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-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73911 ***
-
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s note
-
-Variable spelling and hyphenation have been retained. Minor punctuation
-inconsistencies have been silently repaired. A list of the changes made
-can be found at the end of the book. Formatting and special characters
-are indicated as follows:
-
-  _italic_
-  =bold=
-
-
-
-
-                               BELGIUM.
-
-                                VOL. I.
-
-
-
-
-                          BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
-
-        IN THE PRESS, IN 2 VOLS. POST 8vo. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
-
-                  THE STATES OF THE PRUSSIAN LEAGUE.
-                                  BY
-                     J. EMERSON TENNENT, ESQ. M.P.
-       AUTHOR OF “BELGIUM,” “THE HISTORY OF MODERN GREECE,” &C.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: WATERMAN’S HALL, GRASS QUAY, GHENT. Richard Bentley, New
-Burlington Street.]
-
-
-
-
-                               BELGIUM.
-
-                                  BY
-
-                    J. EMERSON TENNENT, ESQ., M.P.
-
-          AUTHOR OF “LETTERS FROM THE ÆGEAN,” AND “HISTORY OF
-                            MODERN GREECE.”
-
-              “L’UNION FAIT LA FORCE,”--MOTTO OF BELGIUM.
-
-                            IN TWO VOLUMES.
-
-                                VOL. I.
-
-                                LONDON:
-                RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
-                 =Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.=
-                                 1841.
-
-
-
-
-                                LONDON:
-             PRINTED BY SCHULZE & CO., 13, POLAND STREET.
-
-
-
-
-                        TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
-                          LORD STANLEY, M.P.
-                                &c. &c.
-
-
-  MY DEAR LORD,
-
-MY desire to inscribe this page with your name, is associated with
-the recollection of the period when you filled one of the highest
-administrative offices in Ireland; and when your firm and vigorous
-discharge of it, effectually stifled the designs of those, whose
-measures, if tolerated, would have drawn down upon that country,
-consequences similar to those which similar proceedings have,
-unhappily, entailed upon Belgium. The value and effect of that nervous
-policy, by which you “boldly muzzled treason” then, is attested by
-the contrast, which the social condition of Ireland exhibits now,
-under the nominal government of those who have submitted to abandon
-it; and whose sacrifices to purchase the loyalty, and secure the
-permanent attachment of the Irish Repealers, have been rewarded by an
-intimation of a prospective fraternization with the “hereditary enemies
-of England,” so soon as their “compact alliance,” with the English
-administration shall have expired.
-
-“History is philosophy teaching by example;” and it is not to be
-supposed that there are not, even amongst the zealots for the Repeal of
-the Union in Ireland, some few who will be attentive to its lessons: it
-is chiefly in this anxious hope, that I have transcribed the present
-volumes. The more so too, because Belgium is the one bright example,
-which those who have addressed themselves to unsettle the allegiance
-of the Irish people, have always ostentatiously paraded for their
-imitation and encouragement. From this selection they cannot now
-retreat; and I confidently believe, that the exposition contained in
-the following pages of the condition of that country, after ten years
-of separation and independence, will exhibit Belgium to Ireland, if as
-an example at all, only as--
-
-  Exemplar vitiis imitabile.
-
-Neither the social nor the material prosperity of Belgium, affords
-anything encouraging to the hopes of those who can profit by the
-experience of others; and as, in Ireland, the materials in which
-the vital experiment must be made are similar, the results to be
-anticipated must be the same. With Popery, merely as a complexion of
-Christianity--as a distinctly marked form of religion--a legislator
-has no further concern, than as regards the question of enlightened
-toleration. But _political Popery_, that character in which the
-followers of the Church of Rome, are exhibiting themselves in Belgium
-and in Ireland--“resting their lever on one world,” as Dryden says,
-“to move another at their will”--enters essentially, and of necessity,
-into the investigation and study of the statesman. And, in no instance,
-in modern times, has it so unreservedly exhibited itself, as in
-the conception, the achievement, and the results, of the Belgian
-revolution. It remains to be seen, whether the Liberal party in
-Ireland, whose co-operation encourages and sustains the advocates of
-the Repeal of the Union, will relish the prospect of such an absolute
-religious ascendancy of the majority in that country, as that which
-has succeeded to the most absolute freedom of worship, and the most
-unlimited liberty of conscience in the Low Countries.
-
-On the score of substantial and material prosperity, a similar question
-must arise. The application of machinery to every branch of production,
-has effected a revolution in the economy of European manufactures,
-which is only paralleled by the effects, upon learning, of the
-discovery of printing. The poorest, and, occasionally, the smallest
-communities, have been, at various times, the most successful producers
-of certain commodities, which were the offspring of hand labour, and
-the fruits of individual dexterity; and the price of which, therefore,
-was not sensibly affected by the greater or less amount of their
-consumption. But when human ingenuity became infused into iron--when
-the industry and adroitness of a million of hands had been concentrated
-in the single arm of the Briareus of steam--the movements of the mighty
-prodigy became necessarily expanded in proportion to its power, and
-required a correspondingly enlarged field for their display. To produce
-successfully by machinery, it is indispensible to produce extensively;
-but Belgium, apparently unconscious of this important truth, proceeded
-to contract, instead of enlarging, her limits; and her powers of
-production, thus cribbed and restrained, without the opportunity of
-exercise, have pined and wasted away and are now on the brink of decay.
-
-The two banks, east and west of the Rhine, present at this moment a
-singular and striking illustration of the opposite effects of the
-cultivation or neglect of this principle in modern manufacture.
-_To the right_, we have the numerous little industrious states and
-principalities of Western Germany, each ambitious of acquiring
-manufacturing power, and each possessing it to a certain extent;
-but each unable, till lately, to succeed or prosper, owing to the
-narrowness of its individual bounds; till, at last, awakened to a
-consciousness of their real and actual wants, they, by one simultaneous
-movement, levelled every intervening barrier, and threw their united
-territories into the one grand area of the Prussian Commercial League;
-the success of which has hitherto realized their utmost expectations.
-
-_On the left_ of the Rhine we had, ten years ago, Belgium and Holland
-enjoying that _union_ which Germany has but lately attained, and
-reaping all the advantages which it was possible to derive from
-it--till, in the “madness of the hour,” the latter undid the very bonds
-of her prosperity, reversed the process by which Germany is rising to
-prosperity, and, resorting to repeal and separation, she has lost, as
-a matter of course, every advantage which she had drawn from union and
-co-operation. A similar proceeding cannot fail to inflict similar
-calamities upon Ireland; and the same destruction of her manufactures
-which has followed the exclusion of Belgium from the markets and the
-colonies of Holland, would inevitably overtake the manufacturers of
-Ireland, if placed upon the footing of a stranger and a rival in the
-ports and colonies of Great Britain.
-
-It is with an ardent hope that the question of the Repeal of the Union
-in Ireland may be tested by arguments such as these, by those who will
-pause to weigh it at all, that I have ventured to bring before its
-advocates the real condition of that country which their own leader
-has selected for their example and their model. And conscious of the
-deep interest which your Lordship has ever taken in the condition
-of Ireland, and your intimate acquaintance with her wants and her
-resources, I am anxious to recommend my exertions to notice by the
-prestige of your name.
-
-At the same time, as I have never submitted to you in conversation
-or otherwise the contents of these volumes, it is possible that you
-may dissent from opinions which I have ventured to express. But my
-object has been merely to collect facts as to the influence of the
-recent revolution, and I neither discuss the policy of the settlement
-of Holland as concluded at the Congress of Vienna, nor question the
-prudence of those governments in Europe, which, after the events of
-1830, found it necessary to put an end to hostilities by concurring in
-the independence of Belgium.
-
-  I remain,
-  My dear Lord,
-  Most truly yours,
-  J. EMERSON TENNENT.
-
-  17, Lower Belgrave Street, Belgrave Square,
-  London, February, 22, 1841.
-
-
-
-
-ANNONCE.
-
-
-THE details regarding the commerce and manufactures of Belgium, which
-will be found in the following pages, are the result of personal
-enquiry, corrected by the annual statistical returns, published by the
-Belgian Government, and confirmed by the labours of M. Briavionne in
-a recent work, to which I have frequently referred--“_De L’Industrie
-en Belgique_.” It may, also, give them some additional weight, to add,
-that the opinions expressed, arose out of visits made to the principal
-manufacturing districts, accompanied by two gentlemen of extensive
-practical acquaintance with the manufacturers of Great Britain; Mr.
-Thomson of Primrose, near Clitheroe, and Mr. J. Mulholland, of
-Belfast, a member of a family, the extent of whose machinery and
-productions in the staple commodity of Ireland--the linen trade--is,
-I believe, the greatest in the kingdom. And though these volumes, or
-their contents, have not actually been submitted to their inspection, I
-believe that I have their perfect concurrence in the sentiments which
-they embody, upon the subject of the trade and manufactures of Belgium.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-OF THE
-
-FIRST VOLUME.
-
-
-  CHAPTER I.
-
-    OSTEND, the Harbour--Canal Docks--Police--Economy of a private
-    carriage for a party on the continent--General aspect of
-    Ostend--Effluvia--Siege in 1604--Fortifications--Promenade--Sands
-    and sea-bathing--Commerce--BRUGES, the railroad--Belgium
-    naturally suited to railroads--Old canal travelling to Bruges
-    superseded--Appearance of the city--Its style of ancient
-    houses--The streets--Canals and gardens--Squares--Style of public
-    edifices--Resembles Pisa--_Ancient history of Bruges_--Its
-    old palaces--Marriages of Charles the Rash and Mary of
-    Burgundy--Singular marriage custom of the middle ages--House in
-    which the Emperor Maximilian was confined--Residences of Edward
-    IV. of England, and of Charles II.--_Commercial greatness of
-    Bruges_--The Hanseatic League--Her tapestries--The order of the
-    Golden Fleece instituted in her honour--Saying of the Queen of
-    Philip the Fair--Story of the Burghers at the court of John of
-    France--_Her present decay_--Air of reduced nobility--Costume of
-    the middle classes--Grave demeanour of the citizens--No traces of
-    the Spaniards to be found in the Low Countries--_Flemish sculptures
-    in wood_--Pictures--No modern paintings in Bruges--_Collection in
-    the Church of St. Sauveur_--Characteristics of the early Flemish
-    school--The paintings in _the Museum_--Statue of Van Eyck--His
-    claim to be the inventor of oil painting--_Collection in the Chapel
-    of the Hospital of St. John_--Story of Hans Memling--The cabinet
-    of St. Ursula--The folding-doors of the Flemish paintings--The
-    Hospital of St. John--Statue by Michael Angelo--TOMBS OF
-    MARY OF BURGUNDY AND CHARLES THE RASH--The tower of Les
-    Halles--Carillon--Splendid view--The _Palais de Justice_--Superb
-    carved mantel-piece--_Hotel de Ville_--Its statues destroyed by the
-    French revolutionists--Diamond setters--Comparison of Bruges and
-    Tyre--Mr. Murray’s hand-books--The manufacture of lace in Belgium. 1
-
-  CHAPTER II.
-
-    Bruges a cheap residence--Tables-d’Hôte, their influence
-    upon society--Canal from Bruges to Ghent--Absence of country
-    mansions--Gardens--Appearance of GHENT--M. Grenier and M. de Smet
-    de Naeyer--The _Conseil de Prud’hommes_, its functions--Copyright
-    of designs in Belgium--THE LINEN TRADE OF BELGIUM--Its
-    importance--Great value of Belgian flax--Its cultivation--Revenue
-    derived from it--Inferiority of British flax--Anxiety of the
-    government for the trade in linen--Hand-spinners--Spinning by
-    machinery--_Société de la Lys_--Flower gardens--The Casino--Export
-    of flowers--General aspect of the city--_Its early history_--Vast
-    wealth expended in buildings in the Belgium cities accounted
-    for--Trading corporations--Turbulence of the people of Bruges
-    and Ghent--_Jacques van Artevelde_--His death--Philip van
-    Artevelde--Charles V.--His _bon mots_ regarding Ghent--Latin
-    distich, characteristic of the Flemish cities--Siege of Ghent,
-    Madame Mondragon--House of the Arteveldes--Hôtel de Ville--The
-    belfry and Roland--The _Marché de Vendredi_--The great cannon of
-    Ghent.                                                            44
-
-  CHAPTER III.
-
-    Manufacture of machinery in Ghent--Great works of the
-    Phœnix--Exertions of the King of Holland to promote this branch
-    of art--His success--Policy of England in permitting the export
-    of tools--Effect of their prohibiting the export of machines
-    upon the continental artists--Present state of the manufactures
-    in Belgium--_The Phœnix_, its extent, arrangements and
-    productions--_The canal of Sas de Gand_--_The Beguinage_--Tristam
-    Shandy--The churches of Ghent--Religious animosity of the
-    Roman Catholics--_The cathedral of St. Bavon_--Chef-d’œuvre
-    of Van Eyck--Candelabra of Charles I--Carved pulpit--_Church
-    of St. Michael_--Vandyck’s crucifixion--The brotherhood of
-    St. Ivoy--Church of St. Sauveur--Singular picture in the
-    church of St. Peter--Dinner at M. Grenier’s--Shooting with the
-    bow--Roads in Belgium--Domestic habits of the Flemings--The
-    Flemish language--_Count d’Hane_--Mansion of the Countess d’Hane
-    de Steenhausen--Gallery of M. Schamps--_The University_ of
-    Ghent--State of primary education in Belgium.                     93
-
-  CHAPTER IV.
-
-    The market-day at Ghent--The peasants--The linen-market--The
-    Book-stalls--_Courtrai_--The Lys--_Denys_--Distillation in
-    Belgium--AGRICULTURE IN FLANDERS--A Flemish farm--Anecdote of
-    Chaptal and Napoleon--Trade in manure--_The Smoor-Hoop_--Rotation
-    of crops--CULTIVATION OF FLAX--Real importance of the crop in
-    Belgium--Disadvantageous position of Great Britain as regards
-    the growth of flax--State of her importations from abroad and
-    her dependency upon Belgium--In the power of Great Britain
-    to relieve herself effectually--System in Flanders--_The
-    seed_--Singular fact as to the Dutch seed--Rotation of
-    crops--Spade labour--Extraordinary care and precaution in
-    _weeding_--_Pulling_--THE ROUISSAGE--In Hainault--In the Pays de
-    Waes--At Courtrai--The process in Holland--The process in the
-    Lys--_A Bleach-green_--The damask manufacture in Belgium--A
-    manufactory in a windmill--Introduction of the use of _sabots_ into
-    Ireland--_Courtrai_, the town--Antiquities--The Church of Notre
-    Dame--Relic of Thomas à Becket--THE MAISON DE FORCE AT GHENT--The
-    System of prison discipline--Labour of the inmates--Their
-    earnings--Remarkable story of Pierre Joseph Soëte--Melancholy case
-    of an English prisoner--_A sugar refinery_--State of the trade in
-    Belgium--Curious frauds committed under the recent law--_Beet-root
-    sugar_--Failure of the manufacture--A tumult at Ghent--_The New
-    Theatre_--Cultivation of music at Ghent--Print works of M. Desmet
-    de Naeyer--Effects of the Revolution of 1830 upon the manufactures
-    of Belgium--Opposition of Ghent and Antwerp to a separation from
-    Holland--M. Briavionne’s exposé of the ruin of the trade in calico
-    printing--Smuggling across the frontiers--Present discontents
-    at Ghent--Number of insolvents in 1839--General decline of her
-    manufactures.                                                    128
-
-  CHAPTER V.
-
-    The railroad--Confusion at Malines--Country between Ghent
-    and Dendermonde--_Vilvorde_--_The Palace of Laeken_--First
-    view of Brussels--The Grand Place in the old town--The Hôtel
-    de Ville and Maison Communale--The new town--The churches of
-    Brussels--_The carved oak pulpits of the Netherlands_--ST. GUDULE
-    monuments--Statue of Count F. Merode--Geefs, the sculptor--Notre
-    Dame de la Chapelle--_The museum_--Palais de l’Industrie--The
-    gallery of paintings--THE LIBRARY--Its history--_Remarkable
-    MSS._--Curiosities in the museum of antiquities--Private
-    collections--Rue Montagne de la Cour--The theatre--Historical
-    associations with the Hôtel de Ville--Counts Egmont and Horn--The
-    civil commotions of Philip II--_The fountains of Brussels_--The
-    Cracheur--_The Mannekin_, his memoirs--Fountain of Lord
-    Aylesbury--Dubos’ restaurant--The hotels of Brussels--Secret to
-    find the cheapest hotels in travelling.                          186
-
-  CHAPTER VI.
-
-    The Belgian revolution has produced no man of leading genius--The
-    present ministry--M. Rogier--M. Liedtz, the Minister of the
-    Interior--An interview at the Home Office--Project of steam
-    navigation between Belgium and the United States--Freedom
-    of political discussion in Belgium--_Character of King
-    Leopold_--Public feeling in Brussels--The original union of Holland
-    and Belgium apparently desirable--Commercial obstacles--Obstinacy
-    of the King of Holland--Anecdote of the King of Prussia--The
-    extraordinary care of the King for manufactures--_Prosperous_
-    condition of Belgium under Holland--_Les Griefs Belges_--Singular
-    coincidence between the proceedings of THE REPEALERS IN
-    IRELAND AND THE REPEALERS IN BELGIUM--Ambition for separate
-    nationality--Imposition of the Dutch language unwise--Abolition of
-    trial by jury--Now disliked by the Belgians themselves--Financial
-    grievances--Inequality of representation--CONDUCT OF THE ROMAN
-    CATHOLICS--Hatred of toleration--Attachment of the clergy to
-    Austria--_Remarkable manifesto of the clergy to the Congress of
-    Vienna_--Resistance to liberty of conscience, and freedom of
-    the press--Demand for tithes--Resistance of the priests to the
-    toleration of Protestants--The official oath--_Protest of the
-    Roman Catholic Bishops against freedom of opinion and education
-    by the State_--Perfect impartiality of the Sovereign--Resistance
-    of the priesthood--_The Revolution_--Union of the Liberals and
-    Roman Catholics--Intolerant ambition of the clergy--Separation
-    of the _Clerico-liberal party_--Present state of parties in the
-    legislature--Unconstitutional ascendancy of the priests--_State of
-    public feeling_--Universal disaffection--Curious list of candidates
-    for the crown of Belgium in 1831--“_La Belgique de Leopold_,”
-    its treasonable publications--Future prospects uncertain--Vain
-    attempts to remedy the evils of the revolution--_Connexion with the
-    Prussian League refused_--Impossibility of an union with Austria
-    or Prussia--Union with France impracticable--Partition of Belgium
-    with the surrounding states--_Possible restoration of the House of
-    Nassau in the event of any fresh disturbance._                   217
-
-
-
-
-INDEX TO SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE TRADE AND MANUFACTURES OF BELGIUM.
-
-Fisheries, i. 9.
-
-Lace, manufacture of, i. 41.
-
-Conseils de Prud’hommes, i. 51.
-
-The Linen Trade, i. 55, 68, 129.
-
-Cultivation of Flax, i. 56, 137.
-
-Linen Yarn Mills, i. 63; ii, 193.
-
-Export of Flowers, i. 72.
-
-Manufacture of Machinery, i. 93, 99; ii. 25, 174.
-
-Exportation of Machinery from England, i. 94; ii. 185.
-
-Distillation, i. 131.
-
-Flemish Agriculture, i. 133.
-
-Bleaching, i. 150.
-
-Crushing of Oil, i. 151; ii. 106.
-
-Manufacture of Wooden Shoes, i. 152.
-
-Refining of Sugar, i. 161.
-
-Beet-root Sugar, i. 167.
-
-Calico-printing, i. 170.
-
-Carpet-weaving, ii. 28.
-
-Carriage-building, ii. 29.
-
-Books, ii. 29.
-
-Transit Trade of Belgium, ii. 45.
-
-Shipping, ii. 40.
-
-Silk Trade, ii. 45.
-
-Cotton Trade, ii. 91.
-
-Gilt Leather chairs, ii. 109.
-
-Railroads, ii. 119.
-
-Brewing, ii. 131.
-
-Cutlery, ii. 157.
-
-Paper, Manufacture of, ii. 163.
-
-Coal Mines, ii. 168.
-
-Fire-arms and Cannon, ii. 191.
-
-Woollen Trade, ii. 199.
-
-Joint Stock Companies, ii. 204.
-
-General State and Prospects of Belgian Manufacturers, i. 81; ii. 210.
-
-
-
-
-BELGIUM.
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-OSTEND AND BRUGES.
-
-
-    OSTEND, the Harbour--Canal Docks--Police--Economy of a private
-      carriage for a party on the continent--General aspect of
-      Ostend--Effluvia--Siege in 1604--Fortifications--Promenade--Sands
-      and sea-bathing--Commerce--BRUGES, the railroad--Belgium
-      naturally suited to railroads--Old canal travelling to Bruges
-      superseded--Appearance of the city--Its style of ancient
-      houses--The streets--Canals and gardens--Squares--Style of public
-      edifices--Resembles Pisa--_Ancient history of Bruges_--Its
-      old palaces--Marriages of Charles the Rash and Mary of
-      Burgundy--Singular marriage custom of the middle ages--House
-      in which the Emperor Maximilian was confined--Residences of
-      Edward IV. of England, and of Charles II.--_Commercial greatness
-      of Bruges_--The Hanseatic League--Her tapestries--The order
-      of the Golden Fleece instituted in her honour--Saying of
-      the Queen of Philip the Fair--Story of the Burghers at the
-      court of John of France--_Her present decay_--Air of reduced
-      nobility--Costume of the middle classes--Grave demeanour of
-      the citizens--No traces of the Spaniards to be found in the
-      Low Countries--_Flemish sculptures in wood_--Pictures--No
-      modern paintings in Bruges--_Collection in the Church of St.
-      Sauveur_--Characteristics of the early Flemish school--The
-      paintings in _the Museum_--Statue of Van Eyck--His claim to
-      be the inventor of oil painting--_Collection in the Chapel of
-      the Hospital of St. John_--Story of Hans Memling--The cabinet
-      of St. Ursula--The folding-doors of the Flemish paintings--The
-      Hospital of St. John--Statue by Michael Angelo--TOMBS OF
-      MARY OF BURGUNDY AND CHARLES THE RASH--The tower of Les
-      Halles--Carillon--Splendid view--The _Palais de Justice_--Superb
-      carved mantel-piece--_Hotel de Ville_--Its statues destroyed by
-      the French revolutionists--Diamond setters--Comparison of Bruges
-      and Tyre--Mr. Murray’s hand-books--The manufacture of lace in
-      Belgium.
-
-  September, 1840.
-AT sunset when about ten to fifteen miles from land, we had the first
-sight of the coast of the “Low Countries,” not as on other shores
-discernible by hills or cliffs, but by the steeples of Nieuport,
-Ostend, and Blankenburg rising out of the water; presently a row of
-wind-mills, and the tops of a few trees and houses, and finally a long
-line of level sand stretching away towards Walcheren and the delta of
-the Scheldt. Within fourteen hours from heaving up our anchor at the
-Tower, we cast it in the harbour of Ostend, a narrow estuary formed
-where the waters of a little river have forced their way through the
-sand-banks to the sea. An excellent quay has been constructed by
-flanking the sides of this passage with extensive piers of timber,
-whilst the stream being confined by dams and sluices above, is allowed
-to rush down at low water, carrying before it to the sea, any silt
-which may have been deposited by the previous tide.
-
-At the inner extremity of the harbour, spacious basins have been
-constructed for the accommodation of the craft which ply upon the Canal
-de Bruges, which connects that town with Ghent and Ostend, but its
-traffic is now much diminished by the opening of the railroad, as well
-as from other causes.
-
-Neither the police nor the custom-house officials, gave any
-inconvenience with our passports or our baggage, beyond a few minutes
-of unavoidable delay, and within half an hour from the packet touching
-the pier, we found ourselves arranged for the night at the Hotel de la
-Cour Impériale in the Rue de la Chapelle.
-
-I may here mention as a piece of recommendatory information to future
-travellers, that the journey, of which these volumes are a memento,
-was performed in an open English carriage, the back seat of which was
-sufficiently roomy to accommodate three persons, leaving the front for
-our books, maps and travelling comforts, and the box for our courier
-and a postillion; and that except upon mountain roads, we made the
-entire tour of Belgium, Rhenish Prussia, and Germany, from Bavaria to
-Hanover, with a pair of horses. For such a journey, no construction
-of carriage that I have seen is equal to the one which we used, a
-britscka, with moveable head, and windows which rendered it perfectly
-close at night or during rain.[1] I have not made a minute calculation
-as to expenses, but even on the score of economy, I am inclined to
-think this mode of travelling, for three persons and a servant, will
-involve _less actual outlay_ than the fares of diligences, and Eil
-Wagens or Schnell posts. In Belgium, our posting, with two horses,
-including postillions, fees and tolls, did not exceed, throughout,
-elevenpence a mile; in Prussia, ninepence; and in Bavaria, even less.
-Besides the perfect control of one’s own time and movements, is a
-positive source of economy, as it avoids expense at hotels, while
-waiting for the departure of stages and public conveyances, after
-the traveller is satisfied with his stay in the place where he may
-find himself, and is anxious to get forward to another. Between the
-advantages gained in this particular, and the means of travelling
-comfortably at night almost without loss of sleep, through some of
-the sandy and uninteresting plains of northern Germany, I am fully of
-opinion that our English carriage, independently of its comparative
-luxury, not only diminished the expense of our journey, but actually
-added some weeks to its length, within the period which we had assigned
-for our return. In Belgium, however, and Saxony where railroads are
-extensively opened, a carriage affords no increase of convenience, on
-the contrary, in _short stages_, which should be avoided, it will be
-found to augment the expense without expediting the journey.
-
-Ostend presents but a bad subject for the compilers of guide books,
-as it does not possess a single “lion,” nor a solitary object, either
-of ancient or modern interest, for the tourist. Its aspect too is
-unsatisfactory, it is neither Dutch, French, nor Flemish, but a mixture
-of all three, and its houses with Dutch roofs, Flemish fronts, and
-French interiors, are painted all kinds of gaudy colours, red, green
-and blue, and covered with polyglot sign boards, announcing the nature
-of the owner’s calling within, in almost all the languages of Northern
-Europe.
-
-Being built in a dead flat, the town has of course no sewers--it was
-Saturday evening when we arrived, and in honour of the approaching
-Sabbath, I presume, every house within the walls seemed busied in
-pumping out its cesspool and washing the contents along the channels
-of the streets, creating an atmosphere above that “all the perfumes
-of Arabia would not sweeten.” This, however, is an incident by no
-means peculiar to Ostend, the great majority of the cities in the “Low
-Countries” being similarly circumstanced.
-
-Although a place of importance five hundred years ago, every trace of
-antiquity in Ostend has been destroyed by the many “battles, sieges,
-fortunes,” it has passed. It was enclosed in the fifteenth century,
-fortified by the Prince of Orange in the sixteenth, and almost razed
-to the ground in its defence against the Spaniards in the seventeenth,
-when Sir Francis Vere, (one the military cavaliers, whom, with Sir
-Philip Sydney and others, Elizabeth in her capricious sympathy, had
-from time to time sent to the aid of the protestant cause in the
-Netherlands), held its command at the close of its remarkable siege by
-the forces of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella.[2] This memorable
-siege, which the system of antiquated tactics then in vogue, protracted
-for upwards of three years, “became a school for the young nobility of
-all Europe, who repaired, to either one or the other party, to learn
-the principles and the practice of attack and defence.” The brothers
-Ambrose and Frederick Spinola here earned their high reputation as
-military strategists, and the former eventually forced Ostend to
-surrender, after every building had been levelled by artillery, and
-innumerable thousands had found a grave around its walls. In the
-subsequent troubles of the eighteenth century, it was again repeatedly
-besieged and taken, sharing in all these disastrous wars which have
-earned for Belgium, the appropriate soubriquet of the “Cock-pit of
-Europe.” Its fortifications are still maintained in tolerable repair,
-one large battery called Fort Wellington, is of modern construction,
-and a long rampart, which was originally designed to protect the town
-from the inundation of the sea, has been converted into a glacis,
-and strengthened with stone, brought, at a considerable cost, from
-Tournay, as the alluvial sands of Flanders cannot supply even paving
-stones for her own cities. The summit of this defence is an agreeable
-promenade along the sea, which rolls up to its base, and as far as
-the eye can reach, stretch long hills of sand, which the wind sets in
-motion, and has driven into heaps against the walls and fortifications.
-The level and beautiful strand, however, renders Ostend an agreeable
-bathing-place, and it is fashionably frequented for that purpose during
-the months of summer, when the town presents the usual _agréments_ of a
-watering place, baths, ball rooms, cafés, and a theatre.
-
-As the second sea-port in the kingdom, it enjoys a considerable share
-of the shipping trade of Belgium, but it has no manufactures, and the
-chief emoluments of the lower classes, arise from the fishery of
-herrings and oysters, the bed of the latter, “le parc aux huitres,”
-being the leading lion recommended by the valet-de-place, to the
-notice of the stranger at Ostend; and the green oysters of Ostend
-(_huitres vertes d’Ostende_), one of the luxuries of the Parisian
-gourmands. Oysters are, indeed, the first dish introduced at every
-Belgian dinner-table, and the facility of the railroad has considerably
-augmented the demand at Ostend.
-
-The herring fishery has, of late years, almost disappeared from the
-coast of Flanders. It was once one of the most lucrative branches
-of trade in the Low Countries; and Charles V, when he visited the
-grave of Beukelson, who discovered the method of pickling herrings,
-at Biervliet, near Sluys, caused a monument to be erected over his
-remains. With the Reformation, however, and the lax observance of
-Lent upon the continent, the demand for salted fish declined, and
-Holland herself now retains but a remnant of her ancient trade; which,
-however, she cultivates with a rigid observance of all its ancient
-formalities--the little fleet of fishing boats assemble annually
-at Vlaardingen, at the entrance of the Maas--the officers assemble
-at the Stad-huis, and take the ancient oath to respect the laws of
-the fishery; they then hoist their respective flags, and repair to
-the church to offer up prayers for their success. The day of their
-departure is a holiday on the river. The first cargo which reaches
-Holland, is bought at an extravagant price, and the first barrel which
-is landed on the shore, is forwarded as a present to the King.
-
-Ostend, Blankenburg, Nieuport, Antwerp, and even Bruges, had once a
-valuable share in this important fishery, but it has of late years been
-utterly lost; not more than three sloops, we were told, having put to
-sea in any year since 1837, and even then with indifferent success. The
-cod-fishery, however, has been more prosperous, employing between five
-and six hundred seamen at Ostend alone; but even this is bolstered and
-sustained by the unsound expedient of government bounties.
-
-
-BRUGES.
-
-We left Ostend for Bruges by the railroad, sending forward our carriage
-to Ghent. The fare for the entire distance is little more than for
-one half, the trouble of mounting and dismounting, being the same for
-the longer as for the shorter stage. The arrangements of the railroad
-differ in no essential particular from those of England, except that
-every passenger’s luggage is more scrupulously examined and charged for
-extra weight, after which, it is taken from the custody of the owner,
-who receives a ticket, on the production of which, it is delivered up
-to him, on reaching the town for which his place has been secured.
-This system, however, is found to be productive of frequent mistakes
-and confusion, from trunks and portmanteaus being sent beyond their
-destination, or left behind altogether. The conductors and officials
-are all arrayed in uniform, and the starting of the train from each
-station is announced by a few notes of a trumpet. The engines are
-chiefly of English manufacture, with the exception of a few made at
-Liege.
-
-Belgium is of all countries in Europe the best calculated for
-railroads; its vast alluvial plains, hardly presenting a perceptible
-inequality. From Ostend to Ghent, I scarcely noticed a single cutting
-or an embankment, the rails being laid upon the natural surface of
-the ground, and the direction as straight as the flight of an arrow,
-without the necessity of a curve or inclination, except to approach
-some village station on the road.
-
-The old mode of conveyance by the Trekschuit, on the Canal de Bruges,
-though not discontinued, is comparatively deserted for the railroad. It
-is, however, by no means disagreeable, the boats being drawn along at
-the rate of nearly six miles an hour, the accommodation excellent and
-unique, and the only drawback, the effluvia which in summer arises from
-the almost stagnant waters of the canal, occasionally heightened by the
-poisoned streams in which flax had been steeped by the farmers, which
-is instantly fatal to the fish.
-
-The air and general appearance of Bruges, on entering it by the
-railroad, which passes direct into the centre of the town, cannot fail
-to arrest the interest and attention of a stranger. It is unlike any
-place that one has been accustomed to before, and is certainly the most
-perfect specimen of a town of the middle ages on this side the Rhine.
-Its houses have not been rebuilt in modern times, and with their ample
-fronts, vast arched entrances and sculptured ornaments, and fantastic
-gables, are all in keeping with our stately impressions of its feudal
-counts and affluent but turbulent burghers. “Le voyageur,” says its
-historian, M. Ferrier, “au milieu de ces vieux hôtels, de ces pierres
-féodales encore debout, espère toujours qu’une noble dame au chaperon
-de velours et au vertugadin élargi, va sortir des portes basses en
-ogives le faucon au poign, la queue retroussée par un page.”
-
-Instead of the narrow, dingy passages which occur in cities of similar
-antiquity and renown, there is an air peculiarly gay and imposing in
-the broad and cheerful streets of Bruges; its streets enlivened by long
-lines of lindens and oriental plane trees, and traversed by canals, not
-sluggish and stagnant, but flowing with an active current through the
-city. Upon these, the wealthier mansions open to the rear, a little
-ornamented “pleasance” separating them from the river, laid out in
-angular walks, and ornamented with evergreens, clipped _en quenouille_,
-and here and there a statue or an antique vase. The squares maintain
-the same character of dignity and gravity, overshadowed with “old
-ancestral trees,” and flanked by their municipal halls and towers--the
-monuments of a time when Bruges was the Tyre of Western Europe, and
-her Counts and citizens combined the enterprize and wealth of the
-merchant with the fiery bearing of the soldier. These edifices, too,
-exhibit in their style something of the sturdy pride of their founders,
-presenting less of ornament and decoration than of domineering height
-and massive solidity, and striking the visitor rather by their strength
-than their elegance. On the whole, Bruges reminded me strongly of Pisa,
-and some of the towns of northern Italy, whose history and decline are
-singularly similar to its own. The air of its edifices and buildings
-is the same, and there is around it a similar appearance of desertion
-rather than decay--though in Bruges the retirement and solitude which
-was, till recently, its characteristic, has been much invaded by the
-concourse of strangers whom the railroad brings hourly to visit it.
-
-Bruges, in the olden time, was indebted for its political importance to
-its being the most ancient capital of the Low Countries, and one of the
-residences of the old “Foresters of Flanders,” and of that illustrious
-line of sovereign Counts and Dukes, whose dynasty extends almost
-from Charlemagne to Charles V, and whose exploits enrich the annals
-of the crusades and form the theme of the romancers and minstrels
-of the middle ages. Of the palaces of these stormy potentates,
-scarcely a vestige now remains, except a few dilapidated walls of
-the “Princenhof,” in which Charles le Téméraire espoused Margaret of
-York, the sister of our Edward IV, and in which, also, his interesting
-daughter, Mary of Valois, Duchess of Burgundy, married Maximilian
-of Austria, son to Frederick IV--that “portentous alliance,” which
-subsequently brought the Netherlands under the dominion of the Emperor,
-and consigned them, on the abdication of Charles V, to the tender
-mercies of the sanguinary Philip of Spain. At her nuptials, the Duke of
-Bavaria acted as proxy for the imperial bridegroom, and according to
-the custom of the period, passed the night with the young duchess, each
-reposing in full dress, with a sword placed between them, and in the
-presence of four armed archers of the guard.
-
-On the opposite side of the same square, stands, likewise, the house,
-now an estaminet, in which her husband, Maximilian, then King of the
-Romans, was, after her death, confined by the citizens of Bruges,
-in 1487, in consequence of a dispute as to the custody of his two
-children, in whom, by the death of their mother, was vested the right
-to the sovereignty of Flanders. In spite of the fulminations of the
-Pope, and the march of the Emperor, his father, with an army of forty
-thousand men, the undaunted burghers held him a prisoner for six weeks,
-till he submitted to their terms and took an oath to respect their
-rights, and exact no vengeance for their violent demonstration in their
-assertion.
-
-Bruges was, likewise, upon two occasions the asylum of the exiled
-monarchs of England; once when Edward IV took refuge there, when flying
-from the Earl of Warwick’s rebellion; and, again, when Charles II, in
-his exile, occupied a house in the Place d’Armes, at the corner of the
-Rue St. Amand. It is now the shop of a tailor.
-
-But all our recollections of Bruges are crowded with associations of
-the poetry of history; and the very names of her chieftains, Baldwin of
-the Iron Arm, Robert of Jerusalem, Margaret of Constantinople, Philip
-the Handsome, and Louis of Crecy, call up associations of chivalry,
-gallantry and romance.
-
-From the thirteenth century to the close of the sixteenth, Bruges was
-at once in the plentitude of her political power and the height of
-her commercial prosperity. As the furs and iron of the north were not
-yet carried by sea round the Baltic, and the wealth of India still
-poured through the Red Sea into Genoa and Venice, Bruges became one of
-the great entrepots where they were collected, in order to be again
-distributed over Western Europe; and with Dantzic, Lubeck, Hamburg,
-and a few other trading cities of the west, Bruges became one of
-the leading commandaries of the Hanseatic League. The idea of marine
-insurances was first acted upon at Bruges in the thirteenth century,
-and the first exchange for the convenience of merchants was built there
-in the century following.
-
-Her manufactures were equally celebrated with her traffic and her
-trade. Her tapestries were the models, and, indeed, the progenitors of
-the Gobelins, which were established in France by a native of Bruges,
-under the patronage of Henry IV; and the fame of her woolstaplers
-and weavers has been perpetuated in the order of the Golden Fleece,
-the emblem of which was selected by Philip the Good in honour of the
-artizans of Bruges.
-
-It was a native of Bruges, Beham, who, fifty years before the
-enterprise of Columbus, ventured to “tempt the western main,” and
-having discovered the Azores, first led the way to the awakening of a
-new hemisphere.
-
-Of the luxury of her citizens in this age, many traditions are still
-extant; such as that of the wife of Philip the Fair exclaiming on
-finding herself eclipsed in the splendour of her dress by the ladies
-of her capital:--“_Je croyais être ici la seule reine, mais j’en vois
-plus de cent autour de moi!_” A similar story is recorded of their
-husbands, who when they returned to Paris with their Duke, Louis le
-Mael, to do homage to King John, the successor of Philip of Valois,
-felt affronted on finding that no cushions had been provided for them
-at a banquet to which they were invited by the King, and having sat
-upon their embroidered cloaks, declined to resume them on departing,
-saying:--“_Nous de Flandre, nous ne sommes point accoutumés où nous
-dinons, d’emporter avec nous les coussins._”
-
-All this has now passed away, other nations have usurped her
-foreign commerce, and her own rivals at home have extinguished her
-manufactures. But still in her decline, Bruges wears all the air of
-reduced aristocracy; her poor are said to be frightfully numerous
-in proportion to her population, but they are not, as elsewhere,
-ostentatiously offensive; except a few decrepid objects of compassion,
-by the door of the cathedral, we did not see a beggar in the streets.
-The dress of the lower orders is remarkable for its cleanliness and
-neatness, and an universal costume with the females of the bourgeoisie,
-was a white muslin cap with a lace border and a long black silk cloak,
-with a hood which covered the head, and is evidently a remnant of the
-Spanish mantilla. There was, also, a cheerful decorum in the carriage
-of the people whom we met in the streets, that one felt to be in
-accordance with the gravity of such a venerable old place, as if the
-streets were consecrated ground:
-
-    The city one vast temple, dedicate
-    To mutual respect in word and deed,
-    To leisure, to forbearances sedate,
-    To social cares, from jarring passions freed.[3]
-
-By the way, it is an instance of the abiding hatred with which the
-people of the Low Countries must have, traditionally, regarded
-their former tyrants, that so few traces of their dominion or their
-presence should now be discernible in the country which they so long
-blasted with their presence. Occasionally, one recognizes in the
-olive complexion and coal black eye of the Fleming, the evidences of
-her southern blood; and at Ghent and Brussels there are one or two
-families who still bear the names of Alcala, Rey and Hermosa, and a few
-others who trace their origin to Castilian ancestors; but there are no
-striking monuments now existing of a people, who so long exercised a
-malignant influence over the destinies of Flanders.
-
-It is true that but a short period, about a century and a half, elapsed
-from the death of Mary of Burgundy to that of Albert and Isabella, but
-it is equally true, that for generations before, the princes of the Low
-Countries had sought their matrimonial alliances at the court of Spain;
-and under Philip the Handsome and Charles V, when the Netherlands were
-in the pride of their prosperity, they afforded an alluring point for
-the resort of the adventurers of that country, and of the numbers who
-availed themselves of the royal encouragement to settle there; it is
-curious that not a mansion, not a monument, or almost a remnant should
-now be discernible.
-
-In Bruges, as in most other catholic cities, the chief depositaries
-of objects of popular admiration are the churches; and of these, the
-most attractive and remarkable are the matchless sculptures in wood
-which decorate the confessionals and pulpits, and in the richness and
-masterly workmanship of which, the specimens in the Netherlands are
-quite unrivalled. Bruges is rich in these. In the church of Notre Dame,
-the pulpit is a superb work of art of this description; chiselled in
-oak, supported by groups of figures the size of life, and decorated
-throughout with arabesques and carvings of flowers and fruit of the
-most charming execution. It is of vast dimensions for such a work,
-reaching from the floor almost to the gothic roof of the building. In
-the same church there are two confessionals of equal elegance, each
-separated, as usual, into three apartments by partitions, in front of
-each of which are caryatides, which support the roof.
-
-In the church of the Holy Saviour,[4] the grand organ presents another
-example of this gorgeous carving; and in the little chapel of St.
-Sang, which is possessed of a few drops of _the genuine blood of
-our Saviour_, periodically exhibited in its jewelled shrine to the
-faithful, there is a pulpit, perhaps, of better workmanship than taste,
-the shell of which represents the terrestrial globe, (orbis veteribus
-cognita), with a delineation of those geographical outlines which were
-known at the period of its erection.
-
-In works of art, the burghers of Bruges seem to have been generous as
-well as ambitious in adorning their city, so long as its municipal
-affluence placed it within their power to gratify their tastes. The
-churches, are, therefore, rich in works of the _early_ Flemish
-school--the Van Eycks and Hans Memling, and Pourbus and their
-collaborators and successors: but at the period when the new Flemish
-school had arisen, with Otto Vennius, and attained its eminence under
-Rubens and Vandyk, Bruges had already suffered her decline, the sun
-of her prosperity had gone down, and she possesses no works of their
-pencil. The chief depositaries of paintings in the city, are the church
-of St. Sauveur, the chapel of the Hospital of St. John, and the Gallery
-of the Museum near the Quai du Miroir. The three collections present
-precisely the same array of names, and the same features of art,
-insipid and passionless faces, figures harsh and incorrect in drawing,
-finished with that elaborate care which seems to have been at all times
-the characteristic of the schools of both Flanders and Holland, and
-gaudy, inharmonious colours, upon a brilliant and generally gilded
-ground, in the Byzantine style. Except as mere antiquities, these
-pictures have but little interest to any except the mere historian of
-the art. The collection in St. Saveur I did not see, as it had been
-removed in consequence of a recent fire, but it seems from the lists to
-be rather extensive.
-
-That in the _Museum_ is numerous, but monotonous and tiresome, for the
-reasons I have mentioned, though Sir Joshua Reynolds speaks with high
-approbation of some beauties, I presume, it requires the eye of an
-artist to discern them. The gallery here contains, also, a statue, by
-Calloigne, a native artist, of John Van Eyck, the painter, called “John
-of Bruges,” to whom has been ascribed the invention of painting in
-oil. His claim to the discovery is, of course, incorrect, as the mummy
-cases of Egypt sufficiently attest, but his merit as one of those,
-who, earliest and most successfully applied it to the purposes of
-art, is sufficiently indicated by a glance at his pictures, and their
-comparison with the inferior productions of his contemporaries in Italy.
-
-But the principal exhibition of the old masters of Bruges, is in the
-parlour of the chapel at the ancient _Hospital of Saint John_. Here
-the pride of the custodian are the chef-d’œuvres of Hans Memling.
-Hemling was a soldier and a roué, a prodigal and a genius utterly
-unconscious of his power. He ended a career of excesses by enlisting
-in one of the military companies of Bruges, his native city, and from
-the battle of Nancy, whither he had followed Charles the Rash, in
-1477, he was carried, wounded and dying, to the Hospital of St. John.
-The skill of the leeches triumphed, however, and Hans was restored to
-strength and vigour, when, for want, perhaps, of some other asylum,
-he spent ten years of his subsequent life amongst his friends in the
-hospital, and enriched its halls with the choicest specimens of his
-art. These pictures are of marvellous brilliancy, although it is said,
-that Hemling rejected the use of oil, which had been introduced by
-his contemporary and rival, Van Eyck, and adhered to the old plan of
-tempering his colours with size and albumen. The artist, too, has
-introduced into them portraits of the nuns and sisters of charity, who
-were the attendants of the sick in the hospital--a delicate and yet
-lasting memorial of his gratitude for their kindnesses towards himself.
-
-Amongst a number of portraits and scriptural subjects, the gem of the
-collection is a little, old-fashioned _cabinet_, probably intended for
-the reception of relics, some three feet long and broad in proportion,
-covered with a conical lid, and the whole divided into pannels, each
-containing a scene from the legend of St. Ursula, and the massacre of
-herself and her eleven thousand virgins, by the Goths, at Cologne. This
-curious little antique is so highly prized, that it is shown under a
-glass cover, and the directors of the hospital refused to exchange it
-for a coffer of the same dimensions in solid silver. The execution of
-the paintings has all the characteristic faults and beauties of its
-author, only the former are less glaring from the small dimensions
-of the figures. The faces of the ladies exhibit a good perception of
-female beauty, and St. Ursula herself has her hair plaited into braids
-and drawn behind her ear, much in the fashion of the present time in
-England.
-
-The majority of the other pictures have the folding doors which were
-peculiar to all the painters of the Low Countries, till Rubens latterly
-dispensed with the use, though they are to be seen on his matchless
-“Descent from the Cross,” and some others of his pictures in the
-cathedral at Antwerp. They served to close up the main composition when
-folded across it; and as they are, themselves, painted on both sides,
-so as to exhibit a picture whether closed or open, they had the effect
-of producing five compartments all referring to the same subject, but
-of which the four outward ones are, of course, subsidiary to the grand
-design within.
-
-The hospital in which these pictures are exhibited, is one of the best
-conducted establishments of the kind I have ever seen. Its attendants,
-in their religious costume, and with their nun’s head-dresses, move
-about it with the quiet benevolence which accords with their name,
-as “sisters of charity,” and the lofty wards, with the white linen of
-the beds, present in every particular an example of the most accurate
-neatness and cleanliness.
-
-Both it and the churches I have named, stand close by the station
-of the railway by which the traveller arrives from Ghent or from
-Ostend. Besides their curious old paintings, the churches have little
-else remarkable; they are chiefly built of brick, and make no very
-imposing appearance. That of the St. Sauveur, contains a statue in
-marble attributed to Michael Angelo, and though not of sufficient
-merit to justify the supposition, is in all probability the work of
-one of his pupils. The story says, that it was destined for Genoa, but
-being intercepted on its passage by a Dutch privateer, was carried
-to Amsterdam, where it was purchased by a merchant of Bruges, and
-presented to his native city.
-
-But the chief object of interest, and, indeed, the grand lion of
-Bruges, is the tomb of Mary of Burgundy in a little chapel of the same
-cathedral. The memory of this amiable Princess, and her early fate are
-associated with the most ardent feelings of the Flemings; she was the
-last of their native sovereigns, and at her decease, their principality
-became swallowed up in the overgrown dominion of the houses of Austria;
-like Charlotte of England, she was snatched from them in the first
-bloom of youth, she died before she was twenty-five, in consequence
-of a fall from her horse when hawking, and the independance of her
-country expired with her. Beside her, and in a similar tomb, repose
-the ashes of her bold and impetuous father, Charles the Rash, which
-was constructed by order of Philip of Spain. The chapel in which both
-monuments are placed, was prepared for their reception at the cost of
-Napoleon, who, when he visited Belgium, with Maria Louisa, in 1810,
-left a sum of money to defray the expense of their removal. Both tombs
-are of the same model, two rich sarcophagi, composed of very dark
-stone, ornamented with enamelled shields, and surmounted by recumbent
-statues, in gilded bronze, of the fiery parent and his gentle daughter.
-The blazonry of arms upon the innumerable shields which decorate their
-monuments, and the long array of titles which they record, bespeak the
-large domains, which, by successive alliances, had been concentrated
-in the powerful house of Burgundy. The inscription above the ashes of
-Charles the Rash, is as follows:
-
-    CY GIST TRES HAVLT TRES PVISSANT ET MAGNANIME PRINCE CHARLES DVC
-    DE BOVRGne DE LOTHRYCKE DE BRABANT DE LEMBOVRG DE LVXEMBOVRG ET
-    DE GVELDRES CONTE DE FLANDRES D’ARTOIS DE BOVRGne PALATIN ET DE
-    HAINAV DE HOLLANDE DE ZEELANDE DE NAMVR ET DE ZVTPHEN MARQVIS DV
-    SAINCT EMPIRE SEIGNEUR DE FRISE DE SALINS ET DE MALINES, LEQVEL
-    ESTANT GRANDEMENT DOVÉ DE FORCE CONSTANCE ET MAGNANIMITÉ PROSPERA
-    LONGTEMPS EN HAVLTES ENTREPRINSES BATAILLES ET VICTOIRES TANT A
-    MONTLHERI EN NORMANDIE EN ARTHOIS EN LIEGE QVE AVLTREPART JVSQVES
-    A CE QVE FORTVNE LVI TOVRNANT LE DOZ LOPPRESSA LA NVICT DES ROYS,
-    1476 DEVANT NANCY FVT DEPVIS PAR LE TRES HAVT TRES PVISSANT ET
-    TRES VICTORIEVX PRINCE CHARLES EMPEREUR DES ROMAINS Vmc DE CE NOM
-    SON PETIT NEPHEV HERITIER DE SON NOM VICTOIRES ET SEIGNORIES
-    TRANSPORTE A BRVGES OV LE ROI PHILIPPE DE CASTILLE LEON ARRAGON
-    NAVARE ETC. FILS DUDICT EMPEREVR CHARLES LA FAICT METTRE EN CE
-    TOMBEAU DU COTÉ DE SA FILLE ET VNIQVE HERITIERE MARIE FEMME ET
-    ESPEVSE DE TRES HAVLT ET TRES PVISSANT PRINCE MAXIMILIEN ARCHIDVC
-    D’AVSTRICE DEPVIS ROI EMPEREVR DES ROMANS--PRIONS DIEV POVR SON
-    AME.--AMEN.
-
-The sincere and unaffected sorrow of those who raised a monument to the
-Princess, is much more impressively bespoken in the simple and natural
-language of its inscription. After recapitulating the pompous honours
-of her house, and her greatness as a Queen, they have thus expressed
-affectionate esteem for her as a woman and a wife. “Five years she
-reigned as Lady of the Low Countries, for four of which she lived in
-love and great affection with my Lord, her husband. She died deplored,
-lamented and wept by her subjects, and by all who knew her as was never
-Princess before. Pray God for her soul. Amen.”
-
-The most conspicuous object in Bruges, both from a distance and within
-the walls, is the lofty tower of an ancient building, called “Les
-Halles”--an edifice of vast extent, whose original destination seems
-to be but imperfectly known, but which, in all probability, served as
-a depot for merchandize during the palmy days of the Hanseatic League,
-whilst in its ponderous tower were deposited the ancient records of the
-city. The lower buildings are now partly unoccupied, and partly used
-for the purposes of a covered market, and on the tower are stationed
-the warders, who, night and day, look out for fires in the streets of
-the city or the suburbs. It contains, likewise, one of those sweet
-carillons of bells, which, in their excellence, seem to be peculiar to
-the Netherlands, as in no other country that I am aware of do their
-chimes approach to any thing like harmonious music. In the tower of Les
-Halles and some others in Belgium, they are set in motion by a huge
-cylinder with moveable keys, similar to those in a barrel organ or a
-Geneva box. The tunes are arranged and altered every year at Easter,
-and the carillon, besides announcing every hour, is played almost
-daily for the amusement of the citizens. But besides the mechanical
-arrangement, there are keys which can be played on at pleasure, and
-during our visit, the “chief musician” commenced this feat, hammering
-with his fists, defended first by strong leather, and tramping with
-his heels, till every muscle in his whole body seemed called into
-action--an exercise very like that of Falstaff’s recruit Bullfrog,
-when he “caught a cold _in ringing in the king’s affairs_ upon the
-coronation day.”
-
-The view from this tower is really surprising, owing to the vast level
-plain in which it stands, and which stretches to the horizon without an
-undulation upon every side; the view is only limited by the ability of
-the eye to embrace it, and the sight is bewildered with the infinity
-of villages, towers, forests, canals and rivers which it presents,
-taking in at one vast glance, the German Ocean, the distant lines of
-Holland, the towers of Ghent, and to the south, the remote frontier of
-France. Its views, like almost every thing else in the Netherlands,
-are peculiar to itself, and in the repose and richness of cultivated
-beauty, have not a parallel in any country of Europe.
-
-In a small square adjoining that in which stands the tower of Les
-Halles, are two other ancient buildings of equal interest. The _palais
-de justice_ occupies the site of the old “palace of the Franc or
-liberty of Bruges.” It contains in one of its apartments, (the others
-are chiefly modern,) a remarkable mantel-piece of carved oak, covering
-the entire side of the hall, and consisting of a number of statues
-the size of life, let into niches decorated with the most elaborate
-and beautiful carvings, and surmounted by the armorial bearings of
-Burgundy, Brabant, and Flanders. This singular specimen of the arts,
-dates from the reign of Charles V. and contains statues of the Emperor
-himself, with Maximilian, and Mary of Burgundy to his left hand; on
-his right, those of Charles le Téméraire, and his Lady Margaret of
-York. These specimens of the perfection to which this description of
-modelling has attained amongst the Flemings, must really be seen, in
-order to be sufficiently comprehended.
-
-The other building adjoining is the _Hotel de Ville_, a small, but
-elegant example of the gothic architecture in the fourteenth century.
-The many niches which now stand empty at each compartment of its front,
-were formerly filled with statues of the native Princes of Flanders
-and Burgundy, to the number of thirty-three; numerous shields, charged
-with arms surmounted the principal windows, and on a little balcony in
-front, the Dukes, on the occasion of their inauguration, made oath to
-respect the rights and privilege of their subjects. But in 1792, the
-soldiers of the French directory, under Dumourier, in the “fine frenzy”
-of republicanism, tore down these ancient monuments of the former
-history of Bruges, as “the images of tyrants” and pounding them to
-dust, flung them upon a pile composed of fragments of the gallows and
-the scaffold, and ordered it to be kindled by the public executioner.
-The grand hall in the Hotel de Ville is occupied as a library, and
-contains a large and valuable collection of books and manuscripts.
-
-Bruges was the birth-place of Berken, who discovered the art of
-polishing the diamond, and, as if the secret were still confined to
-the craft, (in fact it was for a length of time a secret amongst the
-jewellers of the Low Countries), one still sees over many a door in
-Bruges, the sign-board of the “Diamant-zetter,” who resides within.
-
-In other cities, one would feel as if compiling a guide-book in noting
-these particulars of Bruges; but here it is different, as every spot,
-however trifling, is exalted by some traditionary association with the
-past. “In the thirteenth century,” says the Hand-book, “the ambassadors
-of twenty states had their hotels within the walls of the city, and
-the commercial companies of seventeen nations were settled and carried
-on their traffic within its walls. It became the resort of traders of
-Lombardy and Venice, who carried hither the merchandize of Italy and
-India, to be exchanged for the produce of Germany and the north. The
-argosies of Genoa and Constantinople, frequented her harbour, and her
-warehouses were stored with the wool of England, the linen of Belgium,
-and the silk of Persia.”[5] Can any one read this record of the past,
-and comparing it with the desolation of the present, avoid being
-reminded of the magnificent description and denunciation of Tyre, by
-Ezekiel. “Fine linen from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth
-for thy sails; the inhabitants of Zidon were thy mariners; the men of
-Persia were thine army; and they of Gammadin were on thy towers, and
-hung their shields upon thy walls to make thy beauty perfect. Tarshish
-was thy merchant, and with iron and with tin they traded in thy fairs.
-Syria gave thee emeralds and broidered work, and coral, and agate.
-Judah traded in thy markets in honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus in
-the wine of Hebron and white wool. Arabia occupied with thee in lambs
-and in goats; and the merchants of Sheba brought thee precious stones
-and gold. * * * They that handle the oar, the mariner and pilots of the
-sea, shall come down from thy ships; they shall stand upon the land,
-and in their wailing they shall cry, what city is like unto Tyre, like
-unto the destroyed in the midst of the waters?”
-
-Of all her active pursuits, Bruges now retains no remnant except the
-manufacture of lace, to which even her ancient fame has ceased to give
-a prestige; and it is exported to France to be sold under the name of
-_Point de Valenciennes_. Mechlin, Antwerp, Ypres and Grammont share
-with her in its production; and it is interesting to observe how this
-mignon and elegant art, originally, perhaps, but the pastime of their
-young girls and women, has survived all the storms and vicissitudes
-which have from time to time suspended or disturbed the other national
-occupations of the Belgians, and now enables the inhabitants of their
-superannuated cities, in the ruin of their own fortunes, to support
-themselves, as it were, upon the dower of their females. France, in
-the time of Colbert, seduced the manufacture to establish itself at
-Paris by actual gifts of money; and England, emulous of sharing in it,
-purchased the lace of Belgium to sell to Europe as her own, and made by
-it such a reputation, that _English lace_ is still a popular name for a
-particular description made at Brussels!
-
-The exquisitely fine thread which is made in Hainault and Brabant for
-the purpose of being worked into lace, has occasionally attained a
-value almost incredible. A thousand to fifteen hundred francs is no
-unusual price for it by the pound, but some has actually been spun
-by hand of so exquisite a texture, as to be sold at the rate of ten
-thousand francs, or upwards of £400, for a single pound weight. Schools
-have been established to teach both the netting of the lace and
-drawing of designs by which to work it, and the trade, at the present
-moment, is stated to be in a more flourishing condition than it has
-been ever known before, even in the most palmy days of the Netherlands.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-GHENT.
-
-    Bruges a cheap residence--Tables-d’Hôte, their influence upon
-      society--Canal from Bruges to Ghent--Absence of country
-      mansions--Gardens--Appearance of GHENT--M. Grenier and M. de Smet
-      de Naeyer--The _Conseil de Prud’hommes_, its functions--Copyright
-      of designs in Belgium--THE LINEN TRADE OF BELGIUM--Its
-      importance--Great value of Belgian flax--Its cultivation--Revenue
-      derived from it--Inferiority of British flax--Anxiety of the
-      government for the trade in linen--Hand-spinners--Spinning
-      by machinery--_Société de la Lys_--Flower gardens--The
-      Casino--Export of flowers--General aspect of the city--_Its early
-      history_--Vast wealth expended in buildings in the Belgium cities
-      accounted for--Trading corporations--Turbulence of the people
-      of Bruges and Ghent--_Jacques van Artevelde_--His death--Philip
-      van Artevelde--Charles V.--His _bon mots_ regarding Ghent--Latin
-      distich, characteristic of the Flemish cities--Siege of Ghent,
-      Madame Mondragon--House of the Arteveldes--Hôtel de Ville--The
-      belfry and Roland--The _Marché de Vendredi_--The great cannon of
-      Ghent.
-
-BRUGES has the reputation of being an economical residence for persons
-of limited fortune, but I have reason to believe it does not fully
-merit it. I have understood, that at the termination of the war,
-a large mansion with every appurtenance, was to have been had for
-twenty-five pounds a year, but the concourse of English, and the influx
-of strangers, has now placed it, in this respect, pretty much upon a
-par with other places of the continent.
-
-We dined at an excellent table-d’hôte at the Hôtel de Commerce, the
-only inconvenience being the early hour, 2 o’clock, but this, and
-even earlier hours for dinner, we became, not only reconciled to,
-but almost to prefer before leaving Germany. To the prevalence of
-these tables-d’hôte in every town and village of the continent, must,
-no doubt, be ascribed much of that social feeling and easy carriage
-which characterise the people of almost every country in Europe except
-our own. Being frequented by persons of all ranks, they lead to an
-assimilation of manners and of taste, which must be conducive to
-general refinement; and by an interchange of opinions and a diffusion
-of intelligence during the two or three hours of daily intercourse,
-they must contribute to a diffusion of information, and a better
-understanding between all classes.
-
-In England, with our present sectional ideas and well defined grades,
-their introduction would be impossible, or if attempted, would only
-serve to make more distinct and compact the divisions into which
-society is parcelled out. And yet, how desirable would it be that some
-successful expedient could be discovered to produce a more frequent
-intercourse between these numerous castes, and to soften down these
-Hindoo prejudices, which are an unquestionable source of insecurity
-and weakness in England. It is to this, that in a great degree is to
-be ascribed the virulence of political jealousies, and the intense
-hatred of political parties. So long as wealth is constituted the
-great standard which is to adjust conventional precedence, affluence
-and intelligence must form one exclusive race, of whose feelings,
-habits, objects and desires, poverty and ignorance, as they _can
-know nothing_, may be easily persuaded to believe them hostile and
-destructive to their own; and even mediocrity of rank, as it stands
-aloof from either, will continue to look with alarm and jealousy upon
-both.
-
-Were it practicable, by any salutary expedient, to enable the humble
-and laborious _to perceive for themselves_, that the enjoyments and
-habits of the rich are not necessarily antagonist to their own,
-it would at once paralyze the strength of the demagogue and the
-incendiary. Religious bigotry and political malignity, like sulphur and
-nitre, are explosive only when combined with the charcoal of ignorance.
-
-The railroad from Bruges to Ghent, runs for the entire way within
-view, and frequently along the bank of the canal which connects the
-two cities, and which occasionally presents greater beauty than one
-is prepared to expect; its waters folded over with the broad leaves
-of the water lilly, and variegated with its flowers, and those of the
-yellow bog bean; and its steep banks covered with the tassels of the
-flowering rush. The road passed through numerous copses, cultivated
-for firewood and planted with the oak, the chesnut and the weeping
-birch, with here and there broad patches of firs and hornbeam. But the
-beauty of the long lines of ornamental trees which enclose the road
-and sometimes border the canals in Flanders, is much impaired by the
-fashion of pollarding their tops for the purpose of fuel.
-
-One misses, also, the numerous seats and mansions of the landed gentry
-to which we are familiarized in travelling in our own country, “the
-happy homes of England,” that constitute the rich luxuriance of a
-British landscape. But here, their erection is discountenanced by the
-law against primogeniture, by which the property of the individual is
-compulsorily divided amongst his heirs; and, at former periods, their
-absence may, perhaps, be ascribed to the insecurity of the country,
-perpetually visited with war and all its accessories, so that men found
-their only safety within the walls of their fortified towns. In the
-neighbourhood of Ghent, however, they are more frequent than in any
-other district of Belgium which I have seen, an evidence, perhaps, of
-the more abundant wealth of its successful manufactures and merchants.
-
-In the vicinity of all the villages and suburbs, each house is
-provided with a garden, richly stocked with flowers, (amongst which
-the multitude of dahlias was quite remarkable), and surrounded, not
-by a fence, but more frequently, in gardens of any extent, by a broad
-dyke of deep water, covered with lillies and aquatic plants. Every inch
-of ground seemed to have been subjected to the spade, and with a more
-than Chinese economy of the soil, made to contribute either to the
-decoration or the support of the owner’s dwelling.
-
-After passing the hamlets of Bloemendael (the valley of flowers),
-and Aeltre, we came in sight of Ghent, situated on a considerable
-elevation above the water of the Scheldt (pronounced _Skeld_), the Lys,
-the Lieve, and the Moer, which meet around its base, and with their
-communicating branches and canals, divide the city into six-and-twenty
-islets, connected by upwards of eighty bridges of wood or stone.
-Its towers and steeples are discernible for some miles before it is
-reached, mingled with the tall chimnies of its numerous manufactories,
-which mark it as the Manchester of Belgium.
-
-The court-yard of the station was filled with a crowd of omnibuses,
-fiacres and _vigilantes_, an improvement upon the cabs of London, and
-a drive of a few minutes brought us to the Cauter, or Place d’Armes,
-where, following the direction of the Hand-book, we stopped at the
-Hôtel de la Poste, a spacious house, kept by a M. Oldi, who, we were
-told, was son to a Baroness of the same name, who figured on the
-occasion of the trial of Queen Caroline.
-
-
-GHENT.
-
-My anxiety was to learn something of the actual state of manufacturing
-industry in Belgium, and Ghent, its principal seat and centre,
-presented the most favourable opportunities. Our introductions were
-numerous, but my chief obligations are to _M. Grenier_, one of the
-most intelligent and accomplished men of business whom it has been my
-good fortune to meet. He had been formerly an officer in the Imperial
-Guard of Napoleon, whilst Belgium was a province of the empire, but on
-the return of peace, in 1815, betook himself to pursuits of commerce,
-and is now connected with some of the most important manufacturing
-and trading establishments of Belgium. I owe a similar acknowledgment
-for the polite attentions of _M. de Smet de Naeyer_,[6] an eminent
-manufacturer, and one of the officers of the Chamber of Commerce and of
-the Conseil de Prud’hommes at Ghent.
-
-The latter body which is an institution, originally French, was
-introduced in Belgium by a decree of Napoleon in 1810. It is a board
-formed jointly of employers and workmen, elected by annual sections,
-and discharging all its functions, not only gratuitously as regards
-the public, but without payment to its own members, beyond the mere
-expenditure of the office, and a moderate salary to a secretary. Its
-duties have reference to the adjustment of the mutual intercourse
-between workmen and their masters in every branch of manufacture,
-the prevention of combinations, the performance of contracts, the
-regulation of apprenticeship, and the effectual administration of
-the system of _livrets_--a species of permanent diploma, which the
-artisan received on the termination of his pulpilage, signed by the
-master to whom he had been articled, and sealed by the President of
-the Conseil de Prud’hommes. Without the production of his _livret_, no
-tradesman can be received into employment; and in it are entered all
-his successive discharges and acquittances with his various masters.
-The powers of fining and of forfeiture exercised by the conseil, are
-summary up to a certain amount, and in cases of graver importance,
-there is a resort to the correctional police.
-
-But the main functions of the Conseil de Prud’hommes are the prevention
-of any invasion of the peculiar rights of any manufacturer, or the
-counterfeit imitation of his particular marks; and especially the
-protection of the copyright of all designs and productions of art
-for the decoration of manufactures. With this view, every proprietor
-of an original design, whether for working in metals or on woven
-fabrics, is empowered to deposit a copy of it in the archives of the
-council, enveloped in a sealed cover, and signed by himself; and to
-receive in return a certificate of its enrolment, and the date of
-reception. At the same time, he is called upon to declare the length
-of time for which he wishes to secure to himself the exclusive right
-of its publication, whether for one, two, or three years, or for
-ever, and in either case, a trifling fee is demanded, in no instance
-exceeding a franc for each year the protection is claimed, or ten
-for a perpetuity.[7] In the event of any dispute as to originality or
-proprietorship, the officer of the council is authorized to break the
-seal, and his testimony is conclusive as to the date and circumstances
-of the deposit.
-
-The effect of this simple and inexpensive tribunal has been found
-so thoroughly effectual, that the most equitable security has been
-established for designs of every description applicable to works
-of taste, and the _intellectual property_ of a pattern has been as
-thoroughly vindicated to its inventor through the instrumentality
-of the register of the Prud’hommes, as his _material property_, in
-the article on which it is to be impressed, is secured to him by the
-ordinary law. In fact, the whole operation of the institution at Ghent
-has proved so beneficial to manufactures universally, that by a _projet
-de loi_ of 1839, similar boards are about to be established in all
-the leading towns and cities, as Liege, Brussels, Courtrai, Antwerp,
-Louvain, Mons, Charleroi, Verviers, and the manufacturing districts,
-generally, throughout Belgium.
-
-One of our first visits was to a mill for spinning linen yarn, recently
-constructed by a joint stock company, called _La Société de la Lys_, in
-honour, I presume, of the Flemish river on which it is situated, and
-which is celebrated on the continent for the extraordinary suitability
-of its waters for the preparation of flax. Belgium, from the remotest
-period, even, it is said, before the Christian era, has been celebrated
-for its manufacture of clothing of all descriptions. It was from
-Belgium that England derived her first knowledge of the weaving of
-wool; damask has been made there since the time of the Crusades, when
-the soldiers of Godfrey of Bouillon and of Count Baldwin, brought
-the art from Damascus; and to the present hour, the very name of
-“_Holland_” is synonymous with linen, and the cloth so called, has for
-centuries been woven principally in Flanders.
-
-Under the government of Austria, the manufacture seems to have attained
-its acmé of prosperity in the Netherlands, her exports of linen, in
-1784, amounting to 27,843,397 yards, whilst at the present moment, with
-all her increase of population and discoveries in machinery, she hardly
-surpasses thirty millions. Again, under the continental system of
-Napoleon, from 1805 to 1812, it attained a high degree of prosperity,
-which sensibly decreased after the events of 1814, when English produce
-came again into active competition with it.
-
-The cultivation of flax is still, however, her staple employment, one
-acre in every eighty-six of the whole area of Belgium, being devoted to
-its growth. In peculiar districts, such as Courtrai and St. Nicolas,
-so much as one acre in twenty is given to it; and in the Pays de Waes,
-it amounts so high as one in ten. Every district of Belgium, in fact,
-yields flax, more or less, except Luxembourg and Limburg, where it
-has been attempted, but without success; but of the entire quantity
-produced, Flanders alone furnishes three-fourths, and the remaining
-provinces, one. The quality of the flax, too, seems, independently of
-local superiority in its cultivation, to be essentially dependent upon
-the nature of the soil in which it is sown. From that around Ghent,
-no process of tillage would be sufficient to raise the description
-suitable to more costly purposes; that of the Waloons yields the very
-coarsest qualities; Courtrai those whose strength is adapted for
-thread; and Tournai alone furnished the fine and delicate kinds, which
-serve for the manufacture of lace and cambric.
-
-Of the quantity of dressed flax prepared in Belgium, calculated to
-amount to about eighteen millions of kilogrammes, five millions were
-annually exported to England and elsewhere, on an average of eight
-years, from 1830 to 1839. According to the returns of the Belgian
-custom-houses, the export has been as follows--from 1830 to 1839.
-
-  1831    5,449,388  kilogr.
-  1832    3,655,226  ”
-  1833    4,392,113  ”
-  1834    2,698,870  ”
-  1835    4,610,649  ”
-  1836    6,891,991  ”
-  1837    7,403,346  ”
-  1838    9,459,056  ”
-
-It is important to observe the steady increase of the English demand
-since 1834. The remainder is reserved for home manufacture into thread
-and cloth, and it is estimated by M. Briavionne, that the cultivation
-of this one article alone, combining the value of the raw material with
-the value given to it by preparation, in its various stages from flax
-to linen cloth, produces annually to Belgium, an income of 63,615,000
-francs.[8]
-
-Belgium possesses no source of national wealth at all to be put into
-comparison with this, involving as it does, the concentrated profits
-both of the raw material and its manufacture, and, at the present
-moment, the attention of the government and the energies of the
-nation are directed to its encouragement in every department, with an
-earnestness that well bespeaks their intimate sense of its importance.
-
-Nor are the prudent anxieties of the Belgium ministry on this point
-without serious and just grounds. Their ability to enter into
-competition with England in the production of either yarn or linen
-cloth, arises solely from the fortunate circumstance to which I have
-just alluded, that not only do they themselves produce the raw material
-for their own manufactures, but it is they, who, likewise, supply it to
-their competitors, almost at their own price. _Such is the superiority
-of Belgian flax, that whilst, in some instances, it has brought so high
-a price as £220 per ton, and generally ranges from £80 to £90; not more
-than £90 has in any instance that I ever heard of, been obtained for
-British, and its ordinary average does not exceed £50._
-
-The elements of their trade are, therefore, two-fold, the growth of
-flax, and secondly, its conversion by machinery into yarn and cloth.
-In the latter alone, from the relative local circumstances of the two
-countries, it is utterly impossible that Belgium could successfully
-maintain the contest with England, with her inferior machinery, her
-more costly fuel, and her circumscribed sale; but aided by the other
-happy advantage of being enabled to supply herself with the raw
-material at the lowest possible rate, and her rivals at the highest,
-she is in possession of a position of the very last importance.
-
-But, should any circumstance arise to alter this relative position,
-should England wisely apply herself to the promotion of such an
-improvement in the cultivation and dressing of her flax at home as
-would render it in quality equal to that for which she is now dependent
-for her supply from abroad--should India or her own colonies betake
-themselves to its production, or should some other country, adopting
-the processes of Belgium, supplant her in the market, and thus reduce
-her competition with England to a mere contest with machinery, the
-linen trade of Belgium could not by any possibility sustain the
-struggle, and her staple manufacture for centuries would pass, at once,
-into the hands of her rivals.
-
-Conscious of their critical situation in this respect, the King of
-Holland, during his fifteen years’ administration of the Netherlands,
-bestowed a care upon the encouragement and improvement of their
-mechanical skill, which may have, perhaps, been carried to an unwise
-extreme; and with a similar anxiety for the maintenance of their
-ascendancy in the other department, the ministers of King Leopold have
-devoted a sedulous attention to the cultivation of flax; and the very
-week of my arrival at Ostend, a commission had just returned from
-England, whose inquiries had been specially directed to the question
-of imposing restrictions upon its exportation.
-
-Much of the uneasiness of the government upon this head, arises, at
-the present moment, from the necessity of promoting vigorously the
-spinning by machinery, and, at the same time, the difficulty of finding
-employment for the thousands who now maintain themselves by the old
-system of spinning by hand, and whom the successful introduction of
-the new process will deprive of their ordinary means of subsistence.
-Although this is one of those complaints to which we have long been
-familiarized in England, and which the people of this country have, at
-length, come to perceive is not amongst--
-
-    “Those ills that kings or laws can cause or cure,”
-
-the alarm and perplexity of the Belgians, and their earnest
-expostulation on finding their employment suddenly withdrawn,
-have caused no little embarrassment to their own government;
-and a formidable party, both in the country and in the House of
-Representatives, have been gravely consulting as to the best means of
-securing a continuance of their “ancient industry” to the hand-spinners
-at home, by restricting the export of flax to be spun by machinery
-abroad!
-
-The practicability of this, and the propriety of imposing a duty upon
-all flax shipped for England, was understood to be the subject of
-inquiry by the commission despatched by the Chambers to England, which
-consisted of Count d’Hane, a member of the upper house, M. Couls, the
-representative for the great linen district of St. Nicolas, and M.
-Briavionne, a successful writer upon Belgian commerce, and one or two
-other gentlemen connected with the linen trade.
-
-The application of machinery to the manufacture of linen yarn,
-though comparatively recent in its introduction into Belgium, has,
-nevertheless, made a surprising progress, and bids fair, if unimpeded,
-to maintain a creditable rivalry with Great Britain. The offer by
-Napoleon, in 1810, of a reward of a million of francs for the discovery
-of a process by which linen could be spun into yarn with the same
-perfection as cotton, naturally gave a stimulus to all the artisans
-of the empire, and almost simultaneously with its promulgation, a
-manufacturer of Belgium, called Bawens, announced his application of
-the principle of spinning through water, which is now in universal
-use. The old system of dry spinning, however, still obtained and
-was persevered in till superseded, at a very recent period, by the
-invention of Bawens, improved by all the subsequent discoveries in
-England and France.
-
-The seat of the manufacture, at present, is at Ghent and Liege, and is
-confined to a very few extensive establishments, projected by joint
-stock companies, or Sociétés Anonymes,[9] for the formation of which,
-there has latterly been almost a mania in Belgium. Four of these
-establishments, projected between 1837 and 1838, proposed to invest a
-capital amounting amongst the whole, to no less than fourteen millions
-of francs. One of them at Liege, perfected its intention and is now
-in action. A second, at Malines (Mechlin), was abandoned after the
-buildings had been erected, and the other two at Ghent, are still only
-in process of completion. Besides these, there is a third at Ghent, in
-the hands of an individual, calculated for 10,000 spindles.
-
-That which we visited belonging to _La Société de la Lys_, may be taken
-as a fair illustration of the progress which the art has made in
-Belgium, as the others are all constructed on similar models, and with
-the same apparatus in all respects. It was originally calculated for
-15,000 spindles, but of these not more than one third are yet erected,
-and in motion, and but 5,000 others are in preparation. The steam
-engines were made in England, by Messrs. Hall, of Dartford, on the
-principle known as Wolf’s patent, which, using two cylinders, combines
-both a high and low pressure, and is wrought with one half to one third
-the fuel required for the engines, in ordinary use in England,[10] an
-object of vast importance in a country where coals are so expensive as
-they are in Belgium.[11] The machinery is all made at the Phœnix works
-in Ghent, the preparatory portions of it are excellent, and exhibit
-all the recent English improvements, and in roving they use the new
-spiral frames. But the spinning rooms show the Belgian mechanics to
-be still much behind those of Leeds and Manchester, as evinced by the
-clumsiness and imperfect finish of the frames, although they were still
-producing excellent work; the yarn we saw being of good quality, but of
-a coarse description, and intended for home consumption, and for the
-thread-makers of Lisle. The quantity produced, per day, was quite equal
-to that of English spinners,[12] and their wages much the same as those
-paid in Ireland, and somewhat less than the English.[13]
-
-On the whole, the linen trade of Belgium, notwithstanding its
-extensive preparation of machinery, and the extraordinary demand for
-its flax, must be regarded as in anything but a safe or a permanent
-position. In those stronger articles which can be made from flax of
-English growth, the English considerably undersell her already; an
-important trade is, at this moment, carried on in the north of Ireland
-in exporting linen goods to Germany, whence they were formerly imported
-into England, and whence they are still sent into Belgium, where the
-damask trade of Courtrai, which has been perpetually declining since
-1815, is now, all but superseded by the weavers of Saxony and Herrnhut;
-and the tickens of Turnhout, by those woven from the strong thread of
-Brunswick.
-
-The contemplated measure of the French government, to impose a heavy
-duty on the importation of linen-yarn, will, if persevered in, be
-most prejudicial to the spinners of Belgium, as more or less, it must
-inevitably diminish their consumption. On the other hand, as England
-herself may be said to grow no flax for her own manufacture, and
-that of Ireland is not only far inferior in quality to the Dutch
-and Belgian, but inadequate to her own consumption, and every year
-increasing in demand and rising in price,--so long as Great Britain is
-thus dependant upon her own rivals for a supply of the raw material to
-feed her machinery, at an expense of from 8 to 10 per cent, for freight
-and charges, in addition to its high first cost, and whilst she must,
-at the same time, compete with them in those continental markets,
-which are open to them both, the spinning mills of Belgium cannot
-but be regarded otherwise than as formidable opponents. Nor is this
-apprehension diminished by the fact, that Belgium, which a few years
-since had no machinery for spinning yarn, except what she obtained from
-other countries, or could smuggle from England at a serious cost, is
-now enabled to manufacture her own, and has all the minerals, metals,
-and fuel within herself, which combined with industry and skilled
-labour, are essential to bring it to perfection. For the present, the
-English manufacturer, has a protection in the cost of his machinery
-alone--the factory of the _Société de la Lys_ cost £80,000 to erect,
-which supposing its 10,000 spindles to be in action, would be £8 per
-spindle, and as only the one half of these are at present employed,
-the actual cost is sixteen pounds; whilst an extensive mill can be
-erected in Ireland for from £4 to £5, and in England for even less.
-The difference of interest upon such unequal investments, must be a
-formidable deduction from the actual profits of the Belgians.
-
-We returned to our Hotel by a shady promenade along the _Coupure_,
-which connects the waters of the Lys with the canal of Bruges, the
-banks of which planted with a triple row of tall trees, form one of
-the most fashionable lounges and drives in Ghent. Opening upon it are
-the gardens of the Casino, a Grecian building of considerable extent,
-constructed in 1836 for the two botanical and musical societies of
-Ghent, and, in which, the one holds its concerts, and the other its
-spring and autumn exhibition of flowers. At the rear of the building is
-a large amphitheatre with seats cut from the mossy bank and planted
-with flowers, where the _Société de St. Cecile_ give their Concerts
-d’Eté, which are held in the open air, in summer, and at which as many
-as six thousand persons have occasionally been accommodated.
-
-In the rearing of flowers, Belgium and more especially Ghent, has
-outrivalled the ancient florists of Holland, the city is actually
-environed with gardens and green-houses, and those of the Botanical
-Society, are celebrated throughout Europe for their successful
-cultivation of the rarest exotics. At Ghent their sale has, in fact,
-become an important branch of trade; plants to the value of a million
-and a half of francs having been exported annually, on account of the
-gardeners in the vicinity; and it is no unusual thing to see in the
-rivers, vessels freighted entirely with Camellias, Azaleas, and Orange
-trees, which are sent to all parts of Europe, even to Russia by the
-florists of Ghent.
-
-The general appearance of the city, without being highly picturesque,
-is to a stranger, of the most agreeable I remember to have seen. It
-does not present in the mass of its houses and buildings, that uniform
-air of grave antiquity which belongs to those of Bruges, the greater
-majority of the streets having been often rebuilt and modernized,
-as well as from the effects of civic commotions, as to suit the
-exigencies of trade and manufactures, which, when they deserted the
-rest of Belgium, seem to have concentrated themselves here. Its modern
-houses are almost all constructed on the Italian model, with ample
-_portes-cochers_, spacious court yards, lofty staircases, tall windows,
-and frequently frescoes and bas-reliefs, to decorate the exterior.[14]
-Almost every house is furnished with an _espion_, a small plate of
-looking-glass fixed outside the window, at such an angle, that all
-that is passing in the street is seen by those inside, without their
-appearing themselves.
-
-Here and there upon the quays and in the narrower streets, there are to
-be found the gloomy old residences of the “Men of Ghent,” now converted
-into inns or ware-rooms, with their sharp tilted roofs, high stepped
-gables, abutting on the street, fantastic chimneys, and mullioned
-windows, sunk deep into the walls. And turning some sudden corner in
-a narrow passage obstructed by lumbering waggons, drawn by oxen, one
-finds himself in front of some huge old tower, or venerable belfry,
-covered with gothic sculpture, and stretching up to the sky till he
-has to bend back his head to descry the summit of it. One singular
-old building on the Quai aux Herbes, remarkable for its profusion
-of Saxon arches and stone carvings, was the Hall of the Watermen,
-whose turbulent insurrection under John Lyon, is detailed with quaint
-circumstantiality in the pages of Froissart. But in the main, the
-streets of Ghent are lively and attractive, and its squares, spacious
-and planted with trees, forming a striking contrast to the melancholy
-brick and mortar buildings, that compose the manufacturing towns of
-England. Here too, as in Manchester and Leeds, the population seem all
-alive and active, but instead of the serious and important earnestness
-which one sees in every countenance in Lancashire, the Gantois seems to
-go about his affairs with cheerfulness and alacrity, as if he was less
-employed on business than amusement. The canals are filled with heavily
-laden barges, and the quays with long narrow waggons of most primitive
-construction, into which they unload their cargoes; whilst the number
-of handsome private carriages, that one sees in every thoroughfare,
-bespeak, at once, the wealth and refinement of the population. The
-shops are exceedingly good though not particularly moderate in their
-charges, and I was somewhat surprised to see as an attraction on the
-sign boards at the doors of the drapers and modistes, the announcement
-that _Scotch_ and _English goods_ were to be had within. Altogether the
-combination of antique singularity with modern comfort, commercial
-bustle, wealth, gaiety, cleanliness, and vivacity, which is to be seen
-at Ghent, cannot fail to strike the most hurried traveller, and I doubt
-much whether it is to be found in equal perfection, in any other city
-of the continent of equal extent.
-
-Every quarter of the city exhibits traces of the former wealth of the
-burghers, and every building has some tradition characteristic of the
-fiery turbulence of this little municipal republic. Bruges and Ghent
-are, in this regard, by far the most interesting towns of Flanders.
-Brussels, Liege and Ypres, are all of more modern date and infinitively
-less historical importance, during the stormy period of the Flemish
-annals from the 12th to the 16th century. Ghent was a fortified town
-a thousand years ago, when its citadel was erected by Baldwin of the
-Iron Arm, but it was only with the rage for the Crusades, that the
-wealth and importance of the towns of the Low Countries arose; when the
-Seigneurs, in order to obtain funds to equip them for their expeditions
-to the Holy Land, released the inhabitants of the towns from their
-vassalage, and sold to them the lands on which their cities were built,
-and all the rights of self government, privileges which subsequently
-assumed the form of a corporate constitution. Ghent thus obtained her
-independence from Philip of Alsace, in 1178, and for the first time
-secured the right of free assembly, the election of her own provosts,
-a common seal, and belfry, always an indispensable accompaniment of
-civic authority, and important in sounding the alarm and convoking the
-citizens upon every emergency.
-
-It was in consequence of these momentous concessions, that whilst the
-lords of the soil and their agrarian followers were wasting their
-energies in distant war, or subsisting by rapine and violence against
-one another, the inhabitants of the towns, secured within their walls
-and fortified places, were enabled to devote themselves to manufactures
-and to commerce, and thus to concentrate in their own hands, the
-largest proportion, by far, of the monied wealth of the Netherlands.
-
-But, coupled with their high privileges, there were also some
-restrictions, to which we of to-day are indebted for the vast
-and magnificent edifices which the burghers of these flourishing
-communities have left for our wonder and admiration. The rights
-accorded to them by their Seigneurs were rigidly confined to the
-limits of their own walls, no free burgher could purchase or hold
-landed estate beyond the circuit of his municipality; and thus, whilst
-driven to accumulate capital in the pursuit of trade and traffic,
-they were equally constrained to invest it, not in land, like the
-retired merchants of modern times, but in the construction of these
-vast palaces and private mansions, and in the decorations of their
-dwellings, and the adornment of their cities.
-
-It is to this political circumstance of their position that we are
-to refer, in order to account for the extent and splendour of those
-ancient houses which we meet at every turning in Bruges and Ghent--for
-the costly carvings and sculptured decorations of their fronts and
-interiors, and for the quantity of paintings and ornaments in which
-they abound.
-
-The accumulation of their municipal resources, too, required to be
-similarly disposed of, and was applied to the erection of their lofty
-belfries, the construction of those gigantic towers which are elevated
-on all their churches, and to the building of their town halls and
-hôtels-de-ville, whose magnitude and magnificence, are a matter,
-equally of admiration of the genius which designed, and astonishment at
-the wealth which was necessary to erect them.
-
-As the towns increased in prosperity and wealth, money always sufficed
-to buy from their sovereigns fresh privileges and powers, and fresh
-accessions of territory to be added to their municipal districts, till,
-at length, the trades became so numerous as to enroll themselves in
-companies, half civil and half military, whilst all united to form
-those trading commandaries or Hansen, the spread of which, over the
-north-west of Germany, forms so remarkable a feature in the history of
-commerce and civilization. Foremost in the Netherlands in the race of
-prosperity was Ghent, which, within a century from its enfranchisement,
-by Philip of Alsace, rendered itself, in effect, the capital of
-Flanders, with an extent and importance even greater than the capital
-of France, whence Charles V subsequently ventured upon his bon mot,
-that he could put all Paris in his _glove_ “_dans mon gant_.”
-
-But with this increase of prosperity, increased, also, the troubles
-and cares of these republican communities; their excessive wealth at
-once engendering internal rivalries and faction, and inviting foreign
-cupidity and invasion. “Never,” says Hallam, “did liberty wear a more
-unamiable aspect than among the burghers of the Netherlands, who abused
-the strength she gave them, by cruelty and insolence.” The entire
-history of Bruges and Ghent, but especially the latter, is, in fact,
-a series of wars, to repel the aggressions of France, or to suppress
-the turbulence and insurrectionary spirit of their own citizens. These
-were not the mere tumultuous skirmishes which have been dignified by
-the title of _wars_ amongst the rival cities and states of northern
-Italy about the same period, and in which it not unfrequently happened
-that no blood was spilt; but in the battles of Courtrai, Rosebeke
-and Everghem, the citizens could send 20 to 40,000 soldiers into the
-field, and conducted their hostilities almost upon the scale of modern
-warfare. At Courtrai, “the men of Ghent” carried off seven hundred
-golden spurs from the defeated nobles of France. When Charles VII was
-preparing to expel the English from Calais, Philip the Good was able to
-send him 40,000 men as a subsidy, of whom 16,000 were from Ghent alone.
-
-Nor were these _internal_ feuds upon a minor scale. Jacques van
-Artevelde, the Masaniello of Flanders, and more generally known as
-“_the Brewer of Ghent_,” from his having joined the guild of that
-trade, from which he was afterwards chosen by fifty other corporations
-of tradesmen, as the head of each, was enabled to organize such an
-army of the city companies, as to render his alliance an object of
-importance to Edward III of England, when making his preparations for
-invading France.
-
-Under this extraordinary “tribune of the people,” Ghent was enabled,
-virtually, to cast off its allegiance to the courts of Flanders, to
-elect Artevelde as their Ruwaert or Protector, and to bid defiance to
-their native sovereign, backed by all the power of France. Artevelde
-became the personal friend and counsellor of the English King, who
-sent ambassadors to his court, and entered into alliance with the city
-he commanded in conjunction with that of Bruges and Ypres. It was at
-the suggestion of Artevelde, that Edward quartered the arms of France
-and assumed the fleur de lis, which for so many centuries was borne
-upon the shield of England; and it was in the palace of the Flemish
-demagogue, that Queen Philippa gave birth to a son, whose name has made
-Ghent familiar in the annals of England:--
-
-    “Old John of _Gaunt_, time honoured Lancaster.”
-
-The Ruwaert in honour of Philippa gave her name to his son, who, at a
-subsequent period, became the demagogue of Ghent, and who,
-
-              “Dire rebel though he was,
-    Yet with a noble nature and great gifts
-    Was he endowed: courage, discretion, wit,
-    An equal temper and an ample soul,
-    Rock bound and fortified against assaults
-    Of transitory passion: but below
-    Built on a surgeing subterranean fire
-    That stirred and lifted him to high attempts,
-    So prompt and capable, and yet so calm.
-    He nothing lacked in sovereignty but the right;
-    Nothing in soldiership except good fortune.”
-
-  _Taylor’s Philip van Artevelde._
-
-But the fate, like the fortune of Artevelde, was characteristic of the
-proverbial caprice and vacillations of republican popularity. After
-being for ten years or more, the idol of the people, he presumed to
-induce them to expel the Counts of Flanders from the succession, and to
-acknowledge the Black Prince, the son of his friend, as their sovereign
-in his stead; but his followers, startled at so bold a proposition,
-made a pretence for getting rid of their “protector,” and massacred
-Artevelde in his own house, which they burned to the ground, “Poor men
-raised him,” says Froissart, “and wicked men slew him.”
-
-Thirty years after, when Flanders, by the marriage of Margaret
-with Philip the Hardy, Duke of Burgundy, became united with that
-sovereignty, and the citizens were again at war amongst themselves,
-“the men of Ghent” elected Philip van Artevelde, godson of Queen
-Philippa, and her namesake, the son of their former favourite and
-victim, as their leader in their strifes with the burghers of Bruges,
-who were about to cut a canal from their city to Denys, which would
-have been injurious to the prosperity of Ghent, which had “the harvest
-of the river for her revenue,” when Philip defeated the army of Louis
-le Mael, entered Bruges in triumph, and carried off the Golden Dragon
-as large as an ox, which, till lately, surmounted the belfry of Ghent,
-and is said to have been brought home by the Flemings who followed
-Count Baldwin to Constantinople.
-
-For sometime, in the heyday of good fortune,
-
-        “Van Artevelde in all things aped
-    The state and bearing of a sovereign prince;
-    Had bailiffs, masters of the horse, receivers,
-    A chamber of accompt, a hall of audience;
-    Off gold and silver eat, was clad in robes
-    Of scarlet furred with minever, gave feasts
-    With minstrelsy and dancing, night and day----”
-
-But the power of France leagued with his native sovereign was
-irresistible, and at the battle of Rosebeke, he laid down, at once, his
-usurped authority and his life.
-
-Under the Dukes of Burgundy, the annals of these remarkable military
-merchants is the same continued story of broils and battles, and the
-union of Flanders to Austria, by the marriage of Mary of Burgundy, only
-brought a fresh line of combatants into the Low Countries.
-
-In 1500, Charles V, the grandson of this ominous alliance, was born at
-Ghent, in the old château of the Counts of Flanders, the remains of
-which are still to be seen in the Place de St. Pharailde, converted
-into a cotton factory, the lofty chimney of which now pours its volume
-of smoke above the cradle of a monarch who made it his boast, that “the
-sun never set upon his dominions.”
-
-With the same fiery independence of their forefathers, the “men of
-Ghent,” resisted the despotism of the Emperor as sturdily as they
-had done the exactions of their Earls and Dukes; and it was after
-quelling one of these insurrections, that Charles, intent on devising
-a punishment for their contumacy, was advised by the Duke of Alva,
-the future Moloch of the Netherlands under Philip II, to raze it to
-its foundations, when Charles replied by pointing to its towers and
-palaces, and asking him in a repetition of his former witticism,
-“combien il croyait qu’il fallait de peaux (_villes_) d’Espagne, pour
-faire un _gant_ de cette grandeur.”
-
-Charles, however, exacted a punishment more humiliating, if not so
-savage as that contemplated by the _bourreau_ of the church, by
-repealing all the charters of the city, dismounting their famous
-bell, Roland, fining the community, and compelling the ringleaders to
-supplicate his mercy in their shirts, with halters round their necks,
-a ceremony which is erroneously said to have been commemorated by the
-magistrates of Ghent continuing to wear the rope, as a part of their
-official costume, and which is still kept alive in the distich which
-enumerates the characteristics of the Flemish cities:--
-
-    Nobilibus Bruxella viris--Antuerpiæ nummis
-    Gandavum laqueis, formosis Brugia puellis
-    Lovanium doctis, gaudet Mechlinia stultis.[15]
-
-With the abdication of Charles V, that most remarkable incident in
-the history of kings, which took place in the church of St. Gudule at
-Brussels, and the accession of Philip II, arose the reign of terror in
-the Netherlands, when Alva and his bloodhounds ravaged Flanders, and
-their successors, for twenty years, rendered her cities abattoirs of
-Europe.
-
-In these events, Ghent took a prominent part, and the siege of her
-citadel, which was garrisoned by the Spaniards, affords the noble
-story of its defence till reduced by famine, when the Flemish, on its
-surrender, discovered that its heroic resistance had been the work of
-a woman, Madame Mondragon, the wife of the commandant, who, in the
-absence of her husband, had assumed his command, and capitulated only
-when hunger and disease had reduced her little garrison to one hundred
-and fifty souls, including herself and her children. Philip, weary of
-the war, and assured of the loss of Holland, which had adopted its
-liberator, the Prince of Orange, as its sovereign, compromised in some
-degree with the Flemish, by separating their country from the crown of
-Spain, and conferring it on his daughter, Isabella, by whose marriage
-with Albert, it became again united to the house of Austria, under
-whose dominion it remained, with the exception of its brief occupation
-by Louis XIV previous to the treaty of Utrecht, till incorporated with
-the French republic in 1794, and subsequently annexed to Holland in
-February 1815.
