the Crown is in the direct male line in the order of primogeniture. No act of the King can have effect unless signed by one of his Ministers. The King has no power to suspend or dispense with the execution of the laws. He may declare war and conclude treaties of peace, commerce, etc., but he must communicate his acts to the Chamber for its sanction. He may coin money according to law and confer nobility, but he has no power to attach any privilege to the latter act. In case of his death, and until the administration of the oath to his successor or the appointment of a Regent, the government is conducted in the name of the people by the Ministers.

The law-making power is vested in the Legislature-a Chamber of Representatives and a Senate, the Ministers being chosen by the people. Citizens paying a nominal amount of direct taxes are entitled to the elective franchise. The representation of deputies or members of the House of Reprentatives is I in 40,000 inhabitants. Citizenship is the sole qualification, and the term is for 4 years, except in case of dissolution. The Senate has half the number of the House, and the term is 8 years. Every senator must pay at least $400 annual taxes, and be 40 years of age. They receive no salary, while the representatives receive about $80 per month during the session.

The law is administered by local and provincial tribunals, with courts of appeal at Brussels, Ghent and Liège. For civil purposes the provinces are divided into arrondissements, justice-of-peace cantons, and communes, each province having a governor named by the King and a provincial Council. These councils are of the highest importance to the country, as they watch over the interest of their several provinces, prepare budgets, direct taxation, and superintend public works. RELIGION AND EDUCATION. - As has been stated, full liberty is guaranteed to all in the exercise of public or private rites of worship. Almost the entire population is Roman Catholic, there being only about 15.000 Protestants and Jews. There are 6 Catholic dioceses, I an archbishopric, that of Malines At the last census Belgium contained 1322 convents, with 18,000 inmates, over 15,000 of these being woman.

Numerous public schools and literary and scientific institutions have been established, while there are also several normal schools for the education and training of teachers. In the public schools gratuitous instruction is provided for those who are too poor to pay for it. There is no compulsory law of education. About 1-5th of the grown-up population are unable to read or write. Luxemburg is the least, and E. and W. Flanders are the most, illiterate provinces. The State devotes about $2,000,000 to school purposes. There is a military academy at Brussels, and schools of navigation at Ostend and Antwerp for the education of masters of merchant vessels.

HISTORY.-What is now the kingdom of Belgium was once a portion of that section of the political division of Europe known under the general term of the Netherlands, and was ruled successively by the Dukes of Burgundy, the House of Austria, and the Crown of Spain. In 1598 Philip of Spain, after devastating the country in every direction in his efforts to establish the Inquisition and suppress the rapidly growing Protestant sentiment, and after the Netherlands, or N. portion, had established their independence and become the republic of the Seven United Provinces, ceded the S. part, or Belgium, to his daughter Isabella, under whom, and her husband, the Archduke Albert, it formed a distinct and independent kingdom. In 1621 the country again fell under Spanish rule, and for many years shared the declining fortunes of Spain, becoming the first point of attack in the wars between France and Holland, and securing peace at the expense of some part of its territory. Succeeding years and continuous warfare and varying fortune saw provinces wrested from its grasp, and restored again, until at last by the peace of Utrecht in 1713, it was assigned to Austria under the name of the Austrian Netherlands. In 1789 Brussels revolted against Austrian rule, and other portions of the country followed this example, until, in 1790, the entire provinces formed themselves into an independent state under the name of United Belgium, and established a congress to manage its affairs. Austria anxious to gain control of the country once more, made overtures which were rejected, and finally sent an army to subdue the stubborn people who preferred independence to foreign subjection. In this campaign Austria was victorious; but her rule was short, for the ambitious Napoleon soon wrested Belgium from the Austrian crown, and the country was placed under French rule. After Napoleon's fall, and in 1814, after a temporary rule by an Austrian governor-general, Belgium was united with Holland under Prince William Frederick of Nassau, who took the title of King of the Netherlands, in 1815. The union, brought about by the allied powers, with little regard for the inclinations or likings of the people, was not a happy one. The connection and intercourse with France had given the people much of the characteristics of that country; the slow, conservative habits of the Dutch were repugnant to them. The Hollanders looked upon Belgium as a conquered country, at whose expense they might enrich themselves. Representation in the States-General, or governing body, was equal, while the population of Belgium was one-third greater than that of Holland. Dutchmen filled all the offices, and the government was conducted principally in the interests of Holland. The Paris revolution of 1830 fed the flame that had long smouldered in the Belgian heart, and the first popular outbreak speedily followed that at the French capital. Mobs destroyed public buildings, private houses, etc., and the troops, too few to suppress the insurrection, renounced all attempts to do so, piling their arms in front of the king's palace. What was done at Brussels was followed up in other cities of the provinces, most of the larger cities witnessing similar scenes of plunder and outrage at the hands of mobs. These acts were followed by negotiations for a settlement of difficulties and a separation of the states, but the government being tardy in conceding the demands of the populace of Belgium, open hostilities ensued, which finally led to an arbitrament of the troubles by a convention in London, composed of the 5 great powers of Europe. It was finally decided to proclaim the dissolution of the kingdom of the Netherlands.

In January 1831 a national congress elected a king who was not acceptable, and finally, Prince Leopold, of Saxe-Coburg, was elected, and in June of that year entered Brussels, where he was received with great manifestations of loyalty and respect, and ascended the throne in July.

The Dutch made one more armed demonstration on the country, but were induced to desist by foreign intervention. It was not until after the treaty of London was signed, in 1839, which established peace between Leopold I. and the King of the Netherlands, that all the states of Europe recognized the kingdom of Belgium.

It is worthy of note in passing, that Leopold I., on May 1, 1834, sanctioned the law which was to create the first railroad on the continent of Europe, thus making this little kingdom the pioneer in this great commercial enterprise. As the success of the Belgian revolution was owing to the union of the Catholic and the Liberals, so also was much of the subsequent turmoil of the country attributable to these two powers, each striving for supremacy in the councils of the nation. Leopold I. died in December 1865, beloved by his people and greatly respected by the other monarchs in Europe. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Leopold II. When the war between France and Germany broke out, Belgium saw the danger of her position, and, while observing bona fide neutrality, feared that the aggrandizing schemes of France especially might lead to invasion, but England insisted upon the treaty of 1839 being observed, and it induced the two belligerent powers to sign treaties to that effect. In 1875 Belgium was the scene of serious religious disturbances, processions being attacked by mobs, and many persons injured.