-
-The streets of Ghent are full of monuments and reminiscences of these
-stormy and singular times. In a small triangular place, called the
-Toad’s-corner (Padden hoek), stood the house of the elder Artevelde
-and the scene of his murder; that which has been erected upon the spot,
-bears an inscription on its front:--“ICI PERIT VICTIME D’UNE FACTION,
-LE XXVII JUILLET MCCCXXXXV, JACQUES VON ARTAVELDE QUI ELEVA LES
-COMMUNES DE FLANDRE A UNE HAUTE PROSPERITÉ.”
-
-In the _Hôtel de Ville_, one of the enormous edifices of the period, in
-Moresco gothic architecture, the celebrated declaration, called “the
-Pacification of Ghent,” by which the states of the Netherlands formed
-their federation to resist the tyrannous bigotry of Philip II, was
-signed by the representatives of Holland and Belgium in 1576.
-
-Close by it stands the belfry from which Charles V directed the removal
-of the pride of the burghers, their ponderous bell _Roland_, which,
-by turns, sounded the tocsin of revolt, or chimed in the carillon of
-loyalty; the tradition says it was of such dimensions as to weigh six
-tons, and was encircled by an inscription:--
-
-    Mynen naem is Roland--als ick clippe dan is’t brandt Al sick luyde,
-    dan is’t _storm in Vlaenderlande_.
-
-    “_When I ring, there is fire; when I toll, there is a tempest in
-    Flanders._”
-
-And many a stormy reveille it must have pealed over the hive of
-turbulent craftsmen who swarmed around its base.
-
-Not far from the belfry, is the Friday market (_Marché de Vendredi_),
-“the forum” of ancient Ghent, where all its municipal ceremonies
-were solemnized, and all its popular assemblies were convened, to
-the tolling of their favourite bell; in which, also, the Counts of
-Flanders took the oath of inauguration, on their accession to the
-sovereignty. It was here that John Lyon convened his guild of watermen,
-and persuaded them to assume the old symbol of revolt, the white hood,
-in order to resist the exactions of Louis le Mael; and it was here
-that John Breydel, another fiery demagogue, marshalled his band of
-“lion’s claws” in 1300, and led them to the “Battle of the Spurs” at
-Courtrai; and it was here that Jacques van Artevelde, at the head of
-his “trades’ union,” was proclaimed Ruwaert of Flanders. It was here
-that the commotions, so quaintly detailed by Froissart, took place
-between the fullers and the weavers, on Black Monday, in 1345, when the
-latter were expelled from Ghent, after leaving fifteen hundred of their
-number dead in the streets; and it was here that, in later times, the
-ferocious Duke of Alva lit the flames of the inquisition, and consumed
-the contumacious protestants of the Low Countries.
-
-In Ghent, almost every great event in the chronicles of the old city
-is, more or less, identified with the Marché de Vendredi. In the centre
-of its square, the citizens, in 1600, erected a column to the memory
-of Charles V, which was levelled by the French republicans in 1794, in
-order to plant the tree of liberty on its foundation.
-
-In a recess of this market-place, stands the wonder of Ghent, “_la
-merveille de Gand_,” an enormous cannon of the fourteenth century, used
-by Philip van Artevelde, at the siege of Audenarde in 1382; but how
-it was ever dragged to the field, or manœuvred in the action, is one
-of the enigmas of ancient warfare, as it is upwards of eighteen feet
-long, ten inches in the diameter of the bore, and weighs thirty-nine
-thousand pounds. It is made of malleable iron, and is mentioned by
-Froissart as discharging balls during the siege, with a report which
-“was heard at five leagues distance by day, and ten by night,” and
-sounded as if “_tous les diables d’enfer fussent en chemin_.” It was
-brought from Audenarde to Ghent, having, I presume, been left upon the
-field by the discomfited Flemings. Its popular soubriquet is “_Dulle
-Greite_,” or Mad Margaret, in compliment to a Countess of Flanders, of
-violent memory, who is still known by the traditional title of “the
-Black Lady,” given to her by her subjects.
-
-These and a thousand similar records and memorials of the olden time,
-render a stroll through the streets of Ghent, one of singular interest
-and amusement; and, perhaps, there is no city of Europe which more
-abounds in these relics of local history, or has preserved so many
-characteristics of manners and customs in keeping with its associations
-of the past.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-GHENT.
-
-    Manufacture of machinery in Ghent--Great works of the
-      Phœnix--Exertions of the King of Holland to promote this branch
-      of art--His success--Policy of England in permitting the export
-      of tools--Effect of their prohibiting the export of machines
-      upon the continental artists--Present state of the manufactures
-      in Belgium--_The Phœnix_, its extent, arrangements and
-      productions--_The canal of Sas de Gand_--_The Beguinage_--Tristam
-      Shandy--The churches of Ghent--Religious animosity of the
-      Roman Catholics--_The cathedral of St. Bavon_--Chef-d’œuvre
-      of Van Eyck--Candelabra of Charles I--Carved pulpit--_Church
-      of St. Michael_--Vandyck’s crucifixion--The The brotherhood
-      of St. Ivoy--Church of St. Sauveur--Singular picture in the
-      church of St. Peter--Dinner at M. Grenier’s--Shooting with the
-      bow--Roads in Belgium--Domestic habits of the Flemings--The
-      Flemish language--_Count d’Hane_--Mansion of the Countess d’Hane
-      de Steenhausen--Gallery of M. Schamps--_The University_ of
-      Ghent--State of primary education in Belgium.
-
-HAVING heard so much in England of the gigantic scale of the
-establishments for the construction of machinery in Belgium, we
-paid a visit this morning to the great _Phœnix Iron works_ at Ghent,
-the largest in the kingdom; (indeed, I may presume, the largest in
-Europe), except those of Seraing near Liege. The surprising progress
-which the Belgians have, within the last few years, made in this
-department, is naturally a subject of the deepest interest in this
-country. Twenty years ago, the manufacturers of the Netherlands were
-altogether dependant upon France and England, for everything except
-the most ordinary pieces of machinery, which were used in the simplest
-processes--but the refusal of Great Britain, to permit its exportation
-upon any terms, naturally left them no alternative, but either to
-abandon their manufactures, or to apply their own ingenuity to the
-construction of machinery for themselves. To the encouragement of the
-latter attempt, the King of Holland, for the fifteen years that Belgium
-was under his protection, applied himself with an energy and zeal, that
-is positively without parallel; patronage, personal exertions, and
-pecuniary assistance, were devoted to the promotion of this important
-object, with an assiduity and perseverance almost incredible; his
-efforts were crowned with perfect success, and even his enemies, are
-forced to admit that the singular developement which has taken place in
-the resources of Belgium, in this important department, are all to be
-ascribed to the untiring energy and exertions of the King of Holland.
-
-His efforts were much facilitated by the relaxation, in the meantime,
-of the policy of England, so far as to permit the free exportation of
-certain machinery, and what was of infinitely greater importance, _of
-the most complex and ingenious tools_ for its construction. The effects
-of the latter measure, in particular, and the impetus which it has
-communicated to the manufacture of machinery, not only in Belgium, but
-in every other country of Europe which aspires to it, is positively
-beyond calculation. It gave, at once, to our continental rivals the
-very arcana of our superiority; tools that are themselves the most
-beautiful and elaborate machines, performing like automatons operations
-that once required all the intelligence as well as all the dexterity
-of an artisan; lathes and planes that grapple with a beam of iron as
-if it were green wood, and shape and polish the most ponderous shafts
-with as much ease as a turner produces an ivory toy.[16] Placing these
-unreservedly in the hands of the engineers of the continent, and,
-at the same time, refusing to let them have the articles which they
-were almost spontaneously to produce, was neither more nor less than
-peremptorily withholding the fruit, but making no compliment whatever
-of sending the tree.
-
-The refusal of Great Britain to concede the whole question has, at all
-times, excited an intense feeling on the continent, and the Belgians
-themselves are amongst the loudest in denouncing this “jealous and
-narrow-minded policy of England;” forgetful that they themselves in
-1814 adopted identically the same course, and prohibited under pain of
-fine and imprisonment the exit of their own machinery or artisans, such
-as they were! Even now, the value of that which England conceded, is
-forgotten in the importance attached to that which she still withholds,
-and even the appearance of mystery connected with the prohibition
-increases its importance in imagination and whets the appetite to
-obtain it. A whimsical illustration of their ideas upon the subject
-occurs in the work of M. Briavionne, who gravely asserts that “the
-manufacturers of Lancashire, impatient to participate in the cares
-of the government upon this point, have submitted to a voluntary tax
-sufficient to organize a perpetual guard, which surrounds Manchester
-night and day to prevent the exit of machinery.”[17]
-
-However, it is notorious that notwithstanding these sleepless
-precautions and in spite of every prohibition, machinery of every
-description is at the present moment smuggled into Belgium, and every
-other state that requires it--not, perhaps, in such quantities as to
-serve for the fitting up of extensive factories, but so as to afford
-a model of every improvement and every new invention for the instant
-adoption, and imitation of the continental engineers and mechanicians.
-Thus provided and thus encouraged, speculating upon capital supplied
-lavishly by their government, equipped with the most valuable English
-tools, inspected by English artisans, and working from English models,
-the Belgians have now far outstripped all the rest of Europe in the
-manufacture of machines of every description, and in all but the cost
-of construction, and that beauty of finish which matured skill can
-alone achieve, they at present bid fair to rival England herself in her
-peculiar and hitherto undisputed domain.
-
-The establishment of the Phœnix, is one of those which have sprung up,
-thus stimulated and thus encouraged. It was originally erected by an
-individual proprietor, M. Huytens Kerremans, in 1821, and attained much
-of its reputation under the management of an Englishman, named Bell,
-so much so, that at the period of the revolution in 1830, it employed
-upwards of two hundred and twenty workmen daily. In 1836, on the death
-of the proprietor, it passed into the hands of a joint stock company,
-by whom it has been enlarged to more than thrice its previous extent,
-at an expense of upwards of one million of francs. It is at present
-conducted by Mr. Windsor, a gentleman from Leeds, and is certainly
-the most admirably arranged establishment of the kind I have ever
-seen--those of England not excepted.
-
-It at present employs seven hundred hands, of whom two hundred are
-apprentices, and of the remainder, between fifty and sixty English. The
-range of its productions includes every species of machine used for
-spinning flax, cotton, silk, or wool, as well as for other manufactures
-in which machinery is required, for which there is a brisk demand
-at present, not only in Belgium, but for Spain, Austria, France and
-Holland. In point of finish and beauty, the spinning machinery is
-certainly, as I have said, inferior to the English, it is also stated
-to be defective in other respects, but those proprietors of mills who
-are using it, made no complaints to me upon the subject, and seemed
-perfectly satisfied with its execution. Some of the heavier articles
-in process of construction, especially a spiral roving-frame which
-some English workmen were completing, seemed, in every respect both of
-finish and action, to be quite equal to those made at Manchester and
-Leeds.
-
-The establishment contains a preparatory workshop on a comprehensive
-scale, fitted up with small tools and machinery, and superintended by
-two competent directors, solely for the instruction of apprentices,
-and its success we were told had been most gratifying. The Englishmen
-employed at the Phœnix receive higher wages than the Flemings, but the
-majority of them are only retained till their original engagements
-shall have been completed, when their services will be dispensed with,
-and their places supplied by native workmen, at wages not exceeding
-twenty francs per week, and fully competent to undertake their duties.
-
-One important feature in this immense manufactory is, that it is
-gradually succeeding in making its own tools, instead of importing
-them as heretofore from England. The majority of those in use had been
-already constructed upon the spot upon English models, and at the
-moment we called, a planing machine, twenty feet long, was in process
-of erection, together with drills, sliding lathes, dividing and filing
-apparatus, and in short, every description of tool in use in Great
-Britain. In this respect, the directors assured me of their confidence
-of being, for the future, perfectly independent of any supply from
-abroad--but I should add, that afterwards at the rival establishment
-at Seraing, where all the tools are imported from England, I was told
-that those made at the Phœnix were not only much more expensive, but of
-inferior quality.
-
-The works were in full employment at the period of our visit, from
-the fact of there being three flax spinning mills in course of
-construction in Ghent; but it remains to be seen whether its present
-vigorous prosperity is the result of a permanent cause, and whether the
-career of Belgian manufactures, and the demand created in consequence,
-will be such as to maintain in remunerative operation this splendid
-establishment, as well as that of Seraing and the minor works of the
-same kind at Brussels, Verviers, Namur, Charleroi and elsewhere.
-
-In the neighbourhood of the Phœnix, we passed the great basin of the
-Sas de Gand Canal, which by connecting Ghent with Terneuse at the
-mouth of the Scheldt, has effectually rendered it a sea-port in the
-heart of Belgium. This bold idea was originally conceived by Napoleon,
-but carried into effect, and the basin completed, by the King of
-Holland only two years before he was driven from the country by the
-revolution. As the embouchure of the canal, however, is situated
-in Zeeland, a province of the Dutch dominions, its navigation was
-effectually closed from 1830 to 1839, when the treaty was ratified,
-which finally determined the limits of the two States. During those
-nine years, the magnificent dock at Ghent, and the line of the canal
-itself, were stagnant, and the passage rapidly filling up with sand and
-silt, another of the many inconveniences entailed upon the merchants of
-Belgium by “the repeal of the union.” It is at last, however, opened
-to the trade, and when we saw it, contained a number of vessels, some
-discharging cotton, and one taking in cargo for the Havanna. During the
-few months that had elapsed from its opening in October, 1839, upwards
-of one hundred and twenty vessels had entered and departed by it from
-Ghent, for Holland, and the Hanse Towns, London, the Mediterranean, and
-the United States.
-
-On our return we drove to the _Beguinage_, a little enclosed district,
-appropriated as the residence of an ancient community of nuns, who take
-no vow, but on contributing to the general funds of the community,
-are admitted into the sisterhood, and devote their lives to works of
-charity and benevolence, especially to attendance on the sick and poor.
-They are each clad in the costume of the order. For a head-dress, they
-carry the _beguine_, a veil of white muslin, folded square, and laid
-flat upon the top of the head, whence they derive their name, with a
-black silk hood, termed a _faille_, said to have been anciently worn
-by the ladies of Flanders, and closely resembling, both in name and
-appearance, the _faldetta_ of the Maltese. This interesting society
-contains between seven and eight hundred members, and occupies not
-a detached building, as elsewhere, but a little retired section of
-the city, surrounded by a fosse, and enclosed by a wall, at the gate
-of which, one of the sisterhood acts as porter. The whole is divided
-into streets, consisting of rows of quaint looking little houses, of
-venerable brick-work, with Dutch gables and cut stone windows, each
-door inscribed with the name of a particular saint, Agatha, Catherine,
-or Theresa, instead of that of its occupant. In the centre is a
-spacious square, with an old Spanish looking church, rather richly
-ornamented, and containing a few curious paintings and carvings in
-oak. The order is of very high antiquity, dating some twelve hundred
-years ago, and the present establishment was founded in the thirteenth
-century.
-
-When the convents of the Low Countries were reduced in number by the
-Austrian government under Joseph II, he made a special exemption in
-favour of the Beguines, they were equally recognized and protected,
-when the French directory completed the suppression of the remaining
-religious houses of Belgium, and the King of Holland following the
-same example, confirmed them, in the possession of their privileges
-and property, by a charter granted in 1826 or 1827. A number of the
-sisters occupy a portion of their time in making lace; their dwellings,
-streets and gardens, are preserved with a “beauty of cleanliness”
-truly delightful. Every thing we could see or learn of their inmates
-was characterized by gentleness and goodness, and their active
-benevolence, (in spite of my uncle Toby’s insinuation,) the dictate of
-their heart, and not of their profession.[18] In the whole aspect of
-their dwelling, there was nothing of the
-
-    “Relentless walls, whose darksome round contains,
-    Repentant sighs and voluntary pains.”
-
-But a cheerful serenity, and an enlivening interest, very different
-from the ideas usually associated with the gloom of a convent.
-
-The churches of Ghent in which, as usual, the grand objects of
-curiosity and vertu are amassed and exhibited, are in point of
-number, richness, and sombre beauty, quite proportionate to the other
-attractions of Ghent. They are all, (with one exception, that of
-St. Peter’s, which is a copy of the one at Rome,) built in the same
-venerable and massive style of gothic architecture, with huge square
-turrets, lofty aisles, rich altars, pulpits of carved oak and marble,
-and chapels decorated with paintings by the old masters of the Flemish
-School. The population is almost exclusively Roman Catholic, hardly
-2000 of its 95,000 inhabitants being of the reformed religion. For the
-use of the latter, a church was appropriated by the King of Holland,
-in 1817, which had once been attached to a convent of Capuchins, and
-on their suppression, had been converted into a military magazine
-and hospital by the French. Such, however, was the animosity of the
-priesthood to this act of toleration on the part of the King, that it
-was for some time necessary to station a guard, both within the church
-and without, to protect those who frequented it from violence or
-insult. And yet Ghent has the reputation of being the least intolerant
-and bigoted city in the Netherlands.
-
-The cathedral of St. Bavon, besides being the oldest, is by far
-the most magnificent in Ghent, and seems, in fact, to have a high
-reputation for its splendour, as we repeatedly heard of it at
-subsequent points of our tour. The whole of the basement is occupied
-by one vast crypt or _souterrain_, the low vaulted arches of which,
-rest on the shafts of the huge columns which support the roof of the
-grand edifice above. Like it, it is divided into a series of little
-gloomy chapels, containing the tombs of some of the ancient families
-of distinction, and occasionally decorated by pictures and statues of
-extreme antiquity. The brothers John and Hubert Van Eyck, the painters
-and their sister, who was likewise an artist, sleep in one grave under
-the floor of this melancholy vault. Over the grand entrance to the
-cathedral is a curious old statue of St. Bavon holding a hawk upon his
-wrist, a curious attitude, though characteristic of the manners of the
-times. The coup-d’œil of the interior is surprisingly grand, the choir
-being separated from the nave and aisles by lofty columns of variegated
-marbles, and the entrance to each of the four and twenty chapels which
-surround the church, covered by a screen of neat design, sometimes in
-carved oak or stone, but more frequently in gilded brass or iron of
-exquisite workmanship.
-
-The numerous paintings with which the church is covered are few of them
-of extraordinary merit, they are chiefly by the artists, contemporary
-and subsequent to Rubens, Crayer, Otto Vennius, Honthorst, Serghers
-and others. The most remarkable painting is that of the Saint Agneau
-or adoration of the lamb by the Van Eycks. It is in marvellous
-preservation, and is one of the most valuable specimens remaining of
-the school to which it belongs. It contains a profusion of figures,
-finished with the richness and delicacy of a miniature, and represents
-the lamb upon an altar, in the midst of a rich landscape, surrounded
-by angels, and worshipped by multitudes of popes, emperors, monks and
-nuns. It is surmounted and surrounded by a number of compartments,
-containing pictures of the Saviour and the Virgin, and representing
-divers incidents in the life of the former; in addition to these,
-there were originally six doors or _volets_ to the picture, which, by
-some ignorance of the persons in charge of them, were actually sold in
-1816 for a mere trifle to an Englishman called Solly, from whom they
-were bought by the King of Prussia, for 400,000 francs, and they now
-decorate the museum at Berlin. There is also a picture by Rubens, of
-St. Bavon retiring to a monastery, after having distributed his goods
-to the poor, which was carried by Napoleon to Paris, and restored in
-1819.
-
-The choir, which is finished with carved mahogany, has on either
-side, at the entrance, two statues of St. Peter and St. Paul casting
-the viper from his hand, by Van Poucke, a modern Flemish sculptor,
-who died at Rome in 1809. Among its other ornaments are four lofty
-candelabra of polished copper, once the property of Charles I of
-England, and sold along with the other decorations of the chapel at
-Whitehall by order of the Commonwealth. Round the altar are also some
-tombs of the former prelates of Ghent, amongst which, that by Duquesnoy
-of the Bishop Triest, is regarded as the finest piece of sculpture in
-the Netherlands. The mitred dignitaries each repose upon his sculptured
-sarcophagus, or kneel with clasped and upraised hands:
-
-    “Seeming to say the prayer when dead,
-    That living they had never said.”
-
-Here, again, the pulpit is an extraordinary production in carved
-wood of huge dimensions, but with white marble ornaments and figures
-injudiciously intermingled with the rich old oak. The principal
-figures are statues of Truth awakening Time, and presenting to him
-the scriptures with the motto, “_surge qui dormis illuminabit te
-Christus!_” This pulpit, which is far inferior to those at Antwerp and
-elsewhere, is not by Verbruggen, who is the Canova of wood, but by an
-artist of Ghent, called Laurence Delvaux, who died about 1780.
-
-The other churches present a succession of objects which is almost as
-tiresome to visit as it is tedious to enumerate. That of St. Michael,
-in extent and magnificence, is second only to the cathedral. Amongst a
-host of ordinary paintings, and some by modern artists, especially one
-of great merit, by Paelinck, a native of Ghent, it possesses a chef
-d’œuvre of Vandyk, a “Crucifixion,” in which he has introduced the
-same magnificent horse as in his picture of Charles V, in the Sal di
-Baroccio, at Florence. Sir Joshua Reynolds calls it “one of his noblest
-works.” It had been injured by repeated cleanings, but M. Voisin, the
-historian of Ghent, observes with much naïveté, “qu’il vient d’être
-restauré par un artiste habile.” Who he may be who has ventured to
-restore a chef-d’œuvre of Vandyck, M. Voisin discreetly forbears to
-name.
-
-An association, called the Brotherhood of St. Ivoy, formerly met in
-this church, which was composed of the most distinguished members of
-the bar, who gave advice to the poor, and bore the expense of any
-legal process which it might be necessary to institute for them out
-of a common fund. This law hospital has not, however, survived the
-revolution of 1830. The music and choir of St. Michael’s are remarkably
-fine, the organ is of extraordinary richness and volume, and nothing
-could possibly be more sublime than its melodious tones resounding
-amidst the “dim religious light” of the old gothic church, when
-
-    “Through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault,
-    The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.”
-
-In the church of St. Sauveur, Rue des Prêtres, there is a painting
-of the “Descent from the Cross,” by Van Hanslaere, one of the most
-distinguished living artists of Belgium, and in that of St. Peter, a
-copy by Van Thulden, from Rubens’ picture of the Triumph of Truth over
-Luther and Calvin, who are represented in the agonies of annihilation,
-trampled underfoot by the rampant followers of Truth, who are pursuing
-their disciples in all directions. In the foreground, a lion is
-introduced allegorically, pawing a wolf whom he has just strangled,
-emblematic, no doubt, of the fall of heresy under the hands of the
-church.
-
-We drove to the village of Gavre, about ten miles from Ghent, to dine
-at the villa of M. Grenier, a very splendid house recently erected upon
-one of the very few elevated points, for it cannot be called a hill,
-which are to be found in Flanders, and which, from the vast level plain
-over which it rises, commands a most enchanting view; the ancient town
-of Audenarde lying immediately in front, and the “lazy Scheldt” winding
-its devious way amidst innumerable hamlets, woods and villages as far
-as the eye could reach.
-
-It was at Gavre, that the Duke of Marlborough encamped on his triumphal
-march from Ramillies, where, after taking all the intervening cities
-and strong-holds of Flanders, together with Audenarde and Ghent,
-almost in the space of a week, he addresses thence to the Duchess the
-remarkable letter, in which he says, “so many towns have submitted
-since the battle, that it really looks more like a dream than truth,”
-and in another place, he says, “I am so persuaded that this campaign
-will give us a good peace, that I beg of you to do all you can that our
-house at Woodstock may be carried up as much as possible, that I may
-have a prospect of living in it.”
-
-It was the fête of some saint in the villages through which we drove,
-and every country inn seemed full of enjoyment; tents filled with
-dancers, and parties engaged in athletic games before the doors. In
-one place a considerable crowd were assembled round the maypole to
-shoot with the bow at the popinjay. This is a favourite exercise of
-the Flemings, who are exceedingly expert in it, the company which
-we passed, was composed indifferently of the gentry and peasants,
-who seemed to enter into it with equal spirit. At Ghent, there is an
-association for the purpose of practising the use of the bow, called
-the Confrères de Saint George, a relic of the time when every district
-of Flanders had a similar society, all which used to meet at Ghent to
-contend for the prize, and the successful town caused a mass to be
-celebrated in honour of the victor, and gave to the poor the scarlet
-cloaks, laced with gold, which had been worn as the costume of the day.
-
-The roads through this part of Belgium are made like those of France,
-with a raised pavé in the centre only, a custom enforced, in a great
-part, by the great expense of bringing stones from a distance for their
-construction, scarcely any being to be found in Flanders or the west.
-The bye-roads being all across sand, unconsolidated in any way, are all
-but impassable.
-
-The Belgian hour for dinner is equally early with that of the
-tables-d’hôte, being from two to three or four o’clock, and as there
-is no prolonged sitting for wine afterwards, the entertainment ends
-before we in England think of dressing for dinner. The cuisine at
-M. Grenier’s was altogether French, including, however, some dishes
-peculiarly Flemish, amongst others, the large smoked ham, which is an
-invariable accompaniment at every table throughout Belgium, and seems
-to be in as high estimation now, as when Rome was supplied with them
-by the ancient Menapii of the Ardennes; it comes to table decorated by
-a chased silver handle screwed on to the shank bone, to avoid using
-the fork in carving it. Another national dish was the _hareng frais_,
-herring pickled like anchovies, and used like them without further
-cooking: it is, however, equally common in Holland, where the fishery
-is of high importance--in Belgium it is rapidly declining.
-
-The style of everything in M. Grenier’s establishment, and in those of
-the same rank where we had the honour to visit, was essentially French,
-his family having been educated in Paris, and the conversation was
-of course in French, although every one at table seemed to understand
-English perfectly. Flemish is spoken only by the peasantry and the
-working classes. The account given of it as a dialect was, that “Dutch
-is bad German, and Flemish bad Dutch.” It is, however, by no means
-inharmonious, and in point of antiquity, I was told by Count d’Hane,
-that the earliest printed comedy in Europe still exists in Flemish. A
-stroll in the grounds after dinner, and music and singing on our return
-to the drawing-room concluded an exceedingly agreeable evening, and we
-returned early to Ghent.
-
-  10 September, 1840.
-
-We had, this morning, a visit from Count d’Hane, a member of the
-“senate,” the elective House of Peers for Belgium, to which he is
-returned for the district of Alost. The Count is a younger brother of
-the most distinguished family of Ghent, and head of the educational
-section of the legislature, besides being an ardent amateur of
-agriculture. He is married to the only daughter of M. de Potter (not
-the de Potter of the Revolution, however) and in conformity to the
-Flemish usage, has appended the name of that family to his own. We
-drove along with him to the house of his mother, the Dowager Countess
-d’Hane de Steenhausen, in the Rue des Champs, the most splendid
-mansion in the city, built in the style of Louis XIV, and containing a
-collection of choice pictures of the Dutch school. The dining-room is a
-superb saloon with mirrored walls, an inlaid parquet and richly painted
-ceiling: the latter, however, is torn down in many places, the soldiers
-of the French revolutionary army having thrust their sabres through it
-in 1794, in the hope of finding gold concealed between it and the floor
-above, an outrage, the traces of which the owners have never removed.
-It was in these apartments that the late Count received the Emperor
-Alexander on his return from England after the Peace of Paris, and the
-same suite of rooms were subsequently the residence of Louis XVIII,
-who fled hither during the Hundred Days, and remained till the events
-of 1815, restored him to his throne.
-
-A few doors distant in the same street, we visited the gallery of M.
-Schamps which had long been regarded as one of the lions of Ghent. It
-has since been dispersed and sold. When we saw it, it was numbered and
-catalogued, and the rooms filled with dealers from all parts of Europe,
-inspecting their intended purchases previous to the auction, which was
-to take place a few days after. The gentleman by whom it was originally
-collected is but recently dead, and its dispersion now was attributed,
-we were told, partly to impatience of the present proprietor, at having
-his retirement perpetually invaded by travellers to see his pictures,
-and partly by the operation of the law against primogeniture, which
-rendered its sale indispensable, in order to a more equal partition of
-the family estates.
-
-Count d’Hane did us the favour to conduct us over the buildings of the
-University, one of the many valuable institutions for which Belgium
-is indebted to the munificence of the King of Holland. It was founded
-by him in 1816, and thrown open for the reception of students in 1826;
-an inscription upon the portico records the event, _Auspice Gulielmo
-I. Acad. Conditore, posuit, S. P. Q. G._ DCCCXXVI. the initials in the
-usual magniloquence of the low countries, represent the Senatus Populus
-Que Gandavensis!
-
-The buildings from a design of Roelandt, an artist of Nieuport, are
-in a style of chaste Corinthian architecture, the portico ornamented
-with sculpture in alto relievo, the vestibule superbly flagged in a
-mosaic of colored marbles, and the hall and staircase ornamented with
-busts and caryatides in white marble. The theatres are on a magnificent
-scale, richly furnished and lighted by lofty lanterns in the vaults
-of the roof. The course of education, besides most extensive primary
-schools, comprises the faculties of law, medicine and divinity, with
-science and belles-lettres, and the number of students is between 300
-and 400 attending the classes of thirty professors. There is attached
-to the University a library of sixty thousand volumes, a collection of
-philosophical apparatus of great value, and museums of antiquities,
-natural history, mineralogy and comparative anatomy, and the whole
-institution having been recently remodelled and placed under the care
-of a vigilant and anxious committee, it promises to be one of the most
-important and beneficial foundations in the kingdom.
-
-The entire system of primary education, however, is in anything but a
-satisfactory position in Belgium. Under the regence of Holland, the
-Dutch system of rational education was imparted to Belgium. Schools
-were established in every district, under the superintendance of
-provincial committees, instruction was supplied gratuitously, and the
-children of the poor were required to avail themselves of it, whilst
-to secure its efficiency, no teacher was allowed to be employed who
-had not undergone a thorough examination, and been furnished with a
-diploma of competency.
-
-This feature of the government was from the first vehemently opposed
-by the Belgian clergy, who saw in it an encroachment upon the right
-claimed by the Catholic Church to regulate the quantity as well as the
-quality of national education, and when in 1830, they succeeded in
-effecting the “repeal of the Union,” between the two countries, the
-entire system was abolished at one fell swoop.[19]
-
-Education, like every thing else, was declared to be free, and the new
-government did away with all official supervision of schools, and the
-necessity for any enquiry into the competency of teachers. The result
-of this has been, that although the number of schools has not been
-diminished, the nature of the instruction and the qualification of the
-teacher, is of so very low a description, as to be thus characterised
-in a modern work upon the subject, by M. Ducpétiaux,[20] himself, a
-distinguished Belgian, and intimately acquainted with the subject.
-
-“Instruction in our schools is generally faulty and incomplete, and
-little merits the praise which has been bestowed upon it. _The best
-thing that can be said in its favour is, that it is better than no
-instruction at all_, and that it is more satisfactory to see children
-sitting on the benches of a school, even although they be doing nothing
-to the purpose, than to behold them working mischief on the streets.
-They are taught to read, write, and figure a little; _to teach them
-less is scarcely possible_. We speak here of primary schools in
-general, and affirm that those who attribute a moralising influence to
-the majority of these schools, deceive themselves in a manner the most
-strange and prejudicial to the interest of the class whose children
-are the pupils in these seminaries. A degree of instruction so limited,
-so meagre, is nearly equivalent to none whatever; and it is impossible
-that things should be in a better case, seeing that the education of
-the _teachers_ themselves is of the most imperfect kind. Barely do
-these persons know the little which they undertake to impart, and they
-have, generally speaking, the most superficial notions of those methods
-of instilling knowledge, which they impudently attempt to apply in the
-case of those only a little more ignorant than themselves.”
-
-The experiment of education on both systems has now had an ample trial
-in Belgium; first in fifteen years of government protection, and
-now in ten years of “free trade.” The result has been a convincing
-failure, and those most clamorous for the latter system in 1830, are
-now the most urgent in their demands to revert to the former. The
-provincial deputations, in their reports, recommend the same course,
-and the legislature have so far subscribed to their views, as to
-propose a projet de loi for carrying them into effect, by restoring a
-modification of the system, as before the revolution.
-
-We dined with Count d’Hane at three o’clock in the afternoon, and as
-usual, the party broke up between seven and eight o’clock.
-
-    NOTE.--As the comparative cost of machinery in Belgium, and in
-    England, is a matter of much interest at the present moment, a
-    list of the prices of that manufactured at Ghent, with the English
-    charges for the same articles, contrasted with each item, will be
-    found in the Appendix No. I.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-GHENT AND COURTRAI.
-
-    The market-day at Ghent--The peasants--The linen-market--The
-      Book-stalls--_Courtrai_--The Lys--_Denys_--Distillation in
-      Belgium--AGRICULTURE IN FLANDERS--A Flemish farm--Anecdote of
-      Chaptal and Napoleon--Trade in manure--_The Smoor-Hoop_--Rotation
-      of crops--CULTIVATION OF FLAX--Real importance of the crop in
-      Belgium--Disadvantageous position of Great Britain as regards
-      the growth of flax--State of her importations from abroad and
-      her dependency upon Belgium--In the power of Great Britain
-      to relieve herself effectually--System in Flanders--_The
-      seed_--Singular fact as to the Dutch seed--Rotation of
-      crops--Spade labour--Extraordinary care and precaution in
-      _weeding_--_Pulling_--THE ROUISSAGE--In Hainault--In the Pays
-      de Waes--At Courtrai--The process in Holland--The process in
-      the Lys--_A Bleach-green_--The damask manufacture in Belgium--A
-      manufactory in a windmill--Introduction of the use of _sabots_
-      into Ireland--_Courtrai_, the town--Antiquities--The Church
-      of Notre Dame--Relic of Thomas à Becket--THE MAISON DE FORCE
-      AT GHENT--The System of prison discipline--Labour of the
-      inmates--Their earnings--Remarkable story of Pierre Joseph
-      Soëte--Melancholy case of an English prisoner--_A sugar
-      refinery_--State of the trade in Belgium--Curious frauds
-      committed under the recent law--_Beet-root sugar_--Failure of the
-      manufacture--A tumult at Ghent--_The New Theatre_--Cultivation
-      of music at Ghent--Print works of M. Desmet de Naeyer--Effects
-      of the Revolution of 1830 upon the manufactures of
-      Belgium--Opposition of Ghent and Antwerp to a separation from
-      Holland--M. Briavionne’s exposé of the ruin of the trade in
-      calico printing--Smuggling across the frontiers--Present
-      discontents at Ghent--Number of insolvents in 1839--General
-      decline of her manufactures.
-
-This being the market day for linen, we went early to the Marché de
-Vendredi where it is held. The winter, however, is the season in which
-the market is seen to the greatest advantage, as the farmers are not
-then prevented by their agricultural employments from attending to the
-weaving, and bringing of it to town for sale in December and January;
-so many as 2000 pieces have been sold in the course of a morning. The
-appearance of the peasantry was particularly prepossessing, their
-features handsome, their dress and person neat in the extreme; the
-women generally wearing long cloaks, made of printed calico, and the
-men the blouse of blue linen, which has become almost the national
-costume of Belgium.
-
-The sellers of linen were arranged in long lines, each with his webs
-before him resting on a low bench, whilst the police were present to
-preserve order, and see that every individual kept his allotted place.
-The webs had all previously been examined by a public officer, who
-affixed his seal to each, not as any mark of its quality or guide to
-its price, but merely to testify that it was not fraudulently made
-up--that it was of the same quality throughout as on the outer, fold,
-and that the quantity was exactly what it professed to be; any fraud
-attempted, in any particular, exposing the offender to the seizure and
-forfeiture of the web.[21]
-
-The other articles for sale in the market were vegetables and fruit
-of the ordinary kinds, (with a profusion of Mirabelle plums, the trees
-of which we saw, repeatedly, planted in hedge-rows), woollen cloth,
-cutlery, household furniture, and pottery of a very rude description,
-together with numerous stalls of books. The latter were chiefly
-religious, but amongst the others were a number of the old popular
-histories, which seem to be equally favourites in England and Flanders,
-such as “_Reynaert den Vos_;”--“_de schoone historie van Fortunatus
-borsen_;”--“_de schoone historie van den edelen Jan van Parys_;”--“_de
-Twee gebroders en vroome riddens Valentyn en Oursen den Wilden
-men_;”--“_Recretiven Droomboek_.” &c., &c.
-
-After breakfast we went by the railroad to Courtrai, a distance
-which the train accomplishes in a little more than two hours. My
-object, in the excursion, was to see the process, which is peculiar
-to this district, of steeping flax in the running waters of the
-Lys. This river, which rises in the Pays de Calais, and forms one
-of the boundaries between France and Belgium, derives its name, in
-all probability, from the quantity of water-lilies which flourish
-in its sluggish current, and which are said to be the origin of the
-fleur-de-lys in the royal arms of France. The road passes through
-Denys, Waereghem and Haerlebeke, three towns which are the chief
-in Communes of the same name, and are all bustling little places,
-combining with agricultural industry, a considerable trade in linen
-which is the great staple of the district. At Denys, there are also
-extensive distilleries of Geneva which enjoys a considerable reputation
-in Belgium, where the spirit produced by distillation is invariably
-bad, except in the provinces of Limbourg and Luxembourg, where it
-approaches somewhat to the character of the Dutch. This remarkable
-difference between the produce of two countries, so similar in almost
-all their resources for the manufacture, is, perhaps, to be found in
-the almost total absence of any duty of excise upon distillation, which
-it was found essential to reduce to a mere nominal sum since 1830, in
-order to protect the agriculture of Belgium, and which, consequently,
-brought the trade into the hands of the very lowest class, both of
-distillers and consumers.
-
-The entire surface of the country, between Ghent and Courtrai, is one
-unbroken plain, which, though less rich and luxuriant than the alluvial
-soils of Holland and of England, exhibits, in all directions, the most
-astonishing evidence of that superiority in agricultural science for
-which the Flemings are renowned over Europe. The natural reluctance
-of their thin and sandy soil has been overcome by dint of the most
-untiring labour--an attention to manuring, which approaches to the
-ludicrous in its details, and, above all, by a system of rotation, the
-most profoundly calculated and the most eminently successful.
-
-The general aspect of a Flemish farm; the absence of hedge-rows, or,
-where they are to be found, their elaborate training and inter-texture,
-so as to present merely a narrow vegetating surface of some two or
-three feet high, and twice as many inches in thickness; the minute
-division of their fields into squares, all bearing different crops, but
-performing the same circle of rotation, and the total disappearance of
-all weeds or plants, other than those sought to be raised; all these
-show the practical and laborious experience, by which they have reduced
-their science to its present system, and the indomitable industry
-by which, almost inch by inch, these vast and arid plains have been
-converted from blowing sands into blooming gardens. Here draining
-and irrigation are each seen in their highest perfection, owing to
-the frequent intersection of canals; whilst the same circumstance,
-affording the best facilities for the transport of manure, has been one
-of the most active promoters of farming improvement. Chaptal relates,
-that having traversed one of the sandy plains of Flanders in company
-with Napoleon, the Emperor, on his return to Paris, adverted to the
-circumstance of its gloomy barrenness with an expression of surprise
-as well as regret, when the practical philosopher suggested, that the
-construction of a canal across it would, within five years, convert the
-unproductive waste into luxuriant farms. The experiment was tried, and
-proved triumphantly successful. The canal was opened, and in less than
-the time predicted, the results anticipated were more than realized in
-its effects.
-
-To fix the flying sands of Belgium, the main and permanent expedient
-has been the application of manures; the preparation and care of this
-important ingredient has been, in Flanders, reduced to an actual trade,
-and barges innumerable are in constant transit on the canals, conveying
-it from its depôts and manufactories in the villages and towns to the
-rural districts, where it is to be applied. Servants, as a perquisite,
-are allowed a price for all the materials serviceable for preparing
-it, which they can collect in the house and farm-yards, and the value
-of which often amounts to as much as their nominal wages. Pits and
-a tank, called a _smoor-hoop_, or smothering heap, are attached to
-every farm, and tended with a systematic care that bespeaks the
-importance of their contents. Into these, every fermentable fluid is
-discharged, and mixed with the refuse of vegetables; the rape-cake,
-which remains after expressing the oil, wood-ashes, soaper’s waste,
-grains from distilleries, weeds from the drains, and, in short, every
-other convertible article collected in the establishment; and often,
-in addition, plants such as broom are sown in the lands, expressly
-for the purpose of being ploughed in when green to increase their
-fertility, or to be cut for fermentation in the _smoor-hoop_. This
-latter is constructed with bricks, like a tan-pit, and covered with
-cement to avoid escape or filtration; and its contents, at the larger
-establishments, are sold to the farmers at from three to five francs a
-hogshead, in proportion to the quality.
-
-The circle of rotation is observed with equal precision and scientific
-skill, and generally consists of four or five crops and a clean fallow,
-but varies, of course, according to the nature of the soil and the
-articles in demand. The season was too advanced for us to see the
-majority of the crops upon the ground, the grain being mostly housed;
-but those which were still in the field were of the most luxuriant
-quality. Pasturage, there was comparatively little; but clover, the
-chef-d’œuvre of Flemish husbandry, whence it was introduced into
-England, we saw in high perfection. Some plants which are not usual
-in Great Britain were to be seen in great abundance; large fields
-of tobacco, hemp, colza or rape-seed, which is largely sown for
-crushing, buck-wheat or _sarrasin_, (probably another importation of
-the Crusaders) from which they make a rich and nutritious bread. Beans
-and feeding crops, especially carrots, which the sandy lands produce
-luxuriantly, and turnips, appeared to be favourites especially near the
-villages.
-
-But the important article, and that which I was most desirous to see,
-was the _flax_, which, however, had been almost all pulled before
-my visit, so that I could only see the _rouissage_ or process of
-watering--which, in the district around Courtrai, is performed in a
-manner almost peculiar to themselves; indeed, I may say altogether
-so, so far as success is concerned; for although the same practice
-prevails in the Department du Nord, in France, in the vicinity of St.
-Amand and Valenciennes, it is with a much less satisfactory result: and
-in Russia, where it is practised to some extent, the flax produced is,
-in every way, of inferior quality. It seems, in fact, to be a question
-whether, in addition to the slow and deep current of the Lys, and its
-remarkable freedom from all impurity, it be not possessed of some
-peculiar chemical qualities, which account for its efficiency for this
-purpose, whilst identically the same process utterly fails in other
-streams with no perceptible difference in the quality of their waters.
-
-It is impossible to over estimate the importance to Great Britain of
-such an immediate improvement in the process of flax cultivation at
-home, as will place her on an equality with her rivals abroad. At
-present, it is an incontrovertible and uneasy fact, that with her trade
-in yarn and linen hourly encreasing, she is in the same proportion
-becoming more and more dependant upon foreign countries for the supply
-of the raw material. The cultivation of flax in England, is, in all
-probability, diminishing in amount, whilst year after year, our imports
-from Holland, Belgium and Prussia, are rising in a remarkable manner.
-Only look to the following facts. The great increase in our manufacture
-of linen yarn, both in England, Scotland and Ireland has taken place,
-since the year 1820; we then imported largely from the continent, and
-spun only for our own weavers at home, we have since then ceased to
-import yarn spun by machinery altogether, except a very small portion
-of the very finest for cambrics; and actually export to France, and
-elsewhere, to the value of £746,000 per annum. Our exports of British
-and Irish linen have increased in the mean time, from 36,522,333 yards
-in 1820, to 60,954,697 in 1833, and 77,195,894 yards in 1838, and what
-has been the case as regards the importation of flax? The import duty
-upon foreign flax, both dressed and undressed, was at the commencement
-of this period, £10. 14_s._ 6_d._ per cwt.; as our manufacture
-increased, and our home supply fell short, that duty was, in 1825,
-reduced to _four pence_; when the import increased from 376,170 cwt.
-to 1,018,837 cwt. In the year following, the necessity still becoming
-more pressing, and no relief arising from home, it was further reduced
-to _three pence_; the year following to _two pence_, and in 1828 to
-_one penny_. The importation, all this time, has been going on steadily
-increasing, showing an average on the five years, from 1830 to 1835,
-of 751,331 cwt., and amounting, by the last printed returns of the
-House of Commons, for 1838, to 1,626,276 cwt.[22] It is manifest, that
-a trade so valuable to us as our linen manufacture, can never be said
-to be safe, so long as we are thus dependant for the very means of its
-support upon those whose manifest advantage it is to destroy it.
-
-In order to remedy this evil, it seems to me, to require only a
-vigorous exertion on behalf of our own farmers, and those whose
-direct interest it is to give them encouragement to lead to such an
-improvement in our process of cultivation and dressing, as would
-speedily render our flax of equal quality with that of our rivals in
-the Low Countries; we may thus safely rely on its augmented value
-in the market, to ensure its production in sufficient quantity to
-meet our demands, and relieve us altogether from a dependance upon
-foreigners. For the landed proprietor and the farmer, not less than
-the manufacturer, there is a mine of unwrought wealth to be secured in
-this important article, and my earnestness upon this point arises from
-the fact that from all I have seen myself, or can possibly learn from
-others, the field is equally open to England as to the Netherlands--she
-obtains the seed from the same quarter, her soil and her climate are
-equally suitable; the plant up to a certain stage, is as healthy and
-promising with us, as with them, but there the parallel ceases, and
-in all the subsequent processes, the superior system of the Belgian
-gives him a golden advantage over us. Still notwithstanding all our
-disadvantages, Irish flax, for the strong articles, to which alone it
-is suited, produces a firmer, and in every respect, a better thread
-than Flemish or Dutch of the same character.
-
-One source of superiority which the farmer of Holland and the
-Netherlands enjoys, is derived from the fact of his _saving the seed_
-of his own flax. In the first instance, he imports, as we do from Riga,
-seed which yields a strong and robust plant, during the first year;
-its produce is then preserved and sown a second time, when it becomes
-more delicate in its texture, and the seed then obtained, is _never
-parted with_ by the farmer, but produces the finest and most valuable
-plant. As this, however, in time deteriorates, it is necessary to keep
-up a constant succession by annual importation of northern seed, which
-in turn become acclimated, refined, and are superseded by the next in
-rotation. The sagacious Hollander thus obtains for himself a seed for
-his own peculiar uses, of twice the value of any which he exports; an
-advantage of which England cannot expect to avail herself, till the
-process of saving the flax-seed for herself, becomes more generally
-introduced, instead of annually importing upwards of 3,300,000 bushels,
-as we do at present.
-
-In Flanders, where the cultivation is so all important, the _rotation_
-of all other crops, is regulated with ultimate reference to the flax,
-which comes into the circle only once in seven years, and in some
-instances, once in nine, whilst, as it approaches the period for saving
-it, each antecedent crop is put in with a double portion of manure. For
-itself, the preparation is most studiously and scrupulously minute, the
-ground is prepared rather like a flower-bed than a field, and _spade
-labour_ always preferred to the coarser and less minute operation of
-the plough, every film of a weed is carefully uprooted, and the earth
-abundantly supplied, generally with liquid manure, fermented with rape
-cake. The seed is then sown remarkably _thick_, so that the plants may
-not only support one another, but struggling upwards to the light,
-may throw out few branches, and rise into a taller and more delicate
-stem. The _weeding_ is done, whilst the plant is still so tender and
-elastic as that it may rise again readily after the operation, and it
-is a remarkable illustration of the studied tenderness with which the
-cultivation is watched, that the women and children who are employed to
-weed it, are generally instructed to do so against the wind, in order
-that the breeze may lift the stems as soon as they have left them,
-instead of allowing them to grow crooked, by lying too long upon the
-ground. Again, in order to give it a healthy support during its growth,
-_stakes_ are driven into the ground at equal distances, from the top of
-which, cords, or thin rods are extended, dividing the field into minute
-squares, and thus preventing the plants from being laid down by any but
-a very severe wind.
-
-The time of _pulling_ depends upon whether the farmer places most
-value upon the seed or the fibre of the particular field. If the
-former, he must wait till the plant is thoroughly ripe, its capsules
-hard, its leaves fallen, and its stem yellow; but in this case, the
-stalk is woody and the fibre coarse and hard; whereas, if the fineness
-of the fibre be the first object, it is pulled whilst the stalk is
-still green and tender, and before the fruit has come to maturity. At
-Courtrai and its vicinity, the flax when severed from the ground, after
-being carefully sunned and dried, is stored for twelvemonths before it
-is submitted to the process of watering. In the Pays de Waes, however,
-this practice does not obtain, the steeping taking place immediately on
-its being pulled, and I find the inclination of opinion to be in favour
-of the latter mode, as the former is said to render the flax harsh and
-discolored, whilst that immersed at once is soft and silky, and of a
-delicate and uniform tint.
-
-It is remarkable that although the process of _rouissage_ or watering
-is felt to be one of the utmost nicety and importance, the ultimate
-value of the flax being mainly dependent upon it, no uniform system
-prevails throughout the various provinces of Belgium. In Hainault and
-around Namur, where an impression is held that the effluvia of the
-flax, whilst undergoing the _rouissage_, is injurious to health, it is
-interdicted by the police, and it is consequently dew-riped, simply
-by spreading it upon the grass, and turning it from time to time,
-till the mucilaginous matter, by which the fibre is retained around
-the stem, is sufficiently decomposed to permit of its being readily
-separated from the wood. In the Pays de Waes, the flax is steeped in
-still water as in Ireland, except that in the latter country, a small
-stream is contrived, if possible, to pass in and out of the pit during
-the process.[23] The system of the Pays de Waes is that which has
-met with the most decided approbation in Belgium; it is recommended
-officially to the farmers in the instructions published by the Société
-Linière, an association instituted for the purpose of promoting the
-cultivation of flax, and its various manufactures.[24] The system at
-Courtrai, consists in immersing the flax, after being dried and stored
-for twelvemonths, in the running water of the Lys; an operation, which
-in their hands, is performed with the utmost nicety and precision, and
-for which it is so renowned that the crops for many miles, even so far
-as Tournai, are sent to the Lys to undergo the _rouissage_.
-
-The flax, tied up in small bundles, is placed perpendicularly in wooden
-frames of from twelve to fifteen feet square, and being launched into
-the river, straw and clean stones are laid upon it till it sinks just
-so far below the surface of the stream as to leave a current both
-above and below it, which carries away all impurities, and keeps the
-fibre clean and sweet during the period of immersion. This continues
-for seven or eight days, according to the heat of the weather and the
-temperature of the water, and so soon as the requisite change has taken
-place in the plant, the frames are hauled on shore, and the flax spread
-out upon the grass to sun and dry it previously to its being removed to
-undergo the further processes. The _rouissage_ at Courtrai is usually
-performed in May, and again in the months of August and September;
-after which the flax merchants of Brabant and the north send their
-agents amongst the farmers, who purchase from house to house, and, on
-a certain day, attend at the chief town of the district to receive the
-“deliveries,” when the qualities of the crop and the average prices are
-ascertained and promulgated for the guidance of the trade.
-
-From the flax grounds which lie close by Courtrai, on the right bank of
-the Lys, we crossed the river to the bleach-green on the opposite side
-of the river, and if we might judge from the extent of the buildings,
-which were not larger than a good barn, the process must be a very
-simple one in Flanders, or the employment very limited at Courtrai. The
-most important establishments of this kind, however, are at Antwerp,
-Brussels and Tournai.
-
-The cloth on the grass was principally diaper made on the spot and at
-Ypres (whence it derives its name, _d’Ypres_,) but it was coarse, and
-the designs ordinary and inartificial. The manufacture of the article
-in which Belgium formerly excelled so much as to supply the imperial
-household during the reign of Napoleon, was ruined by his fall and
-the breaking up of the continental system. At one time not less than
-3000 workmen were employed in this branch alone, but the separation
-of Belgium from France in 1815, and the simultaneous imposition of
-an almost prohibitory duty on her damask has reduced the trade to a
-mere cypher, not above three hundred workmen being now employed at
-Courtrai, the great seat of the manufacture.
-
-Close by the bleach-green, we entered a windmill for grinding bark, and
-at a short distance from it, another of the same primitive edifices
-was at full work, crushing rape oil. I never saw such a miniature
-manufactory--in one little apartment, about ten feet square, the entire
-process was carried on to the extent of a ton of seed, yielding about
-thirty-six gallons of oil per day. In one corner, the seed was being
-ground between a pair of mill-stones; in another, pounded in mortars by
-heavy beams shod with iron, which were raised and fell by the motion of
-the wind; the material was then roasted in an iron pan over a charcoal
-fire, till the oil became disengaged by the heat, and was then crushed
-by being inclosed in canvas bags enveloped in leather cases, and placed
-in grooves, into which huge wooden wedges were driven by the force of
-the machinery; the last drop of oil was thus forced out by a repetition
-of the process, and the residue of the seed which came forth in cakes
-as flat and as hard as a stone, were laid on one side to be sold for
-manure and other purposes.
-
-A manufactory of _sabots_ was attached to the back mill, and sold for
-five-pence and six-pence a pair for the largest size, and half that
-amount for those suited to children. Surely the introduction of these
-wooden shoes would be a great accession to the comforts of the Irish
-peasantry, as well as a new branch of employment in their manufacture.
-An expert Flemish workman can finish a pair within an hour, and with
-care they will last for three months. Four pair of thick woollen socks
-to be worn along with them costs eighteen-pence, so that for four
-shillings, a poor man might be dry and comfortably shod for twelve
-months. In winter, especially, and in wet weather, or when working in
-moist ground, they are infinitely to be preferred, and although the
-shape may be clumsy, (though in this respect, the Flemish are superior
-to the French), it is, at least, as graceful as the half-naked foot
-and clouted shoe of the Irish labourer. I doubt much, however, whether
-the people, though ever so satisfied of their advantages, would get
-over their association of “arbitrary power and brass money” with the
-use of “wooden shoes.”
-
-Courtrai itself is a straggling, cheerless-looking town, and possesses
-few objects of any interest. Outside the gate is the field on which
-was fought the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, and a little
-chapel still marks the spot which was the centre of the action. Its
-large market for flax and linen has made its name familiar abroad,
-but it has little within itself to detain a stranger in search of
-the picturesque. Its only antique buildings are the Town Hall and
-the church of Notre-Dame, the former contains two richly carved
-mantel-pieces, evidently of very remote date. The latter was built by
-Count Baldwin, who was chosen Emperor at Constantinople in the fourth
-Crusade, and contains, amidst a host of worthless pictures, a Descent
-from the Cross, by Vandyck. Amongst the curiosities in the sacristy,
-is a sacerdotal dress of Thomas a’Becket, of most ample dimensions,
-which the saint left behind him on returning to England after his
-reconciliation with Henry II. At either extremity of the bridge which
-crosses the Lys in the centre of the town are two vast circular towers,
-called the _Broellen Torren_ which were built in the fifteenth century,
-and still serve as the town prisons. The chief support of the town is
-still derived from its linen weaving, which unlike the usual practice
-in Belgium, is done in large factories, at which the workmen attend as
-in England. The production of linen of all kinds at Courtrai is about
-30,000 pieces a year. There is also a considerable manufactory of
-thread.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-We this morning accompanied Count d’Hane to visit the celebrated
-prison of Ghent, the _maison de force_, which received the applause
-of Howard himself, and has been the model for most of the improved
-penitentiaries of Europe. It was erected in 1774, under the auspices
-of Maria Theresa, whilst the Spanish Netherlands were still attached
-to the House of Austria, and for its present state of completion and
-perfected system, it is indebted to the care and munificence of the
-late King, William I. of Holland. It, at present, incloses upwards
-of 1,100 prisoners, divided and classified into various wards, and
-employed in various occupations according to the nature of their crimes
-and the term of their punishment. Of these, two hundred were condemned
-to perpetual labour, and one to solitary confinement for life, the
-remainder for temporary periods.
-
-In Ghent there has not been more than _three_ capital executions since
-the year 1824, and as Belgium has no colonies to which to transport
-her secondary offenders, they are condemned to imprisonment in all its
-forms in proportion to the atrocity of their crimes.
-
-Labour enters into the system in all its modifications, and as
-the rations of food supplied to the prisoners are so calculated as
-to be barely adequate to sustain life, they are thus compelled, by
-the produce of their own hands, to contribute to their own support.
-According to the nature of their offences, the proportion of their
-earnings which they receive is more or less liberal; they are separated
-into three classes:--1st. The _condamnés aux travaux forcés_, who
-receive but three tenths of their own gains; 2nd. the _condamnés
-à la réclusion_, who receive four tenths; and 3rd. the _condamnés
-correctionellement_, who receive one half. The amount of these wages
-may be seen to be but small, when the sum paid for making seven pair of
-_sabots_, or seven hours’ labour, is but one penny. Of the sum allotted
-to him, the criminal receives but one half immediately, with which he
-is allowed to buy bread, coffee, and some other articles at a canteen
-established within the prison, under strict regulations, and the other
-moiety is deposited for his benefit in the savings’ bank of the jail,
-to be paid to him with interest on his enlargement. A prisoner,
-notwithstanding his small wages, may, after seven years’ confinement,
-have amassed one hundred and twenty francs exclusive of interest.
-
-The labour of the prison consists, in the first place, of all the
-domestic work of the establishment, its cleansing, painting and
-repairs, its cooking, and the manufacture of every article worn by the
-inmates; and secondly, of yarn spinning, weaving and making shirts for
-the little navy of Belgium,[25] and drawers for the soldiers, together
-with other similar articles suited for public sale. Prisoners who have
-learned no trade, are permitted to make their choice, and are taught
-one. The cleanliness of every corner is really incredible, and such
-are its effects upon the health of the inmates, that the deaths, on an
-average, do not exceed, annually, one in a hundred. After paying all
-its expenses of every description, the profits of the labour done in
-the prison leaves a surplus to the government, annually, to an amount
-which I do not precisely remember, but which is something considerable.
-
-Amongst the prisoners, one very old man was pointed out to me, named
-Pierre Joseph Soëte, seventy-nine years of age, sixty-two of which he
-had spent within the walls of this sad abode. He was condemned, at
-the age of seventeen, for an atrocious offence; in a fit of jealousy,
-he had murdered a girl, to whom he was about to have been married, by
-tying her to a tree and strangling her. He entered the jail when a
-boy, and had grown to manhood and old age within its melancholy walls;
-and the tenor of his life, I was told, had been uniformly mild and
-inoffensive. Five years since, the father of our friend, Count D’Hane,
-who was then Governor of Ghent, had represented the story to King
-Leopold, and the unfortunate old man was set at liberty; but in a few
-weeks, he presented himself at the door of the prison, and begged to be
-permitted to enter it again, and to die there as he had lived. I asked
-him why he had taken this extraordinary resolution, and he told me
-that the world had nothing to detain him; he had no longer a relative
-or a living face within it that he knew; he had no home, no means of
-support, no handicraft by which to earn it, and no strength to beg,
-what could he do, but return to the only familiar spot he knew, and the
-only one that had any charms for him! Poor creature! his extraordinary
-story, and his long life of expiation, rendered it impossible to
-remember or resent his early crime, and yet I could not look at such a
-singular being without a shudder.
-
-Another, but a still more melancholy case, was pointed out to me. I
-asked the physician, Dr. Maresca, if there were any foreigners in the
-jail, and he told me there were several from Germany and France; and
-one, an Englishman, who had been confined some years before for an
-attempt at fraud, and who, between chagrin and disease, was now dying
-in the hospital. I went to see him, and found him in bed in the last
-feeble stage of consumption. His story was a very sad one--his name
-was Clarke, he seemed about thirty-five or thirty-six years of age,
-and had come over with his wife to seek for work as a machine maker at
-one of the engine factories in Ghent. He was disappointed--he could
-get no adequate employment--he saw his young wife and his little
-children perishing from hunger in a strange land, and, in an evil hour,
-he forged a document for some trifling sum to procure them bread. He
-was detected, tried and condemned to five years’ imprisonment in the
-_maison de force_. What became of his family he no longer knew; they
-had, perhaps, returned to England, but he could not tell. The physician
-told me that his conduct had all along been most excellent, so much
-so, that the government reduced the term of his imprisonment from five
-years to four, and he had now but eighteen months to remain. But he
-was dying, and of a broken heart through sorrow and mortification. The
-physician had tried to obtain a further reduction of his term; but it
-was not thought prudent at the time to accede to his representations,
-and now it was too late to renew the application. Dr. M. thought he
-would now be liberated if the application were repeated, but it was
-more humane, he said, to leave him as he was, as he had every attention
-he required; the hospital was comfortable, and the rules of the prison
-had all been relaxed in his favour, so that he had books and every
-indulgence granted to him, and a few weeks would soon release him
-from all his sorrows. Poor fellow! I hardly knew whether he seemed
-gratified or grieved by our visit; but his situation, surrounded by
-foreigners, to whose very language he was a stranger, far from home and
-England, and without a friend or relation to watch his dying bed was a
-very touching one, and it was rendered, perhaps, more so, by the very
-sympathy and kindness which seemed to be felt for him by all around him.
-
-On the opposite side of the canal, we visited the sugar refinery of
-M. Neyt. This is a trade of much importance to Belgium, and, like
-almost every other department of her manufactures, at present in a
-very critical condition. The establishment of M. Neyt, though of great
-extent, being calculated to work twenty-five tons of sugar in the week,
-is not greater than some others in Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels. The
-machinery is all of the newest construction for boiling _in vacuo_,
-upon Howard’s principle, with some recent improvements by, I think,
-M. Devos-Maes; which, though expensive in the first instance, tends
-materially to diminish the cost by accelerating the completion of the
-process.
-
-All the sugar we saw in process was from Java and Manilla, and vessels
-were loading in the canal in front of the works with purified lump for
-Hamburgh. This branch of Belgian commerce has been retarded by a series
-of vicissitudes, and seems still destined to perilous competition,
-not only from Holland, which already disputes the possession of the
-trade with her, but from the states of the Prussian League in which
-there are eighty-four refineries of sugar already. Holland and Belgium
-have, for many years, enjoyed a large revenue from this most lucrative
-process for the supply of Germany and for export to the Mediterranean;
-a manufacture in which they have been enabled to compete successfully
-with England, owing to their being at liberty to bring the raw material
-from any country where it is to be found cheapest, whilst Great Britain
-has necessarily been restricted to consume only the produce of her own
-colonies by the protective duty imposed upon all others. Holland has,
-however, by her recent treaty with Prussia, taken steps to preserve her
-present advantageous position as regards the supply of Germany, whilst
-her bounties to her own refiners afford an equal encouragement with
-that held out by their government to those of Belgium.
-
-The false policy of the system of bounties has, however, operated in
-Belgium, as it has invariably done elsewhere, to give an unreal air of
-prosperity to the trade, whilst it opened a door to fraud, the never
-failing concomitant of such unsound expedients. To such an extent was
-this the case, that on its recent detection and suppression, a reaction
-was produced in the manufacture, that for the moment threatened to be
-fatal. The duty on the importation of raw sugar amounts to 37 francs
-per 100 kilogrammes, and a drawback was paid down to 1838 on every
-55 kilogrammes of refined sugar exported. This proportion was taken
-as the probable quantity extractible from 100 kilogrammes of the raw
-article, but the law omitted to state _in what stage_ of refinement, or
-of what precise quality that quantity should be. The consequence was,
-that sugar which had undergone but a single process, and still retained
-a considerable weight of its molasses, was exported, and a drawback
-was thus paid upon the entire 75 to 80 kilogrammes, which, had the
-process been completed, would only have been demandable on fifty-five.
-The encouragement designed to give a stimulus to improvement, thus
-tended only to give an impulse to fraud, and vast quantities of half
-refined sugar were sent across the frontiers, and the drawback paid,
-only to be smuggled back again for a repetition of the same dishonest
-proceeding. The attention of the government being, however, awakened
-by a comparison of the relative quantities of raw sugar imported, and
-of refined exported, on which the drawback was claimed, a change was
-made in the law in 1838, by which the drawback was restricted to a per
-centage on nine tenths only of the raw sugar imported, thus securing a
-positive revenue upon the balance, and at the same time some practical
-expedients were adopted for the prevention of fraud for the future.
-These latter were found to be so effectual, that four establishments in
-Antwerp discontinued the trade altogether immediately on the new law
-coming into force, and this example was followed by others elsewhere.
-
-There are still between 60 and 70 refineries in Belgium, and in 1837
-and 1838, the importations of raw sugar and the exports of refined were
-as follows:
-
-RAW SUGAR IMPORTED.
-
-  In 1837.   20,128,618 kilogrammes.
-  In 1838.   16,814,940 kilogrammes.
-
-REFINED SUGAR EXPORTED.
-
-  In 1837.   8,484,097 kilogrammes.
-  In 1838.   8,113,897 kilogrammes.
-
-An amount, which whilst it shows the general importance of the trade,
-seems to indicate that it is not increasing. The home consumption of
-Belgium as compared to England, is as 2 kils. per each individual to
-8. In France the quantity used per head, is 3 kils. and in the rest of
-Europe about 2½. But to the Belgians, this export trade is the vital
-object at the present moment, and any alteration of our law which would
-permit the import of foreign sugar into England, at a diminished duty,
-or encourage the growth of beet-root for the manufacture of sugar,
-would be fatal to the trade of the Netherlands, and to Holland, not
-less than to Belgium.
-
-In the latter country, the production of sugar from beet-root,
-notwithstanding the encouragement given to it by Napoleon, was never
-very extended nor successful. It disappeared almost entirely in 1814,
-and was not revived for twenty years, till in 1834, a fresh impulse
-was given to the Belgians to renew the experiment from witnessing the
-example of its success in France and some establishments were erected
-in Brabant and Hainault. But the vast advantages derived by the
-refiners of foreign sugar from the facility for fraud afforded by the
-defective state of the law, completely extinguished the attempt. Even
-now the expense of the process, which renders the cost of the beet-root
-sugar nearly equal to that extracted from the cane, together with the
-inferiority for every purpose of the beet-root molasses, holds out
-but little prospect of its ever becoming a productive department of
-national manufacture.
-
-On the evening of our arrival, a considerable tumult was excited around
-the front of the _Hotel de la Poste_ where we staid, which we found
-arose from the eagerness to obtain admission to the new Theatre,
-which stands next door to the Hotel, and which was that evening to be
-opened for the first time. Some soldiers were stationed to keep off the
-crowd, but as their impatience increased, the orders of the military
-were but little regarded, till, at length, the struggle came to an
-open rupture with them, and the officer on guard after going through
-all the preliminaries of intimidation, expostulation and scolding, at
-length, fairly lost all temper, and commenced boxing “the leader of
-the movement!” A ring being made for the combatants, the officer was
-beaten, and walked off to his quarters, and the pressure of the crowd,
-being by this time relieved, the spectators hurried into the theatre.
-
-The new building is very magnificent; a new street having been formed
-to open at a suitable site for it, one side of which it occupies
-exclusively. The centre of the front, projects in the form of a wide
-semi-circle, so that carriages drive right under the building to set
-down their company at the foot of the grand staircase. Besides the
-theatre itself, there is a suite of halls for concerts, capable of
-containing two thousand persons, and the entire is finished internally
-in the style of Louis XIV, with a prodigality of colours, gilding, and
-ornamental carving that is quite surprising. It is certainly the most
-beautiful theatre I have seen, as well as one of the most spacious.
-
-The “_spectacle_” and the opera are still amongst those necessaries in
-the economy of life in Belgium, which late dinner hours and fastidious
-taste have not as yet interfered with. Ghent has long been eminent for
-its successful cultivation of music. A few years since, the _chefs
-d’orchestre_ in the four principal theatres in the kingdom were all
-natives of Ghent, and the names of Verheyen, Ermel and Angelet, all
-born in the same place, are familiar to every amateur of the science.
-The _Société de St. Cecile_, a musical association, is the most eminent
-in the Netherlands, and at a concert at Brussels in 1837, where all
-the musicians of the chief cities of the kingdom competed for a prize;
-the first honours, two golden medals were given by acclamation to those
-of Ghent.
-
-The print works of M. De Smet de Naeyer are situated in the _Faubourg
-de Bruges_, and, like almost all in the Netherlands, exhibit no
-division of labour; the cotton being spun, woven, and printed upon
-the same premises. In the latter department, their productions are
-of a very ordinary description, and their designs in a very inferior
-class of art. The machinery was partly French and partly Belgian, of
-a cumbrous and antiquated construction, compared with that in use in
-England; but, as the recent improvements in Great Britain have all been
-conceived with a view to the speediest and cheapest production to meet
-a most extensive demand, their introduction into Belgium, where the
-market is so extremely circumscribed, would only be an augmentation of
-expense, without any correspondent advantage. The works were idle at
-the moment of our visit.
-
-This important department of manufacture is reduced to the lowest
-ebb in Belgium by the effects of the revolution of 1830. Previous to
-this event, the Belgian calico printer being admitted to the markets
-of Holland and her colonies, had an outlet for his produce, quite
-sufficient to afford remunerative employment for all his machinery; but
-when, by her separation from Holland, Belgium was excluded from the
-Dutch possessions, both in the East and West Indies, and restricted
-to the supply of her own population, she suddenly found the number of
-her consumers reduced from between _fifteen_ and _sixteen millions_
-to something less than _four_. In articles which are universally
-produced by the unaided labour _of the hand_, a limitation on the
-gross consumption cannot, as a general rule, effect any very material
-alteration in the individual price, where fair competition shall
-have already reduced and adjusted it by a remunerative standard. But
-when it comes to an active competition _with machinery_, the case is
-widely different; the outlay for apparatus and the cost of labour
-being almost the same for the production of one hundred pieces as for
-ten, it is manifest that the man who has a market for one hundred,
-can afford to sell each one for a much less sum than he who can only
-dispose of ten--even without including in the calculation the interest
-of the capital embarked, which must, of course, be ten times the amount
-upon the small production that it is upon the large. It is her almost
-unlimited command of markets, and the vast millions of consumers who
-must have her produce, in her various colonies and dependencies, that,
-combined with her matchless machinery, places the manufactures of
-England almost beyond the reach of rivalry as regards the moderation
-of their price; and thus gives them, in spite of duties, that, in any
-other case, would amount to a prohibition, a lucrative introduction
-into those countries themselves, which are fast acquiring her
-machinery, but look in vain for her limitless markets.
-
-The merchants of Antwerp and the manufacturers of Ghent, had the
-good sense, probably purchased by experience, to recognize this
-incontrovertible principle, and foreseeing, clearly, the ruin of their
-pursuits in the results of the Repeal of the Union with Holland, they
-loudly protested against the proceedings of the revolutionists of
-1830.[26] But, as “madness ruled the hour,” their protestations were
-all unheeded--they were overborne by numbers; and, as the patriots
-of Ireland, in rejecting the advantages held out to them by Great
-Britain in the celebrated “commercial propositions” of 1785, adopted
-as their watchword “_perish commerce_, but live the constitution;” so
-the patriots of Belgium, in their paroxysm of repeal, reproached their
-less frenzied fellow-countrymen with “allowing the profits on their
-cottons, or the prices of their iron, to outweigh the independence of
-their country!” The revolution was accomplished in their defiance, and
-the ruin of their trade was consummated by the same blow.
-
-With respect to the very branch of manufacture which has led to these
-observations, the printing of calicoes and woollens, M. Briavionne,
-an impartial historian, and so far as political inclination is
-concerned, strongly biassed in favour of the revolution, thus details
-its immediate effects upon it. After describing the rapid decline of
-the cotton trade in general, since 1830, he goes on to say, “In the
-department of printing, the results have not been more satisfactory;
-many of the leading establishments of Ghent, and of Brussels have been
-altogether abandoned, or their buildings dismantled and converted to
-other purposes, and their utensils and machinery sold off by public
-auction. Ghent, in 1829, possessed _fifteen_ print-works--in 1839 she
-had but _nine_; in Brussels, at the same time, and in Ardennes and
-Lierre, there were _eleven_ houses of the first rank, of these _six_
-have since closed their accounts. Other establishments there are, it is
-true, that have sprung up in the interim, but, in the aggregate, the
-number is diminished. In prosperous years, the production of Belgium
-might have amounted, before the revolution, to about 400,000 pieces.
-Ghent, alone, produced 300,000 in 1829, but its entire production, at
-present, does not amount to 20,000, nor does that of the largest house
-in Belgium exceed 45,000 pieces.
-
-Nor is this to be ascribed to any want of ability in the Belgian
-mechanics; on the the contrary, they are qualified to undertake the
-most difficult work, but they can only employ themselves, of course,
-when such are in actual demand. They are, in consequence, limited to
-the production of the most low priced and ordinary articles; fast
-colours and cheap cloth are all they aspire to. High priced muslins
-they rarely attempt, and although they have ventured to print upon
-mousseline-de-laine, they have been forced almost altogether to
-abandon it. In fact, the double rivalry of France, on the one hand,
-and England on the other, keeps them in continual alarm, and renders
-them fearful of the slightest speculation or deviation from their
-ordinary line of production. France, on the contrary, enters their
-market relying upon the elegance and originality of her patterns; and
-England notwithstanding her heavy and unimaginative designs, conceived
-in inferior taste, still maintains her superiority by means of her
-masterly execution and the lowness of her price. Thus, whilst French
-muslins sell readily for from two to three francs an ell, England can
-offer hers for forty-five centimes, or even less, and those of Belgium
-vary from sixty centimes to a franc and a quarter per ell; not only so,
-but for that which she can now with difficulty dispose of for sixty
-centimes, she had, thirty-five years ago, an ample demand at two francs
-and a half.
-
-This destruction of her home trade by the competition of foreigners,
-she has sought in vain to retrieve by her shipments abroad; she
-has exported to Brazil and to the Levant, to the South Sea and
-Singapore, and finally, she has turned to Germany and the fairs of
-Francfort-on-the-Maine--in short, she has tried every opening, and
-found only loss in all. The only market in which she has contrived to
-hold a footing is that of Holland, and even this is every day slipping
-from her, although, before the revolution of 1830, it consumed one half
-of her entire production.
-
-Belgium has not, like England, manufacturers, who, devoting themselves
-to the supply of the foreign market alone, and bestowing upon it
-their undivided study and attention, attain a perfect knowledge and
-command of it in its every particular; but here, every printer looks to
-exportation only as an expedient to get rid of his surplus production,
-after satisfying the demand of his home consumption. Such a system is
-pregnant with evils, but it is in vain to attempt its alteration so
-long as we have England for our rival, with her great experience, her
-vast command of capital, and her firm possession of the trade.”[27]
-
-The information which I received from M. De Smet, M. Voortman, M. de
-Hemptine and others, more than confirmed, in its every particular,
-this deplorable exposé of M. Briavionne. Belgian prints are constantly
-undersold by from 10 to 15 per cent by English goods, imported
-legitimately into their market, notwithstanding a duty of a hundred
-florins upon every hundred kilogrammes, an impost which being assessed
-by weight, falls heavily on that class of goods which are the great
-staple of England, and amounts to about _six shillings_ upon a
-piece of the value of _fourteen_. Nor is this all--their market is
-systematically beset by smugglers across the frontiers of France and
-Holland, who, inundating it with French and English goods, exempt
-from duty, have reduced the price of Belgian production to an ebb
-utterly incompatible with any hope of remuneration. This is an evil,
-however, to which not their peculiar branch alone, but every protected
-manufacture in the country is equally liable, and for redress of which
-they have vainly invoked the interference of their legislature--the
-mischief is of too great magnitude to be grappled with or remedied.
-
-The only relief which their government has attempted, has been by the
-deplorable expedient of themselves supplying capital to sustain the
-struggle. A manufactory, however, which they undertook to support,
-at Ardennes-on-the-Meuse, constructed with machinery upon English
-models, and conducted by English managers, became an utter failure
-and was abandoned; and in like manner, an association which they had
-encouraged to attempt an export trade, after numerous shipments to
-Portugal, the Mediterranean, the East Indies, South America, and the
-United States, became utterly insolvent, and involved the government
-in a loss of 400,000 francs. In the mean time, England and France
-monopolise the most profitable portions of their trade, the latter
-supplying them, almost exclusively with the more costly articles of
-ornament and fancy, and the imports of medium goods from the former
-having been, in the first six months of the present year, upwards of
-17,000 pieces more than in 1839.
-
-This is one illustration, and I regret to say, only one out of many
-of the ruinous effects of the “Repeal of the Union,” In Ghent, from
-its peculiar position and the active genius of its population, its
-results have been felt with more severity than elsewhere, though
-its influence is discernible, to a greater or less degree, in every
-quarter of Belgium. The merchants of Ghent, however, make no secret of
-their dissatisfaction, and exclaim boldly against the indifference or
-incompetence of the ministry to adopt measures for their redress. In
-an especial degree, their dissatisfaction manifests itself against the
-present minister of the interior, M. Liedtz, who having been a lawyer,
-is presumed to be imperfectly acquainted with commerce, and is said to
-be as unjustly partial to agriculture, as he is coldly indifferent to
-trade. One gentleman complained bitterly that having, some time since,
-accompanied a deputation to an interview with the minister on the
-subject of the decline of the cotton trade, M. Liedtz abruptly ended
-the conference, almost before they had opened their grievances, by
-exclaiming:--“Come, now we have heard enough about cotton--how are your
-cows?”
-
-In Ghent, business has always been conducted, not only upon an extended
-scale, but upon the most solid and steady basis; bank accommodation and
-discounts are unknown, in fact, in Belgium, and a bill, if drawn at
-all, is, as a general rule, held over to maturity, and collected by the
-drawer. This may, in a great degree, account for the trifling balances
-which suffice to produce a suspension of business. In an annual
-document, published officially, I presume, I perceive that although the
-number of failures in Ghent for the year 1839, amounted to twenty, the
-amount of their united deficiencies did not exceed 198,000 francs.[28]
-
-The sufferings of Ghent seem to be so generally admitted, and so
-unequivocally ascribed to the operation of the revolution, that
-no scruple or delicacy is observed by the press or the public in
-ascribing them to its proper cause. A curious illustration of this, we
-observed in a volume entitled, “_Le Guide Indispensable du Voyageur
-sur les Chemins de Fer de la Belgique_,” sold at all the stations on
-the government railway, and in the case in which I bought my copy,
-by persons in the government uniform. In a short notice of Ghent, it
-contains the following passage of plain speaking upon this point.
-“During the fifteen years of the Dutch connexion, the population,
-the wealth and the prosperity of Ghent never ceased to increase;
-manufactures were multiplied, streets enlarged, public buildings
-erected, and large and beautiful houses constructed; in short, Ghent
-had become a great commercial city. _The revolution of 1830 at once
-arrested this career of improvement, and Ghent, whose prosperity was
-the offspring of peace and of her connexion with Holland, now seems
-to protest, by her silence, against a change which she finds to be
-fraught to her with ruin._ The citadel was only taken when all hope had
-disappeared of maintaining the supremacy of King William; but,” adds
-the author, “it is to be hoped that, little by little, the influence
-of new institutions may rally the hopes of the Gantois, and, at last,
-reconcile them to the consequences of the Belgian revolution.”[29] And
-the new institution which is to achieve such a triumph, is to be, of
-course, _the railroad_ from Ostend to Cologne.
-
-Our stay at Ghent had been somewhat longer than our original intention,
-but we found it a place abounding in attractions, not only from its
-hereditary associations, but from the enterprising and ingenious
-character of its inhabitants, and the progress which they have achieved
-in their multifarious pursuits. Besides, it is always a matter of
-the deepest interest to observe the success or failure of a great
-national experiment, such as is now in process in Belgium, where,
-after an interval of upwards of two centuries, during which they
-have formed a portion of another empire, its inhabitants are testing
-the practicability of restoring and supporting their old national
-independence, notwithstanding all the changes which two hundred years
-have produced in the policy, the commerce, and the manufacturing power
-of Europe--changes not less astonishing than those which, almost within
-the same interval, the discovery of printing has produced in the
-diffusion of learning, or that of gunpowder in the system of ancient
-warfare.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-BRUSSELS.
-
-
-    The railroad--Confusion at Malines--Country between Ghent and
-      Dendermonde--_Vilvorde_--_The palace of Laeken_--First view
-      of Brussels--The Grand Place in the old town--The Hôtel de
-      Ville and Maison Communale--The new town--The churches of
-      Brussels--_The carved oak pulpits of the Netherlands_--ST. GUDULE
-      monuments--Statue of Count F. Merode--Geefs, the sculptor--Notre
-      Dame de la Chapelle--_The museum_--Palais de l’Industrie--The
-      gallery of paintings--THE LIBRARY--Its history--_Remarkable
-      MSS._--Curiosities in the museum of antiquities--Private
-      collections--Rue Montagne de la Cour--The theatre--Historical
-      associations with the Hôtel de Ville--Counts Egmont and Horn--The
-      civil commotions of Philip II--_The fountains of Brussels_--The
-      Cracheur--_The mannekin_, his memoirs--Fountain of Lord
-      Aylesbury--Dubos’ restaurant--The hotels of Brussels--Secret to
-      find the cheapest hotels in travelling.
-
-WE again availed ourselves of the railroad from Ghent to Brussels,
-starting from the Monk’s Meadow at eight o’clock in the morning,
-and made the journey in about three hours and a half. The route is
-considerably increased in length, owing to the line making an angle
-in order to traverse Malines, which has been made a centre at which
-every branch of the entire system converges and take a fresh departure.
-This arrangement may be a convenience to the directory, but it is an
-annoyance to the public, not only by the extension of the distance they
-have to travel, but by the scene of bustle, confusion, and risk created
-by the concourse of so many trains at the same point, the nuisance and
-danger of which can hardly be exaggerated; engines bellowing, horns
-sounding, luggage moving, and crowds rushing to secure their places in
-the departing train, or to escape from being run over by the one coming
-in.
-
-The aspect of the country was, in all directions, the same--tame, but
-rich and luxuriant, with vessels toiling along its tributary canals,
-and here and there the Scheldt making its tortuous windings through
-long lines of pines and alders. One thing strikes a stranger as
-singular in this province, the almost total absence of pasture land,
-and the appearance of no cattle whatsoever in the fields, the ground
-being found to be more valuable under cultivation, and cattle more
-economically fed within doors. The railroad passes by some pretty but
-unimportant villages, such as Wetteren and Auderghem, before arriving at
-Termonde, more familiarly known to us as the Dendermonde of my Uncle
-Toby’s military commentaries. At Auderghem, a road turns to the right
-to Alost, one of the most flourishing towns of East Flanders, and a
-prosperous seat of the flax and linen trade.
-
-After passing Dendermonde, we entered the province of Brabant, at the
-little village of Hombech, and the train, after traversing Lehendael
-(the Valley of Lillies), stopped at Mechlin, whose towers had been
-visible long before reaching the station. One of the most conspicuous
-objects here, is an immense brick building, erected in 1837 or 38,
-for the purpose of spinning linen yarn, but never having been applied
-by its proprietors to that purpose, has lately been purchased by an
-English gentleman, Mr. Fairburne, to be converted into a manufactory of
-machinery, a department of manufacture which, in the present state of
-of Belgium, I much fear is not likely to prove more encouraging.
-
-From Malines to Brussels, the distance is fifteen miles, and was
-performed in something less than half an hour, the road lying through
-broad meadows and more extensive pastures than any I have yet seen
-in Belgium. On the left, these plains swell into a gentle hill of
-some miles in length, on which the towers and steeples of Brussels
-are discernible long before we approach them. Within a few miles of
-Malines, we passed Vilvorde, an ancient place, but now only remarkable
-for its vast prisons, which are seen at a considerable distance. It
-was at Vilvorde that Tindal, the first translator of the Bible into
-English, was burned for heresy in 1536.
-
-Before arriving at the termination of the journey, the road sweeps
-along between two gentle elevations, that on the left being covered
-with the villas and pleasure-grounds of Schaerbeek, the Hampstead of
-Brussels, and to the right, with the woods and palace of Schoenberg,
-near the village of Laeken, a favourite residence of King Leopold.
-It was built in 1782, by the Archduke Albert, for the sister of the
-unhappy Marie Antoinette, and to serve for the future residence of the
-Austrian governor of the Netherlands. It suffered during the saturnalia
-of the French revolution, when a lofty tower, which rose above the
-woods that surround it, was torn down and sold for the price of the
-materials. Napoleon was partial to the palace as a summer retreat,
-and it was whilst lingering here with Marie Louise, that he completed
-the final and fatal arrangements for the invasion of Russia. It is
-handsomely, rather than magnificently furnished, but the grounds and
-gardens, which have all been re-modelled in the English style, are
-amongst the most beautiful in Europe, and command extensive views of
-the broad wooded campagne of Brabant, and the cheerful heights and
-gothic towers of Brussels.
-
-The first sight of Brussels, on approaching it from the side of
-Malines, is well calculated to give a favourable impression of its
-beauty and extent, the long planted line of the Allée Vert, terminating
-at the handsome gate d’Anvers, (formerly the Porte Guillaume, before
-the change of dynasty), with its dark iron balustrade and gilded
-capitals, and in front, the steep acclivity covered with streets and
-buildings of the modern and more elegant town, whilst the turrets
-of the Hôtel de Ville and the towers of St. Gudule are equally
-conspicuous, rising above the roofs of the ancient city which nestles
-at its base. The city itself, though of remote antiquity, has nothing
-very antique in its first appearance, and, in fact, it is only in the
-narrow alleys and passages of the lower quarter that the mansions
-and municipal buildings of the former nobles and burghers of Brabant
-are to be discerned. Even here there are fewer architectural traces
-of the magnificence of the middle ages than in almost any other of
-the great cities of Belgium. The Grand Place is a splendid exception
-to this observation, as it is surrounded on all sides with lofty old
-Spanish-looking houses, in the style, at least, if not of the date of
-the palmy days of Brabant, its high peaked roofs bristling with tiers
-of little grim windows, its pointed gables covered with bas-reliefs and
-carvings, and the ample fronts of its mansions richly decorated with
-arabesques in stone, which had once been gaudily coloured, and here and
-there tipped with gold. On one side starts up to a surprising height
-the gothic tower of the Hôtel de Ville, by far the most beautiful in
-the Low Countries, and on the opposite one is a vast gloomy-looking
-building, now converted into shops, which was once the _Maison
-Communale_ of the city; and being rebuilt by the Infanta Isabella, in
-the early part of the seventeenth century, was, in commemoration of the
-deliverance of Brussels from the plague, dedicated to Notre Dame de la
-Paix, with an inscription, which is still legible, though much defaced:
-“_A peste, fame et bello libera nos Maria pacis_.”
-
-It is in the narrow and dingy passages of this lower town, that a
-stranger feels all the associations of the olden time around him;
-but on ascending by the steep and precipitous streets to the modern
-quarter, with its light and beautiful houses, its open squares and
-gardens, with their fountains and statues, and all that is French and
-fashionable, the charm of association is gone, and one feels something
-like coming suddenly into the daylight from the dim scenery of a
-melodrame. To the stranger in Brussels there are, therefore, two
-distinct sets of objects of attraction. In the new town there are the
-palaces of the King and the nobles, the park, the public promenades,
-the chambers of the Senate and the Commons, the splendid hotels of the
-Place Royal, and the libraries and museums that occupy the château
-which was once the residence of the Austrian viceroys; whilst in the
-old town, there are the churches of the fourteenth and fifteenth
-centuries, with their superb oak carvings, stained windows and
-statuary, the Hôtel de Ville, the gloomy old mansions of the past race
-of nobles, and all the characteristic memorials of the ancient capital.
-The first are speedily disposed of by the tourist, as there is nothing
-unique in any of the lions of Brussels, its inhabitants are, in fact,
-anxious to have their city considered a miniature Paris, and it seems
-to have been laid out altogether on the model of the French capital,
-with its boulevards and its palace gardens, its opera, its restaurants
-and its “café des milles colonnes.”
-
-The churches, are, as usual, splendid specimens of gorgeous altars,
-(with their ponderous candelabra and Madonnas in embroidered
-petticoats,) solemn aisles, marble columns, painted ceilings, Flemish
-pictures and carved pulpits, so flowing and graceful in their
-execution, that they look as if the Van Hools and Van Bruggens of
-former times, possessed some secret for fusing the knotted oak and
-pouring it into moulds to form their statues and their wreathes of
-flowers. Their Pulpits are, in reality, one of the wonders of the
-Netherlands, they are of immense dimensions, some of them reaching
-almost as high as the gothic arches which separate the nave from the
-side aisles. The lower department usually represents some appropriate
-scene from the events of sacred history, the expulsion of Adam and
-Eve from Paradise, Elijah fed by ravens, the conversion of St. Paul,
-with the frightened horse most vigorously introduced, or Christ
-calling Peter and Andrew, who are represented in their boat by the
-sea-shore, with their nets and fish, all exquisite specimens of the
-art; and, occasionally, the designs are allegorical, with figures
-of Time, Truth and Christianity. Above these, usually rises a rock,
-or a mass of foliage and flowers, on which are perched birds and
-other accompaniments, and on this rests the shell of the pulpit, the
-whole is then surmounted, either by a canopy sustained by angels and
-cherubims, or by the spreading branches of a palm tree, so arranged
-as to overshadow the whole. Almost every great church and cathedral
-in Belgium contains one of these unique productions of an art which
-is now almost extinct, or, at least, possessed of no practitioners
-at all qualified to cope in excellence with these ancient masters.
-The confessionals, altars and organs are likewise elaborately covered
-with these almost unique decorations, and even the doors and windows
-sometimes exhibit specimens of extraordinary beauty and value.
-
-The _church of St. Gudule_, which is the most remarkable at Brussels,
-has two huge gothic towers, each nearly the same height with St.
-Pauls, and from their solid and massy construction looking even more
-stupendous; but the effect is seriously injured by a number of ordinary
-houses, which have been permitted to be erected against the very walls
-of the building!--a curious instance of the absence of all taste in
-the ecclesiastical body, who can thus permit, for money, the actual
-defacement of their finest building. The pillars which sustain the
-roof within, bear each in front a colossal statue, of which there are
-fourteen or sixteen representing the various saints and apostles, some
-of them by Duquesnoy and Quellyn, but the generality of inferior merit.
-The pulpit was carved by Van Bruggen in 1699, and was presented to the
-cathedral by the Empress Maria Theresa.
-
-The windows which are of dimensions proportioned to the huge scale of
-the church are all of rich stained glass, partly antique and partly
-of modern execution, but of great brilliancy of tint and high talent
-in design. The high altar is so composed by some ingenious machinery
-within, that the sacred wafer descends apparently of itself, at the
-moment when the host is about to be elevated by the officiating priest.
-
-Around the choir are the monuments of some of the ancient Dukes of
-Brabant, surmounted by their effigies in armour, with swords and
-helmets disposed by their side; that of John II, who married Margaret
-of England, and died in 1318, bears a figure of the Belgic lion in
-gilded bronze, which weighs nearly three tons. Opposite this is another
-to the memory of the Archduke Ernest of Austria, on which rests a
-figure clad in mail. Close by it a marble slab in the floor covers the
-vault in which are interred some members of the imperial family who
-died during their vice-royalty at Brussels.
-
-One statue in St. Gudule is remarkable as a favourable specimen of
-modern art in Belgium, it is that of the Count Frederick de Merode, a
-young nobleman of most amiable personal character, whose father was
-of one of the ancient families of Brabant, and his mother a Grammont.
-On the outburst of the revolution in 1830, he returned from France,
-where he was residing, enrolled himself as a volunteer in a corps of
-sharpshooters raised by the Marquis de Chasteler, and was killed whilst
-leading a charge against the Dutch rear-guard, under the command of
-Duke Bernard of Saxe Weimar. This monument is by Geefs of Brussels,
-who has evinced equal judgment and ability in retaining the national
-blouse as the costume of his statue, and yet so disposing it as to
-render it perfectly classical by his arrangement. Geefs is by far the
-most distinguished artist, as a sculptor, in Belgium, and has recently
-erected a spirited statue of General Belliard in the Park overlooking
-the Rue Royale, and the grand monument over the remains of the
-revolutionary partisans, who fell in the three glorious days “of 1830,”
-and are interred in the centre of the _Place des Martyrs_.
-
-The other churches of Brussels contain little that is worth a visit. In
-that of Notre Dame de la Chapelle, there is a high altar from a design
-by Rubens, one of those works in which he has so profusely exhibited
-his astonishing command of arabesque and allegorical devices. The
-pulpit is another specimen of wood carving, representing Elijah fed by
-ravens. It is remarkable that in all the churches of Brussels, there is
-not a single painting of more than common place ability, nor a single
-specimen of either Vandyck or Rubens--painters, it would seem, like
-prophets, are to seek for their patrons at some distance from home.
-
-The municipal collections of art are deposited in the museum and
-picture gallery in the Palais des Beaux Arts, formerly the vice-regal
-residence of the Austrian governors. In one wing of the building,
-called the Palais d’Industrie, are deposited models of machinery,
-agricultural instruments, and inventions of all kinds applicable to
-manufactures. The collection is costly and extensive, and cannot fail
-to exercise a beneficial influence in the education of mechanics. The
-main galleries of the palace are filled with the national pictures,
-which amount to between three and four hundred. The description of
-a painting is scarcely more intelligible or satisfactory than the
-description of an overture. Amongst the collection are a few of
-considerable merit, but the vast majority are of the most ordinary
-description. There are a few by Rubens and Vandyck, not of the first
-order, some by Breughel, Cuyp, Gerard Dow, and the chiefs of that
-school; a multitude by the Crayers and Van Oorts and Vander Weydes,
-whose works one meets in every Flemish chapel, and a number of the
-early painters of the Netherlands, in which, I confess, I am not
-connoisseur enough to discover anything very attractive beyond their
-antiquity and curiosity as specimens of the feeble efforts of art in
-its infancy.
-
-Under the same roof is the magnificent Library, begun by the Dukes of
-Burgundy so far back as the fourteenth century, and enriched by every
-subsequent sovereign of the Netherlands, till its treasures now amount
-to 150,000 volumes of printed books and 15,000 manuscripts; amongst
-which are numbers whose pedigree through their various possessors is
-full of historical interest, and some which belonged to the library
-of Philip the Hardy, in 1404, and described in the “_Inventoire des
-livres et roumans de feu Monseigneur_ (_Philip le Hardi_), _a qui
-Dieu pardonne, que maistre Richart le Conte, barbier de feu le dict
-Seigneur, a euzen garde_.” Its chief treasures it owes, however,
-to Philip the Good, the Lorenzo de Medicis of the Low Countries,
-who attracted to his court such geniuses as Oliver de la March,
-Monstrelet, Philip de Commines, the chroniclers and men of learning
-of his time, and kept constantly in his employment the most able
-“clerks,” “_escripvains_” and illuminators, engaged in the preparation
-of volumes for his “librarie,” and having united all the provinces
-of the Netherlands under his dominion, he collected at Brussels the
-manuscripts of the Counts of Flanders, in addition to his own. The
-identical copy of the Cyropedia of Xenophon, which he had transcribed
-for the study of his impetuous son, Charles le Téméraire, and which
-accompanied him to the disastrous field of Morat, is still amongst the
-deposits in this superb collection.
-
-Another of its illustrious founders was Margaret of Austria, _la
-gente demoiselle_, daughter to the gentle-spirited Mary of Burgundy,
-and friend of Erasmus and Cornelius Agrippa, who amassed for it the
-invaluable collection of “_Princeps_” editions, which were then issuing
-from the early press of Venice and the North. The Library still
-contains the common-place book of this interesting Princess, with her
-verses in her own handwriting, and music of her own composition.
-
-Another equally charming guardian of literature was her niece, Mary
-of Austria, the sister of Charles V and Queen Dowager of Hungary,
-who transferred to the library of Brussels the manuscripts which
-her husband, Louis II, had inherited from his grandfather, Mathias
-Corvinus. Amongst these, is a missal, one of the wonders of the
-collection, painted at Florence in 1485, and abounding in the most
-exquisite miniatures, arabesques and illuminated cyphers. From the
-period of its deposit in Brussels, the Dukes of Brabant took their oath
-of inauguration by kissing the leaves of this priceless volume, and two
-pages which had been opened for this purpose at the accession of Albert
-and Isabella, in November 1599, are spotted with the flakes of snow
-which fell upon the book during the solemnity.
-
-In the vicissitudes of Brussels, the contents of her Library has always
-been an object of cupidity for her invaders. In 1746, Marshal Saxe sent
-a selection of its treasures to Paris, which were restored in 1770,
-and again seized by the revolutionary army of Dumourier in 1794, and
-though recovered in 1815, it was with the loss of many of its precious
-deposits. But even the disappearance of these was less exasperating
-than the insensate vandalism of the savants of the revolution, who
-actually rubbed out with their wetted fingers, the portraits of the
-ancient emperors and kings, and even of the saints who happened to wear
-a crown, in order to evince their inexpressible hatred of monarchy.
-
-Amongst the manuscripts, are some few which escaped from the sack
-of Constantinople in 1453, and bear the names and handwriting of
-Chalcondylas, Chrysolaras, and the restorers of Grecian literature,
-who, on the overturn of the Eastern Empire, found a refuge at Rome and
-at the court of the Medicis. The bindings of numbers of them, bear the
-imperial cypher of Napoleon, but the majority have still their ancient
-velvet covers, the richness of which, with their clasps of gilded
-silver which secure them, attest the value which was placed upon their
-contents by their illustrious owners.
-
-An adjoining apartment is devoted to some interesting antiquities,
-among which, are a court-dress of Charles II, a souvenir of his sojourn
-at Brussels during the ascendancy of Cromwell; a cloak of feathers,
-which belonged to Montezuma; the cradle in which Charles V. was rocked;
-and two stuffed horses which bore Albert and Isabella at the battle
-of Nieuport, one an Andalusian barb which had accompanied the Infanta
-from Spain, the other a Moravian which afterwards saved the life of the
-Archduke at the siege of Ostend in 1604.
-
-In the private mansions of Brussels there are numerous collections of
-pictures and objects of vertu, much more valuable than those which
-are the property of the nation. Those of the Duke d’Aremberg, the
-Prince de Ligne, M. Maleck de Werthenfels, and the Count Vilain XIV,
-contain several masterpieces of the Dutch and Flemish masters, and
-some few by Raphael Leonardo de Vinci, and the chiefs of the Italian
-school. The name of this latter gentleman is somewhat remarkable; his
-ancestor, who was ennobled by Louis XIV, being permitted to append
-the cypher of the monarch to his name and that of his descendants.
-The collection of the Duke d’Aremberg, besides a number of paintings
-of great excellence, contains a remarkable marble, which has excited
-much curious investigation amongst the dilettanti; it is a head, the
-fragment of a statue, which _is said_ to have originally belonged to
-the main figure in the group of the Laocoon in the Vatican, the present
-head being only a restoration. The truth of this is questioned, but the
-connoisseurs attached to Napoleon were so satisfied of its truth, that
-the Emperor, by their advice, offered the possessor, weight for weight,
-gold for marble, if he would allow the head to resume its ancient
-position on the shoulders of the statue which was then in the gallery
-of the Louvre. The Duke, unwilling to part with it, declined, but aware
-of the determined nature of Napoleon’s caprices, sent it privately out
-of the country, and had it concealed at Dresden till the fall of the
-Emperor, when it was restored to its old place in the library of the
-Palais d’Aremberg. That the head of the central figure in the group of
-the Vatican is a restoration, there can be no doubt; it was copied,
-it is said, from an antique gem. The head at Brussels, was found by
-some Venetian explorers, and sold to the father or grandfather of the
-present Duke d’Aremberg. Whether it be the genuine original or not, no
-possible doubt can be entertained of its masterly execution, and the
-vigour and fire of expression with which it glows, justify any opinion
-in favour of its origin.
-
-An almost precipitous street, appropriately called “Rue Montagne de la
-Cour,” rises in a straight line from the lowest level of the ancient
-town to the hill on which the new one is situated, which is filled with
-the best and most showy shops in Brussels; jewellers, printsellers,
-confectioners and modistes, and crowded at all hours of the day with
-carriages and fashionable loungers. At the bottom of this steep
-acclivity, is the Place de la Monnaie, where stands the theatre, in
-which the actual insurrection commenced in 1830, when the audience,
-inflamed by the music and declamation of the Muette de Portici, and
-inspired by the estro of Masaniello, rushed into the street and
-proceeded at once to demolish the residence of the minister, M. van
-Maanen. Turning a corner from this, one finds himself suddenly in the
-midst of the antique square in which stands the Hôtel de Ville, and
-the other principal municipal edifices of the past age--the _forum_
-of ancient Brabant, as the Place de Monnaie is of the modern. It was
-in this and in the sombre old mansions that are to be found in the
-precincts around it, that the pride of democracy appears to have
-delighted in “recording in lofty stone” its own magnificence, and
-lavished their public wealth upon the towers of the Town Hall, the most
-imposing monument of the popular power.
-
-But, independently of its democratic associations, the Hôtel de Ville
-of Brussels was the scene of the most extraordinary episode that has
-ever been recorded in the chronicles of kings;--it was in the grand
-hall of the Hôtel de Ville that Charles V. wearied with the crown of
-a monarch, laid it aside to assume the cowl of a monk, and took his
-departure from the throne of an empire to die, a maniac, in the cell of
-a monastery. It was from one of the windows of the same building that
-the ferocious Duke of Alva looked on, in person, at the execution of
-two of the purest patriots of their own or any subsequent age--Lamoral,
-Count Egmont, and Philip de Montmorency, Count Horn--the first and
-most illustrious martyrs of the Reformation in the Netherlands. During
-the reign of terror under Philip II., Brussels was the grand scene of
-Alva’s atrocities and of his successors’ incapacity. It was in the
-little square of the Petit Sablon, that the protestant confederates
-assembled to draw up their famous remonstrance to Margaret of Parma,
-the sister and vice-queen of the bigotted tyrant, on the occasion of
-presenting which, by the hands of de Bredérode, the unlucky exclamation
-of “the beggars,” (_Gueux_) escaped from the incautious lips of the
-Count de Berlayment, in whispering his counsel to the grand-duchess
-to reject their prayer, a word which fell like a blister, and was
-adopted, at once, as the title and the sting of the protestant
-conjuration.
-
-The square of the Hôtel de Ville was the scene of every popular
-commotion that has agitated Brabant, from the origin of the ducal
-dynasty, to the halcyon days of Albert and Isabella: it resounded with
-the insane riots of the Iconoclasts in 1566, and it was illuminated
-by the flames of the Inquisition, in which the same infuriated
-fanatics made a final expiation for their violence. It ran red with
-the blood of the protestants under Philip II.; and, in 1581, it rang
-with the acclamations of the followers of the Prince of Orange over
-the temporary abolition of the worship of Rome. So little is its
-architectural aspect altered since these thrilling scenes, that, with
-the Hôtel de Ville on one side, and on the other the old communal
-house, in which Egmont and Horn spent the night previous to their
-execution; and around them the venerable gothic fronts and fretted
-gables of its ancient dwellings, one might almost imagine it the ready
-scenery, and half expect the appearance of the dramatis personæ to
-re-enact the tragedy.
-
-The ornamental monuments of Brussels are neither very numerous,
-nor remarkable for their refinement of taste. The public fountain
-called “le Cracheur,” is the statue of a man, with his arms folded,
-and vomiting the stream for the accommodation of the public; and
-the famous little fountain of the _mannekin_, in the Rue de Chene,
-supplies her customers with water in a style perfectly unique, at
-least, in a statue. This eccentric little absurdity is the darling
-of the bourgeoisie, and the popular palladium of Brussels, and its
-memoirs are amongst the most ridiculous records of national trifling.
-The original which was of great antiquity, made of carved stone was
-replaced by one of iron. The present one is in bronze on the same
-model, and was cast by Duquesnoy in 1648. One story to account for its
-extreme popularity, is that it is a likeness of Godfrey, one of the
-Dukes of Brabant, who, when an infant, having escaped from his nurse,
-was discovered at the spot in the attitude immortalized by the little
-statue. By the mob, the mannekin is perfectly worshipped--he is called
-“le plus ancien bourgeois de la ville,” has the freedom of the city,
-and a feast day in July regularly appointed in his honour. On this
-occasion, he is clothed in a suit which was given him by Louis XV.,
-consisting of a cocked hat and feathers, a sword and costume complete,
-the King, at the same time, creating him a Chevalier de St. Louis.
-Charles V. was equally beneficent to the mannekin, and Maximilian of
-Bavaria assigned him a valet-de-chambre. He has also been left legacies
-by more than one of the citizens; at the present moment his income is
-upwards of four hundred francs, paid to his valet for his services upon
-state occasions, and to a treasurer for the management of his estates.
-Brussels has, more than once, been thrown into dismay by the mannekin
-being carried off, and the utmost exertion has been made for his
-recovery. The last violence offered to him was his being carried off
-a few years since; but he was discovered in the house of a liberated
-felon, and speedily restored to his old place and functions amidst the
-delight of the Brussellois.
-
-In the Place du Grand Sablon, another fountain, surmounted by a marble
-statue of Minerva, between figures, representing Fame and the river
-Scheldt, and holding a medallion with the heads of Francis I. and Maria
-Theresa was erected, as its inscription imports in 1711, by Thomas
-Bruce, Earl of Aylesbury, in recognition of the enjoyments he had
-experienced during a residence of forty years in Brussels.
-
-We dined to day with the gentlemen who formed the Commission of Inquiry
-which had lately visited the linen districts of Great Britain. The
-entertainment was at du Bos’, Rue Fossé-aux-Loups, the favourite
-restaurant of Brussels, and the dinner was altogether French, and equal
-to the best cuisine of the Palais Royale. The hotels of Brussels,
-those, I mean, in its upper town, are on an immense scale, especially
-the Bellevue, which overlooks the park, and was in the very focus of
-the fight during the “glorious three days” of 1830. Beside it is the
-Hôtel de Flandres, said to have the most recherché table-d’hôte of
-the entire, and such is its popularity, that we could neither obtain
-apartments in the hotel on our arrival, nor seats at the table on a
-subsequent occasion. In this dilemma, we took up our residence at a
-house on the opposite side of the same square, the Hôtel Brittanique,
-where we found the arrangements as execrable, in every respect, as the
-charges were monstrous. As usual, however, a stranger with his foot
-on the step of his carriage, has no resource but to submit; but, as a
-general rule, the traveller who is in search of the _cheapest_ hotel,
-should invariably address himself to that which has the reputation
-of being the _best_; where there is no temptation, as in the less
-frequented establishments, to make those who visit the house pay for
-the loss occasioned by the absence of those who avoid it, and where,
-even if the bill be occasionally something more than is equitable, he
-has, at least, the satisfaction of feeling that he has had _comfort_ in
-exchange for extortion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-BRUSSELS.
-
-EFFECTS OF THE REPEAL OF THE UNION WITH HOLLAND.
-
-    The Belgian revolution has produced no man of leading genius--The
-      present ministry--M. Rogier--M. Liedtz, the Minister of the
-      Interior--An interview at the Home Office--Project of steam
-      navigation between Belgium and the United States--Freedom
-      of political discussion in Belgium--_Character of King
-      Leopold_--Public feeling in Brussels--The original union
-      of Holland and Belgium apparently desirable--Commercial
-      obstacles--Obstinacy of the King of Holland--Anecdote of
-      the King of Prussia--The extraordinary care of the King
-      for manufactures--_Prosperous_ condition of Belgium under
-      Holland--_Les Griefs Belges_--Singular coincidence between
-      the proceedings of THE REPEALERS IN IRELAND AND THE REPEALERS
-      IN BELGIUM--Ambition for separate nationality--Imposition
-      of the Dutch language unwise--Abolition of trial by
-      jury--Now disliked by the Belgians themselves--Financial
-      grievances--Inequality of representation--CONDUCT OF THE ROMAN
-      CATHOLICS--Hatred of toleration--Attachment of the clergy to
-      Austria--_Remarkable manifesto of the clergy to the Congress
-      of Vienna_--Resistance to liberty of conscience, and freedom
-      of the press--Demand for tithes--Resistance of the priests to
-      the toleration of Protestants--The official oath--_Protest
-      of the Roman Catholic Bishops against freedom of opinion
-      and education by the State_--Perfect impartiality of the
-      Sovereign--Resistance of the priesthood--_The Revolution_--Union
-      of the Liberals and Roman Catholics--Intolerant ambition of
-      the clergy--Separation of the _Clerico-liberal party_--Present
-      state of parties in the legislature--Unconstitutional
-      ascendancy of the priests--_State of public feeling_--Universal
-      disaffection--Curious list of candidates for the crown of
-      Belgium in 1831--“_La Belgique de Leopold_,” its treasonable
-      publications--Future prospects uncertain--Vain attempts to
-      remedy the evils of the revolution--_Connexion with the Prussian
-      League refused_--Impossibility of an union with Austria or
-      Prussia--Union with France impracticable--Partition of Belgium
-      with the surrounding states--_Possible restoration of the House
-      of Nassau, in the event of any fresh disturbance_.
-
-WE this morning paid a visit to M. Liedtz, the minister of the
-interior, in his hotel at the “Palais de la Nation.” It is rather
-remarkable that neither the actual eruption of the revolution nor its
-subsequent influence, has been sufficient to draw forth any individual
-of leading genius, to give a complexion to the policy of the new
-state. The actors who have played the most prominent _rôle_ during the
-last ten years have been a few of the ancient Catholic noblesse, whose
-titles gave éclat to the movement, but who have long since withdrawn
-into retirement, or ceased to take a lead in the administration--and
-the body of lawyers whose professional aptitude to promote or profit
-by any change, has enabled them to step over the heads of their less
-adroit, but not less qualified associates, and to appropriate to
-themselves the “loaves and fishes” of office. Lastly, there were “the
-masses” whose impetuosity achieved the revolution, the “patrioterie”
-who form the tools of every revolution to be worked for the benefit of
-their more clear sighted superiors. But the daring spirits of 1830 have
-all disappeared; the present times do not require such fiery agents;
-the violence which effects a revolution, must be the first thing to
-be got rid of by those who would perpetuate it, and who speedily
-learn to exchange the exciting demand of “_delenda est Carthago_,”
-for the milder supplication of “_panem et Circenses_.” In this way
-the Masaniello of the revolution, M. de Potter, having been given to
-comprehend that his services had been rendered, and his presence no
-longer desirable, has long since withdrawn himself to ponder over, and,
-it is even added, _to regret_ the events of 1830; but certainly to
-lament, in strong terms, his disappointment at their practical results.
-
-The present ministry did not, from all we could observe, command the
-confidence of their fellow citizens, nor do I recollect any one of them
-spoken of without a reference to some incapacity or disqualification
-for the office. M. Rogier, the minister of public works, had been a
-third or fourth rate barrister at Liege, and eked out an insufficient
-professional income by delivering lectures on French literature. His
-daring and energetic share in the events which displaced the old
-dynasty, recommended him to employment under the new, but the office
-assigned to him, that of the interior, involving the guardianship
-of trade and manufactures, was one for which he was little suited,
-either by education or taste, and he utterly destroyed the confidence
-of the merchants and mill owners, by avowing in one of his addresses
-to them, that they must be prepared to see “_commerce die a lingering
-death_,” if it were conducive to the permanence of the new order of
-things. M. Liedtz, with whom we had an interview this morning, had,
-like M. Rogier, been a lawyer, but of some standing and eminence in
-his profession. He had been, we heard, unfavourable to the revolution
-at its first out-break, but his talents speedily recommended him to
-the notice of the new authorities, who promoted him to be judge in the
-district of Antwerp, whence he was transferred to his present office
-on the removal of M. Rogier, to that of public works. He received us
-in a suite of very elegant apartments, much superior to those with
-which our own ministers are accommodated in Downing Street. He is a
-native of Audenarde, of humble parentage, but of considerable practical
-acquirements, especially on agricultural matters. He received us
-most affably, and after some conversation on commercial subjects,
-reverted at once to his own hobby, by asking after the progress of
-agriculture in Great Britain. The object of greatest interest with us
-was the duty which it had been announced that it was in contemplation
-by the government to impose upon the export of flax, and to which I
-have before alluded as the extraordinary expedient suggested by the
-agricultural members of the chambers, in order to protect the hand
-spinners from being superseded by machinery. The minister seemed fully
-to understand the absurdity of the suggestion, but still admitted that
-the “pressure from without” might compel him to introduce a bill upon
-the subject. He informed us, that a negociation has just been concluded
-with some speculators in the United States, supported by the Belgian
-government, with a view to running a line of steam-packets of great
-power from New York and Philadelphia to Antwerp and Ostend, touching
-at one of the southern ports of England, and thus it was expected
-securing a share of the passenger trade, as well as opening, by
-degrees, a market for Belgian produce in the United States.
-
-One thing, in Belgium, I cannot but allude to as characteristic--the
-unrestrained freedom with which every individual discusses politics,
-and the unreserved candour and frankness with which each details
-his views and strictures. This is the more remarkable, because the
-universal tenor of opinion is, if not directly to complain, at least,
-to admit the existence of much cause for complaint. I never met with
-less _bigotted_ politicians, and I have not seen a single individual,
-whom I would designate _a party-man_, in the English acceptation of
-the term, that is one who finds all right, or all wrong, precisely
-as the party with whom he sympathises be censured or lauded by the
-inference. But the fact is, there are no “optimists” in Belgium as yet,
-and there is so much that is unsatisfactory in every department, that
-the consciousness of it forces itself upon the conviction, if not the
-admission of every individual. The press, too, is equally unreserved,
-and in the shops of the booksellers, we found numbers of publications
-devoted to the exposure of the present condition of the country.
-
-Still no creature, not even the most violent partisan of the House
-of Nassau whom I have met with, includes King Leopold in the scope
-of his censures. The revolution itself, its immediate agents and its
-consequences are the objects of their condemnation; but no one of
-the results from which they suffer, is ascribed to the influence or
-interference of the King. Those who regret the expulsion of the King of
-Holland, look upon King Leopold merely as his involuntary successor,
-and whilst they condemn the incapacity of his ministers, and the
-violence of the party in the house and in the country by whom they are
-controlled--all seemed to regard the King as only borne upon a tide
-of circumstances, which he is equally unable with them to resist or
-direct. His fondness for locomotion, his frequent visits to England and
-journeys to Paris, were the subject of good humoured badinage, and
-have procured him the titles of “_le roi voyageur_,” and “_l’estafette
-nomade_.” “Il s’amuse,” said an intelligent Belgian, when I asked
-him what share the King took in politics, “he goes out of the way to
-Wiesbaden, and leaves things very much to themselves, or, what is
-nearly the same thing _to his ministers_.”
-
-In Brussels, of course, we found the revolution still popular; its
-population were the first to promote, and are the last to regret it.
-But it is an inland town, the residence of the court and the nobles,
-unconnected either with manufactures or commerce, and its shopkeepers
-have not suffered by the change, which has affected the prosperity of
-the trading districts. Equally independent of the loom and the sail,
-they only hear of the embarrassments of others, as a sound from a
-distance. Their intercourse is with the wealthy, who are congregated
-round the seat of the legislation and the palace of the sovereign; as
-yet their pursuits have not been affected by the diminished resources
-of the middle and labouring classes, and besides the constant passage
-of strangers, as well as the permanent residence of some thousands of
-English and other wealthy foreigners, is a permanent source of income.
-But, throughout the country and in the provincial towns, we met with
-but one feeling of keen discontent with the result of the revolution,
-and alarm for the condition and prospects of the country.
-
-That the union of Belgium with Holland in 1815 was one conceived, less
-with an eye to the interests of the two countries, than in an anxiety
-for the erection of a substantial power in that precise locality, as
-a security for the peace of Europe, is admitted by all engaged in
-its actual arrangements; but it is equally admitted, that whatever
-discordances there might have existed at the time between the feelings,
-the peculiarities and the interests of the two states, they presented
-no permanent obstacle to that “complete and intimate fusion” of the two
-people, which was ultimately anticipated by the Congress of Vienna.
-It was in order to erect the new kingdom into a state of adequate
-importance, that England, in addition to concurring in the restoration
-of the ancient Netherlands of Charles V, divested herself of a portion
-of her colonial conquests during the war to re-annex them to Holland,
-thus feeding the national resources of both sections of the new
-alliance--the Belgian by an outlet for its manufactures, and the Dutch
-by a carrying trade for their shipping.
-
-The union, too, was a natural one, not only geographically, but
-intrinsically. Belgium had been compelled to become a manufacturing
-country by the closing of the Scheldt, at the treaty of Munster which
-ended the Thirty years’ war in 1648, one of those unnatural acts of
-state policy, that seems almost an impious interference with the
-benevolence of providence; and which by annihilating this noble river
-for all purposes of trade, had the contemplated effect of driving
-commerce to Amsterdam and Rotterdam, thus constraining the Belgians
-to betake themselves to industry and handicrafts at home. With
-such elasticity did they conform to this necessity, that when the
-unnatural embargo was taken off by the progress of the French in 1794,
-the energies and genius of the population had made such a decided
-development, that they were not to be seduced back into their old
-pursuits of traffic, and the _manufactures_ of Belgium continued to
-prosper under “the continental system” of Napoleon, down to the period
-of the general peace. Holland, on the contrary, with her hands fully
-employed by her shipping and her trade, and possessing no mines of iron
-or coal, had never either the inducement or the temptation to become a
-manufacturing country, so that nothing could apparently be more happy,
-than the union of one producing nation all alive with machinery, with
-its neighbour proportionably rich in shipping; and to open to both an
-extensive colonial territory, whose population the merchantmen of the
-one could supply with the produce of the other.
-
-But even here lay the seeds of unforeseen dissentions. Belgium,
-all whose notions of commercial policy were formed upon the false
-and narrow basis of France, was perpetually calling for protective
-duties, bounties and prohibitions, without which her artisans were
-sinking under the effects of foreign competition; whilst to the
-Dutch, with their spirit of traffic and fleets of shipping, every
-restriction upon absolute free trade was a positive interception of
-gain. This antagonism of interests led to perpetual animosity in the
-states-general upon all questions of customs and imposts, and to
-such an extent did Holland give way upon these points, in order to
-protect the interests of Belgium at the sacrifice of her own, that a
-well informed author observes that, “_even supposing the desire for
-separation had not arisen in Belgium, the Dutch, ere long, would have
-been forced to call for this divorce in order to save Amsterdam and
-Rotterdam from ruin_.” It is more likely, however, that the march of
-manufacturing prosperity in Belgium, and the increased demand and
-consumption of her produce would have ultimately compensated her
-commercial colleague for all intermediate loss.[30]
-
-But added to these pecuniary squabbles, there were deeper and less
-tangible causes of mutual repulsion, differences of language and
-religion, and local prejudices and antipathies, out of which
-speedily sprung an infinity of definite “grievances,” which timely
-and conciliating interference and constitutional reforms might have
-allayed; but which, there can be no doubt, were obstinately and fatally
-neglected by the King of Holland, and his irresponsible ministers; and
-though it is absurd to regard them, even if unredressed, as justifiable
-grounds for revolution, they led ultimately to the expulsion of the
-family of Nassau from the Netherlands.
-
-It seems to be admitted upon all hands, that in this the King of
-Holland was seriously to blame, and that whilst the political causes
-of complaint were all capable of easy removal or redress, they were
-overlooked in his anxiety to stimulate and promote the commercial
-prosperity of the country. From the outset, he aimed at eradicating
-the French institutions, to which, during the twenty years of their
-connexion with that country, the Belgians had become strongly
-attached, and to assimilate them to the model of Holland. His conduct,
-in this attempt, was strongly contrasted with the prudence of the
-King of Prussia, who having received his Transrhenan provinces under
-precisely similar circumstances, had never once attempted to interfere
-with those habits and local constitutions to which the people had
-become familiarised. He even ventured to remonstrate with the King
-of Holland on the impolicy of his course, and to warn him of the
-discontents it was likely to engender, but received only a pettish
-reply that, “his Majesty was old enough to act for himself,”--a
-rebuff which the Prussian monarch is said to have retorted when, at a
-subsequent period, the King of Holland applied to him for assistance to
-reconquer Belgium, and he accompanied his refusal with a remark, that
-he presumed “his Majesty was old enough _to fight_ for himself.”
-
-This unwise neglect of the political grievances of Belgium, cannot be
-compensated by the King’s exclusive devotion to its manufacturing
-and substantial interests; and even in this, it is doubtful whether
-his zeal did not hurry him into an unwise extreme. His great ambition
-was to render his people “a nation of shopkeepers,” and develop as
-thoroughly the manufacturing resources of Belgium, as industry and
-care had matured the agricultural and commercial riches of Holland.
-There was no labour, no expense, no care, no experiment left unemployed
-to give life and impulse to their grand object. One engrossing topic
-was uppermost in his mind; which was not inaptly compared to a
-“price current,” solely influenced by the rise and fall of produce,
-or the fluctuations of the funds. The inventions of Watt and Fulton
-stood higher in his estimation than the achievements of Frederick or
-Napoleon. He protected the arts, not so much from admiration as policy,
-and he countenanced literature, not from any devotion to letters,
-but because it created a demand for articles of commerce. In short,
-there was nothing classic, inspiring or chivalrous in his bearing, all
-was material, positive and mathematical. Business was his element,
-his recreation; and amusement, but a robbery of that time which he
-thought he ought to devote entirely to his people. He loved to surround
-himself with practical men, and he gained the good will of all the
-great commercial and financial aristocracy by the attention he paid
-to them, individually and collectively. It is incontestible, that if
-the happiness and welfare of a nation had depended on the laborious
-exertions and unremitting devotion of the sovereign to commercial
-affairs, then Belgium ought to have been as contented as it was
-prosperous, and its sovereign the most popular monarch in Europe.[31]
-
-Under the auspices of such a sovereign, Belgium, during the fifteen
-years of its connexion with Holland, attained a height of prosperity
-which no human being presumes to question. Agriculture, recovering
-from the sad effects of war, and receiving an augmented impulse from
-the demand created by the commerce of Holland, speedily attained the
-highest possible point of prosperity--mines were opened, coal, iron
-and all other, mineral wealth extensively explored; manufactures and
-machinery were multiplied to an extent beyond belief, and the trade
-of Antwerp even outstepped that of Holland in exporting the produce
-of Belgium. Roads, canals and means of communication were constructed
-with surprising rapidity; sound and practical education was universally
-diffused, in short, every element of material prosperity became fully
-developed, and what rendered the progress of the nation the more
-important, was the fact that it was not intermittent or capricious, but
-exhibited one steady march in its ascent in each successive year, from
-the period of the union to the hour of its disruption.[32]
-
-In such a combination of circumstances, one is impatient to discover
-the specific causes of discontent which could inflame an entire
-population into all the fury of revolt, and to the expulsion by blood
-and the sword of a King, under whose sway they acknowledge themselves
-to be debtors for so many blessings. This is not the place to canvas
-their merits, but in merely enumerating the principal grievances of
-which they complain, the “_griefs Belges_,” as they were specially
-headed in the newspapers of the time, it is impossible to avoid being
-struck with the identity between the vast majority of the pretexts
-for revolt propounded by the “patrioterie” who Repealed the Union
-in Belgium, and the “patriots” who clamour for “the Repeal of the
-Union” in Ireland. Nor did this similarity escape the promoters of the
-revolution in either country. In Ireland, it has been ostentatiously
-and perseveringly dwelt upon, and even down to the present hour, the
-example of the Belgians is paraded as an incentive to the ambition
-of the enemies of British connexion; and in Belgium, even before the
-revolution, the position of the two countries, as regarded their
-several legislative connexions with England and Holland, was the
-subject of repeated comparisons and condolence. The “Belge,” a journal
-which was active in the encouragement of the movement, thus alludes
-to the coincidence of their circumstances in 1830. “Belgium has been
-long the Ireland of Holland, the relation of the dominant power has
-been in almost every particular, that of “_the Sister Island_” to
-England--with the intolerable addition, however, that while Ireland has
-had the less population by far, Belgium had by far the greater--that
-Belgium paid much more than her proportion of the taxes, whilst Ireland
-paid much less--that Ireland often sent her inhabitants to share
-in the distribution of places, pensions and honours, whilst such a
-distribution amongst the Belgians was of extremely rare occurrence.”
-
-But the similarity consists not less in the ostensible grounds for
-revolt, than in the identity of the actual instruments and agents.
-In Belgium, as in Ireland, they were the uneducated and bigotted
-mob, inflamed by the half-educated press, and led on by a propaganda
-of priests and a crowd of unsuccessful and hungry lawyers. In both
-countries, too, the leaders of the movement, whatever may have been
-their real and secret sentiments, ostensibly professed to seek merely
-a redress of grievances, and to start with alarm at the idea of
-_separation_; their only desire being a _federative union_ under the
-same crown, but with a distinct administration. The Belgian, however,
-soon felt that he wanted a power, which there is but little reason
-to ascribe to the Irishman of saying “thus far shalt thou go, and
-no farther,” and the stimulants applied to the versatile vanity of
-the people, soon rendered them impatient of any proposition short of
-actual independence. An unfortunate phrase in the treaty of Paris
-that Belgium was to be to Holland “as an accession of territory,” was
-construed into a national indignity, notwithstanding the expression
-of perfect equality and “fusion” which pervaded every other passage
-of the document, and the cry of “_a nation no longer a province_”
-became forthwith the aspiration of every discontented coterie. That
-distinction they have, at length, attained, and enjoy the barren
-eminence of a throne, but unfortunately without either the power, the
-wealth, or the influence as an European state, that are essential to
-give it dignity and stability.
-
-There are, however, some points of marked distinction between the
-two cases, inasmuch as whilst the Irish sufferers clamour _for_
-assimilation to England, those in Belgium flew to arms _against_
-assimilation with Holland; and, besides the Belgian repealer pursued
-his object of separation notwithstanding the admitted prosperity of his
-country, whilst the Irish one, less barefaced, tries eagerly to invent
-a case of distress in order to justify his treason. Above all, there
-is this happy difference, that whilst in Belgium the repeal has been
-achieved at the expense of national prosperity, Ireland has still the
-opportunity to reflect and to be warned by her lamentable example.
-
-The civil grievances of the revolutionists arose out of certain
-measures of the King, in some of which he was manifestly wrong; his
-attempts to render Dutch the national language for all public documents
-in certain provinces--to abolish trial by jury, which had been
-established by the French--to remove the supreme court of judicature
-to the Hague--and to introduce the principles of Dutch law into all
-their pleas and proceedings. The two latter were the usual vexatious
-manifestations of the spirit of centralization, which a prudent
-government would never have attempted to force upon the unwilling
-prejudices of a nation; and the substitution of the Dutch tribunal
-for the trial by jury would have been a substantial injustice, had
-the people been unanimous, or even, in a considerable proportion,
-favourable to it; but in the divisions upon the question in the
-States General, large bodies of the Belgian representatives were
-found voting constantly against it; and _even now, notwithstanding
-its re-establishment, it has become more and more unpopular, and even
-those who supported it in 1830, refuse to sit upon juries themselves,
-or to uphold the system by their co-operation_. The alteration of the
-language was an unwise attempt to force upon four millions of Belgians
-the dialect of three millions of Dutch. This has, however, been sought
-to be defended by stating, that of the entire population of the united
-kingdom, one fifth alone spoke French, namely in Hainault, the Waloons,
-South Brabant, and a part of Luxembourg; and the remainder dialects of
-German, in the proportion of two fifths Dutch, and two fifths Flemish.
-The imposing Dutch upon the entire was not, therefore, more unjust than
-would have been a similar imposition of Flemish, _and yet, within this
-very year, the party who reviled the one to the death in 1830, have
-begun to petition the legislature for the other_! They are contented
-now to abandon French, which they then contended for, and to accept the
-barbarous patois of Flanders as its substitute, which would be equally
-unintelligible to the Waloons, and even in those districts of Antwerp
-which border upon Holland.
-
-Another complaint had reference to the disproportionate distribution
-of government patronage between the subjects of Holland and Belgium,
-in which there may have been much truth, and to which the government
-did not take the most wise nor the most soothing steps to reconcile
-the minority, by ascribing it to the _dearth of talent_ amongst their
-countrymen. _Like the Irish_, the Belgian agitators protested against
-the taxes of Belgium being made applicable to the discharge of the
-national debt, of which the largest proportion had been contracted by
-Holland before the period of the union--but having by the Revolution
-secured the management of the national revenues in their own hands, _an
-evil of more serious magnitude has been discovered, in the fact, that
-the expenditure of Belgium in every year since the Revolution, with the
-single exception of 1835, has exceeded the revenue by some millions of
-francs_. In 1831 and 1832 this was strikingly the case, the expenses
-of the war and of new establishments leading in the former year to an
-expenditure of upwards of four millions, and in the latter to eight
-millions sterling. In
-
-  1833   the revenue was   £3,441,519    and
-         the expenditure    3,765,993   excess   £324,474
-  1834   the revenue was    3,371,182    and
-         the expenditure    3,554,960   excess    183,778
-  1835   the revenue was    3,695,225   excess    112,852
-         the expenditure    3,582,373
-  1836   the revenue was    3,382,286    and
-         the expenditure    3,469,031   excess     86,746
-  1837   the revenue was    3,436,468    and
-         the expenditure    3,817,621   excess    381,153
-  1838   the revenue was    3,784,253    and
-         the expenditure    3,885,232   excess    100,979
-  1839   the revenue was    4,163,821    and
-         the expenditure    4,476,613   excess    312,792
-
-The interest upon the national debt of the independent state exceeds at
-the present moment £800,000 a year. Besides, during the Dutch regime,
-it appeared that in Belgium, _as in Ireland_, the malcontents bore
-the most trifling proportion of the national burthens, the revenue of
-the three years preceding the revolt being paid in the proportion of
-sixteen florins per head for every inhabitant of Holland, and only ten
-for those of the Netherlands.
-
-Another grievance, no less _Irish_ than Belgian, was that the number
-of representatives was not regulated exclusively in proportion to the
-_population_ of the two states, totally irrespective of the relative
-territory and possessions of each--and although the representation was
-exactly divided, one half of the States General being Dutch and one
-half Belgian, a division warranted by the large territorial interests
-of the former; the patriots and their disturbers complained “_Si l’on
-nous avait attribué une représentation en rapport avec la population_,
-NOUS AURIONS DOMINÉ LE NORD.”[33] The frankness of this avowal has not
-yet been imitated by the Repealers of Ireland; but its aspiration is
-not the less manifest in the similarity of their pretensions; and the
-frequent references of the Irish agitator in the House of Commons to
-the relative population and comparative electoral constituencies of the
-counties of England and Ireland, irrespective of their relative wealth
-and property, parrotted as they have recently been by members of her
-Majesty’s government, may no doubt be construed into an ill-concealed
-adoption of the sentiments of the repealers of Belgium.
-
-These, and a few other minor points, were the burthen of all the
-_civil_ grievances against which the oppressed patriots of Belgium
-had to protest; and it is not difficult to perceive that it required
-but a little complaisance on the part of the Dutch government to
-redress them, although it is too late to regret that that redress was
-not timely applied. It is impossible, however, for any sober minded
-citizen to discern in the entire mass of these complaints, even in
-all their aggravation, any adequate ground for a resort to the last
-remedy of oppression--war, and revolution; and in vain would the
-restless promoters of the revolt have laboured to inflame the populace
-by rhapsodies on the glory of independence, or diatribes against
-the pronunciation of Dutch,--in vain would they have attempted to
-sting them into madness by calculations of finance, or lamentations
-over the exclusion of some provincial orator, from a seat in the
-legislature or a portfolio in some public bureau,--all these whips and
-stimulants would have been powerless and unfelt, had not _religion_
-been introduced in association with each, and the ascendancy of the
-Roman Catholic church been made the alpha and the omega--the beginning
-and the end--the burthen of every complaint, and the object of every
-exhortation.
-
-The avowed cause of the dissatisfaction of the clergy, was that the
-King _was a protestant_, and that protection and full toleration
-was extended to all sects and religious communities. The genius and
-pretensions of the Roman Catholic church seems, down to the present
-hour, to have undergone less modification in Belgium than in any other
-country of Europe, with the single exception, perhaps, of Rome itself.
-It was to preserve it in all its integrity that Philip II. and the Duke
-of Alva for thirty years exhausted the blood and treasure of Spain
-in its defence, and down to the present hour, its clergy exhibit a
-practical gratitude for their devotion, by the uncompromising assertion
-of every attribute for which they contended. Belgium is, at this
-moment, the most thoroughly catholic country in Europe, and the recent
-exploits of the Archbishop of Cologne attest the power of its example
-and its influence even over the adjoining states.
-
-Under the dominion of Austria, the authority of the church had been
-recognized by the crown, in all its plenitude and power, and the
-subsequent union of Belgium to France in 1795, was eagerly resisted
-by the clergy, who naturally saw in it the subversion of their power
-before that of the Goddess of Reason. But even the influence of twenty
-years of intimate association with France, proved incapable to diminish
-the ardent subjection of the Belgians to their priesthood, or temper
-the ambition of their prelates and their clergy; and when, at length,
-the clasps which held together the empire of Napoleon, flew asunder in
-1814, the utmost desire of the priesthood was to have Belgium again
-restored to her ancient masters, and _re-constructed as a province
-of Austria_, in which event, they calculated that the elevation of
-the church would follow, as of course. This, however, European policy
-forbade; and when, in 1814, the prelates of Flanders found themselves
-abandoned by their chosen sovereign, who accepted, in exchange, the
-more attractive provinces of Italy, and handed them over to one of the
-most Protestant monarchs in Europe, their consternation was unbounded,
-and in the extravagance of their disappointment, they had the madness
-to address a memorial to the Congress of Vienna, which is well worthy
-of being preserved as an authentic manifesto of the pretensions of the
-Roman Catholic church in modern times.[34]
-
-It bears date in October, 1814, and is signed by the vicars-general
-of the Prince de Broglie, who was then Bishop of Ghent. It sets out
-by an exposition of a principle learned, they say, from experience,
-that it is indispensable for a catholic country passing under the
-government of a protestant sovereign, to stipulate for the free
-exercise of its own worship, and for placing all its ancient rights
-and privileges beyond the reach of any interference of the state
-(“_hors de toute atteinte de la part du Souverain_”). The religion of
-Luther, the vicars-general proceeded to remind the Congress, is merely
-_tolerated_ in Germany beside that of Rome, although it is very absurd
-to approve of two doctrines that contradict each other; but in Belgium,
-the latter has been distinctly recognized from immemorial time, and
-they, therefore, feel it is incumbent on them early to demand a
-formal guarantee for its exclusive exercise, “_l’exercice exclusif_,”
-which had been secured to them, at former times, by the most solemn
-treaties. They warn the Prince of Orange, that he will find it his
-future interest, as well as that of Europe in general, whose object
-it must be to have Belgium peaceful and contented, to enter into an
-inaugural compact with the church, regarding the maintenance of all
-its ancient authority, and candidly intimate that the result shall
-never be satisfactory, if their own demands are not complied with in
-the following particulars:--First, the exclusive establishment of the
-Roman Catholic religion, _with this exception, that the royal family
-and the court may have a place of protestant worship in their palaces
-or chateaus, but that on no pretence whatever, is a protestant church
-to be erected elsewhere_. The words of this postulate are as distinct
-as their import is remarkable in the nineteenth century:--“Avec cette
-exception, que le Prince Souverain et son auguste famille seront
-libres de professer leur religion, et d’en exercer le culte dans leurs
-palais, chateaux, et maisons royales, ou les seigneurs de sa cour
-auront des chapelles et des ministres de leur religion, _sans qu’il
-soit permis d’ériger des temples hors de l’enceinte de ces palais,
-sous quelque pretexte que ce soit_.” Secondly, that the church was
-to have absolute dominion in all matters concerning its own affairs.
-Thirdly, that the Council of State was to be composed _exclusively
-of Roman Catholics_, including _two bishops_ of the establishment.
-Fourthly and fifthly, that a nuncio should be received from the Roman
-See, to treat with the council, and a new concordat obtained with
-the Pope. Sixthly, _that it was indispensably essential, in order to
-provide a perpetual maintenance for the clergy beyond all control of
-the state, that tithes should be re-established throughout Belgium_;
-the protestants, of course, contributing to the maintenance of the
-church from which they dissented! Seventhly, the re-establishment of
-the university of Louvain; and lastly, the restoration of the _monks
-and religious orders_ which had been suppressed by the Emperor Joseph
-II, and “_as one of the most excellent means, and, perhaps, the only
-one, at the present day, to secure to youth the blessings of an
-education combining, at once, the principles of genuine religion and
-the acquirements of human learning, the re-establishment of the Jesuits
-throughout Belgium_.[35]”
-
-Whether this extraordinary document was really framed with a view
-to influence the deliberations of the Congress, or written with a
-full anticipation of their ultimate conclusion, and designed only
-as a defiance and a bold forewarning of the consequence, it had but
-little weight at Vienna, and the provinces were consigned, without the
-required stipulations, to the King of Holland.
-
-The constitution of the new state was based upon principles of the
-most unrestricted toleration and protection for all denominations of
-religion. But toleration and freedom of opinion are the very essence of
-the reformation, and the Roman Catholic clergy had the discernment to
-perceive that no more effectual system could have been established for
-the silent but ultimate subversion of their church, than by reducing
-it to an equality with every other, thus lending the authority of the
-state in ascribing to many the possession of that saving faith, which
-it is fatal to the very spirit of catholicism to have attributed to
-any but one--and that one, herself. Equal rights and protection were
-to her more pernicious than proscription and persecution, and no other
-course was left to her than that precisely which she adopted to protest
-against toleration in the first instance, and to revolt against it in
-the end.
-
-By an arrangement of the new government, no public functionary or
-officer connected with any department of the state, was to enter
-upon his functions before having taken an oath to maintain all the
-principles and observe all the enactments of the Constitution. But
-as amongst these were comprised the fundamental law of “toleration,”
-another manifesto was instantly issued by the prelates, prohibiting all
-Roman Catholics from subscribing to the obnoxious oath, as subversive
-of all the principles of the church of Rome, and ruinous to her
-attributes and claims!
-
-The articles which they objected to were those which guaranteed to all
-religious denominations of Christians perfect liberty of conscience,
-freedom of worship, an equality of civil rights and indiscriminate
-eligibility to all public employments.[36] To swear to the observance
-of such a law, the prelates declared to be neither more nor less than
-to exact equal protection for error as for truth,--and to countenance
-the admission to places of honour and trust, without distinction of
-religion, was merely sanctioning, by anticipation, measures that might
-hereafter be taken for permitting the interference of protestants in
-the affairs of the catholic community. The words of the Constitution
-established the unlimited exercise of public worship, “unless where
-it gave rise to any public disturbance,” _lorsqu’il a été l’occasion
-d’un trouble_; “but the bishops protested, that to give a power to the
-government to interfere under any limitation, was to submit the church
-to the authority of its enemies; and that _to swear obedience to any
-constitution which presumed the Catholic Church to be subject to the
-temporal law was manifestly to subscribe to its humiliation_.”[37] “To
-ascribe,” they said, “to a sovereign of a different faith, _a right
-of interference in the regulation of national education_ would be to
-hand over public instruction to the secular power, and would exhibit a
-shameful betrayal of the dearest interests of the church. There are
-other articles of the Constitution,” continues the manifesto, “which no
-true child of the Catholic Church can ever undertake, by a solemn oath,
-to observe or to support, and _above all others that which establishes_
-THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS!”
-
-This singular document bore the signatures of the Prince Maurice de
-Broglie, Bishop of Ghent, Charles Francis Joseph Pisani de la Gaude,
-Bishop of Namur, François Joseph, Bishop of Tournai, and of J. Forgeur
-and J. A. Barrett, the Vicars-General of Malines and Liege. I have
-preserved it and the memorial to the Congress of Vienna, as the most
-remarkable denunciations against liberty of conscience that modern
-times have produced, and a singular evidence of how little influence
-the example, or the intimate association of twenty years with the
-liberalism of France, was capable of producing on the spirit and genius
-of the church of Rome.
-
-Its promulgation produced an instant effect upon the weak consciences
-of the people, which, for a time, was productive of the utmost
-embarrassment to the establishment and arrangements of the new
-government, as individuals were prevented from accepting offices,
-which were open to them, from a dread of the vengeance of the altar.
-Its mischievous consequences were, however, after a time, defeated by
-the temperate conduct of the Prince de Mean, the last Prince Bishop
-of Liege, and subsequently Bishop of Malines, who had not signed the
-document, and who took the requisite oath, _subject to approval of the
-Pope_, an example which was speedily followed by all whom the incentive
-of office inspired with a natural anxiety to avail themselves of so
-high an authority.
-
-The King now administered the law with an apparent oblivion of
-every previous act of the Roman Catholic clergy. The income which
-was appropriated by the state for their support, was _augmented_
-at his suggestion, the remotest interference with their worship
-was in no solitary instance attempted, and churches were built for
-their accommodation in the poorer districts, to which his Majesty
-himself was a liberal contributor. For some years every pretext for
-special complaint was successfully avoided, and the country was too
-rapidly prosperous to be yet ripe for any efforts to excite abstract
-discontent. But, at length, about 1825, the striking results of the
-Dutch system of National Education, to which I have referred in a
-former chapter, were so apparent, that the spread of intelligence and
-instruction became too alarming to permit the church to be longer
-quiescent, and resistance was at once commenced, notwithstanding
-the fact, that the religious education in the primary schools was
-scrupulously reserved for the superintendence of the priests, and
-theology was utterly excluded from the courses of the universities, and
-handed over exclusively to the college of Louvain. But education, even
-under these limitations, must be instantly suppressed, or unreservedly
-submitted to the church, without any control from the ministry of
-the interior. Some concessions upon this point served only to give
-confidence to the boldness of further demands, and when these were
-resisted, every other grievance, civil and religious, having in the
-mean time undergone the necessary process of aggravation and distortion
-to ripen the passions of the “patrioterie” for revolt, the mine was
-considered ready for explosion, “and the whole country,” to use the
-words of Baron Keverberg,[38] “resounded with the cry of the priests,
-who filled Europe with their denunciations of resentment. To listen to
-them, one would imagine that the Catholic Church in the Netherlands
-groaned in the chains of an unrelenting oppression, and that the King
-had sworn to tear the faith of their fathers from the hearts of his
-subjects, and to hesitate at no measure, however furious or tyrannical,
-to “protestantize their country.” It is unnecessary to say that these
-were not only pure fabrications, “mere rhetorical artifices,” to serve
-the purpose of the hour, since even their authors now admit this to be
-the fact. In a recent publication of the journal of Bruges, which is
-devoted to the _liberal_ party, it avows that William I. so far from
-being the “protestant tyrant which it was then expedient to represent
-him, was the most tolerant of princes, ‘le plus tolerant que l’on
-puisse s’imaginer,’ and only hated by the priesthood because he would
-not endure them to _place the altar upon the throne itself_, as they
-have succeeded in doing by the revolution of 1830.”
-
-With this imperfect _aperçu_ of the origin of the Belgian revolution,
-it is easy to collect its objects, its agents, and its effects. The
-union of the Liberals, with the priesthood and their followers, who
-formed the preponderating mass of the population, formed an alliance so
-powerful, that the whole strength of Holland was unequal to withstand
-it, much less the small body of reflecting and loyal subjects, who
-still remained faithful to the union and the crown, and who were not
-only overwhelmed by the violence of the commotion at the moment, but
-so utterly discomfited by its ultimate consequences, that they have
-never since been able to rally as a party. But the immediate object
-being once achieved, the union of the “_clerico-liberal_” confederacy
-did not long survive its consummation. The “compact alliance” between
-the priests and the liberals had been sought by the former only to
-effect a definite purpose, which could not otherwise be attained,
-_the Repeal of the Union_; and no sooner was this accomplished, than
-the intolerant ambition of the clergy, put an end to all further
-co-operation between them. The party of the priests had then become
-all powerful by their numbers, and no longer requiring the assistance
-of their former allies, they boldly attempted their own objects
-independently, and in defiance of them. It is rather a ludicrous
-illustration of their zeal and its aim, that among the crowd of
-aspirants who were named for the crown of Belgium in 1831, the _Pope_
-himself was put in nomination! and had the decision remained with
-the revolutionists, there can be no doubt that the Netherlands would
-have been added to the territory of the Holy See.[39] Before twelve
-months from the expulsion of the King of Holland, the body by whom
-it was effected was split into two contending factions, and, at the
-present hour, the two opposing parties who contest every measure in the
-legislation of Belgium, are the quondam allies of the revolution,--the
-Liberals, and the “_parti prêtre_,” the latter of whom have the decided
-majority, and rule their former associates with a rod of iron.
-
-Every thing, in fact, is regulated by the wishes of that numerous body
-of the priesthood, who from their ardent exertions for ascendancy,
-have obtained the title of the _La Mennaisiens_, and whose influence in
-every family and in every parish, rules, regulates and determines every
-political movement. They it is who conduct all the elections, name the
-candidates, and marshal the constituency to the poll, and when I was
-at Ghent, the curate of Bottelaer, a rural district in the vicinity,
-read from the altar the persons for whom the congregation were to vote,
-at a pending contest, on pain of the displeasure of the Bishop. If the
-coincidence does not strike irresistibly every individual, who has
-attended to what is passing in Belgium, it is here again unnecessary
-to point out the parallel, between the composition of the two parties,
-in that country and Ireland, who sympathise in the principle of repeal
-and separation. In each country the majority of the “movement” is
-composed of the Roman Catholic clergy, and the devotees of the church,
-but in both their strength would be ineffectual, and certainly their
-object suspected, had they not been joined by honest but mistaken
-individuals, who, aiming at Utopian theories in politics, have been
-content to employ for their accomplishment, the aid of those, whose
-designs are more essentially sectarian, than civil or political.
-
-In Belgium, however, the demonstration has been made, of what may be
-expected to ensue, should the project of Repealing the Union be ever
-successfully effected in Ireland. There, as in Flanders and Brabant,
-the priests and their followers would have the overwhelming majority;
-and caution or concealment being no longer essential, the triumph of
-their attempt, would be but the signal for discarding their allies, and
-proceeding boldly to the consummation of their own ambition. The union
-once repealed, the objects of the liberal protestants of Ireland and
-the Roman Catholic party, would be as distinct as the very spirit of
-freedom, and the genius of despotism could render them. The manifesto
-of the Roman Catholic prelates to the Congress of Vienna, and their
-protest against _Liberty of Conscience_, _Education_, and _the Freedom
-of the Press_ in Belgium, made, not at any remote or antiquated era
-of history, _but within the last ten years_, sufficiently attest
-the animus in which their admirers and imitators would set about
-the regeneration of Ireland. The Archbishop of Malines would find a
-cotemporary and congenial spirit in the benignant prelate of Tuam,
-the pastoral superintendance of the clergy would be as vigorous in
-the elections for a domestic, as for a “Saxon” legislature, and as
-successful in securing a majority in the parliament of Dublin, as in
-the “Palace of the Nation,” and the services of the patriots who now
-shout in the train of the Agitator, could be as readily dispensed with
-in Ireland, as they have been summarily discarded in Belgium.
-
-Were the union between the two countries once repealed, the union
-between the two sections, by whose co-operation direct or indirect
-it had been effected, would not survive it one single year--the
-influence of the protestant and English party in Ireland, would in
-such a conjuncture be as effectually annihilated, as had been the
-adherents of Holland, in Belgium; and the deluded liberals, by whose
-unwise assistance they had been overwhelmed, would find themselves
-in the position of the moderate section of the chambers of Brussels,
-the conscientious, but inefficient opponents of a despotism, more
-formidable than that they had overthrown, inasmuch as the tyranny of
-the million exceeds the tyranny of the individual, and infinitely more
-galling, inasmuch as they had themselves contributed unwillingly to
-impose it upon their country.
-
-In such a state of things, it is easy to imagine the discontent and
-disunion, which pervades every department of Belgium; its trade and
-manufactures, labouring under wants and pressures, which the government
-have not the power, however anxious their inclination, to relieve;
-the civil grievances for the abatement of which the revolution was
-undertaken, only partially redressed, and in some instances, exchanged
-for others, the immediate offspring of the remedy itself,--and to
-crown all, the government and the country submitted to a religious
-ascendancy, which is as unwisely exercised by the party who have
-attained to it, as it is suspected and disliked by their opponents, who
-smart under its caprices and suffer from its indiscretion.
-
-Even the very last act of the revolution, and that which might be
-regarded as placing the seal to the European bond, for its permanency,
-namely the ratification of the final treaty for the partition with
-Holland last year, seems to have only added to the existing insecurity;
-the leaders of 1830, loudly protesting against the assignment to
-Holland of these portions of Luxembourg and Limbourg, which have been
-decreed to her, and the mercantile interests, uniting in complaints,
-that the government of King Leopold, have been outwitted by the
-ministers of the Hague, and have not only submitted to surrender
-350,000 of their already reduced population of consumers to Holland,
-but have ceded to her demands, which will inflict injury upon the
-navigation of the Meuse and the Scheldt.
-
-I can state from my own observation, that I have not conversed on the
-subject with a single individual in Belgium, who expressed himself
-thoroughly satisfied with the present posture of affairs. On the
-contrary, I have found every where irritated dissatisfaction, and
-if not open regret for the events of 1830, and distinct wishes for
-a reunion with Holland, the utmost perplexity to discover some yet
-untried expedient, which would hold out a hope of restoring the country
-to its tranquil prosperity, whether as an independent nation, or in
-incorporation with some other state. _On all hands, it seemed to be
-felt that for things to go on as at present is impossible_, this was
-the constant theme of conversation in society, and the pamphlets and
-brochures which I picked up in the shops, are filled with discussions
-of the same subject, but in terms much more acrimonious and exciting.
-
-One of these, which I found selling at Ghent, entitled “_La Belgique
-de Leopold, par un voyageur Français_,” and which though strongly in
-favour of Holland, is evidently written by a person well informed on
-the state of Belgium, thus speaks of the present state of feeling in
-that country; and the publicity with which pamphlets of this kind are
-exposed for sale, and their circulation are evidences of an extensive
-sympathy with the author’s views. “The Belgians,” the author says, “of
-all classes, representatives and constituencies, rich and poor, long
-for the arrival of the moment, which is to disembarrass them from an
-imaginary nationality, a delusive freedom and an independence, whose
-very name has become a jest--but they want as yet the energy which is
-essential to hasten their relief. It is possible, that in the little
-circle, whose life and fortunes are dependent upon Leopold, there may
-be some who flatter themselves with the hope that the ratification of
-the treaty of 1839, is the consolidation and establishment of his power
-* * But the vast body of the nation less involved in the immediate
-question of the revolution, are far from regarding the present
-peaceful position as one of long duration, although guaranteed to the
-new state in the name of the same powerful courts, which by treaties
-not less solemn and sage had conferred the crown upon the former
-dynasty from whose brows, it had been rudely torn by the revolution * *
-* At this moment, the prolonged existence of Belgium, as an independent
-state, is a matter of impossibility, its manufactures, its commerce
-and its prosperity are annihilated, and it is crushed to the earth
-under the pressure of its debt and taxes. Without ships, colonies or
-commerce, and encumbered by an army, which never fights, and fortresses
-destined for demolition, it is merely the jibe and the laughing stock
-of Europe * * * The very authors of the revolt of 1830, blush for their
-own handiwork, and those who were then the most zealous apostles of
-revolution, now preach only contrition and repentance. The defection
-is universal--and above all the army,--the army, exposed every day
-to the most cutting sarcasms, vents its indignation in menaces and
-murmurs. Every class of the population, including those who would have
-been perfectly contented with the present order of things, were the
-circumstances of the country at all tolerable; the whole nation, in
-short, except the fraction of a fraction, without numbers, wealth nor
-weight, unite in aspiration for the return of the House of Orange;
-and the restoration of the kingdom of 1815, is in every heart and on
-every tongue * * Belgium, has herself, no other alternative left to
-her, and if from predilection and choice she does not invoke the return
-of a race of princes enlightened, paternal, courageous and brave, she
-must speedily be reduced by famine, to implore the restoration, as her
-only relief from evils of the last extremity. Their restoration may
-be regarded, at this moment, as morally accomplished, the universal
-voice of the nation has decreed it, and it requires but an accident,
-an excuse, a name, a banner, and the existence of the revolutionary
-kingdom is terminated without another ‘protocol.’”[40]
-
-Under these circumstances, the position of King Leopold must be any
-thing but an easy one, if his ambition extends to the foundation of
-a royal dynasty for his descendants. The religious grievances of the
-nation are, it is too much to be feared, beyond his reach to correct,
-and the evils which beset and endanger its internal prosperity, arising
-out of the circumscribed resources of the nation, must look in vain to
-them for redress. The fundamental defect is the want of an adequate
-consumption for the produce of the national industry, and for this the
-ingenuity of the government has been ineffectually tortured to discover
-a remedy. It is idle to look to Germany or England for _commercial
-treaties_ which would afford an opening for Belgian manufactures in
-competition with their own; important concessions have been made to
-France, by the reduction of duties upon her produce, when imported
-into Belgium, but no reciprocal advantages have been obtained in
-return; on the contrary, ever since 1815, when the Netherlands were
-taken from her, to be given to Holland, she has exhibited a waspish
-impatience to embarrass and undermine her prosperity. _Prospects
-of colonization_ have been discussed and even proposals made to
-other states for permission to attempt settlements on their distant
-territory--and where these have failed, commercial expeditions have
-been dispatched to Algiers, to Egypt, to Brasil, to Bolivia and Peru,
-all with a view to open a trading intercourse with the natives, but
-each and all have proved hopelessly unsuccessful.
-
-The manufacturers of Ghent and Verviers, have thus turned their eyes
-towards the Zoll-Verein, and year after year attempts have been made
-to effect a connexion, if not a formal juncture with the Prussian
-Commercial League; but here again disappointment alone awaited them,
-for independently of the fact, that by the constitution of the
-Zoll-Verein, it is accessible only to those of German blood (on which
-score Luxembourg might have been admissible), it was manifestly hostile
-to the very spirit of the league, whose object is to protect their own
-native manufacturers, to admit amongst them a formidable rival, who
-would inundate them with her produce, and could take nothing from them
-in return.
-
-But if the necessities and weakness of Belgium, render it impracticable
-for her to continue as she is, and if national independence be
-irreconcilable with her prosperity, the question which occupies the
-thoughts of her discontented subjects, is to what quarter she shall
-turn for relief from without. To attach herself again to Austria, as
-before the French revolution, is a matter impracticable and could be
-productive of no advantage, even if it were otherwise. The condition of
-the Rhenish provinces, under the dominion of Prussia, would make her
-eager for a similar incorporation, but this the interests of Europe, as
-well as those of Prussia herself forbid.
-
-An union with France would be equally hopeless and incompatible with
-the policy of the Congress of Vienna, and would, with the exception of
-the districts immediately bordering on the French frontier, be in the
-highest degree distasteful to the population at large. Their annexation
-to the territory of France in 1794, had been resisted by the clergy,
-and its termination in 1814 was hailed with rapturous impatience by all
-classes. Their condition under the empire had been one “of the most
-insignificant vassalage. Their religious institutions destroyed, their
-cherished privileges annihilated, and all their rights and immunities
-for which they had been contending for centuries before, trodden under
-foot.”[41] Even their commerce and manufactures were jeopardised by the
-jealous rivalry of their new allies, their clergy debased, and their
-youth drafted off by conscription to feed the slaughter of Europe.
-The recollection of this has left no vigorous desire for a return to
-fraternization with France, nor would France herself, however important
-Belgium might be as a political acquisition, consult the interest of
-her native manufactures by imparting an equality in all her advantages
-to competitors so formidable. Still so impatient are the Belgians to
-fly from the “ills they have,” that at the present moment, whilst the
-possibility of war between France and the rest of Europe occupies the
-attention of all the world, I was repeatedly assured in Belgium that it
-would only require France to give the signal, and a powerful section of
-the people would declare in her favour. So conscious are all parties of
-this, that the bare probability of war in Europe is looked to with the
-utmost alarm by the government, and the _Controleur_, an appropriately
-named journal, the organ of the clerical party, was anxiously busied,
-whilst I was in Ghent, in decrying any idea of a re-union with
-France, declaring in one of its publications early in September:
-“Et comme nous n’avons pas pour habitude de cacher notre manière de
-voir, nous dirons rondement, _que nous serions plutôt Hollandais que
-Français_.--En dépit de M. Rogier.”
-
-Another suggestion has been the _partition_ of Belgium between the
-surrounding states, but to this equally insurmountable obstacles
-present themselves. Antwerp and the districts on the Dutch frontier,
-if assigned to Holland, would have no longer employment for their
-capital and ships, and would again sink under the more favoured rivalry
-of Amsterdam and Rotterdam; and as Hainault and the fortresses along
-the Meuse and the Sambre would necessarily fall to the lot of France,
-a measure so menacing to the future security of Europe, would not be
-tolerated by her courts, unless these strongholds were garrisoned by
-the allies, an expedient which would be equally opposed by the pride
-and ambition of the French.
-
-If the further experience should unfortunately decide finally against
-the permanence of Belgium as an independent nation, the only practical
-expedient which remains, and that which has already received the
-sanction of all the great powers of Europe, would be a return to the
-disposition made by the Congress of Vienna, and the reincorporation
-of Holland and Belgium, to form again the united kingdom of the
-Netherlands. Personal aversion to King William would no longer oppose a
-barrier to such an arrangement, as his dominion has passed into other
-hands, and the Prince of Orange, the present king at all times enjoyed
-the popular affections, if not the national confidence of the people.
-Should any fresh convulsion arise, which for the sake of the peace of
-Europe, not less than for that of King Leopold, it is most earnestly
-to be hoped may be yet averted, all I have either seen or been able to
-learn from those best informed upon the matter, leaves little doubt
-in my mind, that the almost unanimous wish of the people, should
-they be compelled to change their present dynasty, would point to the
-restoration of the House of Nassau.
-
-
-END OF VOL. I.
-
-
-  LONDON:
-  PRINTED BY SCHULZE AND CO., 13, POLAND STREET.
-
-
-
-
-FOOTNOTES
-
-[1] Made by Nurse and Co. Crawford Street, Bryanstone Square.
-
-[2] So styled in the act by which Philip II, ceded to them the
-Sovereignty of the Low Countries.
-
-[3] Wordsworth’s Sonnet to Bruges.
-
-[4] Query, St. Salvador.
-
-[5] I must take this early opportunity of adding my tribute of
-gratitude to the compiler of these most invaluable volumes, the
-Hand-books of Northern and Southern Germany, they have been my constant
-companions, and I cannot do less than unite with every tourist, whom I
-met on the continent, in pronouncing them as matchless in the value and
-variety of their contents, as they are faultless in their accuracy.
-
-[6] It is the custom in Belgium, in order to distinguish one member of
-the same family, to append to the surname of the husband that of his
-lady.
-
-[7] At Ghent, this fee has been reduced to one half the sum.
-
-[8] De l’Industrie en Belgique, Causes de Decadence et de Prosperité,
-&c. par M. N. Briavionne, Bruxelles, 1839, vol. ii, p. 345.
-
-[9] By the French commercial code, there are three descriptions of
-trading companies. First, _sociétés en nom collectif_, with all the
-attributes of an ordinary partnership in England; secondly, _sociétés
-en commandite_, where the great majority of the associated capitalists
-are sleeping partners, with no share in the management, no name in
-the firm, and responsible only to the extent of their registered
-capital, one or more of the partners, alone, having the conduct of the
-establishment, and being responsible to the public to the full extent
-of their property; and thirdly, the _sociétés anonymes_, which are, in
-every incident and particular analogous to the joint stock companies of
-England, only with a liability, limited in every instance to the amount
-of their shares.
-
-[10] These engines are in great esteem, and I have found them in almost
-universal use in Belgium. The one alluded to above, was consuming from
-5½ of to 6½ lbs. of coals, per hour, per horse power; whilst a low
-pressure engine in England, would require from 12 to 14lbs. In this
-country, they are likewise coming in greater demand, although here
-the saving of coal is a matter of less importance, and may be, in
-some degree, counterbalanced by the risk, and more frequent repairs,
-incidental to high pressure engines.
-
-[11] The price of coal at Ghent, when I visited its manufactories was
-20 francs for 1000 kilogrammes, or about sixteen shillings a ton for
-coals of Mons, which are brought from a considerable distance by the
-Scheldt; those of Charleroi are of better quality, and a shade higher
-in price. Coals have increased in price in Belgium within the last few
-years, as well from the greater demand, as an apprehension that the
-coal fields of the Ardennes were rapidly exhausting, but this alarm has
-of late been regarded as groundless. England, with a liberality, which
-manufactoring jealousy scarcely sanctions, has recently permitted the
-free export of coal both to Belgium, France and Prussia, a boon for
-which these governments, which are prohibiting British manufactures,
-and their mechanics and mill owners, who are contending with our own
-for the market, cannot be too grateful.
-
-[12] Three hundred bundles per day, being as nearly as possible eleven
-cuts to the spindle.
-
-[13] COMPARATIVE WAGES PAID WORKERS.
-
-  +-----------------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+
-  |                       | Wages per day  |Wages per day|Wages per day|
-  |Description of Workers.| of 11½ hours.  |of 11½ hours.|of 11 hours. |
-  |                       | ENGLAND.       |BELFAST.     |GHENT.       |
-  +-----------------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+
-  |                       |    Average.    |    Average. |   Average.  |
-  |                       | _s. d.   s. d._|    _d._     | _s.     d._ |
-  | Spreaders             |  1  3 to 1 6   |     10      |  0     11¾  |
-  | First Drawing         |  1  0    1 3   |      8½     |  0      8½  |
-  | Second Drawing        |  1  0    1 3   |      8½     |  0      8½  |
-  | Roving                |  1  1    1 5   |      9      |  0      9¼  |
-  | Carding               |  1  0    1 6   |   7½ to 9½  |  0      9¼  |
-  | Spinner               |  1  0    1 4   |      10     |  0      8½  |
-  | Doffer                |  0  8          |       5½    |  0      4¾  |
-  | Reeler (piece work)   |  1  0    1 6   |   10 to 11  |  0      9¼  |
-  | Dyer                  |  2  6    3 0   | 1_s._ 4_d._ |  1      3   |
-  | Bundler               |  2  6    3 0   | 1_s._ 5½    |  1      5   |
-  | Hackler (Roughing for |                |             |             |
-  |   Machine)            |    1_s._ 6_d._ | 1_s._ 4_d._ |  1      7   |
-  | Overlooker            |    4_s._ 6_d._ | 3_s._ 6_d._ |  2      4½  |
-  +-----------------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+
-
-These wages, _at present_, paying in Ghent, it must be borne in mind,
-are hardly a fair criterion, as flax spinning being entirely a new
-trade there, it was necessary to give an inducement by extra wages, for
-the cotton spinner’s to leave the work to which they were accustomed;
-but this will soon find its level.
-
-[14] One cannot but remark the wretched quality of the window-glass,
-even in the most luxurious houses. It is uneven, warped, and of a
-dirty-green colour. It is chiefly made at Charleroi.
-
-[15] The joke against Mechlin arises from an alarm being given that the
-cathedral was on fire, by some one who had seen the moonbeams shining
-through its gothic steeple--whence the proverb, that “the wise men of
-Mechlin went to put out the moon.”
-
-[16] Les machines sont là aussi multipliés, aussi variées que les
-besoins où on les applique: il y en a une pour chaque pensée, ou
-plutôt, c’est la même pensée qui a mille ministres; l’une scie,
-l’autre fend, l’autre coupe, l’autre rabotte; il y en a pour degrossir
-la pièce, il y en a pour lui donner la forme exacte, il y en a pour
-l’orner; il y en a pour la polir, le ciseau, le tour, le rabot,
-l’emporte pièce la tenaille, le marteau tous les instruments du
-menuisier, du tourneur, du forgeron, s’évertuent sur le fer comme
-sur le bois la plus tendre, mais sans menuisier, sans tourneur, sans
-forgeron--_la main qui les meut est une machine_, cette main, toujours
-sûre, toujours ferme, délicate, légère, qui n’a pas d’inégalité, qui
-ne depende pas d’une pensée capricieuse, qui ne se lasse pas, qui ne
-s’alourdit pas, qui ne vieillit pas! * * * * Cette machine n’a besoin
-de personne: on lui donne sa tâche un certain jour, et pourvu qu’on ne
-lui retire pas la portion de force motrice qui l’anime, elle terminera
-cette tâche à jour fixe: elle vous la livrera comme un ouvrier à la
-pièce: vous arriverez un beau matin, et vous la trouverez sortie du
-cylindre et tournant à vide, en attendant que vous lui donniez une
-nouvelle tâche.--_From an account of the great works at Seraing, in
-the_ REVUE DE PARIS.
-
-[17] “Les manufactures de Manchester ne voulant pas s’en remettre de
-ce soin au gouvernement, se sont cotisés, out réuni une somme annuelle
-suffisante pour organiser autour de leur ville une ligne de douane
-specialement consacré à empêcher la sortie des mécaniques qu’ils
-inventaient.”--DE L’INDUSTRIE DE BELGIQUE, vol. ii, p. 326.
-
-[18] “She was in black down to her toes, with her hair concealed under
-a cambric border, laid close to the forehead: she was one of those kind
-of nuns, and please your honour, of which there are a good many in
-Flanders.” “By thy description Trim,” said my uncle Toby, “I dare say
-she was a young Beguine, of whom there are none to be found any where,
-except in the Spanish Netherlands, they differ from other nuns in this,
-that they can quit their cloisters, if they chose to marry--they visit,
-and take care of the sick by profession, but I had rather, for my own
-part, they did it out of good nature.”--STERNE.
-
-[19] The 17th article of the _Constitution Belge_, contains the
-following pithy enactment as to national education. “L’Enseignement
-_est libre_, toute mesure préventive est interdite.”
-
-[20] “_Quelques mots sur l’état actuel de l’instruction primaire en
-Belgique, et sur la nécessité de l’améliorer._”
-
-See also a clever paper by R. W. Rawson, Esq. in the Quarterly Journal
-of the Statistical Society of London, vol. 2, p. 385.
-
-[21] The linen which we saw was of low quality, coarse and strong,
-and by no means cheap. It consisted of sheeting, for export to the
-Havannah, which, for five quarter’s wide, was sold at one shilling a
-yard.
-
-[22] This latter quantity is found in the tables published by the Board
-of Trade, under the head of “Flax, Tow, or Codilla of Hemp and Tow.”
-The importation of “undressed hemp” is under another head, and amounts
-to 730,375 cwt.
-
-[23] It is curious that this process which all concur in representing
-to be one requiring the utmost cleanliness and purity, should of all
-places be performed in Holland with an utter neglect of both. In an
-able document by Mr. Acton, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture for
-1832, he gives the following account of the operation. “The mode of
-watering flax in Holland, and in the low lands of Belgium and France,
-is to put a dam across the canal, clean out the weeds and mud for a few
-yards next the dam, lay in three or four rows of sheaves of flax next
-the dam, and then covering these six inches deep with the rank herbage
-that grows in the canal, and the mud raked up from its bottom. A few
-more courses of sheaves are next placed in the same way as the first,
-and covered in the same way with weeds and mud, till the whole is put
-in steep. These fosses, and the mode of placing the flax in them, are
-as they ought to be, but the propriety of dragging up so much mud or
-slime from the bottom of the canals, to cover the sheaves, six inches
-deep, may well be doubted, it cannot fail to besmear the lint so much,
-as to render it so nasty, that it would require to be much rinsed and
-washed in the water to remove the mud. This not only creates labour,
-by no means the most agreeable, but must greatly injure the flax by
-ruffling it in the water, a thing that ought to be avoided.”--Vol. iv.
-p. 174.
-
-[24] This important association has been for some years in operation,
-and amongst its functions has sent several commissioners into other
-countries to ascertain the relative value of their various processes.
-The result of these inquiries, they have condensed into a short
-manual for the use of the farmers and others engaged in the trade
-in Flanders; in order to confine it to whom it has been written and
-printed in Flemish. A copy of this valuable document translated into
-French, for which I am indebted to a particular source, I have placed
-in the appendix to these volumes. Knowing it as I do, to be the genuine
-and anxious suggestions of the best practical men in Belgium, it may
-be regarded as a faithful guide to their process, and would be well
-deserving of extensive circulation in the flax districts of Great
-Britain and Ireland.
-
-[25] It consists, I believe, of about thirteen sail of small vessels.
-
-[26] On the first out-break of the revolution, the people of Antwerp,
-strongly opposed to it, sent the following address to the King of
-Holland. “Sire, it is not without painful sensations that we have
-been apprised of the demand made to your Majesty, tending to obtain a
-separation of interests between the southern and northern provinces.
-The fear that our silence may be interpreted as an adhesion to this
-proposition, imposes upon us the duty of exposing to your Majesty,
-that the wish is in no way participated in by us. The experience of
-fifteen years has proved to us, in the most evident manner, that is
-to the free and mutual exchange of produce, that we are indebted for
-reciprocal prosperity. _The advantages that navigation derives from the
-colonies, the increasing outlets that these same colonies constantly
-offer to the produce of our industry, are irrefragible proofs, that
-any separation would not only be fatal to this province, but to the
-commercial industry of all Belgium._ Intimately persuaded of this great
-truth, we dare to make it known to your Majesty, with that confidence
-and respect inspired by a King, who desires the welfare of his people,
-and who will never labour but in the interest of its well understood
-prosperity.”--_Antwerp, September _13_th, 1830.
-
-[27] De l’Industrie en Belgique, vol. 2, p. 384.
-
-[28] _Exposé de la situation de la Province de la Flandre Orientale,
-pour l’année 1840. Ghent de l’imprimerie de Vanryckegem-Hovaerz,
-imprimeur du Governement Provincial._
-
-The numbers are as follows:
-
-  Two whose deficiency is between 1,000 ff. and 2,000.
-  Four        ”         ”         2,000     ”   3,000.
-  One         ”         ”         3,000     ”   4,000.
-  One         ”         ”         6,000     ”   7,000.
-  Two         ”         ”         7,000     ”   8,000.
-  One         ”         ”        14,000     ”  15,000.
-  One         ”         ”        19,000     ”  20,000.
-  One         ”         ”        20,000     ”  25,000.
-  Three       ”         ”        25,000     ”  30,000.
-  One         ”         ”        35,000     ”  40,000.
-  Two         ”         ”              unknown
-
-[29] Le Guide Indispensable, p. 103.
-
-[30] The Belgian manufacturers themselves were, as I have before
-stated, perfectly alive to the mischief which the separation from
-Holland was certain to entail upon them; and it is curious, as well as
-interesting, to remark the circumstantial fidelity with which these
-protectors warned the movement party of the consequences which they
-were provoking, and which have since been accomplished to the letter.
-The following reasons against separation from Holland were published
-at the time in one of the journals of Antwerp, when the prospect of
-Repealing the Union was most unpalatable:
-
-“Ever since some parts of our southern provinces have unfurled the
-banner of insurrection, all business has ceased. Circulation has been
-interrupted, and several establishments, which required the employment
-of great capital and afforded the means of subsistance to numerous
-families, have been destroyed and burned. Public tranquillity disturbed
-in every manner; men, the most peaceable, and a short time ago happy in
-the bosom of their families, prospering under the protection of order
-and the laws, now forcibly torn from their homes to perform military
-service of which they are ignorant, and which they dislike; their
-property every day exposed and ready to become the prey of an unbridled
-populace--a state of anarchy which will end by creating parties who
-will shortly lacerate each other; and lastly, a most forbidding future
-preparing for them. Such is a faint picture of the evils which a
-rebellious and unconstitutional rising has already produced. But all
-that has hitherto been witnessed is in no wise to be compared to the
-consequences which must result from an unseasonable separation, which
-has been demanded with a levity which no man of sense can comprehend.
-
-It is true, that among the men who figure as the authors and supporters
-of a separation, there are to be observed no manufacturers: and,
-indeed, what manufacturer, what merchant, what agriculturist even,
-could fall into such an error?
-
-You cry out for a separation, and would fain persuade yourselves that
-it would be all in your favour. With similar levity you take upon
-yourselves to dictate the conditions of a separation. This shows but
-little foresight.
-
-The northern part of the kingdom has taken up the gauntlet, which you
-so imprudently threw down. Hear one of their organs, and consider
-the consequences which must, and ought to ensue to Belgium when once
-isolated and abandoned to itself.”
-
-The following is the reply of the Dutch to your challenge:--
-
-“‘We are glad,’ say they, ‘that the proposal for a divorce has been
-made by you. Let it take place, and the cloud which has darkened the
-horizon of our country will be dissipated. A glorious sun will then
-soon shine upon it. Soon will the decadence of Amsterdam and its causes
-cease, and the separation will give it the life and activity which it
-lost by the union.
-
-But let us examine what will be the result of this divorce to the
-northern provinces?
-
-Relieved from an odious manufacturing system, we shall be able to
-establish our customs on a perfectly commercial system: Amsterdam,
-Rotterdam, Dort, Middleburgh, will become so many free ports, into
-which moderate duties, exempt from vexatious modes of collection, will
-bring back our old commerce in all its force. The duties at present
-imposed upon sugar, coffee, and other articles of trade, will be
-revoked.
-
-The inhabitants will purchase fuel, clothing, stuffs, and all the
-commodities which trade, manufacture, and the necessities of a people
-require, in England, and wherever they can produce them upon better
-terms than in the southern provinces, where all these articles will be
-loaded with duties and restrictions, and will be therefore dearer.
-
-Our country will again become the centre and mart of all the
-productions and riches of the world which are destined for and consumed
-in Germany and the provinces of France bordering on the Rhine, as well
-as in many other places which now escape us.
-
-The products of our colonies will be no longer carried except to our
-own ports, to the exclusion of all others, and they will be freed from
-all the duties and charges with which they are at present burdened, and
-which our Sovereign has established for the advantage of the Belgians
-alone. Thus not only the mother country, but the colonies, also,
-will enjoy the advantage of the separation. The duty of 25 per cent.
-established at Java in favour of the Belgians will be abolished, and
-it is thus that, wherever the standard of Holland shall be displayed,
-liberty, prosperity, and public happiness will prevail; and let no one
-present to you as a burdensome set-off the debt which will remain to
-our charge.’”
-
-[31] White, v. i, p. 124, &c.
-
-[32] A full detail of the state of the kingdom, at the outbreak of the
-revolution will be found in a volume published by the Baron Keverberg,
-who had been governor of East Flanders under the King of Holland,
-_Du Royaume des Pays-Bas, sous la rapport de son origine, de son
-developement, et de sa crise actuelle, Brussels, 1836_.
-
-[33] _Essai historique et critique sur la révolution Belge._ _Par_ M.
-NOTHCOMB. _Brussels, 1833._
-
-[34] A copy of this singular document, will be found at the end of
-these volume.
-
-[35] Un des plus excellens moyens, et peut-être le seul qui existe
-aujourd’hui, d’assurer aux jeunes gens une éducation qui réunit tout à
-la fois l’esprit de la religion et les talens les plus éminens _serait
-de rétablie les jesuites_ dans la Belgique.--_Memor. art. 8._
-
-[36] This singular manifesto will be found in the appendix at the end
-of these volumes.
-
-[37] Jurer d’observer et de maintenir une loi qui _suppose_ (_!_) que
-l’église catholique est soumise aux lois d’état, c’est manifestaient
-s’exposer a coopérer à l’asservissement de l’église.--_Jugement
-doctrinal_, (Art. 193, see appendix).
-
-[38] Page 193.
-
-[39] The list of candidates suggested for the throne of Belgium in
-1831, contains some names which are rather extraordinary, such as
-Colonel Murat, La Fayette, Colonel Fabvier the Philhellene, Sebastiani,
-Châteaubriand, Prince Carignan of Piedmont, M. Rogier, Count de
-Merode, the present King of Greece, Prince John of Saxony, the Duke of
-Leuchtenberg, son to Eugene Beauharnais, Louis Philippe, and the Duke
-de Nemours, who was actually chosen, but declined the honour.
-
-[40] La Belgique, No. 1, p. 13, 16, 20, 23, 24, 27; and No. 2, p. 49.
-
-[41] White, vol. i. p. 23.
-
-
-
-
-Corrections
-
-The word “controul” was changed to “control” throughout the text.
-
-The first line indicates the original, the second the correction.
-
-p. 39
-
-  the sign-board of the “Diaman-zetter,”
-  the sign-board of the “Diamant-zetter,”
-
-p. 91
-
-  it was ever dragged to to the field
-  it was ever dragged to the field
-
-p. 115
-
-  lying immediatetely in front
-  lying immediately in front
-
-p. 153
-
-  would get over their associaton
-  would get over their association
-
-p. 160
-
-  that the goverment reduced the term
-  that the government reduced the term
-
-p. 176
-
-  fearful of the slighest speculation
-  fearful of the slightest speculation
-
-p. 252
-
-  in the nineteenth centurry
-  in the nineteenth century
-
-p. 261
-
-  at no measure, how-ver
-  at no measure, however
-
-p. 268
-
-  the consciencious, but inefficient opponents
-  the conscientious, but inefficient opponents
-
-p. 277
-
-  were jeopardied by the jealous rivalry
-  were jeopardised by the jealous rivalry
-
-Errata
-
-“Hans Hemling” should read “Hans Memling”.
-
-“Audeghem” should read “Auderghem”.
-
-The errata have been applied to this etext.
-
-
-
-*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73911 ***
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73911 ***
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber’s note
+
+Variable spelling and hyphenation have been retained. Minor punctuation
+inconsistencies have been silently repaired. A list of the changes made
+can be found at the end of the book. Formatting and special characters
+are indicated as follows:
+
+  _italic_
+  =bold=
+
+
+
+
+                               BELGIUM.
+
+                                VOL. I.
+
+
+
+
+                          BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
+
+        IN THE PRESS, IN 2 VOLS. POST 8vo. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.
+
+                  THE STATES OF THE PRUSSIAN LEAGUE.
+                                  BY
+                     J. EMERSON TENNENT, ESQ. M.P.
+       AUTHOR OF “BELGIUM,” “THE HISTORY OF MODERN GREECE,” &C.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: WATERMAN’S HALL, GRASS QUAY, GHENT. Richard Bentley, New
+Burlington Street.]
+
+
+
+
+                               BELGIUM.
+
+                                  BY
+
+                    J. EMERSON TENNENT, ESQ., M.P.
+
+          AUTHOR OF “LETTERS FROM THE ÆGEAN,” AND “HISTORY OF
+                            MODERN GREECE.”
+
+              “L’UNION FAIT LA FORCE,”--MOTTO OF BELGIUM.
+
+                            IN TWO VOLUMES.
+
+                                VOL. I.
+
+                                LONDON:
+                RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
+                 =Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.=
+                                 1841.
+
+
+
+
+                                LONDON:
+             PRINTED BY SCHULZE & CO., 13, POLAND STREET.
+
+
+
+
+                        TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE
+                          LORD STANLEY, M.P.
+                                &c. &c.
+
+
+  MY DEAR LORD,
+
+MY desire to inscribe this page with your name, is associated with
+the recollection of the period when you filled one of the highest
+administrative offices in Ireland; and when your firm and vigorous
+discharge of it, effectually stifled the designs of those, whose
+measures, if tolerated, would have drawn down upon that country,
+consequences similar to those which similar proceedings have,
+unhappily, entailed upon Belgium. The value and effect of that nervous
+policy, by which you “boldly muzzled treason” then, is attested by
+the contrast, which the social condition of Ireland exhibits now,
+under the nominal government of those who have submitted to abandon
+it; and whose sacrifices to purchase the loyalty, and secure the
+permanent attachment of the Irish Repealers, have been rewarded by an
+intimation of a prospective fraternization with the “hereditary enemies
+of England,” so soon as their “compact alliance,” with the English
+administration shall have expired.
+
+“History is philosophy teaching by example;” and it is not to be
+supposed that there are not, even amongst the zealots for the Repeal of
+the Union in Ireland, some few who will be attentive to its lessons: it
+is chiefly in this anxious hope, that I have transcribed the present
+volumes. The more so too, because Belgium is the one bright example,
+which those who have addressed themselves to unsettle the allegiance
+of the Irish people, have always ostentatiously paraded for their
+imitation and encouragement. From this selection they cannot now
+retreat; and I confidently believe, that the exposition contained in
+the following pages of the condition of that country, after ten years
+of separation and independence, will exhibit Belgium to Ireland, if as
+an example at all, only as--
+
+  Exemplar vitiis imitabile.
+
+Neither the social nor the material prosperity of Belgium, affords
+anything encouraging to the hopes of those who can profit by the
+experience of others; and as, in Ireland, the materials in which
+the vital experiment must be made are similar, the results to be
+anticipated must be the same. With Popery, merely as a complexion of
+Christianity--as a distinctly marked form of religion--a legislator
+has no further concern, than as regards the question of enlightened
+toleration. But _political Popery_, that character in which the
+followers of the Church of Rome, are exhibiting themselves in Belgium
+and in Ireland--“resting their lever on one world,” as Dryden says,
+“to move another at their will”--enters essentially, and of necessity,
+into the investigation and study of the statesman. And, in no instance,
+in modern times, has it so unreservedly exhibited itself, as in
+the conception, the achievement, and the results, of the Belgian
+revolution. It remains to be seen, whether the Liberal party in
+Ireland, whose co-operation encourages and sustains the advocates of
+the Repeal of the Union, will relish the prospect of such an absolute
+religious ascendancy of the majority in that country, as that which
+has succeeded to the most absolute freedom of worship, and the most
+unlimited liberty of conscience in the Low Countries.
+
+On the score of substantial and material prosperity, a similar question
+must arise. The application of machinery to every branch of production,
+has effected a revolution in the economy of European manufactures,
+which is only paralleled by the effects, upon learning, of the
+discovery of printing. The poorest, and, occasionally, the smallest
+communities, have been, at various times, the most successful producers
+of certain commodities, which were the offspring of hand labour, and
+the fruits of individual dexterity; and the price of which, therefore,
+was not sensibly affected by the greater or less amount of their
+consumption. But when human ingenuity became infused into iron--when
+the industry and adroitness of a million of hands had been concentrated
+in the single arm of the Briareus of steam--the movements of the mighty
+prodigy became necessarily expanded in proportion to its power, and
+required a correspondingly enlarged field for their display. To produce
+successfully by machinery, it is indispensible to produce extensively;
+but Belgium, apparently unconscious of this important truth, proceeded
+to contract, instead of enlarging, her limits; and her powers of
+production, thus cribbed and restrained, without the opportunity of
+exercise, have pined and wasted away and are now on the brink of decay.
+
+The two banks, east and west of the Rhine, present at this moment a
+singular and striking illustration of the opposite effects of the
+cultivation or neglect of this principle in modern manufacture.
+_To the right_, we have the numerous little industrious states and
+principalities of Western Germany, each ambitious of acquiring
+manufacturing power, and each possessing it to a certain extent;
+but each unable, till lately, to succeed or prosper, owing to the
+narrowness of its individual bounds; till, at last, awakened to a
+consciousness of their real and actual wants, they, by one simultaneous
+movement, levelled every intervening barrier, and threw their united
+territories into the one grand area of the Prussian Commercial League;
+the success of which has hitherto realized their utmost expectations.
+
+_On the left_ of the Rhine we had, ten years ago, Belgium and Holland
+enjoying that _union_ which Germany has but lately attained, and
+reaping all the advantages which it was possible to derive from
+it--till, in the “madness of the hour,” the latter undid the very bonds
+of her prosperity, reversed the process by which Germany is rising to
+prosperity, and, resorting to repeal and separation, she has lost, as
+a matter of course, every advantage which she had drawn from union and
+co-operation. A similar proceeding cannot fail to inflict similar
+calamities upon Ireland; and the same destruction of her manufactures
+which has followed the exclusion of Belgium from the markets and the
+colonies of Holland, would inevitably overtake the manufacturers of
+Ireland, if placed upon the footing of a stranger and a rival in the
+ports and colonies of Great Britain.
+
+It is with an ardent hope that the question of the Repeal of the Union
+in Ireland may be tested by arguments such as these, by those who will
+pause to weigh it at all, that I have ventured to bring before its
+advocates the real condition of that country which their own leader
+has selected for their example and their model. And conscious of the
+deep interest which your Lordship has ever taken in the condition
+of Ireland, and your intimate acquaintance with her wants and her
+resources, I am anxious to recommend my exertions to notice by the
+prestige of your name.
+
+At the same time, as I have never submitted to you in conversation
+or otherwise the contents of these volumes, it is possible that you
+may dissent from opinions which I have ventured to express. But my
+object has been merely to collect facts as to the influence of the
+recent revolution, and I neither discuss the policy of the settlement
+of Holland as concluded at the Congress of Vienna, nor question the
+prudence of those governments in Europe, which, after the events of
+1830, found it necessary to put an end to hostilities by concurring in
+the independence of Belgium.
+
+  I remain,
+  My dear Lord,
+  Most truly yours,
+  J. EMERSON TENNENT.
+
+  17, Lower Belgrave Street, Belgrave Square,
+  London, February, 22, 1841.
+
+
+
+
+ANNONCE.
+
+
+THE details regarding the commerce and manufactures of Belgium, which
+will be found in the following pages, are the result of personal
+enquiry, corrected by the annual statistical returns, published by the
+Belgian Government, and confirmed by the labours of M. Briavionne in
+a recent work, to which I have frequently referred--“_De L’Industrie
+en Belgique_.” It may, also, give them some additional weight, to add,
+that the opinions expressed, arose out of visits made to the principal
+manufacturing districts, accompanied by two gentlemen of extensive
+practical acquaintance with the manufacturers of Great Britain; Mr.
+Thomson of Primrose, near Clitheroe, and Mr. J. Mulholland, of
+Belfast, a member of a family, the extent of whose machinery and
+productions in the staple commodity of Ireland--the linen trade--is,
+I believe, the greatest in the kingdom. And though these volumes, or
+their contents, have not actually been submitted to their inspection, I
+believe that I have their perfect concurrence in the sentiments which
+they embody, upon the subject of the trade and manufactures of Belgium.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+OF THE
+
+FIRST VOLUME.
+
+
+  CHAPTER I.
+
+    OSTEND, the Harbour--Canal Docks--Police--Economy of a private
+    carriage for a party on the continent--General aspect of
+    Ostend--Effluvia--Siege in 1604--Fortifications--Promenade--Sands
+    and sea-bathing--Commerce--BRUGES, the railroad--Belgium
+    naturally suited to railroads--Old canal travelling to Bruges
+    superseded--Appearance of the city--Its style of ancient
+    houses--The streets--Canals and gardens--Squares--Style of public
+    edifices--Resembles Pisa--_Ancient history of Bruges_--Its
+    old palaces--Marriages of Charles the Rash and Mary of
+    Burgundy--Singular marriage custom of the middle ages--House in
+    which the Emperor Maximilian was confined--Residences of Edward
+    IV. of England, and of Charles II.--_Commercial greatness of
+    Bruges_--The Hanseatic League--Her tapestries--The order of the
+    Golden Fleece instituted in her honour--Saying of the Queen of
+    Philip the Fair--Story of the Burghers at the court of John of
+    France--_Her present decay_--Air of reduced nobility--Costume of
+    the middle classes--Grave demeanour of the citizens--No traces of
+    the Spaniards to be found in the Low Countries--_Flemish sculptures
+    in wood_--Pictures--No modern paintings in Bruges--_Collection in
+    the Church of St. Sauveur_--Characteristics of the early Flemish
+    school--The paintings in _the Museum_--Statue of Van Eyck--His
+    claim to be the inventor of oil painting--_Collection in the Chapel
+    of the Hospital of St. John_--Story of Hans Memling--The cabinet
+    of St. Ursula--The folding-doors of the Flemish paintings--The
+    Hospital of St. John--Statue by Michael Angelo--TOMBS OF
+    MARY OF BURGUNDY AND CHARLES THE RASH--The tower of Les
+    Halles--Carillon--Splendid view--The _Palais de Justice_--Superb
+    carved mantel-piece--_Hotel de Ville_--Its statues destroyed by the
+    French revolutionists--Diamond setters--Comparison of Bruges and
+    Tyre--Mr. Murray’s hand-books--The manufacture of lace in Belgium. 1
+
+  CHAPTER II.
+
+    Bruges a cheap residence--Tables-d’Hôte, their influence
+    upon society--Canal from Bruges to Ghent--Absence of country
+    mansions--Gardens--Appearance of GHENT--M. Grenier and M. de Smet
+    de Naeyer--The _Conseil de Prud’hommes_, its functions--Copyright
+    of designs in Belgium--THE LINEN TRADE OF BELGIUM--Its
+    importance--Great value of Belgian flax--Its cultivation--Revenue
+    derived from it--Inferiority of British flax--Anxiety of the
+    government for the trade in linen--Hand-spinners--Spinning by
+    machinery--_Société de la Lys_--Flower gardens--The Casino--Export
+    of flowers--General aspect of the city--_Its early history_--Vast
+    wealth expended in buildings in the Belgium cities accounted
+    for--Trading corporations--Turbulence of the people of Bruges
+    and Ghent--_Jacques van Artevelde_--His death--Philip van
+    Artevelde--Charles V.--His _bon mots_ regarding Ghent--Latin
+    distich, characteristic of the Flemish cities--Siege of Ghent,
+    Madame Mondragon--House of the Arteveldes--Hôtel de Ville--The
+    belfry and Roland--The _Marché de Vendredi_--The great cannon of
+    Ghent.                                                            44
+
+  CHAPTER III.
+
+    Manufacture of machinery in Ghent--Great works of the
+    Phœnix--Exertions of the King of Holland to promote this branch
+    of art--His success--Policy of England in permitting the export
+    of tools--Effect of their prohibiting the export of machines
+    upon the continental artists--Present state of the manufactures
+    in Belgium--_The Phœnix_, its extent, arrangements and
+    productions--_The canal of Sas de Gand_--_The Beguinage_--Tristam
+    Shandy--The churches of Ghent--Religious animosity of the
+    Roman Catholics--_The cathedral of St. Bavon_--Chef-d’œuvre
+    of Van Eyck--Candelabra of Charles I--Carved pulpit--_Church
+    of St. Michael_--Vandyck’s crucifixion--The brotherhood of
+    St. Ivoy--Church of St. Sauveur--Singular picture in the
+    church of St. Peter--Dinner at M. Grenier’s--Shooting with the
+    bow--Roads in Belgium--Domestic habits of the Flemings--The
+    Flemish language--_Count d’Hane_--Mansion of the Countess d’Hane
+    de Steenhausen--Gallery of M. Schamps--_The University_ of
+    Ghent--State of primary education in Belgium.                     93
+
+  CHAPTER IV.
+
+    The market-day at Ghent--The peasants--The linen-market--The
+    Book-stalls--_Courtrai_--The Lys--_Denys_--Distillation in
+    Belgium--AGRICULTURE IN FLANDERS--A Flemish farm--Anecdote of
+    Chaptal and Napoleon--Trade in manure--_The Smoor-Hoop_--Rotation
+    of crops--CULTIVATION OF FLAX--Real importance of the crop in
+    Belgium--Disadvantageous position of Great Britain as regards
+    the growth of flax--State of her importations from abroad and
+    her dependency upon Belgium--In the power of Great Britain
+    to relieve herself effectually--System in Flanders--_The
+    seed_--Singular fact as to the Dutch seed--Rotation of
+    crops--Spade labour--Extraordinary care and precaution in
+    _weeding_--_Pulling_--THE ROUISSAGE--In Hainault--In the Pays de
+    Waes--At Courtrai--The process in Holland--The process in the
+    Lys--_A Bleach-green_--The damask manufacture in Belgium--A
+    manufactory in a windmill--Introduction of the use of _sabots_ into
+    Ireland--_Courtrai_, the town--Antiquities--The Church of Notre
+    Dame--Relic of Thomas à Becket--THE MAISON DE FORCE AT GHENT--The
+    System of prison discipline--Labour of the inmates--Their
+    earnings--Remarkable story of Pierre Joseph Soëte--Melancholy case
+    of an English prisoner--_A sugar refinery_--State of the trade in
+    Belgium--Curious frauds committed under the recent law--_Beet-root
+    sugar_--Failure of the manufacture--A tumult at Ghent--_The New
+    Theatre_--Cultivation of music at Ghent--Print works of M. Desmet
+    de Naeyer--Effects of the Revolution of 1830 upon the manufactures
+    of Belgium--Opposition of Ghent and Antwerp to a separation from
+    Holland--M. Briavionne’s exposé of the ruin of the trade in calico
+    printing--Smuggling across the frontiers--Present discontents
+    at Ghent--Number of insolvents in 1839--General decline of her
+    manufactures.                                                    128
+
+  CHAPTER V.
+
+    The railroad--Confusion at Malines--Country between Ghent
+    and Dendermonde--_Vilvorde_--_The Palace of Laeken_--First
+    view of Brussels--The Grand Place in the old town--The Hôtel
+    de Ville and Maison Communale--The new town--The churches of
+    Brussels--_The carved oak pulpits of the Netherlands_--ST. GUDULE
+    monuments--Statue of Count F. Merode--Geefs, the sculptor--Notre
+    Dame de la Chapelle--_The museum_--Palais de l’Industrie--The
+    gallery of paintings--THE LIBRARY--Its history--_Remarkable
+    MSS._--Curiosities in the museum of antiquities--Private
+    collections--Rue Montagne de la Cour--The theatre--Historical
+    associations with the Hôtel de Ville--Counts Egmont and Horn--The
+    civil commotions of Philip II--_The fountains of Brussels_--The
+    Cracheur--_The Mannekin_, his memoirs--Fountain of Lord
+    Aylesbury--Dubos’ restaurant--The hotels of Brussels--Secret to
+    find the cheapest hotels in travelling.                          186
+
+  CHAPTER VI.
+
+    The Belgian revolution has produced no man of leading genius--The
+    present ministry--M. Rogier--M. Liedtz, the Minister of the
+    Interior--An interview at the Home Office--Project of steam
+    navigation between Belgium and the United States--Freedom
+    of political discussion in Belgium--_Character of King
+    Leopold_--Public feeling in Brussels--The original union of Holland
+    and Belgium apparently desirable--Commercial obstacles--Obstinacy
+    of the King of Holland--Anecdote of the King of Prussia--The
+    extraordinary care of the King for manufactures--_Prosperous_
+    condition of Belgium under Holland--_Les Griefs Belges_--Singular
+    coincidence between the proceedings of THE REPEALERS IN
+    IRELAND AND THE REPEALERS IN BELGIUM--Ambition for separate
+    nationality--Imposition of the Dutch language unwise--Abolition of
+    trial by jury--Now disliked by the Belgians themselves--Financial
+    grievances--Inequality of representation--CONDUCT OF THE ROMAN
+    CATHOLICS--Hatred of toleration--Attachment of the clergy to
+    Austria--_Remarkable manifesto of the clergy to the Congress of
+    Vienna_--Resistance to liberty of conscience, and freedom of
+    the press--Demand for tithes--Resistance of the priests to the
+    toleration of Protestants--The official oath--_Protest of the
+    Roman Catholic Bishops against freedom of opinion and education
+    by the State_--Perfect impartiality of the Sovereign--Resistance
+    of the priesthood--_The Revolution_--Union of the Liberals and
+    Roman Catholics--Intolerant ambition of the clergy--Separation
+    of the _Clerico-liberal party_--Present state of parties in the
+    legislature--Unconstitutional ascendancy of the priests--_State of
+    public feeling_--Universal disaffection--Curious list of candidates
+    for the crown of Belgium in 1831--“_La Belgique de Leopold_,”
+    its treasonable publications--Future prospects uncertain--Vain
+    attempts to remedy the evils of the revolution--_Connexion with the
+    Prussian League refused_--Impossibility of an union with Austria
+    or Prussia--Union with France impracticable--Partition of Belgium
+    with the surrounding states--_Possible restoration of the House of
+    Nassau in the event of any fresh disturbance._                   217
+
+
+
+
+INDEX TO SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE TRADE AND MANUFACTURES OF BELGIUM.
+
+Fisheries, i. 9.
+
+Lace, manufacture of, i. 41.
+
+Conseils de Prud’hommes, i. 51.
+
+The Linen Trade, i. 55, 68, 129.
+
+Cultivation of Flax, i. 56, 137.
+
+Linen Yarn Mills, i. 63; ii, 193.
+
+Export of Flowers, i. 72.
+
+Manufacture of Machinery, i. 93, 99; ii. 25, 174.
+
+Exportation of Machinery from England, i. 94; ii. 185.
+
+Distillation, i. 131.
+
+Flemish Agriculture, i. 133.
+
+Bleaching, i. 150.
+
+Crushing of Oil, i. 151; ii. 106.
+
+Manufacture of Wooden Shoes, i. 152.
+
+Refining of Sugar, i. 161.
+
+Beet-root Sugar, i. 167.
+
+Calico-printing, i. 170.
+
+Carpet-weaving, ii. 28.
+
+Carriage-building, ii. 29.
+
+Books, ii. 29.
+
+Transit Trade of Belgium, ii. 45.
+
+Shipping, ii. 40.
+
+Silk Trade, ii. 45.
+
+Cotton Trade, ii. 91.
+
+Gilt Leather chairs, ii. 109.
+
+Railroads, ii. 119.
+
+Brewing, ii. 131.
+
+Cutlery, ii. 157.
+
+Paper, Manufacture of, ii. 163.
+
+Coal Mines, ii. 168.
+
+Fire-arms and Cannon, ii. 191.
+
+Woollen Trade, ii. 199.
+
+Joint Stock Companies, ii. 204.
+
+General State and Prospects of Belgian Manufacturers, i. 81; ii. 210.
+
+
+
+
+BELGIUM.
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+OSTEND AND BRUGES.
+
+
+    OSTEND, the Harbour--Canal Docks--Police--Economy of a private
+      carriage for a party on the continent--General aspect of
+      Ostend--Effluvia--Siege in 1604--Fortifications--Promenade--Sands
+      and sea-bathing--Commerce--BRUGES, the railroad--Belgium
+      naturally suited to railroads--Old canal travelling to Bruges
+      superseded--Appearance of the city--Its style of ancient
+      houses--The streets--Canals and gardens--Squares--Style of public
+      edifices--Resembles Pisa--_Ancient history of Bruges_--Its
+      old palaces--Marriages of Charles the Rash and Mary of
+      Burgundy--Singular marriage custom of the middle ages--House
+      in which the Emperor Maximilian was confined--Residences of
+      Edward IV. of England, and of Charles II.--_Commercial greatness
+      of Bruges_--The Hanseatic League--Her tapestries--The order
+      of the Golden Fleece instituted in her honour--Saying of
+      the Queen of Philip the Fair--Story of the Burghers at the
+      court of John of France--_Her present decay_--Air of reduced
+      nobility--Costume of the middle classes--Grave demeanour of
+      the citizens--No traces of the Spaniards to be found in the
+      Low Countries--_Flemish sculptures in wood_--Pictures--No
+      modern paintings in Bruges--_Collection in the Church of St.
+      Sauveur_--Characteristics of the early Flemish school--The
+      paintings in _the Museum_--Statue of Van Eyck--His claim to
+      be the inventor of oil painting--_Collection in the Chapel of
+      the Hospital of St. John_--Story of Hans Memling--The cabinet
+      of St. Ursula--The folding-doors of the Flemish paintings--The
+      Hospital of St. John--Statue by Michael Angelo--TOMBS OF
+      MARY OF BURGUNDY AND CHARLES THE RASH--The tower of Les
+      Halles--Carillon--Splendid view--The _Palais de Justice_--Superb
+      carved mantel-piece--_Hotel de Ville_--Its statues destroyed by
+      the French revolutionists--Diamond setters--Comparison of Bruges
+      and Tyre--Mr. Murray’s hand-books--The manufacture of lace in
+      Belgium.
+
+  September, 1840.
+AT sunset when about ten to fifteen miles from land, we had the first
+sight of the coast of the “Low Countries,” not as on other shores
+discernible by hills or cliffs, but by the steeples of Nieuport,
+Ostend, and Blankenburg rising out of the water; presently a row of
+wind-mills, and the tops of a few trees and houses, and finally a long
+line of level sand stretching away towards Walcheren and the delta of
+the Scheldt. Within fourteen hours from heaving up our anchor at the
+Tower, we cast it in the harbour of Ostend, a narrow estuary formed
+where the waters of a little river have forced their way through the
+sand-banks to the sea. An excellent quay has been constructed by
+flanking the sides of this passage with extensive piers of timber,
+whilst the stream being confined by dams and sluices above, is allowed
+to rush down at low water, carrying before it to the sea, any silt
+which may have been deposited by the previous tide.
+
+At the inner extremity of the harbour, spacious basins have been
+constructed for the accommodation of the craft which ply upon the Canal
+de Bruges, which connects that town with Ghent and Ostend, but its
+traffic is now much diminished by the opening of the railroad, as well
+as from other causes.
+
+Neither the police nor the custom-house officials, gave any
+inconvenience with our passports or our baggage, beyond a few minutes
+of unavoidable delay, and within half an hour from the packet touching
+the pier, we found ourselves arranged for the night at the Hotel de la
+Cour Impériale in the Rue de la Chapelle.
+
+I may here mention as a piece of recommendatory information to future
+travellers, that the journey, of which these volumes are a memento,
+was performed in an open English carriage, the back seat of which was
+sufficiently roomy to accommodate three persons, leaving the front for
+our books, maps and travelling comforts, and the box for our courier
+and a postillion; and that except upon mountain roads, we made the
+entire tour of Belgium, Rhenish Prussia, and Germany, from Bavaria to
+Hanover, with a pair of horses. For such a journey, no construction
+of carriage that I have seen is equal to the one which we used, a
+britscka, with moveable head, and windows which rendered it perfectly
+close at night or during rain.[1] I have not made a minute calculation
+as to expenses, but even on the score of economy, I am inclined to
+think this mode of travelling, for three persons and a servant, will
+involve _less actual outlay_ than the fares of diligences, and Eil
+Wagens or Schnell posts. In Belgium, our posting, with two horses,
+including postillions, fees and tolls, did not exceed, throughout,
+elevenpence a mile; in Prussia, ninepence; and in Bavaria, even less.
+Besides the perfect control of one’s own time and movements, is a
+positive source of economy, as it avoids expense at hotels, while
+waiting for the departure of stages and public conveyances, after
+the traveller is satisfied with his stay in the place where he may
+find himself, and is anxious to get forward to another. Between the
+advantages gained in this particular, and the means of travelling
+comfortably at night almost without loss of sleep, through some of
+the sandy and uninteresting plains of northern Germany, I am fully of
+opinion that our English carriage, independently of its comparative
+luxury, not only diminished the expense of our journey, but actually
+added some weeks to its length, within the period which we had assigned
+for our return. In Belgium, however, and Saxony where railroads are
+extensively opened, a carriage affords no increase of convenience, on
+the contrary, in _short stages_, which should be avoided, it will be
+found to augment the expense without expediting the journey.
+
+Ostend presents but a bad subject for the compilers of guide books,
+as it does not possess a single “lion,” nor a solitary object, either
+of ancient or modern interest, for the tourist. Its aspect too is
+unsatisfactory, it is neither Dutch, French, nor Flemish, but a mixture
+of all three, and its houses with Dutch roofs, Flemish fronts, and
+French interiors, are painted all kinds of gaudy colours, red, green
+and blue, and covered with polyglot sign boards, announcing the nature
+of the owner’s calling within, in almost all the languages of Northern
+Europe.
+
+Being built in a dead flat, the town has of course no sewers--it was
+Saturday evening when we arrived, and in honour of the approaching
+Sabbath, I presume, every house within the walls seemed busied in
+pumping out its cesspool and washing the contents along the channels
+of the streets, creating an atmosphere above that “all the perfumes
+of Arabia would not sweeten.” This, however, is an incident by no
+means peculiar to Ostend, the great majority of the cities in the “Low
+Countries” being similarly circumstanced.
+
+Although a place of importance five hundred years ago, every trace of
+antiquity in Ostend has been destroyed by the many “battles, sieges,
+fortunes,” it has passed. It was enclosed in the fifteenth century,
+fortified by the Prince of Orange in the sixteenth, and almost razed
+to the ground in its defence against the Spaniards in the seventeenth,
+when Sir Francis Vere, (one the military cavaliers, whom, with Sir
+Philip Sydney and others, Elizabeth in her capricious sympathy, had
+from time to time sent to the aid of the protestant cause in the
+Netherlands), held its command at the close of its remarkable siege by
+the forces of the Archdukes Albert and Isabella.[2] This memorable
+siege, which the system of antiquated tactics then in vogue, protracted
+for upwards of three years, “became a school for the young nobility of
+all Europe, who repaired, to either one or the other party, to learn
+the principles and the practice of attack and defence.” The brothers
+Ambrose and Frederick Spinola here earned their high reputation as
+military strategists, and the former eventually forced Ostend to
+surrender, after every building had been levelled by artillery, and
+innumerable thousands had found a grave around its walls. In the
+subsequent troubles of the eighteenth century, it was again repeatedly
+besieged and taken, sharing in all these disastrous wars which have
+earned for Belgium, the appropriate soubriquet of the “Cock-pit of
+Europe.” Its fortifications are still maintained in tolerable repair,
+one large battery called Fort Wellington, is of modern construction,
+and a long rampart, which was originally designed to protect the town
+from the inundation of the sea, has been converted into a glacis,
+and strengthened with stone, brought, at a considerable cost, from
+Tournay, as the alluvial sands of Flanders cannot supply even paving
+stones for her own cities. The summit of this defence is an agreeable
+promenade along the sea, which rolls up to its base, and as far as
+the eye can reach, stretch long hills of sand, which the wind sets in
+motion, and has driven into heaps against the walls and fortifications.
+The level and beautiful strand, however, renders Ostend an agreeable
+bathing-place, and it is fashionably frequented for that purpose during
+the months of summer, when the town presents the usual _agréments_ of a
+watering place, baths, ball rooms, cafés, and a theatre.
+
+As the second sea-port in the kingdom, it enjoys a considerable share
+of the shipping trade of Belgium, but it has no manufactures, and the
+chief emoluments of the lower classes, arise from the fishery of
+herrings and oysters, the bed of the latter, “le parc aux huitres,”
+being the leading lion recommended by the valet-de-place, to the
+notice of the stranger at Ostend; and the green oysters of Ostend
+(_huitres vertes d’Ostende_), one of the luxuries of the Parisian
+gourmands. Oysters are, indeed, the first dish introduced at every
+Belgian dinner-table, and the facility of the railroad has considerably
+augmented the demand at Ostend.
+
+The herring fishery has, of late years, almost disappeared from the
+coast of Flanders. It was once one of the most lucrative branches
+of trade in the Low Countries; and Charles V, when he visited the
+grave of Beukelson, who discovered the method of pickling herrings,
+at Biervliet, near Sluys, caused a monument to be erected over his
+remains. With the Reformation, however, and the lax observance of
+Lent upon the continent, the demand for salted fish declined, and
+Holland herself now retains but a remnant of her ancient trade; which,
+however, she cultivates with a rigid observance of all its ancient
+formalities--the little fleet of fishing boats assemble annually
+at Vlaardingen, at the entrance of the Maas--the officers assemble
+at the Stad-huis, and take the ancient oath to respect the laws of
+the fishery; they then hoist their respective flags, and repair to
+the church to offer up prayers for their success. The day of their
+departure is a holiday on the river. The first cargo which reaches
+Holland, is bought at an extravagant price, and the first barrel which
+is landed on the shore, is forwarded as a present to the King.
+
+Ostend, Blankenburg, Nieuport, Antwerp, and even Bruges, had once a
+valuable share in this important fishery, but it has of late years been
+utterly lost; not more than three sloops, we were told, having put to
+sea in any year since 1837, and even then with indifferent success. The
+cod-fishery, however, has been more prosperous, employing between five
+and six hundred seamen at Ostend alone; but even this is bolstered and
+sustained by the unsound expedient of government bounties.
+
+
+BRUGES.
+
+We left Ostend for Bruges by the railroad, sending forward our carriage
+to Ghent. The fare for the entire distance is little more than for
+one half, the trouble of mounting and dismounting, being the same for
+the longer as for the shorter stage. The arrangements of the railroad
+differ in no essential particular from those of England, except that
+every passenger’s luggage is more scrupulously examined and charged for
+extra weight, after which, it is taken from the custody of the owner,
+who receives a ticket, on the production of which, it is delivered up
+to him, on reaching the town for which his place has been secured.
+This system, however, is found to be productive of frequent mistakes
+and confusion, from trunks and portmanteaus being sent beyond their
+destination, or left behind altogether. The conductors and officials
+are all arrayed in uniform, and the starting of the train from each
+station is announced by a few notes of a trumpet. The engines are
+chiefly of English manufacture, with the exception of a few made at
+Liege.
+
+Belgium is of all countries in Europe the best calculated for
+railroads; its vast alluvial plains, hardly presenting a perceptible
+inequality. From Ostend to Ghent, I scarcely noticed a single cutting
+or an embankment, the rails being laid upon the natural surface of
+the ground, and the direction as straight as the flight of an arrow,
+without the necessity of a curve or inclination, except to approach
+some village station on the road.
+
+The old mode of conveyance by the Trekschuit, on the Canal de Bruges,
+though not discontinued, is comparatively deserted for the railroad. It
+is, however, by no means disagreeable, the boats being drawn along at
+the rate of nearly six miles an hour, the accommodation excellent and
+unique, and the only drawback, the effluvia which in summer arises from
+the almost stagnant waters of the canal, occasionally heightened by the
+poisoned streams in which flax had been steeped by the farmers, which
+is instantly fatal to the fish.
+
+The air and general appearance of Bruges, on entering it by the
+railroad, which passes direct into the centre of the town, cannot fail
+to arrest the interest and attention of a stranger. It is unlike any
+place that one has been accustomed to before, and is certainly the most
+perfect specimen of a town of the middle ages on this side the Rhine.
+Its houses have not been rebuilt in modern times, and with their ample
+fronts, vast arched entrances and sculptured ornaments, and fantastic
+gables, are all in keeping with our stately impressions of its feudal
+counts and affluent but turbulent burghers. “Le voyageur,” says its
+historian, M. Ferrier, “au milieu de ces vieux hôtels, de ces pierres
+féodales encore debout, espère toujours qu’une noble dame au chaperon
+de velours et au vertugadin élargi, va sortir des portes basses en
+ogives le faucon au poign, la queue retroussée par un page.”
+
+Instead of the narrow, dingy passages which occur in cities of similar
+antiquity and renown, there is an air peculiarly gay and imposing in
+the broad and cheerful streets of Bruges; its streets enlivened by long
+lines of lindens and oriental plane trees, and traversed by canals, not
+sluggish and stagnant, but flowing with an active current through the
+city. Upon these, the wealthier mansions open to the rear, a little
+ornamented “pleasance” separating them from the river, laid out in
+angular walks, and ornamented with evergreens, clipped _en quenouille_,
+and here and there a statue or an antique vase. The squares maintain
+the same character of dignity and gravity, overshadowed with “old
+ancestral trees,” and flanked by their municipal halls and towers--the
+monuments of a time when Bruges was the Tyre of Western Europe, and
+her Counts and citizens combined the enterprize and wealth of the
+merchant with the fiery bearing of the soldier. These edifices, too,
+exhibit in their style something of the sturdy pride of their founders,
+presenting less of ornament and decoration than of domineering height
+and massive solidity, and striking the visitor rather by their strength
+than their elegance. On the whole, Bruges reminded me strongly of Pisa,
+and some of the towns of northern Italy, whose history and decline are
+singularly similar to its own. The air of its edifices and buildings
+is the same, and there is around it a similar appearance of desertion
+rather than decay--though in Bruges the retirement and solitude which
+was, till recently, its characteristic, has been much invaded by the
+concourse of strangers whom the railroad brings hourly to visit it.
+
+Bruges, in the olden time, was indebted for its political importance to
+its being the most ancient capital of the Low Countries, and one of the
+residences of the old “Foresters of Flanders,” and of that illustrious
+line of sovereign Counts and Dukes, whose dynasty extends almost
+from Charlemagne to Charles V, and whose exploits enrich the annals
+of the crusades and form the theme of the romancers and minstrels
+of the middle ages. Of the palaces of these stormy potentates,
+scarcely a vestige now remains, except a few dilapidated walls of
+the “Princenhof,” in which Charles le Téméraire espoused Margaret of
+York, the sister of our Edward IV, and in which, also, his interesting
+daughter, Mary of Valois, Duchess of Burgundy, married Maximilian
+of Austria, son to Frederick IV--that “portentous alliance,” which
+subsequently brought the Netherlands under the dominion of the Emperor,
+and consigned them, on the abdication of Charles V, to the tender
+mercies of the sanguinary Philip of Spain. At her nuptials, the Duke of
+Bavaria acted as proxy for the imperial bridegroom, and according to
+the custom of the period, passed the night with the young duchess, each
+reposing in full dress, with a sword placed between them, and in the
+presence of four armed archers of the guard.
+
+On the opposite side of the same square, stands, likewise, the house,
+now an estaminet, in which her husband, Maximilian, then King of the
+Romans, was, after her death, confined by the citizens of Bruges,
+in 1487, in consequence of a dispute as to the custody of his two
+children, in whom, by the death of their mother, was vested the right
+to the sovereignty of Flanders. In spite of the fulminations of the
+Pope, and the march of the Emperor, his father, with an army of forty
+thousand men, the undaunted burghers held him a prisoner for six weeks,
+till he submitted to their terms and took an oath to respect their
+rights, and exact no vengeance for their violent demonstration in their
+assertion.
+
+Bruges was, likewise, upon two occasions the asylum of the exiled
+monarchs of England; once when Edward IV took refuge there, when flying
+from the Earl of Warwick’s rebellion; and, again, when Charles II, in
+his exile, occupied a house in the Place d’Armes, at the corner of the
+Rue St. Amand. It is now the shop of a tailor.
+
+But all our recollections of Bruges are crowded with associations of
+the poetry of history; and the very names of her chieftains, Baldwin of
+the Iron Arm, Robert of Jerusalem, Margaret of Constantinople, Philip
+the Handsome, and Louis of Crecy, call up associations of chivalry,
+gallantry and romance.
+
+From the thirteenth century to the close of the sixteenth, Bruges was
+at once in the plentitude of her political power and the height of
+her commercial prosperity. As the furs and iron of the north were not
+yet carried by sea round the Baltic, and the wealth of India still
+poured through the Red Sea into Genoa and Venice, Bruges became one of
+the great entrepots where they were collected, in order to be again
+distributed over Western Europe; and with Dantzic, Lubeck, Hamburg,
+and a few other trading cities of the west, Bruges became one of
+the leading commandaries of the Hanseatic League. The idea of marine
+insurances was first acted upon at Bruges in the thirteenth century,
+and the first exchange for the convenience of merchants was built there
+in the century following.
+
+Her manufactures were equally celebrated with her traffic and her
+trade. Her tapestries were the models, and, indeed, the progenitors of
+the Gobelins, which were established in France by a native of Bruges,
+under the patronage of Henry IV; and the fame of her woolstaplers
+and weavers has been perpetuated in the order of the Golden Fleece,
+the emblem of which was selected by Philip the Good in honour of the
+artizans of Bruges.
+
+It was a native of Bruges, Beham, who, fifty years before the
+enterprise of Columbus, ventured to “tempt the western main,” and
+having discovered the Azores, first led the way to the awakening of a
+new hemisphere.
+
+Of the luxury of her citizens in this age, many traditions are still
+extant; such as that of the wife of Philip the Fair exclaiming on
+finding herself eclipsed in the splendour of her dress by the ladies
+of her capital:--“_Je croyais être ici la seule reine, mais j’en vois
+plus de cent autour de moi!_” A similar story is recorded of their
+husbands, who when they returned to Paris with their Duke, Louis le
+Mael, to do homage to King John, the successor of Philip of Valois,
+felt affronted on finding that no cushions had been provided for them
+at a banquet to which they were invited by the King, and having sat
+upon their embroidered cloaks, declined to resume them on departing,
+saying:--“_Nous de Flandre, nous ne sommes point accoutumés où nous
+dinons, d’emporter avec nous les coussins._”
+
+All this has now passed away, other nations have usurped her
+foreign commerce, and her own rivals at home have extinguished her
+manufactures. But still in her decline, Bruges wears all the air of
+reduced aristocracy; her poor are said to be frightfully numerous
+in proportion to her population, but they are not, as elsewhere,
+ostentatiously offensive; except a few decrepid objects of compassion,
+by the door of the cathedral, we did not see a beggar in the streets.
+The dress of the lower orders is remarkable for its cleanliness and
+neatness, and an universal costume with the females of the bourgeoisie,
+was a white muslin cap with a lace border and a long black silk cloak,
+with a hood which covered the head, and is evidently a remnant of the
+Spanish mantilla. There was, also, a cheerful decorum in the carriage
+of the people whom we met in the streets, that one felt to be in
+accordance with the gravity of such a venerable old place, as if the
+streets were consecrated ground:
+
+    The city one vast temple, dedicate
+    To mutual respect in word and deed,
+    To leisure, to forbearances sedate,
+    To social cares, from jarring passions freed.[3]
+
+By the way, it is an instance of the abiding hatred with which the
+people of the Low Countries must have, traditionally, regarded
+their former tyrants, that so few traces of their dominion or their
+presence should now be discernible in the country which they so long
+blasted with their presence. Occasionally, one recognizes in the
+olive complexion and coal black eye of the Fleming, the evidences of
+her southern blood; and at Ghent and Brussels there are one or two
+families who still bear the names of Alcala, Rey and Hermosa, and a few
+others who trace their origin to Castilian ancestors; but there are no
+striking monuments now existing of a people, who so long exercised a
+malignant influence over the destinies of Flanders.
+
+It is true that but a short period, about a century and a half, elapsed
+from the death of Mary of Burgundy to that of Albert and Isabella, but
+it is equally true, that for generations before, the princes of the Low
+Countries had sought their matrimonial alliances at the court of Spain;
+and under Philip the Handsome and Charles V, when the Netherlands were
+in the pride of their prosperity, they afforded an alluring point for
+the resort of the adventurers of that country, and of the numbers who
+availed themselves of the royal encouragement to settle there; it is
+curious that not a mansion, not a monument, or almost a remnant should
+now be discernible.
+
+In Bruges, as in most other catholic cities, the chief depositaries
+of objects of popular admiration are the churches; and of these, the
+most attractive and remarkable are the matchless sculptures in wood
+which decorate the confessionals and pulpits, and in the richness and
+masterly workmanship of which, the specimens in the Netherlands are
+quite unrivalled. Bruges is rich in these. In the church of Notre Dame,
+the pulpit is a superb work of art of this description; chiselled in
+oak, supported by groups of figures the size of life, and decorated
+throughout with arabesques and carvings of flowers and fruit of the
+most charming execution. It is of vast dimensions for such a work,
+reaching from the floor almost to the gothic roof of the building. In
+the same church there are two confessionals of equal elegance, each
+separated, as usual, into three apartments by partitions, in front of
+each of which are caryatides, which support the roof.
+
+In the church of the Holy Saviour,[4] the grand organ presents another
+example of this gorgeous carving; and in the little chapel of St.
+Sang, which is possessed of a few drops of _the genuine blood of
+our Saviour_, periodically exhibited in its jewelled shrine to the
+faithful, there is a pulpit, perhaps, of better workmanship than taste,
+the shell of which represents the terrestrial globe, (orbis veteribus
+cognita), with a delineation of those geographical outlines which were
+known at the period of its erection.
+
+In works of art, the burghers of Bruges seem to have been generous as
+well as ambitious in adorning their city, so long as its municipal
+affluence placed it within their power to gratify their tastes. The
+churches, are, therefore, rich in works of the _early_ Flemish
+school--the Van Eycks and Hans Memling, and Pourbus and their
+collaborators and successors: but at the period when the new Flemish
+school had arisen, with Otto Vennius, and attained its eminence under
+Rubens and Vandyk, Bruges had already suffered her decline, the sun
+of her prosperity had gone down, and she possesses no works of their
+pencil. The chief depositaries of paintings in the city, are the church
+of St. Sauveur, the chapel of the Hospital of St. John, and the Gallery
+of the Museum near the Quai du Miroir. The three collections present
+precisely the same array of names, and the same features of art,
+insipid and passionless faces, figures harsh and incorrect in drawing,
+finished with that elaborate care which seems to have been at all times
+the characteristic of the schools of both Flanders and Holland, and
+gaudy, inharmonious colours, upon a brilliant and generally gilded
+ground, in the Byzantine style. Except as mere antiquities, these
+pictures have but little interest to any except the mere historian of
+the art. The collection in St. Saveur I did not see, as it had been
+removed in consequence of a recent fire, but it seems from the lists to
+be rather extensive.
+
+That in the _Museum_ is numerous, but monotonous and tiresome, for the
+reasons I have mentioned, though Sir Joshua Reynolds speaks with high
+approbation of some beauties, I presume, it requires the eye of an
+artist to discern them. The gallery here contains, also, a statue, by
+Calloigne, a native artist, of John Van Eyck, the painter, called “John
+of Bruges,” to whom has been ascribed the invention of painting in
+oil. His claim to the discovery is, of course, incorrect, as the mummy
+cases of Egypt sufficiently attest, but his merit as one of those,
+who, earliest and most successfully applied it to the purposes of
+art, is sufficiently indicated by a glance at his pictures, and their
+comparison with the inferior productions of his contemporaries in Italy.
+
+But the principal exhibition of the old masters of Bruges, is in the
+parlour of the chapel at the ancient _Hospital of Saint John_. Here
+the pride of the custodian are the chef-d’œuvres of Hans Memling.
+Hemling was a soldier and a roué, a prodigal and a genius utterly
+unconscious of his power. He ended a career of excesses by enlisting
+in one of the military companies of Bruges, his native city, and from
+the battle of Nancy, whither he had followed Charles the Rash, in
+1477, he was carried, wounded and dying, to the Hospital of St. John.
+The skill of the leeches triumphed, however, and Hans was restored to
+strength and vigour, when, for want, perhaps, of some other asylum,
+he spent ten years of his subsequent life amongst his friends in the
+hospital, and enriched its halls with the choicest specimens of his
+art. These pictures are of marvellous brilliancy, although it is said,
+that Hemling rejected the use of oil, which had been introduced by
+his contemporary and rival, Van Eyck, and adhered to the old plan of
+tempering his colours with size and albumen. The artist, too, has
+introduced into them portraits of the nuns and sisters of charity, who
+were the attendants of the sick in the hospital--a delicate and yet
+lasting memorial of his gratitude for their kindnesses towards himself.
+
+Amongst a number of portraits and scriptural subjects, the gem of the
+collection is a little, old-fashioned _cabinet_, probably intended for
+the reception of relics, some three feet long and broad in proportion,
+covered with a conical lid, and the whole divided into pannels, each
+containing a scene from the legend of St. Ursula, and the massacre of
+herself and her eleven thousand virgins, by the Goths, at Cologne. This
+curious little antique is so highly prized, that it is shown under a
+glass cover, and the directors of the hospital refused to exchange it
+for a coffer of the same dimensions in solid silver. The execution of
+the paintings has all the characteristic faults and beauties of its
+author, only the former are less glaring from the small dimensions
+of the figures. The faces of the ladies exhibit a good perception of
+female beauty, and St. Ursula herself has her hair plaited into braids
+and drawn behind her ear, much in the fashion of the present time in
+England.
+
+The majority of the other pictures have the folding doors which were
+peculiar to all the painters of the Low Countries, till Rubens latterly
+dispensed with the use, though they are to be seen on his matchless
+“Descent from the Cross,” and some others of his pictures in the
+cathedral at Antwerp. They served to close up the main composition when
+folded across it; and as they are, themselves, painted on both sides,
+so as to exhibit a picture whether closed or open, they had the effect
+of producing five compartments all referring to the same subject, but
+of which the four outward ones are, of course, subsidiary to the grand
+design within.
+
+The hospital in which these pictures are exhibited, is one of the best
+conducted establishments of the kind I have ever seen. Its attendants,
+in their religious costume, and with their nun’s head-dresses, move
+about it with the quiet benevolence which accords with their name,
+as “sisters of charity,” and the lofty wards, with the white linen of
+the beds, present in every particular an example of the most accurate
+neatness and cleanliness.
+
+Both it and the churches I have named, stand close by the station
+of the railway by which the traveller arrives from Ghent or from
+Ostend. Besides their curious old paintings, the churches have little
+else remarkable; they are chiefly built of brick, and make no very
+imposing appearance. That of the St. Sauveur, contains a statue in
+marble attributed to Michael Angelo, and though not of sufficient
+merit to justify the supposition, is in all probability the work of
+one of his pupils. The story says, that it was destined for Genoa, but
+being intercepted on its passage by a Dutch privateer, was carried
+to Amsterdam, where it was purchased by a merchant of Bruges, and
+presented to his native city.
+
+But the chief object of interest, and, indeed, the grand lion of
+Bruges, is the tomb of Mary of Burgundy in a little chapel of the same
+cathedral. The memory of this amiable Princess, and her early fate are
+associated with the most ardent feelings of the Flemings; she was the
+last of their native sovereigns, and at her decease, their principality
+became swallowed up in the overgrown dominion of the houses of Austria;
+like Charlotte of England, she was snatched from them in the first
+bloom of youth, she died before she was twenty-five, in consequence
+of a fall from her horse when hawking, and the independance of her
+country expired with her. Beside her, and in a similar tomb, repose
+the ashes of her bold and impetuous father, Charles the Rash, which
+was constructed by order of Philip of Spain. The chapel in which both
+monuments are placed, was prepared for their reception at the cost of
+Napoleon, who, when he visited Belgium, with Maria Louisa, in 1810,
+left a sum of money to defray the expense of their removal. Both tombs
+are of the same model, two rich sarcophagi, composed of very dark
+stone, ornamented with enamelled shields, and surmounted by recumbent
+statues, in gilded bronze, of the fiery parent and his gentle daughter.
+The blazonry of arms upon the innumerable shields which decorate their
+monuments, and the long array of titles which they record, bespeak the
+large domains, which, by successive alliances, had been concentrated
+in the powerful house of Burgundy. The inscription above the ashes of
+Charles the Rash, is as follows:
+
+    CY GIST TRES HAVLT TRES PVISSANT ET MAGNANIME PRINCE CHARLES DVC
+    DE BOVRGne DE LOTHRYCKE DE BRABANT DE LEMBOVRG DE LVXEMBOVRG ET
+    DE GVELDRES CONTE DE FLANDRES D’ARTOIS DE BOVRGne PALATIN ET DE
+    HAINAV DE HOLLANDE DE ZEELANDE DE NAMVR ET DE ZVTPHEN MARQVIS DV
+    SAINCT EMPIRE SEIGNEUR DE FRISE DE SALINS ET DE MALINES, LEQVEL
+    ESTANT GRANDEMENT DOVÉ DE FORCE CONSTANCE ET MAGNANIMITÉ PROSPERA
+    LONGTEMPS EN HAVLTES ENTREPRINSES BATAILLES ET VICTOIRES TANT A
+    MONTLHERI EN NORMANDIE EN ARTHOIS EN LIEGE QVE AVLTREPART JVSQVES
+    A CE QVE FORTVNE LVI TOVRNANT LE DOZ LOPPRESSA LA NVICT DES ROYS,
+    1476 DEVANT NANCY FVT DEPVIS PAR LE TRES HAVT TRES PVISSANT ET
+    TRES VICTORIEVX PRINCE CHARLES EMPEREUR DES ROMAINS Vmc DE CE NOM
+    SON PETIT NEPHEV HERITIER DE SON NOM VICTOIRES ET SEIGNORIES
+    TRANSPORTE A BRVGES OV LE ROI PHILIPPE DE CASTILLE LEON ARRAGON
+    NAVARE ETC. FILS DUDICT EMPEREVR CHARLES LA FAICT METTRE EN CE
+    TOMBEAU DU COTÉ DE SA FILLE ET VNIQVE HERITIERE MARIE FEMME ET
+    ESPEVSE DE TRES HAVLT ET TRES PVISSANT PRINCE MAXIMILIEN ARCHIDVC
+    D’AVSTRICE DEPVIS ROI EMPEREVR DES ROMANS--PRIONS DIEV POVR SON
+    AME.--AMEN.
+
+The sincere and unaffected sorrow of those who raised a monument to the
+Princess, is much more impressively bespoken in the simple and natural
+language of its inscription. After recapitulating the pompous honours
+of her house, and her greatness as a Queen, they have thus expressed
+affectionate esteem for her as a woman and a wife. “Five years she
+reigned as Lady of the Low Countries, for four of which she lived in
+love and great affection with my Lord, her husband. She died deplored,
+lamented and wept by her subjects, and by all who knew her as was never
+Princess before. Pray God for her soul. Amen.”
+
+The most conspicuous object in Bruges, both from a distance and within
+the walls, is the lofty tower of an ancient building, called “Les
+Halles”--an edifice of vast extent, whose original destination seems
+to be but imperfectly known, but which, in all probability, served as
+a depot for merchandize during the palmy days of the Hanseatic League,
+whilst in its ponderous tower were deposited the ancient records of the
+city. The lower buildings are now partly unoccupied, and partly used
+for the purposes of a covered market, and on the tower are stationed
+the warders, who, night and day, look out for fires in the streets of
+the city or the suburbs. It contains, likewise, one of those sweet
+carillons of bells, which, in their excellence, seem to be peculiar to
+the Netherlands, as in no other country that I am aware of do their
+chimes approach to any thing like harmonious music. In the tower of Les
+Halles and some others in Belgium, they are set in motion by a huge
+cylinder with moveable keys, similar to those in a barrel organ or a
+Geneva box. The tunes are arranged and altered every year at Easter,
+and the carillon, besides announcing every hour, is played almost
+daily for the amusement of the citizens. But besides the mechanical
+arrangement, there are keys which can be played on at pleasure, and
+during our visit, the “chief musician” commenced this feat, hammering
+with his fists, defended first by strong leather, and tramping with
+his heels, till every muscle in his whole body seemed called into
+action--an exercise very like that of Falstaff’s recruit Bullfrog,
+when he “caught a cold _in ringing in the king’s affairs_ upon the
+coronation day.”
+
+The view from this tower is really surprising, owing to the vast level
+plain in which it stands, and which stretches to the horizon without an
+undulation upon every side; the view is only limited by the ability of
+the eye to embrace it, and the sight is bewildered with the infinity
+of villages, towers, forests, canals and rivers which it presents,
+taking in at one vast glance, the German Ocean, the distant lines of
+Holland, the towers of Ghent, and to the south, the remote frontier of
+France. Its views, like almost every thing else in the Netherlands,
+are peculiar to itself, and in the repose and richness of cultivated
+beauty, have not a parallel in any country of Europe.
+
+In a small square adjoining that in which stands the tower of Les
+Halles, are two other ancient buildings of equal interest. The _palais
+de justice_ occupies the site of the old “palace of the Franc or
+liberty of Bruges.” It contains in one of its apartments, (the others
+are chiefly modern,) a remarkable mantel-piece of carved oak, covering
+the entire side of the hall, and consisting of a number of statues
+the size of life, let into niches decorated with the most elaborate
+and beautiful carvings, and surmounted by the armorial bearings of
+Burgundy, Brabant, and Flanders. This singular specimen of the arts,
+dates from the reign of Charles V. and contains statues of the Emperor
+himself, with Maximilian, and Mary of Burgundy to his left hand; on
+his right, those of Charles le Téméraire, and his Lady Margaret of
+York. These specimens of the perfection to which this description of
+modelling has attained amongst the Flemings, must really be seen, in
+order to be sufficiently comprehended.
+
+The other building adjoining is the _Hotel de Ville_, a small, but
+elegant example of the gothic architecture in the fourteenth century.
+The many niches which now stand empty at each compartment of its front,
+were formerly filled with statues of the native Princes of Flanders
+and Burgundy, to the number of thirty-three; numerous shields, charged
+with arms surmounted the principal windows, and on a little balcony in
+front, the Dukes, on the occasion of their inauguration, made oath to
+respect the rights and privilege of their subjects. But in 1792, the
+soldiers of the French directory, under Dumourier, in the “fine frenzy”
+of republicanism, tore down these ancient monuments of the former
+history of Bruges, as “the images of tyrants” and pounding them to
+dust, flung them upon a pile composed of fragments of the gallows and
+the scaffold, and ordered it to be kindled by the public executioner.
+The grand hall in the Hotel de Ville is occupied as a library, and
+contains a large and valuable collection of books and manuscripts.
+
+Bruges was the birth-place of Berken, who discovered the art of
+polishing the diamond, and, as if the secret were still confined to
+the craft, (in fact it was for a length of time a secret amongst the
+jewellers of the Low Countries), one still sees over many a door in
+Bruges, the sign-board of the “Diamant-zetter,” who resides within.
+
+In other cities, one would feel as if compiling a guide-book in noting
+these particulars of Bruges; but here it is different, as every spot,
+however trifling, is exalted by some traditionary association with the
+past. “In the thirteenth century,” says the Hand-book, “the ambassadors
+of twenty states had their hotels within the walls of the city, and
+the commercial companies of seventeen nations were settled and carried
+on their traffic within its walls. It became the resort of traders of
+Lombardy and Venice, who carried hither the merchandize of Italy and
+India, to be exchanged for the produce of Germany and the north. The
+argosies of Genoa and Constantinople, frequented her harbour, and her
+warehouses were stored with the wool of England, the linen of Belgium,
+and the silk of Persia.”[5] Can any one read this record of the past,
+and comparing it with the desolation of the present, avoid being
+reminded of the magnificent description and denunciation of Tyre, by
+Ezekiel. “Fine linen from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth
+for thy sails; the inhabitants of Zidon were thy mariners; the men of
+Persia were thine army; and they of Gammadin were on thy towers, and
+hung their shields upon thy walls to make thy beauty perfect. Tarshish
+was thy merchant, and with iron and with tin they traded in thy fairs.
+Syria gave thee emeralds and broidered work, and coral, and agate.
+Judah traded in thy markets in honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus in
+the wine of Hebron and white wool. Arabia occupied with thee in lambs
+and in goats; and the merchants of Sheba brought thee precious stones
+and gold. * * * They that handle the oar, the mariner and pilots of the
+sea, shall come down from thy ships; they shall stand upon the land,
+and in their wailing they shall cry, what city is like unto Tyre, like
+unto the destroyed in the midst of the waters?”
+
+Of all her active pursuits, Bruges now retains no remnant except the
+manufacture of lace, to which even her ancient fame has ceased to give
+a prestige; and it is exported to France to be sold under the name of
+_Point de Valenciennes_. Mechlin, Antwerp, Ypres and Grammont share
+with her in its production; and it is interesting to observe how this
+mignon and elegant art, originally, perhaps, but the pastime of their
+young girls and women, has survived all the storms and vicissitudes
+which have from time to time suspended or disturbed the other national
+occupations of the Belgians, and now enables the inhabitants of their
+superannuated cities, in the ruin of their own fortunes, to support
+themselves, as it were, upon the dower of their females. France, in
+the time of Colbert, seduced the manufacture to establish itself at
+Paris by actual gifts of money; and England, emulous of sharing in it,
+purchased the lace of Belgium to sell to Europe as her own, and made by
+it such a reputation, that _English lace_ is still a popular name for a
+particular description made at Brussels!
+
+The exquisitely fine thread which is made in Hainault and Brabant for
+the purpose of being worked into lace, has occasionally attained a
+value almost incredible. A thousand to fifteen hundred francs is no
+unusual price for it by the pound, but some has actually been spun
+by hand of so exquisite a texture, as to be sold at the rate of ten
+thousand francs, or upwards of £400, for a single pound weight. Schools
+have been established to teach both the netting of the lace and
+drawing of designs by which to work it, and the trade, at the present
+moment, is stated to be in a more flourishing condition than it has
+been ever known before, even in the most palmy days of the Netherlands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+GHENT.
+
+    Bruges a cheap residence--Tables-d’Hôte, their influence upon
+      society--Canal from Bruges to Ghent--Absence of country
+      mansions--Gardens--Appearance of GHENT--M. Grenier and M. de Smet
+      de Naeyer--The _Conseil de Prud’hommes_, its functions--Copyright
+      of designs in Belgium--THE LINEN TRADE OF BELGIUM--Its
+      importance--Great value of Belgian flax--Its cultivation--Revenue
+      derived from it--Inferiority of British flax--Anxiety of the
+      government for the trade in linen--Hand-spinners--Spinning
+      by machinery--_Société de la Lys_--Flower gardens--The
+      Casino--Export of flowers--General aspect of the city--_Its early
+      history_--Vast wealth expended in buildings in the Belgium cities
+      accounted for--Trading corporations--Turbulence of the people
+      of Bruges and Ghent--_Jacques van Artevelde_--His death--Philip
+      van Artevelde--Charles V.--His _bon mots_ regarding Ghent--Latin
+      distich, characteristic of the Flemish cities--Siege of Ghent,
+      Madame Mondragon--House of the Arteveldes--Hôtel de Ville--The
+      belfry and Roland--The _Marché de Vendredi_--The great cannon of
+      Ghent.
+
+BRUGES has the reputation of being an economical residence for persons
+of limited fortune, but I have reason to believe it does not fully
+merit it. I have understood, that at the termination of the war,
+a large mansion with every appurtenance, was to have been had for
+twenty-five pounds a year, but the concourse of English, and the influx
+of strangers, has now placed it, in this respect, pretty much upon a
+par with other places of the continent.
+
+We dined at an excellent table-d’hôte at the Hôtel de Commerce, the
+only inconvenience being the early hour, 2 o’clock, but this, and
+even earlier hours for dinner, we became, not only reconciled to,
+but almost to prefer before leaving Germany. To the prevalence of
+these tables-d’hôte in every town and village of the continent, must,
+no doubt, be ascribed much of that social feeling and easy carriage
+which characterise the people of almost every country in Europe except
+our own. Being frequented by persons of all ranks, they lead to an
+assimilation of manners and of taste, which must be conducive to
+general refinement; and by an interchange of opinions and a diffusion
+of intelligence during the two or three hours of daily intercourse,
+they must contribute to a diffusion of information, and a better
+understanding between all classes.
+
+In England, with our present sectional ideas and well defined grades,
+their introduction would be impossible, or if attempted, would only
+serve to make more distinct and compact the divisions into which
+society is parcelled out. And yet, how desirable would it be that some
+successful expedient could be discovered to produce a more frequent
+intercourse between these numerous castes, and to soften down these
+Hindoo prejudices, which are an unquestionable source of insecurity
+and weakness in England. It is to this, that in a great degree is to
+be ascribed the virulence of political jealousies, and the intense
+hatred of political parties. So long as wealth is constituted the
+great standard which is to adjust conventional precedence, affluence
+and intelligence must form one exclusive race, of whose feelings,
+habits, objects and desires, poverty and ignorance, as they _can
+know nothing_, may be easily persuaded to believe them hostile and
+destructive to their own; and even mediocrity of rank, as it stands
+aloof from either, will continue to look with alarm and jealousy upon
+both.
+
+Were it practicable, by any salutary expedient, to enable the humble
+and laborious _to perceive for themselves_, that the enjoyments and
+habits of the rich are not necessarily antagonist to their own,
+it would at once paralyze the strength of the demagogue and the
+incendiary. Religious bigotry and political malignity, like sulphur and
+nitre, are explosive only when combined with the charcoal of ignorance.
+
+The railroad from Bruges to Ghent, runs for the entire way within
+view, and frequently along the bank of the canal which connects the
+two cities, and which occasionally presents greater beauty than one
+is prepared to expect; its waters folded over with the broad leaves
+of the water lilly, and variegated with its flowers, and those of the
+yellow bog bean; and its steep banks covered with the tassels of the
+flowering rush. The road passed through numerous copses, cultivated
+for firewood and planted with the oak, the chesnut and the weeping
+birch, with here and there broad patches of firs and hornbeam. But the
+beauty of the long lines of ornamental trees which enclose the road
+and sometimes border the canals in Flanders, is much impaired by the
+fashion of pollarding their tops for the purpose of fuel.
+
+One misses, also, the numerous seats and mansions of the landed gentry
+to which we are familiarized in travelling in our own country, “the
+happy homes of England,” that constitute the rich luxuriance of a
+British landscape. But here, their erection is discountenanced by the
+law against primogeniture, by which the property of the individual is
+compulsorily divided amongst his heirs; and, at former periods, their
+absence may, perhaps, be ascribed to the insecurity of the country,
+perpetually visited with war and all its accessories, so that men found
+their only safety within the walls of their fortified towns. In the
+neighbourhood of Ghent, however, they are more frequent than in any
+other district of Belgium which I have seen, an evidence, perhaps, of
+the more abundant wealth of its successful manufactures and merchants.
+
+In the vicinity of all the villages and suburbs, each house is
+provided with a garden, richly stocked with flowers, (amongst which
+the multitude of dahlias was quite remarkable), and surrounded, not
+by a fence, but more frequently, in gardens of any extent, by a broad
+dyke of deep water, covered with lillies and aquatic plants. Every inch
+of ground seemed to have been subjected to the spade, and with a more
+than Chinese economy of the soil, made to contribute either to the
+decoration or the support of the owner’s dwelling.
+
+After passing the hamlets of Bloemendael (the valley of flowers),
+and Aeltre, we came in sight of Ghent, situated on a considerable
+elevation above the water of the Scheldt (pronounced _Skeld_), the Lys,
+the Lieve, and the Moer, which meet around its base, and with their
+communicating branches and canals, divide the city into six-and-twenty
+islets, connected by upwards of eighty bridges of wood or stone.
+Its towers and steeples are discernible for some miles before it is
+reached, mingled with the tall chimnies of its numerous manufactories,
+which mark it as the Manchester of Belgium.
+
+The court-yard of the station was filled with a crowd of omnibuses,
+fiacres and _vigilantes_, an improvement upon the cabs of London, and
+a drive of a few minutes brought us to the Cauter, or Place d’Armes,
+where, following the direction of the Hand-book, we stopped at the
+Hôtel de la Poste, a spacious house, kept by a M. Oldi, who, we were
+told, was son to a Baroness of the same name, who figured on the
+occasion of the trial of Queen Caroline.
+
+
+GHENT.
+
+My anxiety was to learn something of the actual state of manufacturing
+industry in Belgium, and Ghent, its principal seat and centre,
+presented the most favourable opportunities. Our introductions were
+numerous, but my chief obligations are to _M. Grenier_, one of the
+most intelligent and accomplished men of business whom it has been my
+good fortune to meet. He had been formerly an officer in the Imperial
+Guard of Napoleon, whilst Belgium was a province of the empire, but on
+the return of peace, in 1815, betook himself to pursuits of commerce,
+and is now connected with some of the most important manufacturing
+and trading establishments of Belgium. I owe a similar acknowledgment
+for the polite attentions of _M. de Smet de Naeyer_,[6] an eminent
+manufacturer, and one of the officers of the Chamber of Commerce and of
+the Conseil de Prud’hommes at Ghent.
+
+The latter body which is an institution, originally French, was
+introduced in Belgium by a decree of Napoleon in 1810. It is a board
+formed jointly of employers and workmen, elected by annual sections,
+and discharging all its functions, not only gratuitously as regards
+the public, but without payment to its own members, beyond the mere
+expenditure of the office, and a moderate salary to a secretary. Its
+duties have reference to the adjustment of the mutual intercourse
+between workmen and their masters in every branch of manufacture,
+the prevention of combinations, the performance of contracts, the
+regulation of apprenticeship, and the effectual administration of
+the system of _livrets_--a species of permanent diploma, which the
+artisan received on the termination of his pulpilage, signed by the
+master to whom he had been articled, and sealed by the President of
+the Conseil de Prud’hommes. Without the production of his _livret_, no
+tradesman can be received into employment; and in it are entered all
+his successive discharges and acquittances with his various masters.
+The powers of fining and of forfeiture exercised by the conseil, are
+summary up to a certain amount, and in cases of graver importance,
+there is a resort to the correctional police.
+
+But the main functions of the Conseil de Prud’hommes are the prevention
+of any invasion of the peculiar rights of any manufacturer, or the
+counterfeit imitation of his particular marks; and especially the
+protection of the copyright of all designs and productions of art
+for the decoration of manufactures. With this view, every proprietor
+of an original design, whether for working in metals or on woven
+fabrics, is empowered to deposit a copy of it in the archives of the
+council, enveloped in a sealed cover, and signed by himself; and to
+receive in return a certificate of its enrolment, and the date of
+reception. At the same time, he is called upon to declare the length
+of time for which he wishes to secure to himself the exclusive right
+of its publication, whether for one, two, or three years, or for
+ever, and in either case, a trifling fee is demanded, in no instance
+exceeding a franc for each year the protection is claimed, or ten
+for a perpetuity.[7] In the event of any dispute as to originality or
+proprietorship, the officer of the council is authorized to break the
+seal, and his testimony is conclusive as to the date and circumstances
+of the deposit.
+
+The effect of this simple and inexpensive tribunal has been found
+so thoroughly effectual, that the most equitable security has been
+established for designs of every description applicable to works
+of taste, and the _intellectual property_ of a pattern has been as
+thoroughly vindicated to its inventor through the instrumentality
+of the register of the Prud’hommes, as his _material property_, in
+the article on which it is to be impressed, is secured to him by the
+ordinary law. In fact, the whole operation of the institution at Ghent
+has proved so beneficial to manufactures universally, that by a _projet
+de loi_ of 1839, similar boards are about to be established in all
+the leading towns and cities, as Liege, Brussels, Courtrai, Antwerp,
+Louvain, Mons, Charleroi, Verviers, and the manufacturing districts,
+generally, throughout Belgium.
+
+One of our first visits was to a mill for spinning linen yarn, recently
+constructed by a joint stock company, called _La Société de la Lys_, in
+honour, I presume, of the Flemish river on which it is situated, and
+which is celebrated on the continent for the extraordinary suitability
+of its waters for the preparation of flax. Belgium, from the remotest
+period, even, it is said, before the Christian era, has been celebrated
+for its manufacture of clothing of all descriptions. It was from
+Belgium that England derived her first knowledge of the weaving of
+wool; damask has been made there since the time of the Crusades, when
+the soldiers of Godfrey of Bouillon and of Count Baldwin, brought
+the art from Damascus; and to the present hour, the very name of
+“_Holland_” is synonymous with linen, and the cloth so called, has for
+centuries been woven principally in Flanders.
+
+Under the government of Austria, the manufacture seems to have attained
+its acmé of prosperity in the Netherlands, her exports of linen, in
+1784, amounting to 27,843,397 yards, whilst at the present moment, with
+all her increase of population and discoveries in machinery, she hardly
+surpasses thirty millions. Again, under the continental system of
+Napoleon, from 1805 to 1812, it attained a high degree of prosperity,
+which sensibly decreased after the events of 1814, when English produce
+came again into active competition with it.
+
+The cultivation of flax is still, however, her staple employment, one
+acre in every eighty-six of the whole area of Belgium, being devoted to
+its growth. In peculiar districts, such as Courtrai and St. Nicolas,
+so much as one acre in twenty is given to it; and in the Pays de Waes,
+it amounts so high as one in ten. Every district of Belgium, in fact,
+yields flax, more or less, except Luxembourg and Limburg, where it
+has been attempted, but without success; but of the entire quantity
+produced, Flanders alone furnishes three-fourths, and the remaining
+provinces, one. The quality of the flax, too, seems, independently of
+local superiority in its cultivation, to be essentially dependent upon
+the nature of the soil in which it is sown. From that around Ghent,
+no process of tillage would be sufficient to raise the description
+suitable to more costly purposes; that of the Waloons yields the very
+coarsest qualities; Courtrai those whose strength is adapted for
+thread; and Tournai alone furnished the fine and delicate kinds, which
+serve for the manufacture of lace and cambric.
+
+Of the quantity of dressed flax prepared in Belgium, calculated to
+amount to about eighteen millions of kilogrammes, five millions were
+annually exported to England and elsewhere, on an average of eight
+years, from 1830 to 1839. According to the returns of the Belgian
+custom-houses, the export has been as follows--from 1830 to 1839.
+
+  1831    5,449,388  kilogr.
+  1832    3,655,226  ”
+  1833    4,392,113  ”
+  1834    2,698,870  ”
+  1835    4,610,649  ”
+  1836    6,891,991  ”
+  1837    7,403,346  ”
+  1838    9,459,056  ”
+
+It is important to observe the steady increase of the English demand
+since 1834. The remainder is reserved for home manufacture into thread
+and cloth, and it is estimated by M. Briavionne, that the cultivation
+of this one article alone, combining the value of the raw material with
+the value given to it by preparation, in its various stages from flax
+to linen cloth, produces annually to Belgium, an income of 63,615,000
+francs.[8]
+
+Belgium possesses no source of national wealth at all to be put into
+comparison with this, involving as it does, the concentrated profits
+both of the raw material and its manufacture, and, at the present
+moment, the attention of the government and the energies of the
+nation are directed to its encouragement in every department, with an
+earnestness that well bespeaks their intimate sense of its importance.
+
+Nor are the prudent anxieties of the Belgium ministry on this point
+without serious and just grounds. Their ability to enter into
+competition with England in the production of either yarn or linen
+cloth, arises solely from the fortunate circumstance to which I have
+just alluded, that not only do they themselves produce the raw material
+for their own manufactures, but it is they, who, likewise, supply it to
+their competitors, almost at their own price. _Such is the superiority
+of Belgian flax, that whilst, in some instances, it has brought so high
+a price as £220 per ton, and generally ranges from £80 to £90; not more
+than £90 has in any instance that I ever heard of, been obtained for
+British, and its ordinary average does not exceed £50._
+
+The elements of their trade are, therefore, two-fold, the growth of
+flax, and secondly, its conversion by machinery into yarn and cloth.
+In the latter alone, from the relative local circumstances of the two
+countries, it is utterly impossible that Belgium could successfully
+maintain the contest with England, with her inferior machinery, her
+more costly fuel, and her circumscribed sale; but aided by the other
+happy advantage of being enabled to supply herself with the raw
+material at the lowest possible rate, and her rivals at the highest,
+she is in possession of a position of the very last importance.
+
+But, should any circumstance arise to alter this relative position,
+should England wisely apply herself to the promotion of such an
+improvement in the cultivation and dressing of her flax at home as
+would render it in quality equal to that for which she is now dependent
+for her supply from abroad--should India or her own colonies betake
+themselves to its production, or should some other country, adopting
+the processes of Belgium, supplant her in the market, and thus reduce
+her competition with England to a mere contest with machinery, the
+linen trade of Belgium could not by any possibility sustain the
+struggle, and her staple manufacture for centuries would pass, at once,
+into the hands of her rivals.
+
+Conscious of their critical situation in this respect, the King of
+Holland, during his fifteen years’ administration of the Netherlands,
+bestowed a care upon the encouragement and improvement of their
+mechanical skill, which may have, perhaps, been carried to an unwise
+extreme; and with a similar anxiety for the maintenance of their
+ascendancy in the other department, the ministers of King Leopold have
+devoted a sedulous attention to the cultivation of flax; and the very
+week of my arrival at Ostend, a commission had just returned from
+England, whose inquiries had been specially directed to the question
+of imposing restrictions upon its exportation.
+
+Much of the uneasiness of the government upon this head, arises, at
+the present moment, from the necessity of promoting vigorously the
+spinning by machinery, and, at the same time, the difficulty of finding
+employment for the thousands who now maintain themselves by the old
+system of spinning by hand, and whom the successful introduction of
+the new process will deprive of their ordinary means of subsistence.
+Although this is one of those complaints to which we have long been
+familiarized in England, and which the people of this country have, at
+length, come to perceive is not amongst--
+
+    “Those ills that kings or laws can cause or cure,”
+
+the alarm and perplexity of the Belgians, and their earnest
+expostulation on finding their employment suddenly withdrawn,
+have caused no little embarrassment to their own government;
+and a formidable party, both in the country and in the House of
+Representatives, have been gravely consulting as to the best means of
+securing a continuance of their “ancient industry” to the hand-spinners
+at home, by restricting the export of flax to be spun by machinery
+abroad!
+
+The practicability of this, and the propriety of imposing a duty upon
+all flax shipped for England, was understood to be the subject of
+inquiry by the commission despatched by the Chambers to England, which
+consisted of Count d’Hane, a member of the upper house, M. Couls, the
+representative for the great linen district of St. Nicolas, and M.
+Briavionne, a successful writer upon Belgian commerce, and one or two
+other gentlemen connected with the linen trade.
+
+The application of machinery to the manufacture of linen yarn,
+though comparatively recent in its introduction into Belgium, has,
+nevertheless, made a surprising progress, and bids fair, if unimpeded,
+to maintain a creditable rivalry with Great Britain. The offer by
+Napoleon, in 1810, of a reward of a million of francs for the discovery
+of a process by which linen could be spun into yarn with the same
+perfection as cotton, naturally gave a stimulus to all the artisans
+of the empire, and almost simultaneously with its promulgation, a
+manufacturer of Belgium, called Bawens, announced his application of
+the principle of spinning through water, which is now in universal
+use. The old system of dry spinning, however, still obtained and
+was persevered in till superseded, at a very recent period, by the
+invention of Bawens, improved by all the subsequent discoveries in
+England and France.
+
+The seat of the manufacture, at present, is at Ghent and Liege, and is
+confined to a very few extensive establishments, projected by joint
+stock companies, or Sociétés Anonymes,[9] for the formation of which,
+there has latterly been almost a mania in Belgium. Four of these
+establishments, projected between 1837 and 1838, proposed to invest a
+capital amounting amongst the whole, to no less than fourteen millions
+of francs. One of them at Liege, perfected its intention and is now
+in action. A second, at Malines (Mechlin), was abandoned after the
+buildings had been erected, and the other two at Ghent, are still only
+in process of completion. Besides these, there is a third at Ghent, in
+the hands of an individual, calculated for 10,000 spindles.
+
+That which we visited belonging to _La Société de la Lys_, may be taken
+as a fair illustration of the progress which the art has made in
+Belgium, as the others are all constructed on similar models, and with
+the same apparatus in all respects. It was originally calculated for
+15,000 spindles, but of these not more than one third are yet erected,
+and in motion, and but 5,000 others are in preparation. The steam
+engines were made in England, by Messrs. Hall, of Dartford, on the
+principle known as Wolf’s patent, which, using two cylinders, combines
+both a high and low pressure, and is wrought with one half to one third
+the fuel required for the engines, in ordinary use in England,[10] an
+object of vast importance in a country where coals are so expensive as
+they are in Belgium.[11] The machinery is all made at the Phœnix works
+in Ghent, the preparatory portions of it are excellent, and exhibit
+all the recent English improvements, and in roving they use the new
+spiral frames. But the spinning rooms show the Belgian mechanics to
+be still much behind those of Leeds and Manchester, as evinced by the
+clumsiness and imperfect finish of the frames, although they were still
+producing excellent work; the yarn we saw being of good quality, but of
+a coarse description, and intended for home consumption, and for the
+thread-makers of Lisle. The quantity produced, per day, was quite equal
+to that of English spinners,[12] and their wages much the same as those
+paid in Ireland, and somewhat less than the English.[13]
+
+On the whole, the linen trade of Belgium, notwithstanding its
+extensive preparation of machinery, and the extraordinary demand for
+its flax, must be regarded as in anything but a safe or a permanent
+position. In those stronger articles which can be made from flax of
+English growth, the English considerably undersell her already; an
+important trade is, at this moment, carried on in the north of Ireland
+in exporting linen goods to Germany, whence they were formerly imported
+into England, and whence they are still sent into Belgium, where the
+damask trade of Courtrai, which has been perpetually declining since
+1815, is now, all but superseded by the weavers of Saxony and Herrnhut;
+and the tickens of Turnhout, by those woven from the strong thread of
+Brunswick.
+
+The contemplated measure of the French government, to impose a heavy
+duty on the importation of linen-yarn, will, if persevered in, be
+most prejudicial to the spinners of Belgium, as more or less, it must
+inevitably diminish their consumption. On the other hand, as England
+herself may be said to grow no flax for her own manufacture, and
+that of Ireland is not only far inferior in quality to the Dutch
+and Belgian, but inadequate to her own consumption, and every year
+increasing in demand and rising in price,--so long as Great Britain is
+thus dependant upon her own rivals for a supply of the raw material to
+feed her machinery, at an expense of from 8 to 10 per cent, for freight
+and charges, in addition to its high first cost, and whilst she must,
+at the same time, compete with them in those continental markets,
+which are open to them both, the spinning mills of Belgium cannot
+but be regarded otherwise than as formidable opponents. Nor is this
+apprehension diminished by the fact, that Belgium, which a few years
+since had no machinery for spinning yarn, except what she obtained from
+other countries, or could smuggle from England at a serious cost, is
+now enabled to manufacture her own, and has all the minerals, metals,
+and fuel within herself, which combined with industry and skilled
+labour, are essential to bring it to perfection. For the present, the
+English manufacturer, has a protection in the cost of his machinery
+alone--the factory of the _Société de la Lys_ cost £80,000 to erect,
+which supposing its 10,000 spindles to be in action, would be £8 per
+spindle, and as only the one half of these are at present employed,
+the actual cost is sixteen pounds; whilst an extensive mill can be
+erected in Ireland for from £4 to £5, and in England for even less.
+The difference of interest upon such unequal investments, must be a
+formidable deduction from the actual profits of the Belgians.
+
+We returned to our Hotel by a shady promenade along the _Coupure_,
+which connects the waters of the Lys with the canal of Bruges, the
+banks of which planted with a triple row of tall trees, form one of
+the most fashionable lounges and drives in Ghent. Opening upon it are
+the gardens of the Casino, a Grecian building of considerable extent,
+constructed in 1836 for the two botanical and musical societies of
+Ghent, and, in which, the one holds its concerts, and the other its
+spring and autumn exhibition of flowers. At the rear of the building is
+a large amphitheatre with seats cut from the mossy bank and planted
+with flowers, where the _Société de St. Cecile_ give their Concerts
+d’Eté, which are held in the open air, in summer, and at which as many
+as six thousand persons have occasionally been accommodated.
+
+In the rearing of flowers, Belgium and more especially Ghent, has
+outrivalled the ancient florists of Holland, the city is actually
+environed with gardens and green-houses, and those of the Botanical
+Society, are celebrated throughout Europe for their successful
+cultivation of the rarest exotics. At Ghent their sale has, in fact,
+become an important branch of trade; plants to the value of a million
+and a half of francs having been exported annually, on account of the
+gardeners in the vicinity; and it is no unusual thing to see in the
+rivers, vessels freighted entirely with Camellias, Azaleas, and Orange
+trees, which are sent to all parts of Europe, even to Russia by the
+florists of Ghent.
+
+The general appearance of the city, without being highly picturesque,
+is to a stranger, of the most agreeable I remember to have seen. It
+does not present in the mass of its houses and buildings, that uniform
+air of grave antiquity which belongs to those of Bruges, the greater
+majority of the streets having been often rebuilt and modernized,
+as well as from the effects of civic commotions, as to suit the
+exigencies of trade and manufactures, which, when they deserted the
+rest of Belgium, seem to have concentrated themselves here. Its modern
+houses are almost all constructed on the Italian model, with ample
+_portes-cochers_, spacious court yards, lofty staircases, tall windows,
+and frequently frescoes and bas-reliefs, to decorate the exterior.[14]
+Almost every house is furnished with an _espion_, a small plate of
+looking-glass fixed outside the window, at such an angle, that all
+that is passing in the street is seen by those inside, without their
+appearing themselves.
+
+Here and there upon the quays and in the narrower streets, there are to
+be found the gloomy old residences of the “Men of Ghent,” now converted
+into inns or ware-rooms, with their sharp tilted roofs, high stepped
+gables, abutting on the street, fantastic chimneys, and mullioned
+windows, sunk deep into the walls. And turning some sudden corner in
+a narrow passage obstructed by lumbering waggons, drawn by oxen, one
+finds himself in front of some huge old tower, or venerable belfry,
+covered with gothic sculpture, and stretching up to the sky till he
+has to bend back his head to descry the summit of it. One singular
+old building on the Quai aux Herbes, remarkable for its profusion
+of Saxon arches and stone carvings, was the Hall of the Watermen,
+whose turbulent insurrection under John Lyon, is detailed with quaint
+circumstantiality in the pages of Froissart. But in the main, the
+streets of Ghent are lively and attractive, and its squares, spacious
+and planted with trees, forming a striking contrast to the melancholy
+brick and mortar buildings, that compose the manufacturing towns of
+England. Here too, as in Manchester and Leeds, the population seem all
+alive and active, but instead of the serious and important earnestness
+which one sees in every countenance in Lancashire, the Gantois seems to
+go about his affairs with cheerfulness and alacrity, as if he was less
+employed on business than amusement. The canals are filled with heavily
+laden barges, and the quays with long narrow waggons of most primitive
+construction, into which they unload their cargoes; whilst the number
+of handsome private carriages, that one sees in every thoroughfare,
+bespeak, at once, the wealth and refinement of the population. The
+shops are exceedingly good though not particularly moderate in their
+charges, and I was somewhat surprised to see as an attraction on the
+sign boards at the doors of the drapers and modistes, the announcement
+that _Scotch_ and _English goods_ were to be had within. Altogether the
+combination of antique singularity with modern comfort, commercial
+bustle, wealth, gaiety, cleanliness, and vivacity, which is to be seen
+at Ghent, cannot fail to strike the most hurried traveller, and I doubt
+much whether it is to be found in equal perfection, in any other city
+of the continent of equal extent.
+
+Every quarter of the city exhibits traces of the former wealth of the
+burghers, and every building has some tradition characteristic of the
+fiery turbulence of this little municipal republic. Bruges and Ghent
+are, in this regard, by far the most interesting towns of Flanders.
+Brussels, Liege and Ypres, are all of more modern date and infinitively
+less historical importance, during the stormy period of the Flemish
+annals from the 12th to the 16th century. Ghent was a fortified town
+a thousand years ago, when its citadel was erected by Baldwin of the
+Iron Arm, but it was only with the rage for the Crusades, that the
+wealth and importance of the towns of the Low Countries arose; when the
+Seigneurs, in order to obtain funds to equip them for their expeditions
+to the Holy Land, released the inhabitants of the towns from their
+vassalage, and sold to them the lands on which their cities were built,
+and all the rights of self government, privileges which subsequently
+assumed the form of a corporate constitution. Ghent thus obtained her
+independence from Philip of Alsace, in 1178, and for the first time
+secured the right of free assembly, the election of her own provosts,
+a common seal, and belfry, always an indispensable accompaniment of
+civic authority, and important in sounding the alarm and convoking the
+citizens upon every emergency.
+
+It was in consequence of these momentous concessions, that whilst the
+lords of the soil and their agrarian followers were wasting their
+energies in distant war, or subsisting by rapine and violence against
+one another, the inhabitants of the towns, secured within their walls
+and fortified places, were enabled to devote themselves to manufactures
+and to commerce, and thus to concentrate in their own hands, the
+largest proportion, by far, of the monied wealth of the Netherlands.
+
+But, coupled with their high privileges, there were also some
+restrictions, to which we of to-day are indebted for the vast
+and magnificent edifices which the burghers of these flourishing
+communities have left for our wonder and admiration. The rights
+accorded to them by their Seigneurs were rigidly confined to the
+limits of their own walls, no free burgher could purchase or hold
+landed estate beyond the circuit of his municipality; and thus, whilst
+driven to accumulate capital in the pursuit of trade and traffic,
+they were equally constrained to invest it, not in land, like the
+retired merchants of modern times, but in the construction of these
+vast palaces and private mansions, and in the decorations of their
+dwellings, and the adornment of their cities.
+
+It is to this political circumstance of their position that we are
+to refer, in order to account for the extent and splendour of those
+ancient houses which we meet at every turning in Bruges and Ghent--for
+the costly carvings and sculptured decorations of their fronts and
+interiors, and for the quantity of paintings and ornaments in which
+they abound.
+
+The accumulation of their municipal resources, too, required to be
+similarly disposed of, and was applied to the erection of their lofty
+belfries, the construction of those gigantic towers which are elevated
+on all their churches, and to the building of their town halls and
+hôtels-de-ville, whose magnitude and magnificence, are a matter,
+equally of admiration of the genius which designed, and astonishment at
+the wealth which was necessary to erect them.
+
+As the towns increased in prosperity and wealth, money always sufficed
+to buy from their sovereigns fresh privileges and powers, and fresh
+accessions of territory to be added to their municipal districts, till,
+at length, the trades became so numerous as to enroll themselves in
+companies, half civil and half military, whilst all united to form
+those trading commandaries or Hansen, the spread of which, over the
+north-west of Germany, forms so remarkable a feature in the history of
+commerce and civilization. Foremost in the Netherlands in the race of
+prosperity was Ghent, which, within a century from its enfranchisement,
+by Philip of Alsace, rendered itself, in effect, the capital of
+Flanders, with an extent and importance even greater than the capital
+of France, whence Charles V subsequently ventured upon his bon mot,
+that he could put all Paris in his _glove_ “_dans mon gant_.”
+
+But with this increase of prosperity, increased, also, the troubles
+and cares of these republican communities; their excessive wealth at
+once engendering internal rivalries and faction, and inviting foreign
+cupidity and invasion. “Never,” says Hallam, “did liberty wear a more
+unamiable aspect than among the burghers of the Netherlands, who abused
+the strength she gave them, by cruelty and insolence.” The entire
+history of Bruges and Ghent, but especially the latter, is, in fact,
+a series of wars, to repel the aggressions of France, or to suppress
+the turbulence and insurrectionary spirit of their own citizens. These
+were not the mere tumultuous skirmishes which have been dignified by
+the title of _wars_ amongst the rival cities and states of northern
+Italy about the same period, and in which it not unfrequently happened
+that no blood was spilt; but in the battles of Courtrai, Rosebeke
+and Everghem, the citizens could send 20 to 40,000 soldiers into the
+field, and conducted their hostilities almost upon the scale of modern
+warfare. At Courtrai, “the men of Ghent” carried off seven hundred
+golden spurs from the defeated nobles of France. When Charles VII was
+preparing to expel the English from Calais, Philip the Good was able to
+send him 40,000 men as a subsidy, of whom 16,000 were from Ghent alone.
+
+Nor were these _internal_ feuds upon a minor scale. Jacques van
+Artevelde, the Masaniello of Flanders, and more generally known as
+“_the Brewer of Ghent_,” from his having joined the guild of that
+trade, from which he was afterwards chosen by fifty other corporations
+of tradesmen, as the head of each, was enabled to organize such an
+army of the city companies, as to render his alliance an object of
+importance to Edward III of England, when making his preparations for
+invading France.
+
+Under this extraordinary “tribune of the people,” Ghent was enabled,
+virtually, to cast off its allegiance to the courts of Flanders, to
+elect Artevelde as their Ruwaert or Protector, and to bid defiance to
+their native sovereign, backed by all the power of France. Artevelde
+became the personal friend and counsellor of the English King, who
+sent ambassadors to his court, and entered into alliance with the city
+he commanded in conjunction with that of Bruges and Ypres. It was at
+the suggestion of Artevelde, that Edward quartered the arms of France
+and assumed the fleur de lis, which for so many centuries was borne
+upon the shield of England; and it was in the palace of the Flemish
+demagogue, that Queen Philippa gave birth to a son, whose name has made
+Ghent familiar in the annals of England:--
+
+    “Old John of _Gaunt_, time honoured Lancaster.”
+
+The Ruwaert in honour of Philippa gave her name to his son, who, at a
+subsequent period, became the demagogue of Ghent, and who,
+
+              “Dire rebel though he was,
+    Yet with a noble nature and great gifts
+    Was he endowed: courage, discretion, wit,
+    An equal temper and an ample soul,
+    Rock bound and fortified against assaults
+    Of transitory passion: but below
+    Built on a surgeing subterranean fire
+    That stirred and lifted him to high attempts,
+    So prompt and capable, and yet so calm.
+    He nothing lacked in sovereignty but the right;
+    Nothing in soldiership except good fortune.”
+
+  _Taylor’s Philip van Artevelde._
+
+But the fate, like the fortune of Artevelde, was characteristic of the
+proverbial caprice and vacillations of republican popularity. After
+being for ten years or more, the idol of the people, he presumed to
+induce them to expel the Counts of Flanders from the succession, and to
+acknowledge the Black Prince, the son of his friend, as their sovereign
+in his stead; but his followers, startled at so bold a proposition,
+made a pretence for getting rid of their “protector,” and massacred
+Artevelde in his own house, which they burned to the ground, “Poor men
+raised him,” says Froissart, “and wicked men slew him.”
+
+Thirty years after, when Flanders, by the marriage of Margaret
+with Philip the Hardy, Duke of Burgundy, became united with that
+sovereignty, and the citizens were again at war amongst themselves,
+“the men of Ghent” elected Philip van Artevelde, godson of Queen
+Philippa, and her namesake, the son of their former favourite and
+victim, as their leader in their strifes with the burghers of Bruges,
+who were about to cut a canal from their city to Denys, which would
+have been injurious to the prosperity of Ghent, which had “the harvest
+of the river for her revenue,” when Philip defeated the army of Louis
+le Mael, entered Bruges in triumph, and carried off the Golden Dragon
+as large as an ox, which, till lately, surmounted the belfry of Ghent,
+and is said to have been brought home by the Flemings who followed
+Count Baldwin to Constantinople.
+
+For sometime, in the heyday of good fortune,
+
+        “Van Artevelde in all things aped
+    The state and bearing of a sovereign prince;
+    Had bailiffs, masters of the horse, receivers,
+    A chamber of accompt, a hall of audience;
+    Off gold and silver eat, was clad in robes
+    Of scarlet furred with minever, gave feasts
+    With minstrelsy and dancing, night and day----”
+
+But the power of France leagued with his native sovereign was
+irresistible, and at the battle of Rosebeke, he laid down, at once, his
+usurped authority and his life.
+
+Under the Dukes of Burgundy, the annals of these remarkable military
+merchants is the same continued story of broils and battles, and the
+union of Flanders to Austria, by the marriage of Mary of Burgundy, only
+brought a fresh line of combatants into the Low Countries.
+
+In 1500, Charles V, the grandson of this ominous alliance, was born at
+Ghent, in the old château of the Counts of Flanders, the remains of
+which are still to be seen in the Place de St. Pharailde, converted
+into a cotton factory, the lofty chimney of which now pours its volume
+of smoke above the cradle of a monarch who made it his boast, that “the
+sun never set upon his dominions.”
+
+With the same fiery independence of their forefathers, the “men of
+Ghent,” resisted the despotism of the Emperor as sturdily as they
+had done the exactions of their Earls and Dukes; and it was after
+quelling one of these insurrections, that Charles, intent on devising
+a punishment for their contumacy, was advised by the Duke of Alva,
+the future Moloch of the Netherlands under Philip II, to raze it to
+its foundations, when Charles replied by pointing to its towers and
+palaces, and asking him in a repetition of his former witticism,
+“combien il croyait qu’il fallait de peaux (_villes_) d’Espagne, pour
+faire un _gant_ de cette grandeur.”
+
+Charles, however, exacted a punishment more humiliating, if not so
+savage as that contemplated by the _bourreau_ of the church, by
+repealing all the charters of the city, dismounting their famous
+bell, Roland, fining the community, and compelling the ringleaders to
+supplicate his mercy in their shirts, with halters round their necks,
+a ceremony which is erroneously said to have been commemorated by the
+magistrates of Ghent continuing to wear the rope, as a part of their
+official costume, and which is still kept alive in the distich which
+enumerates the characteristics of the Flemish cities:--
+
+    Nobilibus Bruxella viris--Antuerpiæ nummis
+    Gandavum laqueis, formosis Brugia puellis
+    Lovanium doctis, gaudet Mechlinia stultis.[15]
+
+With the abdication of Charles V, that most remarkable incident in
+the history of kings, which took place in the church of St. Gudule at
+Brussels, and the accession of Philip II, arose the reign of terror in
+the Netherlands, when Alva and his bloodhounds ravaged Flanders, and
+their successors, for twenty years, rendered her cities abattoirs of
+Europe.
+
+In these events, Ghent took a prominent part, and the siege of her
+citadel, which was garrisoned by the Spaniards, affords the noble
+story of its defence till reduced by famine, when the Flemish, on its
+surrender, discovered that its heroic resistance had been the work of
+a woman, Madame Mondragon, the wife of the commandant, who, in the
+absence of her husband, had assumed his command, and capitulated only
+when hunger and disease had reduced her little garrison to one hundred
+and fifty souls, including herself and her children. Philip, weary of
+the war, and assured of the loss of Holland, which had adopted its
+liberator, the Prince of Orange, as its sovereign, compromised in some
+degree with the Flemish, by separating their country from the crown of
+Spain, and conferring it on his daughter, Isabella, by whose marriage
+with Albert, it became again united to the house of Austria, under
+whose dominion it remained, with the exception of its brief occupation
+by Louis XIV previous to the treaty of Utrecht, till incorporated with
+the French republic in 1794, and subsequently annexed to Holland in
+February 1815.
+
+The streets of Ghent are full of monuments and reminiscences of these
+stormy and singular times. In a small triangular place, called the
+Toad’s-corner (Padden hoek), stood the house of the elder Artevelde
+and the scene of his murder; that which has been erected upon the spot,
+bears an inscription on its front:--“ICI PERIT VICTIME D’UNE FACTION,
+LE XXVII JUILLET MCCCXXXXV, JACQUES VON ARTAVELDE QUI ELEVA LES
+COMMUNES DE FLANDRE A UNE HAUTE PROSPERITÉ.”
+
+In the _Hôtel de Ville_, one of the enormous edifices of the period, in
+Moresco gothic architecture, the celebrated declaration, called “the
+Pacification of Ghent,” by which the states of the Netherlands formed
+their federation to resist the tyrannous bigotry of Philip II, was
+signed by the representatives of Holland and Belgium in 1576.
+
+Close by it stands the belfry from which Charles V directed the removal
+of the pride of the burghers, their ponderous bell _Roland_, which,
+by turns, sounded the tocsin of revolt, or chimed in the carillon of
+loyalty; the tradition says it was of such dimensions as to weigh six
+tons, and was encircled by an inscription:--
+
+    Mynen naem is Roland--als ick clippe dan is’t brandt Al sick luyde,
+    dan is’t _storm in Vlaenderlande_.
+
+    “_When I ring, there is fire; when I toll, there is a tempest in
+    Flanders._”
+
+And many a stormy reveille it must have pealed over the hive of
+turbulent craftsmen who swarmed around its base.
+
+Not far from the belfry, is the Friday market (_Marché de Vendredi_),
+“the forum” of ancient Ghent, where all its municipal ceremonies
+were solemnized, and all its popular assemblies were convened, to
+the tolling of their favourite bell; in which, also, the Counts of
+Flanders took the oath of inauguration, on their accession to the
+sovereignty. It was here that John Lyon convened his guild of watermen,
+and persuaded them to assume the old symbol of revolt, the white hood,
+in order to resist the exactions of Louis le Mael; and it was here
+that John Breydel, another fiery demagogue, marshalled his band of
+“lion’s claws” in 1300, and led them to the “Battle of the Spurs” at
+Courtrai; and it was here that Jacques van Artevelde, at the head of
+his “trades’ union,” was proclaimed Ruwaert of Flanders. It was here
+that the commotions, so quaintly detailed by Froissart, took place
+between the fullers and the weavers, on Black Monday, in 1345, when the
+latter were expelled from Ghent, after leaving fifteen hundred of their
+number dead in the streets; and it was here that, in later times, the
+ferocious Duke of Alva lit the flames of the inquisition, and consumed
+the contumacious protestants of the Low Countries.
+
+In Ghent, almost every great event in the chronicles of the old city
+is, more or less, identified with the Marché de Vendredi. In the centre
+of its square, the citizens, in 1600, erected a column to the memory
+of Charles V, which was levelled by the French republicans in 1794, in
+order to plant the tree of liberty on its foundation.
+
+In a recess of this market-place, stands the wonder of Ghent, “_la
+merveille de Gand_,” an enormous cannon of the fourteenth century, used
+by Philip van Artevelde, at the siege of Audenarde in 1382; but how
+it was ever dragged to the field, or manœuvred in the action, is one
+of the enigmas of ancient warfare, as it is upwards of eighteen feet
+long, ten inches in the diameter of the bore, and weighs thirty-nine
+thousand pounds. It is made of malleable iron, and is mentioned by
+Froissart as discharging balls during the siege, with a report which
+“was heard at five leagues distance by day, and ten by night,” and
+sounded as if “_tous les diables d’enfer fussent en chemin_.” It was
+brought from Audenarde to Ghent, having, I presume, been left upon the
+field by the discomfited Flemings. Its popular soubriquet is “_Dulle
+Greite_,” or Mad Margaret, in compliment to a Countess of Flanders, of
+violent memory, who is still known by the traditional title of “the
+Black Lady,” given to her by her subjects.
+
+These and a thousand similar records and memorials of the olden time,
+render a stroll through the streets of Ghent, one of singular interest
+and amusement; and, perhaps, there is no city of Europe which more
+abounds in these relics of local history, or has preserved so many
+characteristics of manners and customs in keeping with its associations
+of the past.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+GHENT.
+
+    Manufacture of machinery in Ghent--Great works of the
+      Phœnix--Exertions of the King of Holland to promote this branch
+      of art--His success--Policy of England in permitting the export
+      of tools--Effect of their prohibiting the export of machines
+      upon the continental artists--Present state of the manufactures
+      in Belgium--_The Phœnix_, its extent, arrangements and
+      productions--_The canal of Sas de Gand_--_The Beguinage_--Tristam
+      Shandy--The churches of Ghent--Religious animosity of the
+      Roman Catholics--_The cathedral of St. Bavon_--Chef-d’œuvre
+      of Van Eyck--Candelabra of Charles I--Carved pulpit--_Church
+      of St. Michael_--Vandyck’s crucifixion--The The brotherhood
+      of St. Ivoy--Church of St. Sauveur--Singular picture in the
+      church of St. Peter--Dinner at M. Grenier’s--Shooting with the
+      bow--Roads in Belgium--Domestic habits of the Flemings--The
+      Flemish language--_Count d’Hane_--Mansion of the Countess d’Hane
+      de Steenhausen--Gallery of M. Schamps--_The University_ of
+      Ghent--State of primary education in Belgium.
+
+HAVING heard so much in England of the gigantic scale of the
+establishments for the construction of machinery in Belgium, we
+paid a visit this morning to the great _Phœnix Iron works_ at Ghent,
+the largest in the kingdom; (indeed, I may presume, the largest in
+Europe), except those of Seraing near Liege. The surprising progress
+which the Belgians have, within the last few years, made in this
+department, is naturally a subject of the deepest interest in this
+country. Twenty years ago, the manufacturers of the Netherlands were
+altogether dependant upon France and England, for everything except
+the most ordinary pieces of machinery, which were used in the simplest
+processes--but the refusal of Great Britain, to permit its exportation
+upon any terms, naturally left them no alternative, but either to
+abandon their manufactures, or to apply their own ingenuity to the
+construction of machinery for themselves. To the encouragement of the
+latter attempt, the King of Holland, for the fifteen years that Belgium
+was under his protection, applied himself with an energy and zeal, that
+is positively without parallel; patronage, personal exertions, and
+pecuniary assistance, were devoted to the promotion of this important
+object, with an assiduity and perseverance almost incredible; his
+efforts were crowned with perfect success, and even his enemies, are
+forced to admit that the singular developement which has taken place in
+the resources of Belgium, in this important department, are all to be
+ascribed to the untiring energy and exertions of the King of Holland.
+
+His efforts were much facilitated by the relaxation, in the meantime,
+of the policy of England, so far as to permit the free exportation of
+certain machinery, and what was of infinitely greater importance, _of
+the most complex and ingenious tools_ for its construction. The effects
+of the latter measure, in particular, and the impetus which it has
+communicated to the manufacture of machinery, not only in Belgium, but
+in every other country of Europe which aspires to it, is positively
+beyond calculation. It gave, at once, to our continental rivals the
+very arcana of our superiority; tools that are themselves the most
+beautiful and elaborate machines, performing like automatons operations
+that once required all the intelligence as well as all the dexterity
+of an artisan; lathes and planes that grapple with a beam of iron as
+if it were green wood, and shape and polish the most ponderous shafts
+with as much ease as a turner produces an ivory toy.[16] Placing these
+unreservedly in the hands of the engineers of the continent, and,
+at the same time, refusing to let them have the articles which they
+were almost spontaneously to produce, was neither more nor less than
+peremptorily withholding the fruit, but making no compliment whatever
+of sending the tree.
+
+The refusal of Great Britain to concede the whole question has, at all
+times, excited an intense feeling on the continent, and the Belgians
+themselves are amongst the loudest in denouncing this “jealous and
+narrow-minded policy of England;” forgetful that they themselves in
+1814 adopted identically the same course, and prohibited under pain of
+fine and imprisonment the exit of their own machinery or artisans, such
+as they were! Even now, the value of that which England conceded, is
+forgotten in the importance attached to that which she still withholds,
+and even the appearance of mystery connected with the prohibition
+increases its importance in imagination and whets the appetite to
+obtain it. A whimsical illustration of their ideas upon the subject
+occurs in the work of M. Briavionne, who gravely asserts that “the
+manufacturers of Lancashire, impatient to participate in the cares
+of the government upon this point, have submitted to a voluntary tax
+sufficient to organize a perpetual guard, which surrounds Manchester
+night and day to prevent the exit of machinery.”[17]
+
+However, it is notorious that notwithstanding these sleepless
+precautions and in spite of every prohibition, machinery of every
+description is at the present moment smuggled into Belgium, and every
+other state that requires it--not, perhaps, in such quantities as to
+serve for the fitting up of extensive factories, but so as to afford
+a model of every improvement and every new invention for the instant
+adoption, and imitation of the continental engineers and mechanicians.
+Thus provided and thus encouraged, speculating upon capital supplied
+lavishly by their government, equipped with the most valuable English
+tools, inspected by English artisans, and working from English models,
+the Belgians have now far outstripped all the rest of Europe in the
+manufacture of machines of every description, and in all but the cost
+of construction, and that beauty of finish which matured skill can
+alone achieve, they at present bid fair to rival England herself in her
+peculiar and hitherto undisputed domain.
+
+The establishment of the Phœnix, is one of those which have sprung up,
+thus stimulated and thus encouraged. It was originally erected by an
+individual proprietor, M. Huytens Kerremans, in 1821, and attained much
+of its reputation under the management of an Englishman, named Bell,
+so much so, that at the period of the revolution in 1830, it employed
+upwards of two hundred and twenty workmen daily. In 1836, on the death
+of the proprietor, it passed into the hands of a joint stock company,
+by whom it has been enlarged to more than thrice its previous extent,
+at an expense of upwards of one million of francs. It is at present
+conducted by Mr. Windsor, a gentleman from Leeds, and is certainly
+the most admirably arranged establishment of the kind I have ever
+seen--those of England not excepted.
+
+It at present employs seven hundred hands, of whom two hundred are
+apprentices, and of the remainder, between fifty and sixty English. The
+range of its productions includes every species of machine used for
+spinning flax, cotton, silk, or wool, as well as for other manufactures
+in which machinery is required, for which there is a brisk demand
+at present, not only in Belgium, but for Spain, Austria, France and
+Holland. In point of finish and beauty, the spinning machinery is
+certainly, as I have said, inferior to the English, it is also stated
+to be defective in other respects, but those proprietors of mills who
+are using it, made no complaints to me upon the subject, and seemed
+perfectly satisfied with its execution. Some of the heavier articles
+in process of construction, especially a spiral roving-frame which
+some English workmen were completing, seemed, in every respect both of
+finish and action, to be quite equal to those made at Manchester and
+Leeds.
+
+The establishment contains a preparatory workshop on a comprehensive
+scale, fitted up with small tools and machinery, and superintended by
+two competent directors, solely for the instruction of apprentices,
+and its success we were told had been most gratifying. The Englishmen
+employed at the Phœnix receive higher wages than the Flemings, but the
+majority of them are only retained till their original engagements
+shall have been completed, when their services will be dispensed with,
+and their places supplied by native workmen, at wages not exceeding
+twenty francs per week, and fully competent to undertake their duties.
+
+One important feature in this immense manufactory is, that it is
+gradually succeeding in making its own tools, instead of importing
+them as heretofore from England. The majority of those in use had been
+already constructed upon the spot upon English models, and at the
+moment we called, a planing machine, twenty feet long, was in process
+of erection, together with drills, sliding lathes, dividing and filing
+apparatus, and in short, every description of tool in use in Great
+Britain. In this respect, the directors assured me of their confidence
+of being, for the future, perfectly independent of any supply from
+abroad--but I should add, that afterwards at the rival establishment
+at Seraing, where all the tools are imported from England, I was told
+that those made at the Phœnix were not only much more expensive, but of
+inferior quality.
+
+The works were in full employment at the period of our visit, from
+the fact of there being three flax spinning mills in course of
+construction in Ghent; but it remains to be seen whether its present
+vigorous prosperity is the result of a permanent cause, and whether the
+career of Belgian manufactures, and the demand created in consequence,
+will be such as to maintain in remunerative operation this splendid
+establishment, as well as that of Seraing and the minor works of the
+same kind at Brussels, Verviers, Namur, Charleroi and elsewhere.
+
+In the neighbourhood of the Phœnix, we passed the great basin of the
+Sas de Gand Canal, which by connecting Ghent with Terneuse at the
+mouth of the Scheldt, has effectually rendered it a sea-port in the
+heart of Belgium. This bold idea was originally conceived by Napoleon,
+but carried into effect, and the basin completed, by the King of
+Holland only two years before he was driven from the country by the
+revolution. As the embouchure of the canal, however, is situated
+in Zeeland, a province of the Dutch dominions, its navigation was
+effectually closed from 1830 to 1839, when the treaty was ratified,
+which finally determined the limits of the two States. During those
+nine years, the magnificent dock at Ghent, and the line of the canal
+itself, were stagnant, and the passage rapidly filling up with sand and
+silt, another of the many inconveniences entailed upon the merchants of
+Belgium by “the repeal of the union.” It is at last, however, opened
+to the trade, and when we saw it, contained a number of vessels, some
+discharging cotton, and one taking in cargo for the Havanna. During the
+few months that had elapsed from its opening in October, 1839, upwards
+of one hundred and twenty vessels had entered and departed by it from
+Ghent, for Holland, and the Hanse Towns, London, the Mediterranean, and
+the United States.
+
+On our return we drove to the _Beguinage_, a little enclosed district,
+appropriated as the residence of an ancient community of nuns, who take
+no vow, but on contributing to the general funds of the community,
+are admitted into the sisterhood, and devote their lives to works of
+charity and benevolence, especially to attendance on the sick and poor.
+They are each clad in the costume of the order. For a head-dress, they
+carry the _beguine_, a veil of white muslin, folded square, and laid
+flat upon the top of the head, whence they derive their name, with a
+black silk hood, termed a _faille_, said to have been anciently worn
+by the ladies of Flanders, and closely resembling, both in name and
+appearance, the _faldetta_ of the Maltese. This interesting society
+contains between seven and eight hundred members, and occupies not
+a detached building, as elsewhere, but a little retired section of
+the city, surrounded by a fosse, and enclosed by a wall, at the gate
+of which, one of the sisterhood acts as porter. The whole is divided
+into streets, consisting of rows of quaint looking little houses, of
+venerable brick-work, with Dutch gables and cut stone windows, each
+door inscribed with the name of a particular saint, Agatha, Catherine,
+or Theresa, instead of that of its occupant. In the centre is a
+spacious square, with an old Spanish looking church, rather richly
+ornamented, and containing a few curious paintings and carvings in
+oak. The order is of very high antiquity, dating some twelve hundred
+years ago, and the present establishment was founded in the thirteenth
+century.
+
+When the convents of the Low Countries were reduced in number by the
+Austrian government under Joseph II, he made a special exemption in
+favour of the Beguines, they were equally recognized and protected,
+when the French directory completed the suppression of the remaining
+religious houses of Belgium, and the King of Holland following the
+same example, confirmed them, in the possession of their privileges
+and property, by a charter granted in 1826 or 1827. A number of the
+sisters occupy a portion of their time in making lace; their dwellings,
+streets and gardens, are preserved with a “beauty of cleanliness”
+truly delightful. Every thing we could see or learn of their inmates
+was characterized by gentleness and goodness, and their active
+benevolence, (in spite of my uncle Toby’s insinuation,) the dictate of
+their heart, and not of their profession.[18] In the whole aspect of
+their dwelling, there was nothing of the
+
+    “Relentless walls, whose darksome round contains,
+    Repentant sighs and voluntary pains.”
+
+But a cheerful serenity, and an enlivening interest, very different
+from the ideas usually associated with the gloom of a convent.
+
+The churches of Ghent in which, as usual, the grand objects of
+curiosity and vertu are amassed and exhibited, are in point of
+number, richness, and sombre beauty, quite proportionate to the other
+attractions of Ghent. They are all, (with one exception, that of
+St. Peter’s, which is a copy of the one at Rome,) built in the same
+venerable and massive style of gothic architecture, with huge square
+turrets, lofty aisles, rich altars, pulpits of carved oak and marble,
+and chapels decorated with paintings by the old masters of the Flemish
+School. The population is almost exclusively Roman Catholic, hardly
+2000 of its 95,000 inhabitants being of the reformed religion. For the
+use of the latter, a church was appropriated by the King of Holland,
+in 1817, which had once been attached to a convent of Capuchins, and
+on their suppression, had been converted into a military magazine
+and hospital by the French. Such, however, was the animosity of the
+priesthood to this act of toleration on the part of the King, that it
+was for some time necessary to station a guard, both within the church
+and without, to protect those who frequented it from violence or
+insult. And yet Ghent has the reputation of being the least intolerant
+and bigoted city in the Netherlands.
+
+The cathedral of St. Bavon, besides being the oldest, is by far
+the most magnificent in Ghent, and seems, in fact, to have a high
+reputation for its splendour, as we repeatedly heard of it at
+subsequent points of our tour. The whole of the basement is occupied
+by one vast crypt or _souterrain_, the low vaulted arches of which,
+rest on the shafts of the huge columns which support the roof of the
+grand edifice above. Like it, it is divided into a series of little
+gloomy chapels, containing the tombs of some of the ancient families
+of distinction, and occasionally decorated by pictures and statues of
+extreme antiquity. The brothers John and Hubert Van Eyck, the painters
+and their sister, who was likewise an artist, sleep in one grave under
+the floor of this melancholy vault. Over the grand entrance to the
+cathedral is a curious old statue of St. Bavon holding a hawk upon his
+wrist, a curious attitude, though characteristic of the manners of the
+times. The coup-d’œil of the interior is surprisingly grand, the choir
+being separated from the nave and aisles by lofty columns of variegated
+marbles, and the entrance to each of the four and twenty chapels which
+surround the church, covered by a screen of neat design, sometimes in
+carved oak or stone, but more frequently in gilded brass or iron of
+exquisite workmanship.
+
+The numerous paintings with which the church is covered are few of them
+of extraordinary merit, they are chiefly by the artists, contemporary
+and subsequent to Rubens, Crayer, Otto Vennius, Honthorst, Serghers
+and others. The most remarkable painting is that of the Saint Agneau
+or adoration of the lamb by the Van Eycks. It is in marvellous
+preservation, and is one of the most valuable specimens remaining of
+the school to which it belongs. It contains a profusion of figures,
+finished with the richness and delicacy of a miniature, and represents
+the lamb upon an altar, in the midst of a rich landscape, surrounded
+by angels, and worshipped by multitudes of popes, emperors, monks and
+nuns. It is surmounted and surrounded by a number of compartments,
+containing pictures of the Saviour and the Virgin, and representing
+divers incidents in the life of the former; in addition to these,
+there were originally six doors or _volets_ to the picture, which, by
+some ignorance of the persons in charge of them, were actually sold in
+1816 for a mere trifle to an Englishman called Solly, from whom they
+were bought by the King of Prussia, for 400,000 francs, and they now
+decorate the museum at Berlin. There is also a picture by Rubens, of
+St. Bavon retiring to a monastery, after having distributed his goods
+to the poor, which was carried by Napoleon to Paris, and restored in
+1819.
+
+The choir, which is finished with carved mahogany, has on either
+side, at the entrance, two statues of St. Peter and St. Paul casting
+the viper from his hand, by Van Poucke, a modern Flemish sculptor,
+who died at Rome in 1809. Among its other ornaments are four lofty
+candelabra of polished copper, once the property of Charles I of
+England, and sold along with the other decorations of the chapel at
+Whitehall by order of the Commonwealth. Round the altar are also some
+tombs of the former prelates of Ghent, amongst which, that by Duquesnoy
+of the Bishop Triest, is regarded as the finest piece of sculpture in
+the Netherlands. The mitred dignitaries each repose upon his sculptured
+sarcophagus, or kneel with clasped and upraised hands:
+
+    “Seeming to say the prayer when dead,
+    That living they had never said.”
+
+Here, again, the pulpit is an extraordinary production in carved
+wood of huge dimensions, but with white marble ornaments and figures
+injudiciously intermingled with the rich old oak. The principal
+figures are statues of Truth awakening Time, and presenting to him
+the scriptures with the motto, “_surge qui dormis illuminabit te
+Christus!_” This pulpit, which is far inferior to those at Antwerp and
+elsewhere, is not by Verbruggen, who is the Canova of wood, but by an
+artist of Ghent, called Laurence Delvaux, who died about 1780.
+
+The other churches present a succession of objects which is almost as
+tiresome to visit as it is tedious to enumerate. That of St. Michael,
+in extent and magnificence, is second only to the cathedral. Amongst a
+host of ordinary paintings, and some by modern artists, especially one
+of great merit, by Paelinck, a native of Ghent, it possesses a chef
+d’œuvre of Vandyk, a “Crucifixion,” in which he has introduced the
+same magnificent horse as in his picture of Charles V, in the Sal di
+Baroccio, at Florence. Sir Joshua Reynolds calls it “one of his noblest
+works.” It had been injured by repeated cleanings, but M. Voisin, the
+historian of Ghent, observes with much naïveté, “qu’il vient d’être
+restauré par un artiste habile.” Who he may be who has ventured to
+restore a chef-d’œuvre of Vandyck, M. Voisin discreetly forbears to
+name.
+
+An association, called the Brotherhood of St. Ivoy, formerly met in
+this church, which was composed of the most distinguished members of
+the bar, who gave advice to the poor, and bore the expense of any
+legal process which it might be necessary to institute for them out
+of a common fund. This law hospital has not, however, survived the
+revolution of 1830. The music and choir of St. Michael’s are remarkably
+fine, the organ is of extraordinary richness and volume, and nothing
+could possibly be more sublime than its melodious tones resounding
+amidst the “dim religious light” of the old gothic church, when
+
+    “Through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault,
+    The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.”
+
+In the church of St. Sauveur, Rue des Prêtres, there is a painting
+of the “Descent from the Cross,” by Van Hanslaere, one of the most
+distinguished living artists of Belgium, and in that of St. Peter, a
+copy by Van Thulden, from Rubens’ picture of the Triumph of Truth over
+Luther and Calvin, who are represented in the agonies of annihilation,
+trampled underfoot by the rampant followers of Truth, who are pursuing
+their disciples in all directions. In the foreground, a lion is
+introduced allegorically, pawing a wolf whom he has just strangled,
+emblematic, no doubt, of the fall of heresy under the hands of the
+church.
+
+We drove to the village of Gavre, about ten miles from Ghent, to dine
+at the villa of M. Grenier, a very splendid house recently erected upon
+one of the very few elevated points, for it cannot be called a hill,
+which are to be found in Flanders, and which, from the vast level plain
+over which it rises, commands a most enchanting view; the ancient town
+of Audenarde lying immediately in front, and the “lazy Scheldt” winding
+its devious way amidst innumerable hamlets, woods and villages as far
+as the eye could reach.
+
+It was at Gavre, that the Duke of Marlborough encamped on his triumphal
+march from Ramillies, where, after taking all the intervening cities
+and strong-holds of Flanders, together with Audenarde and Ghent,
+almost in the space of a week, he addresses thence to the Duchess the
+remarkable letter, in which he says, “so many towns have submitted
+since the battle, that it really looks more like a dream than truth,”
+and in another place, he says, “I am so persuaded that this campaign
+will give us a good peace, that I beg of you to do all you can that our
+house at Woodstock may be carried up as much as possible, that I may
+have a prospect of living in it.”
+
+It was the fête of some saint in the villages through which we drove,
+and every country inn seemed full of enjoyment; tents filled with
+dancers, and parties engaged in athletic games before the doors. In
+one place a considerable crowd were assembled round the maypole to
+shoot with the bow at the popinjay. This is a favourite exercise of
+the Flemings, who are exceedingly expert in it, the company which
+we passed, was composed indifferently of the gentry and peasants,
+who seemed to enter into it with equal spirit. At Ghent, there is an
+association for the purpose of practising the use of the bow, called
+the Confrères de Saint George, a relic of the time when every district
+of Flanders had a similar society, all which used to meet at Ghent to
+contend for the prize, and the successful town caused a mass to be
+celebrated in honour of the victor, and gave to the poor the scarlet
+cloaks, laced with gold, which had been worn as the costume of the day.
+
+The roads through this part of Belgium are made like those of France,
+with a raised pavé in the centre only, a custom enforced, in a great
+part, by the great expense of bringing stones from a distance for their
+construction, scarcely any being to be found in Flanders or the west.
+The bye-roads being all across sand, unconsolidated in any way, are all
+but impassable.
+
+The Belgian hour for dinner is equally early with that of the
+tables-d’hôte, being from two to three or four o’clock, and as there
+is no prolonged sitting for wine afterwards, the entertainment ends
+before we in England think of dressing for dinner. The cuisine at
+M. Grenier’s was altogether French, including, however, some dishes
+peculiarly Flemish, amongst others, the large smoked ham, which is an
+invariable accompaniment at every table throughout Belgium, and seems
+to be in as high estimation now, as when Rome was supplied with them
+by the ancient Menapii of the Ardennes; it comes to table decorated by
+a chased silver handle screwed on to the shank bone, to avoid using
+the fork in carving it. Another national dish was the _hareng frais_,
+herring pickled like anchovies, and used like them without further
+cooking: it is, however, equally common in Holland, where the fishery
+is of high importance--in Belgium it is rapidly declining.
+
+The style of everything in M. Grenier’s establishment, and in those of
+the same rank where we had the honour to visit, was essentially French,
+his family having been educated in Paris, and the conversation was
+of course in French, although every one at table seemed to understand
+English perfectly. Flemish is spoken only by the peasantry and the
+working classes. The account given of it as a dialect was, that “Dutch
+is bad German, and Flemish bad Dutch.” It is, however, by no means
+inharmonious, and in point of antiquity, I was told by Count d’Hane,
+that the earliest printed comedy in Europe still exists in Flemish. A
+stroll in the grounds after dinner, and music and singing on our return
+to the drawing-room concluded an exceedingly agreeable evening, and we
+returned early to Ghent.
+
+  10 September, 1840.
+
+We had, this morning, a visit from Count d’Hane, a member of the
+“senate,” the elective House of Peers for Belgium, to which he is
+returned for the district of Alost. The Count is a younger brother of
+the most distinguished family of Ghent, and head of the educational
+section of the legislature, besides being an ardent amateur of
+agriculture. He is married to the only daughter of M. de Potter (not
+the de Potter of the Revolution, however) and in conformity to the
+Flemish usage, has appended the name of that family to his own. We
+drove along with him to the house of his mother, the Dowager Countess
+d’Hane de Steenhausen, in the Rue des Champs, the most splendid
+mansion in the city, built in the style of Louis XIV, and containing a
+collection of choice pictures of the Dutch school. The dining-room is a
+superb saloon with mirrored walls, an inlaid parquet and richly painted
+ceiling: the latter, however, is torn down in many places, the soldiers
+of the French revolutionary army having thrust their sabres through it
+in 1794, in the hope of finding gold concealed between it and the floor
+above, an outrage, the traces of which the owners have never removed.
+It was in these apartments that the late Count received the Emperor
+Alexander on his return from England after the Peace of Paris, and the
+same suite of rooms were subsequently the residence of Louis XVIII,
+who fled hither during the Hundred Days, and remained till the events
+of 1815, restored him to his throne.
+
+A few doors distant in the same street, we visited the gallery of M.
+Schamps which had long been regarded as one of the lions of Ghent. It
+has since been dispersed and sold. When we saw it, it was numbered and
+catalogued, and the rooms filled with dealers from all parts of Europe,
+inspecting their intended purchases previous to the auction, which was
+to take place a few days after. The gentleman by whom it was originally
+collected is but recently dead, and its dispersion now was attributed,
+we were told, partly to impatience of the present proprietor, at having
+his retirement perpetually invaded by travellers to see his pictures,
+and partly by the operation of the law against primogeniture, which
+rendered its sale indispensable, in order to a more equal partition of
+the family estates.
+
+Count d’Hane did us the favour to conduct us over the buildings of the
+University, one of the many valuable institutions for which Belgium
+is indebted to the munificence of the King of Holland. It was founded
+by him in 1816, and thrown open for the reception of students in 1826;
+an inscription upon the portico records the event, _Auspice Gulielmo
+I. Acad. Conditore, posuit, S. P. Q. G._ DCCCXXVI. the initials in the
+usual magniloquence of the low countries, represent the Senatus Populus
+Que Gandavensis!
+
+The buildings from a design of Roelandt, an artist of Nieuport, are
+in a style of chaste Corinthian architecture, the portico ornamented
+with sculpture in alto relievo, the vestibule superbly flagged in a
+mosaic of colored marbles, and the hall and staircase ornamented with
+busts and caryatides in white marble. The theatres are on a magnificent
+scale, richly furnished and lighted by lofty lanterns in the vaults
+of the roof. The course of education, besides most extensive primary
+schools, comprises the faculties of law, medicine and divinity, with
+science and belles-lettres, and the number of students is between 300
+and 400 attending the classes of thirty professors. There is attached
+to the University a library of sixty thousand volumes, a collection of
+philosophical apparatus of great value, and museums of antiquities,
+natural history, mineralogy and comparative anatomy, and the whole
+institution having been recently remodelled and placed under the care
+of a vigilant and anxious committee, it promises to be one of the most
+important and beneficial foundations in the kingdom.
+
+The entire system of primary education, however, is in anything but a
+satisfactory position in Belgium. Under the regence of Holland, the
+Dutch system of rational education was imparted to Belgium. Schools
+were established in every district, under the superintendance of
+provincial committees, instruction was supplied gratuitously, and the
+children of the poor were required to avail themselves of it, whilst
+to secure its efficiency, no teacher was allowed to be employed who
+had not undergone a thorough examination, and been furnished with a
+diploma of competency.
+
+This feature of the government was from the first vehemently opposed
+by the Belgian clergy, who saw in it an encroachment upon the right
+claimed by the Catholic Church to regulate the quantity as well as the
+quality of national education, and when in 1830, they succeeded in
+effecting the “repeal of the Union,” between the two countries, the
+entire system was abolished at one fell swoop.[19]
+
+Education, like every thing else, was declared to be free, and the new
+government did away with all official supervision of schools, and the
+necessity for any enquiry into the competency of teachers. The result
+of this has been, that although the number of schools has not been
+diminished, the nature of the instruction and the qualification of the
+teacher, is of so very low a description, as to be thus characterised
+in a modern work upon the subject, by M. Ducpétiaux,[20] himself, a
+distinguished Belgian, and intimately acquainted with the subject.
+
+“Instruction in our schools is generally faulty and incomplete, and
+little merits the praise which has been bestowed upon it. _The best
+thing that can be said in its favour is, that it is better than no
+instruction at all_, and that it is more satisfactory to see children
+sitting on the benches of a school, even although they be doing nothing
+to the purpose, than to behold them working mischief on the streets.
+They are taught to read, write, and figure a little; _to teach them
+less is scarcely possible_. We speak here of primary schools in
+general, and affirm that those who attribute a moralising influence to
+the majority of these schools, deceive themselves in a manner the most
+strange and prejudicial to the interest of the class whose children
+are the pupils in these seminaries. A degree of instruction so limited,
+so meagre, is nearly equivalent to none whatever; and it is impossible
+that things should be in a better case, seeing that the education of
+the _teachers_ themselves is of the most imperfect kind. Barely do
+these persons know the little which they undertake to impart, and they
+have, generally speaking, the most superficial notions of those methods
+of instilling knowledge, which they impudently attempt to apply in the
+case of those only a little more ignorant than themselves.”
+
+The experiment of education on both systems has now had an ample trial
+in Belgium; first in fifteen years of government protection, and
+now in ten years of “free trade.” The result has been a convincing
+failure, and those most clamorous for the latter system in 1830, are
+now the most urgent in their demands to revert to the former. The
+provincial deputations, in their reports, recommend the same course,
+and the legislature have so far subscribed to their views, as to
+propose a projet de loi for carrying them into effect, by restoring a
+modification of the system, as before the revolution.
+
+We dined with Count d’Hane at three o’clock in the afternoon, and as
+usual, the party broke up between seven and eight o’clock.
+
+    NOTE.--As the comparative cost of machinery in Belgium, and in
+    England, is a matter of much interest at the present moment, a
+    list of the prices of that manufactured at Ghent, with the English
+    charges for the same articles, contrasted with each item, will be
+    found in the Appendix No. I.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+GHENT AND COURTRAI.
+
+    The market-day at Ghent--The peasants--The linen-market--The
+      Book-stalls--_Courtrai_--The Lys--_Denys_--Distillation in
+      Belgium--AGRICULTURE IN FLANDERS--A Flemish farm--Anecdote of
+      Chaptal and Napoleon--Trade in manure--_The Smoor-Hoop_--Rotation
+      of crops--CULTIVATION OF FLAX--Real importance of the crop in
+      Belgium--Disadvantageous position of Great Britain as regards
+      the growth of flax--State of her importations from abroad and
+      her dependency upon Belgium--In the power of Great Britain
+      to relieve herself effectually--System in Flanders--_The
+      seed_--Singular fact as to the Dutch seed--Rotation of
+      crops--Spade labour--Extraordinary care and precaution in
+      _weeding_--_Pulling_--THE ROUISSAGE--In Hainault--In the Pays
+      de Waes--At Courtrai--The process in Holland--The process in
+      the Lys--_A Bleach-green_--The damask manufacture in Belgium--A
+      manufactory in a windmill--Introduction of the use of _sabots_
+      into Ireland--_Courtrai_, the town--Antiquities--The Church
+      of Notre Dame--Relic of Thomas à Becket--THE MAISON DE FORCE
+      AT GHENT--The System of prison discipline--Labour of the
+      inmates--Their earnings--Remarkable story of Pierre Joseph
+      Soëte--Melancholy case of an English prisoner--_A sugar
+      refinery_--State of the trade in Belgium--Curious frauds
+      committed under the recent law--_Beet-root sugar_--Failure of the
+      manufacture--A tumult at Ghent--_The New Theatre_--Cultivation
+      of music at Ghent--Print works of M. Desmet de Naeyer--Effects
+      of the Revolution of 1830 upon the manufactures of
+      Belgium--Opposition of Ghent and Antwerp to a separation from
+      Holland--M. Briavionne’s exposé of the ruin of the trade in
+      calico printing--Smuggling across the frontiers--Present
+      discontents at Ghent--Number of insolvents in 1839--General
+      decline of her manufactures.
+
+This being the market day for linen, we went early to the Marché de
+Vendredi where it is held. The winter, however, is the season in which
+the market is seen to the greatest advantage, as the farmers are not
+then prevented by their agricultural employments from attending to the
+weaving, and bringing of it to town for sale in December and January;
+so many as 2000 pieces have been sold in the course of a morning. The
+appearance of the peasantry was particularly prepossessing, their
+features handsome, their dress and person neat in the extreme; the
+women generally wearing long cloaks, made of printed calico, and the
+men the blouse of blue linen, which has become almost the national
+costume of Belgium.
+
+The sellers of linen were arranged in long lines, each with his webs
+before him resting on a low bench, whilst the police were present to
+preserve order, and see that every individual kept his allotted place.
+The webs had all previously been examined by a public officer, who
+affixed his seal to each, not as any mark of its quality or guide to
+its price, but merely to testify that it was not fraudulently made
+up--that it was of the same quality throughout as on the outer, fold,
+and that the quantity was exactly what it professed to be; any fraud
+attempted, in any particular, exposing the offender to the seizure and
+forfeiture of the web.[21]
+
+The other articles for sale in the market were vegetables and fruit
+of the ordinary kinds, (with a profusion of Mirabelle plums, the trees
+of which we saw, repeatedly, planted in hedge-rows), woollen cloth,
+cutlery, household furniture, and pottery of a very rude description,
+together with numerous stalls of books. The latter were chiefly
+religious, but amongst the others were a number of the old popular
+histories, which seem to be equally favourites in England and Flanders,
+such as “_Reynaert den Vos_;”--“_de schoone historie van Fortunatus
+borsen_;”--“_de schoone historie van den edelen Jan van Parys_;”--“_de
+Twee gebroders en vroome riddens Valentyn en Oursen den Wilden
+men_;”--“_Recretiven Droomboek_.” &c., &c.
+
+After breakfast we went by the railroad to Courtrai, a distance
+which the train accomplishes in a little more than two hours. My
+object, in the excursion, was to see the process, which is peculiar
+to this district, of steeping flax in the running waters of the
+Lys. This river, which rises in the Pays de Calais, and forms one
+of the boundaries between France and Belgium, derives its name, in
+all probability, from the quantity of water-lilies which flourish
+in its sluggish current, and which are said to be the origin of the
+fleur-de-lys in the royal arms of France. The road passes through
+Denys, Waereghem and Haerlebeke, three towns which are the chief
+in Communes of the same name, and are all bustling little places,
+combining with agricultural industry, a considerable trade in linen
+which is the great staple of the district. At Denys, there are also
+extensive distilleries of Geneva which enjoys a considerable reputation
+in Belgium, where the spirit produced by distillation is invariably
+bad, except in the provinces of Limbourg and Luxembourg, where it
+approaches somewhat to the character of the Dutch. This remarkable
+difference between the produce of two countries, so similar in almost
+all their resources for the manufacture, is, perhaps, to be found in
+the almost total absence of any duty of excise upon distillation, which
+it was found essential to reduce to a mere nominal sum since 1830, in
+order to protect the agriculture of Belgium, and which, consequently,
+brought the trade into the hands of the very lowest class, both of
+distillers and consumers.
+
+The entire surface of the country, between Ghent and Courtrai, is one
+unbroken plain, which, though less rich and luxuriant than the alluvial
+soils of Holland and of England, exhibits, in all directions, the most
+astonishing evidence of that superiority in agricultural science for
+which the Flemings are renowned over Europe. The natural reluctance
+of their thin and sandy soil has been overcome by dint of the most
+untiring labour--an attention to manuring, which approaches to the
+ludicrous in its details, and, above all, by a system of rotation, the
+most profoundly calculated and the most eminently successful.
+
+The general aspect of a Flemish farm; the absence of hedge-rows, or,
+where they are to be found, their elaborate training and inter-texture,
+so as to present merely a narrow vegetating surface of some two or
+three feet high, and twice as many inches in thickness; the minute
+division of their fields into squares, all bearing different crops, but
+performing the same circle of rotation, and the total disappearance of
+all weeds or plants, other than those sought to be raised; all these
+show the practical and laborious experience, by which they have reduced
+their science to its present system, and the indomitable industry
+by which, almost inch by inch, these vast and arid plains have been
+converted from blowing sands into blooming gardens. Here draining
+and irrigation are each seen in their highest perfection, owing to
+the frequent intersection of canals; whilst the same circumstance,
+affording the best facilities for the transport of manure, has been one
+of the most active promoters of farming improvement. Chaptal relates,
+that having traversed one of the sandy plains of Flanders in company
+with Napoleon, the Emperor, on his return to Paris, adverted to the
+circumstance of its gloomy barrenness with an expression of surprise
+as well as regret, when the practical philosopher suggested, that the
+construction of a canal across it would, within five years, convert the
+unproductive waste into luxuriant farms. The experiment was tried, and
+proved triumphantly successful. The canal was opened, and in less than
+the time predicted, the results anticipated were more than realized in
+its effects.
+
+To fix the flying sands of Belgium, the main and permanent expedient
+has been the application of manures; the preparation and care of this
+important ingredient has been, in Flanders, reduced to an actual trade,
+and barges innumerable are in constant transit on the canals, conveying
+it from its depôts and manufactories in the villages and towns to the
+rural districts, where it is to be applied. Servants, as a perquisite,
+are allowed a price for all the materials serviceable for preparing
+it, which they can collect in the house and farm-yards, and the value
+of which often amounts to as much as their nominal wages. Pits and
+a tank, called a _smoor-hoop_, or smothering heap, are attached to
+every farm, and tended with a systematic care that bespeaks the
+importance of their contents. Into these, every fermentable fluid is
+discharged, and mixed with the refuse of vegetables; the rape-cake,
+which remains after expressing the oil, wood-ashes, soaper’s waste,
+grains from distilleries, weeds from the drains, and, in short, every
+other convertible article collected in the establishment; and often,
+in addition, plants such as broom are sown in the lands, expressly
+for the purpose of being ploughed in when green to increase their
+fertility, or to be cut for fermentation in the _smoor-hoop_. This
+latter is constructed with bricks, like a tan-pit, and covered with
+cement to avoid escape or filtration; and its contents, at the larger
+establishments, are sold to the farmers at from three to five francs a
+hogshead, in proportion to the quality.
+
+The circle of rotation is observed with equal precision and scientific
+skill, and generally consists of four or five crops and a clean fallow,
+but varies, of course, according to the nature of the soil and the
+articles in demand. The season was too advanced for us to see the
+majority of the crops upon the ground, the grain being mostly housed;
+but those which were still in the field were of the most luxuriant
+quality. Pasturage, there was comparatively little; but clover, the
+chef-d’œuvre of Flemish husbandry, whence it was introduced into
+England, we saw in high perfection. Some plants which are not usual
+in Great Britain were to be seen in great abundance; large fields
+of tobacco, hemp, colza or rape-seed, which is largely sown for
+crushing, buck-wheat or _sarrasin_, (probably another importation of
+the Crusaders) from which they make a rich and nutritious bread. Beans
+and feeding crops, especially carrots, which the sandy lands produce
+luxuriantly, and turnips, appeared to be favourites especially near the
+villages.
+
+But the important article, and that which I was most desirous to see,
+was the _flax_, which, however, had been almost all pulled before
+my visit, so that I could only see the _rouissage_ or process of
+watering--which, in the district around Courtrai, is performed in a
+manner almost peculiar to themselves; indeed, I may say altogether
+so, so far as success is concerned; for although the same practice
+prevails in the Department du Nord, in France, in the vicinity of St.
+Amand and Valenciennes, it is with a much less satisfactory result: and
+in Russia, where it is practised to some extent, the flax produced is,
+in every way, of inferior quality. It seems, in fact, to be a question
+whether, in addition to the slow and deep current of the Lys, and its
+remarkable freedom from all impurity, it be not possessed of some
+peculiar chemical qualities, which account for its efficiency for this
+purpose, whilst identically the same process utterly fails in other
+streams with no perceptible difference in the quality of their waters.
+
+It is impossible to over estimate the importance to Great Britain of
+such an immediate improvement in the process of flax cultivation at
+home, as will place her on an equality with her rivals abroad. At
+present, it is an incontrovertible and uneasy fact, that with her trade
+in yarn and linen hourly encreasing, she is in the same proportion
+becoming more and more dependant upon foreign countries for the supply
+of the raw material. The cultivation of flax in England, is, in all
+probability, diminishing in amount, whilst year after year, our imports
+from Holland, Belgium and Prussia, are rising in a remarkable manner.
+Only look to the following facts. The great increase in our manufacture
+of linen yarn, both in England, Scotland and Ireland has taken place,
+since the year 1820; we then imported largely from the continent, and
+spun only for our own weavers at home, we have since then ceased to
+import yarn spun by machinery altogether, except a very small portion
+of the very finest for cambrics; and actually export to France, and
+elsewhere, to the value of £746,000 per annum. Our exports of British
+and Irish linen have increased in the mean time, from 36,522,333 yards
+in 1820, to 60,954,697 in 1833, and 77,195,894 yards in 1838, and what
+has been the case as regards the importation of flax? The import duty
+upon foreign flax, both dressed and undressed, was at the commencement
+of this period, £10. 14_s._ 6_d._ per cwt.; as our manufacture
+increased, and our home supply fell short, that duty was, in 1825,
+reduced to _four pence_; when the import increased from 376,170 cwt.
+to 1,018,837 cwt. In the year following, the necessity still becoming
+more pressing, and no relief arising from home, it was further reduced
+to _three pence_; the year following to _two pence_, and in 1828 to
+_one penny_. The importation, all this time, has been going on steadily
+increasing, showing an average on the five years, from 1830 to 1835,
+of 751,331 cwt., and amounting, by the last printed returns of the
+House of Commons, for 1838, to 1,626,276 cwt.[22] It is manifest, that
+a trade so valuable to us as our linen manufacture, can never be said
+to be safe, so long as we are thus dependant for the very means of its
+support upon those whose manifest advantage it is to destroy it.
+
+In order to remedy this evil, it seems to me, to require only a
+vigorous exertion on behalf of our own farmers, and those whose
+direct interest it is to give them encouragement to lead to such an
+improvement in our process of cultivation and dressing, as would
+speedily render our flax of equal quality with that of our rivals in
+the Low Countries; we may thus safely rely on its augmented value
+in the market, to ensure its production in sufficient quantity to
+meet our demands, and relieve us altogether from a dependance upon
+foreigners. For the landed proprietor and the farmer, not less than
+the manufacturer, there is a mine of unwrought wealth to be secured in
+this important article, and my earnestness upon this point arises from
+the fact that from all I have seen myself, or can possibly learn from
+others, the field is equally open to England as to the Netherlands--she
+obtains the seed from the same quarter, her soil and her climate are
+equally suitable; the plant up to a certain stage, is as healthy and
+promising with us, as with them, but there the parallel ceases, and
+in all the subsequent processes, the superior system of the Belgian
+gives him a golden advantage over us. Still notwithstanding all our
+disadvantages, Irish flax, for the strong articles, to which alone it
+is suited, produces a firmer, and in every respect, a better thread
+than Flemish or Dutch of the same character.
+
+One source of superiority which the farmer of Holland and the
+Netherlands enjoys, is derived from the fact of his _saving the seed_
+of his own flax. In the first instance, he imports, as we do from Riga,
+seed which yields a strong and robust plant, during the first year;
+its produce is then preserved and sown a second time, when it becomes
+more delicate in its texture, and the seed then obtained, is _never
+parted with_ by the farmer, but produces the finest and most valuable
+plant. As this, however, in time deteriorates, it is necessary to keep
+up a constant succession by annual importation of northern seed, which
+in turn become acclimated, refined, and are superseded by the next in
+rotation. The sagacious Hollander thus obtains for himself a seed for
+his own peculiar uses, of twice the value of any which he exports; an
+advantage of which England cannot expect to avail herself, till the
+process of saving the flax-seed for herself, becomes more generally
+introduced, instead of annually importing upwards of 3,300,000 bushels,
+as we do at present.
+
+In Flanders, where the cultivation is so all important, the _rotation_
+of all other crops, is regulated with ultimate reference to the flax,
+which comes into the circle only once in seven years, and in some
+instances, once in nine, whilst, as it approaches the period for saving
+it, each antecedent crop is put in with a double portion of manure. For
+itself, the preparation is most studiously and scrupulously minute, the
+ground is prepared rather like a flower-bed than a field, and _spade
+labour_ always preferred to the coarser and less minute operation of
+the plough, every film of a weed is carefully uprooted, and the earth
+abundantly supplied, generally with liquid manure, fermented with rape
+cake. The seed is then sown remarkably _thick_, so that the plants may
+not only support one another, but struggling upwards to the light,
+may throw out few branches, and rise into a taller and more delicate
+stem. The _weeding_ is done, whilst the plant is still so tender and
+elastic as that it may rise again readily after the operation, and it
+is a remarkable illustration of the studied tenderness with which the
+cultivation is watched, that the women and children who are employed to
+weed it, are generally instructed to do so against the wind, in order
+that the breeze may lift the stems as soon as they have left them,
+instead of allowing them to grow crooked, by lying too long upon the
+ground. Again, in order to give it a healthy support during its growth,
+_stakes_ are driven into the ground at equal distances, from the top of
+which, cords, or thin rods are extended, dividing the field into minute
+squares, and thus preventing the plants from being laid down by any but
+a very severe wind.
+
+The time of _pulling_ depends upon whether the farmer places most
+value upon the seed or the fibre of the particular field. If the
+former, he must wait till the plant is thoroughly ripe, its capsules
+hard, its leaves fallen, and its stem yellow; but in this case, the
+stalk is woody and the fibre coarse and hard; whereas, if the fineness
+of the fibre be the first object, it is pulled whilst the stalk is
+still green and tender, and before the fruit has come to maturity. At
+Courtrai and its vicinity, the flax when severed from the ground, after
+being carefully sunned and dried, is stored for twelvemonths before it
+is submitted to the process of watering. In the Pays de Waes, however,
+this practice does not obtain, the steeping taking place immediately on
+its being pulled, and I find the inclination of opinion to be in favour
+of the latter mode, as the former is said to render the flax harsh and
+discolored, whilst that immersed at once is soft and silky, and of a
+delicate and uniform tint.
+
+It is remarkable that although the process of _rouissage_ or watering
+is felt to be one of the utmost nicety and importance, the ultimate
+value of the flax being mainly dependent upon it, no uniform system
+prevails throughout the various provinces of Belgium. In Hainault and
+around Namur, where an impression is held that the effluvia of the
+flax, whilst undergoing the _rouissage_, is injurious to health, it is
+interdicted by the police, and it is consequently dew-riped, simply
+by spreading it upon the grass, and turning it from time to time,
+till the mucilaginous matter, by which the fibre is retained around
+the stem, is sufficiently decomposed to permit of its being readily
+separated from the wood. In the Pays de Waes, the flax is steeped in
+still water as in Ireland, except that in the latter country, a small
+stream is contrived, if possible, to pass in and out of the pit during
+the process.[23] The system of the Pays de Waes is that which has
+met with the most decided approbation in Belgium; it is recommended
+officially to the farmers in the instructions published by the Société
+Linière, an association instituted for the purpose of promoting the
+cultivation of flax, and its various manufactures.[24] The system at
+Courtrai, consists in immersing the flax, after being dried and stored
+for twelvemonths, in the running water of the Lys; an operation, which
+in their hands, is performed with the utmost nicety and precision, and
+for which it is so renowned that the crops for many miles, even so far
+as Tournai, are sent to the Lys to undergo the _rouissage_.
+
+The flax, tied up in small bundles, is placed perpendicularly in wooden
+frames of from twelve to fifteen feet square, and being launched into
+the river, straw and clean stones are laid upon it till it sinks just
+so far below the surface of the stream as to leave a current both
+above and below it, which carries away all impurities, and keeps the
+fibre clean and sweet during the period of immersion. This continues
+for seven or eight days, according to the heat of the weather and the
+temperature of the water, and so soon as the requisite change has taken
+place in the plant, the frames are hauled on shore, and the flax spread
+out upon the grass to sun and dry it previously to its being removed to
+undergo the further processes. The _rouissage_ at Courtrai is usually
+performed in May, and again in the months of August and September;
+after which the flax merchants of Brabant and the north send their
+agents amongst the farmers, who purchase from house to house, and, on
+a certain day, attend at the chief town of the district to receive the
+“deliveries,” when the qualities of the crop and the average prices are
+ascertained and promulgated for the guidance of the trade.
+
+From the flax grounds which lie close by Courtrai, on the right bank of
+the Lys, we crossed the river to the bleach-green on the opposite side
+of the river, and if we might judge from the extent of the buildings,
+which were not larger than a good barn, the process must be a very
+simple one in Flanders, or the employment very limited at Courtrai. The
+most important establishments of this kind, however, are at Antwerp,
+Brussels and Tournai.
+
+The cloth on the grass was principally diaper made on the spot and at
+Ypres (whence it derives its name, _d’Ypres_,) but it was coarse, and
+the designs ordinary and inartificial. The manufacture of the article
+in which Belgium formerly excelled so much as to supply the imperial
+household during the reign of Napoleon, was ruined by his fall and
+the breaking up of the continental system. At one time not less than
+3000 workmen were employed in this branch alone, but the separation
+of Belgium from France in 1815, and the simultaneous imposition of
+an almost prohibitory duty on her damask has reduced the trade to a
+mere cypher, not above three hundred workmen being now employed at
+Courtrai, the great seat of the manufacture.
+
+Close by the bleach-green, we entered a windmill for grinding bark, and
+at a short distance from it, another of the same primitive edifices
+was at full work, crushing rape oil. I never saw such a miniature
+manufactory--in one little apartment, about ten feet square, the entire
+process was carried on to the extent of a ton of seed, yielding about
+thirty-six gallons of oil per day. In one corner, the seed was being
+ground between a pair of mill-stones; in another, pounded in mortars by
+heavy beams shod with iron, which were raised and fell by the motion of
+the wind; the material was then roasted in an iron pan over a charcoal
+fire, till the oil became disengaged by the heat, and was then crushed
+by being inclosed in canvas bags enveloped in leather cases, and placed
+in grooves, into which huge wooden wedges were driven by the force of
+the machinery; the last drop of oil was thus forced out by a repetition
+of the process, and the residue of the seed which came forth in cakes
+as flat and as hard as a stone, were laid on one side to be sold for
+manure and other purposes.
+
+A manufactory of _sabots_ was attached to the back mill, and sold for
+five-pence and six-pence a pair for the largest size, and half that
+amount for those suited to children. Surely the introduction of these
+wooden shoes would be a great accession to the comforts of the Irish
+peasantry, as well as a new branch of employment in their manufacture.
+An expert Flemish workman can finish a pair within an hour, and with
+care they will last for three months. Four pair of thick woollen socks
+to be worn along with them costs eighteen-pence, so that for four
+shillings, a poor man might be dry and comfortably shod for twelve
+months. In winter, especially, and in wet weather, or when working in
+moist ground, they are infinitely to be preferred, and although the
+shape may be clumsy, (though in this respect, the Flemish are superior
+to the French), it is, at least, as graceful as the half-naked foot
+and clouted shoe of the Irish labourer. I doubt much, however, whether
+the people, though ever so satisfied of their advantages, would get
+over their association of “arbitrary power and brass money” with the
+use of “wooden shoes.”
+
+Courtrai itself is a straggling, cheerless-looking town, and possesses
+few objects of any interest. Outside the gate is the field on which
+was fought the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, and a little
+chapel still marks the spot which was the centre of the action. Its
+large market for flax and linen has made its name familiar abroad,
+but it has little within itself to detain a stranger in search of
+the picturesque. Its only antique buildings are the Town Hall and
+the church of Notre-Dame, the former contains two richly carved
+mantel-pieces, evidently of very remote date. The latter was built by
+Count Baldwin, who was chosen Emperor at Constantinople in the fourth
+Crusade, and contains, amidst a host of worthless pictures, a Descent
+from the Cross, by Vandyck. Amongst the curiosities in the sacristy,
+is a sacerdotal dress of Thomas a’Becket, of most ample dimensions,
+which the saint left behind him on returning to England after his
+reconciliation with Henry II. At either extremity of the bridge which
+crosses the Lys in the centre of the town are two vast circular towers,
+called the _Broellen Torren_ which were built in the fifteenth century,
+and still serve as the town prisons. The chief support of the town is
+still derived from its linen weaving, which unlike the usual practice
+in Belgium, is done in large factories, at which the workmen attend as
+in England. The production of linen of all kinds at Courtrai is about
+30,000 pieces a year. There is also a considerable manufactory of
+thread.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+We this morning accompanied Count d’Hane to visit the celebrated
+prison of Ghent, the _maison de force_, which received the applause
+of Howard himself, and has been the model for most of the improved
+penitentiaries of Europe. It was erected in 1774, under the auspices
+of Maria Theresa, whilst the Spanish Netherlands were still attached
+to the House of Austria, and for its present state of completion and
+perfected system, it is indebted to the care and munificence of the
+late King, William I. of Holland. It, at present, incloses upwards
+of 1,100 prisoners, divided and classified into various wards, and
+employed in various occupations according to the nature of their crimes
+and the term of their punishment. Of these, two hundred were condemned
+to perpetual labour, and one to solitary confinement for life, the
+remainder for temporary periods.
+
+In Ghent there has not been more than _three_ capital executions since
+the year 1824, and as Belgium has no colonies to which to transport
+her secondary offenders, they are condemned to imprisonment in all its
+forms in proportion to the atrocity of their crimes.
+
+Labour enters into the system in all its modifications, and as
+the rations of food supplied to the prisoners are so calculated as
+to be barely adequate to sustain life, they are thus compelled, by
+the produce of their own hands, to contribute to their own support.
+According to the nature of their offences, the proportion of their
+earnings which they receive is more or less liberal; they are separated
+into three classes:--1st. The _condamnés aux travaux forcés_, who
+receive but three tenths of their own gains; 2nd. the _condamnés
+à la réclusion_, who receive four tenths; and 3rd. the _condamnés
+correctionellement_, who receive one half. The amount of these wages
+may be seen to be but small, when the sum paid for making seven pair of
+_sabots_, or seven hours’ labour, is but one penny. Of the sum allotted
+to him, the criminal receives but one half immediately, with which he
+is allowed to buy bread, coffee, and some other articles at a canteen
+established within the prison, under strict regulations, and the other
+moiety is deposited for his benefit in the savings’ bank of the jail,
+to be paid to him with interest on his enlargement. A prisoner,
+notwithstanding his small wages, may, after seven years’ confinement,
+have amassed one hundred and twenty francs exclusive of interest.
+
+The labour of the prison consists, in the first place, of all the
+domestic work of the establishment, its cleansing, painting and
+repairs, its cooking, and the manufacture of every article worn by the
+inmates; and secondly, of yarn spinning, weaving and making shirts for
+the little navy of Belgium,[25] and drawers for the soldiers, together
+with other similar articles suited for public sale. Prisoners who have
+learned no trade, are permitted to make their choice, and are taught
+one. The cleanliness of every corner is really incredible, and such
+are its effects upon the health of the inmates, that the deaths, on an
+average, do not exceed, annually, one in a hundred. After paying all
+its expenses of every description, the profits of the labour done in
+the prison leaves a surplus to the government, annually, to an amount
+which I do not precisely remember, but which is something considerable.
+
+Amongst the prisoners, one very old man was pointed out to me, named
+Pierre Joseph Soëte, seventy-nine years of age, sixty-two of which he
+had spent within the walls of this sad abode. He was condemned, at
+the age of seventeen, for an atrocious offence; in a fit of jealousy,
+he had murdered a girl, to whom he was about to have been married, by
+tying her to a tree and strangling her. He entered the jail when a
+boy, and had grown to manhood and old age within its melancholy walls;
+and the tenor of his life, I was told, had been uniformly mild and
+inoffensive. Five years since, the father of our friend, Count D’Hane,
+who was then Governor of Ghent, had represented the story to King
+Leopold, and the unfortunate old man was set at liberty; but in a few
+weeks, he presented himself at the door of the prison, and begged to be
+permitted to enter it again, and to die there as he had lived. I asked
+him why he had taken this extraordinary resolution, and he told me
+that the world had nothing to detain him; he had no longer a relative
+or a living face within it that he knew; he had no home, no means of
+support, no handicraft by which to earn it, and no strength to beg,
+what could he do, but return to the only familiar spot he knew, and the
+only one that had any charms for him! Poor creature! his extraordinary
+story, and his long life of expiation, rendered it impossible to
+remember or resent his early crime, and yet I could not look at such a
+singular being without a shudder.
+
+Another, but a still more melancholy case, was pointed out to me. I
+asked the physician, Dr. Maresca, if there were any foreigners in the
+jail, and he told me there were several from Germany and France; and
+one, an Englishman, who had been confined some years before for an
+attempt at fraud, and who, between chagrin and disease, was now dying
+in the hospital. I went to see him, and found him in bed in the last
+feeble stage of consumption. His story was a very sad one--his name
+was Clarke, he seemed about thirty-five or thirty-six years of age,
+and had come over with his wife to seek for work as a machine maker at
+one of the engine factories in Ghent. He was disappointed--he could
+get no adequate employment--he saw his young wife and his little
+children perishing from hunger in a strange land, and, in an evil hour,
+he forged a document for some trifling sum to procure them bread. He
+was detected, tried and condemned to five years’ imprisonment in the
+_maison de force_. What became of his family he no longer knew; they
+had, perhaps, returned to England, but he could not tell. The physician
+told me that his conduct had all along been most excellent, so much
+so, that the government reduced the term of his imprisonment from five
+years to four, and he had now but eighteen months to remain. But he
+was dying, and of a broken heart through sorrow and mortification. The
+physician had tried to obtain a further reduction of his term; but it
+was not thought prudent at the time to accede to his representations,
+and now it was too late to renew the application. Dr. M. thought he
+would now be liberated if the application were repeated, but it was
+more humane, he said, to leave him as he was, as he had every attention
+he required; the hospital was comfortable, and the rules of the prison
+had all been relaxed in his favour, so that he had books and every
+indulgence granted to him, and a few weeks would soon release him
+from all his sorrows. Poor fellow! I hardly knew whether he seemed
+gratified or grieved by our visit; but his situation, surrounded by
+foreigners, to whose very language he was a stranger, far from home and
+England, and without a friend or relation to watch his dying bed was a
+very touching one, and it was rendered, perhaps, more so, by the very
+sympathy and kindness which seemed to be felt for him by all around him.
+
+On the opposite side of the canal, we visited the sugar refinery of
+M. Neyt. This is a trade of much importance to Belgium, and, like
+almost every other department of her manufactures, at present in a
+very critical condition. The establishment of M. Neyt, though of great
+extent, being calculated to work twenty-five tons of sugar in the week,
+is not greater than some others in Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels. The
+machinery is all of the newest construction for boiling _in vacuo_,
+upon Howard’s principle, with some recent improvements by, I think,
+M. Devos-Maes; which, though expensive in the first instance, tends
+materially to diminish the cost by accelerating the completion of the
+process.
+
+All the sugar we saw in process was from Java and Manilla, and vessels
+were loading in the canal in front of the works with purified lump for
+Hamburgh. This branch of Belgian commerce has been retarded by a series
+of vicissitudes, and seems still destined to perilous competition,
+not only from Holland, which already disputes the possession of the
+trade with her, but from the states of the Prussian League in which
+there are eighty-four refineries of sugar already. Holland and Belgium
+have, for many years, enjoyed a large revenue from this most lucrative
+process for the supply of Germany and for export to the Mediterranean;
+a manufacture in which they have been enabled to compete successfully
+with England, owing to their being at liberty to bring the raw material
+from any country where it is to be found cheapest, whilst Great Britain
+has necessarily been restricted to consume only the produce of her own
+colonies by the protective duty imposed upon all others. Holland has,
+however, by her recent treaty with Prussia, taken steps to preserve her
+present advantageous position as regards the supply of Germany, whilst
+her bounties to her own refiners afford an equal encouragement with
+that held out by their government to those of Belgium.
+
+The false policy of the system of bounties has, however, operated in
+Belgium, as it has invariably done elsewhere, to give an unreal air of
+prosperity to the trade, whilst it opened a door to fraud, the never
+failing concomitant of such unsound expedients. To such an extent was
+this the case, that on its recent detection and suppression, a reaction
+was produced in the manufacture, that for the moment threatened to be
+fatal. The duty on the importation of raw sugar amounts to 37 francs
+per 100 kilogrammes, and a drawback was paid down to 1838 on every
+55 kilogrammes of refined sugar exported. This proportion was taken
+as the probable quantity extractible from 100 kilogrammes of the raw
+article, but the law omitted to state _in what stage_ of refinement, or
+of what precise quality that quantity should be. The consequence was,
+that sugar which had undergone but a single process, and still retained
+a considerable weight of its molasses, was exported, and a drawback
+was thus paid upon the entire 75 to 80 kilogrammes, which, had the
+process been completed, would only have been demandable on fifty-five.
+The encouragement designed to give a stimulus to improvement, thus
+tended only to give an impulse to fraud, and vast quantities of half
+refined sugar were sent across the frontiers, and the drawback paid,
+only to be smuggled back again for a repetition of the same dishonest
+proceeding. The attention of the government being, however, awakened
+by a comparison of the relative quantities of raw sugar imported, and
+of refined exported, on which the drawback was claimed, a change was
+made in the law in 1838, by which the drawback was restricted to a per
+centage on nine tenths only of the raw sugar imported, thus securing a
+positive revenue upon the balance, and at the same time some practical
+expedients were adopted for the prevention of fraud for the future.
+These latter were found to be so effectual, that four establishments in
+Antwerp discontinued the trade altogether immediately on the new law
+coming into force, and this example was followed by others elsewhere.
+
+There are still between 60 and 70 refineries in Belgium, and in 1837
+and 1838, the importations of raw sugar and the exports of refined were
+as follows:
+
+RAW SUGAR IMPORTED.
+
+  In 1837.   20,128,618 kilogrammes.
+  In 1838.   16,814,940 kilogrammes.
+
+REFINED SUGAR EXPORTED.
+
+  In 1837.   8,484,097 kilogrammes.
+  In 1838.   8,113,897 kilogrammes.
+
+An amount, which whilst it shows the general importance of the trade,
+seems to indicate that it is not increasing. The home consumption of
+Belgium as compared to England, is as 2 kils. per each individual to
+8. In France the quantity used per head, is 3 kils. and in the rest of
+Europe about 2½. But to the Belgians, this export trade is the vital
+object at the present moment, and any alteration of our law which would
+permit the import of foreign sugar into England, at a diminished duty,
+or encourage the growth of beet-root for the manufacture of sugar,
+would be fatal to the trade of the Netherlands, and to Holland, not
+less than to Belgium.
+
+In the latter country, the production of sugar from beet-root,
+notwithstanding the encouragement given to it by Napoleon, was never
+very extended nor successful. It disappeared almost entirely in 1814,
+and was not revived for twenty years, till in 1834, a fresh impulse
+was given to the Belgians to renew the experiment from witnessing the
+example of its success in France and some establishments were erected
+in Brabant and Hainault. But the vast advantages derived by the
+refiners of foreign sugar from the facility for fraud afforded by the
+defective state of the law, completely extinguished the attempt. Even
+now the expense of the process, which renders the cost of the beet-root
+sugar nearly equal to that extracted from the cane, together with the
+inferiority for every purpose of the beet-root molasses, holds out
+but little prospect of its ever becoming a productive department of
+national manufacture.
+
+On the evening of our arrival, a considerable tumult was excited around
+the front of the _Hotel de la Poste_ where we staid, which we found
+arose from the eagerness to obtain admission to the new Theatre,
+which stands next door to the Hotel, and which was that evening to be
+opened for the first time. Some soldiers were stationed to keep off the
+crowd, but as their impatience increased, the orders of the military
+were but little regarded, till, at length, the struggle came to an
+open rupture with them, and the officer on guard after going through
+all the preliminaries of intimidation, expostulation and scolding, at
+length, fairly lost all temper, and commenced boxing “the leader of
+the movement!” A ring being made for the combatants, the officer was
+beaten, and walked off to his quarters, and the pressure of the crowd,
+being by this time relieved, the spectators hurried into the theatre.
+
+The new building is very magnificent; a new street having been formed
+to open at a suitable site for it, one side of which it occupies
+exclusively. The centre of the front, projects in the form of a wide
+semi-circle, so that carriages drive right under the building to set
+down their company at the foot of the grand staircase. Besides the
+theatre itself, there is a suite of halls for concerts, capable of
+containing two thousand persons, and the entire is finished internally
+in the style of Louis XIV, with a prodigality of colours, gilding, and
+ornamental carving that is quite surprising. It is certainly the most
+beautiful theatre I have seen, as well as one of the most spacious.
+
+The “_spectacle_” and the opera are still amongst those necessaries in
+the economy of life in Belgium, which late dinner hours and fastidious
+taste have not as yet interfered with. Ghent has long been eminent for
+its successful cultivation of music. A few years since, the _chefs
+d’orchestre_ in the four principal theatres in the kingdom were all
+natives of Ghent, and the names of Verheyen, Ermel and Angelet, all
+born in the same place, are familiar to every amateur of the science.
+The _Société de St. Cecile_, a musical association, is the most eminent
+in the Netherlands, and at a concert at Brussels in 1837, where all
+the musicians of the chief cities of the kingdom competed for a prize;
+the first honours, two golden medals were given by acclamation to those
+of Ghent.
+
+The print works of M. De Smet de Naeyer are situated in the _Faubourg
+de Bruges_, and, like almost all in the Netherlands, exhibit no
+division of labour; the cotton being spun, woven, and printed upon
+the same premises. In the latter department, their productions are
+of a very ordinary description, and their designs in a very inferior
+class of art. The machinery was partly French and partly Belgian, of
+a cumbrous and antiquated construction, compared with that in use in
+England; but, as the recent improvements in Great Britain have all been
+conceived with a view to the speediest and cheapest production to meet
+a most extensive demand, their introduction into Belgium, where the
+market is so extremely circumscribed, would only be an augmentation of
+expense, without any correspondent advantage. The works were idle at
+the moment of our visit.
+
+This important department of manufacture is reduced to the lowest
+ebb in Belgium by the effects of the revolution of 1830. Previous to
+this event, the Belgian calico printer being admitted to the markets
+of Holland and her colonies, had an outlet for his produce, quite
+sufficient to afford remunerative employment for all his machinery; but
+when, by her separation from Holland, Belgium was excluded from the
+Dutch possessions, both in the East and West Indies, and restricted
+to the supply of her own population, she suddenly found the number of
+her consumers reduced from between _fifteen_ and _sixteen millions_
+to something less than _four_. In articles which are universally
+produced by the unaided labour _of the hand_, a limitation on the
+gross consumption cannot, as a general rule, effect any very material
+alteration in the individual price, where fair competition shall
+have already reduced and adjusted it by a remunerative standard. But
+when it comes to an active competition _with machinery_, the case is
+widely different; the outlay for apparatus and the cost of labour
+being almost the same for the production of one hundred pieces as for
+ten, it is manifest that the man who has a market for one hundred,
+can afford to sell each one for a much less sum than he who can only
+dispose of ten--even without including in the calculation the interest
+of the capital embarked, which must, of course, be ten times the amount
+upon the small production that it is upon the large. It is her almost
+unlimited command of markets, and the vast millions of consumers who
+must have her produce, in her various colonies and dependencies, that,
+combined with her matchless machinery, places the manufactures of
+England almost beyond the reach of rivalry as regards the moderation
+of their price; and thus gives them, in spite of duties, that, in any
+other case, would amount to a prohibition, a lucrative introduction
+into those countries themselves, which are fast acquiring her
+machinery, but look in vain for her limitless markets.
+
+The merchants of Antwerp and the manufacturers of Ghent, had the
+good sense, probably purchased by experience, to recognize this
+incontrovertible principle, and foreseeing, clearly, the ruin of their
+pursuits in the results of the Repeal of the Union with Holland, they
+loudly protested against the proceedings of the revolutionists of
+1830.[26] But, as “madness ruled the hour,” their protestations were
+all unheeded--they were overborne by numbers; and, as the patriots
+of Ireland, in rejecting the advantages held out to them by Great
+Britain in the celebrated “commercial propositions” of 1785, adopted
+as their watchword “_perish commerce_, but live the constitution;” so
+the patriots of Belgium, in their paroxysm of repeal, reproached their
+less frenzied fellow-countrymen with “allowing the profits on their
+cottons, or the prices of their iron, to outweigh the independence of
+their country!” The revolution was accomplished in their defiance, and
+the ruin of their trade was consummated by the same blow.
+
+With respect to the very branch of manufacture which has led to these
+observations, the printing of calicoes and woollens, M. Briavionne,
+an impartial historian, and so far as political inclination is
+concerned, strongly biassed in favour of the revolution, thus details
+its immediate effects upon it. After describing the rapid decline of
+the cotton trade in general, since 1830, he goes on to say, “In the
+department of printing, the results have not been more satisfactory;
+many of the leading establishments of Ghent, and of Brussels have been
+altogether abandoned, or their buildings dismantled and converted to
+other purposes, and their utensils and machinery sold off by public
+auction. Ghent, in 1829, possessed _fifteen_ print-works--in 1839 she
+had but _nine_; in Brussels, at the same time, and in Ardennes and
+Lierre, there were _eleven_ houses of the first rank, of these _six_
+have since closed their accounts. Other establishments there are, it is
+true, that have sprung up in the interim, but, in the aggregate, the
+number is diminished. In prosperous years, the production of Belgium
+might have amounted, before the revolution, to about 400,000 pieces.
+Ghent, alone, produced 300,000 in 1829, but its entire production, at
+present, does not amount to 20,000, nor does that of the largest house
+in Belgium exceed 45,000 pieces.
+
+Nor is this to be ascribed to any want of ability in the Belgian
+mechanics; on the the contrary, they are qualified to undertake the
+most difficult work, but they can only employ themselves, of course,
+when such are in actual demand. They are, in consequence, limited to
+the production of the most low priced and ordinary articles; fast
+colours and cheap cloth are all they aspire to. High priced muslins
+they rarely attempt, and although they have ventured to print upon
+mousseline-de-laine, they have been forced almost altogether to
+abandon it. In fact, the double rivalry of France, on the one hand,
+and England on the other, keeps them in continual alarm, and renders
+them fearful of the slightest speculation or deviation from their
+ordinary line of production. France, on the contrary, enters their
+market relying upon the elegance and originality of her patterns; and
+England notwithstanding her heavy and unimaginative designs, conceived
+in inferior taste, still maintains her superiority by means of her
+masterly execution and the lowness of her price. Thus, whilst French
+muslins sell readily for from two to three francs an ell, England can
+offer hers for forty-five centimes, or even less, and those of Belgium
+vary from sixty centimes to a franc and a quarter per ell; not only so,
+but for that which she can now with difficulty dispose of for sixty
+centimes, she had, thirty-five years ago, an ample demand at two francs
+and a half.
+
+This destruction of her home trade by the competition of foreigners,
+she has sought in vain to retrieve by her shipments abroad; she
+has exported to Brazil and to the Levant, to the South Sea and
+Singapore, and finally, she has turned to Germany and the fairs of
+Francfort-on-the-Maine--in short, she has tried every opening, and
+found only loss in all. The only market in which she has contrived to
+hold a footing is that of Holland, and even this is every day slipping
+from her, although, before the revolution of 1830, it consumed one half
+of her entire production.
+
+Belgium has not, like England, manufacturers, who, devoting themselves
+to the supply of the foreign market alone, and bestowing upon it
+their undivided study and attention, attain a perfect knowledge and
+command of it in its every particular; but here, every printer looks to
+exportation only as an expedient to get rid of his surplus production,
+after satisfying the demand of his home consumption. Such a system is
+pregnant with evils, but it is in vain to attempt its alteration so
+long as we have England for our rival, with her great experience, her
+vast command of capital, and her firm possession of the trade.”[27]
+
+The information which I received from M. De Smet, M. Voortman, M. de
+Hemptine and others, more than confirmed, in its every particular,
+this deplorable exposé of M. Briavionne. Belgian prints are constantly
+undersold by from 10 to 15 per cent by English goods, imported
+legitimately into their market, notwithstanding a duty of a hundred
+florins upon every hundred kilogrammes, an impost which being assessed
+by weight, falls heavily on that class of goods which are the great
+staple of England, and amounts to about _six shillings_ upon a
+piece of the value of _fourteen_. Nor is this all--their market is
+systematically beset by smugglers across the frontiers of France and
+Holland, who, inundating it with French and English goods, exempt
+from duty, have reduced the price of Belgian production to an ebb
+utterly incompatible with any hope of remuneration. This is an evil,
+however, to which not their peculiar branch alone, but every protected
+manufacture in the country is equally liable, and for redress of which
+they have vainly invoked the interference of their legislature--the
+mischief is of too great magnitude to be grappled with or remedied.
+
+The only relief which their government has attempted, has been by the
+deplorable expedient of themselves supplying capital to sustain the
+struggle. A manufactory, however, which they undertook to support,
+at Ardennes-on-the-Meuse, constructed with machinery upon English
+models, and conducted by English managers, became an utter failure
+and was abandoned; and in like manner, an association which they had
+encouraged to attempt an export trade, after numerous shipments to
+Portugal, the Mediterranean, the East Indies, South America, and the
+United States, became utterly insolvent, and involved the government
+in a loss of 400,000 francs. In the mean time, England and France
+monopolise the most profitable portions of their trade, the latter
+supplying them, almost exclusively with the more costly articles of
+ornament and fancy, and the imports of medium goods from the former
+having been, in the first six months of the present year, upwards of
+17,000 pieces more than in 1839.
+
+This is one illustration, and I regret to say, only one out of many
+of the ruinous effects of the “Repeal of the Union,” In Ghent, from
+its peculiar position and the active genius of its population, its
+results have been felt with more severity than elsewhere, though
+its influence is discernible, to a greater or less degree, in every
+quarter of Belgium. The merchants of Ghent, however, make no secret of
+their dissatisfaction, and exclaim boldly against the indifference or
+incompetence of the ministry to adopt measures for their redress. In
+an especial degree, their dissatisfaction manifests itself against the
+present minister of the interior, M. Liedtz, who having been a lawyer,
+is presumed to be imperfectly acquainted with commerce, and is said to
+be as unjustly partial to agriculture, as he is coldly indifferent to
+trade. One gentleman complained bitterly that having, some time since,
+accompanied a deputation to an interview with the minister on the
+subject of the decline of the cotton trade, M. Liedtz abruptly ended
+the conference, almost before they had opened their grievances, by
+exclaiming:--“Come, now we have heard enough about cotton--how are your
+cows?”
+
+In Ghent, business has always been conducted, not only upon an extended
+scale, but upon the most solid and steady basis; bank accommodation and
+discounts are unknown, in fact, in Belgium, and a bill, if drawn at
+all, is, as a general rule, held over to maturity, and collected by the
+drawer. This may, in a great degree, account for the trifling balances
+which suffice to produce a suspension of business. In an annual
+document, published officially, I presume, I perceive that although the
+number of failures in Ghent for the year 1839, amounted to twenty, the
+amount of their united deficiencies did not exceed 198,000 francs.[28]
+
+The sufferings of Ghent seem to be so generally admitted, and so
+unequivocally ascribed to the operation of the revolution, that
+no scruple or delicacy is observed by the press or the public in
+ascribing them to its proper cause. A curious illustration of this, we
+observed in a volume entitled, “_Le Guide Indispensable du Voyageur
+sur les Chemins de Fer de la Belgique_,” sold at all the stations on
+the government railway, and in the case in which I bought my copy,
+by persons in the government uniform. In a short notice of Ghent, it
+contains the following passage of plain speaking upon this point.
+“During the fifteen years of the Dutch connexion, the population,
+the wealth and the prosperity of Ghent never ceased to increase;
+manufactures were multiplied, streets enlarged, public buildings
+erected, and large and beautiful houses constructed; in short, Ghent
+had become a great commercial city. _The revolution of 1830 at once
+arrested this career of improvement, and Ghent, whose prosperity was
+the offspring of peace and of her connexion with Holland, now seems
+to protest, by her silence, against a change which she finds to be
+fraught to her with ruin._ The citadel was only taken when all hope had
+disappeared of maintaining the supremacy of King William; but,” adds
+the author, “it is to be hoped that, little by little, the influence
+of new institutions may rally the hopes of the Gantois, and, at last,
+reconcile them to the consequences of the Belgian revolution.”[29] And
+the new institution which is to achieve such a triumph, is to be, of
+course, _the railroad_ from Ostend to Cologne.
+
+Our stay at Ghent had been somewhat longer than our original intention,
+but we found it a place abounding in attractions, not only from its
+hereditary associations, but from the enterprising and ingenious
+character of its inhabitants, and the progress which they have achieved
+in their multifarious pursuits. Besides, it is always a matter of
+the deepest interest to observe the success or failure of a great
+national experiment, such as is now in process in Belgium, where,
+after an interval of upwards of two centuries, during which they
+have formed a portion of another empire, its inhabitants are testing
+the practicability of restoring and supporting their old national
+independence, notwithstanding all the changes which two hundred years
+have produced in the policy, the commerce, and the manufacturing power
+of Europe--changes not less astonishing than those which, almost within
+the same interval, the discovery of printing has produced in the
+diffusion of learning, or that of gunpowder in the system of ancient
+warfare.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+BRUSSELS.
+
+
+    The railroad--Confusion at Malines--Country between Ghent and
+      Dendermonde--_Vilvorde_--_The palace of Laeken_--First view
+      of Brussels--The Grand Place in the old town--The Hôtel de
+      Ville and Maison Communale--The new town--The churches of
+      Brussels--_The carved oak pulpits of the Netherlands_--ST. GUDULE
+      monuments--Statue of Count F. Merode--Geefs, the sculptor--Notre
+      Dame de la Chapelle--_The museum_--Palais de l’Industrie--The
+      gallery of paintings--THE LIBRARY--Its history--_Remarkable
+      MSS._--Curiosities in the museum of antiquities--Private
+      collections--Rue Montagne de la Cour--The theatre--Historical
+      associations with the Hôtel de Ville--Counts Egmont and Horn--The
+      civil commotions of Philip II--_The fountains of Brussels_--The
+      Cracheur--_The mannekin_, his memoirs--Fountain of Lord
+      Aylesbury--Dubos’ restaurant--The hotels of Brussels--Secret to
+      find the cheapest hotels in travelling.
+
+WE again availed ourselves of the railroad from Ghent to Brussels,
+starting from the Monk’s Meadow at eight o’clock in the morning,
+and made the journey in about three hours and a half. The route is
+considerably increased in length, owing to the line making an angle
+in order to traverse Malines, which has been made a centre at which
+every branch of the entire system converges and take a fresh departure.
+This arrangement may be a convenience to the directory, but it is an
+annoyance to the public, not only by the extension of the distance they
+have to travel, but by the scene of bustle, confusion, and risk created
+by the concourse of so many trains at the same point, the nuisance and
+danger of which can hardly be exaggerated; engines bellowing, horns
+sounding, luggage moving, and crowds rushing to secure their places in
+the departing train, or to escape from being run over by the one coming
+in.
+
+The aspect of the country was, in all directions, the same--tame, but
+rich and luxuriant, with vessels toiling along its tributary canals,
+and here and there the Scheldt making its tortuous windings through
+long lines of pines and alders. One thing strikes a stranger as
+singular in this province, the almost total absence of pasture land,
+and the appearance of no cattle whatsoever in the fields, the ground
+being found to be more valuable under cultivation, and cattle more
+economically fed within doors. The railroad passes by some pretty but
+unimportant villages, such as Wetteren and Auderghem, before arriving at
+Termonde, more familiarly known to us as the Dendermonde of my Uncle
+Toby’s military commentaries. At Auderghem, a road turns to the right
+to Alost, one of the most flourishing towns of East Flanders, and a
+prosperous seat of the flax and linen trade.
+
+After passing Dendermonde, we entered the province of Brabant, at the
+little village of Hombech, and the train, after traversing Lehendael
+(the Valley of Lillies), stopped at Mechlin, whose towers had been
+visible long before reaching the station. One of the most conspicuous
+objects here, is an immense brick building, erected in 1837 or 38,
+for the purpose of spinning linen yarn, but never having been applied
+by its proprietors to that purpose, has lately been purchased by an
+English gentleman, Mr. Fairburne, to be converted into a manufactory of
+machinery, a department of manufacture which, in the present state of
+of Belgium, I much fear is not likely to prove more encouraging.
+
+From Malines to Brussels, the distance is fifteen miles, and was
+performed in something less than half an hour, the road lying through
+broad meadows and more extensive pastures than any I have yet seen
+in Belgium. On the left, these plains swell into a gentle hill of
+some miles in length, on which the towers and steeples of Brussels
+are discernible long before we approach them. Within a few miles of
+Malines, we passed Vilvorde, an ancient place, but now only remarkable
+for its vast prisons, which are seen at a considerable distance. It
+was at Vilvorde that Tindal, the first translator of the Bible into
+English, was burned for heresy in 1536.
+
+Before arriving at the termination of the journey, the road sweeps
+along between two gentle elevations, that on the left being covered
+with the villas and pleasure-grounds of Schaerbeek, the Hampstead of
+Brussels, and to the right, with the woods and palace of Schoenberg,
+near the village of Laeken, a favourite residence of King Leopold.
+It was built in 1782, by the Archduke Albert, for the sister of the
+unhappy Marie Antoinette, and to serve for the future residence of the
+Austrian governor of the Netherlands. It suffered during the saturnalia
+of the French revolution, when a lofty tower, which rose above the
+woods that surround it, was torn down and sold for the price of the
+materials. Napoleon was partial to the palace as a summer retreat,
+and it was whilst lingering here with Marie Louise, that he completed
+the final and fatal arrangements for the invasion of Russia. It is
+handsomely, rather than magnificently furnished, but the grounds and
+gardens, which have all been re-modelled in the English style, are
+amongst the most beautiful in Europe, and command extensive views of
+the broad wooded campagne of Brabant, and the cheerful heights and
+gothic towers of Brussels.
+
+The first sight of Brussels, on approaching it from the side of
+Malines, is well calculated to give a favourable impression of its
+beauty and extent, the long planted line of the Allée Vert, terminating
+at the handsome gate d’Anvers, (formerly the Porte Guillaume, before
+the change of dynasty), with its dark iron balustrade and gilded
+capitals, and in front, the steep acclivity covered with streets and
+buildings of the modern and more elegant town, whilst the turrets
+of the Hôtel de Ville and the towers of St. Gudule are equally
+conspicuous, rising above the roofs of the ancient city which nestles
+at its base. The city itself, though of remote antiquity, has nothing
+very antique in its first appearance, and, in fact, it is only in the
+narrow alleys and passages of the lower quarter that the mansions
+and municipal buildings of the former nobles and burghers of Brabant
+are to be discerned. Even here there are fewer architectural traces
+of the magnificence of the middle ages than in almost any other of
+the great cities of Belgium. The Grand Place is a splendid exception
+to this observation, as it is surrounded on all sides with lofty old
+Spanish-looking houses, in the style, at least, if not of the date of
+the palmy days of Brabant, its high peaked roofs bristling with tiers
+of little grim windows, its pointed gables covered with bas-reliefs and
+carvings, and the ample fronts of its mansions richly decorated with
+arabesques in stone, which had once been gaudily coloured, and here and
+there tipped with gold. On one side starts up to a surprising height
+the gothic tower of the Hôtel de Ville, by far the most beautiful in
+the Low Countries, and on the opposite one is a vast gloomy-looking
+building, now converted into shops, which was once the _Maison
+Communale_ of the city; and being rebuilt by the Infanta Isabella, in
+the early part of the seventeenth century, was, in commemoration of the
+deliverance of Brussels from the plague, dedicated to Notre Dame de la
+Paix, with an inscription, which is still legible, though much defaced:
+“_A peste, fame et bello libera nos Maria pacis_.”
+
+It is in the narrow and dingy passages of this lower town, that a
+stranger feels all the associations of the olden time around him;
+but on ascending by the steep and precipitous streets to the modern
+quarter, with its light and beautiful houses, its open squares and
+gardens, with their fountains and statues, and all that is French and
+fashionable, the charm of association is gone, and one feels something
+like coming suddenly into the daylight from the dim scenery of a
+melodrame. To the stranger in Brussels there are, therefore, two
+distinct sets of objects of attraction. In the new town there are the
+palaces of the King and the nobles, the park, the public promenades,
+the chambers of the Senate and the Commons, the splendid hotels of the
+Place Royal, and the libraries and museums that occupy the château
+which was once the residence of the Austrian viceroys; whilst in the
+old town, there are the churches of the fourteenth and fifteenth
+centuries, with their superb oak carvings, stained windows and
+statuary, the Hôtel de Ville, the gloomy old mansions of the past race
+of nobles, and all the characteristic memorials of the ancient capital.
+The first are speedily disposed of by the tourist, as there is nothing
+unique in any of the lions of Brussels, its inhabitants are, in fact,
+anxious to have their city considered a miniature Paris, and it seems
+to have been laid out altogether on the model of the French capital,
+with its boulevards and its palace gardens, its opera, its restaurants
+and its “café des milles colonnes.”
+
+The churches, are, as usual, splendid specimens of gorgeous altars,
+(with their ponderous candelabra and Madonnas in embroidered
+petticoats,) solemn aisles, marble columns, painted ceilings, Flemish
+pictures and carved pulpits, so flowing and graceful in their
+execution, that they look as if the Van Hools and Van Bruggens of
+former times, possessed some secret for fusing the knotted oak and
+pouring it into moulds to form their statues and their wreathes of
+flowers. Their Pulpits are, in reality, one of the wonders of the
+Netherlands, they are of immense dimensions, some of them reaching
+almost as high as the gothic arches which separate the nave from the
+side aisles. The lower department usually represents some appropriate
+scene from the events of sacred history, the expulsion of Adam and
+Eve from Paradise, Elijah fed by ravens, the conversion of St. Paul,
+with the frightened horse most vigorously introduced, or Christ
+calling Peter and Andrew, who are represented in their boat by the
+sea-shore, with their nets and fish, all exquisite specimens of the
+art; and, occasionally, the designs are allegorical, with figures
+of Time, Truth and Christianity. Above these, usually rises a rock,
+or a mass of foliage and flowers, on which are perched birds and
+other accompaniments, and on this rests the shell of the pulpit, the
+whole is then surmounted, either by a canopy sustained by angels and
+cherubims, or by the spreading branches of a palm tree, so arranged
+as to overshadow the whole. Almost every great church and cathedral
+in Belgium contains one of these unique productions of an art which
+is now almost extinct, or, at least, possessed of no practitioners
+at all qualified to cope in excellence with these ancient masters.
+The confessionals, altars and organs are likewise elaborately covered
+with these almost unique decorations, and even the doors and windows
+sometimes exhibit specimens of extraordinary beauty and value.
+
+The _church of St. Gudule_, which is the most remarkable at Brussels,
+has two huge gothic towers, each nearly the same height with St.
+Pauls, and from their solid and massy construction looking even more
+stupendous; but the effect is seriously injured by a number of ordinary
+houses, which have been permitted to be erected against the very walls
+of the building!--a curious instance of the absence of all taste in
+the ecclesiastical body, who can thus permit, for money, the actual
+defacement of their finest building. The pillars which sustain the
+roof within, bear each in front a colossal statue, of which there are
+fourteen or sixteen representing the various saints and apostles, some
+of them by Duquesnoy and Quellyn, but the generality of inferior merit.
+The pulpit was carved by Van Bruggen in 1699, and was presented to the
+cathedral by the Empress Maria Theresa.
+
+The windows which are of dimensions proportioned to the huge scale of
+the church are all of rich stained glass, partly antique and partly
+of modern execution, but of great brilliancy of tint and high talent
+in design. The high altar is so composed by some ingenious machinery
+within, that the sacred wafer descends apparently of itself, at the
+moment when the host is about to be elevated by the officiating priest.
+
+Around the choir are the monuments of some of the ancient Dukes of
+Brabant, surmounted by their effigies in armour, with swords and
+helmets disposed by their side; that of John II, who married Margaret
+of England, and died in 1318, bears a figure of the Belgic lion in
+gilded bronze, which weighs nearly three tons. Opposite this is another
+to the memory of the Archduke Ernest of Austria, on which rests a
+figure clad in mail. Close by it a marble slab in the floor covers the
+vault in which are interred some members of the imperial family who
+died during their vice-royalty at Brussels.
+
+One statue in St. Gudule is remarkable as a favourable specimen of
+modern art in Belgium, it is that of the Count Frederick de Merode, a
+young nobleman of most amiable personal character, whose father was
+of one of the ancient families of Brabant, and his mother a Grammont.
+On the outburst of the revolution in 1830, he returned from France,
+where he was residing, enrolled himself as a volunteer in a corps of
+sharpshooters raised by the Marquis de Chasteler, and was killed whilst
+leading a charge against the Dutch rear-guard, under the command of
+Duke Bernard of Saxe Weimar. This monument is by Geefs of Brussels,
+who has evinced equal judgment and ability in retaining the national
+blouse as the costume of his statue, and yet so disposing it as to
+render it perfectly classical by his arrangement. Geefs is by far the
+most distinguished artist, as a sculptor, in Belgium, and has recently
+erected a spirited statue of General Belliard in the Park overlooking
+the Rue Royale, and the grand monument over the remains of the
+revolutionary partisans, who fell in the three glorious days “of 1830,”
+and are interred in the centre of the _Place des Martyrs_.
+
+The other churches of Brussels contain little that is worth a visit. In
+that of Notre Dame de la Chapelle, there is a high altar from a design
+by Rubens, one of those works in which he has so profusely exhibited
+his astonishing command of arabesque and allegorical devices. The
+pulpit is another specimen of wood carving, representing Elijah fed by
+ravens. It is remarkable that in all the churches of Brussels, there is
+not a single painting of more than common place ability, nor a single
+specimen of either Vandyck or Rubens--painters, it would seem, like
+prophets, are to seek for their patrons at some distance from home.
+
+The municipal collections of art are deposited in the museum and
+picture gallery in the Palais des Beaux Arts, formerly the vice-regal
+residence of the Austrian governors. In one wing of the building,
+called the Palais d’Industrie, are deposited models of machinery,
+agricultural instruments, and inventions of all kinds applicable to
+manufactures. The collection is costly and extensive, and cannot fail
+to exercise a beneficial influence in the education of mechanics. The
+main galleries of the palace are filled with the national pictures,
+which amount to between three and four hundred. The description of
+a painting is scarcely more intelligible or satisfactory than the
+description of an overture. Amongst the collection are a few of
+considerable merit, but the vast majority are of the most ordinary
+description. There are a few by Rubens and Vandyck, not of the first
+order, some by Breughel, Cuyp, Gerard Dow, and the chiefs of that
+school; a multitude by the Crayers and Van Oorts and Vander Weydes,
+whose works one meets in every Flemish chapel, and a number of the
+early painters of the Netherlands, in which, I confess, I am not
+connoisseur enough to discover anything very attractive beyond their
+antiquity and curiosity as specimens of the feeble efforts of art in
+its infancy.
+
+Under the same roof is the magnificent Library, begun by the Dukes of
+Burgundy so far back as the fourteenth century, and enriched by every
+subsequent sovereign of the Netherlands, till its treasures now amount
+to 150,000 volumes of printed books and 15,000 manuscripts; amongst
+which are numbers whose pedigree through their various possessors is
+full of historical interest, and some which belonged to the library
+of Philip the Hardy, in 1404, and described in the “_Inventoire des
+livres et roumans de feu Monseigneur_ (_Philip le Hardi_), _a qui
+Dieu pardonne, que maistre Richart le Conte, barbier de feu le dict
+Seigneur, a euzen garde_.” Its chief treasures it owes, however,
+to Philip the Good, the Lorenzo de Medicis of the Low Countries,
+who attracted to his court such geniuses as Oliver de la March,
+Monstrelet, Philip de Commines, the chroniclers and men of learning
+of his time, and kept constantly in his employment the most able
+“clerks,” “_escripvains_” and illuminators, engaged in the preparation
+of volumes for his “librarie,” and having united all the provinces
+of the Netherlands under his dominion, he collected at Brussels the
+manuscripts of the Counts of Flanders, in addition to his own. The
+identical copy of the Cyropedia of Xenophon, which he had transcribed
+for the study of his impetuous son, Charles le Téméraire, and which
+accompanied him to the disastrous field of Morat, is still amongst the
+deposits in this superb collection.
+
+Another of its illustrious founders was Margaret of Austria, _la
+gente demoiselle_, daughter to the gentle-spirited Mary of Burgundy,
+and friend of Erasmus and Cornelius Agrippa, who amassed for it the
+invaluable collection of “_Princeps_” editions, which were then issuing
+from the early press of Venice and the North. The Library still
+contains the common-place book of this interesting Princess, with her
+verses in her own handwriting, and music of her own composition.
+
+Another equally charming guardian of literature was her niece, Mary
+of Austria, the sister of Charles V and Queen Dowager of Hungary,
+who transferred to the library of Brussels the manuscripts which
+her husband, Louis II, had inherited from his grandfather, Mathias
+Corvinus. Amongst these, is a missal, one of the wonders of the
+collection, painted at Florence in 1485, and abounding in the most
+exquisite miniatures, arabesques and illuminated cyphers. From the
+period of its deposit in Brussels, the Dukes of Brabant took their oath
+of inauguration by kissing the leaves of this priceless volume, and two
+pages which had been opened for this purpose at the accession of Albert
+and Isabella, in November 1599, are spotted with the flakes of snow
+which fell upon the book during the solemnity.
+
+In the vicissitudes of Brussels, the contents of her Library has always
+been an object of cupidity for her invaders. In 1746, Marshal Saxe sent
+a selection of its treasures to Paris, which were restored in 1770,
+and again seized by the revolutionary army of Dumourier in 1794, and
+though recovered in 1815, it was with the loss of many of its precious
+deposits. But even the disappearance of these was less exasperating
+than the insensate vandalism of the savants of the revolution, who
+actually rubbed out with their wetted fingers, the portraits of the
+ancient emperors and kings, and even of the saints who happened to wear
+a crown, in order to evince their inexpressible hatred of monarchy.
+
+Amongst the manuscripts, are some few which escaped from the sack
+of Constantinople in 1453, and bear the names and handwriting of
+Chalcondylas, Chrysolaras, and the restorers of Grecian literature,
+who, on the overturn of the Eastern Empire, found a refuge at Rome and
+at the court of the Medicis. The bindings of numbers of them, bear the
+imperial cypher of Napoleon, but the majority have still their ancient
+velvet covers, the richness of which, with their clasps of gilded
+silver which secure them, attest the value which was placed upon their
+contents by their illustrious owners.
+
+An adjoining apartment is devoted to some interesting antiquities,
+among which, are a court-dress of Charles II, a souvenir of his sojourn
+at Brussels during the ascendancy of Cromwell; a cloak of feathers,
+which belonged to Montezuma; the cradle in which Charles V. was rocked;
+and two stuffed horses which bore Albert and Isabella at the battle
+of Nieuport, one an Andalusian barb which had accompanied the Infanta
+from Spain, the other a Moravian which afterwards saved the life of the
+Archduke at the siege of Ostend in 1604.
+
+In the private mansions of Brussels there are numerous collections of
+pictures and objects of vertu, much more valuable than those which
+are the property of the nation. Those of the Duke d’Aremberg, the
+Prince de Ligne, M. Maleck de Werthenfels, and the Count Vilain XIV,
+contain several masterpieces of the Dutch and Flemish masters, and
+some few by Raphael Leonardo de Vinci, and the chiefs of the Italian
+school. The name of this latter gentleman is somewhat remarkable; his
+ancestor, who was ennobled by Louis XIV, being permitted to append
+the cypher of the monarch to his name and that of his descendants.
+The collection of the Duke d’Aremberg, besides a number of paintings
+of great excellence, contains a remarkable marble, which has excited
+much curious investigation amongst the dilettanti; it is a head, the
+fragment of a statue, which _is said_ to have originally belonged to
+the main figure in the group of the Laocoon in the Vatican, the present
+head being only a restoration. The truth of this is questioned, but the
+connoisseurs attached to Napoleon were so satisfied of its truth, that
+the Emperor, by their advice, offered the possessor, weight for weight,
+gold for marble, if he would allow the head to resume its ancient
+position on the shoulders of the statue which was then in the gallery
+of the Louvre. The Duke, unwilling to part with it, declined, but aware
+of the determined nature of Napoleon’s caprices, sent it privately out
+of the country, and had it concealed at Dresden till the fall of the
+Emperor, when it was restored to its old place in the library of the
+Palais d’Aremberg. That the head of the central figure in the group of
+the Vatican is a restoration, there can be no doubt; it was copied,
+it is said, from an antique gem. The head at Brussels, was found by
+some Venetian explorers, and sold to the father or grandfather of the
+present Duke d’Aremberg. Whether it be the genuine original or not, no
+possible doubt can be entertained of its masterly execution, and the
+vigour and fire of expression with which it glows, justify any opinion
+in favour of its origin.
+
+An almost precipitous street, appropriately called “Rue Montagne de la
+Cour,” rises in a straight line from the lowest level of the ancient
+town to the hill on which the new one is situated, which is filled with
+the best and most showy shops in Brussels; jewellers, printsellers,
+confectioners and modistes, and crowded at all hours of the day with
+carriages and fashionable loungers. At the bottom of this steep
+acclivity, is the Place de la Monnaie, where stands the theatre, in
+which the actual insurrection commenced in 1830, when the audience,
+inflamed by the music and declamation of the Muette de Portici, and
+inspired by the estro of Masaniello, rushed into the street and
+proceeded at once to demolish the residence of the minister, M. van
+Maanen. Turning a corner from this, one finds himself suddenly in the
+midst of the antique square in which stands the Hôtel de Ville, and
+the other principal municipal edifices of the past age--the _forum_
+of ancient Brabant, as the Place de Monnaie is of the modern. It was
+in this and in the sombre old mansions that are to be found in the
+precincts around it, that the pride of democracy appears to have
+delighted in “recording in lofty stone” its own magnificence, and
+lavished their public wealth upon the towers of the Town Hall, the most
+imposing monument of the popular power.
+
+But, independently of its democratic associations, the Hôtel de Ville
+of Brussels was the scene of the most extraordinary episode that has
+ever been recorded in the chronicles of kings;--it was in the grand
+hall of the Hôtel de Ville that Charles V. wearied with the crown of
+a monarch, laid it aside to assume the cowl of a monk, and took his
+departure from the throne of an empire to die, a maniac, in the cell of
+a monastery. It was from one of the windows of the same building that
+the ferocious Duke of Alva looked on, in person, at the execution of
+two of the purest patriots of their own or any subsequent age--Lamoral,
+Count Egmont, and Philip de Montmorency, Count Horn--the first and
+most illustrious martyrs of the Reformation in the Netherlands. During
+the reign of terror under Philip II., Brussels was the grand scene of
+Alva’s atrocities and of his successors’ incapacity. It was in the
+little square of the Petit Sablon, that the protestant confederates
+assembled to draw up their famous remonstrance to Margaret of Parma,
+the sister and vice-queen of the bigotted tyrant, on the occasion of
+presenting which, by the hands of de Bredérode, the unlucky exclamation
+of “the beggars,” (_Gueux_) escaped from the incautious lips of the
+Count de Berlayment, in whispering his counsel to the grand-duchess
+to reject their prayer, a word which fell like a blister, and was
+adopted, at once, as the title and the sting of the protestant
+conjuration.
+
+The square of the Hôtel de Ville was the scene of every popular
+commotion that has agitated Brabant, from the origin of the ducal
+dynasty, to the halcyon days of Albert and Isabella: it resounded with
+the insane riots of the Iconoclasts in 1566, and it was illuminated
+by the flames of the Inquisition, in which the same infuriated
+fanatics made a final expiation for their violence. It ran red with
+the blood of the protestants under Philip II.; and, in 1581, it rang
+with the acclamations of the followers of the Prince of Orange over
+the temporary abolition of the worship of Rome. So little is its
+architectural aspect altered since these thrilling scenes, that, with
+the Hôtel de Ville on one side, and on the other the old communal
+house, in which Egmont and Horn spent the night previous to their
+execution; and around them the venerable gothic fronts and fretted
+gables of its ancient dwellings, one might almost imagine it the ready
+scenery, and half expect the appearance of the dramatis personæ to
+re-enact the tragedy.
+
+The ornamental monuments of Brussels are neither very numerous,
+nor remarkable for their refinement of taste. The public fountain
+called “le Cracheur,” is the statue of a man, with his arms folded,
+and vomiting the stream for the accommodation of the public; and
+the famous little fountain of the _mannekin_, in the Rue de Chene,
+supplies her customers with water in a style perfectly unique, at
+least, in a statue. This eccentric little absurdity is the darling
+of the bourgeoisie, and the popular palladium of Brussels, and its
+memoirs are amongst the most ridiculous records of national trifling.
+The original which was of great antiquity, made of carved stone was
+replaced by one of iron. The present one is in bronze on the same
+model, and was cast by Duquesnoy in 1648. One story to account for its
+extreme popularity, is that it is a likeness of Godfrey, one of the
+Dukes of Brabant, who, when an infant, having escaped from his nurse,
+was discovered at the spot in the attitude immortalized by the little
+statue. By the mob, the mannekin is perfectly worshipped--he is called
+“le plus ancien bourgeois de la ville,” has the freedom of the city,
+and a feast day in July regularly appointed in his honour. On this
+occasion, he is clothed in a suit which was given him by Louis XV.,
+consisting of a cocked hat and feathers, a sword and costume complete,
+the King, at the same time, creating him a Chevalier de St. Louis.
+Charles V. was equally beneficent to the mannekin, and Maximilian of
+Bavaria assigned him a valet-de-chambre. He has also been left legacies
+by more than one of the citizens; at the present moment his income is
+upwards of four hundred francs, paid to his valet for his services upon
+state occasions, and to a treasurer for the management of his estates.
+Brussels has, more than once, been thrown into dismay by the mannekin
+being carried off, and the utmost exertion has been made for his
+recovery. The last violence offered to him was his being carried off
+a few years since; but he was discovered in the house of a liberated
+felon, and speedily restored to his old place and functions amidst the
+delight of the Brussellois.
+
+In the Place du Grand Sablon, another fountain, surmounted by a marble
+statue of Minerva, between figures, representing Fame and the river
+Scheldt, and holding a medallion with the heads of Francis I. and Maria
+Theresa was erected, as its inscription imports in 1711, by Thomas
+Bruce, Earl of Aylesbury, in recognition of the enjoyments he had
+experienced during a residence of forty years in Brussels.
+
+We dined to day with the gentlemen who formed the Commission of Inquiry
+which had lately visited the linen districts of Great Britain. The
+entertainment was at du Bos’, Rue Fossé-aux-Loups, the favourite
+restaurant of Brussels, and the dinner was altogether French, and equal
+to the best cuisine of the Palais Royale. The hotels of Brussels,
+those, I mean, in its upper town, are on an immense scale, especially
+the Bellevue, which overlooks the park, and was in the very focus of
+the fight during the “glorious three days” of 1830. Beside it is the
+Hôtel de Flandres, said to have the most recherché table-d’hôte of
+the entire, and such is its popularity, that we could neither obtain
+apartments in the hotel on our arrival, nor seats at the table on a
+subsequent occasion. In this dilemma, we took up our residence at a
+house on the opposite side of the same square, the Hôtel Brittanique,
+where we found the arrangements as execrable, in every respect, as the
+charges were monstrous. As usual, however, a stranger with his foot
+on the step of his carriage, has no resource but to submit; but, as a
+general rule, the traveller who is in search of the _cheapest_ hotel,
+should invariably address himself to that which has the reputation
+of being the _best_; where there is no temptation, as in the less
+frequented establishments, to make those who visit the house pay for
+the loss occasioned by the absence of those who avoid it, and where,
+even if the bill be occasionally something more than is equitable, he
+has, at least, the satisfaction of feeling that he has had _comfort_ in
+exchange for extortion.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+BRUSSELS.
+
+EFFECTS OF THE REPEAL OF THE UNION WITH HOLLAND.
+
+    The Belgian revolution has produced no man of leading genius--The
+      present ministry--M. Rogier--M. Liedtz, the Minister of the
+      Interior--An interview at the Home Office--Project of steam
+      navigation between Belgium and the United States--Freedom
+      of political discussion in Belgium--_Character of King
+      Leopold_--Public feeling in Brussels--The original union
+      of Holland and Belgium apparently desirable--Commercial
+      obstacles--Obstinacy of the King of Holland--Anecdote of
+      the King of Prussia--The extraordinary care of the King
+      for manufactures--_Prosperous_ condition of Belgium under
+      Holland--_Les Griefs Belges_--Singular coincidence between
+      the proceedings of THE REPEALERS IN IRELAND AND THE REPEALERS
+      IN BELGIUM--Ambition for separate nationality--Imposition
+      of the Dutch language unwise--Abolition of trial by
+      jury--Now disliked by the Belgians themselves--Financial
+      grievances--Inequality of representation--CONDUCT OF THE ROMAN
+      CATHOLICS--Hatred of toleration--Attachment of the clergy to
+      Austria--_Remarkable manifesto of the clergy to the Congress
+      of Vienna_--Resistance to liberty of conscience, and freedom
+      of the press--Demand for tithes--Resistance of the priests to
+      the toleration of Protestants--The official oath--_Protest
+      of the Roman Catholic Bishops against freedom of opinion
+      and education by the State_--Perfect impartiality of the
+      Sovereign--Resistance of the priesthood--_The Revolution_--Union
+      of the Liberals and Roman Catholics--Intolerant ambition of
+      the clergy--Separation of the _Clerico-liberal party_--Present
+      state of parties in the legislature--Unconstitutional
+      ascendancy of the priests--_State of public feeling_--Universal
+      disaffection--Curious list of candidates for the crown of
+      Belgium in 1831--“_La Belgique de Leopold_,” its treasonable
+      publications--Future prospects uncertain--Vain attempts to
+      remedy the evils of the revolution--_Connexion with the Prussian
+      League refused_--Impossibility of an union with Austria or
+      Prussia--Union with France impracticable--Partition of Belgium
+      with the surrounding states--_Possible restoration of the House
+      of Nassau, in the event of any fresh disturbance_.
+
+WE this morning paid a visit to M. Liedtz, the minister of the
+interior, in his hotel at the “Palais de la Nation.” It is rather
+remarkable that neither the actual eruption of the revolution nor its
+subsequent influence, has been sufficient to draw forth any individual
+of leading genius, to give a complexion to the policy of the new
+state. The actors who have played the most prominent _rôle_ during the
+last ten years have been a few of the ancient Catholic noblesse, whose
+titles gave éclat to the movement, but who have long since withdrawn
+into retirement, or ceased to take a lead in the administration--and
+the body of lawyers whose professional aptitude to promote or profit
+by any change, has enabled them to step over the heads of their less
+adroit, but not less qualified associates, and to appropriate to
+themselves the “loaves and fishes” of office. Lastly, there were “the
+masses” whose impetuosity achieved the revolution, the “patrioterie”
+who form the tools of every revolution to be worked for the benefit of
+their more clear sighted superiors. But the daring spirits of 1830 have
+all disappeared; the present times do not require such fiery agents;
+the violence which effects a revolution, must be the first thing to
+be got rid of by those who would perpetuate it, and who speedily
+learn to exchange the exciting demand of “_delenda est Carthago_,”
+for the milder supplication of “_panem et Circenses_.” In this way
+the Masaniello of the revolution, M. de Potter, having been given to
+comprehend that his services had been rendered, and his presence no
+longer desirable, has long since withdrawn himself to ponder over, and,
+it is even added, _to regret_ the events of 1830; but certainly to
+lament, in strong terms, his disappointment at their practical results.
+
+The present ministry did not, from all we could observe, command the
+confidence of their fellow citizens, nor do I recollect any one of them
+spoken of without a reference to some incapacity or disqualification
+for the office. M. Rogier, the minister of public works, had been a
+third or fourth rate barrister at Liege, and eked out an insufficient
+professional income by delivering lectures on French literature. His
+daring and energetic share in the events which displaced the old
+dynasty, recommended him to employment under the new, but the office
+assigned to him, that of the interior, involving the guardianship
+of trade and manufactures, was one for which he was little suited,
+either by education or taste, and he utterly destroyed the confidence
+of the merchants and mill owners, by avowing in one of his addresses
+to them, that they must be prepared to see “_commerce die a lingering
+death_,” if it were conducive to the permanence of the new order of
+things. M. Liedtz, with whom we had an interview this morning, had,
+like M. Rogier, been a lawyer, but of some standing and eminence in
+his profession. He had been, we heard, unfavourable to the revolution
+at its first out-break, but his talents speedily recommended him to
+the notice of the new authorities, who promoted him to be judge in the
+district of Antwerp, whence he was transferred to his present office
+on the removal of M. Rogier, to that of public works. He received us
+in a suite of very elegant apartments, much superior to those with
+which our own ministers are accommodated in Downing Street. He is a
+native of Audenarde, of humble parentage, but of considerable practical
+acquirements, especially on agricultural matters. He received us
+most affably, and after some conversation on commercial subjects,
+reverted at once to his own hobby, by asking after the progress of
+agriculture in Great Britain. The object of greatest interest with us
+was the duty which it had been announced that it was in contemplation
+by the government to impose upon the export of flax, and to which I
+have before alluded as the extraordinary expedient suggested by the
+agricultural members of the chambers, in order to protect the hand
+spinners from being superseded by machinery. The minister seemed fully
+to understand the absurdity of the suggestion, but still admitted that
+the “pressure from without” might compel him to introduce a bill upon
+the subject. He informed us, that a negociation has just been concluded
+with some speculators in the United States, supported by the Belgian
+government, with a view to running a line of steam-packets of great
+power from New York and Philadelphia to Antwerp and Ostend, touching
+at one of the southern ports of England, and thus it was expected
+securing a share of the passenger trade, as well as opening, by
+degrees, a market for Belgian produce in the United States.
+
+One thing, in Belgium, I cannot but allude to as characteristic--the
+unrestrained freedom with which every individual discusses politics,
+and the unreserved candour and frankness with which each details
+his views and strictures. This is the more remarkable, because the
+universal tenor of opinion is, if not directly to complain, at least,
+to admit the existence of much cause for complaint. I never met with
+less _bigotted_ politicians, and I have not seen a single individual,
+whom I would designate _a party-man_, in the English acceptation of
+the term, that is one who finds all right, or all wrong, precisely
+as the party with whom he sympathises be censured or lauded by the
+inference. But the fact is, there are no “optimists” in Belgium as yet,
+and there is so much that is unsatisfactory in every department, that
+the consciousness of it forces itself upon the conviction, if not the
+admission of every individual. The press, too, is equally unreserved,
+and in the shops of the booksellers, we found numbers of publications
+devoted to the exposure of the present condition of the country.
+
+Still no creature, not even the most violent partisan of the House
+of Nassau whom I have met with, includes King Leopold in the scope
+of his censures. The revolution itself, its immediate agents and its
+consequences are the objects of their condemnation; but no one of
+the results from which they suffer, is ascribed to the influence or
+interference of the King. Those who regret the expulsion of the King of
+Holland, look upon King Leopold merely as his involuntary successor,
+and whilst they condemn the incapacity of his ministers, and the
+violence of the party in the house and in the country by whom they are
+controlled--all seemed to regard the King as only borne upon a tide
+of circumstances, which he is equally unable with them to resist or
+direct. His fondness for locomotion, his frequent visits to England and
+journeys to Paris, were the subject of good humoured badinage, and
+have procured him the titles of “_le roi voyageur_,” and “_l’estafette
+nomade_.” “Il s’amuse,” said an intelligent Belgian, when I asked
+him what share the King took in politics, “he goes out of the way to
+Wiesbaden, and leaves things very much to themselves, or, what is
+nearly the same thing _to his ministers_.”
+
+In Brussels, of course, we found the revolution still popular; its
+population were the first to promote, and are the last to regret it.
+But it is an inland town, the residence of the court and the nobles,
+unconnected either with manufactures or commerce, and its shopkeepers
+have not suffered by the change, which has affected the prosperity of
+the trading districts. Equally independent of the loom and the sail,
+they only hear of the embarrassments of others, as a sound from a
+distance. Their intercourse is with the wealthy, who are congregated
+round the seat of the legislation and the palace of the sovereign; as
+yet their pursuits have not been affected by the diminished resources
+of the middle and labouring classes, and besides the constant passage
+of strangers, as well as the permanent residence of some thousands of
+English and other wealthy foreigners, is a permanent source of income.
+But, throughout the country and in the provincial towns, we met with
+but one feeling of keen discontent with the result of the revolution,
+and alarm for the condition and prospects of the country.
+
+That the union of Belgium with Holland in 1815 was one conceived, less
+with an eye to the interests of the two countries, than in an anxiety
+for the erection of a substantial power in that precise locality, as
+a security for the peace of Europe, is admitted by all engaged in
+its actual arrangements; but it is equally admitted, that whatever
+discordances there might have existed at the time between the feelings,
+the peculiarities and the interests of the two states, they presented
+no permanent obstacle to that “complete and intimate fusion” of the two
+people, which was ultimately anticipated by the Congress of Vienna.
+It was in order to erect the new kingdom into a state of adequate
+importance, that England, in addition to concurring in the restoration
+of the ancient Netherlands of Charles V, divested herself of a portion
+of her colonial conquests during the war to re-annex them to Holland,
+thus feeding the national resources of both sections of the new
+alliance--the Belgian by an outlet for its manufactures, and the Dutch
+by a carrying trade for their shipping.
+
+The union, too, was a natural one, not only geographically, but
+intrinsically. Belgium had been compelled to become a manufacturing
+country by the closing of the Scheldt, at the treaty of Munster which
+ended the Thirty years’ war in 1648, one of those unnatural acts of
+state policy, that seems almost an impious interference with the
+benevolence of providence; and which by annihilating this noble river
+for all purposes of trade, had the contemplated effect of driving
+commerce to Amsterdam and Rotterdam, thus constraining the Belgians
+to betake themselves to industry and handicrafts at home. With
+such elasticity did they conform to this necessity, that when the
+unnatural embargo was taken off by the progress of the French in 1794,
+the energies and genius of the population had made such a decided
+development, that they were not to be seduced back into their old
+pursuits of traffic, and the _manufactures_ of Belgium continued to
+prosper under “the continental system” of Napoleon, down to the period
+of the general peace. Holland, on the contrary, with her hands fully
+employed by her shipping and her trade, and possessing no mines of iron
+or coal, had never either the inducement or the temptation to become a
+manufacturing country, so that nothing could apparently be more happy,
+than the union of one producing nation all alive with machinery, with
+its neighbour proportionably rich in shipping; and to open to both an
+extensive colonial territory, whose population the merchantmen of the
+one could supply with the produce of the other.
+
+But even here lay the seeds of unforeseen dissentions. Belgium,
+all whose notions of commercial policy were formed upon the false
+and narrow basis of France, was perpetually calling for protective
+duties, bounties and prohibitions, without which her artisans were
+sinking under the effects of foreign competition; whilst to the
+Dutch, with their spirit of traffic and fleets of shipping, every
+restriction upon absolute free trade was a positive interception of
+gain. This antagonism of interests led to perpetual animosity in the
+states-general upon all questions of customs and imposts, and to
+such an extent did Holland give way upon these points, in order to
+protect the interests of Belgium at the sacrifice of her own, that a
+well informed author observes that, “_even supposing the desire for
+separation had not arisen in Belgium, the Dutch, ere long, would have
+been forced to call for this divorce in order to save Amsterdam and
+Rotterdam from ruin_.” It is more likely, however, that the march of
+manufacturing prosperity in Belgium, and the increased demand and
+consumption of her produce would have ultimately compensated her
+commercial colleague for all intermediate loss.[30]
+
+But added to these pecuniary squabbles, there were deeper and less
+tangible causes of mutual repulsion, differences of language and
+religion, and local prejudices and antipathies, out of which
+speedily sprung an infinity of definite “grievances,” which timely
+and conciliating interference and constitutional reforms might have
+allayed; but which, there can be no doubt, were obstinately and fatally
+neglected by the King of Holland, and his irresponsible ministers; and
+though it is absurd to regard them, even if unredressed, as justifiable
+grounds for revolution, they led ultimately to the expulsion of the
+family of Nassau from the Netherlands.
+
+It seems to be admitted upon all hands, that in this the King of
+Holland was seriously to blame, and that whilst the political causes
+of complaint were all capable of easy removal or redress, they were
+overlooked in his anxiety to stimulate and promote the commercial
+prosperity of the country. From the outset, he aimed at eradicating
+the French institutions, to which, during the twenty years of their
+connexion with that country, the Belgians had become strongly
+attached, and to assimilate them to the model of Holland. His conduct,
+in this attempt, was strongly contrasted with the prudence of the
+King of Prussia, who having received his Transrhenan provinces under
+precisely similar circumstances, had never once attempted to interfere
+with those habits and local constitutions to which the people had
+become familiarised. He even ventured to remonstrate with the King
+of Holland on the impolicy of his course, and to warn him of the
+discontents it was likely to engender, but received only a pettish
+reply that, “his Majesty was old enough to act for himself,”--a
+rebuff which the Prussian monarch is said to have retorted when, at a
+subsequent period, the King of Holland applied to him for assistance to
+reconquer Belgium, and he accompanied his refusal with a remark, that
+he presumed “his Majesty was old enough _to fight_ for himself.”
+
+This unwise neglect of the political grievances of Belgium, cannot be
+compensated by the King’s exclusive devotion to its manufacturing
+and substantial interests; and even in this, it is doubtful whether
+his zeal did not hurry him into an unwise extreme. His great ambition
+was to render his people “a nation of shopkeepers,” and develop as
+thoroughly the manufacturing resources of Belgium, as industry and
+care had matured the agricultural and commercial riches of Holland.
+There was no labour, no expense, no care, no experiment left unemployed
+to give life and impulse to their grand object. One engrossing topic
+was uppermost in his mind; which was not inaptly compared to a
+“price current,” solely influenced by the rise and fall of produce,
+or the fluctuations of the funds. The inventions of Watt and Fulton
+stood higher in his estimation than the achievements of Frederick or
+Napoleon. He protected the arts, not so much from admiration as policy,
+and he countenanced literature, not from any devotion to letters,
+but because it created a demand for articles of commerce. In short,
+there was nothing classic, inspiring or chivalrous in his bearing, all
+was material, positive and mathematical. Business was his element,
+his recreation; and amusement, but a robbery of that time which he
+thought he ought to devote entirely to his people. He loved to surround
+himself with practical men, and he gained the good will of all the
+great commercial and financial aristocracy by the attention he paid
+to them, individually and collectively. It is incontestible, that if
+the happiness and welfare of a nation had depended on the laborious
+exertions and unremitting devotion of the sovereign to commercial
+affairs, then Belgium ought to have been as contented as it was
+prosperous, and its sovereign the most popular monarch in Europe.[31]
+
+Under the auspices of such a sovereign, Belgium, during the fifteen
+years of its connexion with Holland, attained a height of prosperity
+which no human being presumes to question. Agriculture, recovering
+from the sad effects of war, and receiving an augmented impulse from
+the demand created by the commerce of Holland, speedily attained the
+highest possible point of prosperity--mines were opened, coal, iron
+and all other, mineral wealth extensively explored; manufactures and
+machinery were multiplied to an extent beyond belief, and the trade
+of Antwerp even outstepped that of Holland in exporting the produce
+of Belgium. Roads, canals and means of communication were constructed
+with surprising rapidity; sound and practical education was universally
+diffused, in short, every element of material prosperity became fully
+developed, and what rendered the progress of the nation the more
+important, was the fact that it was not intermittent or capricious, but
+exhibited one steady march in its ascent in each successive year, from
+the period of the union to the hour of its disruption.[32]
+
+In such a combination of circumstances, one is impatient to discover
+the specific causes of discontent which could inflame an entire
+population into all the fury of revolt, and to the expulsion by blood
+and the sword of a King, under whose sway they acknowledge themselves
+to be debtors for so many blessings. This is not the place to canvas
+their merits, but in merely enumerating the principal grievances of
+which they complain, the “_griefs Belges_,” as they were specially
+headed in the newspapers of the time, it is impossible to avoid being
+struck with the identity between the vast majority of the pretexts
+for revolt propounded by the “patrioterie” who Repealed the Union
+in Belgium, and the “patriots” who clamour for “the Repeal of the
+Union” in Ireland. Nor did this similarity escape the promoters of the
+revolution in either country. In Ireland, it has been ostentatiously
+and perseveringly dwelt upon, and even down to the present hour, the
+example of the Belgians is paraded as an incentive to the ambition
+of the enemies of British connexion; and in Belgium, even before the
+revolution, the position of the two countries, as regarded their
+several legislative connexions with England and Holland, was the
+subject of repeated comparisons and condolence. The “Belge,” a journal
+which was active in the encouragement of the movement, thus alludes
+to the coincidence of their circumstances in 1830. “Belgium has been
+long the Ireland of Holland, the relation of the dominant power has
+been in almost every particular, that of “_the Sister Island_” to
+England--with the intolerable addition, however, that while Ireland has
+had the less population by far, Belgium had by far the greater--that
+Belgium paid much more than her proportion of the taxes, whilst Ireland
+paid much less--that Ireland often sent her inhabitants to share
+in the distribution of places, pensions and honours, whilst such a
+distribution amongst the Belgians was of extremely rare occurrence.”
+
+But the similarity consists not less in the ostensible grounds for
+revolt, than in the identity of the actual instruments and agents.
+In Belgium, as in Ireland, they were the uneducated and bigotted
+mob, inflamed by the half-educated press, and led on by a propaganda
+of priests and a crowd of unsuccessful and hungry lawyers. In both
+countries, too, the leaders of the movement, whatever may have been
+their real and secret sentiments, ostensibly professed to seek merely
+a redress of grievances, and to start with alarm at the idea of
+_separation_; their only desire being a _federative union_ under the
+same crown, but with a distinct administration. The Belgian, however,
+soon felt that he wanted a power, which there is but little reason
+to ascribe to the Irishman of saying “thus far shalt thou go, and
+no farther,” and the stimulants applied to the versatile vanity of
+the people, soon rendered them impatient of any proposition short of
+actual independence. An unfortunate phrase in the treaty of Paris
+that Belgium was to be to Holland “as an accession of territory,” was
+construed into a national indignity, notwithstanding the expression
+of perfect equality and “fusion” which pervaded every other passage
+of the document, and the cry of “_a nation no longer a province_”
+became forthwith the aspiration of every discontented coterie. That
+distinction they have, at length, attained, and enjoy the barren
+eminence of a throne, but unfortunately without either the power, the
+wealth, or the influence as an European state, that are essential to
+give it dignity and stability.
+
+There are, however, some points of marked distinction between the
+two cases, inasmuch as whilst the Irish sufferers clamour _for_
+assimilation to England, those in Belgium flew to arms _against_
+assimilation with Holland; and, besides the Belgian repealer pursued
+his object of separation notwithstanding the admitted prosperity of his
+country, whilst the Irish one, less barefaced, tries eagerly to invent
+a case of distress in order to justify his treason. Above all, there
+is this happy difference, that whilst in Belgium the repeal has been
+achieved at the expense of national prosperity, Ireland has still the
+opportunity to reflect and to be warned by her lamentable example.
+
+The civil grievances of the revolutionists arose out of certain
+measures of the King, in some of which he was manifestly wrong; his
+attempts to render Dutch the national language for all public documents
+in certain provinces--to abolish trial by jury, which had been
+established by the French--to remove the supreme court of judicature
+to the Hague--and to introduce the principles of Dutch law into all
+their pleas and proceedings. The two latter were the usual vexatious
+manifestations of the spirit of centralization, which a prudent
+government would never have attempted to force upon the unwilling
+prejudices of a nation; and the substitution of the Dutch tribunal
+for the trial by jury would have been a substantial injustice, had
+the people been unanimous, or even, in a considerable proportion,
+favourable to it; but in the divisions upon the question in the
+States General, large bodies of the Belgian representatives were
+found voting constantly against it; and _even now, notwithstanding
+its re-establishment, it has become more and more unpopular, and even
+those who supported it in 1830, refuse to sit upon juries themselves,
+or to uphold the system by their co-operation_. The alteration of the
+language was an unwise attempt to force upon four millions of Belgians
+the dialect of three millions of Dutch. This has, however, been sought
+to be defended by stating, that of the entire population of the united
+kingdom, one fifth alone spoke French, namely in Hainault, the Waloons,
+South Brabant, and a part of Luxembourg; and the remainder dialects of
+German, in the proportion of two fifths Dutch, and two fifths Flemish.
+The imposing Dutch upon the entire was not, therefore, more unjust than
+would have been a similar imposition of Flemish, _and yet, within this
+very year, the party who reviled the one to the death in 1830, have
+begun to petition the legislature for the other_! They are contented
+now to abandon French, which they then contended for, and to accept the
+barbarous patois of Flanders as its substitute, which would be equally
+unintelligible to the Waloons, and even in those districts of Antwerp
+which border upon Holland.
+
+Another complaint had reference to the disproportionate distribution
+of government patronage between the subjects of Holland and Belgium,
+in which there may have been much truth, and to which the government
+did not take the most wise nor the most soothing steps to reconcile
+the minority, by ascribing it to the _dearth of talent_ amongst their
+countrymen. _Like the Irish_, the Belgian agitators protested against
+the taxes of Belgium being made applicable to the discharge of the
+national debt, of which the largest proportion had been contracted by
+Holland before the period of the union--but having by the Revolution
+secured the management of the national revenues in their own hands, _an
+evil of more serious magnitude has been discovered, in the fact, that
+the expenditure of Belgium in every year since the Revolution, with the
+single exception of 1835, has exceeded the revenue by some millions of
+francs_. In 1831 and 1832 this was strikingly the case, the expenses
+of the war and of new establishments leading in the former year to an
+expenditure of upwards of four millions, and in the latter to eight
+millions sterling. In
+
+  1833   the revenue was   £3,441,519    and
+         the expenditure    3,765,993   excess   £324,474
+  1834   the revenue was    3,371,182    and
+         the expenditure    3,554,960   excess    183,778
+  1835   the revenue was    3,695,225   excess    112,852
+         the expenditure    3,582,373
+  1836   the revenue was    3,382,286    and
+         the expenditure    3,469,031   excess     86,746
+  1837   the revenue was    3,436,468    and
+         the expenditure    3,817,621   excess    381,153
+  1838   the revenue was    3,784,253    and
+         the expenditure    3,885,232   excess    100,979
+  1839   the revenue was    4,163,821    and
+         the expenditure    4,476,613   excess    312,792
+
+The interest upon the national debt of the independent state exceeds at
+the present moment £800,000 a year. Besides, during the Dutch regime,
+it appeared that in Belgium, _as in Ireland_, the malcontents bore
+the most trifling proportion of the national burthens, the revenue of
+the three years preceding the revolt being paid in the proportion of
+sixteen florins per head for every inhabitant of Holland, and only ten
+for those of the Netherlands.
+
+Another grievance, no less _Irish_ than Belgian, was that the number
+of representatives was not regulated exclusively in proportion to the
+_population_ of the two states, totally irrespective of the relative
+territory and possessions of each--and although the representation was
+exactly divided, one half of the States General being Dutch and one
+half Belgian, a division warranted by the large territorial interests
+of the former; the patriots and their disturbers complained “_Si l’on
+nous avait attribué une représentation en rapport avec la population_,
+NOUS AURIONS DOMINÉ LE NORD.”[33] The frankness of this avowal has not
+yet been imitated by the Repealers of Ireland; but its aspiration is
+not the less manifest in the similarity of their pretensions; and the
+frequent references of the Irish agitator in the House of Commons to
+the relative population and comparative electoral constituencies of the
+counties of England and Ireland, irrespective of their relative wealth
+and property, parrotted as they have recently been by members of her
+Majesty’s government, may no doubt be construed into an ill-concealed
+adoption of the sentiments of the repealers of Belgium.
+
+These, and a few other minor points, were the burthen of all the
+_civil_ grievances against which the oppressed patriots of Belgium
+had to protest; and it is not difficult to perceive that it required
+but a little complaisance on the part of the Dutch government to
+redress them, although it is too late to regret that that redress was
+not timely applied. It is impossible, however, for any sober minded
+citizen to discern in the entire mass of these complaints, even in
+all their aggravation, any adequate ground for a resort to the last
+remedy of oppression--war, and revolution; and in vain would the
+restless promoters of the revolt have laboured to inflame the populace
+by rhapsodies on the glory of independence, or diatribes against
+the pronunciation of Dutch,--in vain would they have attempted to
+sting them into madness by calculations of finance, or lamentations
+over the exclusion of some provincial orator, from a seat in the
+legislature or a portfolio in some public bureau,--all these whips and
+stimulants would have been powerless and unfelt, had not _religion_
+been introduced in association with each, and the ascendancy of the
+Roman Catholic church been made the alpha and the omega--the beginning
+and the end--the burthen of every complaint, and the object of every
+exhortation.
+
+The avowed cause of the dissatisfaction of the clergy, was that the
+King _was a protestant_, and that protection and full toleration
+was extended to all sects and religious communities. The genius and
+pretensions of the Roman Catholic church seems, down to the present
+hour, to have undergone less modification in Belgium than in any other
+country of Europe, with the single exception, perhaps, of Rome itself.
+It was to preserve it in all its integrity that Philip II. and the Duke
+of Alva for thirty years exhausted the blood and treasure of Spain
+in its defence, and down to the present hour, its clergy exhibit a
+practical gratitude for their devotion, by the uncompromising assertion
+of every attribute for which they contended. Belgium is, at this
+moment, the most thoroughly catholic country in Europe, and the recent
+exploits of the Archbishop of Cologne attest the power of its example
+and its influence even over the adjoining states.
+
+Under the dominion of Austria, the authority of the church had been
+recognized by the crown, in all its plenitude and power, and the
+subsequent union of Belgium to France in 1795, was eagerly resisted
+by the clergy, who naturally saw in it the subversion of their power
+before that of the Goddess of Reason. But even the influence of twenty
+years of intimate association with France, proved incapable to diminish
+the ardent subjection of the Belgians to their priesthood, or temper
+the ambition of their prelates and their clergy; and when, at length,
+the clasps which held together the empire of Napoleon, flew asunder in
+1814, the utmost desire of the priesthood was to have Belgium again
+restored to her ancient masters, and _re-constructed as a province
+of Austria_, in which event, they calculated that the elevation of
+the church would follow, as of course. This, however, European policy
+forbade; and when, in 1814, the prelates of Flanders found themselves
+abandoned by their chosen sovereign, who accepted, in exchange, the
+more attractive provinces of Italy, and handed them over to one of the
+most Protestant monarchs in Europe, their consternation was unbounded,
+and in the extravagance of their disappointment, they had the madness
+to address a memorial to the Congress of Vienna, which is well worthy
+of being preserved as an authentic manifesto of the pretensions of the
+Roman Catholic church in modern times.[34]
+
+It bears date in October, 1814, and is signed by the vicars-general
+of the Prince de Broglie, who was then Bishop of Ghent. It sets out
+by an exposition of a principle learned, they say, from experience,
+that it is indispensable for a catholic country passing under the
+government of a protestant sovereign, to stipulate for the free
+exercise of its own worship, and for placing all its ancient rights
+and privileges beyond the reach of any interference of the state
+(“_hors de toute atteinte de la part du Souverain_”). The religion of
+Luther, the vicars-general proceeded to remind the Congress, is merely
+_tolerated_ in Germany beside that of Rome, although it is very absurd
+to approve of two doctrines that contradict each other; but in Belgium,
+the latter has been distinctly recognized from immemorial time, and
+they, therefore, feel it is incumbent on them early to demand a
+formal guarantee for its exclusive exercise, “_l’exercice exclusif_,”
+which had been secured to them, at former times, by the most solemn
+treaties. They warn the Prince of Orange, that he will find it his
+future interest, as well as that of Europe in general, whose object
+it must be to have Belgium peaceful and contented, to enter into an
+inaugural compact with the church, regarding the maintenance of all
+its ancient authority, and candidly intimate that the result shall
+never be satisfactory, if their own demands are not complied with in
+the following particulars:--First, the exclusive establishment of the
+Roman Catholic religion, _with this exception, that the royal family
+and the court may have a place of protestant worship in their palaces
+or chateaus, but that on no pretence whatever, is a protestant church
+to be erected elsewhere_. The words of this postulate are as distinct
+as their import is remarkable in the nineteenth century:--“Avec cette
+exception, que le Prince Souverain et son auguste famille seront
+libres de professer leur religion, et d’en exercer le culte dans leurs
+palais, chateaux, et maisons royales, ou les seigneurs de sa cour
+auront des chapelles et des ministres de leur religion, _sans qu’il
+soit permis d’ériger des temples hors de l’enceinte de ces palais,
+sous quelque pretexte que ce soit_.” Secondly, that the church was
+to have absolute dominion in all matters concerning its own affairs.
+Thirdly, that the Council of State was to be composed _exclusively
+of Roman Catholics_, including _two bishops_ of the establishment.
+Fourthly and fifthly, that a nuncio should be received from the Roman
+See, to treat with the council, and a new concordat obtained with
+the Pope. Sixthly, _that it was indispensably essential, in order to
+provide a perpetual maintenance for the clergy beyond all control of
+the state, that tithes should be re-established throughout Belgium_;
+the protestants, of course, contributing to the maintenance of the
+church from which they dissented! Seventhly, the re-establishment of
+the university of Louvain; and lastly, the restoration of the _monks
+and religious orders_ which had been suppressed by the Emperor Joseph
+II, and “_as one of the most excellent means, and, perhaps, the only
+one, at the present day, to secure to youth the blessings of an
+education combining, at once, the principles of genuine religion and
+the acquirements of human learning, the re-establishment of the Jesuits
+throughout Belgium_.[35]”
+
+Whether this extraordinary document was really framed with a view
+to influence the deliberations of the Congress, or written with a
+full anticipation of their ultimate conclusion, and designed only
+as a defiance and a bold forewarning of the consequence, it had but
+little weight at Vienna, and the provinces were consigned, without the
+required stipulations, to the King of Holland.
+
+The constitution of the new state was based upon principles of the
+most unrestricted toleration and protection for all denominations of
+religion. But toleration and freedom of opinion are the very essence of
+the reformation, and the Roman Catholic clergy had the discernment to
+perceive that no more effectual system could have been established for
+the silent but ultimate subversion of their church, than by reducing
+it to an equality with every other, thus lending the authority of the
+state in ascribing to many the possession of that saving faith, which
+it is fatal to the very spirit of catholicism to have attributed to
+any but one--and that one, herself. Equal rights and protection were
+to her more pernicious than proscription and persecution, and no other
+course was left to her than that precisely which she adopted to protest
+against toleration in the first instance, and to revolt against it in
+the end.
+
+By an arrangement of the new government, no public functionary or
+officer connected with any department of the state, was to enter
+upon his functions before having taken an oath to maintain all the
+principles and observe all the enactments of the Constitution. But
+as amongst these were comprised the fundamental law of “toleration,”
+another manifesto was instantly issued by the prelates, prohibiting all
+Roman Catholics from subscribing to the obnoxious oath, as subversive
+of all the principles of the church of Rome, and ruinous to her
+attributes and claims!
+
+The articles which they objected to were those which guaranteed to all
+religious denominations of Christians perfect liberty of conscience,
+freedom of worship, an equality of civil rights and indiscriminate
+eligibility to all public employments.[36] To swear to the observance
+of such a law, the prelates declared to be neither more nor less than
+to exact equal protection for error as for truth,--and to countenance
+the admission to places of honour and trust, without distinction of
+religion, was merely sanctioning, by anticipation, measures that might
+hereafter be taken for permitting the interference of protestants in
+the affairs of the catholic community. The words of the Constitution
+established the unlimited exercise of public worship, “unless where
+it gave rise to any public disturbance,” _lorsqu’il a été l’occasion
+d’un trouble_; “but the bishops protested, that to give a power to the
+government to interfere under any limitation, was to submit the church
+to the authority of its enemies; and that _to swear obedience to any
+constitution which presumed the Catholic Church to be subject to the
+temporal law was manifestly to subscribe to its humiliation_.”[37] “To
+ascribe,” they said, “to a sovereign of a different faith, _a right
+of interference in the regulation of national education_ would be to
+hand over public instruction to the secular power, and would exhibit a
+shameful betrayal of the dearest interests of the church. There are
+other articles of the Constitution,” continues the manifesto, “which no
+true child of the Catholic Church can ever undertake, by a solemn oath,
+to observe or to support, and _above all others that which establishes_
+THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS!”
+
+This singular document bore the signatures of the Prince Maurice de
+Broglie, Bishop of Ghent, Charles Francis Joseph Pisani de la Gaude,
+Bishop of Namur, François Joseph, Bishop of Tournai, and of J. Forgeur
+and J. A. Barrett, the Vicars-General of Malines and Liege. I have
+preserved it and the memorial to the Congress of Vienna, as the most
+remarkable denunciations against liberty of conscience that modern
+times have produced, and a singular evidence of how little influence
+the example, or the intimate association of twenty years with the
+liberalism of France, was capable of producing on the spirit and genius
+of the church of Rome.
+
+Its promulgation produced an instant effect upon the weak consciences
+of the people, which, for a time, was productive of the utmost
+embarrassment to the establishment and arrangements of the new
+government, as individuals were prevented from accepting offices,
+which were open to them, from a dread of the vengeance of the altar.
+Its mischievous consequences were, however, after a time, defeated by
+the temperate conduct of the Prince de Mean, the last Prince Bishop
+of Liege, and subsequently Bishop of Malines, who had not signed the
+document, and who took the requisite oath, _subject to approval of the
+Pope_, an example which was speedily followed by all whom the incentive
+of office inspired with a natural anxiety to avail themselves of so
+high an authority.
+
+The King now administered the law with an apparent oblivion of
+every previous act of the Roman Catholic clergy. The income which
+was appropriated by the state for their support, was _augmented_
+at his suggestion, the remotest interference with their worship
+was in no solitary instance attempted, and churches were built for
+their accommodation in the poorer districts, to which his Majesty
+himself was a liberal contributor. For some years every pretext for
+special complaint was successfully avoided, and the country was too
+rapidly prosperous to be yet ripe for any efforts to excite abstract
+discontent. But, at length, about 1825, the striking results of the
+Dutch system of National Education, to which I have referred in a
+former chapter, were so apparent, that the spread of intelligence and
+instruction became too alarming to permit the church to be longer
+quiescent, and resistance was at once commenced, notwithstanding
+the fact, that the religious education in the primary schools was
+scrupulously reserved for the superintendence of the priests, and
+theology was utterly excluded from the courses of the universities, and
+handed over exclusively to the college of Louvain. But education, even
+under these limitations, must be instantly suppressed, or unreservedly
+submitted to the church, without any control from the ministry of
+the interior. Some concessions upon this point served only to give
+confidence to the boldness of further demands, and when these were
+resisted, every other grievance, civil and religious, having in the
+mean time undergone the necessary process of aggravation and distortion
+to ripen the passions of the “patrioterie” for revolt, the mine was
+considered ready for explosion, “and the whole country,” to use the
+words of Baron Keverberg,[38] “resounded with the cry of the priests,
+who filled Europe with their denunciations of resentment. To listen to
+them, one would imagine that the Catholic Church in the Netherlands
+groaned in the chains of an unrelenting oppression, and that the King
+had sworn to tear the faith of their fathers from the hearts of his
+subjects, and to hesitate at no measure, however furious or tyrannical,
+to “protestantize their country.” It is unnecessary to say that these
+were not only pure fabrications, “mere rhetorical artifices,” to serve
+the purpose of the hour, since even their authors now admit this to be
+the fact. In a recent publication of the journal of Bruges, which is
+devoted to the _liberal_ party, it avows that William I. so far from
+being the “protestant tyrant which it was then expedient to represent
+him, was the most tolerant of princes, ‘le plus tolerant que l’on
+puisse s’imaginer,’ and only hated by the priesthood because he would
+not endure them to _place the altar upon the throne itself_, as they
+have succeeded in doing by the revolution of 1830.”
+
+With this imperfect _aperçu_ of the origin of the Belgian revolution,
+it is easy to collect its objects, its agents, and its effects. The
+union of the Liberals, with the priesthood and their followers, who
+formed the preponderating mass of the population, formed an alliance so
+powerful, that the whole strength of Holland was unequal to withstand
+it, much less the small body of reflecting and loyal subjects, who
+still remained faithful to the union and the crown, and who were not
+only overwhelmed by the violence of the commotion at the moment, but
+so utterly discomfited by its ultimate consequences, that they have
+never since been able to rally as a party. But the immediate object
+being once achieved, the union of the “_clerico-liberal_” confederacy
+did not long survive its consummation. The “compact alliance” between
+the priests and the liberals had been sought by the former only to
+effect a definite purpose, which could not otherwise be attained,
+_the Repeal of the Union_; and no sooner was this accomplished, than
+the intolerant ambition of the clergy, put an end to all further
+co-operation between them. The party of the priests had then become
+all powerful by their numbers, and no longer requiring the assistance
+of their former allies, they boldly attempted their own objects
+independently, and in defiance of them. It is rather a ludicrous
+illustration of their zeal and its aim, that among the crowd of
+aspirants who were named for the crown of Belgium in 1831, the _Pope_
+himself was put in nomination! and had the decision remained with
+the revolutionists, there can be no doubt that the Netherlands would
+have been added to the territory of the Holy See.[39] Before twelve
+months from the expulsion of the King of Holland, the body by whom
+it was effected was split into two contending factions, and, at the
+present hour, the two opposing parties who contest every measure in the
+legislation of Belgium, are the quondam allies of the revolution,--the
+Liberals, and the “_parti prêtre_,” the latter of whom have the decided
+majority, and rule their former associates with a rod of iron.
+
+Every thing, in fact, is regulated by the wishes of that numerous body
+of the priesthood, who from their ardent exertions for ascendancy,
+have obtained the title of the _La Mennaisiens_, and whose influence in
+every family and in every parish, rules, regulates and determines every
+political movement. They it is who conduct all the elections, name the
+candidates, and marshal the constituency to the poll, and when I was
+at Ghent, the curate of Bottelaer, a rural district in the vicinity,
+read from the altar the persons for whom the congregation were to vote,
+at a pending contest, on pain of the displeasure of the Bishop. If the
+coincidence does not strike irresistibly every individual, who has
+attended to what is passing in Belgium, it is here again unnecessary
+to point out the parallel, between the composition of the two parties,
+in that country and Ireland, who sympathise in the principle of repeal
+and separation. In each country the majority of the “movement” is
+composed of the Roman Catholic clergy, and the devotees of the church,
+but in both their strength would be ineffectual, and certainly their
+object suspected, had they not been joined by honest but mistaken
+individuals, who, aiming at Utopian theories in politics, have been
+content to employ for their accomplishment, the aid of those, whose
+designs are more essentially sectarian, than civil or political.
+
+In Belgium, however, the demonstration has been made, of what may be
+expected to ensue, should the project of Repealing the Union be ever
+successfully effected in Ireland. There, as in Flanders and Brabant,
+the priests and their followers would have the overwhelming majority;
+and caution or concealment being no longer essential, the triumph of
+their attempt, would be but the signal for discarding their allies, and
+proceeding boldly to the consummation of their own ambition. The union
+once repealed, the objects of the liberal protestants of Ireland and
+the Roman Catholic party, would be as distinct as the very spirit of
+freedom, and the genius of despotism could render them. The manifesto
+of the Roman Catholic prelates to the Congress of Vienna, and their
+protest against _Liberty of Conscience_, _Education_, and _the Freedom
+of the Press_ in Belgium, made, not at any remote or antiquated era
+of history, _but within the last ten years_, sufficiently attest
+the animus in which their admirers and imitators would set about
+the regeneration of Ireland. The Archbishop of Malines would find a
+cotemporary and congenial spirit in the benignant prelate of Tuam,
+the pastoral superintendance of the clergy would be as vigorous in
+the elections for a domestic, as for a “Saxon” legislature, and as
+successful in securing a majority in the parliament of Dublin, as in
+the “Palace of the Nation,” and the services of the patriots who now
+shout in the train of the Agitator, could be as readily dispensed with
+in Ireland, as they have been summarily discarded in Belgium.
+
+Were the union between the two countries once repealed, the union
+between the two sections, by whose co-operation direct or indirect
+it had been effected, would not survive it one single year--the
+influence of the protestant and English party in Ireland, would in
+such a conjuncture be as effectually annihilated, as had been the
+adherents of Holland, in Belgium; and the deluded liberals, by whose
+unwise assistance they had been overwhelmed, would find themselves
+in the position of the moderate section of the chambers of Brussels,
+the conscientious, but inefficient opponents of a despotism, more
+formidable than that they had overthrown, inasmuch as the tyranny of
+the million exceeds the tyranny of the individual, and infinitely more
+galling, inasmuch as they had themselves contributed unwillingly to
+impose it upon their country.
+
+In such a state of things, it is easy to imagine the discontent and
+disunion, which pervades every department of Belgium; its trade and
+manufactures, labouring under wants and pressures, which the government
+have not the power, however anxious their inclination, to relieve;
+the civil grievances for the abatement of which the revolution was
+undertaken, only partially redressed, and in some instances, exchanged
+for others, the immediate offspring of the remedy itself,--and to
+crown all, the government and the country submitted to a religious
+ascendancy, which is as unwisely exercised by the party who have
+attained to it, as it is suspected and disliked by their opponents, who
+smart under its caprices and suffer from its indiscretion.
+
+Even the very last act of the revolution, and that which might be
+regarded as placing the seal to the European bond, for its permanency,
+namely the ratification of the final treaty for the partition with
+Holland last year, seems to have only added to the existing insecurity;
+the leaders of 1830, loudly protesting against the assignment to
+Holland of these portions of Luxembourg and Limbourg, which have been
+decreed to her, and the mercantile interests, uniting in complaints,
+that the government of King Leopold, have been outwitted by the
+ministers of the Hague, and have not only submitted to surrender
+350,000 of their already reduced population of consumers to Holland,
+but have ceded to her demands, which will inflict injury upon the
+navigation of the Meuse and the Scheldt.
+
+I can state from my own observation, that I have not conversed on the
+subject with a single individual in Belgium, who expressed himself
+thoroughly satisfied with the present posture of affairs. On the
+contrary, I have found every where irritated dissatisfaction, and
+if not open regret for the events of 1830, and distinct wishes for
+a reunion with Holland, the utmost perplexity to discover some yet
+untried expedient, which would hold out a hope of restoring the country
+to its tranquil prosperity, whether as an independent nation, or in
+incorporation with some other state. _On all hands, it seemed to be
+felt that for things to go on as at present is impossible_, this was
+the constant theme of conversation in society, and the pamphlets and
+brochures which I picked up in the shops, are filled with discussions
+of the same subject, but in terms much more acrimonious and exciting.
+
+One of these, which I found selling at Ghent, entitled “_La Belgique
+de Leopold, par un voyageur Français_,” and which though strongly in
+favour of Holland, is evidently written by a person well informed on
+the state of Belgium, thus speaks of the present state of feeling in
+that country; and the publicity with which pamphlets of this kind are
+exposed for sale, and their circulation are evidences of an extensive
+sympathy with the author’s views. “The Belgians,” the author says, “of
+all classes, representatives and constituencies, rich and poor, long
+for the arrival of the moment, which is to disembarrass them from an
+imaginary nationality, a delusive freedom and an independence, whose
+very name has become a jest--but they want as yet the energy which is
+essential to hasten their relief. It is possible, that in the little
+circle, whose life and fortunes are dependent upon Leopold, there may
+be some who flatter themselves with the hope that the ratification of
+the treaty of 1839, is the consolidation and establishment of his power
+* * But the vast body of the nation less involved in the immediate
+question of the revolution, are far from regarding the present
+peaceful position as one of long duration, although guaranteed to the
+new state in the name of the same powerful courts, which by treaties
+not less solemn and sage had conferred the crown upon the former
+dynasty from whose brows, it had been rudely torn by the revolution * *
+* At this moment, the prolonged existence of Belgium, as an independent
+state, is a matter of impossibility, its manufactures, its commerce
+and its prosperity are annihilated, and it is crushed to the earth
+under the pressure of its debt and taxes. Without ships, colonies or
+commerce, and encumbered by an army, which never fights, and fortresses
+destined for demolition, it is merely the jibe and the laughing stock
+of Europe * * * The very authors of the revolt of 1830, blush for their
+own handiwork, and those who were then the most zealous apostles of
+revolution, now preach only contrition and repentance. The defection
+is universal--and above all the army,--the army, exposed every day
+to the most cutting sarcasms, vents its indignation in menaces and
+murmurs. Every class of the population, including those who would have
+been perfectly contented with the present order of things, were the
+circumstances of the country at all tolerable; the whole nation, in
+short, except the fraction of a fraction, without numbers, wealth nor
+weight, unite in aspiration for the return of the House of Orange;
+and the restoration of the kingdom of 1815, is in every heart and on
+every tongue * * Belgium, has herself, no other alternative left to
+her, and if from predilection and choice she does not invoke the return
+of a race of princes enlightened, paternal, courageous and brave, she
+must speedily be reduced by famine, to implore the restoration, as her
+only relief from evils of the last extremity. Their restoration may
+be regarded, at this moment, as morally accomplished, the universal
+voice of the nation has decreed it, and it requires but an accident,
+an excuse, a name, a banner, and the existence of the revolutionary
+kingdom is terminated without another ‘protocol.’”[40]
+
+Under these circumstances, the position of King Leopold must be any
+thing but an easy one, if his ambition extends to the foundation of
+a royal dynasty for his descendants. The religious grievances of the
+nation are, it is too much to be feared, beyond his reach to correct,
+and the evils which beset and endanger its internal prosperity, arising
+out of the circumscribed resources of the nation, must look in vain to
+them for redress. The fundamental defect is the want of an adequate
+consumption for the produce of the national industry, and for this the
+ingenuity of the government has been ineffectually tortured to discover
+a remedy. It is idle to look to Germany or England for _commercial
+treaties_ which would afford an opening for Belgian manufactures in
+competition with their own; important concessions have been made to
+France, by the reduction of duties upon her produce, when imported
+into Belgium, but no reciprocal advantages have been obtained in
+return; on the contrary, ever since 1815, when the Netherlands were
+taken from her, to be given to Holland, she has exhibited a waspish
+impatience to embarrass and undermine her prosperity. _Prospects
+of colonization_ have been discussed and even proposals made to
+other states for permission to attempt settlements on their distant
+territory--and where these have failed, commercial expeditions have
+been dispatched to Algiers, to Egypt, to Brasil, to Bolivia and Peru,
+all with a view to open a trading intercourse with the natives, but
+each and all have proved hopelessly unsuccessful.
+
+The manufacturers of Ghent and Verviers, have thus turned their eyes
+towards the Zoll-Verein, and year after year attempts have been made
+to effect a connexion, if not a formal juncture with the Prussian
+Commercial League; but here again disappointment alone awaited them,
+for independently of the fact, that by the constitution of the
+Zoll-Verein, it is accessible only to those of German blood (on which
+score Luxembourg might have been admissible), it was manifestly hostile
+to the very spirit of the league, whose object is to protect their own
+native manufacturers, to admit amongst them a formidable rival, who
+would inundate them with her produce, and could take nothing from them
+in return.
+
+But if the necessities and weakness of Belgium, render it impracticable
+for her to continue as she is, and if national independence be
+irreconcilable with her prosperity, the question which occupies the
+thoughts of her discontented subjects, is to what quarter she shall
+turn for relief from without. To attach herself again to Austria, as
+before the French revolution, is a matter impracticable and could be
+productive of no advantage, even if it were otherwise. The condition of
+the Rhenish provinces, under the dominion of Prussia, would make her
+eager for a similar incorporation, but this the interests of Europe, as
+well as those of Prussia herself forbid.
+
+An union with France would be equally hopeless and incompatible with
+the policy of the Congress of Vienna, and would, with the exception of
+the districts immediately bordering on the French frontier, be in the
+highest degree distasteful to the population at large. Their annexation
+to the territory of France in 1794, had been resisted by the clergy,
+and its termination in 1814 was hailed with rapturous impatience by all
+classes. Their condition under the empire had been one “of the most
+insignificant vassalage. Their religious institutions destroyed, their
+cherished privileges annihilated, and all their rights and immunities
+for which they had been contending for centuries before, trodden under
+foot.”[41] Even their commerce and manufactures were jeopardised by the
+jealous rivalry of their new allies, their clergy debased, and their
+youth drafted off by conscription to feed the slaughter of Europe.
+The recollection of this has left no vigorous desire for a return to
+fraternization with France, nor would France herself, however important
+Belgium might be as a political acquisition, consult the interest of
+her native manufactures by imparting an equality in all her advantages
+to competitors so formidable. Still so impatient are the Belgians to
+fly from the “ills they have,” that at the present moment, whilst the
+possibility of war between France and the rest of Europe occupies the
+attention of all the world, I was repeatedly assured in Belgium that it
+would only require France to give the signal, and a powerful section of
+the people would declare in her favour. So conscious are all parties of
+this, that the bare probability of war in Europe is looked to with the
+utmost alarm by the government, and the _Controleur_, an appropriately
+named journal, the organ of the clerical party, was anxiously busied,
+whilst I was in Ghent, in decrying any idea of a re-union with
+France, declaring in one of its publications early in September:
+“Et comme nous n’avons pas pour habitude de cacher notre manière de
+voir, nous dirons rondement, _que nous serions plutôt Hollandais que
+Français_.--En dépit de M. Rogier.”
+
+Another suggestion has been the _partition_ of Belgium between the
+surrounding states, but to this equally insurmountable obstacles
+present themselves. Antwerp and the districts on the Dutch frontier,
+if assigned to Holland, would have no longer employment for their
+capital and ships, and would again sink under the more favoured rivalry
+of Amsterdam and Rotterdam; and as Hainault and the fortresses along
+the Meuse and the Sambre would necessarily fall to the lot of France,
+a measure so menacing to the future security of Europe, would not be
+tolerated by her courts, unless these strongholds were garrisoned by
+the allies, an expedient which would be equally opposed by the pride
+and ambition of the French.
+
+If the further experience should unfortunately decide finally against
+the permanence of Belgium as an independent nation, the only practical
+expedient which remains, and that which has already received the
+sanction of all the great powers of Europe, would be a return to the
+disposition made by the Congress of Vienna, and the reincorporation
+of Holland and Belgium, to form again the united kingdom of the
+Netherlands. Personal aversion to King William would no longer oppose a
+barrier to such an arrangement, as his dominion has passed into other
+hands, and the Prince of Orange, the present king at all times enjoyed
+the popular affections, if not the national confidence of the people.
+Should any fresh convulsion arise, which for the sake of the peace of
+Europe, not less than for that of King Leopold, it is most earnestly
+to be hoped may be yet averted, all I have either seen or been able to
+learn from those best informed upon the matter, leaves little doubt
+in my mind, that the almost unanimous wish of the people, should
+they be compelled to change their present dynasty, would point to the
+restoration of the House of Nassau.
+
+
+END OF VOL. I.
+
+
+  LONDON:
+  PRINTED BY SCHULZE AND CO., 13, POLAND STREET.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES
+
+[1] Made by Nurse and Co. Crawford Street, Bryanstone Square.
+
+[2] So styled in the act by which Philip II, ceded to them the
+Sovereignty of the Low Countries.
+
+[3] Wordsworth’s Sonnet to Bruges.
+
+[4] Query, St. Salvador.
+
+[5] I must take this early opportunity of adding my tribute of
+gratitude to the compiler of these most invaluable volumes, the
+Hand-books of Northern and Southern Germany, they have been my constant
+companions, and I cannot do less than unite with every tourist, whom I
+met on the continent, in pronouncing them as matchless in the value and
+variety of their contents, as they are faultless in their accuracy.
+
+[6] It is the custom in Belgium, in order to distinguish one member of
+the same family, to append to the surname of the husband that of his
+lady.
+
+[7] At Ghent, this fee has been reduced to one half the sum.
+
+[8] De l’Industrie en Belgique, Causes de Decadence et de Prosperité,
+&c. par M. N. Briavionne, Bruxelles, 1839, vol. ii, p. 345.
+
+[9] By the French commercial code, there are three descriptions of
+trading companies. First, _sociétés en nom collectif_, with all the
+attributes of an ordinary partnership in England; secondly, _sociétés
+en commandite_, where the great majority of the associated capitalists
+are sleeping partners, with no share in the management, no name in
+the firm, and responsible only to the extent of their registered
+capital, one or more of the partners, alone, having the conduct of the
+establishment, and being responsible to the public to the full extent
+of their property; and thirdly, the _sociétés anonymes_, which are, in
+every incident and particular analogous to the joint stock companies of
+England, only with a liability, limited in every instance to the amount
+of their shares.
+
+[10] These engines are in great esteem, and I have found them in almost
+universal use in Belgium. The one alluded to above, was consuming from
+5½ of to 6½ lbs. of coals, per hour, per horse power; whilst a low
+pressure engine in England, would require from 12 to 14lbs. In this
+country, they are likewise coming in greater demand, although here
+the saving of coal is a matter of less importance, and may be, in
+some degree, counterbalanced by the risk, and more frequent repairs,
+incidental to high pressure engines.
+
+[11] The price of coal at Ghent, when I visited its manufactories was
+20 francs for 1000 kilogrammes, or about sixteen shillings a ton for
+coals of Mons, which are brought from a considerable distance by the
+Scheldt; those of Charleroi are of better quality, and a shade higher
+in price. Coals have increased in price in Belgium within the last few
+years, as well from the greater demand, as an apprehension that the
+coal fields of the Ardennes were rapidly exhausting, but this alarm has
+of late been regarded as groundless. England, with a liberality, which
+manufactoring jealousy scarcely sanctions, has recently permitted the
+free export of coal both to Belgium, France and Prussia, a boon for
+which these governments, which are prohibiting British manufactures,
+and their mechanics and mill owners, who are contending with our own
+for the market, cannot be too grateful.
+
+[12] Three hundred bundles per day, being as nearly as possible eleven
+cuts to the spindle.
+
+[13] COMPARATIVE WAGES PAID WORKERS.
+
+  +-----------------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+
+  |                       | Wages per day  |Wages per day|Wages per day|
+  |Description of Workers.| of 11½ hours.  |of 11½ hours.|of 11 hours. |
+  |                       | ENGLAND.       |BELFAST.     |GHENT.       |
+  +-----------------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+
+  |                       |    Average.    |    Average. |   Average.  |
+  |                       | _s. d.   s. d._|    _d._     | _s.     d._ |
+  | Spreaders             |  1  3 to 1 6   |     10      |  0     11¾  |
+  | First Drawing         |  1  0    1 3   |      8½     |  0      8½  |
+  | Second Drawing        |  1  0    1 3   |      8½     |  0      8½  |
+  | Roving                |  1  1    1 5   |      9      |  0      9¼  |
+  | Carding               |  1  0    1 6   |   7½ to 9½  |  0      9¼  |
+  | Spinner               |  1  0    1 4   |      10     |  0      8½  |
+  | Doffer                |  0  8          |       5½    |  0      4¾  |
+  | Reeler (piece work)   |  1  0    1 6   |   10 to 11  |  0      9¼  |
+  | Dyer                  |  2  6    3 0   | 1_s._ 4_d._ |  1      3   |
+  | Bundler               |  2  6    3 0   | 1_s._ 5½    |  1      5   |
+  | Hackler (Roughing for |                |             |             |
+  |   Machine)            |    1_s._ 6_d._ | 1_s._ 4_d._ |  1      7   |
+  | Overlooker            |    4_s._ 6_d._ | 3_s._ 6_d._ |  2      4½  |
+  +-----------------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+
+
+These wages, _at present_, paying in Ghent, it must be borne in mind,
+are hardly a fair criterion, as flax spinning being entirely a new
+trade there, it was necessary to give an inducement by extra wages, for
+the cotton spinner’s to leave the work to which they were accustomed;
+but this will soon find its level.
+
+[14] One cannot but remark the wretched quality of the window-glass,
+even in the most luxurious houses. It is uneven, warped, and of a
+dirty-green colour. It is chiefly made at Charleroi.
+
+[15] The joke against Mechlin arises from an alarm being given that the
+cathedral was on fire, by some one who had seen the moonbeams shining
+through its gothic steeple--whence the proverb, that “the wise men of
+Mechlin went to put out the moon.”
+
+[16] Les machines sont là aussi multipliés, aussi variées que les
+besoins où on les applique: il y en a une pour chaque pensée, ou
+plutôt, c’est la même pensée qui a mille ministres; l’une scie,
+l’autre fend, l’autre coupe, l’autre rabotte; il y en a pour degrossir
+la pièce, il y en a pour lui donner la forme exacte, il y en a pour
+l’orner; il y en a pour la polir, le ciseau, le tour, le rabot,
+l’emporte pièce la tenaille, le marteau tous les instruments du
+menuisier, du tourneur, du forgeron, s’évertuent sur le fer comme
+sur le bois la plus tendre, mais sans menuisier, sans tourneur, sans
+forgeron--_la main qui les meut est une machine_, cette main, toujours
+sûre, toujours ferme, délicate, légère, qui n’a pas d’inégalité, qui
+ne depende pas d’une pensée capricieuse, qui ne se lasse pas, qui ne
+s’alourdit pas, qui ne vieillit pas! * * * * Cette machine n’a besoin
+de personne: on lui donne sa tâche un certain jour, et pourvu qu’on ne
+lui retire pas la portion de force motrice qui l’anime, elle terminera
+cette tâche à jour fixe: elle vous la livrera comme un ouvrier à la
+pièce: vous arriverez un beau matin, et vous la trouverez sortie du
+cylindre et tournant à vide, en attendant que vous lui donniez une
+nouvelle tâche.--_From an account of the great works at Seraing, in
+the_ REVUE DE PARIS.
+
+[17] “Les manufactures de Manchester ne voulant pas s’en remettre de
+ce soin au gouvernement, se sont cotisés, out réuni une somme annuelle
+suffisante pour organiser autour de leur ville une ligne de douane
+specialement consacré à empêcher la sortie des mécaniques qu’ils
+inventaient.”--DE L’INDUSTRIE DE BELGIQUE, vol. ii, p. 326.
+
+[18] “She was in black down to her toes, with her hair concealed under
+a cambric border, laid close to the forehead: she was one of those kind
+of nuns, and please your honour, of which there are a good many in
+Flanders.” “By thy description Trim,” said my uncle Toby, “I dare say
+she was a young Beguine, of whom there are none to be found any where,
+except in the Spanish Netherlands, they differ from other nuns in this,
+that they can quit their cloisters, if they chose to marry--they visit,
+and take care of the sick by profession, but I had rather, for my own
+part, they did it out of good nature.”--STERNE.
+
+[19] The 17th article of the _Constitution Belge_, contains the
+following pithy enactment as to national education. “L’Enseignement
+_est libre_, toute mesure préventive est interdite.”
+
+[20] “_Quelques mots sur l’état actuel de l’instruction primaire en
+Belgique, et sur la nécessité de l’améliorer._”
+
+See also a clever paper by R. W. Rawson, Esq. in the Quarterly Journal
+of the Statistical Society of London, vol. 2, p. 385.
+
+[21] The linen which we saw was of low quality, coarse and strong,
+and by no means cheap. It consisted of sheeting, for export to the
+Havannah, which, for five quarter’s wide, was sold at one shilling a
+yard.
+
+[22] This latter quantity is found in the tables published by the Board
+of Trade, under the head of “Flax, Tow, or Codilla of Hemp and Tow.”
+The importation of “undressed hemp” is under another head, and amounts
+to 730,375 cwt.
+
+[23] It is curious that this process which all concur in representing
+to be one requiring the utmost cleanliness and purity, should of all
+places be performed in Holland with an utter neglect of both. In an
+able document by Mr. Acton, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture for
+1832, he gives the following account of the operation. “The mode of
+watering flax in Holland, and in the low lands of Belgium and France,
+is to put a dam across the canal, clean out the weeds and mud for a few
+yards next the dam, lay in three or four rows of sheaves of flax next
+the dam, and then covering these six inches deep with the rank herbage
+that grows in the canal, and the mud raked up from its bottom. A few
+more courses of sheaves are next placed in the same way as the first,
+and covered in the same way with weeds and mud, till the whole is put
+in steep. These fosses, and the mode of placing the flax in them, are
+as they ought to be, but the propriety of dragging up so much mud or
+slime from the bottom of the canals, to cover the sheaves, six inches
+deep, may well be doubted, it cannot fail to besmear the lint so much,
+as to render it so nasty, that it would require to be much rinsed and
+washed in the water to remove the mud. This not only creates labour,
+by no means the most agreeable, but must greatly injure the flax by
+ruffling it in the water, a thing that ought to be avoided.”--Vol. iv.
+p. 174.
+
+[24] This important association has been for some years in operation,
+and amongst its functions has sent several commissioners into other
+countries to ascertain the relative value of their various processes.
+The result of these inquiries, they have condensed into a short
+manual for the use of the farmers and others engaged in the trade
+in Flanders; in order to confine it to whom it has been written and
+printed in Flemish. A copy of this valuable document translated into
+French, for which I am indebted to a particular source, I have placed
+in the appendix to these volumes. Knowing it as I do, to be the genuine
+and anxious suggestions of the best practical men in Belgium, it may
+be regarded as a faithful guide to their process, and would be well
+deserving of extensive circulation in the flax districts of Great
+Britain and Ireland.
+
+[25] It consists, I believe, of about thirteen sail of small vessels.
+
+[26] On the first out-break of the revolution, the people of Antwerp,
+strongly opposed to it, sent the following address to the King of
+Holland. “Sire, it is not without painful sensations that we have
+been apprised of the demand made to your Majesty, tending to obtain a
+separation of interests between the southern and northern provinces.
+The fear that our silence may be interpreted as an adhesion to this
+proposition, imposes upon us the duty of exposing to your Majesty,
+that the wish is in no way participated in by us. The experience of
+fifteen years has proved to us, in the most evident manner, that is
+to the free and mutual exchange of produce, that we are indebted for
+reciprocal prosperity. _The advantages that navigation derives from the
+colonies, the increasing outlets that these same colonies constantly
+offer to the produce of our industry, are irrefragible proofs, that
+any separation would not only be fatal to this province, but to the
+commercial industry of all Belgium._ Intimately persuaded of this great
+truth, we dare to make it known to your Majesty, with that confidence
+and respect inspired by a King, who desires the welfare of his people,
+and who will never labour but in the interest of its well understood
+prosperity.”--_Antwerp, September _13_th, 1830.
+
+[27] De l’Industrie en Belgique, vol. 2, p. 384.
+
+[28] _Exposé de la situation de la Province de la Flandre Orientale,
+pour l’année 1840. Ghent de l’imprimerie de Vanryckegem-Hovaerz,
+imprimeur du Governement Provincial._
+
+The numbers are as follows:
+
+  Two whose deficiency is between 1,000 ff. and 2,000.
+  Four        ”         ”         2,000     ”   3,000.
+  One         ”         ”         3,000     ”   4,000.
+  One         ”         ”         6,000     ”   7,000.
+  Two         ”         ”         7,000     ”   8,000.
+  One         ”         ”        14,000     ”  15,000.
+  One         ”         ”        19,000     ”  20,000.
+  One         ”         ”        20,000     ”  25,000.
+  Three       ”         ”        25,000     ”  30,000.
+  One         ”         ”        35,000     ”  40,000.
+  Two         ”         ”              unknown
+
+[29] Le Guide Indispensable, p. 103.
+
+[30] The Belgian manufacturers themselves were, as I have before
+stated, perfectly alive to the mischief which the separation from
+Holland was certain to entail upon them; and it is curious, as well as
+interesting, to remark the circumstantial fidelity with which these
+protectors warned the movement party of the consequences which they
+were provoking, and which have since been accomplished to the letter.
+The following reasons against separation from Holland were published
+at the time in one of the journals of Antwerp, when the prospect of
+Repealing the Union was most unpalatable:
+
+“Ever since some parts of our southern provinces have unfurled the
+banner of insurrection, all business has ceased. Circulation has been
+interrupted, and several establishments, which required the employment
+of great capital and afforded the means of subsistance to numerous
+families, have been destroyed and burned. Public tranquillity disturbed
+in every manner; men, the most peaceable, and a short time ago happy in
+the bosom of their families, prospering under the protection of order
+and the laws, now forcibly torn from their homes to perform military
+service of which they are ignorant, and which they dislike; their
+property every day exposed and ready to become the prey of an unbridled
+populace--a state of anarchy which will end by creating parties who
+will shortly lacerate each other; and lastly, a most forbidding future
+preparing for them. Such is a faint picture of the evils which a
+rebellious and unconstitutional rising has already produced. But all
+that has hitherto been witnessed is in no wise to be compared to the
+consequences which must result from an unseasonable separation, which
+has been demanded with a levity which no man of sense can comprehend.
+
+It is true, that among the men who figure as the authors and supporters
+of a separation, there are to be observed no manufacturers: and,
+indeed, what manufacturer, what merchant, what agriculturist even,
+could fall into such an error?
+
+You cry out for a separation, and would fain persuade yourselves that
+it would be all in your favour. With similar levity you take upon
+yourselves to dictate the conditions of a separation. This shows but
+little foresight.
+
+The northern part of the kingdom has taken up the gauntlet, which you
+so imprudently threw down. Hear one of their organs, and consider
+the consequences which must, and ought to ensue to Belgium when once
+isolated and abandoned to itself.”
+
+The following is the reply of the Dutch to your challenge:--
+
+“‘We are glad,’ say they, ‘that the proposal for a divorce has been
+made by you. Let it take place, and the cloud which has darkened the
+horizon of our country will be dissipated. A glorious sun will then
+soon shine upon it. Soon will the decadence of Amsterdam and its causes
+cease, and the separation will give it the life and activity which it
+lost by the union.
+
+But let us examine what will be the result of this divorce to the
+northern provinces?
+
+Relieved from an odious manufacturing system, we shall be able to
+establish our customs on a perfectly commercial system: Amsterdam,
+Rotterdam, Dort, Middleburgh, will become so many free ports, into
+which moderate duties, exempt from vexatious modes of collection, will
+bring back our old commerce in all its force. The duties at present
+imposed upon sugar, coffee, and other articles of trade, will be
+revoked.
+
+The inhabitants will purchase fuel, clothing, stuffs, and all the
+commodities which trade, manufacture, and the necessities of a people
+require, in England, and wherever they can produce them upon better
+terms than in the southern provinces, where all these articles will be
+loaded with duties and restrictions, and will be therefore dearer.
+
+Our country will again become the centre and mart of all the
+productions and riches of the world which are destined for and consumed
+in Germany and the provinces of France bordering on the Rhine, as well
+as in many other places which now escape us.
+
+The products of our colonies will be no longer carried except to our
+own ports, to the exclusion of all others, and they will be freed from
+all the duties and charges with which they are at present burdened, and
+which our Sovereign has established for the advantage of the Belgians
+alone. Thus not only the mother country, but the colonies, also,
+will enjoy the advantage of the separation. The duty of 25 per cent.
+established at Java in favour of the Belgians will be abolished, and
+it is thus that, wherever the standard of Holland shall be displayed,
+liberty, prosperity, and public happiness will prevail; and let no one
+present to you as a burdensome set-off the debt which will remain to
+our charge.’”
+
+[31] White, v. i, p. 124, &c.
+
+[32] A full detail of the state of the kingdom, at the outbreak of the
+revolution will be found in a volume published by the Baron Keverberg,
+who had been governor of East Flanders under the King of Holland,
+_Du Royaume des Pays-Bas, sous la rapport de son origine, de son
+developement, et de sa crise actuelle, Brussels, 1836_.
+
+[33] _Essai historique et critique sur la révolution Belge._ _Par_ M.
+NOTHCOMB. _Brussels, 1833._
+
+[34] A copy of this singular document, will be found at the end of
+these volume.
+
+[35] Un des plus excellens moyens, et peut-être le seul qui existe
+aujourd’hui, d’assurer aux jeunes gens une éducation qui réunit tout à
+la fois l’esprit de la religion et les talens les plus éminens _serait
+de rétablie les jesuites_ dans la Belgique.--_Memor. art. 8._
+
+[36] This singular manifesto will be found in the appendix at the end
+of these volumes.
+
+[37] Jurer d’observer et de maintenir une loi qui _suppose_ (_!_) que
+l’église catholique est soumise aux lois d’état, c’est manifestaient
+s’exposer a coopérer à l’asservissement de l’église.--_Jugement
+doctrinal_, (Art. 193, see appendix).
+
+[38] Page 193.
+
+[39] The list of candidates suggested for the throne of Belgium in
+1831, contains some names which are rather extraordinary, such as
+Colonel Murat, La Fayette, Colonel Fabvier the Philhellene, Sebastiani,
+Châteaubriand, Prince Carignan of Piedmont, M. Rogier, Count de
+Merode, the present King of Greece, Prince John of Saxony, the Duke of
+Leuchtenberg, son to Eugene Beauharnais, Louis Philippe, and the Duke
+de Nemours, who was actually chosen, but declined the honour.
+
+[40] La Belgique, No. 1, p. 13, 16, 20, 23, 24, 27; and No. 2, p. 49.
+
+[41] White, vol. i. p. 23.
+
+
+
+
+Corrections
+
+The word “controul” was changed to “control” throughout the text.
+
+The first line indicates the original, the second the correction.
+
+p. 39
+
+  the sign-board of the “Diaman-zetter,”
+  the sign-board of the “Diamant-zetter,”
+
+p. 91
+
+  it was ever dragged to to the field
+  it was ever dragged to the field
+
+p. 115
+
+  lying immediatetely in front
+  lying immediately in front
+
+p. 153
+
+  would get over their associaton
+  would get over their association
+
+p. 160
+
+  that the goverment reduced the term
+  that the government reduced the term
+
+p. 176
+
+  fearful of the slighest speculation
+  fearful of the slightest speculation
+
+p. 252
+
+  in the nineteenth centurry
+  in the nineteenth century
+
+p. 261
+
+  at no measure, how-ver
+  at no measure, however
+
+p. 268
+
+  the consciencious, but inefficient opponents
+  the conscientious, but inefficient opponents
+
+p. 277
+
+  were jeopardied by the jealous rivalry
+  were jeopardised by the jealous rivalry
+
+Errata
+
+“Hans Hemling” should read “Hans Memling”.
+
+“Audeghem” should read “Auderghem”.
+
+The errata have been applied to this etext.
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73911 ***
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-<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73911 ***</div>
-
-<div class="transnote"><h3>Transcriber’s note</h3>
-
-<p>Variable spelling and hyphenation have been retained. Minor punctuation
-inconsistencies have been silently repaired. A list of the changes made
-can be found <a href="#Corrections">at the end of the book</a>. </p>
-</div>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<h1>
-BELGIUM.
-
-VOL. I. 
-</h1>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-<figure class="figcenter illowp45" id="titlepage" style="max-width: 37.5em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/titlepage.jpg" alt="titlepage">
-</figure>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p class="center">
-BY THE SAME AUTHOR.</p>
-<hr class="tb">
-
-<p class="center"><span class="allsmcap">IN THE PRESS, IN 2 VOLS. POST 8vo. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.</span></p>
-
-<p class="center">THE STATES OF
-
-THE PRUSSIAN LEAGUE.</p>
-
-<p class="center"><span class="allsmcap">BY</span></p>
-
-<p class="center">J. EMERSON TENNENT, ESQ. M.P.</p>
-
-<p class="center">
-<span class="allsmcap">AUTHOR OF “BELGIUM,” “THE HISTORY OF MODERN GREECE,” &amp;c.</span>
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-<div class="chapter">
-
-<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="frontispiece" style="max-width: 37.5em;">
-  <img class="w100" src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="frontispiece">
-  <figcaption class="caption">WATERMAN’S HALL, GRASS QUAY, GHENT. <br>Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street.</figcaption>
-</figure>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p class="center">
-BELGIUM.</p>
-
-<p class="center p4"><span class="allsmcap">BY</span></p>
-
-<p class="center">J. EMERSON TENNENT, ESQ., M.P.</p>
-
-<p class="center p2">AUTHOR OF “LETTERS FROM THE ÆGEAN,” AND “HISTORY OF
-MODERN GREECE.”</p>
-
-<p class="center p4">“L’UNION FAIT LA FORCE,”—MOTTO OF BELGIUM.</p>
-
-<p class="center p4">IN TWO VOLUMES.</p>
-
-<p class="center p2">VOL. I.</p>
-<p class="center p6">
-LONDON:
-<br>
-RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
-<br>
-<span class="font"><b>Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.</b></span>
-<br>
-1841.
-</p>
-</div>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p class="center p4">
-LONDON:<br>
-PRINTED BY SCHULZE &amp; CO., 13, POLAND STREET. 
-</p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p class="center">TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
-<br>
- <span class="large">LORD STANLEY, M.P.</span></p>
-
-<p class="center">&amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p>
-<span class="allsmcap">MY DEAR LORD,</span> 
-</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">My</span> desire to inscribe this page with your
-name, is associated with the recollection of
-the period when you filled one of the highest
-administrative offices in Ireland; and when
-your firm and vigorous discharge of it,
-effectually stifled the designs of those, whose
-measures, if tolerated, would have drawn
-down upon that country, consequences similar
-to those which similar proceedings
-have, unhappily, entailed upon Belgium. The
-value and effect of that nervous policy, by
-which you “boldly muzzled treason” then,
-is attested by the contrast, which the social
-condition of Ireland exhibits now, under
-the nominal government of those who have
-submitted to abandon it; and whose sacrifices<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span>
-to purchase the loyalty, and secure the
-permanent attachment of the Irish Repealers,
-have been rewarded by an intimation
-of a prospective fraternization with the
-“hereditary enemies of England,” so soon
-as their “compact alliance,” with the English
-administration shall have expired.</p>
-
-<p>“History is philosophy teaching by example;”
-and it is not to be supposed that
-there are not, even amongst the zealots for
-the Repeal of the Union in Ireland, some
-few who will be attentive to its lessons:
-it is chiefly in this anxious hope, that I
-have transcribed the present volumes. The
-more so too, because Belgium is the one
-bright example, which those who have addressed
-themselves to unsettle the allegiance
-of the Irish people, have always ostentatiously
-paraded for their imitation and
-encouragement. From this selection they
-cannot now retreat; and I confidently believe,
-that the exposition contained in the
-following pages of the condition of that
-country, after ten years of separation and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span>
-independence, will exhibit Belgium to Ireland,
-if as an example at all, only as—</p>
-
-<blockquote><p class="center">
-Exemplar vitiis imitabile.
-</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>Neither the social nor the material prosperity
-of Belgium, affords anything encouraging
-to the hopes of those who can profit
-by the experience of others; and as, in
-Ireland, the materials in which the vital
-experiment must be made are similar, the
-results to be anticipated must be the same.
-With Popery, merely as a complexion of
-Christianity—as a distinctly marked form
-of religion—a legislator has no further concern,
-than as regards the question of enlightened
-toleration. But <i>political Popery</i>,
-that character in which the followers of the
-Church of Rome, are exhibiting themselves
-in Belgium and in Ireland—“resting their
-lever on one world,” as Dryden says, “to
-move another at their will”—enters essentially,
-and of necessity, into the investigation
-and study of the statesman. And, in no
-instance, in modern times, has it so unreservedly
-exhibited itself, as in the conception,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span>
-the achievement, and the results, of the
-Belgian revolution. It remains to be seen,
-whether the Liberal party in Ireland, whose
-co-operation encourages and sustains the
-advocates of the Repeal of the Union, will
-relish the prospect of such an absolute religious
-ascendancy of the majority in that
-country, as that which has succeeded to the
-most absolute freedom of worship, and the
-most unlimited liberty of conscience in the
-Low Countries.</p>
-
-<p>On the score of substantial and material
-prosperity, a similar question must arise.
-The application of machinery to every
-branch of production, has effected a revolution
-in the economy of European manufactures,
-which is only paralleled by the
-effects, upon learning, of the discovery of
-printing. The poorest, and, occasionally,
-the smallest communities, have been, at
-various times, the most successful producers
-of certain commodities, which were
-the offspring of hand labour, and the
-fruits of individual dexterity; and the price
-of which, therefore, was not sensibly affected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span>
-by the greater or less amount of their
-consumption. But when human ingenuity
-became infused into iron—when the industry
-and adroitness of a million of hands had
-been concentrated in the single arm of the
-Briareus of steam—the movements of the
-mighty prodigy became necessarily expanded
-in proportion to its power, and required
-a correspondingly enlarged field for their
-display. To produce successfully by machinery,
-it is indispensible to produce extensively;
-but Belgium, apparently unconscious
-of this important truth, proceeded to
-contract, instead of enlarging, her limits;
-and her powers of production, thus cribbed
-and restrained, without the opportunity of
-exercise, have pined and wasted away and
-are now on the brink of decay.</p>
-
-<p>The two banks, east and west of the
-Rhine, present at this moment a singular
-and striking illustration of the opposite
-effects of the cultivation or neglect of this
-principle in modern manufacture. <i>To the
-right</i>, we have the numerous little industrious
-states and principalities of Western Germany,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[x]</span>
-each ambitious of acquiring manufacturing
-power, and each possessing it to a certain
-extent; but each unable, till lately, to succeed
-or prosper, owing to the narrowness
-of its individual bounds; till, at last,
-awakened to a consciousness of their real
-and actual wants, they, by one simultaneous
-movement, levelled every intervening barrier,
-and threw their united territories into
-the one grand area of the Prussian Commercial
-League; the success of which has
-hitherto realized their utmost expectations.</p>
-
-<p><i>On the left</i> of the Rhine we had, ten
-years ago, Belgium and Holland enjoying
-that <i>union</i> which Germany has but lately
-attained, and reaping all the advantages
-which it was possible to derive from it—till,
-in the “madness of the hour,” the latter
-undid the very bonds of her prosperity,
-reversed the process by which Germany is
-rising to prosperity, and, resorting to repeal
-and separation, she has lost, as a matter
-of course, every advantage which she had
-drawn from union and co-operation. A
-similar proceeding cannot fail to inflict<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[xi]</span>
-similar calamities upon Ireland; and the same
-destruction of her manufactures which has
-followed the exclusion of Belgium from the
-markets and the colonies of Holland, would
-inevitably overtake the manufacturers of
-Ireland, if placed upon the footing of a
-stranger and a rival in the ports and
-colonies of Great Britain.</p>
-
-<p>It is with an ardent hope that the question
-of the Repeal of the Union in Ireland
-may be tested by arguments such as these,
-by those who will pause to weigh it at all,
-that I have ventured to bring before its
-advocates the real condition of that country
-which their own leader has selected for
-their example and their model. And conscious
-of the deep interest which your
-Lordship has ever taken in the condition
-of Ireland, and your intimate acquaintance
-with her wants and her resources, I am
-anxious to recommend my exertions to
-notice by the prestige of your name.</p>
-
-<p>At the same time, as I have never submitted
-to you in conversation or otherwise
-the contents of these volumes, it is possible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[xii]</span>
-that you may dissent from opinions which
-I have ventured to express. But my object
-has been merely to collect facts as to the
-influence of the recent revolution, and I
-neither discuss the policy of the settlement
-of Holland as concluded at the Congress of
-Vienna, nor question the prudence of those
-governments in Europe, which, after the
-events of 1830, found it necessary to put
-an end to hostilities by concurring in the
-independence of Belgium.</p>
-
-<p class="center">
-I remain,
-<br>
-My dear Lord,
-<br>
-Most truly yours,
-<br>
-J. EMERSON TENNENT.
-</p>
-
-<p>
-<small>17, Lower Belgrave Street, Belgrave Square,
-London, February, 22, 1841.</small>
-</p>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="ANNONCE">ANNONCE.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">The</span> details regarding the commerce and
-manufactures of Belgium, which will be
-found in the following pages, are the result
-of personal enquiry, corrected by the annual
-statistical returns, published by the
-Belgian Government, and confirmed by the
-labours of M. Briavionne in a recent work,
-to which I have frequently referred—“<i>De
-L’Industrie en Belgique</i>.” It may, also, give
-them some additional weight, to add, that
-the opinions expressed, arose out of visits
-made to the principal manufacturing districts,
-accompanied by two gentlemen of
-extensive practical acquaintance with the
-manufacturers of Great Britain; Mr. Thomson<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</span>
-of Primrose, near Clitheroe, and Mr.
-J. Mulholland, of Belfast, a member of a
-family, the extent of whose machinery and
-productions in the staple commodity of
-Ireland—the linen trade—is, I believe, the
-greatest in the kingdom. And though these
-volumes, or their contents, have not actually
-been submitted to their inspection, I believe
-that I have their perfect concurrence in the
-sentiments which they embody, upon the
-subject of the trade and manufactures of
-Belgium.</p>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[xv]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS
-
-<br>
- <span class="allsmcap">OF THE</span> 
-<br>
- FIRST VOLUME.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table>
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER I.</td></tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="hang"><span class="smcap">Ostend</span>, the Harbour—Canal Docks—Police—Economy
-of a private carriage for a party on the continent—General
-aspect of Ostend—Effluvia—Siege in
-1604—Fortifications—Promenade—Sands and sea-bathing—Commerce—<span class="smcap">Bruges</span>,
-the railroad—Belgium
-naturally suited to railroads—Old canal travelling
-to Bruges superseded—Appearance of the
-city—Its style of ancient houses—The streets—Canals
-and gardens—Squares—Style of public edifices—Resembles
-Pisa—<i>Ancient history of Bruges</i>—Its old
-palaces—Marriages of Charles the Rash and Mary
-of Burgundy—Singular marriage custom of the middle
-ages—House in which the Emperor Maximilian
-was confined—Residences of Edward IV. of England,
-and of Charles II.—<i>Commercial greatness of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</span>
-Bruges</i>—The Hanseatic League—Her tapestries—The
-order of the Golden Fleece instituted in her
-honour—Saying of the Queen of Philip the Fair—Story
-of the Burghers at the court of John of
-France—<i>Her present decay</i>—Air of reduced nobility—Costume
-of the middle classes—Grave demeanour
-of the citizens—No traces of the Spaniards to be
-found in the Low Countries—<i>Flemish sculptures in
-wood</i>—Pictures—No modern paintings in Bruges—<i>Collection
-in the Church of St. Sauveur</i>—Characteristics
-of the early Flemish school—The paintings in
-<i>the Museum</i>—Statue of Van Eyck—His claim to be
-the inventor of oil painting—<i>Collection in the Chapel
-of the Hospital of St. John</i>—Story of Hans Memling—The
-cabinet of St. Ursula—The folding-doors
-of the Flemish paintings—The Hospital of St. John—Statue
-by Michael Angelo—<span class="smcap">Tombs of Mary of
-Burgundy and Charles the Rash</span>—The tower
-of Les Halles—Carillon—Splendid view—The <i>Palais
-de Justice</i>—Superb carved mantel-piece—<i>Hotel
-de Ville</i>—Its statues destroyed by the French revolutionists—Diamond
-setters—Comparison of
-Bruges and Tyre—Mr. Murray’s hand-books—The
-manufacture of lace in Belgium. </td>     
-<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER II.</td></tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="hang">
-Bruges a cheap residence—Tables-d’Hôte, their influence
-upon society—Canal from Bruges to Ghent—Absence
-of country mansions—Gardens—Appearance
-of <span class="smcap">Ghent</span>—M. Grenier and M. de Smet de<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</span>
-Naeyer—The <i>Conseil de Prud’hommes</i>, its functions—Copyright
-of designs in Belgium—<span class="smcap">The linen
-trade of Belgium</span>—Its importance—Great value
-of Belgian flax—Its cultivation—Revenue derived
-from it—Inferiority of British flax—Anxiety of the
-government for the trade in linen—Hand-spinners—Spinning
-by machinery—<i>Société de la Lys</i>—Flower
-gardens—The Casino—Export of flowers—General
-aspect of the city—<i>Its early history</i>—Vast wealth
-expended in buildings in the Belgium cities accounted
-for—Trading corporations—Turbulence of the
-people of Bruges and Ghent—<i>Jacques van Artevelde</i>—His
-death—Philip van Artevelde—Charles V.—His
-<i>bon mots</i> regarding Ghent—Latin distich, characteristic
-of the Flemish cities—Siege of Ghent, Madame
-Mondragon—House of the Arteveldes—Hôtel
-de Ville—The belfry and Roland—The <i>Marché de
-Vendredi</i>—The great cannon of Ghent. </td>    
-<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER III.</td></tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="hang">
-Manufacture of machinery in Ghent—Great works of
-the Phœnix—Exertions of the King of Holland to
-promote this branch of art—His success—Policy of
-England in permitting the export of tools—Effect
-of their prohibiting the export of machines upon the
-continental artists—Present state of the manufactures
-in Belgium—<i>The Phœnix</i>, its extent, arrangements
-and productions—<i>The canal of Sas de Gand</i>—<i>The
-Beguinage</i>—Tristam Shandy—The churches
-of Ghent—Religious animosity of the Roman Catholics—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xviii">[xviii]</span><i>The cathedral of St. Bavon</i>—Chef-d’œuvre
-of Van Eyck—Candelabra of Charles I—Carved
-pulpit—<i>Church of St. Michael</i>—Vandyck’s crucifixion—The
-brotherhood of St. Ivoy—Church of
-St. Sauveur—Singular picture in the church of
-St. Peter—Dinner at M. Grenier’s—Shooting with
-the bow—Roads in Belgium—Domestic habits of
-the Flemings—The Flemish language—<i>Count d’Hane</i>—Mansion
-of the Countess d’Hane de Steenhausen—Gallery
-of M. Schamps—<i>The University</i>
-of Ghent—State of primary education in Belgium.</td>      
-<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER IV.</td></tr>
-
-<tr>
-<td class="hang">
-The market-day at Ghent—The peasants—The linen-market—The
-Book-stalls—<i>Courtrai</i>—The Lys—<i>Denys</i>—Distillation
-in Belgium—<span class="smcap">Agriculture in
-Flanders</span>—A Flemish farm—Anecdote of Chaptal
-and Napoleon—Trade in manure—<i>The Smoor-Hoop</i>—Rotation
-of crops—<span class="smcap">Cultivation of Flax</span>—Real
-importance of the crop in Belgium—Disadvantageous
-position of Great Britain as regards
-the growth of flax—State of her importations from
-abroad and her dependency upon Belgium—In the
-power of Great Britain to relieve herself effectually—System
-in Flanders—<i>The seed</i>—Singular fact
-as to the Dutch seed—Rotation of crops—Spade
-labour—Extraordinary care and precaution in <i>weeding</i>—<i>Pulling</i>—<span class="smcap">The
-Rouissage</span>—In Hainault—In
-the Pays de Waes—At Courtrai—The process in
-Holland—The process in the Lys—<i>A Bleach-green</i>
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xix">[xix]</span>—The damask manufacture in Belgium—A manufactory
-in a windmill—Introduction of the use of
-<i>sabots</i> into Ireland—<i>Courtrai</i>, the town—Antiquities—The
-Church of Notre Dame—Relic of Thomas à
-Becket—<span class="smcap">The Maison de Force at Ghent</span>—The
-System of prison discipline—Labour of the inmates—Their
-earnings—Remarkable story of Pierre
-Joseph Soëte—Melancholy case of an English prisoner—<i>A
-sugar refinery</i>—State of the trade in Belgium—Curious
-frauds committed under the recent
-law—<i>Beet-root sugar</i>—Failure of the manufacture—A
-tumult at Ghent—<i>The New Theatre</i>—Cultivation
-of music at Ghent—Print works of M. Desmet de
-Naeyer—Effects of the Revolution of 1830 upon
-the manufactures of Belgium—Opposition of Ghent
-and Antwerp to a separation from Holland—M.
-Briavionne’s exposé of the ruin of the trade in
-calico printing—Smuggling across the frontiers—Present
-discontents at Ghent—Number of insolvents
-in 1839—General decline of her manufactures.</td>      
-<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER V.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="hang">
-The railroad—Confusion at Malines—Country between
-Ghent and Dendermonde—<i>Vilvorde</i>—<i>The Palace
-of Laeken</i>—First view of Brussels—The Grand
-Place in the old town—The Hôtel de Ville and Maison
-Communale—The new town—The churches of Brussels—<i>The
-carved oak pulpits of the Netherlands</i>—<span class="smcap">St.
-Gudule</span> monuments—Statue of Count F. Merode—Geefs,
-the sculptor—Notre Dame de la Chapelle—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xx">[xx]</span><i>The museum</i>—Palais de l’Industrie—The gallery of
-paintings—<span class="smcap">The library</span>—Its history—<i>Remarkable
-MSS.</i>—Curiosities in the museum of antiquities—Private
-collections—Rue Montagne de la Cour—The
-theatre—Historical associations with the Hôtel
-de Ville—Counts Egmont and Horn—The civil
-commotions of Philip II—<i>The fountains of Brussels</i>—The
-Cracheur—<i>The Mannekin</i>, his memoirs—Fountain
-of Lord Aylesbury—Dubos’ restaurant—The
-hotels of Brussels—Secret to find the cheapest hotels
-in travelling.</td>      
-<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td>
-</tr>
-
-<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER VI.</td></tr>
-<tr>
-<td class="hang">The Belgian revolution has produced no man of leading
-genius—The present ministry—M. Rogier—M.
-Liedtz, the Minister of the Interior—An interview at
-the Home Office—Project of steam navigation between
-Belgium and the United States—Freedom of
-political discussion in Belgium—<i>Character of King
-Leopold</i>—Public feeling in Brussels—The original
-union of Holland and Belgium apparently desirable—Commercial
-obstacles—Obstinacy of the King of
-Holland—Anecdote of the King of Prussia—The extraordinary
-care of the King for manufactures—<i>Prosperous</i>
-condition of Belgium under Holland—<i>Les
-Griefs Belges</i>—Singular coincidence between the
-proceedings of <span class="smcap">the repealers in Ireland and
-the repealers in Belgium</span>—Ambition for separate
-nationality—Imposition of the Dutch language
-unwise—Abolition of trial by jury—Now disliked by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxi">[xxi]</span>
-the Belgians themselves—Financial grievances—Inequality
-of representation—<span class="smcap">Conduct of the
-Roman Catholics</span>—Hatred of toleration—Attachment
-of the clergy to Austria—<i>Remarkable manifesto
-of the clergy to the Congress of Vienna</i>—Resistance to
-liberty of conscience, and freedom of the press—Demand
-for tithes—Resistance of the priests to the
-toleration of Protestants—The official oath—<i>Protest of
-the Roman Catholic Bishops against freedom of opinion
-and education by the State</i>—Perfect impartiality of
-the Sovereign—Resistance of the priesthood—<i>The
-Revolution</i>—Union of the Liberals and Roman Catholics—Intolerant
-ambition of the clergy—Separation
-of the <i>Clerico-liberal party</i>—Present state of parties
-in the legislature—Unconstitutional ascendancy of
-the priests—<i>State of public feeling</i>—Universal disaffection—Curious
-list of candidates for the crown of
-Belgium in 1831—“<i>La Belgique de Leopold</i>,” its
-treasonable publications—Future prospects uncertain—Vain
-attempts to remedy the evils of the revolution—<i>Connexion
-with the Prussian League refused</i>—Impossibility
-of an union with Austria or Prussia—Union
-with France impracticable—Partition of
-Belgium with the surrounding states—<i>Possible restoration
-of the House of Nassau in the event of any
-fresh disturbance.</i> </td>     
-<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiii">[xxiii]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="center"><span class="allsmcap">TO SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE</span> 
-<br>
-TRADE AND MANUFACTURES OF BELGIUM.</p>
-
-<ul>
-<li>Fisheries, i. <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Lace, manufacture of, i. <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Conseils de Prud’hommes, i. <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li>
-
-<li>The Linen Trade, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Cultivation of Flax, i. <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Linen Yarn Mills, i. <a href="#Page_63">63</a>; ii, 193.</li>
-
-<li>Export of Flowers, i. <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Manufacture of Machinery, i. <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>; ii. 25, 174.</li>
-
-<li>Exportation of Machinery from England, i. <a href="#Page_94">94</a>; ii. 185.</li>
-
-<li>Distillation, i. <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Flemish Agriculture, i. <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Bleaching, i. <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Crushing of Oil, i. <a href="#Page_151">151</a>; ii. 106.</li>
-
-<li>Manufacture of Wooden Shoes, i. <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Refining of Sugar, i. <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Beet-root Sugar, i. <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Calico-printing, i. <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li>
-
-<li>Carpet-weaving, ii. 28.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiv">[xxiv]</span>
-</li>
-<li>Carriage-building, ii. 29.</li>
-
-<li>Books, ii. 29.</li>
-
-<li>Transit Trade of Belgium, ii. 45.</li>
-
-<li>Shipping, ii. 40.</li>
-
-<li>Silk Trade, ii. 45.</li>
-
-<li>Cotton Trade, ii. 91.</li>
-
-<li>Gilt Leather chairs, ii. 109.</li>
-
-<li>Railroads, ii. 119.</li>
-
-<li>Brewing, ii. 131.</li>
-
-<li>Cutlery, ii. 157.</li>
-
-<li>Paper, Manufacture of, ii. 163.</li>
-
-<li>Coal Mines, ii. 168.</li>
-
-<li>Fire-arms and Cannon, ii. 191.</li>
-
-<li>Woollen Trade, ii. 199.</li>
-
-<li>Joint Stock Companies, ii. 204.</li>
-
-<li>General State and Prospects of Belgian Manufacturers, i. <a href="#Page_81">81</a>; ii. 210.</li>
-</ul>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span>
-<p class="center">BELGIUM.</p>
-
-<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
-
-<p class="center">OSTEND AND BRUGES.</p>
-</div>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Ostend</span>, the Harbour—Canal Docks—Police—Economy
-of a private carriage for a party on the continent—General
-aspect of Ostend—Effluvia—Siege in 1604—Fortifications—Promenade—Sands
-and sea-bathing—Commerce—<span class="smcap">Bruges</span>,
-the railroad—Belgium naturally suited to railroads—Old
-canal travelling to Bruges superseded—Appearance
-of the city—Its style of ancient houses—The
-streets—Canals and gardens—Squares—Style of public
-edifices—Resembles Pisa—<i>Ancient history of Bruges</i>—Its
-old palaces—Marriages of Charles the Rash and Mary
-of Burgundy—Singular marriage custom of the middle
-ages—House in which the Emperor Maximilian was
-confined—Residences of Edward IV. of England, and of
-Charles II.—<i>Commercial greatness of Bruges</i>—The
-Hanseatic League—Her tapestries—The order of the
-Golden Fleece instituted in her honour—Saying of the
-Queen of Philip the Fair—Story of the Burghers at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span>
-court of John of France—<i>Her present decay</i>—Air of
-reduced nobility—Costume of the middle classes—Grave
-demeanour of the citizens—No traces of the Spaniards
-to be found in the Low Countries—<i>Flemish sculptures in
-wood</i>—Pictures—No modern paintings in Bruges—<i>Collection
-in the Church of St. Sauveur</i>—Characteristics of
-the early Flemish school—The paintings in <i>the Museum</i>—Statue
-of Van Eyck—His claim to be the inventor of oil
-painting—<i>Collection in the Chapel of the Hospital of St.
-John</i>—Story of Hans Memling—The cabinet of St.
-Ursula—The folding-doors of the Flemish paintings—The
-Hospital of St. John—Statue by Michael Angelo—<span class="smcap">Tombs
-of Mary of Burgundy and Charles the
-Rash</span>—The tower of Les Halles—Carillon—Splendid
-view—The <i>Palais de Justice</i>—Superb carved mantel-piece—<i>Hotel
-de Ville</i>—Its statues destroyed by the French
-revolutionists—Diamond setters—Comparison of Bruges
-and Tyre—Mr. Murray’s hand-books—The manufacture
-of lace in Belgium.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class="right">
-September, 1840.
-</p>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">At</span> sunset when about ten to fifteen miles
-from land, we had the first sight of the
-coast of the “Low Countries,” not as on
-other shores discernible by hills or cliffs,
-but by the steeples of Nieuport, Ostend,
-and Blankenburg rising out of the water;
-presently a row of wind-mills, and the tops
-of a few trees and houses, and finally a long
-line of level sand stretching away towards<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span>
-Walcheren and the delta of the Scheldt.
-Within fourteen hours from heaving up our
-anchor at the Tower, we cast it in the
-harbour of Ostend, a narrow estuary
-formed where the waters of a little river
-have forced their way through the sand-banks
-to the sea. An excellent quay has
-been constructed by flanking the sides of
-this passage with extensive piers of timber,
-whilst the stream being confined by dams
-and sluices above, is allowed to rush down
-at low water, carrying before it to the sea,
-any silt which may have been deposited by
-the previous tide.</p>
-
-<p>At the inner extremity of the harbour,
-spacious basins have been constructed for
-the accommodation of the craft which ply
-upon the Canal de Bruges, which connects
-that town with Ghent and Ostend, but its
-traffic is now much diminished by the
-opening of the railroad, as well as from
-other causes.</p>
-
-<p>Neither the police nor the custom-house
-officials, gave any inconvenience with our
-passports or our baggage, beyond a few<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>
-minutes of unavoidable delay, and within
-half an hour from the packet touching the
-pier, we found ourselves arranged for the
-night at the Hotel de la Cour Impériale
-in the Rue de la Chapelle.</p>
-
-<p>I may here mention as a piece of recommendatory
-information to future travellers,
-that the journey, of which these volumes
-are a memento, was performed in an open
-English carriage, the back seat of
-which was sufficiently roomy to accommodate
-three persons, leaving the front for
-our books, maps and travelling comforts,
-and the box for our courier and a postillion;
-and that except upon mountain roads, we
-made the entire tour of Belgium, Rhenish
-Prussia, and Germany, from Bavaria to
-Hanover, with a pair of horses. For such
-a journey, no construction of carriage that
-I have seen is equal to the one which we
-used, a britscka, with moveable head, and
-windows which rendered it perfectly close
-at night or during rain.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> I have not made
-a minute calculation as to expenses, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span>
-even on the score of economy, I am inclined
-to think this mode of travelling, for three
-persons and a servant, will involve <i>less
-actual outlay</i> than the fares of diligences,
-and Eil Wagens or Schnell posts. In Belgium,
-our posting, with two horses, including
-postillions, fees and tolls, did not
-exceed, throughout, elevenpence a mile;
-in Prussia, ninepence; and in Bavaria, even
-less. Besides the perfect control of one’s
-own time and movements, is a positive
-source of economy, as it avoids expense at
-hotels, while waiting for the departure of
-stages and public conveyances, after the
-traveller is satisfied with his stay in the
-place where he may find himself, and is
-anxious to get forward to another. Between
-the advantages gained in this particular, and
-the means of travelling comfortably at
-night almost without loss of sleep, through
-some of the sandy and uninteresting plains
-of northern Germany, I am fully of opinion
-that our English carriage, independently of
-its comparative luxury, not only diminished
-the expense of our journey, but actually<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>
-added some weeks to its length, within the
-period which we had assigned for our return.
-In Belgium, however, and Saxony where
-railroads are extensively opened, a carriage
-affords no increase of convenience, on the
-contrary, in <i>short stages</i>, which should be
-avoided, it will be found to augment the
-expense without expediting the journey.</p>
-
-<p>Ostend presents but a bad subject for the
-compilers of guide books, as it does not
-possess a single “lion,” nor a solitary object,
-either of ancient or modern interest, for
-the tourist. Its aspect too is unsatisfactory,
-it is neither Dutch, French, nor Flemish,
-but a mixture of all three, and its houses
-with Dutch roofs, Flemish fronts, and
-French interiors, are painted all kinds of
-gaudy colours, red, green and blue, and
-covered with polyglot sign boards, announcing
-the nature of the owner’s calling
-within, in almost all the languages of Northern
-Europe.</p>
-
-<p>Being built in a dead flat, the town has
-of course no sewers—it was Saturday evening
-when we arrived, and in honour of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>
-approaching Sabbath, I presume, every house
-within the walls seemed busied in pumping
-out its cesspool and washing the contents
-along the channels of the streets, creating
-an atmosphere above that “all the
-perfumes of Arabia would not sweeten.”
-This, however, is an incident by no means
-peculiar to Ostend, the great majority of
-the cities in the “Low Countries” being
-similarly circumstanced.</p>
-
-<p>Although a place of importance five
-hundred years ago, every trace of antiquity
-in Ostend has been destroyed by the many
-“battles, sieges, fortunes,” it has passed. It
-was enclosed in the fifteenth century, fortified
-by the Prince of Orange in the sixteenth,
-and almost razed to the ground in its defence
-against the Spaniards in the seventeenth,
-when Sir Francis Vere, (one the military
-cavaliers, whom, with Sir Philip Sydney and
-others, Elizabeth in her capricious sympathy,
-had from time to time sent to the aid of the
-protestant cause in the Netherlands), held
-its command at the close of its remarkable
-siege by the forces of the Archdukes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span>
-Albert and Isabella.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> This memorable
-siege, which the system of antiquated
-tactics then in vogue, protracted for
-upwards of three years, “became a school
-for the young nobility of all Europe,
-who repaired, to either one or the other
-party, to learn the principles and the practice
-of attack and defence.” The brothers
-Ambrose and Frederick Spinola here earned
-their high reputation as military strategists,
-and the former eventually forced Ostend
-to surrender, after every building had
-been levelled by artillery, and innumerable
-thousands had found a grave around its
-walls. In the subsequent troubles of the
-eighteenth century, it was again repeatedly
-besieged and taken, sharing in all these
-disastrous wars which have earned for
-Belgium, the appropriate soubriquet of the
-“Cock-pit of Europe.” Its fortifications
-are still maintained in tolerable repair, one
-large battery called Fort Wellington, is of
-modern construction, and a long rampart,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span>
-which was originally designed to protect
-the town from the inundation of the sea, has
-been converted into a glacis, and strengthened
-with stone, brought, at a considerable
-cost, from Tournay, as the alluvial sands of
-Flanders cannot supply even paving stones
-for her own cities. The summit of this
-defence is an agreeable promenade along
-the sea, which rolls up to its base, and as
-far as the eye can reach, stretch long hills
-of sand, which the wind sets in motion,
-and has driven into heaps against the walls
-and fortifications. The level and beautiful
-strand, however, renders Ostend an agreeable
-bathing-place, and it is fashionably frequented
-for that purpose during the months
-of summer, when the town presents the
-usual <i>agréments</i> of a watering place, baths,
-ball rooms, cafés, and a theatre.</p>
-
-<p>As the second sea-port in the kingdom,
-it enjoys a considerable share of the
-shipping trade of Belgium, but it has no
-manufactures, and the chief emoluments
-of the lower classes, arise from the fishery<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>
-of herrings and oysters, the bed of the
-latter, “le parc aux huitres,” being the
-leading lion recommended by the valet-de-place,
-to the notice of the stranger at
-Ostend; and the green oysters of Ostend
-(<i>huitres vertes d’Ostende</i>), one of the luxuries
-of the Parisian gourmands. Oysters
-are, indeed, the first dish introduced at
-every Belgian dinner-table, and the facility
-of the railroad has considerably augmented
-the demand at Ostend.</p>
-
-<p>The herring fishery has, of late years,
-almost disappeared from the coast of Flanders.
-It was once one of the most lucrative
-branches of trade in the Low Countries;
-and Charles V, when he visited the
-grave of Beukelson, who discovered the
-method of pickling herrings, at Biervliet,
-near Sluys, caused a monument to be
-erected over his remains. With the
-Reformation, however, and the lax observance
-of Lent upon the continent, the demand
-for salted fish declined, and Holland
-herself now retains but a remnant of her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span>
-ancient trade; which, however, she cultivates
-with a rigid observance of all its ancient
-formalities—the little fleet of fishing
-boats assemble annually at Vlaardingen, at
-the entrance of the Maas—the officers assemble
-at the Stad-huis, and take the ancient
-oath to respect the laws of the fishery;
-they then hoist their respective flags, and
-repair to the church to offer up prayers for
-their success. The day of their departure
-is a holiday on the river. The first cargo
-which reaches Holland, is bought at an extravagant
-price, and the first barrel which is
-landed on the shore, is forwarded as a present
-to the King.</p>
-
-<p>Ostend, Blankenburg, Nieuport, Antwerp,
-and even Bruges, had once a valuable
-share in this important fishery, but it
-has of late years been utterly lost; not
-more than three sloops, we were told, having
-put to sea in any year since 1837, and
-even then with indifferent success. The
-cod-fishery, however, has been more prosperous,
-employing between five and six<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>
-hundred seamen at Ostend alone; but even
-this is bolstered and sustained by the unsound
-expedient of government bounties.</p>
-
-<h3>BRUGES.</h3>
-
-<p>We left Ostend for Bruges by the railroad,
-sending forward our carriage to
-Ghent. The fare for the entire distance
-is little more than for one half, the trouble
-of mounting and dismounting, being the
-same for the longer as for the shorter
-stage. The arrangements of the railroad
-differ in no essential particular from those
-of England, except that every passenger’s
-luggage is more scrupulously examined
-and charged for extra weight, after which,
-it is taken from the custody of the owner,
-who receives a ticket, on the production
-of which, it is delivered up to him,
-on reaching the town for which his place
-has been secured. This system, however,
-is found to be productive of frequent
-mistakes and confusion, from trunks and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>
-portmanteaus being sent beyond their destination,
-or left behind altogether. The conductors
-and officials are all arrayed in uniform,
-and the starting of the train from
-each station is announced by a few notes
-of a trumpet. The engines are chiefly of
-English manufacture, with the exception of
-a few made at Liege.</p>
-
-<p>Belgium is of all countries in Europe the
-best calculated for railroads; its vast alluvial
-plains, hardly presenting a perceptible
-inequality. From Ostend to Ghent, I
-scarcely noticed a single cutting or an embankment,
-the rails being laid upon the
-natural surface of the ground, and the direction
-as straight as the flight of an arrow,
-without the necessity of a curve or inclination,
-except to approach some village station
-on the road.</p>
-
-<p>The old mode of conveyance by the
-Trekschuit, on the Canal de Bruges, though
-not discontinued, is comparatively deserted
-for the railroad. It is, however, by no
-means disagreeable, the boats being drawn
-along at the rate of nearly six miles an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>
-hour, the accommodation excellent and
-unique, and the only drawback, the effluvia
-which in summer arises from the almost
-stagnant waters of the canal, occasionally
-heightened by the poisoned streams in
-which flax had been steeped by the farmers,
-which is instantly fatal to the fish.</p>
-
-<p>The air and general appearance of Bruges,
-on entering it by the railroad, which passes
-direct into the centre of the town, cannot
-fail to arrest the interest and attention of a
-stranger. It is unlike any place that one has
-been accustomed to before, and is certainly
-the most perfect specimen of a town of the
-middle ages on this side the Rhine. Its
-houses have not been rebuilt in modern
-times, and with their ample fronts, vast
-arched entrances and sculptured ornaments,
-and fantastic gables, are all in keeping with
-our stately impressions of its feudal counts
-and affluent but turbulent burghers. “Le
-voyageur,” says its historian, M. Ferrier,
-“au milieu de ces vieux hôtels, de ces
-pierres féodales encore debout, espère toujours
-qu’une noble dame au chaperon de<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>
-velours et au vertugadin élargi, va sortir
-des portes basses en ogives le faucon au
-poign, la queue retroussée par un page.”</p>
-
-<p>Instead of the narrow, dingy passages
-which occur in cities of similar antiquity
-and renown, there is an air peculiarly gay
-and imposing in the broad and cheerful
-streets of Bruges; its streets enlivened by
-long lines of lindens and oriental plane
-trees, and traversed by canals, not sluggish
-and stagnant, but flowing with an active
-current through the city. Upon these, the
-wealthier mansions open to the rear, a
-little ornamented “pleasance” separating
-them from the river, laid out in angular
-walks, and ornamented with evergreens,
-clipped <i>en quenouille</i>, and here and there a
-statue or an antique vase. The squares
-maintain the same character of dignity and
-gravity, overshadowed with “old ancestral
-trees,” and flanked by their municipal
-halls and towers—the monuments of a time
-when Bruges was the Tyre of Western Europe,
-and her Counts and citizens combined
-the enterprize and wealth of the merchant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>
-with the fiery bearing of the soldier. 
-These edifices, too, exhibit in their style
-something of the sturdy pride of their founders,
-presenting less of ornament and decoration
-than of domineering height and massive
-solidity, and striking the visitor rather by
-their strength than their elegance. On the
-whole, Bruges reminded me strongly of
-Pisa, and some of the towns of northern
-Italy, whose history and decline are singularly
-similar to its own. The air of its
-edifices and buildings is the same, and
-there is around it a similar appearance of
-desertion rather than decay—though in
-Bruges the retirement and solitude which
-was, till recently, its characteristic, has
-been much invaded by the concourse of
-strangers whom the railroad brings hourly
-to visit it.</p>
-
-<p>Bruges, in the olden time, was indebted
-for its political importance to its being the
-most ancient capital of the Low Countries,
-and one of the residences of the old “Foresters
-of Flanders,” and of that illustrious line
-of sovereign Counts and Dukes, whose dynasty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>
-extends almost from Charlemagne to 
-Charles V, and whose exploits enrich the
-annals of the crusades and form the theme
-of the romancers and minstrels of the middle
-ages. Of the palaces of these stormy
-potentates, scarcely a vestige now remains,
-except a few dilapidated walls of the “Princenhof,”
-in which Charles le Téméraire
-espoused Margaret of York, the sister of
-our Edward IV, and in which, also, his
-interesting daughter, Mary of Valois, Duchess
-of Burgundy, married Maximilian of
-Austria, son to Frederick IV—that “portentous
-alliance,” which subsequently
-brought the Netherlands under the dominion
-of the Emperor, and consigned them,
-on the abdication of Charles V, to the tender
-mercies of the sanguinary Philip of
-Spain. At her nuptials, the Duke of Bavaria
-acted as proxy for the imperial bridegroom,
-and according to the custom of the
-period, passed the night with the young
-duchess, each reposing in full dress, with
-a sword placed between them, and in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>
-presence of four armed archers of the
-guard.</p>
-
-<p>On the opposite side of the same square,
-stands, likewise, the house, now an estaminet,
-in which her husband, Maximilian,
-then King of the Romans, was, after her
-death, confined by the citizens of Bruges,
-in 1487, in consequence of a dispute as to
-the custody of his two children, in whom,
-by the death of their mother, was vested
-the right to the sovereignty of Flanders.
-In spite of the fulminations of the Pope,
-and the march of the Emperor, his father,
-with an army of forty thousand men, the
-undaunted burghers held him a prisoner
-for six weeks, till he submitted to their
-terms and took an oath to respect their
-rights, and exact no vengeance for their
-violent demonstration in their assertion.</p>
-
-<p>Bruges was, likewise, upon two occasions
-the asylum of the exiled monarchs of
-England; once when Edward IV took refuge
-there, when flying from the Earl of
-Warwick’s rebellion; and, again, when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>
-Charles II, in his exile, occupied a house
-in the Place d’Armes, at the corner of the
-Rue St. Amand. It is now the shop of a
-tailor.</p>
-
-<p>But all our recollections of Bruges are
-crowded with associations of the poetry of
-history; and the very names of her
-chieftains, Baldwin of the Iron Arm, Robert
-of Jerusalem, Margaret of Constantinople,
-Philip the Handsome, and Louis of
-Crecy, call up associations of chivalry, gallantry
-and romance.</p>
-
-<p>From the thirteenth century to the close
-of the sixteenth, Bruges was at once in the
-plentitude of her political power and the
-height of her commercial prosperity. As
-the furs and iron of the north were not yet
-carried by sea round the Baltic, and the
-wealth of India still poured through the
-Red Sea into Genoa and Venice, Bruges
-became one of the great entrepots where they
-were collected, in order to be again distributed
-over Western Europe; and with
-Dantzic, Lubeck, Hamburg, and a few other
-trading cities of the west, Bruges became<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>
-one of the leading commandaries of the
-Hanseatic League. The idea of marine
-insurances was first acted upon at Bruges
-in the thirteenth century, and the first
-exchange for the convenience of merchants
-was built there in the century following.</p>
-
-<p>Her manufactures were equally celebrated
-with her traffic and her trade. Her tapestries
-were the models, and, indeed, the progenitors
-of the Gobelins, which were established
-in France by a native of Bruges,
-under the patronage of Henry IV; and the
-fame of her woolstaplers and weavers has
-been perpetuated in the order of the Golden
-Fleece, the emblem of which was selected
-by Philip the Good in honour of the artizans
-of Bruges.</p>
-
-<p>It was a native of Bruges, Beham, who,
-fifty years before the enterprise of Columbus,
-ventured to “tempt the western
-main,” and having discovered the Azores,
-first led the way to the awakening of a new
-hemisphere.</p>
-
-<p>Of the luxury of her citizens in this age,
-many traditions are still extant; such as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>
-that of the wife of Philip the Fair exclaiming
-on finding herself eclipsed in the splendour
-of her dress by the ladies of her
-capital:—“<i>Je croyais être ici la seule reine,
-mais j’en vois plus de cent autour de moi!</i>”
-A similar story is recorded of their husbands,
-who when they returned to Paris
-with their Duke, Louis le Mael, to do homage
-to King John, the successor of
-Philip of Valois, felt affronted on finding
-that no cushions had been provided for
-them at a banquet to which they were
-invited by the King, and having sat upon
-their embroidered cloaks, declined to resume
-them on departing, saying:—“<i>Nous
-de Flandre, nous ne sommes point accoutumés
-où nous dinons, d’emporter avec nous les
-coussins.</i>”</p>
-
-<p>All this has now passed away, other nations
-have usurped her foreign commerce,
-and her own rivals at home have extinguished
-her manufactures. But still in
-her decline, Bruges wears all the air of
-reduced aristocracy; her poor are said to
-be frightfully numerous in proportion to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>
-her population, but they are not, as elsewhere,
-ostentatiously offensive; except a
-few decrepid objects of compassion, by the
-door of the cathedral, we did not see a
-beggar in the streets. The dress of the
-lower orders is remarkable for its cleanliness
-and neatness, and an universal costume
-with the females of the bourgeoisie,
-was a white muslin cap with a lace border
-and a long black silk cloak, with a hood
-which covered the head, and is evidently a
-remnant of the Spanish mantilla. There
-was, also, a cheerful decorum in the carriage
-of the people whom we met in the
-streets, that one felt to be in accordance
-with the gravity of such a venerable old
-place, as if the streets were consecrated
-ground:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">The city one vast temple, dedicate</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">To mutual respect in word and deed,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">To leisure, to forbearances sedate,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">To social cares, from jarring passions freed.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>By the way, it is an instance of the abiding
-hatred with which the people of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>
-Low Countries must have, traditionally, regarded
-their former tyrants, that so few
-traces of their dominion or their presence
-should now be discernible in the country
-which they so long blasted with their presence.
-Occasionally, one recognizes in
-the olive complexion and coal black eye of
-the Fleming, the evidences of her southern
-blood; and at Ghent and Brussels there are
-one or two families who still bear the names
-of Alcala, Rey and Hermosa, and a few
-others who trace their origin to Castilian
-ancestors; but there are no striking monuments
-now existing of a people, who so long
-exercised a malignant influence over the
-destinies of Flanders.</p>
-
-<p>It is true that but a short period, about
-a century and a half, elapsed from the death
-of Mary of Burgundy to that of Albert and
-Isabella, but it is equally true, that for
-generations before, the princes of the Low
-Countries had sought their matrimonial
-alliances at the court of Spain; and under
-Philip the Handsome and Charles V, when
-the Netherlands were in the pride of their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>
-prosperity, they afforded an alluring point
-for the resort of the adventurers of that
-country, and of the numbers who availed
-themselves of the royal encouragement to
-settle there; it is curious that not a mansion,
-not a monument, or almost a remnant
-should now be discernible.</p>
-
-<p>In Bruges, as in most other catholic
-cities, the chief depositaries of objects of
-popular admiration are the churches; and
-of these, the most attractive and remarkable
-are the matchless sculptures in wood
-which decorate the confessionals and
-pulpits, and in the richness and masterly
-workmanship of which, the specimens in
-the Netherlands are quite unrivalled.
-Bruges is rich in these. In the church of
-Notre Dame, the pulpit is a superb work
-of art of this description; chiselled in oak,
-supported by groups of figures the size of
-life, and decorated throughout with arabesques
-and carvings of flowers and fruit
-of the most charming execution. It is of
-vast dimensions for such a work, reaching
-from the floor almost to the gothic roof of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>
-the building. In the same church there
-are two confessionals of equal elegance,
-each separated, as usual, into three apartments
-by partitions, in front of each of
-which are caryatides, which support the roof.</p>
-
-<p>In the church of the Holy Saviour,<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
-the grand organ presents another example
-of this gorgeous carving; and in the little
-chapel of St. Sang, which is possessed
-of a few drops of <i>the genuine blood of our
-Saviour</i>, periodically exhibited in its jewelled
-shrine to the faithful, there is a pulpit, perhaps,
-of better workmanship than taste, the
-shell of which represents the terrestrial
-globe, (orbis veteribus cognita), with a delineation
-of those geographical outlines
-which were known at the period of its
-erection.</p>
-
-<p>In works of art, the burghers of Bruges
-seem to have been generous as well as ambitious
-in adorning their city, so long as
-its municipal affluence placed it within their
-power to gratify their tastes. The churches,
-are, therefore, rich in works of the <i>early</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>
-Flemish school—the Van Eycks and Hans
-Hemling, and Pourbus and their collaborators
-and successors: but at the period
-when the new Flemish school had arisen,
-with Otto Vennius, and attained its eminence
-under Rubens and Vandyk, Bruges
-had already suffered her decline, the sun
-of her prosperity had gone down, and she
-possesses no works of their pencil. The
-chief depositaries of paintings in the city,
-are the church of St. Sauveur, the chapel
-of the Hospital of St. John, and the Gallery
-of the Museum near the Quai du
-Miroir. The three collections present precisely
-the same array of names, and the
-same features of art, insipid and passionless
-faces, figures harsh and incorrect in
-drawing, finished with that elaborate care
-which seems to have been at all times the
-characteristic of the schools of both Flanders
-and Holland, and gaudy, inharmonious
-colours, upon a brilliant and generally
-gilded ground, in the Byzantine style.
-Except as mere antiquities, these pictures
-have but little interest to any except the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>
-mere historian of the art. The collection
-in St. Saveur I did not see, as it had been
-removed in consequence of a recent fire,
-but it seems from the lists to be rather extensive.</p>
-
-<p>That in the <i>Museum</i> is numerous, but
-monotonous and tiresome, for the reasons I
-have mentioned, though Sir Joshua Reynolds
-speaks with high approbation of some
-beauties, I presume, it requires the eye of
-an artist to discern them. The gallery
-here contains, also, a statue, by Calloigne,
-a native artist, of John Van Eyck, the
-painter, called “John of Bruges,” to whom
-has been ascribed the invention of painting
-in oil. His claim to the discovery is, of
-course, incorrect, as the mummy cases of
-Egypt sufficiently attest, but his merit as
-one of those, who, earliest and most successfully
-applied it to the purposes of art, is
-sufficiently indicated by a glance at his
-pictures, and their comparison with the inferior
-productions of his contemporaries in
-Italy.</p>
-
-<p>But the principal exhibition of the old<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>
-masters of Bruges, is in the parlour of the
-chapel at the ancient <i>Hospital of Saint John</i>.
-Here the pride of the custodian are the
-chef-d’œuvres of Hans Memling. Hemling
-was a soldier and a roué, a prodigal and a
-genius utterly unconscious of his power.
-He ended a career of excesses by enlisting
-in one of the military companies of Bruges,
-his native city, and from the battle of
-Nancy, whither he had followed Charles
-the Rash, in 1477, he was carried, wounded
-and dying, to the Hospital of St. John.
-The skill of the leeches triumphed, however,
-and Hans was restored to strength
-and vigour, when, for want, perhaps, of
-some other asylum, he spent ten years of
-his subsequent life amongst his friends in
-the hospital, and enriched its halls with the
-choicest specimens of his art. These pictures
-are of marvellous brilliancy, although
-it is said, that Hemling rejected the use of
-oil, which had been introduced by his contemporary
-and rival, Van Eyck, and adhered
-to the old plan of tempering his
-colours with size and albumen. The artist,
-too, has introduced into them portraits<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>
-of the nuns and sisters of charity, who were
-the attendants of the sick in the hospital—a
-delicate and yet lasting memorial of his
-gratitude for their kindnesses towards himself.</p>
-
-<p>Amongst a number of portraits and scriptural
-subjects, the gem of the collection is
-a little, old-fashioned <i>cabinet</i>, probably intended
-for the reception of relics, some
-three feet long and broad in proportion,
-covered with a conical lid, and the whole
-divided into pannels, each containing a
-scene from the legend of St. Ursula, and
-the massacre of herself and her eleven
-thousand virgins, by the Goths, at Cologne.
-This curious little antique is so highly
-prized, that it is shown under a glass cover,
-and the directors of the hospital refused to
-exchange it for a coffer of the same dimensions
-in solid silver. The execution of the
-paintings has all the characteristic faults
-and beauties of its author, only the former
-are less glaring from the small dimensions
-of the figures. The faces of the ladies exhibit
-a good perception of female beauty,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span>
-and St. Ursula herself has her hair plaited
-into braids and drawn behind her ear, much
-in the fashion of the present time in
-England.</p>
-
-<p>The majority of the other pictures have
-the folding doors which were peculiar to
-all the painters of the Low Countries, till Rubens
-latterly dispensed with the use, though
-they are to be seen on his matchless “Descent
-from the Cross,” and some others
-of his pictures in the cathedral at Antwerp.
-They served to close up the main composition
-when folded across it; and as they are,
-themselves, painted on both sides, so as to
-exhibit a picture whether closed or open,
-they had the effect of producing five compartments
-all referring to the same subject, but
-of which the four outward ones are, of
-course, subsidiary to the grand design
-within.</p>
-
-<p>The hospital in which these pictures are
-exhibited, is one of the best conducted
-establishments of the kind I have ever seen.
-Its attendants, in their religious costume, and
-with their nun’s head-dresses, move about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>
-it with the quiet benevolence which accords
-with their name, as “sisters of charity,”
-and the lofty wards, with the white linen
-of the beds, present in every particular an
-example of the most accurate neatness and
-cleanliness.</p>
-
-<p>Both it and the churches I have named,
-stand close by the station of the railway
-by which the traveller arrives from Ghent
-or from Ostend. Besides their curious old
-paintings, the churches have little else remarkable;
-they are chiefly built of brick, and
-make no very imposing appearance. That
-of the St. Sauveur, contains a statue in
-marble attributed to Michael Angelo, and
-though not of sufficient merit to justify the
-supposition, is in all probability the work of
-one of his pupils. The story says, that it
-was destined for Genoa, but being intercepted
-on its passage by a Dutch privateer,
-was carried to Amsterdam, where it was
-purchased by a merchant of Bruges, and
-presented to his native city.</p>
-
-<p>But the chief object of interest, and,
-indeed, the grand lion of Bruges, is the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>
-tomb of Mary of Burgundy in a little
-chapel of the same cathedral. The memory
-of this amiable Princess, and her early fate
-are associated with the most ardent feelings
-of the Flemings; she was the last of their native
-sovereigns, and at her decease, their principality
-became swallowed up in the overgrown
-dominion of the houses of Austria;
-like Charlotte of England, she was snatched
-from them in the first bloom of youth, she
-died before she was twenty-five, in consequence
-of a fall from her horse when
-hawking, and the independance of her
-country expired with her. Beside her, and
-in a similar tomb, repose the ashes of her
-bold and impetuous father, Charles the
-Rash, which was constructed by order of
-Philip of Spain. The chapel in which
-both monuments are placed, was prepared
-for their reception at the cost of Napoleon,
-who, when he visited Belgium, with Maria
-Louisa, in 1810, left a sum of money to
-defray the expense of their removal. Both
-tombs are of the same model, two rich
-sarcophagi, composed of very dark stone,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>
-ornamented with enamelled shields, and
-surmounted by recumbent statues, in gilded
-bronze, of the fiery parent and his gentle
-daughter. The blazonry of arms upon
-the innumerable shields which decorate
-their monuments, and the long array of
-titles which they record, bespeak the large
-domains, which, by successive alliances, had
-been concentrated in the powerful house of
-Burgundy. The inscription above the
-ashes of Charles the Rash, is as follows:</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p>CY GIST TRES HAVLT TRES PVISSANT ET MAGNANIME
-PRINCE CHARLES DVC DE BOVRG<sup>ne</sup> DE LOTHRYCKE DE
-BRABANT DE LEMBOVRG DE LVXEMBOVRG ET DE GVELDRES
-CONTE DE FLANDRES D’ARTOIS DE BOVRG<sup>ne</sup> PALATIN
-ET DE HAINAV DE HOLLANDE DE ZEELANDE DE
-NAMVR ET DE ZVTPHEN MARQVIS DV SAINCT EMPIRE
-SEIGNEUR DE FRISE DE SALINS ET DE MALINES, LEQVEL
-ESTANT GRANDEMENT DOVÉ DE FORCE CONSTANCE ET
-MAGNANIMITÉ PROSPERA LONGTEMPS EN HAVLTES
-ENTREPRINSES BATAILLES ET VICTOIRES TANT A
-MONTLHERI EN NORMANDIE EN ARTHOIS EN LIEGE QVE
-AVLTREPART JVSQVES A CE QVE FORTVNE LVI TOVRNANT
-LE DOZ LOPPRESSA LA NVICT DES ROYS, 1476
-DEVANT NANCY FVT DEPVIS PAR LE TRES HAVT TRES
-PVISSANT ET TRES VICTORIEVX PRINCE CHARLES EMPEREUR
-DES ROMAINS V<sup>mc</sup> DE CE NOM SON PETIT
-NEPHEV HERITIER DE SON NOM VICTOIRES ET SEIGNORIES<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>
-TRANSPORTE A BRVGES OV LE ROI PHILIPPE DE CASTILLE
-LEON ARRAGON NAVARE ETC. FILS DUDICT EMPEREVR
-CHARLES LA FAICT METTRE EN CE TOMBEAU
-DU COTÉ DE SA FILLE ET VNIQVE HERITIERE MARIE
-FEMME ET ESPEVSE DE TRES HAVLT ET TRES PVISSANT
-PRINCE MAXIMILIEN ARCHIDVC D’AVSTRICE DEPVIS
-ROI EMPEREVR DES ROMANS—PRIONS DIEV POVR SON
-AME.—AMEN.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>The sincere and unaffected sorrow of
-those who raised a monument to the Princess,
-is much more impressively bespoken in the
-simple and natural language of its inscription.
-After recapitulating the pompous
-honours of her house, and her greatness as
-a Queen, they have thus expressed affectionate
-esteem for her as a woman and a wife.
-“Five years she reigned as Lady of the
-Low Countries, for four of which she lived
-in love and great affection with my Lord,
-her husband. She died deplored, lamented
-and wept by her subjects, and by all who
-knew her as was never Princess before.
-Pray God for her soul. Amen.”</p>
-
-<p>The most conspicuous object in Bruges,
-both from a distance and within the walls, is
-the lofty tower of an ancient building,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>
-called “Les Halles”—an edifice of vast
-extent, whose original destination seems to
-be but imperfectly known, but which, in all
-probability, served as a depot for merchandize
-during the palmy days of the Hanseatic
-League, whilst in its ponderous tower were
-deposited the ancient records of the city.
-The lower buildings are now partly unoccupied,
-and partly used for the purposes of a
-covered market, and on the tower are stationed
-the warders, who, night and day, look out for
-fires in the streets of the city or the suburbs.
-It contains, likewise, one of those
-sweet carillons of bells, which, in their excellence,
-seem to be peculiar to the Netherlands,
-as in no other country that I am
-aware of do their chimes approach to any
-thing like harmonious music. In the tower
-of Les Halles and some others in Belgium,
-they are set in motion by a huge cylinder
-with moveable keys, similar to those in a
-barrel organ or a Geneva box. The tunes
-are arranged and altered every year at
-Easter, and the carillon, besides announcing
-every hour, is played almost daily for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>
-amusement of the citizens. But besides
-the mechanical arrangement, there are keys
-which can be played on at pleasure, and
-during our visit, the “chief musician”
-commenced this feat, hammering with his
-fists, defended first by strong leather, and
-tramping with his heels, till every muscle
-in his whole body seemed called into
-action—an exercise very like that of
-Falstaff’s recruit Bullfrog, when he “caught
-a cold <i>in ringing in the king’s affairs</i> upon
-the coronation day.”</p>
-
-<p>The view from this tower is really surprising,
-owing to the vast level plain in
-which it stands, and which stretches to the
-horizon without an undulation upon every
-side; the view is only limited by the ability
-of the eye to embrace it, and the sight is
-bewildered with the infinity of villages,
-towers, forests, canals and rivers which it
-presents, taking in at one vast glance, the
-German Ocean, the distant lines of Holland,
-the towers of Ghent, and to the south,
-the remote frontier of France. Its views,
-like almost every thing else in the Netherlands,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>
-are peculiar to itself, and in the 
-repose and richness of cultivated beauty,
-have not a parallel in any country of Europe.</p>
-
-<p>In a small square adjoining that in which
-stands the tower of Les Halles, are two
-other ancient buildings of equal interest.
-The <i>palais de justice</i> occupies the site of
-the old “palace of the Franc or liberty of
-Bruges.” It contains in one of its apartments,
-(the others are chiefly modern,)
-a remarkable mantel-piece of carved
-oak, covering the entire side of the hall,
-and consisting of a number of statues the
-size of life, let into niches decorated with
-the most elaborate and beautiful carvings,
-and surmounted by the armorial bearings
-of Burgundy, Brabant, and Flanders. This
-singular specimen of the arts, dates from
-the reign of Charles V. and contains
-statues of the Emperor himself, with Maximilian,
-and Mary of Burgundy to his left
-hand; on his right, those of Charles le
-Téméraire, and his Lady Margaret of York.
-These specimens of the perfection to which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span>
-this description of modelling has attained
-amongst the Flemings, must really be seen,
-in order to be sufficiently comprehended.</p>
-
-<p>The other building adjoining is the
-<i>Hotel de Ville</i>, a small, but elegant example
-of the gothic architecture in the fourteenth
-century. The many niches which
-now stand empty at each compartment of
-its front, were formerly filled with statues
-of the native Princes of Flanders and Burgundy,
-to the number of thirty-three; numerous
-shields, charged with arms surmounted
-the principal windows, and on a
-little balcony in front, the Dukes, on the
-occasion of their inauguration, made oath
-to respect the rights and privilege of their
-subjects. But in 1792, the soldiers of the
-French directory, under Dumourier, in the
-“fine frenzy” of republicanism, tore down
-these ancient monuments of the former history
-of Bruges, as “the images of tyrants”
-and pounding them to dust, flung them upon
-a pile composed of fragments of the gallows
-and the scaffold, and ordered it to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>
-kindled by the public executioner. The
-grand hall in the Hotel de Ville is occupied
-as a library, and contains a large and
-valuable collection of books and manuscripts.</p>
-
-<p>Bruges was the birth-place of Berken, who
-discovered the art of polishing the diamond,
-and, as if the secret were still confined to
-the craft, (in fact it was for a length of time
-a secret amongst the jewellers of the Low
-Countries), one still sees over many a door
-in Bruges, the sign-board of the “<span class="err" title="original: Diaman">Diamant</span>-zetter,”
-who resides within.</p>
-
-<p>In other cities, one would feel as if compiling
-a guide-book in noting these particulars
-of Bruges; but here it is different, as
-every spot, however trifling, is exalted by
-some traditionary association with the
-past. “In the thirteenth century,” says the
-Hand-book, “the ambassadors of twenty
-states had their hotels within the walls of
-the city, and the commercial companies of
-seventeen nations were settled and carried
-on their traffic within its walls. It became
-the resort of traders of Lombardy and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>
-Venice, who carried hither the merchandize
-of Italy and India, to be exchanged for the
-produce of Germany and the north. The
-argosies of Genoa and Constantinople, frequented
-her harbour, and her warehouses
-were stored with the wool of England, the
-linen of Belgium, and the silk of Persia.”<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
-Can any one read this record of the past,
-and comparing it with the desolation of the
-present, avoid being reminded of the magnificent
-description and denunciation of
-Tyre, by Ezekiel. “Fine linen from Egypt
-was that which thou spreadest forth for thy
-sails; the inhabitants of Zidon were thy mariners;
-the men of Persia were thine army;
-and they of Gammadin were on thy towers,
-and hung their shields upon thy walls to
-make thy beauty perfect. Tarshish was
-thy merchant, and with iron and with tin<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>
-they traded in thy fairs. Syria gave thee
-emeralds and broidered work, and coral, and
-agate. Judah traded in thy markets in
-honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus in the
-wine of Hebron and white wool. Arabia
-occupied with thee in lambs and in goats;
-and the merchants of Sheba brought thee
-precious stones and gold. * * * They
-that handle the oar, the mariner and pilots
-of the sea, shall come down from thy ships;
-they shall stand upon the land, and in their
-wailing they shall cry, what city is like unto
-Tyre, like unto the destroyed in the midst
-of the waters?”</p>
-
-<p>Of all her active pursuits, Bruges now retains
-no remnant except the manufacture of
-lace, to which even her ancient fame has
-ceased to give a prestige; and it is exported
-to France to be sold under the name of <i>Point
-de Valenciennes</i>. Mechlin, Antwerp, Ypres
-and Grammont share with her in its production;
-and it is interesting to observe
-how this mignon and elegant art, originally,
-perhaps, but the pastime of their young
-girls and women, has survived all the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span>
-storms and vicissitudes which have from
-time to time suspended or disturbed the
-other national occupations of the Belgians,
-and now enables the inhabitants of their superannuated
-cities, in the ruin of their own
-fortunes, to support themselves, as it were,
-upon the dower of their females. France,
-in the time of Colbert, seduced the manufacture
-to establish itself at Paris by actual
-gifts of money; and England, emulous of
-sharing in it, purchased the lace of Belgium
-to sell to Europe as her own, and
-made by it such a reputation, that <i>English
-lace</i> is still a popular name for a particular
-description made at Brussels!</p>
-
-<p>The exquisitely fine thread which is made
-in Hainault and Brabant for the purpose
-of being worked into lace, has occasionally
-attained a value almost incredible. A
-thousand to fifteen hundred francs is no
-unusual price for it by the pound, but some
-has actually been spun by hand of so exquisite
-a texture, as to be sold at the rate
-of ten thousand francs, or upwards of £400,
-for a single pound weight. Schools have been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>
-established to teach both the netting of the
-lace and drawing of designs by which to work
-it, and the trade, at the present moment, is
-stated to be in a more flourishing condition
-than it has been ever known before, even in
-the most palmy days of the Netherlands.</p>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</h2>
- 
-<p class="center">GHENT.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="hang">Bruges a cheap residence—Tables-d’Hôte, their influence
-upon society—Canal from Bruges to Ghent—Absence of
-country mansions—Gardens—Appearance of <span class="smcap">Ghent</span>—M.
-Grenier and M. de Smet de Naeyer—The <i>Conseil
-de Prud’hommes</i>, its functions—Copyright of designs in
-Belgium—<span class="smcap">The linen trade of Belgium</span>—Its importance—Great
-value of Belgian flax—Its cultivation—Revenue
-derived from it—Inferiority of British flax—Anxiety
-of the government for the trade in linen—Hand-spinners—Spinning
-by machinery—<i>Société de la Lys</i>—Flower
-gardens—The Casino—Export of flowers—General
-aspect of the city—<i>Its early history</i>—Vast wealth
-expended in buildings in the Belgium cities accounted for—Trading
-corporations—Turbulence of the people of
-Bruges and Ghent—<i>Jacques van Artevelde</i>—His death—Philip
-van Artevelde—Charles V.—His <i>bon mots</i> regarding
-Ghent—Latin distich, characteristic of the Flemish
-cities—Siege of Ghent, Madame Mondragon—House of
-the Arteveldes—Hôtel de Ville—The belfry and Roland—The
-<i>Marché de Vendredi</i>—The great cannon of Ghent.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Bruges</span> has the reputation of being an
-economical residence for persons of limited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span>
-fortune, but I have reason to believe it does
-not fully merit it. I have understood, that
-at the termination of the war, a large mansion
-with every appurtenance, was to have
-been had for twenty-five pounds a year,
-but the concourse of English, and the influx
-of strangers, has now placed it, in this
-respect, pretty much upon a par with other
-places of the continent.</p>
-
-<p>We dined at an excellent table-d’hôte
-at the Hôtel de Commerce, the only inconvenience
-being the early hour, 2 o’clock,
-but this, and even earlier hours for dinner,
-we became, not only reconciled to, but almost
-to prefer before leaving Germany.
-To the prevalence of these tables-d’hôte in
-every town and village of the continent, must,
-no doubt, be ascribed much of that social
-feeling and easy carriage which characterise
-the people of almost every country in Europe
-except our own. Being frequented by persons
-of all ranks, they lead to an assimilation
-of manners and of taste, which must
-be conducive to general refinement; and
-by an interchange of opinions and a diffusion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>
-of intelligence during the two or three 
-hours of daily intercourse, they must contribute
-to a diffusion of information, and a
-better understanding between all classes.</p>
-
-<p>In England, with our present sectional
-ideas and well defined grades, their introduction
-would be impossible, or if attempted,
-would only serve to make more
-distinct and compact the divisions into
-which society is parcelled out. And yet,
-how desirable would it be that some successful
-expedient could be discovered to
-produce a more frequent intercourse between
-these numerous castes, and to soften down
-these Hindoo prejudices, which are an unquestionable
-source of insecurity and weakness
-in England. It is to this, that in a great
-degree is to be ascribed the virulence of
-political jealousies, and the intense hatred
-of political parties. So long as wealth is constituted
-the great standard which is to
-adjust conventional precedence, affluence
-and intelligence must form one exclusive
-race, of whose feelings, habits, objects and
-desires, poverty and ignorance, as they <i>can<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>
-know nothing</i>, may be easily persuaded to
-believe them hostile and destructive to
-their own; and even mediocrity of rank,
-as it stands aloof from either, will continue
-to look with alarm and jealousy upon both.</p>
-
-<p>Were it practicable, by any salutary expedient,
-to enable the humble and laborious
-<i>to perceive for themselves</i>, that the enjoyments
-and habits of the rich are not necessarily
-antagonist to their own, it would at
-once paralyze the strength of the demagogue
-and the incendiary. Religious bigotry
-and political malignity, like sulphur
-and nitre, are explosive only when combined
-with the charcoal of ignorance.</p>
-
-<p>The railroad from Bruges to Ghent,
-runs for the entire way within view, and
-frequently along the bank of the canal
-which connects the two cities, and which
-occasionally presents greater beauty than
-one is prepared to expect; its waters folded
-over with the broad leaves of the water
-lilly, and variegated with its flowers, and
-those of the yellow bog bean; and its steep
-banks covered with the tassels of the flowering<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span>
-rush. The road passed through numerous 
-copses, cultivated for firewood and
-planted with the oak, the chesnut and the
-weeping birch, with here and there broad
-patches of firs and hornbeam. But the
-beauty of the long lines of ornamental
-trees which enclose the road and sometimes
-border the canals in Flanders, is much impaired
-by the fashion of pollarding their
-tops for the purpose of fuel.</p>
-
-<p>One misses, also, the numerous seats and
-mansions of the landed gentry to which
-we are familiarized in travelling in our own
-country, “the happy homes of England,”
-that constitute the rich luxuriance of a
-British landscape. But here, their erection
-is discountenanced by the law against
-primogeniture, by which the property of
-the individual is compulsorily divided
-amongst his heirs; and, at former
-periods, their absence may, perhaps, be
-ascribed to the insecurity of the country,
-perpetually visited with war and all its accessories,
-so that men found their only
-safety within the walls of their fortified<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>
-towns. In the neighbourhood of Ghent,
-however, they are more frequent than in
-any other district of Belgium which I have
-seen, an evidence, perhaps, of the more
-abundant wealth of its successful manufactures
-and merchants.</p>
-
-<p>In the vicinity of all the villages and
-suburbs, each house is provided with a garden,
-richly stocked with flowers, (amongst
-which the multitude of dahlias was quite
-remarkable), and surrounded, not by a
-fence, but more frequently, in gardens of
-any extent, by a broad dyke of deep water,
-covered with lillies and aquatic plants.
-Every inch of ground seemed to have been
-subjected to the spade, and with a more
-than Chinese economy of the soil, made
-to contribute either to the decoration or
-the support of the owner’s dwelling.</p>
-
-<p>After passing the hamlets of Bloemendael
-(the valley of flowers), and Aeltre, we
-came in sight of Ghent, situated on a
-considerable elevation above the water of
-the Scheldt (pronounced <i>Skeld</i>), the Lys,
-the Lieve, and the Moer, which meet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>
-around its base, and with their communicating
-branches and canals, divide the city
-into six-and-twenty islets, connected by
-upwards of eighty bridges of wood or stone.
-Its towers and steeples are discernible for
-some miles before it is reached, mingled
-with the tall chimnies of its numerous
-manufactories, which mark it as the Manchester
-of Belgium.</p>
-
-<p>The court-yard of the station was filled
-with a crowd of omnibuses, fiacres and
-<i>vigilantes</i>, an improvement upon the cabs of
-London, and a drive of a few minutes
-brought us to the Cauter, or Place d’Armes,
-where, following the direction of the Hand-book,
-we stopped at the Hôtel de la Poste,
-a spacious house, kept by a M. Oldi, who,
-we were told, was son to a Baroness of the
-same name, who figured on the occasion of
-the trial of Queen Caroline.</p>
-
-<h3>GHENT.</h3>
-
-<p>My anxiety was to learn something of
-the actual state of manufacturing industry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>
-in Belgium, and Ghent, its principal seat
-and centre, presented the most favourable
-opportunities. Our introductions were numerous,
-but my chief obligations are to
-<i>M. Grenier</i>, one of the most intelligent and
-accomplished men of business whom it has
-been my good fortune to meet. He had
-been formerly an officer in the Imperial
-Guard of Napoleon, whilst Belgium was a
-province of the empire, but on the return
-of peace, in 1815, betook himself to pursuits
-of commerce, and is now connected
-with some of the most important manufacturing
-and trading establishments of Belgium.
-I owe a similar acknowledgment
-for the polite attentions of <i>M. de Smet de
-Naeyer</i>,<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> an eminent manufacturer, and one
-of the officers of the Chamber of Commerce
-and of the Conseil de Prud’hommes
-at Ghent.</p>
-
-<p>The latter body which is an institution,
-originally French, was introduced in Belgium<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span>
-by a decree of Napoleon in 1810. It 
-is a board formed jointly of employers and
-workmen, elected by annual sections, and
-discharging all its functions, not only gratuitously
-as regards the public, but without
-payment to its own members, beyond the
-mere expenditure of the office, and a moderate
-salary to a secretary. Its duties have
-reference to the adjustment of the mutual
-intercourse between workmen and their
-masters in every branch of manufacture,
-the prevention of combinations, the performance
-of contracts, the regulation of
-apprenticeship, and the effectual administration
-of the system of <i>livrets</i>—a species of
-permanent diploma, which the artisan received
-on the termination of his pulpilage,
-signed by the master to whom he had been
-articled, and sealed by the President of the
-Conseil de Prud’hommes. Without the
-production of his <i>livret</i>, no tradesman can
-be received into employment; and in it
-are entered all his successive discharges
-and acquittances with his various masters.
-The powers of fining and of forfeiture exercised<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>
-by the conseil, are summary up to a 
-certain amount, and in cases of graver importance,
-there is a resort to the correctional
-police.</p>
-
-<p>But the main functions of the Conseil de
-Prud’hommes are the prevention of any
-invasion of the peculiar rights of any
-manufacturer, or the counterfeit imitation
-of his particular marks; and especially
-the protection of the copyright of all designs
-and productions of art for the decoration
-of manufactures. With this view,
-every proprietor of an original design,
-whether for working in metals or on woven
-fabrics, is empowered to deposit a copy of
-it in the archives of the council, enveloped
-in a sealed cover, and signed by himself;
-and to receive in return a certificate of its
-enrolment, and the date of reception. At
-the same time, he is called upon to declare
-the length of time for which he wishes to
-secure to himself the exclusive right of its
-publication, whether for one, two, or three
-years, or for ever, and in either case, a
-trifling fee is demanded, in no instance exceeding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>
-a franc for each year the protection 
-is claimed, or ten for a perpetuity.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> In
-the event of any dispute as to originality
-or proprietorship, the officer of the council
-is authorized to break the seal, and his
-testimony is conclusive as to the date and
-circumstances of the deposit.</p>
-
-<p>The effect of this simple and inexpensive
-tribunal has been found so thoroughly
-effectual, that the most equitable security
-has been established for designs of every
-description applicable to works of taste, and
-the <i>intellectual property</i> of a pattern has
-been as thoroughly vindicated to its inventor
-through the instrumentality of the
-register of the Prud’hommes, as his
-<i>material property</i>, in the article on which it
-is to be impressed, is secured to him by the
-ordinary law. In fact, the whole operation
-of the institution at Ghent has proved so
-beneficial to manufactures universally, that
-by a <i>projet de loi</i> of 1839, similar boards
-are about to be established in all the leading<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>
-towns and cities, as Liege, Brussels, 
-Courtrai, Antwerp, Louvain, Mons, Charleroi,
-Verviers, and the manufacturing districts,
-generally, throughout Belgium.</p>
-
-<p>One of our first visits was to a mill for
-spinning linen yarn, recently constructed
-by a joint stock company, called <i>La Société
-de la Lys</i>, in honour, I presume, of the
-Flemish river on which it is situated, and
-which is celebrated on the continent for the
-extraordinary suitability of its waters for
-the preparation of flax. Belgium, from the
-remotest period, even, it is said, before the
-Christian era, has been celebrated for its
-manufacture of clothing of all descriptions.
-It was from Belgium that England derived
-her first knowledge of the weaving of wool;
-damask has been made there since the time
-of the Crusades, when the soldiers of Godfrey
-of Bouillon and of Count Baldwin,
-brought the art from Damascus; and to the
-present hour, the very name of “<i>Holland</i>”
-is synonymous with linen, and the cloth so
-called, has for centuries been woven principally
-in Flanders.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span></p>
-
-<p>Under the government of Austria, the
-manufacture seems to have attained its
-acmé of prosperity in the Netherlands, her
-exports of linen, in 1784, amounting to
-27,843,397 yards, whilst at the present
-moment, with all her increase of population
-and discoveries in machinery, she
-hardly surpasses thirty millions. Again,
-under the continental system of Napoleon,
-from 1805 to 1812, it attained a high degree
-of prosperity, which sensibly decreased
-after the events of 1814, when English produce
-came again into active competition
-with it.</p>
-
-<p>The cultivation of flax is still, however,
-her staple employment, one acre in every
-eighty-six of the whole area of Belgium,
-being devoted to its growth. In peculiar
-districts, such as Courtrai and St. Nicolas,
-so much as one acre in twenty is given to
-it; and in the Pays de Waes, it amounts
-so high as one in ten. Every district of
-Belgium, in fact, yields flax, more or less,
-except Luxembourg and Limburg, where it
-has been attempted, but without success;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>
-but of the entire quantity produced, Flanders
-alone furnishes three-fourths, and the
-remaining provinces, one. The quality of
-the flax, too, seems, independently of local
-superiority in its cultivation, to be essentially
-dependent upon the nature of the
-soil in which it is sown. From that around
-Ghent, no process of tillage would be sufficient
-to raise the description suitable to
-more costly purposes; that of the Waloons
-yields the very coarsest qualities; Courtrai
-those whose strength is adapted for thread;
-and Tournai alone furnished the fine and
-delicate kinds, which serve for the manufacture
-of lace and cambric.</p>
-
-<p>Of the quantity of dressed flax prepared
-in Belgium, calculated to amount to about
-eighteen millions of kilogrammes, five millions
-were annually exported to England
-and elsewhere, on an average of eight
-years, from 1830 to 1839. According to
-the returns of the Belgian custom-houses,
-the export has been as follows—from 1830
-to 1839.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span></p>
-
-<table>
-<tr><td>1831</td>    <td>5,449,388</td>  <td class="tdc">kilogr.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1832</td>    <td>3,655,226</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1833</td>    <td>4,392,113</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1834</td>    <td>2,698,870</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1835</td>    <td>4,610,649</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1836</td>    <td>6,891,991</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1837</td>    <td>7,403,346</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1838</td>    <td>9,459,056</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>It is important to observe the steady
-increase of the English demand since
-1834. The remainder is reserved for home
-manufacture into thread and cloth, and it
-is estimated by M. Briavionne, that the
-cultivation of this one article alone, combining
-the value of the raw material with
-the value given to it by preparation, in its
-various stages from flax to linen cloth,
-produces annually to Belgium, an income
-of 63,615,000 francs.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
-
-<p>Belgium possesses no source of national
-wealth at all to be put into comparison<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>
-with this, involving as it does, the concentrated
-profits both of the raw material and
-its manufacture, and, at the present moment,
-the attention of the government and
-the energies of the nation are directed to
-its encouragement in every department,
-with an earnestness that well bespeaks their
-intimate sense of its importance.</p>
-
-<p>Nor are the prudent anxieties of the Belgium
-ministry on this point without serious
-and just grounds. Their ability to enter into
-competition with England in the production
-of either yarn or linen cloth, arises
-solely from the fortunate circumstance to
-which I have just alluded, that not only
-do they themselves produce the raw material
-for their own manufactures, but it is they,
-who, likewise, supply it to their competitors,
-almost at their own price. <i>Such is the superiority
-of Belgian flax, that whilst, in some
-instances, it has brought so high a price as
-£220 per ton, and generally ranges from £80
-to £90; not more than £90 has in any instance
-that I ever heard of, been obtained for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>
-British, and its ordinary average does not
-exceed £50.</i></p>
-
-<p>The elements of their trade are, therefore,
-two-fold, the growth of flax, and secondly,
-its conversion by machinery into yarn and
-cloth. In the latter alone, from the relative
-local circumstances of the two countries,
-it is utterly impossible that Belgium
-could successfully maintain the contest
-with England, with her inferior machinery,
-her more costly fuel, and her circumscribed
-sale; but aided by the other happy advantage
-of being enabled to supply herself with the
-raw material at the lowest possible rate, and
-her rivals at the highest, she is in possession
-of a position of the very last importance.</p>
-
-<p>But, should any circumstance arise to
-alter this relative position, should England
-wisely apply herself to the promotion of
-such an improvement in the cultivation and
-dressing of her flax at home as would
-render it in quality equal to that for which
-she is now dependent for her supply from
-abroad—should India or her own colonies<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>
-betake themselves to its production, or
-should some other country, adopting the
-processes of Belgium, supplant her in the
-market, and thus reduce her competition
-with England to a mere contest with machinery,
-the linen trade of Belgium could
-not by any possibility sustain the struggle,
-and her staple manufacture for centuries
-would pass, at once, into the hands of her
-rivals.</p>
-
-<p>Conscious of their critical situation in
-this respect, the King of Holland, during his
-fifteen years’ administration of the Netherlands,
-bestowed a care upon the encouragement
-and improvement of their mechanical
-skill, which may have, perhaps, been carried
-to an unwise extreme; and with a
-similar anxiety for the maintenance of their
-ascendancy in the other department, the
-ministers of King Leopold have devoted
-a sedulous attention to the cultivation
-of flax; and the very week of my
-arrival at Ostend, a commission had just
-returned from England, whose inquiries had
-been specially directed to the question of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>
-imposing restrictions upon its exportation.</p>
-
-<p>Much of the uneasiness of the government
-upon this head, arises, at the present
-moment, from the necessity of promoting
-vigorously the spinning by machinery, and,
-at the same time, the difficulty of finding
-employment for the thousands who now
-maintain themselves by the old system of
-spinning by hand, and whom the successful
-introduction of the new process will
-deprive of their ordinary means of subsistence.
-Although this is one of those complaints
-to which we have long been familiarized
-in England, and which the people
-of this country have, at length, come to
-perceive is not amongst—</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="center">“Those ills that kings or laws can cause or cure,”</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class="noin">the alarm and perplexity of the Belgians,
-and their earnest expostulation on finding
-their employment suddenly withdrawn,
-have caused no little embarrassment to their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>
-own government; and a formidable party,
-both in the country and in the House of
-Representatives, have been gravely consulting
-as to the best means of securing a
-continuance of their “ancient industry” to
-the hand-spinners at home, by restricting
-the export of flax to be spun by machinery
-abroad!</p>
-
-<p>The practicability of this, and the propriety
-of imposing a duty upon all flax
-shipped for England, was understood to be
-the subject of inquiry by the commission
-despatched by the Chambers to England,
-which consisted of Count d’Hane, a member
-of the upper house, M. Couls, the
-representative for the great linen district of
-St. Nicolas, and M. Briavionne, a successful
-writer upon Belgian commerce, and one
-or two other gentlemen connected with the
-linen trade.</p>
-
-<p>The application of machinery to the manufacture
-of linen yarn, though comparatively
-recent in its introduction into Belgium,
-has, nevertheless, made a surprising
-progress, and bids fair, if unimpeded, to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>
-maintain a creditable rivalry with Great
-Britain. The offer by Napoleon, in 1810,
-of a reward of a million of francs for the
-discovery of a process by which linen could
-be spun into yarn with the same perfection
-as cotton, naturally gave a stimulus to all
-the artisans of the empire, and almost simultaneously
-with its promulgation, a manufacturer
-of Belgium, called Bawens, announced
-his application of the principle of
-spinning through water, which is now in
-universal use. The old system of dry spinning,
-however, still obtained and was persevered
-in till superseded, at a very recent
-period, by the invention of Bawens, improved
-by all the subsequent discoveries in
-England and France.</p>
-
-<p>The seat of the manufacture, at present,
-is at Ghent and Liege, and is confined to
-a very few extensive establishments, projected
-by joint stock companies, or Sociétés
-Anonymes,<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> for the formation of which,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>
-there has latterly been almost a mania in
-Belgium. Four of these establishments,
-projected between 1837 and 1838, proposed
-to invest a capital amounting amongst the
-whole, to no less than fourteen millions of
-francs. One of them at Liege, perfected its
-intention and is now in action. A second,
-at Malines (Mechlin), was abandoned
-after the buildings had been erected, and
-the other two at Ghent, are still only
-in process of completion. Besides these,
-there is a third at Ghent, in the hands
-of an individual, calculated for 10,000
-spindles.</p>
-
-<p>That which we visited belonging to <i>La
-Société de la Lys</i>, may be taken as a fair<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>
-illustration of the progress which the art
-has made in Belgium, as the others are all
-constructed on similar models, and with the
-same apparatus in all respects. It was originally
-calculated for 15,000 spindles, but of
-these not more than one third are yet erected,
-and in motion, and but 5,000 others are in
-preparation. The steam engines were made
-in England, by Messrs. Hall, of Dartford,
-on the principle known as Wolf’s patent,
-which, using two cylinders, combines both
-a high and low pressure, and is wrought
-with one half to one third the fuel
-required for the engines, in ordinary use in
-England,<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> an object of vast importance in a
-country where coals are so expensive as they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>
-are in Belgium.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The machinery is all made
-at the Phœnix works in Ghent, the preparatory
-portions of it are excellent, and exhibit
-all the recent English improvements, and
-in roving they use the new spiral frames.
-But the spinning rooms show the Belgian
-mechanics to be still much behind those of
-Leeds and Manchester, as evinced by the
-clumsiness and imperfect finish of the
-frames, although they were still producing
-excellent work; the yarn we saw being of
-good quality, but of a coarse description,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span>
-and intended for home consumption, 
-and for the thread-makers of Lisle. The
-quantity produced, per day, was quite equal
-to that of English spinners,<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> and their
-wages much the same as those paid in Ireland,
-and somewhat less than the English.<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
-
-<p>On the whole, the linen trade of Belgium,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>
-notwithstanding its extensive preparation
-of machinery, and the extraordinary demand
-for its flax, must be regarded as in
-anything but a safe or a permanent position.
-In those stronger articles which can be
-made from flax of English growth, the
-English considerably undersell her already;
-an important trade is, at this moment, carried
-on in the north of Ireland in exporting
-linen goods to Germany, whence they were
-formerly imported into England, and whence
-they are still sent into Belgium, where the
-damask trade of Courtrai, which has been
-perpetually declining since 1815, is now, all
-but superseded by the weavers of Saxony
-and Herrnhut; and the tickens of Turnhout,
-by those woven from the strong thread of
-Brunswick.</p>
-
-<p>The contemplated measure of the French
-government, to impose a heavy duty on
-the importation of linen-yarn, will, if persevered
-in, be most prejudicial to the
-spinners of Belgium, as more or less, it
-must inevitably diminish their consumption.
-On the other hand, as England
-herself may be said to grow no flax for her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>
-own manufacture, and that of Ireland is
-not only far inferior in quality to the Dutch
-and Belgian, but inadequate to her own consumption,
-and every year increasing in demand
-and rising in price,—so long as Great
-Britain is thus dependant upon her own rivals
-for a supply of the raw material to feed her
-machinery, at an expense of from 8 to 10
-per cent, for freight and charges, in addition
-to its high first cost, and whilst she must,
-at the same time, compete with them in
-those continental markets, which are open
-to them both, the spinning mills of Belgium
-cannot but be regarded otherwise than as
-formidable opponents. Nor is this apprehension
-diminished by the fact, that Belgium,
-which a few years since had no
-machinery for spinning yarn, except what
-she obtained from other countries, or could
-smuggle from England at a serious cost, is
-now enabled to manufacture her own, and
-has all the minerals, metals, and fuel within
-herself, which combined with industry and
-skilled labour, are essential to bring it to
-perfection. For the present, the English
-manufacturer, has a protection in the cost of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>
-his machinery alone—the factory of the
-<i>Société de la Lys</i> cost £80,000 to erect, which
-supposing its 10,000 spindles to be in action,
-would be £8 per spindle, and as only the one
-half of these are at present employed, the
-actual cost is sixteen pounds; whilst an extensive
-mill can be erected in Ireland for
-from £4 to £5, and in England for even less.
-The difference of interest upon such
-unequal investments, must be a formidable
-deduction from the actual profits of the
-Belgians.</p>
-
-<p>We returned to our Hotel by a shady
-promenade along the <i>Coupure</i>, which connects
-the waters of the Lys with the canal
-of Bruges, the banks of which planted with a
-triple row of tall trees, form one of the most
-fashionable lounges and drives in Ghent.
-Opening upon it are the gardens of the
-Casino, a Grecian building of considerable
-extent, constructed in 1836 for the two
-botanical and musical societies of Ghent,
-and, in which, the one holds its concerts,
-and the other its spring and autumn exhibition
-of flowers. At the rear of the building
-is a large amphitheatre with seats cut from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>
-the mossy bank and planted with flowers,
-where the <i>Société de St. Cecile</i> give their Concerts
-d’Eté, which are held in the open air,
-in summer, and at which as many as six
-thousand persons have occasionally been
-accommodated.</p>
-
-<p>In the rearing of flowers, Belgium and
-more especially Ghent, has outrivalled the
-ancient florists of Holland, the city is
-actually environed with gardens and green-houses,
-and those of the Botanical Society,
-are celebrated throughout Europe for their
-successful cultivation of the rarest exotics.
-At Ghent their sale has, in fact, become an
-important branch of trade; plants to the
-value of a million and a half of francs having
-been exported annually, on account of the
-gardeners in the vicinity; and it is no
-unusual thing to see in the rivers, vessels
-freighted entirely with Camellias, Azaleas,
-and Orange trees, which are sent to all
-parts of Europe, even to Russia by the
-florists of Ghent.</p>
-
-<p>The general appearance of the city, without
-being highly picturesque, is to a
-stranger, of the most agreeable I remember<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>
-to have seen. It does not present 
-in the mass of its houses and buildings, that
-uniform air of grave antiquity which belongs
-to those of Bruges, the greater
-majority of the streets having been often
-rebuilt and modernized, as well as from the
-effects of civic commotions, as to suit the
-exigencies of trade and manufactures, which,
-when they deserted the rest of Belgium,
-seem to have concentrated themselves here.
-Its modern houses are almost all constructed
-on the Italian model, with ample
-<i>portes-cochers</i>, spacious court yards, lofty
-staircases, tall windows, and frequently
-frescoes and bas-reliefs, to decorate the
-exterior.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Almost every house is furnished
-with an <i>espion</i>, a small plate of looking-glass
-fixed outside the window, at such an
-angle, that all that is passing in the street
-is seen by those inside, without their appearing
-themselves.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span></p>
-
-<p>Here and there upon the quays and in
-the narrower streets, there are to be found
-the gloomy old residences of the “Men
-of Ghent,” now converted into inns or
-ware-rooms, with their sharp tilted roofs,
-high stepped gables, abutting on the
-street, fantastic chimneys, and mullioned
-windows, sunk deep into the walls.
-And turning some sudden corner in a narrow
-passage obstructed by lumbering
-waggons, drawn by oxen, one finds himself
-in front of some huge old tower, or venerable
-belfry, covered with gothic sculpture,
-and stretching up to the sky till he has to
-bend back his head to descry the summit of
-it. One singular old building on the Quai
-aux Herbes, remarkable for its profusion
-of Saxon arches and stone carvings, was
-the Hall of the Watermen, whose turbulent
-insurrection under John Lyon, is detailed
-with quaint circumstantiality in the pages of
-Froissart. But in the main, the streets of
-Ghent are lively and attractive, and its
-squares, spacious and planted with trees,
-forming a striking contrast to the melancholy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span>
-brick and mortar buildings, that compose 
-the manufacturing towns of England.
-Here too, as in Manchester and Leeds, the
-population seem all alive and active, but
-instead of the serious and important earnestness
-which one sees in every countenance
-in Lancashire, the Gantois seems to go
-about his affairs with cheerfulness and
-alacrity, as if he was less employed on
-business than amusement. The canals
-are filled with heavily laden barges, and
-the quays with long narrow waggons of
-most primitive construction, into which
-they unload their cargoes; whilst the number
-of handsome private carriages, that one
-sees in every thoroughfare, bespeak, at once,
-the wealth and refinement of the population.
-The shops are exceedingly good
-though not particularly moderate in their
-charges, and I was somewhat surprised to
-see as an attraction on the sign boards at
-the doors of the drapers and modistes, the
-announcement that <i>Scotch</i> and <i>English goods</i>
-were to be had within. Altogether the combination
-of antique singularity with modern<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>
-comfort, commercial bustle, wealth, gaiety,
-cleanliness, and vivacity, which is to
-be seen at Ghent, cannot fail to strike the
-most hurried traveller, and I doubt much
-whether it is to be found in equal perfection,
-in any other city of the continent of equal
-extent.</p>
-
-<p>Every quarter of the city exhibits traces of
-the former wealth of the burghers, and every
-building has some tradition characteristic
-of the fiery turbulence of this little municipal
-republic. Bruges and Ghent are, in
-this regard, by far the most interesting
-towns of Flanders. Brussels, Liege and
-Ypres, are all of more modern date and
-infinitively less historical importance, during
-the stormy period of the Flemish annals
-from the 12th to the 16th century. Ghent
-was a fortified town a thousand years ago,
-when its citadel was erected by Baldwin
-of the Iron Arm, but it was only with the
-rage for the Crusades, that the wealth and
-importance of the towns of the Low Countries
-arose; when the Seigneurs, in order
-to obtain funds to equip them for their
-expeditions to the Holy Land, released the inhabitants<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span>
-of the towns from their vassalage, 
-and sold to them the lands on which their
-cities were built, and all the rights of self government,
-privileges which subsequently assumed
-the form of a corporate constitution.
-Ghent thus obtained her independence
-from Philip of Alsace, in 1178, and for the
-first time secured the right of free assembly,
-the election of her own provosts, a common
-seal, and belfry, always an indispensable
-accompaniment of civic authority, and important
-in sounding the alarm and convoking
-the citizens upon every emergency.</p>
-
-<p>It was in consequence of these momentous
-concessions, that whilst the lords
-of the soil and their agrarian followers were
-wasting their energies in distant war, or
-subsisting by rapine and violence against
-one another, the inhabitants of the towns,
-secured within their walls and fortified
-places, were enabled to devote themselves
-to manufactures and to commerce, and
-thus to concentrate in their own hands, the
-largest proportion, by far, of the monied
-wealth of the Netherlands.</p>
-
-<p>But, coupled with their high privileges,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>
-there were also some restrictions, to which
-we of to-day are indebted for the vast and
-magnificent edifices which the burghers of
-these flourishing communities have left for
-our wonder and admiration. The rights
-accorded to them by their Seigneurs were
-rigidly confined to the limits of their own
-walls, no free burgher could purchase or
-hold landed estate beyond the circuit of his
-municipality; and thus, whilst driven to
-accumulate capital in the pursuit of trade
-and traffic, they were equally constrained to
-invest it, not in land, like the retired merchants
-of modern times, but in the construction
-of these vast palaces and private
-mansions, and in the decorations of their
-dwellings, and the adornment of their cities.</p>
-
-<p>It is to this political circumstance of
-their position that we are to refer, in order
-to account for the extent and splendour of
-those ancient houses which we meet at
-every turning in Bruges and Ghent—for
-the costly carvings and sculptured decorations
-of their fronts and interiors, and for
-the quantity of paintings and ornaments in
-which they abound.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span></p>
-
-<p>The accumulation of their municipal resources,
-too, required to be similarly disposed
-of, and was applied to the erection of
-their lofty belfries, the construction of those
-gigantic towers which are elevated on all
-their churches, and to the building of their
-town halls and hôtels-de-ville, whose magnitude
-and magnificence, are a matter,
-equally of admiration of the genius which
-designed, and astonishment at the wealth
-which was necessary to erect them.</p>
-
-<p>As the towns increased in prosperity and
-wealth, money always sufficed to buy from
-their sovereigns fresh privileges and powers,
-and fresh accessions of territory to be added
-to their municipal districts, till, at length,
-the trades became so numerous as to enroll
-themselves in companies, half civil and
-half military, whilst all united to form
-those trading commandaries or Hansen,
-the spread of which, over the north-west of
-Germany, forms so remarkable a feature
-in the history of commerce and civilization.
-Foremost in the Netherlands in the race
-of prosperity was Ghent, which, within a
-century from its enfranchisement, by Philip<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>
-of Alsace, rendered itself, in effect, the
-capital of Flanders, with an extent and importance
-even greater than the capital of
-France, whence Charles V subsequently
-ventured upon his bon mot, that he could
-put all Paris in his <i>glove</i> “<i>dans mon gant</i>.”</p>
-
-<p>But with this increase of prosperity, increased,
-also, the troubles and cares of
-these republican communities; their excessive
-wealth at once engendering internal
-rivalries and faction, and inviting foreign
-cupidity and invasion. “Never,” says
-Hallam, “did liberty wear a more unamiable
-aspect than among the burghers of
-the Netherlands, who abused the strength
-she gave them, by cruelty and insolence.”
-The entire history of Bruges and Ghent,
-but especially the latter, is, in fact, a series
-of wars, to repel the aggressions of France,
-or to suppress the turbulence and insurrectionary
-spirit of their own citizens. These
-were not the mere tumultuous skirmishes
-which have been dignified by the title of
-<i>wars</i> amongst the rival cities and states of
-northern Italy about the same period, and
-in which it not unfrequently happened that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>
-no blood was spilt; but in the battles of
-Courtrai, Rosebeke and Everghem, the citizens
-could send 20 to 40,000 soldiers into
-the field, and conducted their hostilities
-almost upon the scale of modern warfare.
-At Courtrai, “the men of Ghent” carried
-off seven hundred golden spurs from
-the defeated nobles of France. When
-Charles VII was preparing to expel the
-English from Calais, Philip the Good was
-able to send him 40,000 men as a subsidy,
-of whom 16,000 were from Ghent alone.</p>
-
-<p>Nor were these <i>internal</i> feuds upon a
-minor scale. Jacques van Artevelde, the
-Masaniello of Flanders, and more generally
-known as “<i>the Brewer of Ghent</i>,” from
-his having joined the guild of that trade,
-from which he was afterwards chosen by
-fifty other corporations of tradesmen, as
-the head of each, was enabled to organize
-such an army of the city companies, as to
-render his alliance an object of importance
-to Edward III of England, when making
-his preparations for invading France.</p>
-
-<p>Under this extraordinary “tribune of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span>
-the people,” Ghent was enabled, virtually,
-to cast off its allegiance to the courts of
-Flanders, to elect Artevelde as their Ruwaert
-or Protector, and to bid defiance to
-their native sovereign, backed by all the
-power of France. Artevelde became the
-personal friend and counsellor of the English
-King, who sent ambassadors to his
-court, and entered into alliance with the
-city he commanded in conjunction with
-that of Bruges and Ypres. It was at the
-suggestion of Artevelde, that Edward quartered
-the arms of France and assumed the
-fleur de lis, which for so many centuries
-was borne upon the shield of England; and
-it was in the palace of the Flemish demagogue,
-that Queen Philippa gave birth to a
-son, whose name has made Ghent familiar
-in the annals of England:—</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="center">“Old John of <i>Gaunt</i>, time honoured Lancaster.”</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>The Ruwaert in honour of Philippa gave
-her name to his son, who, at a subsequent
-period, became the demagogue of Ghent,
-and who,</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span></p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent10">“Dire rebel though he was,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Yet with a noble nature and great gifts</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Was he endowed: courage, discretion, wit,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">An equal temper and an ample soul,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Rock bound and fortified against assaults</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Of transitory passion: but below</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Built on a surgeing subterranean fire</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">That stirred and lifted him to high attempts,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">So prompt and capable, and yet so calm.</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">He nothing lacked in sovereignty but the right;</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Nothing in soldiership except good fortune.”</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="right">
-<i>Taylor’s Philip van Artevelde.</i>
-</p>
-
-<p>But the fate, like the fortune of Artevelde,
-was characteristic of the proverbial
-caprice and vacillations of republican popularity.
-After being for ten years or more,
-the idol of the people, he presumed to induce
-them to expel the Counts of Flanders
-from the succession, and to acknowledge
-the Black Prince, the son of his friend, as
-their sovereign in his stead; but his followers,
-startled at so bold a proposition,
-made a pretence for getting rid of their
-“protector,” and massacred Artevelde in
-his own house, which they burned to the
-ground, “Poor men raised him,” says
-Froissart, “and wicked men slew him.”</p>
-
-<p>Thirty years after, when Flanders, by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>
-the marriage of Margaret with Philip the
-Hardy, Duke of Burgundy, became united
-with that sovereignty, and the citizens were
-again at war amongst themselves, “the
-men of Ghent” elected Philip van Artevelde,
-godson of Queen Philippa, and her
-namesake, the son of their former favourite
-and victim, as their leader in their strifes
-with the burghers of Bruges, who were
-about to cut a canal from their city to
-Denys, which would have been injurious to
-the prosperity of Ghent, which had “the
-harvest of the river for her revenue,” when
-Philip defeated the army of Louis le Mael,
-entered Bruges in triumph, and carried off
-the Golden Dragon as large as an ox, which,
-till lately, surmounted the belfry of Ghent,
-and is said to have been brought home by
-the Flemings who followed Count Baldwin to
-Constantinople.</p>
-
-<p>For sometime, in the heyday of good
-fortune,</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent4">“Van Artevelde in all things aped</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">The state and bearing of a sovereign prince;</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Had bailiffs, masters of the horse, receivers,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">A chamber of accompt, a hall of audience;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Off gold and silver eat, was clad in robes</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Of scarlet furred with minever, gave feasts</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">With minstrelsy and dancing, night and day——”</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>But the power of France leagued with
-his native sovereign was irresistible, and
-at the battle of Rosebeke, he laid down, at
-once, his usurped authority and his life.</p>
-
-<p>Under the Dukes of Burgundy, the annals
-of these remarkable military merchants
-is the same continued story of broils and
-battles, and the union of Flanders to Austria,
-by the marriage of Mary of Burgundy,
-only brought a fresh line of combatants
-into the Low Countries.</p>
-
-<p>In 1500, Charles V, the grandson of this
-ominous alliance, was born at Ghent, in the
-old château of the Counts of Flanders, the
-remains of which are still to be seen in the
-Place de St. Pharailde, converted into a
-cotton factory, the lofty chimney of which
-now pours its volume of smoke above the
-cradle of a monarch who made it his boast,
-that “the sun never set upon his dominions.”</p>
-
-<p>With the same fiery independence of
-their forefathers, the “men of Ghent,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span>
-resisted the despotism of the Emperor as
-sturdily as they had done the exactions of
-their Earls and Dukes; and it was after
-quelling one of these insurrections, that
-Charles, intent on devising a punishment
-for their contumacy, was advised by the
-Duke of Alva, the future Moloch of the
-Netherlands under Philip II, to raze it to
-its foundations, when Charles replied by
-pointing to its towers and palaces, and
-asking him in a repetition of his former
-witticism, “combien il croyait qu’il fallait
-de peaux (<i>villes</i>) d’Espagne, pour faire un
-<i>gant</i> de cette grandeur.”</p>
-
-<p>Charles, however, exacted a punishment
-more humiliating, if not so savage as that
-contemplated by the <i>bourreau</i> of the church,
-by repealing all the charters of the city,
-dismounting their famous bell, Roland,
-fining the community, and compelling the
-ringleaders to supplicate his mercy in
-their shirts, with halters round their necks,
-a ceremony which is erroneously said to
-have been commemorated by the magistrates
-of Ghent continuing to wear the rope,
-as a part of their official costume, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>
-which is still kept alive in the distich which
-enumerates the characteristics of the Flemish
-cities:—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">Nobilibus Bruxella viris—Antuerpiæ nummis</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Gandavum laqueis, formosis Brugia puellis</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Lovanium doctis, gaudet Mechlinia stultis.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>With the abdication of Charles V, that
-most remarkable incident in the history of
-kings, which took place in the church of
-St. Gudule at Brussels, and the accession
-of Philip II, arose the reign of terror in
-the Netherlands, when Alva and his bloodhounds
-ravaged Flanders, and their successors,
-for twenty years, rendered her cities
-abattoirs of Europe.</p>
-
-<p>In these events, Ghent took a prominent
-part, and the siege of her citadel, which
-was garrisoned by the Spaniards, affords the
-noble story of its defence till reduced by
-famine, when the Flemish, on its surrender,
-discovered that its heroic resistance
-had been the work of a woman, Madame<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>
-Mondragon, the wife of the commandant,
-who, in the absence of her husband, had
-assumed his command, and capitulated only
-when hunger and disease had reduced her
-little garrison to one hundred and fifty
-souls, including herself and her children.
-Philip, weary of the war, and assured of
-the loss of Holland, which had adopted its
-liberator, the Prince of Orange, as its sovereign,
-compromised in some degree with
-the Flemish, by separating their country
-from the crown of Spain, and conferring it
-on his daughter, Isabella, by whose marriage
-with Albert, it became again united
-to the house of Austria, under whose dominion
-it remained, with the exception of
-its brief occupation by Louis XIV previous
-to the treaty of Utrecht, till incorporated
-with the French republic in 1794, and subsequently
-annexed to Holland in February
-1815.</p>
-
-<p>The streets of Ghent are full of monuments
-and reminiscences of these stormy
-and singular times. In a small triangular
-place, called the Toad’s-corner (Padden
-hoek), stood the house of the elder Artevelde<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span>
-and the scene of his murder; that which
-has been erected upon the spot, bears an
-inscription on its front:—“<span class="allsmcap">ICI PERIT VICTIME
-D’UNE FACTION, LE XXVII JUILLET
-MCCCXXXXV, JACQUES VON ARTAVELDE QUI
-ELEVA LES COMMUNES DE FLANDRE A UNE
-HAUTE PROSPERITÉ.</span>”</p>
-
-<p>In the <i>Hôtel de Ville</i>, one of the enormous
-edifices of the period, in Moresco
-gothic architecture, the celebrated declaration,
-called “the Pacification of Ghent,”
-by which the states of the Netherlands
-formed their federation to resist the tyrannous
-bigotry of Philip II, was signed by
-the representatives of Holland and Belgium
-in 1576.</p>
-
-<p>Close by it stands the belfry from which
-Charles V directed the removal of the pride
-of the burghers, their ponderous bell <i>Roland</i>,
-which, by turns, sounded the tocsin
-of revolt, or chimed in the carillon of loyalty;
-the tradition says it was of such dimensions
-as to weigh six tons, and was
-encircled by an inscription:—</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">Mynen naem is Roland—als ick clippe dan is’t brandt</div>
-<div class="verse indent0">Al sick luyde, dan is’t <i>storm in Vlaenderlande</i>.</div>
-</div></div></div>
-<blockquote><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span></p>
-<p>“<i>When I ring, there is fire; when I toll, there is a tempest in Flanders.</i>”</p>
- </blockquote>
-
-<p class="noin">And many a stormy reveille it must have
-pealed over the hive of turbulent craftsmen
-who swarmed around its base.</p>
-
-<p>Not far from the belfry, is the Friday
-market (<i>Marché de Vendredi</i>), “the forum”
-of ancient Ghent, where all its municipal
-ceremonies were solemnized, and all its
-popular assemblies were convened, to the
-tolling of their favourite bell; in which,
-also, the Counts of Flanders took the oath
-of inauguration, on their accession to the
-sovereignty. It was here that John Lyon
-convened his guild of watermen, and persuaded
-them to assume the old symbol of
-revolt, the white hood, in order to resist
-the exactions of Louis le Mael; and it was
-here that John Breydel, another fiery demagogue,
-marshalled his band of “lion’s
-claws” in 1300, and led them to the “Battle
-of the Spurs” at Courtrai; and it was
-here that Jacques van Artevelde, at the
-head of his “trades’ union,” was proclaimed
-Ruwaert of Flanders. It was here<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>
-that the commotions, so quaintly detailed by
-Froissart, took place between the fullers
-and the weavers, on Black Monday, in
-1345, when the latter were expelled from
-Ghent, after leaving fifteen hundred of their
-number dead in the streets; and it was
-here that, in later times, the ferocious
-Duke of Alva lit the flames of the inquisition,
-and consumed the contumacious protestants
-of the Low Countries.</p>
-
-<p>In Ghent, almost every great event in
-the chronicles of the old city is, more or less,
-identified with the Marché de Vendredi.
-In the centre of its square, the citizens, in
-1600, erected a column to the memory of
-Charles V, which was levelled by the French
-republicans in 1794, in order to plant the
-tree of liberty on its foundation.</p>
-
-<p>In a recess of this market-place, stands
-the wonder of Ghent, “<i>la merveille de
-Gand</i>,” an enormous cannon of the fourteenth
-century, used by Philip van Artevelde,
-at the siege of Audenarde in
-1382; but how it was ever dragged 
-<span class="err" title="original: to to">to</span> the field, or manœuvred in the action, is
-one of the enigmas of ancient warfare, as it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span>
-is upwards of eighteen feet long, ten inches
-in the diameter of the bore, and weighs
-thirty-nine thousand pounds. It is made of
-malleable iron, and is mentioned by Froissart
-as discharging balls during the siege, with
-a report which “was heard at five leagues
-distance by day, and ten by night,” and
-sounded as if “<i>tous les diables d’enfer fussent
-en chemin</i>.” It was brought from Audenarde
-to Ghent, having, I presume, been
-left upon the field by the discomfited Flemings.
-Its popular soubriquet is “<i>Dulle
-Greite</i>,” or Mad Margaret, in compliment
-to a Countess of Flanders, of violent memory,
-who is still known by the traditional
-title of “the Black Lady,” given to her by
-her subjects.</p>
-
-<p>These and a thousand similar records
-and memorials of the olden time, render a
-stroll through the streets of Ghent, one of
-singular interest and amusement; and, perhaps,
-there is no city of Europe which more
-abounds in these relics of local history, or
-has preserved so many characteristics of
-manners and customs in keeping with its
-associations of the past.</p>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</h2>
-
-<p class="center">GHENT.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="hang">Manufacture of machinery in Ghent—Great works of the
-Phœnix—Exertions of the King of Holland to promote
-this branch of art—His success—Policy of England in
-permitting the export of tools—Effect of their prohibiting
-the export of machines upon the continental artists—Present
-state of the manufactures in Belgium—<i>The Phœnix</i>,
-its extent, arrangements and productions—<i>The canal of
-Sas de Gand</i>—<i>The Beguinage</i>—Tristam Shandy—The
-churches of Ghent—Religious animosity of the Roman
-Catholics—<i>The cathedral of St. Bavon</i>—Chef-d’œuvre of
-Van Eyck—Candelabra of Charles I—Carved pulpit—<i>Church
-of St. Michael</i>—Vandyck’s crucifixion—The
-The brotherhood of St. Ivoy—Church of St. Sauveur—Singular
-picture in the church of St. Peter—Dinner at
-M. Grenier’s—Shooting with the bow—Roads in Belgium—Domestic
-habits of the Flemings—The Flemish
-language—<i>Count d’Hane</i>—Mansion of the Countess
-d’Hane de Steenhausen—Gallery of M. Schamps—<i>The
-University</i> of Ghent—State of primary education in Belgium.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Having</span> heard so much in England of
-the gigantic scale of the establishments for
-the construction of machinery in Belgium,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>
-we paid a visit this morning to the great
-<i>Phœnix Iron works</i> at Ghent, the largest in
-the kingdom; (indeed, I may presume, the
-largest in Europe), except those of Seraing
-near Liege. The surprising progress which
-the Belgians have, within the last few years,
-made in this department, is naturally a subject
-of the deepest interest in this country.
-Twenty years ago, the manufacturers of the
-Netherlands were altogether dependant
-upon France and England, for everything
-except the most ordinary pieces of machinery,
-which were used in the simplest
-processes—but the refusal of Great Britain,
-to permit its exportation upon any terms,
-naturally left them no alternative, but
-either to abandon their manufactures, or to
-apply their own ingenuity to the construction
-of machinery for themselves. To the
-encouragement of the latter attempt, the
-King of Holland, for the fifteen years that
-Belgium was under his protection, applied
-himself with an energy and zeal, that is
-positively without parallel; patronage, personal
-exertions, and pecuniary assistance,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>
-were devoted to the promotion of this important
-object, with an assiduity and perseverance
-almost incredible; his efforts
-were crowned with perfect success, and
-even his enemies, are forced to admit that
-the singular developement which has taken
-place in the resources of Belgium, in this
-important department, are all to be ascribed
-to the untiring energy and exertions of the
-King of Holland.</p>
-
-<p>His efforts were much facilitated by the
-relaxation, in the meantime, of the policy
-of England, so far as to permit the free
-exportation of certain machinery, and what
-was of infinitely greater importance, <i>of the
-most complex and ingenious tools</i> for its construction.
-The effects of the latter measure,
-in particular, and the impetus which
-it has communicated to the manufacture
-of machinery, not only in Belgium, but in
-every other country of Europe which aspires
-to it, is positively beyond calculation. It
-gave, at once, to our continental rivals the
-very arcana of our superiority; tools that are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>
-themselves the most beautiful and elaborate
-machines, performing like automatons operations
-that once required all the intelligence
-as well as all the dexterity of an
-artisan; lathes and planes that grapple
-with a beam of iron as if it were green
-wood, and shape and polish the most ponderous
-shafts with as much ease as a turner
-produces an ivory toy.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Placing these unreservedly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>
-in the hands of the engineers of 
-the continent, and, at the same time, refusing
-to let them have the articles which they
-were almost spontaneously to produce, was
-neither more nor less than peremptorily
-withholding the fruit, but making no compliment
-whatever of sending the tree.</p>
-
-<p>The refusal of Great Britain to concede
-the whole question has, at all times, excited
-an intense feeling on the continent, and
-the Belgians themselves are amongst the
-loudest in denouncing this “jealous and
-narrow-minded policy of England;” forgetful
-that they themselves in 1814 adopted
-identically the same course, and prohibited
-under pain of fine and imprisonment the
-exit of their own machinery or artisans, such
-as they were! Even now, the value of that
-which England conceded, is forgotten in the
-importance attached to that which she still
-withholds, and even the appearance of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>
-mystery connected with the prohibition
-increases its importance in imagination and
-whets the appetite to obtain it. A whimsical
-illustration of their ideas upon the
-subject occurs in the work of M. Briavionne,
-who gravely asserts that “the manufacturers
-of Lancashire, impatient to participate in
-the cares of the government upon this point,
-have submitted to a voluntary tax sufficient
-to organize a perpetual guard, which surrounds
-Manchester night and day to prevent
-the exit of machinery.”<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
-
-<p>However, it is notorious that notwithstanding
-these sleepless precautions and in
-spite of every prohibition, machinery of
-every description is at the present moment
-smuggled into Belgium, and every other
-state that requires it—not, perhaps, in such
-quantities as to serve for the fitting up of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span>
-extensive factories, but so as to afford a
-model of every improvement and every
-new invention for the instant adoption,
-and imitation of the continental engineers
-and mechanicians. Thus provided and
-thus encouraged, speculating upon capital
-supplied lavishly by their government,
-equipped with the most valuable English
-tools, inspected by English artisans, and
-working from English models, the Belgians
-have now far outstripped all the rest of Europe
-in the manufacture of machines of every
-description, and in all but the cost of construction,
-and that beauty of finish which
-matured skill can alone achieve, they at
-present bid fair to rival England herself in
-her peculiar and hitherto undisputed domain.</p>
-
-<p>The establishment of the Phœnix, is one
-of those which have sprung up, thus stimulated
-and thus encouraged. It was originally
-erected by an individual proprietor,
-M. Huytens Kerremans, in 1821, and attained
-much of its reputation under the
-management of an Englishman, named<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>
-Bell, so much so, that at the period of the
-revolution in 1830, it employed upwards
-of two hundred and twenty workmen daily.
-In 1836, on the death of the proprietor, it
-passed into the hands of a joint stock company,
-by whom it has been enlarged to
-more than thrice its previous extent, at an
-expense of upwards of one million of francs.
-It is at present conducted by Mr. Windsor,
-a gentleman from Leeds, and is certainly
-the most admirably arranged establishment
-of the kind I have ever seen—those of
-England not excepted.</p>
-
-<p>It at present employs seven hundred
-hands, of whom two hundred are apprentices,
-and of the remainder, between fifty
-and sixty English. The range of its productions
-includes every species of machine
-used for spinning flax, cotton, silk, or wool,
-as well as for other manufactures in which
-machinery is required, for which there is
-a brisk demand at present, not only in
-Belgium, but for Spain, Austria, France
-and Holland. In point of finish and beauty,
-the spinning machinery is certainly, as I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>
-have said, inferior to the English, it is
-also stated to be defective in other respects,
-but those proprietors of mills who
-are using it, made no complaints to me
-upon the subject, and seemed perfectly
-satisfied with its execution. Some of the
-heavier articles in process of construction,
-especially a spiral roving-frame which some
-English workmen were completing, seemed,
-in every respect both of finish and action,
-to be quite equal to those made at Manchester
-and Leeds.</p>
-
-<p>The establishment contains a preparatory
-workshop on a comprehensive scale,
-fitted up with small tools and machinery,
-and superintended by two competent directors,
-solely for the instruction of apprentices,
-and its success we were told had
-been most gratifying. The Englishmen
-employed at the Phœnix receive higher
-wages than the Flemings, but the majority
-of them are only retained till their original
-engagements shall have been completed,
-when their services will be dispensed with,
-and their places supplied by native workmen,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>
-at wages not exceeding twenty francs 
-per week, and fully competent to undertake
-their duties.</p>
-
-<p>One important feature in this immense
-manufactory is, that it is gradually succeeding
-in making its own tools, instead of
-importing them as heretofore from England.
-The majority of those in use had been already
-constructed upon the spot upon
-English models, and at the moment we
-called, a planing machine, twenty feet long,
-was in process of erection, together with
-drills, sliding lathes, dividing and filing apparatus,
-and in short, every description of
-tool in use in Great Britain. In this respect,
-the directors assured me of their
-confidence of being, for the future, perfectly
-independent of any supply from abroad—but
-I should add, that afterwards at the rival establishment
-at Seraing, where all the tools
-are imported from England, I was told that
-those made at the Phœnix were not only
-much more expensive, but of inferior
-quality.</p>
-
-<p>The works were in full employment at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span>
-the period of our visit, from the fact of there
-being three flax spinning mills in course of
-construction in Ghent; but it remains to
-be seen whether its present vigorous prosperity
-is the result of a permanent cause,
-and whether the career of Belgian manufactures,
-and the demand created in consequence,
-will be such as to maintain in
-remunerative operation this splendid establishment,
-as well as that of Seraing and
-the minor works of the same kind at Brussels,
-Verviers, Namur, Charleroi and
-elsewhere.</p>
-
-<p>In the neighbourhood of the Phœnix, we
-passed the great basin of the Sas de Gand
-Canal, which by connecting Ghent with
-Terneuse at the mouth of the Scheldt, has
-effectually rendered it a sea-port in the heart
-of Belgium. This bold idea was originally
-conceived by Napoleon, but carried into
-effect, and the basin completed, by the
-King of Holland only two years before he
-was driven from the country by the revolution.
-As the embouchure of the canal,
-however, is situated in Zeeland, a province<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>
-of the Dutch dominions, its navigation was
-effectually closed from 1830 to 1839, when
-the treaty was ratified, which finally determined
-the limits of the two States. During
-those nine years, the magnificent dock at
-Ghent, and the line of the canal itself, were
-stagnant, and the passage rapidly filling up
-with sand and silt, another of the many
-inconveniences entailed upon the merchants
-of Belgium by “the repeal of the union.”
-It is at last, however, opened to the trade,
-and when we saw it, contained a number of
-vessels, some discharging cotton, and one
-taking in cargo for the Havanna. During
-the few months that had elapsed from its
-opening in October, 1839, upwards of one
-hundred and twenty vessels had entered and
-departed by it from Ghent, for Holland,
-and the Hanse Towns, London, the Mediterranean,
-and the United States.</p>
-
-<p>On our return we drove to the <i>Beguinage</i>,
-a little enclosed district, appropriated as
-the residence of an ancient community of
-nuns, who take no vow, but on contributing
-to the general funds of the community, are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>
-admitted into the sisterhood, and devote
-their lives to works of charity and benevolence,
-especially to attendance on the sick
-and poor. They are each clad in the costume
-of the order. For a head-dress, they carry the
-<i>beguine</i>, a veil of white muslin, folded square,
-and laid flat upon the top of the head,
-whence they derive their name, with a black
-silk hood, termed a <i>faille</i>, said to have been
-anciently worn by the ladies of Flanders,
-and closely resembling, both in name and
-appearance, the <i>faldetta</i> of the Maltese.
-This interesting society contains between
-seven and eight hundred members, and
-occupies not a detached building, as elsewhere,
-but a little retired section of the
-city, surrounded by a fosse, and enclosed
-by a wall, at the gate of which, one of the
-sisterhood acts as porter. The whole is
-divided into streets, consisting of rows of
-quaint looking little houses, of venerable
-brick-work, with Dutch gables and cut stone
-windows, each door inscribed with the
-name of a particular saint, Agatha,
-Catherine, or Theresa, instead of that of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span>
-its occupant. In the centre is a spacious
-square, with an old Spanish looking church,
-rather richly ornamented, and containing a
-few curious paintings and carvings in oak.
-The order is of very high antiquity, dating
-some twelve hundred years ago, and the
-present establishment was founded in the
-thirteenth century.</p>
-
-<p>When the convents of the Low Countries
-were reduced in number by the Austrian
-government under Joseph II, he made a
-special exemption in favour of the Beguines,
-they were equally recognized and protected,
-when the French directory completed the
-suppression of the remaining religious
-houses of Belgium, and the King of
-Holland following the same example, confirmed
-them, in the possession of their privileges
-and property, by a charter granted in
-1826 or 1827. A number of the sisters
-occupy a portion of their time in making
-lace; their dwellings, streets and gardens,
-are preserved with a “beauty of cleanliness”
-truly delightful. Every thing we could
-see or learn of their inmates was characterized<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>
-by gentleness and goodness, and 
-their active benevolence, (in spite of my
-uncle Toby’s insinuation,) the dictate of
-their heart, and not of their profession.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a>
-In the whole aspect of their dwelling, there
-was nothing of the</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">“Relentless walls, whose darksome round contains,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">Repentant sighs and voluntary pains.”</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="noin">But a cheerful serenity, and an enlivening
-interest, very different from the ideas
-usually associated with the gloom of a convent.</p>
-
-<p>The churches of Ghent in which, as
-usual, the grand objects of curiosity and
-vertu are amassed and exhibited, are in point<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>
-of number, richness, and sombre beauty, quite
-proportionate to the other attractions of
-Ghent. They are all, (with one exception,
-that of St. Peter’s, which is a copy of the one
-at Rome,) built in the same venerable and
-massive style of gothic architecture, with
-huge square turrets, lofty aisles, rich altars,
-pulpits of carved oak and marble, and
-chapels decorated with paintings by
-the old masters of the Flemish School.
-The population is almost exclusively
-Roman Catholic, hardly 2000 of its 95,000
-inhabitants being of the reformed religion.
-For the use of the latter, a church was appropriated
-by the King of Holland, in
-1817, which had once been attached to a
-convent of Capuchins, and on their suppression,
-had been converted into a military
-magazine and hospital by the French.
-Such, however, was the animosity of the
-priesthood to this act of toleration on the
-part of the King, that it was for some time
-necessary to station a guard, both within
-the church and without, to protect those<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>
-who frequented it from violence or insult.
-And yet Ghent has the reputation of being
-the least intolerant and bigoted city in
-the Netherlands.</p>
-
-<p>The cathedral of St. Bavon, besides being
-the oldest, is by far the most magnificent
-in Ghent, and seems, in fact, to have a high
-reputation for its splendour, as we repeatedly
-heard of it at subsequent points of
-our tour. The whole of the basement is
-occupied by one vast crypt or <i>souterrain</i>,
-the low vaulted arches of which, rest on
-the shafts of the huge columns which
-support the roof of the grand edifice
-above. Like it, it is divided into a series
-of little gloomy chapels, containing the
-tombs of some of the ancient families of distinction,
-and occasionally decorated by pictures
-and statues of extreme antiquity.
-The brothers John and Hubert Van Eyck,
-the painters and their sister, who was likewise
-an artist, sleep in one grave under the
-floor of this melancholy vault. Over the
-grand entrance to the cathedral is a curious
-old statue of St. Bavon holding a hawk<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>
-upon his wrist, a curious attitude, though
-characteristic of the manners of the times.
-The coup-d’œil of the interior is surprisingly
-grand, the choir being separated from
-the nave and aisles by lofty columns of
-variegated marbles, and the entrance to each
-of the four and twenty chapels which surround
-the church, covered by a screen of neat
-design, sometimes in carved oak or stone,
-but more frequently in gilded brass or
-iron of exquisite workmanship.</p>
-
-<p>The numerous paintings with which the
-church is covered are few of them of extraordinary
-merit, they are chiefly by the
-artists, contemporary and subsequent to
-Rubens, Crayer, Otto Vennius, Honthorst,
-Serghers and others. The most remarkable
-painting is that of the Saint Agneau or
-adoration of the lamb by the Van Eycks.
-It is in marvellous preservation, and is one
-of the most valuable specimens remaining
-of the school to which it belongs. It contains
-a profusion of figures, finished with
-the richness and delicacy of a miniature,
-and represents the lamb upon an altar, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>
-the midst of a rich landscape, surrounded
-by angels, and worshipped by multitudes of
-popes, emperors, monks and nuns. It is
-surmounted and surrounded by a number
-of compartments, containing pictures of
-the Saviour and the Virgin, and representing
-divers incidents in the life of the former;
-in addition to these, there were originally
-six doors or <i>volets</i> to the picture, which, by
-some ignorance of the persons in charge of
-them, were actually sold in 1816 for a
-mere trifle to an Englishman called Solly,
-from whom they were bought by the King
-of Prussia, for 400,000 francs, and they now
-decorate the museum at Berlin. There is
-also a picture by Rubens, of St. Bavon
-retiring to a monastery, after having distributed
-his goods to the poor, which was
-carried by Napoleon to Paris, and restored
-in 1819.</p>
-
-<p>The choir, which is finished with
-carved mahogany, has on either side, at the
-entrance, two statues of St. Peter and St.
-Paul casting the viper from his hand, by
-Van Poucke, a modern Flemish sculptor,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>
-who died at Rome in 1809. Among its
-other ornaments are four lofty candelabra
-of polished copper, once the property of
-Charles I of England, and sold along with
-the other decorations of the chapel at
-Whitehall by order of the Commonwealth.
-Round the altar are also some tombs of the
-former prelates of Ghent, amongst which,
-that by Duquesnoy of the Bishop Triest,
-is regarded as the finest piece of sculpture
-in the Netherlands. The mitred dignitaries
-each repose upon his sculptured
-sarcophagus, or kneel with clasped and
-upraised hands:</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">“Seeming to say the prayer when dead,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">That living they had never said.”</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>Here, again, the pulpit is an extraordinary
-production in carved wood of huge
-dimensions, but with white marble ornaments
-and figures injudiciously intermingled
-with the rich old oak. The principal
-figures are statues of Truth awakening
-Time, and presenting to him the scriptures
-with the motto, “<i>surge qui dormis illuminabit<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>
-te Christus!</i>” This pulpit, which is 
-far inferior to those at Antwerp and elsewhere,
-is not by Verbruggen, who is the
-Canova of wood, but by an artist of Ghent,
-called Laurence Delvaux, who died about
-1780.</p>
-
-<p>The other churches present a succession
-of objects which is almost as tiresome to
-visit as it is tedious to enumerate. That
-of St. Michael, in extent and magnificence,
-is second only to the cathedral.
-Amongst a host of ordinary
-paintings, and some by modern artists,
-especially one of great merit, by Paelinck,
-a native of Ghent, it possesses a chef
-d’œuvre of Vandyk, a “Crucifixion,” in
-which he has introduced the same magnificent
-horse as in his picture of Charles V, in
-the Sal di Baroccio, at Florence. Sir Joshua
-Reynolds calls it “one of his noblest
-works.” It had been injured by repeated
-cleanings, but M. Voisin, the historian of
-Ghent, observes with much naïveté, “qu’il
-vient d’être restauré par un artiste habile.”
-Who he may be who has ventured to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span>
-restore a chef-d’œuvre of Vandyck, M.
-Voisin discreetly forbears to name.</p>
-
-<p>An association, called the Brotherhood
-of St. Ivoy, formerly met in this church,
-which was composed of the most distinguished
-members of the bar, who gave
-advice to the poor, and bore the expense
-of any legal process which it might be necessary
-to institute for them out of a
-common fund. This law hospital has not,
-however, survived the revolution of 1830.
-The music and choir of St. Michael’s are
-remarkably fine, the organ is of extraordinary
-richness and volume, and nothing
-could possibly be more sublime than its
-melodious tones resounding amidst the
-“dim religious light” of the old gothic
-church, when</p>
-
-<div class="poetry-container">
-<div class="poetry">
-  <div class="stanza">
-    <div class="verse indent0">“Through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault,</div>
-    <div class="verse indent0">The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.”</div>
-  </div>
-</div>
-</div>
-
-<p>In the church of St. Sauveur, Rue des
-Prêtres, there is a painting of the “Descent
-from the Cross,” by Van Hanslaere, one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>
-of the most distinguished living artists of
-Belgium, and in that of St. Peter, a copy
-by Van Thulden, from Rubens’ picture of
-the Triumph of Truth over Luther and
-Calvin, who are represented in the agonies
-of annihilation, trampled underfoot by the
-rampant followers of Truth, who are pursuing
-their disciples in all directions. In
-the foreground, a lion is introduced allegorically,
-pawing a wolf whom he has just
-strangled, emblematic, no doubt, of the
-fall of heresy under the hands of the church.</p>
-
-<p>We drove to the village of Gavre, about
-ten miles from Ghent, to dine at the villa
-of M. Grenier, a very splendid house recently
-erected upon one of the very few
-elevated points, for it cannot be called a
-hill, which are to be found in Flanders,
-and which, from the vast level plain over
-which it rises, commands a most enchanting
-view; the ancient town of Audenarde
-lying <span class="err" title="original: immediatetely">immediately</span> in front, and the “lazy
-Scheldt” winding its devious way amidst
-innumerable hamlets, woods and villages
-as far as the eye could reach.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span></p>
-
-<p>It was at Gavre, that the Duke of Marlborough
-encamped on his triumphal march
-from Ramillies, where, after taking all the
-intervening cities and strong-holds of Flanders,
-together with Audenarde and Ghent,
-almost in the space of a week, he addresses
-thence to the Duchess the remarkable letter,
-in which he says, “so many towns have
-submitted since the battle, that it really
-looks more like a dream than truth,” and
-in another place, he says, “I am so persuaded
-that this campaign will give us a
-good peace, that I beg of you to do all you
-can that our house at Woodstock may be
-carried up as much as possible, that I may
-have a prospect of living in it.”</p>
-
-<p>It was the fête of some saint in the villages
-through which we drove, and every
-country inn seemed full of enjoyment; tents
-filled with dancers, and parties engaged in
-athletic games before the doors. In one
-place a considerable crowd were assembled
-round the maypole to shoot with the bow
-at the popinjay. This is a favourite exercise
-of the Flemings, who are exceedingly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>
-expert in it, the company which we passed,
-was composed indifferently of the gentry
-and peasants, who seemed to enter into
-it with equal spirit. At Ghent, there is an
-association for the purpose of practising
-the use of the bow, called the Confrères de
-Saint George, a relic of the time when
-every district of Flanders had a similar
-society, all which used to meet at Ghent
-to contend for the prize, and the successful
-town caused a mass to be celebrated in honour
-of the victor, and gave to the poor
-the scarlet cloaks, laced with gold, which
-had been worn as the costume of the day.</p>
-
-<p>The roads through this part of Belgium
-are made like those of France, with a raised
-pavé in the centre only, a custom enforced,
-in a great part, by the great expense
-of bringing stones from a distance for their
-construction, scarcely any being to be
-found in Flanders or the west. The bye-roads
-being all across sand, unconsolidated
-in any way, are all but impassable.</p>
-
-<p>The Belgian hour for dinner is equally
-early with that of the tables-d’hôte, being<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>
-from two to three or four o’clock, and as there
-is no prolonged sitting for wine afterwards,
-the entertainment ends before we in England
-think of dressing for dinner. The cuisine
-at M. Grenier’s was altogether French, including,
-however, some dishes peculiarly
-Flemish, amongst others, the large smoked
-ham, which is an invariable accompaniment
-at every table throughout Belgium,
-and seems to be in as high estimation now,
-as when Rome was supplied with them by
-the ancient Menapii of the Ardennes; it
-comes to table decorated by a chased silver
-handle screwed on to the shank bone, to
-avoid using the fork in carving it. Another
-national dish was the <i>hareng frais</i>,
-herring pickled like anchovies, and used
-like them without further cooking: it is,
-however, equally common in Holland, where
-the fishery is of high importance—in Belgium
-it is rapidly declining.</p>
-
-<p>The style of everything in M. Grenier’s
-establishment, and in those of the same
-rank where we had the honour to visit,
-was essentially French, his family having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>
-been educated in Paris, and the conversation
-was of course in French, although
-every one at table seemed to understand
-English perfectly. Flemish is spoken only
-by the peasantry and the working classes.
-The account given of it as a dialect was,
-that “Dutch is bad German, and Flemish
-bad Dutch.” It is, however, by no means
-inharmonious, and in point of antiquity,
-I was told by Count d’Hane, that the earliest
-printed comedy in Europe still exists in
-Flemish. A stroll in the grounds after
-dinner, and music and singing on our return
-to the drawing-room concluded an
-exceedingly agreeable evening, and we
-returned early to Ghent.</p>
-
-<p class="right">
-10 September, 1840.
-</p>
-
-<p>We had, this morning, a visit from
-Count d’Hane, a member of the “senate,”
-the elective House of Peers for Belgium,
-to which he is returned for the district of
-Alost. The Count is a younger brother of
-the most distinguished family of Ghent, and
-head of the educational section of the legislature,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span>
-besides being an ardent amateur of 
-agriculture. He is married to the only
-daughter of M. de Potter (not the de Potter
-of the Revolution, however) and in conformity
-to the Flemish usage, has appended
-the name of that family to his own. We
-drove along with him to the house of his
-mother, the Dowager Countess d’Hane de
-Steenhausen, in the Rue des Champs, the
-most splendid mansion in the city, built in
-the style of Louis XIV, and containing a
-collection of choice pictures of the Dutch
-school. The dining-room is a superb
-saloon with mirrored walls, an inlaid parquet
-and richly painted ceiling: the latter,
-however, is torn down in many places, the
-soldiers of the French revolutionary army
-having thrust their sabres through it in
-1794, in the hope of finding gold concealed
-between it and the floor above, an outrage,
-the traces of which the owners have never
-removed. It was in these apartments that
-the late Count received the Emperor Alexander
-on his return from England after the
-Peace of Paris, and the same suite of rooms<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span>
-were subsequently the residence of Louis
-XVIII, who fled hither during the Hundred
-Days, and remained till the events of 1815,
-restored him to his throne.</p>
-
-<p>A few doors distant in the same street,
-we visited the gallery of M. Schamps which
-had long been regarded as one of the lions of
-Ghent. It has since been dispersed and sold.
-When we saw it, it was numbered and catalogued,
-and the rooms filled with dealers
-from all parts of Europe, inspecting their
-intended purchases previous to the auction,
-which was to take place a few days after.
-The gentleman by whom it was originally
-collected is but recently dead, and its dispersion
-now was attributed, we were told,
-partly to impatience of the present proprietor,
-at having his retirement perpetually invaded
-by travellers to see his pictures, and
-partly by the operation of the law against
-primogeniture, which rendered its sale indispensable,
-in order to a more equal partition
-of the family estates.</p>
-
-<p>Count d’Hane did us the favour to conduct
-us over the buildings of the University,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>
-one of the many valuable institutions for
-which Belgium is indebted to the munificence
-of the King of Holland. It was
-founded by him in 1816, and thrown open
-for the reception of students in 1826; an
-inscription upon the portico records the
-event, <i>Auspice Gulielmo I. Acad. Conditore,
-posuit, S. P. Q. G.</i> <span class="allsmcap">DCCCXXVI</span>. the initials
-in the usual magniloquence of the low
-countries, represent the Senatus Populus
-Que Gandavensis!</p>
-
-<p>The buildings from a design of Roelandt,
-an artist of Nieuport, are in a style of chaste
-Corinthian architecture, the portico ornamented
-with sculpture in alto relievo, the
-vestibule superbly flagged in a mosaic of
-colored marbles, and the hall and staircase
-ornamented with busts and caryatides in
-white marble. The theatres are on a magnificent
-scale, richly furnished and lighted
-by lofty lanterns in the vaults of the roof.
-The course of education, besides most extensive
-primary schools, comprises the faculties
-of law, medicine and divinity, with
-science and belles-lettres, and the number of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>
-students is between 300 and 400 attending
-the classes of thirty professors. There is
-attached to the University a library of sixty
-thousand volumes, a collection of philosophical
-apparatus of great value, and museums
-of antiquities, natural history, mineralogy
-and comparative anatomy, and the
-whole institution having been recently remodelled
-and placed under the care of a
-vigilant and anxious committee, it promises
-to be one of the most important and beneficial
-foundations in the kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>The entire system of primary education,
-however, is in anything but a satisfactory
-position in Belgium. Under the regence
-of Holland, the Dutch system of rational
-education was imparted to Belgium. Schools
-were established in every district, under the
-superintendance of provincial committees,
-instruction was supplied gratuitously, and
-the children of the poor were required to
-avail themselves of it, whilst to secure its
-efficiency, no teacher was allowed to be employed
-who had not undergone a thorough<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>
-examination, and been furnished with a
-diploma of competency.</p>
-
-<p>This feature of the government was from
-the first vehemently opposed by the Belgian
-clergy, who saw in it an encroachment upon
-the right claimed by the Catholic Church to
-regulate the quantity as well as the quality
-of national education, and when in 1830,
-they succeeded in effecting the “repeal of the
-Union,” between the two countries, the entire
-system was abolished at one fell swoop.<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
-
-<p>Education, like every thing else, was declared
-to be free, and the new government
-did away with all official supervision of
-schools, and the necessity for any enquiry
-into the competency of teachers. The
-result of this has been, that although the
-number of schools has not been diminished,
-the nature of the instruction and the qualification
-of the teacher, is of so very low a
-description, as to be thus characterised in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>
-a modern work upon the subject, by M.
-Ducpétiaux,<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> himself, a distinguished Belgian,
-and intimately acquainted with the
-subject.</p>
-
-<p>“Instruction in our schools is generally
-faulty and incomplete, and little merits the
-praise which has been bestowed upon it.
-<i>The best thing that can be said in its favour is,
-that it is better than no instruction at all</i>, and
-that it is more satisfactory to see children
-sitting on the benches of a school, even
-although they be doing nothing to the purpose,
-than to behold them working mischief
-on the streets. They are taught to read,
-write, and figure a little; <i>to teach them less
-is scarcely possible</i>. We speak here of primary
-schools in general, and affirm that
-those who attribute a moralising influence
-to the majority of these schools, deceive
-themselves in a manner the most strange<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span>
-and prejudicial to the interest of the class
-whose children are the pupils in these seminaries.
-A degree of instruction so limited,
-so meagre, is nearly equivalent to
-none whatever; and it is impossible that
-things should be in a better case, seeing
-that the education of the <i>teachers</i> themselves
-is of the most imperfect kind. Barely
-do these persons know the little which
-they undertake to impart, and they have,
-generally speaking, the most superficial
-notions of those methods of instilling knowledge,
-which they impudently attempt to
-apply in the case of those only a little more
-ignorant than themselves.”</p>
-
-<p>The experiment of education on both
-systems has now had an ample trial in
-Belgium; first in fifteen years of government
-protection, and now in ten years of
-“free trade.” The result has been a convincing
-failure, and those most clamorous
-for the latter system in 1830, are now
-the most urgent in their demands to revert
-to the former. The provincial deputations,
-in their reports, recommend the same<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>
-course, and the legislature have so far
-subscribed to their views, as to propose a
-projet de loi for carrying them into effect,
-by restoring a modification of the system,
-as before the revolution.</p>
-
-<p>We dined with Count d’Hane at three
-o’clock in the afternoon, and as usual, the
-party broke up between seven and eight
-o’clock.</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—As the comparative cost of machinery in Belgium,
-and in England, is a matter of much interest at the
-present moment, a list of the prices of that manufactured
-at Ghent, with the English charges for the same articles,
-contrasted with each item, will be found in the Appendix
-No. I.</p>
-</div>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="center">GHENT AND COURTRAI.</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="hang">The market-day at Ghent—The peasants—The linen-market—The
-Book-stalls—<i>Courtrai</i>—The Lys—<i>Denys</i>—Distillation
-in Belgium—<span class="smcap">Agriculture in Flanders</span>—A
-Flemish farm—Anecdote of Chaptal and Napoleon—Trade
-in manure—<i>The Smoor-Hoop</i>—Rotation of crops—<span class="smcap">Cultivation
-of Flax</span>—Real importance of the
-crop in Belgium—Disadvantageous position of Great
-Britain as regards the growth of flax—State of her importations
-from abroad and her dependency upon Belgium—In
-the power of Great Britain to relieve herself
-effectually—System in Flanders—<i>The seed</i>—Singular
-fact as to the Dutch seed—Rotation of crops—Spade
-labour—Extraordinary care and precaution in <i>weeding</i>—<i>Pulling</i>—<span class="smcap">The
-Rouissage</span>—In Hainault—In the Pays
-de Waes—At Courtrai—The process in Holland—The
-process in the Lys—<i>A Bleach-green</i>—The damask manufacture
-in Belgium—A manufactory in a windmill—Introduction
-of the use of <i>sabots</i> into Ireland—<i>Courtrai</i>,
-the town—Antiquities—The Church of Notre Dame—Relic
-of Thomas à Becket—<span class="smcap">The Maison de Force at
-Ghent</span>—The System of prison discipline—Labour of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span>
-inmates—Their earnings—Remarkable story of Pierre
-Joseph Soëte—Melancholy case of an English prisoner—<i>A
-sugar refinery</i>—State of the trade in Belgium—Curious
-frauds committed under the recent law—<i>Beet-root
-sugar</i>—Failure of the manufacture—A tumult at
-Ghent—<i>The New Theatre</i>—Cultivation of music at Ghent—Print works
-of M. Desmet de Naeyer—Effects of the
-Revolution of 1830 upon the manufactures of Belgium—Opposition
-of Ghent and Antwerp to a separation from
-Holland—M. Briavionne’s exposé of the ruin of the
-trade in calico printing—Smuggling across the frontiers—Present
-discontents at Ghent—Number of insolvents
-in 1839—General decline of her manufactures.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p>This being the market day for linen, we
-went early to the Marché de Vendredi
-where it is held. The winter, however, is
-the season in which the market is seen to the
-greatest advantage, as the farmers are not
-then prevented by their agricultural employments
-from attending to the weaving, and
-bringing of it to town for sale in December
-and January; so many as 2000 pieces
-have been sold in the course of a morning.
-The appearance of the peasantry was particularly
-prepossessing, their features handsome,
-their dress and person neat in the
-extreme; the women generally wearing long<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>
-cloaks, made of printed calico, and the
-men the blouse of blue linen, which has
-become almost the national costume of
-Belgium.</p>
-
-<p>The sellers of linen were arranged in long
-lines, each with his webs before him resting
-on a low bench, whilst the police were
-present to preserve order, and see that
-every individual kept his allotted place.
-The webs had all previously been examined
-by a public officer, who affixed his seal to
-each, not as any mark of its quality or
-guide to its price, but merely to testify that
-it was not fraudulently made up—that it
-was of the same quality throughout as on
-the outer, fold, and that the quantity was
-exactly what it professed to be; any fraud
-attempted, in any particular, exposing the
-offender to the seizure and forfeiture of the
-web.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
-
-<p>The other articles for sale in the market<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>
-were vegetables and fruit of the ordinary
-kinds, (with a profusion of Mirabelle plums,
-the trees of which we saw, repeatedly,
-planted in hedge-rows), woollen cloth, cutlery,
-household furniture, and pottery of a
-very rude description, together with numerous
-stalls of books. The latter were chiefly
-religious, but amongst the others were a
-number of the old popular histories, which
-seem to be equally favourites in England
-and Flanders, such as “<i>Reynaert den Vos</i>;”—“<i>de
-schoone historie van Fortunatus borsen</i>;”—“<i>de
-schoone historie van den edelen Jan van
-Parys</i>;”—“<i>de Twee gebroders en vroome riddens
-Valentyn en Oursen den Wilden men</i>;”—“<i>Recretiven
-Droomboek</i>.” &amp;c., &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p>After breakfast we went by the railroad
-to Courtrai, a distance which the train accomplishes
-in a little more than two hours.
-My object, in the excursion, was to see the
-process, which is peculiar to this district,
-of steeping flax in the running waters of the
-Lys. This river, which rises in the Pays
-de Calais, and forms one of the boundaries
-between France and Belgium, derives its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span>
-name, in all probability, from the quantity
-of water-lilies which flourish in its sluggish
-current, and which are said to be the origin
-of the fleur-de-lys in the royal arms of
-France. The road passes through Denys,
-Waereghem and Haerlebeke, three towns
-which are the chief in Communes of the
-same name, and are all bustling little places,
-combining with agricultural industry, a considerable
-trade in linen which is the great
-staple of the district. At Denys, there are
-also extensive distilleries of Geneva which
-enjoys a considerable reputation in Belgium,
-where the spirit produced by distillation is
-invariably bad, except in the provinces of
-Limbourg and Luxembourg, where it approaches
-somewhat to the character of the
-Dutch. This remarkable difference between
-the produce of two countries, so
-similar in almost all their resources for the
-manufacture, is, perhaps, to be found in
-the almost total absence of any duty of excise
-upon distillation, which it was found
-essential to reduce to a mere nominal sum
-since 1830, in order to protect the agriculture<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>
-of Belgium, and which, consequently, 
-brought the trade into the hands of the very
-lowest class, both of distillers and consumers.</p>
-
-<p>The entire surface of the country, between
-Ghent and Courtrai, is one unbroken
-plain, which, though less rich and luxuriant
-than the alluvial soils of Holland and of
-England, exhibits, in all directions, the most
-astonishing evidence of that superiority in
-agricultural science for which the Flemings
-are renowned over Europe. The natural
-reluctance of their thin and sandy soil has
-been overcome by dint of the most untiring
-labour—an attention to manuring, which
-approaches to the ludicrous in its details,
-and, above all, by a system of rotation, the
-most profoundly calculated and the most
-eminently successful.</p>
-
-<p>The general aspect of a Flemish farm;
-the absence of hedge-rows, or, where they
-are to be found, their elaborate training and
-inter-texture, so as to present merely a
-narrow vegetating surface of some two or
-three feet high, and twice as many inches in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>
-thickness; the minute division of their
-fields into squares, all bearing different
-crops, but performing the same circle of
-rotation, and the total disappearance of all
-weeds or plants, other than those sought to
-be raised; all these show the practical and
-laborious experience, by which they have
-reduced their science to its present system,
-and the indomitable industry by which,
-almost inch by inch, these vast and arid
-plains have been converted from blowing
-sands into blooming gardens. Here draining
-and irrigation are each seen in their
-highest perfection, owing to the frequent
-intersection of canals; whilst the same circumstance,
-affording the best facilities for
-the transport of manure, has been one of
-the most active promoters of farming improvement.
-Chaptal relates, that having
-traversed one of the sandy plains of Flanders
-in company with Napoleon, the Emperor,
-on his return to Paris, adverted to the circumstance
-of its gloomy barrenness with
-an expression of surprise as well as regret,
-when the practical philosopher suggested,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span>
-that the construction of a canal across it
-would, within five years, convert the unproductive
-waste into luxuriant farms. The
-experiment was tried, and proved triumphantly
-successful. The canal was opened,
-and in less than the time predicted, the
-results anticipated were more than realized
-in its effects.</p>
-
-<p>To fix the flying sands of Belgium, the
-main and permanent expedient has been
-the application of manures; the preparation
-and care of this important ingredient
-has been, in Flanders, reduced to an
-actual trade, and barges innumerable are
-in constant transit on the canals, conveying
-it from its depôts and manufactories in the
-villages and towns to the rural districts,
-where it is to be applied. Servants, as a
-perquisite, are allowed a price for all the
-materials serviceable for preparing it, which
-they can collect in the house and farm-yards,
-and the value of which often amounts to as
-much as their nominal wages. Pits and
-a tank, called a <i>smoor-hoop</i>, or smothering
-heap, are attached to every farm, and tended<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>
-with a systematic care that bespeaks the
-importance of their contents. Into these,
-every fermentable fluid is discharged, and
-mixed with the refuse of vegetables; the
-rape-cake, which remains after expressing
-the oil, wood-ashes, soaper’s waste, grains
-from distilleries, weeds from the drains, and,
-in short, every other convertible article collected
-in the establishment; and often, in
-addition, plants such as broom are sown in
-the lands, expressly for the purpose of being
-ploughed in when green to increase their
-fertility, or to be cut for fermentation in the
-<i>smoor-hoop</i>. This latter is constructed
-with bricks, like a tan-pit, and covered with
-cement to avoid escape or filtration; and
-its contents, at the larger establishments,
-are sold to the farmers at from three to five
-francs a hogshead, in proportion to the
-quality.</p>
-
-<p>The circle of rotation is observed with
-equal precision and scientific skill, and generally
-consists of four or five crops and a
-clean fallow, but varies, of course, according
-to the nature of the soil and the articles in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>
-demand. The season was too advanced for
-us to see the majority of the crops upon the
-ground, the grain being mostly housed; but
-those which were still in the field were of
-the most luxuriant quality. Pasturage, there
-was comparatively little; but clover, the
-chef-d’œuvre of Flemish husbandry, whence
-it was introduced into England, we saw in
-high perfection. Some plants which are
-not usual in Great Britain were to be seen in
-great abundance; large fields of tobacco,
-hemp, colza or rape-seed, which is largely
-sown for crushing, buck-wheat or <i>sarrasin</i>,
-(probably another importation of the Crusaders)
-from which they make a rich and
-nutritious bread. Beans and feeding crops,
-especially carrots, which the sandy lands produce
-luxuriantly, and turnips, appeared to
-be favourites especially near the villages.</p>
-
-<p>But the important article, and that which
-I was most desirous to see, was the <i>flax</i>,
-which, however, had been almost all pulled
-before my visit, so that I could only see the
-<i>rouissage</i> or process of watering—which,
-in the district around Courtrai, is performed
-in a manner almost peculiar to themselves;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>
-indeed, I may say altogether so, so far
-as success is concerned; for although the
-same practice prevails in the Department
-du Nord, in France, in the vicinity
-of St. Amand and Valenciennes, it is
-with a much less satisfactory result: and
-in Russia, where it is practised to some extent,
-the flax produced is, in every way, of
-inferior quality. It seems, in fact, to be a
-question whether, in addition to the slow
-and deep current of the Lys, and its remarkable
-freedom from all impurity, it be
-not possessed of some peculiar chemical
-qualities, which account for its efficiency
-for this purpose, whilst identically the same
-process utterly fails in other streams with
-no perceptible difference in the quality of
-their waters.</p>
-
-<p>It is impossible to over estimate the importance
-to Great Britain of such an immediate
-improvement in the process of
-flax cultivation at home, as will place her
-on an equality with her rivals abroad. At
-present, it is an incontrovertible and uneasy
-fact, that with her trade in yarn and linen
-hourly encreasing, she is in the same<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>
-proportion becoming more and more dependant
-upon foreign countries for the
-supply of the raw material. The cultivation
-of flax in England, is, in all probability,
-diminishing in amount, whilst year after
-year, our imports from Holland, Belgium
-and Prussia, are rising in a remarkable
-manner. Only look to the following facts.
-The great increase in our manufacture of
-linen yarn, both in England, Scotland and
-Ireland has taken place, since the year
-1820; we then imported largely from the
-continent, and spun only for our own
-weavers at home, we have since then ceased
-to import yarn spun by machinery altogether,
-except a very small portion of the very
-finest for cambrics; and actually export to
-France, and elsewhere, to the value of
-£746,000 per annum. Our exports of British
-and Irish linen have increased in the
-mean time, from 36,522,333 yards in 1820,
-to 60,954,697 in 1833, and 77,195,894
-yards in 1838, and what has been the
-case as regards the importation of flax? The
-import duty upon foreign flax, both dressed
-and undressed, was at the commencement<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>
-of this period, £10. 14<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> per cwt.; as
-our manufacture increased, and our home
-supply fell short, that duty was, in 1825,
-reduced to <i>four pence</i>; when the import increased
-from 376,170 cwt. to 1,018,837 cwt.
-In the year following, the necessity still becoming
-more pressing, and no relief arising
-from home, it was further reduced to <i>three
-pence</i>; the year following to <i>two pence</i>, and
-in 1828 to <i>one penny</i>. The importation, all
-this time, has been going on steadily increasing,
-showing an average on the five
-years, from 1830 to 1835, of 751,331 cwt.,
-and amounting, by the last printed returns
-of the House of Commons, for 1838, to
-1,626,276 cwt.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> It is manifest, that a trade
-so valuable to us as our linen manufacture,
-can never be said to be safe, so long as we
-are thus dependant for the very means of
-its support upon those whose manifest
-advantage it is to destroy it.</p>
-
-<p>In order to remedy this evil, it seems to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span>
-me, to require only a vigorous exertion on
-behalf of our own farmers, and those whose
-direct interest it is to give them encouragement
-to lead to such an improvement in
-our process of cultivation and dressing, as
-would speedily render our flax of equal
-quality with that of our rivals in the Low
-Countries; we may thus safely rely on its
-augmented value in the market, to ensure
-its production in sufficient quantity to
-meet our demands, and relieve us altogether
-from a dependance upon foreigners.
-For the landed proprietor and the farmer,
-not less than the manufacturer, there is a
-mine of unwrought wealth to be secured in
-this important article, and my earnestness
-upon this point arises from the fact that
-from all I have seen myself, or can possibly
-learn from others, the field is equally open
-to England as to the Netherlands—she
-obtains the seed from the same quarter,
-her soil and her climate are equally suitable;
-the plant up to a certain stage, is as
-healthy and promising with us, as with
-them, but there the parallel ceases, and in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>
-all the subsequent processes, the superior
-system of the Belgian gives him a golden
-advantage over us. Still notwithstanding
-all our disadvantages, Irish flax, for the
-strong articles, to which alone it is suited,
-produces a firmer, and in every respect, a
-better thread than Flemish or Dutch of
-the same character.</p>
-
-<p>One source of superiority which the
-farmer of Holland and the Netherlands
-enjoys, is derived from the fact of his
-<i>saving the seed</i> of his own flax. In the first
-instance, he imports, as we do from Riga,
-seed which yields a strong and robust plant,
-during the first year; its produce is then preserved
-and sown a second time, when it
-becomes more delicate in its texture, and
-the seed then obtained, is <i>never parted with</i>
-by the farmer, but produces the finest and
-most valuable plant. As this, however, in
-time deteriorates, it is necessary to keep up
-a constant succession by annual importation
-of northern seed, which in turn become
-acclimated, refined, and are superseded
-by the next in rotation. The sagacious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span>
-Hollander thus obtains for himself a seed
-for his own peculiar uses, of twice the value
-of any which he exports; an advantage of
-which England cannot expect to avail herself,
-till the process of saving the flax-seed
-for herself, becomes more generally introduced,
-instead of annually importing upwards
-of 3,300,000 bushels, as we do at present.</p>
-
-<p>In Flanders, where the cultivation is so
-all important, the <i>rotation</i> of all other
-crops, is regulated with ultimate reference
-to the flax, which comes into the circle
-only once in seven years, and in some
-instances, once in nine, whilst, as it approaches
-the period for saving it, each
-antecedent crop is put in with a double
-portion of manure. For itself, the preparation
-is most studiously and scrupulously
-minute, the ground is prepared
-rather like a flower-bed than a field, and
-<i>spade labour</i> always preferred to the coarser
-and less minute operation of the plough,
-every film of a weed is carefully uprooted,
-and the earth abundantly supplied, generally
-with liquid manure, fermented with rape<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span>
-cake. The seed is then sown remarkably
-<i>thick</i>, so that the plants may not only support
-one another, but struggling upwards
-to the light, may throw out few branches,
-and rise into a taller and more delicate
-stem. The <i>weeding</i> is done, whilst the
-plant is still so tender and elastic as that
-it may rise again readily after the operation,
-and it is a remarkable illustration of the
-studied tenderness with which the cultivation
-is watched, that the women and children
-who are employed to weed it, are generally
-instructed to do so against the wind, in
-order that the breeze may lift the stems as
-soon as they have left them, instead of
-allowing them to grow crooked, by lying
-too long upon the ground. Again, in order
-to give it a healthy support during its
-growth, <i>stakes</i> are driven into the ground
-at equal distances, from the top of which,
-cords, or thin rods are extended, dividing
-the field into minute squares, and thus preventing
-the plants from being laid down
-by any but a very severe wind.</p>
-
-<p>The time of <i>pulling</i> depends upon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span>
-whether the farmer places most value
-upon the seed or the fibre of the particular
-field. If the former, he must wait till the
-plant is thoroughly ripe, its capsules hard,
-its leaves fallen, and its stem yellow; but in
-this case, the stalk is woody and the fibre
-coarse and hard; whereas, if the fineness of
-the fibre be the first object, it is pulled
-whilst the stalk is still green and tender,
-and before the fruit has come to maturity.
-At Courtrai and its vicinity, the flax when
-severed from the ground, after being carefully
-sunned and dried, is stored for twelvemonths
-before it is submitted to the
-process of watering. In the Pays de Waes,
-however, this practice does not obtain, the
-steeping taking place immediately on its
-being pulled, and I find the inclination of
-opinion to be in favour of the latter mode,
-as the former is said to render the flax
-harsh and discolored, whilst that immersed
-at once is soft and silky, and of a delicate
-and uniform tint.</p>
-
-<p>It is remarkable that although the process
-of <i>rouissage</i> or watering is felt to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>
-one of the utmost nicety and importance,
-the ultimate value of the flax being mainly
-dependent upon it, no uniform system prevails
-throughout the various provinces of Belgium.
-In Hainault and around Namur, where
-an impression is held that the effluvia of the
-flax, whilst undergoing the <i>rouissage</i>, is
-injurious to health, it is interdicted by the
-police, and it is consequently dew-riped,
-simply by spreading it upon the grass, and
-turning it from time to time, till the mucilaginous
-matter, by which the fibre is retained
-around the stem, is sufficiently
-decomposed to permit of its being readily
-separated from the wood. In the Pays de
-Waes, the flax is steeped in still water as
-in Ireland, except that in the latter country,
-a small stream is contrived, if possible, to
-pass in and out of the pit during the process.<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>
-The system of the Pays de Waes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>
-is that which has met with the most decided
-approbation in Belgium; it is recommended
-officially to the farmers in the
-instructions published by the Société
-Linière, an association instituted for the
-purpose of promoting the cultivation of
-flax, and its various manufactures.<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>
-system at Courtrai, consists in immersing
-the flax, after being dried and stored for
-twelvemonths, in the running water of the
-Lys; an operation, which in their hands, is
-performed with the utmost nicety and precision,
-and for which it is so renowned that
-the crops for many miles, even so far as
-Tournai, are sent to the Lys to undergo
-the <i>rouissage</i>.</p>
-
-<p>The flax, tied up in small bundles, is
-placed perpendicularly in wooden frames
-of from twelve to fifteen feet square, and
-being launched into the river, straw and
-clean stones are laid upon it till it sinks
-just so far below the surface of the stream as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span>
-to leave a current both above and below it,
-which carries away all impurities, and keeps
-the fibre clean and sweet during the period
-of immersion. This continues for seven
-or eight days, according to the heat of the
-weather and the temperature of the water,
-and so soon as the requisite change has
-taken place in the plant, the frames are
-hauled on shore, and the flax spread out
-upon the grass to sun and dry it previously
-to its being removed to undergo the further
-processes. The <i>rouissage</i> at Courtrai is
-usually performed in May, and again in
-the months of August and September; after
-which the flax merchants of Brabant and
-the north send their agents amongst the
-farmers, who purchase from house to
-house, and, on a certain day, attend at the
-chief town of the district to receive the
-“deliveries,” when the qualities of the
-crop and the average prices are ascertained
-and promulgated for the guidance of the
-trade.</p>
-
-<p>From the flax grounds which lie close
-by Courtrai, on the right bank of the Lys,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span>
-we crossed the river to the bleach-green on
-the opposite side of the river, and if we
-might judge from the extent of the buildings,
-which were not larger than a good
-barn, the process must be a very simple
-one in Flanders, or the employment very
-limited at Courtrai. The most important
-establishments of this kind, however, are
-at Antwerp, Brussels and Tournai.</p>
-
-<p>The cloth on the grass was principally
-diaper made on the spot and at Ypres
-(whence it derives its name, <i>d’Ypres</i>,) but
-it was coarse, and the designs ordinary and
-inartificial. The manufacture of the article
-in which Belgium formerly excelled so
-much as to supply the imperial household
-during the reign of Napoleon, was ruined by
-his fall and the breaking up of the continental
-system. At one time not less than
-3000 workmen were employed in this
-branch alone, but the separation of Belgium
-from France in 1815, and the simultaneous
-imposition of an almost prohibitory duty
-on her damask has reduced the trade to a
-mere cypher, not above three hundred<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span>
-workmen being now employed at Courtrai,
-the great seat of the manufacture.</p>
-
-<p>Close by the bleach-green, we entered
-a windmill for grinding bark, and at a short
-distance from it, another of the same primitive
-edifices was at full work, crushing
-rape oil. I never saw such a miniature
-manufactory—in one little apartment,
-about ten feet square, the entire process
-was carried on to the extent of a ton of
-seed, yielding about thirty-six gallons of
-oil per day. In one corner, the seed was
-being ground between a pair of mill-stones;
-in another, pounded in mortars
-by heavy beams shod with iron, which
-were raised and fell by the motion of the
-wind; the material was then roasted in
-an iron pan over a charcoal fire, till the
-oil became disengaged by the heat, and
-was then crushed by being inclosed in
-canvas bags enveloped in leather cases,
-and placed in grooves, into which huge
-wooden wedges were driven by the force
-of the machinery; the last drop of oil was
-thus forced out by a repetition of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span>
-process, and the residue of the seed which
-came forth in cakes as flat and as hard as
-a stone, were laid on one side to be sold
-for manure and other purposes.</p>
-
-<p>A manufactory of <i>sabots</i> was attached to
-the back mill, and sold for five-pence and
-six-pence a pair for the largest size, and half
-that amount for those suited to children.
-Surely the introduction of these wooden
-shoes would be a great accession to the
-comforts of the Irish peasantry, as well as
-a new branch of employment in their manufacture.
-An expert Flemish workman
-can finish a pair within an hour, and with
-care they will last for three months. Four
-pair of thick woollen socks to be worn
-along with them costs eighteen-pence, so
-that for four shillings, a poor man might
-be dry and comfortably shod for twelve
-months. In winter, especially, and in wet
-weather, or when working in moist ground,
-they are infinitely to be preferred, and
-although the shape may be clumsy, (though
-in this respect, the Flemish are superior to
-the French), it is, at least, as graceful as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span>
-the half-naked foot and clouted shoe of the
-Irish labourer. I doubt much, however,
-whether the people, though ever so satisfied
-of their advantages, would get over
-their <span class="err" title="original: associaton">association</span> of “arbitrary power and
-brass money” with the use of “wooden
-shoes.”</p>
-
-<p>Courtrai itself is a straggling, cheerless-looking
-town, and possesses few objects of
-any interest. Outside the gate is the
-field on which was fought the Battle of the
-Golden Spurs in 1302, and a little chapel
-still marks the spot which was the centre
-of the action. Its large market for flax
-and linen has made its name familiar
-abroad, but it has little within itself to
-detain a stranger in search of the picturesque.
-Its only antique buildings are the
-Town Hall and the church of Notre-Dame,
-the former contains two richly carved
-mantel-pieces, evidently of very remote
-date. The latter was built by Count Baldwin,
-who was chosen Emperor at Constantinople
-in the fourth Crusade, and contains,
-amidst a host of worthless pictures,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span>
-a Descent from the Cross, by Vandyck.
-Amongst the curiosities in the sacristy, is
-a sacerdotal dress of Thomas a’Becket, of
-most ample dimensions, which the saint
-left behind him on returning to England after
-his reconciliation with Henry II. At either
-extremity of the bridge which crosses the
-Lys in the centre of the town are two vast
-circular towers, called the <i>Broellen Torren</i>
-which were built in the fifteenth century,
-and still serve as the town prisons. The
-chief support of the town is still derived
-from its linen weaving, which unlike the
-usual practice in Belgium, is done in large
-factories, at which the workmen attend as
-in England. The production of linen of all
-kinds at Courtrai is about 30,000 pieces
-a year. There is also a considerable manufactory
-of thread.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb">
-
-<p>We this morning accompanied Count
-d’Hane to visit the celebrated prison of
-Ghent, the <i>maison de force</i>, which received
-the applause of Howard himself, and has been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>
-the model for most of the improved penitentiaries
-of Europe. It was erected in 1774,
-under the auspices of Maria Theresa, whilst
-the Spanish Netherlands were still attached
-to the House of Austria, and for its present
-state of completion and perfected system,
-it is indebted to the care and munificence of
-the late King, William I. of Holland. It,
-at present, incloses upwards of 1,100 prisoners,
-divided and classified into various
-wards, and employed in various occupations
-according to the nature of their
-crimes and the term of their punishment.
-Of these, two hundred were condemned to
-perpetual labour, and one to solitary confinement
-for life, the remainder for temporary
-periods.</p>
-
-<p>In Ghent there has not been more than
-<i>three</i> capital executions since the year 1824,
-and as Belgium has no colonies to which
-to transport her secondary offenders, they
-are condemned to imprisonment in all its
-forms in proportion to the atrocity of their
-crimes.</p>
-
-<p>Labour enters into the system in all its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span>
-modifications, and as the rations of food supplied
-to the prisoners are so calculated as to
-be barely adequate to sustain life, they are
-thus compelled, by the produce of their own
-hands, to contribute to their own support.
-According to the nature of their offences, the
-proportion of their earnings which they receive
-is more or less liberal; they are separated
-into three classes:—1st. The <i>condamnés
-aux travaux forcés</i>, who receive but
-three tenths of their own gains; 2nd. the
-<i>condamnés à la réclusion</i>, who receive four
-tenths; and 3rd. the <i>condamnés correctionellement</i>,
-who receive one half. The
-amount of these wages may be seen to be
-but small, when the sum paid for making
-seven pair of <i>sabots</i>, or seven hours’ labour,
-is but one penny. Of the sum allotted to
-him, the criminal receives but one half immediately,
-with which he is allowed to buy
-bread, coffee, and some other articles at a
-canteen established within the prison, under
-strict regulations, and the other moiety is
-deposited for his benefit in the savings’ bank
-of the jail, to be paid to him with interest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span>
-on his enlargement. A prisoner, notwithstanding
-his small wages, may, after seven
-years’ confinement, have amassed one
-hundred and twenty francs exclusive of interest.</p>
-
-<p>The labour of the prison consists, in the
-first place, of all the domestic work of the
-establishment, its cleansing, painting and
-repairs, its cooking, and the manufacture
-of every article worn by the inmates; and
-secondly, of yarn spinning, weaving and
-making shirts for the little navy of Belgium,<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>
-and drawers for the soldiers, together
-with other similar articles suited for public
-sale. Prisoners who have learned no
-trade, are permitted to make their choice,
-and are taught one. The cleanliness of
-every corner is really incredible, and such
-are its effects upon the health of the inmates,
-that the deaths, on an average, do
-not exceed, annually, one in a hundred.
-After paying all its expenses of every description,
-the profits of the labour done in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>
-the prison leaves a surplus to the government,
-annually, to an amount which I do
-not precisely remember, but which is something
-considerable.</p>
-
-<p>Amongst the prisoners, one very old
-man was pointed out to me, named Pierre
-Joseph Soëte, seventy-nine years of age,
-sixty-two of which he had spent within the
-walls of this sad abode. He was condemned,
-at the age of seventeen, for an
-atrocious offence; in a fit of jealousy, he
-had murdered a girl, to whom he was about
-to have been married, by tying her to a
-tree and strangling her. He entered the
-jail when a boy, and had grown to manhood
-and old age within its melancholy walls;
-and the tenor of his life, I was told, had
-been uniformly mild and inoffensive. Five
-years since, the father of our friend, Count
-D’Hane, who was then Governor of Ghent,
-had represented the story to King Leopold,
-and the unfortunate old man was set at
-liberty; but in a few weeks, he presented
-himself at the door of the prison, and begged
-to be permitted to enter it again, and to die<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>
-there as he had lived. I asked him why
-he had taken this extraordinary resolution,
-and he told me that the world had nothing
-to detain him; he had no longer a relative
-or a living face within it that he knew; he
-had no home, no means of support, no
-handicraft by which to earn it, and no
-strength to beg, what could he do, but return
-to the only familiar spot he knew, and
-the only one that had any charms for him!
-Poor creature! his extraordinary story, and
-his long life of expiation, rendered it impossible
-to remember or resent his early crime,
-and yet I could not look at such a singular
-being without a shudder.</p>
-
-<p>Another, but a still more melancholy
-case, was pointed out to me. I asked the
-physician, Dr. Maresca, if there were any
-foreigners in the jail, and he told me there
-were several from Germany and France;
-and one, an Englishman, who had been
-confined some years before for an attempt
-at fraud, and who, between chagrin and
-disease, was now dying in the hospital. I
-went to see him, and found him in bed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span>
-in the last feeble stage of consumption.
-His story was a very sad one—his name
-was Clarke, he seemed about thirty-five or
-thirty-six years of age, and had come over
-with his wife to seek for work as a machine
-maker at one of the engine factories
-in Ghent. He was disappointed—he could
-get no adequate employment—he saw his
-young wife and his little children perishing
-from hunger in a strange land, and, in an
-evil hour, he forged a document for some
-trifling sum to procure them bread. He
-was detected, tried and condemned to five
-years’ imprisonment in the <i>maison de force</i>.
-What became of his family he no longer
-knew; they had, perhaps, returned to
-England, but he could not tell. The physician
-told me that his conduct had all
-along been most excellent, so much so,
-that the <span class="err" title="original: goverment">government</span> reduced the term of his
-imprisonment from five years to four, and
-he had now but eighteen months to remain.
-But he was dying, and of a broken heart
-through sorrow and mortification. The
-physician had tried to obtain a further reduction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span>
-of his term; but it was not thought 
-prudent at the time to accede to his representations,
-and now it was too late to renew
-the application. Dr. M. thought he
-would now be liberated if the application
-were repeated, but it was more humane,
-he said, to leave him as he was, as he
-had every attention he required; the hospital
-was comfortable, and the rules of the
-prison had all been relaxed in his favour,
-so that he had books and every indulgence
-granted to him, and a few weeks would
-soon release him from all his sorrows.
-Poor fellow! I hardly knew whether he
-seemed gratified or grieved by our visit;
-but his situation, surrounded by foreigners,
-to whose very language he was a stranger,
-far from home and England, and without a
-friend or relation to watch his dying bed
-was a very touching one, and it was rendered,
-perhaps, more so, by the very sympathy
-and kindness which seemed to be
-felt for him by all around him.</p>
-
-<p>On the opposite side of the canal, we
-visited the sugar refinery of M. Neyt. This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span>
-is a trade of much importance to Belgium,
-and, like almost every other department of
-her manufactures, at present in a very
-critical condition. The establishment of M.
-Neyt, though of great extent, being calculated
-to work twenty-five tons of sugar in
-the week, is not greater than some others
-in Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels. The
-machinery is all of the newest construction
-for boiling <i>in vacuo</i>, upon Howard’s principle,
-with some recent improvements by,
-I think, M. Devos-Maes; which, though
-expensive in the first instance, tends materially
-to diminish the cost by accelerating
-the completion of the process.</p>
-
-<p>All the sugar we saw in process was
-from Java and Manilla, and vessels were
-loading in the canal in front of the works
-with purified lump for Hamburgh. This
-branch of Belgian commerce has been retarded
-by a series of vicissitudes, and seems
-still destined to perilous competition, not
-only from Holland, which already disputes
-the possession of the trade with her, but
-from the states of the Prussian League in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>
-which there are eighty-four refineries of
-sugar already. Holland and Belgium have,
-for many years, enjoyed a large revenue
-from this most lucrative process for the
-supply of Germany and for export to the
-Mediterranean; a manufacture in which
-they have been enabled to compete successfully
-with England, owing to their being at
-liberty to bring the raw material from any
-country where it is to be found cheapest,
-whilst Great Britain has necessarily been
-restricted to consume only the produce of
-her own colonies by the protective duty
-imposed upon all others. Holland has,
-however, by her recent treaty with Prussia,
-taken steps to preserve her present advantageous
-position as regards the supply of
-Germany, whilst her bounties to her own
-refiners afford an equal encouragement
-with that held out by their government to
-those of Belgium.</p>
-
-<p>The false policy of the system of bounties
-has, however, operated in Belgium, as
-it has invariably done elsewhere, to give an
-unreal air of prosperity to the trade, whilst<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>
-it opened a door to fraud, the never failing
-concomitant of such unsound expedients.
-To such an extent was this the case, that
-on its recent detection and suppression, a
-reaction was produced in the manufacture,
-that for the moment threatened to be fatal.
-The duty on the importation of raw sugar
-amounts to 37 francs per 100 kilogrammes,
-and a drawback was paid down to 1838 on
-every 55 kilogrammes of refined sugar exported.
-This proportion was taken as the
-probable quantity extractible from 100 kilogrammes
-of the raw article, but the law
-omitted to state <i>in what stage</i> of refinement,
-or of what precise quality that quantity
-should be. The consequence was, that sugar
-which had undergone but a single process,
-and still retained a considerable weight of
-its molasses, was exported, and a drawback
-was thus paid upon the entire 75 to 80 kilogrammes,
-which, had the process been completed,
-would only have been demandable on
-fifty-five. The encouragement designed to
-give a stimulus to improvement, thus tended
-only to give an impulse to fraud, and vast<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span>
-quantities of half refined sugar were sent
-across the frontiers, and the drawback paid,
-only to be smuggled back again for a repetition
-of the same dishonest proceeding.
-The attention of the government being,
-however, awakened by a comparison of the
-relative quantities of raw sugar imported,
-and of refined exported, on which the drawback
-was claimed, a change was made in
-the law in 1838, by which the drawback
-was restricted to a per centage on nine
-tenths only of the raw sugar imported,
-thus securing a positive revenue upon the
-balance, and at the same time some practical
-expedients were adopted for the prevention
-of fraud for the future. These latter
-were found to be so effectual, that four establishments
-in Antwerp discontinued the
-trade altogether immediately on the new
-law coming into force, and this example
-was followed by others elsewhere.</p>
-
-<p>There are still between 60 and 70 refineries
-in Belgium, and in 1837 and 1838, the
-importations of raw sugar and the exports
-of refined were as follows:</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span></p>
-
-<p class="center">RAW SUGAR IMPORTED.</p>
-
- 
-<table><tr><td>In 1837.</td>   <td>20,128,618 kilogrammes.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>In 1838.</td>   <td>16,814,940 kilogrammes.</td></tr>
- </table>
-
-<p class="center">REFINED SUGAR EXPORTED.</p>
-
-<table> 
-<tr><td>In 1837.</td>   <td>8,484,097 kilogrammes.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>In 1838.</td>   <td>8,113,897 kilogrammes.</td></tr>
- </table>
-
-<p class="noin">An amount, which whilst it shows the general
-importance of the trade, seems to indicate
-that it is not increasing. The home
-consumption of Belgium as compared to
-England, is as 2 kils. per each individual to
-8. In France the quantity used per head,
-is 3 kils. and in the rest of Europe about
-2½. But to the Belgians, this export trade
-is the vital object at the present moment,
-and any alteration of our law which would
-permit the import of foreign sugar into
-England, at a diminished duty, or encourage
-the growth of beet-root for the manufacture
-of sugar, would be fatal to the
-trade of the Netherlands, and to Holland,
-not less than to Belgium.</p>
-
-<p>In the latter country, the production of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span>
-sugar from beet-root, notwithstanding the
-encouragement given to it by Napoleon,
-was never very extended nor successful.
-It disappeared almost entirely in 1814, and
-was not revived for twenty years, till in
-1834, a fresh impulse was given to the Belgians
-to renew the experiment from witnessing
-the example of its success in France
-and some establishments were erected in
-Brabant and Hainault. But the vast advantages
-derived by the refiners of foreign
-sugar from the facility for fraud afforded by
-the defective state of the law, completely extinguished
-the attempt. Even now the expense
-of the process, which renders the cost
-of the beet-root sugar nearly equal to that
-extracted from the cane, together with the
-inferiority for every purpose of the beet-root
-molasses, holds out but little prospect
-of its ever becoming a productive department
-of national manufacture.</p>
-
-<p>On the evening of our arrival, a considerable
-tumult was excited around the front
-of the <i>Hotel de la Poste</i> where we staid,
-which we found arose from the eagerness<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span>
-to obtain admission to the new Theatre,
-which stands next door to the Hotel, and
-which was that evening to be opened for
-the first time. Some soldiers were stationed
-to keep off the crowd, but as their
-impatience increased, the orders of the military
-were but little regarded, till, at length,
-the struggle came to an open rupture with
-them, and the officer on guard after going
-through all the preliminaries of intimidation,
-expostulation and scolding, at length,
-fairly lost all temper, and commenced boxing
-“the leader of the movement!” A ring
-being made for the combatants, the officer
-was beaten, and walked off to his quarters,
-and the pressure of the crowd, being by
-this time relieved, the spectators hurried
-into the theatre.</p>
-
-<p>The new building is very magnificent; a
-new street having been formed to open at
-a suitable site for it, one side of which it
-occupies exclusively. The centre of the
-front, projects in the form of a wide semi-circle,
-so that carriages drive right under
-the building to set down their company at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span>
-the foot of the grand staircase. Besides
-the theatre itself, there is a suite of halls
-for concerts, capable of containing two
-thousand persons, and the entire is finished
-internally in the style of Louis XIV, with
-a prodigality of colours, gilding, and ornamental
-carving that is quite surprising. It
-is certainly the most beautiful theatre I
-have seen, as well as one of the most spacious.</p>
-
-<p>The “<i>spectacle</i>” and the opera are still
-amongst those necessaries in the economy
-of life in Belgium, which late dinner
-hours and fastidious taste have not as yet
-interfered with. Ghent has long been
-eminent for its successful cultivation of
-music. A few years since, the <i>chefs d’orchestre</i>
-in the four principal theatres in the
-kingdom were all natives of Ghent, and
-the names of Verheyen, Ermel and Angelet,
-all born in the same place, are familiar to
-every amateur of the science. The <i>Société
-de St. Cecile</i>, a musical association, is the
-most eminent in the Netherlands, and at a
-concert at Brussels in 1837, where all the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span>
-musicians of the chief cities of the kingdom
-competed for a prize; the first honours, two
-golden medals were given by acclamation to
-those of Ghent.</p>
-
-<p>The print works of M. De Smet de Naeyer
-are situated in the <i>Faubourg de Bruges</i>, and,
-like almost all in the Netherlands, exhibit no
-division of labour; the cotton being spun,
-woven, and printed upon the same premises.
-In the latter department, their productions
-are of a very ordinary description, and their
-designs in a very inferior class of art. The
-machinery was partly French and partly
-Belgian, of a cumbrous and antiquated
-construction, compared with that in use in
-England; but, as the recent improvements
-in Great Britain have all been conceived
-with a view to the speediest and cheapest
-production to meet a most extensive demand,
-their introduction into Belgium, where
-the market is so extremely circumscribed,
-would only be an augmentation of expense,
-without any correspondent advantage. The
-works were idle at the moment of our
-visit.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span></p>
-
-<p>This important department of manufacture
-is reduced to the lowest ebb in Belgium
-by the effects of the revolution of
-1830. Previous to this event, the Belgian
-calico printer being admitted to the markets
-of Holland and her colonies, had an outlet
-for his produce, quite sufficient to afford
-remunerative employment for all his machinery;
-but when, by her separation from
-Holland, Belgium was excluded from the
-Dutch possessions, both in the East and
-West Indies, and restricted to the supply of
-her own population, she suddenly found the
-number of her consumers reduced from
-between <i>fifteen</i> and <i>sixteen millions</i> to something
-less than <i>four</i>. In articles which are
-universally produced by the unaided labour
-<i>of the hand</i>, a limitation on the gross consumption
-cannot, as a general rule, effect
-any very material alteration in the individual
-price, where fair competition shall
-have already reduced and adjusted it by a
-remunerative standard. But when it comes
-to an active competition <i>with machinery</i>, the
-case is widely different; the outlay for apparatus<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span>
-and the cost of labour being almost 
-the same for the production of one hundred
-pieces as for ten, it is manifest that the
-man who has a market for one hundred, can
-afford to sell each one for a much less sum
-than he who can only dispose of ten—even
-without including in the calculation the interest
-of the capital embarked, which must,
-of course, be ten times the amount upon the
-small production that it is upon the large.
-It is her almost unlimited command of
-markets, and the vast millions of consumers
-who must have her produce, in her various
-colonies and dependencies, that, combined
-with her matchless machinery, places the
-manufactures of England almost beyond the
-reach of rivalry as regards the moderation
-of their price; and thus gives them, in spite
-of duties, that, in any other case, would
-amount to a prohibition, a lucrative introduction
-into those countries themselves,
-which are fast acquiring her machinery, but
-look in vain for her limitless markets.</p>
-
-<p>The merchants of Antwerp and the
-manufacturers of Ghent, had the good sense,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span>
-probably purchased by experience, to recognize
-this incontrovertible principle, and
-foreseeing, clearly, the ruin of their pursuits
-in the results of the Repeal of the Union with
-Holland, they loudly protested against the
-proceedings of the revolutionists of 1830.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a>
-But, as “madness ruled the hour,” their
-protestations were all unheeded—they were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span>
-overborne by numbers; and, as the patriots
-of Ireland, in rejecting the advantages held
-out to them by Great Britain in the celebrated
-“commercial propositions” of 1785,
-adopted as their watchword “<i>perish commerce</i>,
-but live the constitution;” so the
-patriots of Belgium, in their paroxysm of
-repeal, reproached their less frenzied fellow-countrymen
-with “allowing the profits on
-their cottons, or the prices of their iron, to
-outweigh the independence of their country!”
-The revolution was accomplished
-in their defiance, and the ruin of their trade
-was consummated by the same blow.</p>
-
-<p>With respect to the very branch of manufacture
-which has led to these observations,
-the printing of calicoes and woollens, M.
-Briavionne, an impartial historian, and so far
-as political inclination is concerned, strongly
-biassed in favour of the revolution, thus
-details its immediate effects upon it. After
-describing the rapid decline of the cotton
-trade in general, since 1830, he goes on to
-say, “In the department of printing, the
-results have not been more satisfactory;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span>
-many of the leading establishments of Ghent,
-and of Brussels have been altogether abandoned,
-or their buildings dismantled and
-converted to other purposes, and their utensils
-and machinery sold off by public auction.
-Ghent, in 1829, possessed <i>fifteen</i>
-print-works—in 1839 she had but <i>nine</i>; in
-Brussels, at the same time, and in Ardennes
-and Lierre, there were <i>eleven</i> houses of
-the first rank, of these <i>six</i> have since closed
-their accounts. Other establishments there
-are, it is true, that have sprung up in the
-interim, but, in the aggregate, the number
-is diminished. In prosperous years, the production
-of Belgium might have amounted,
-before the revolution, to about 400,000
-pieces. Ghent, alone, produced 300,000 in
-1829, but its entire production, at present,
-does not amount to 20,000, nor does that of
-the largest house in Belgium exceed 45,000
-pieces.</p>
-
-<p>Nor is this to be ascribed to any want
-of ability in the Belgian mechanics; on the
-the contrary, they are qualified to undertake
-the most difficult work, but they can only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span>
-employ themselves, of course, when such
-are in actual demand. They are, in consequence,
-limited to the production of the
-most low priced and ordinary articles; fast
-colours and cheap cloth are all they aspire to.
-High priced muslins they rarely attempt,
-and although they have ventured to print
-upon mousseline-de-laine, they have been
-forced almost altogether to abandon it. In
-fact, the double rivalry of France, on
-the one hand, and England on the other,
-keeps them in continual alarm, and renders
-them fearful of the <span class="err" title="original: slighest">slightest</span> speculation or
-deviation from their ordinary line of production.
-France, on the contrary, enters
-their market relying upon the elegance and
-originality of her patterns; and England
-notwithstanding her heavy and unimaginative
-designs, conceived in inferior taste,
-still maintains her superiority by means of
-her masterly execution and the lowness of
-her price. Thus, whilst French muslins sell
-readily for from two to three francs an ell,
-England can offer hers for forty-five centimes,
-or even less, and those of Belgium<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span>
-vary from sixty centimes to a franc and a
-quarter per ell; not only so, but for that
-which she can now with difficulty dispose
-of for sixty centimes, she had, thirty-five
-years ago, an ample demand at two francs
-and a half.</p>
-
-<p>This destruction of her home trade by
-the competition of foreigners, she has
-sought in vain to retrieve by her shipments
-abroad; she has exported to Brazil and to
-the Levant, to the South Sea and Singapore,
-and finally, she has turned to Germany
-and the fairs of Francfort-on-the-Maine—in
-short, she has tried every opening,
-and found only loss in all. The only
-market in which she has contrived to hold
-a footing is that of Holland, and even this
-is every day slipping from her, although,
-before the revolution of 1830, it consumed
-one half of her entire production.</p>
-
-<p>Belgium has not, like England, manufacturers,
-who, devoting themselves to the
-supply of the foreign market alone, and
-bestowing upon it their undivided study
-and attention, attain a perfect knowledge<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span>
-and command of it in its every particular;
-but here, every printer looks to exportation
-only as an expedient to get rid of his surplus
-production, after satisfying the demand
-of his home consumption. Such a system
-is pregnant with evils, but it is in vain to
-attempt its alteration so long as we have
-England for our rival, with her great experience,
-her vast command of capital, and
-her firm possession of the trade.”<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
-
-<p>The information which I received from
-M. De Smet, M. Voortman, M. de Hemptine
-and others, more than confirmed, in
-its every particular, this deplorable exposé
-of M. Briavionne. Belgian prints are constantly
-undersold by from 10 to 15 per
-cent by English goods, imported legitimately
-into their market, notwithstanding a duty
-of a hundred florins upon every hundred
-kilogrammes, an impost which being assessed
-by weight, falls heavily on that class
-of goods which are the great staple of
-England, and amounts to about <i>six shillings</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>
-upon a piece of the value of <i>fourteen</i>. Nor
-is this all—their market is systematically
-beset by smugglers across the frontiers of
-France and Holland, who, inundating it
-with French and English goods, exempt
-from duty, have reduced the price of Belgian
-production to an ebb utterly incompatible
-with any hope of remuneration. This
-is an evil, however, to which not their peculiar
-branch alone, but every protected
-manufacture in the country is equally
-liable, and for redress of which they have
-vainly invoked the interference of their
-legislature—the mischief is of too great
-magnitude to be grappled with or remedied.</p>
-
-<p>The only relief which their government
-has attempted, has been by the deplorable
-expedient of themselves supplying capital
-to sustain the struggle. A manufactory,
-however, which they undertook to support,
-at Ardennes-on-the-Meuse, constructed
-with machinery upon English models, and
-conducted by English managers, became
-an utter failure and was abandoned;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span>
-and in like manner, an association which
-they had encouraged to attempt an export
-trade, after numerous shipments to Portugal,
-the Mediterranean, the East Indies,
-South America, and the United States,
-became utterly insolvent, and involved
-the government in a loss of 400,000 francs.
-In the mean time, England and France
-monopolise the most profitable portions of
-their trade, the latter supplying them, almost
-exclusively with the more costly articles
-of ornament and fancy, and the imports
-of medium goods from the former
-having been, in the first six months of the
-present year, upwards of 17,000 pieces
-more than in 1839.</p>
-
-<p>This is one illustration, and I regret to
-say, only one out of many of the ruinous effects
-of the “Repeal of the Union,” In Ghent,
-from its peculiar position and the active
-genius of its population, its results have been
-felt with more severity than elsewhere, though
-its influence is discernible, to a greater or
-less degree, in every quarter of Belgium. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span>
-merchants of Ghent, however, make no
-secret of their dissatisfaction, and exclaim
-boldly against the indifference or incompetence
-of the ministry to adopt measures
-for their redress. In an especial degree,
-their dissatisfaction manifests itself against
-the present minister of the interior, M.
-Liedtz, who having been a lawyer, is presumed
-to be imperfectly acquainted with
-commerce, and is said to be as unjustly
-partial to agriculture, as he is coldly indifferent
-to trade. One gentleman complained
-bitterly that having, some time since, accompanied
-a deputation to an interview
-with the minister on the subject of the
-decline of the cotton trade, M. Liedtz
-abruptly ended the conference, almost before
-they had opened their grievances,
-by exclaiming:—“Come, now we have
-heard enough about cotton—how are your
-cows?”</p>
-
-<p>In Ghent, business has always been conducted,
-not only upon an extended scale,
-but upon the most solid and steady basis;
-bank accommodation and discounts are unknown,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span>
-in fact, in Belgium, and a bill, if 
-drawn at all, is, as a general rule, held over
-to maturity, and collected by the drawer.
-This may, in a great degree, account for
-the trifling balances which suffice to produce
-a suspension of business. In an
-annual document, published officially, I
-presume, I perceive that although the number
-of failures in Ghent for the year 1839,
-amounted to twenty, the amount of their
-united deficiencies did not exceed 198,000
-francs.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span></p>
-
-<p>The sufferings of Ghent seem to be so
-generally admitted, and so unequivocally
-ascribed to the operation of the revolution,
-that no scruple or delicacy is observed by
-the press or the public in ascribing them
-to its proper cause. A curious illustration
-of this, we observed in a volume entitled,
-“<i>Le Guide Indispensable du Voyageur sur les
-Chemins de Fer de la Belgique</i>,” sold at all
-the stations on the government railway,
-and in the case in which I bought my copy,
-by persons in the government uniform. In
-a short notice of Ghent, it contains the following
-passage of plain speaking upon this
-point. “During the fifteen years of the
-Dutch connexion, the population, the
-wealth and the prosperity of Ghent never
-ceased to increase; manufactures were multiplied,
-streets enlarged, public buildings
-erected, and large and beautiful houses
-constructed; in short, Ghent had become
-a great commercial city. <i>The revolution of
-1830 at once arrested this career of improvement,
-and Ghent, whose prosperity was the
-offspring of peace and of her connexion with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span>
-Holland, now seems to protest, by her silence,
-against a change which she finds to be fraught
-to her with ruin.</i> The citadel was only
-taken when all hope had disappeared of
-maintaining the supremacy of King William;
-but,” adds the author, “it is to be
-hoped that, little by little, the influence of
-new institutions may rally the hopes of the
-Gantois, and, at last, reconcile them to the
-consequences of the Belgian revolution.”<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>
-And the new institution which is to achieve
-such a triumph, is to be, of course, <i>the
-railroad</i> from Ostend to Cologne.</p>
-
-<p>Our stay at Ghent had been somewhat
-longer than our original intention, but we
-found it a place abounding in attractions,
-not only from its hereditary associations,
-but from the enterprising and ingenious
-character of its inhabitants, and the progress
-which they have achieved in their
-multifarious pursuits. Besides, it is always
-a matter of the deepest interest to observe
-the success or failure of a great national<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span>
-experiment, such as is now in process in
-Belgium, where, after an interval of upwards
-of two centuries, during which they
-have formed a portion of another empire,
-its inhabitants are testing the practicability
-of restoring and supporting their old national
-independence, notwithstanding all
-the changes which two hundred years have
-produced in the policy, the commerce, and
-the manufacturing power of Europe—changes
-not less astonishing than those
-which, almost within the same interval, the
-discovery of printing has produced in the
-diffusion of learning, or that of gunpowder
-in the system of ancient warfare.</p>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</h2>
-
-<p class="center">BRUSSELS.</p>
-</div>
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="hang">The railroad—Confusion at Malines—Country between
-Ghent and Dendermonde—<i>Vilvorde</i>—<i>The palace of Laeken</i>—First
-view of Brussels—The Grand Place in the old town—The
-Hôtel de Ville and Maison Communale—The new
-town—The churches of Brussels—<i>The carved oak pulpits of
-the Netherlands</i>—<span class="smcap">St. Gudule</span> monuments—Statue of
-Count F. Merode—Geefs, the sculptor—Notre Dame de la
-Chapelle—<i>The museum</i>—Palais de l’Industrie—The gallery
-of paintings—<span class="smcap">The Library</span>—Its history—<i>Remarkable
-MSS.</i>—Curiosities in the museum of antiquities—Private
-collections—Rue Montagne de la Cour—The
-theatre—Historical associations with the Hôtel de Ville—Counts
-Egmont and Horn—The civil commotions of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span>
-Philip II—<i>The fountains of Brussels</i>—The Cracheur—<i>The
-mannekin</i>, his memoirs—Fountain of Lord Aylesbury—Dubos’
-restaurant—The hotels of Brussels—Secret
-to find the cheapest hotels in travelling.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">We</span> again availed ourselves of the railroad
-from Ghent to Brussels, starting
-from the Monk’s Meadow at eight o’clock
-in the morning, and made the journey
-in about three hours and a half. The
-route is considerably increased in length,
-owing to the line making an angle in
-order to traverse Malines, which has
-been made a centre at which every
-branch of the entire system converges
-and take a fresh departure. This arrangement
-may be a convenience to the
-directory, but it is an annoyance to the
-public, not only by the extension of the
-distance they have to travel, but by
-the scene of bustle, confusion, and risk
-created by the concourse of so many
-trains at the same point, the nuisance
-and danger of which can hardly be exaggerated;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span>
-engines bellowing, horns sounding, 
-luggage moving, and crowds rushing
-to secure their places in the departing
-train, or to escape from being run over
-by the one coming in.</p>
-
-<p>The aspect of the country was, in all
-directions, the same—tame, but rich and
-luxuriant, with vessels toiling along its
-tributary canals, and here and there the
-Scheldt making its tortuous windings
-through long lines of pines and alders.
-One thing strikes a stranger as singular
-in this province, the almost total absence
-of pasture land, and the appearance of
-no cattle whatsoever in the fields, the
-ground being found to be more valuable
-under cultivation, and cattle more economically
-fed within doors. The railroad
-passes by some pretty but unimportant
-villages, such as Wetteren and Auderghem,
-before arriving at Termonde, more familiarly
-known to us as the Dendermonde
-of my Uncle Toby’s military commentaries.
-At Auderghem, a road turns to the right to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span>
-Alost, one of the most flourishing towns
-of East Flanders, and a prosperous seat of
-the flax and linen trade.</p>
-
-<p>After passing Dendermonde, we entered
-the province of Brabant, at the little village
-of Hombech, and the train, after traversing
-Lehendael (the Valley of Lillies), stopped
-at Mechlin, whose towers had been visible
-long before reaching the station. One of
-the most conspicuous objects here, is an
-immense brick building, erected in 1837 or
-38, for the purpose of spinning linen yarn,
-but never having been applied by its proprietors
-to that purpose, has lately been
-purchased by an English gentleman, Mr.
-Fairburne, to be converted into a manufactory
-of machinery, a department of manufacture
-which, in the present state of
-of Belgium, I much fear is not likely to
-prove more encouraging.</p>
-
-<p>From Malines to Brussels, the distance is
-fifteen miles, and was performed in something
-less than half an hour, the road lying
-through broad meadows and more extensive
-pastures than any I have yet seen in Belgium.
-On the left, these plains swell into a gentle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span>
-hill of some miles in length, on which the
-towers and steeples of Brussels are discernible
-long before we approach them.
-Within a few miles of Malines, we passed
-Vilvorde, an ancient place, but now only
-remarkable for its vast prisons, which are
-seen at a considerable distance. It was at
-Vilvorde that Tindal, the first translator
-of the Bible into English, was burned for
-heresy in 1536.</p>
-
-<p>Before arriving at the termination of the
-journey, the road sweeps along between
-two gentle elevations, that on the left being
-covered with the villas and pleasure-grounds
-of Schaerbeek, the Hampstead of Brussels,
-and to the right, with the woods and palace
-of Schoenberg, near the village of Laeken,
-a favourite residence of King Leopold. It
-was built in 1782, by the Archduke Albert,
-for the sister of the unhappy Marie
-Antoinette, and to serve for the future
-residence of the Austrian governor of the
-Netherlands. It suffered during the saturnalia
-of the French revolution, when a
-lofty tower, which rose above the woods<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span>
-that surround it, was torn down and sold
-for the price of the materials. Napoleon was
-partial to the palace as a summer retreat,
-and it was whilst lingering here with Marie
-Louise, that he completed the final and fatal
-arrangements for the invasion of Russia. It
-is handsomely, rather than magnificently
-furnished, but the grounds and gardens,
-which have all been re-modelled in the
-English style, are amongst the most beautiful
-in Europe, and command extensive
-views of the broad wooded campagne of
-Brabant, and the cheerful heights and
-gothic towers of Brussels.</p>
-
-<p>The first sight of Brussels, on approaching
-it from the side of Malines, is well calculated
-to give a favourable impression of its beauty
-and extent, the long planted line of the
-Allée Vert, terminating at the handsome
-gate d’Anvers, (formerly the Porte Guillaume,
-before the change of dynasty), with
-its dark iron balustrade and gilded capitals,
-and in front, the steep acclivity covered
-with streets and buildings of the modern
-and more elegant town, whilst the turrets<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span>
-of the Hôtel de Ville and the towers of St.
-Gudule are equally conspicuous, rising
-above the roofs of the ancient city which
-nestles at its base. The city itself, though
-of remote antiquity, has nothing very antique
-in its first appearance, and, in fact,
-it is only in the narrow alleys and passages
-of the lower quarter that the mansions and
-municipal buildings of the former nobles
-and burghers of Brabant are to be discerned.
-Even here there are fewer architectural
-traces of the magnificence of the
-middle ages than in almost any other of the
-great cities of Belgium. The Grand Place is
-a splendid exception to this observation, as
-it is surrounded on all sides with lofty old
-Spanish-looking houses, in the style, at
-least, if not of the date of the palmy days
-of Brabant, its high peaked roofs bristling
-with tiers of little grim windows, its
-pointed gables covered with bas-reliefs and
-carvings, and the ample fronts of its mansions
-richly decorated with arabesques in
-stone, which had once been gaudily coloured,
-and here and there tipped with gold.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span>
-On one side starts up to a surprising height
-the gothic tower of the Hôtel de Ville, by
-far the most beautiful in the Low Countries,
-and on the opposite one is a vast gloomy-looking
-building, now converted into shops,
-which was once the <i>Maison Communale</i> of
-the city; and being rebuilt by the Infanta
-Isabella, in the early part of the seventeenth
-century, was, in commemoration of
-the deliverance of Brussels from the plague,
-dedicated to Notre Dame de la Paix, with
-an inscription, which is still legible, though
-much defaced: “<i>A peste, fame et bello libera
-nos Maria pacis</i>.”</p>
-
-<p>It is in the narrow and dingy passages of
-this lower town, that a stranger feels all the
-associations of the olden time around him;
-but on ascending by the steep and precipitous
-streets to the modern quarter, with its
-light and beautiful houses, its open squares
-and gardens, with their fountains and statues,
-and all that is French and fashionable,
-the charm of association is gone, and one
-feels something like coming suddenly into
-the daylight from the dim scenery of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span>
-melodrame. To the stranger in Brussels
-there are, therefore, two distinct sets of
-objects of attraction. In the new town
-there are the palaces of the King and the
-nobles, the park, the public promenades, the
-chambers of the Senate and the Commons,
-the splendid hotels of the Place Royal, and
-the libraries and museums that occupy
-the château which was once the residence
-of the Austrian viceroys; whilst in the old
-town, there are the churches of the fourteenth
-and fifteenth centuries, with their
-superb oak carvings, stained windows and
-statuary, the Hôtel de Ville, the gloomy
-old mansions of the past race of nobles,
-and all the characteristic memorials of the
-ancient capital. The first are speedily disposed
-of by the tourist, as there is nothing
-unique in any of the lions of Brussels, its inhabitants
-are, in fact, anxious to have their
-city considered a miniature Paris, and it
-seems to have been laid out altogether on the
-model of the French capital, with its boulevards
-and its palace gardens, its opera,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span>
-its restaurants and its “café des milles colonnes.”</p>
-
-<p>The churches, are, as usual, splendid specimens
-of gorgeous altars, (with their ponderous
-candelabra and Madonnas in embroidered
-petticoats,) solemn aisles, marble
-columns, painted ceilings, Flemish pictures
-and carved pulpits, so flowing and graceful
-in their execution, that they look as if the
-Van Hools and Van Bruggens of former
-times, possessed some secret for fusing the
-knotted oak and pouring it into moulds to
-form their statues and their wreathes of flowers.
-Their Pulpits are, in reality, one of the
-wonders of the Netherlands, they are of immense
-dimensions, some of them reaching
-almost as high as the gothic arches which
-separate the nave from the side aisles.
-The lower department usually represents
-some appropriate scene from the events
-of sacred history, the expulsion of Adam
-and Eve from Paradise, Elijah fed by
-ravens, the conversion of St. Paul, with
-the frightened horse most vigorously introduced,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span>
-or Christ calling Peter and Andrew, 
-who are represented in their boat by the
-sea-shore, with their nets and fish, all exquisite
-specimens of the art; and, occasionally,
-the designs are allegorical, with
-figures of Time, Truth and Christianity.
-Above these, usually rises a rock, or
-a mass of foliage and flowers, on which
-are perched birds and other accompaniments,
-and on this rests the shell of the
-pulpit, the whole is then surmounted, either
-by a canopy sustained by angels and cherubims,
-or by the spreading branches of a
-palm tree, so arranged as to overshadow
-the whole. Almost every great church and
-cathedral in Belgium contains one of these
-unique productions of an art which is now
-almost extinct, or, at least, possessed of no
-practitioners at all qualified to cope in excellence
-with these ancient masters. The confessionals,
-altars and organs are likewise
-elaborately covered with these almost unique
-decorations, and even the doors and windows
-sometimes exhibit specimens of extraordinary
-beauty and value.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span></p>
-
-<p>The <i>church of St. Gudule</i>, which is the
-most remarkable at Brussels, has two huge
-gothic towers, each nearly the same height
-with St. Pauls, and from their solid and
-massy construction looking even more stupendous;
-but the effect is seriously injured
-by a number of ordinary houses, which
-have been permitted to be erected against
-the very walls of the building!—a curious
-instance of the absence of all taste in the
-ecclesiastical body, who can thus permit,
-for money, the actual defacement of their
-finest building. The pillars which sustain
-the roof within, bear each in front a colossal
-statue, of which there are fourteen or
-sixteen representing the various saints and
-apostles, some of them by Duquesnoy and
-Quellyn, but the generality of inferior merit.
-The pulpit was carved by Van Bruggen in
-1699, and was presented to the cathedral
-by the Empress Maria Theresa.</p>
-
-<p>The windows which are of dimensions
-proportioned to the huge scale of the church
-are all of rich stained glass, partly antique
-and partly of modern execution, but of great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span>
-brilliancy of tint and high talent in design.
-The high altar is so composed by some ingenious
-machinery within, that the sacred
-wafer descends apparently of itself, at the
-moment when the host is about to be elevated
-by the officiating priest.</p>
-
-<p>Around the choir are the monuments of
-some of the ancient Dukes of Brabant, surmounted
-by their effigies in armour, with
-swords and helmets disposed by their side;
-that of John II, who married Margaret of
-England, and died in 1318, bears a figure of
-the Belgic lion in gilded bronze, which
-weighs nearly three tons. Opposite this is
-another to the memory of the Archduke
-Ernest of Austria, on which rests a figure
-clad in mail. Close by it a marble slab
-in the floor covers the vault in which are
-interred some members of the imperial
-family who died during their vice-royalty at
-Brussels.</p>
-
-<p>One statue in St. Gudule is remarkable
-as a favourable specimen of modern art in
-Belgium, it is that of the Count Frederick
-de Merode, a young nobleman of most<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>
-amiable personal character, whose father was
-of one of the ancient families of Brabant,
-and his mother a Grammont. On the outburst
-of the revolution in 1830, he returned
-from France, where he was residing, enrolled
-himself as a volunteer in a corps of
-sharpshooters raised by the Marquis de
-Chasteler, and was killed whilst leading
-a charge against the Dutch rear-guard,
-under the command of Duke Bernard of
-Saxe Weimar. This monument is by Geefs
-of Brussels, who has evinced equal judgment
-and ability in retaining the national
-blouse as the costume of his statue, and
-yet so disposing it as to render it perfectly
-classical by his arrangement. Geefs is by
-far the most distinguished artist, as a sculptor,
-in Belgium, and has recently erected
-a spirited statue of General Belliard in the
-Park overlooking the Rue Royale, and
-the grand monument over the remains of
-the revolutionary partisans, who fell in the
-three glorious days “of 1830,” and are
-interred in the centre of the <i>Place des
-Martyrs</i>.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span></p>
-
-<p>The other churches of Brussels contain
-little that is worth a visit. In that of Notre
-Dame de la Chapelle, there is a high altar
-from a design by Rubens, one of those
-works in which he has so profusely exhibited
-his astonishing command of arabesque
-and allegorical devices. The pulpit is
-another specimen of wood carving, representing
-Elijah fed by ravens. It is remarkable
-that in all the churches of Brussels,
-there is not a single painting of more than
-common place ability, nor a single specimen
-of either Vandyck or Rubens—painters,
-it would seem, like prophets, are to seek
-for their patrons at some distance from
-home.</p>
-
-<p>The municipal collections of art are deposited
-in the museum and picture gallery
-in the Palais des Beaux Arts, formerly the
-vice-regal residence of the Austrian governors.
-In one wing of the building,
-called the Palais d’Industrie, are deposited
-models of machinery, agricultural instruments,
-and inventions of all kinds applicable
-to manufactures. The collection is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span>
-costly and extensive, and cannot fail to exercise
-a beneficial influence in the education
-of mechanics. The main galleries of the
-palace are filled with the national pictures,
-which amount to between three and four
-hundred. The description of a painting is
-scarcely more intelligible or satisfactory than
-the description of an overture. Amongst
-the collection are a few of considerable
-merit, but the vast majority are of the most
-ordinary description. There are a few by Rubens
-and Vandyck, not of the first order,
-some by Breughel, Cuyp, Gerard Dow, and
-the chiefs of that school; a multitude by
-the Crayers and Van Oorts and Vander
-Weydes, whose works one meets in every
-Flemish chapel, and a number of the early
-painters of the Netherlands, in which, I
-confess, I am not connoisseur enough to
-discover anything very attractive beyond
-their antiquity and curiosity as specimens
-of the feeble efforts of art in its infancy.</p>
-
-<p>Under the same roof is the magnificent
-Library, begun by the Dukes of Burgundy
-so far back as the fourteenth century, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span>
-enriched by every subsequent sovereign of
-the Netherlands, till its treasures now
-amount to 150,000 volumes of printed
-books and 15,000 manuscripts; amongst
-which are numbers whose pedigree through
-their various possessors is full of historical
-interest, and some which belonged to the
-library of Philip the Hardy, in 1404, and
-described in the “<i>Inventoire des livres et
-roumans de feu Monseigneur</i> (<i>Philip le
-Hardi</i>), <i>a qui Dieu pardonne, que maistre
-Richart le Conte, barbier de feu le dict
-Seigneur, a euzen garde</i>.” Its chief treasures
-it owes, however, to Philip the Good,
-the Lorenzo de Medicis of the Low Countries,
-who attracted to his court such geniuses
-as Oliver de la March, Monstrelet,
-Philip de Commines, the chroniclers and
-men of learning of his time, and kept constantly
-in his employment the most able
-“clerks,” “<i>escripvains</i>” and illuminators,
-engaged in the preparation of volumes
-for his “librarie,” and having united
-all the provinces of the Netherlands under
-his dominion, he collected at Brussels the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span>
-manuscripts of the Counts of Flanders, in
-addition to his own. The identical copy of
-the Cyropedia of Xenophon, which he had
-transcribed for the study of his impetuous
-son, Charles le Téméraire, and which
-accompanied him to the disastrous field of
-Morat, is still amongst the deposits in this
-superb collection.</p>
-
-<p>Another of its illustrious founders was
-Margaret of Austria, <i>la gente demoiselle</i>,
-daughter to the gentle-spirited Mary of
-Burgundy, and friend of Erasmus and Cornelius
-Agrippa, who amassed for it the
-invaluable collection of “<i>Princeps</i>” editions,
-which were then issuing from the early
-press of Venice and the North. The Library
-still contains the common-place book
-of this interesting Princess, with her verses
-in her own handwriting, and music of her
-own composition.</p>
-
-<p>Another equally charming guardian of
-literature was her niece, Mary of Austria,
-the sister of Charles V and Queen Dowager
-of Hungary, who transferred to the library
-of Brussels the manuscripts which her husband,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span>
-Louis II, had inherited from his 
-grandfather, Mathias Corvinus. Amongst
-these, is a missal, one of the wonders of
-the collection, painted at Florence in 1485,
-and abounding in the most exquisite miniatures,
-arabesques and illuminated cyphers.
-From the period of its deposit in Brussels,
-the Dukes of Brabant took their oath of
-inauguration by kissing the leaves of this
-priceless volume, and two pages which had
-been opened for this purpose at the accession
-of Albert and Isabella, in November
-1599, are spotted with the flakes of snow
-which fell upon the book during the solemnity.</p>
-
-<p>In the vicissitudes of Brussels, the contents
-of her Library has always been an
-object of cupidity for her invaders. In
-1746, Marshal Saxe sent a selection of its
-treasures to Paris, which were restored in
-1770, and again seized by the revolutionary
-army of Dumourier in 1794, and though
-recovered in 1815, it was with the loss of
-many of its precious deposits. But even
-the disappearance of these was less exasperating<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span>
-than the insensate vandalism of the 
-savants of the revolution, who actually
-rubbed out with their wetted fingers, the
-portraits of the ancient emperors and kings,
-and even of the saints who happened to
-wear a crown, in order to evince their inexpressible
-hatred of monarchy.</p>
-
-<p>Amongst the manuscripts, are some few
-which escaped from the sack of Constantinople
-in 1453, and bear the names and
-handwriting of Chalcondylas, Chrysolaras,
-and the restorers of Grecian literature, who,
-on the overturn of the Eastern Empire,
-found a refuge at Rome and at the court of
-the Medicis. The bindings of numbers of
-them, bear the imperial cypher of Napoleon,
-but the majority have still their ancient
-velvet covers, the richness of which,
-with their clasps of gilded silver which secure
-them, attest the value which was
-placed upon their contents by their illustrious
-owners.</p>
-
-<p>An adjoining apartment is devoted to
-some interesting antiquities, among which,
-are a court-dress of Charles II, a souvenir
-of his sojourn at Brussels during the ascendancy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span>
-of Cromwell; a cloak of feathers, 
-which belonged to Montezuma; the cradle
-in which Charles V. was rocked; and
-two stuffed horses which bore Albert and
-Isabella at the battle of Nieuport, one an
-Andalusian barb which had accompanied
-the Infanta from Spain, the other a Moravian
-which afterwards saved the life of
-the Archduke at the siege of Ostend in
-1604.</p>
-
-<p>In the private mansions of Brussels there
-are numerous collections of pictures and
-objects of vertu, much more valuable than
-those which are the property of the nation.
-Those of the Duke d’Aremberg, the Prince
-de Ligne, M. Maleck de Werthenfels, and
-the Count Vilain XIV, contain several
-masterpieces of the Dutch and Flemish
-masters, and some few by Raphael Leonardo
-de Vinci, and the chiefs of the Italian
-school. The name of this latter gentleman
-is somewhat remarkable; his ancestor, who
-was ennobled by Louis XIV, being permitted
-to append the cypher of the monarch
-to his name and that of his descendants.
-The collection of the Duke d’Aremberg,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span>
-besides a number of paintings of great excellence,
-contains a remarkable marble,
-which has excited much curious investigation
-amongst the dilettanti; it is a head,
-the fragment of a statue, which <i>is said</i> to
-have originally belonged to the main figure
-in the group of the Laocoon in the Vatican,
-the present head being only a restoration.
-The truth of this is questioned, but the connoisseurs
-attached to Napoleon were so
-satisfied of its truth, that the Emperor, by
-their advice, offered the possessor, weight for
-weight, gold for marble, if he would allow
-the head to resume its ancient position on
-the shoulders of the statue which was then
-in the gallery of the Louvre. The Duke,
-unwilling to part with it, declined, but
-aware of the determined nature of Napoleon’s
-caprices, sent it privately out of the
-country, and had it concealed at Dresden
-till the fall of the Emperor, when it was
-restored to its old place in the library of
-the Palais d’Aremberg. That the head of
-the central figure in the group of the Vatican
-is a restoration, there can be no doubt;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span>
-it was copied, it is said, from an antique
-gem. The head at Brussels, was found by
-some Venetian explorers, and sold to the
-father or grandfather of the present Duke
-d’Aremberg. Whether it be the genuine
-original or not, no possible doubt can be
-entertained of its masterly execution, and
-the vigour and fire of expression with which
-it glows, justify any opinion in favour of its
-origin.</p>
-
-<p>An almost precipitous street, appropriately
-called “Rue Montagne de la
-Cour,” rises in a straight line from the
-lowest level of the ancient town to the hill
-on which the new one is situated, which
-is filled with the best and most showy shops
-in Brussels; jewellers, printsellers, confectioners
-and modistes, and crowded at all
-hours of the day with carriages and fashionable
-loungers. At the bottom of this steep
-acclivity, is the Place de la Monnaie, where
-stands the theatre, in which the actual
-insurrection commenced in 1830, when
-the audience, inflamed by the music and
-declamation of the Muette de Portici, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span>
-inspired by the estro of Masaniello, rushed
-into the street and proceeded at once to demolish
-the residence of the minister, M.
-van Maanen. Turning a corner from this,
-one finds himself suddenly in the midst of
-the antique square in which stands the
-Hôtel de Ville, and the other principal municipal
-edifices of the past age—the <i>forum</i>
-of ancient Brabant, as the Place de Monnaie
-is of the modern. It was in this and
-in the sombre old mansions that are to be
-found in the precincts around it, that the
-pride of democracy appears to have delighted
-in “recording in lofty stone” its
-own magnificence, and lavished their public
-wealth upon the towers of the Town
-Hall, the most imposing monument of the
-popular power.</p>
-
-<p>But, independently of its democratic
-associations, the Hôtel de Ville of Brussels
-was the scene of the most extraordinary
-episode that has ever been recorded in the
-chronicles of kings;—it was in the grand
-hall of the Hôtel de Ville that Charles V.
-wearied with the crown of a monarch, laid<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span>
-it aside to assume the cowl of a monk, and
-took his departure from the throne of an
-empire to die, a maniac, in the cell of a
-monastery. It was from one of the windows
-of the same building that the ferocious
-Duke of Alva looked on, in person, at the
-execution of two of the purest patriots of
-their own or any subsequent age—Lamoral,
-Count Egmont, and Philip de Montmorency,
-Count Horn—the first and most illustrious
-martyrs of the Reformation in the Netherlands.
-During the reign of terror under
-Philip II., Brussels was the grand scene
-of Alva’s atrocities and of his successors’
-incapacity. It was in the little square of
-the Petit Sablon, that the protestant confederates
-assembled to draw up their famous
-remonstrance to Margaret of Parma, the
-sister and vice-queen of the bigotted tyrant,
-on the occasion of presenting which, by the
-hands of de Bredérode, the unlucky exclamation
-of “the beggars,” (<i>Gueux</i>) escaped
-from the incautious lips of the Count de
-Berlayment, in whispering his counsel to
-the grand-duchess to reject their prayer,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span>
-a word which fell like a blister, and was
-adopted, at once, as the title and the sting
-of the protestant conjuration.</p>
-
-<p>The square of the Hôtel de Ville was the
-scene of every popular commotion that has
-agitated Brabant, from the origin of the
-ducal dynasty, to the halcyon days of
-Albert and Isabella: it resounded with the
-insane riots of the Iconoclasts in 1566, and
-it was illuminated by the flames of the Inquisition,
-in which the same infuriated
-fanatics made a final expiation for their
-violence. It ran red with the blood of
-the protestants under Philip II.; and,
-in 1581, it rang with the acclamations
-of the followers of the Prince of Orange
-over the temporary abolition of the worship
-of Rome. So little is its architectural aspect
-altered since these thrilling scenes,
-that, with the Hôtel de Ville on one side,
-and on the other the old communal house,
-in which Egmont and Horn spent the night
-previous to their execution; and around
-them the venerable gothic fronts and fretted
-gables of its ancient dwellings, one might<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span>
-almost imagine it the ready scenery, and
-half expect the appearance of the dramatis
-personæ to re-enact the tragedy.</p>
-
-<p>The ornamental monuments of Brussels
-are neither very numerous, nor remarkable
-for their refinement of taste. The public
-fountain called “le Cracheur,” is the statue
-of a man, with his arms folded, and vomiting
-the stream for the accommodation of
-the public; and the famous little fountain
-of the <i>mannekin</i>, in the Rue de
-Chene, supplies her customers with water
-in a style perfectly unique, at least, in a
-statue. This eccentric little absurdity is
-the darling of the bourgeoisie, and the popular
-palladium of Brussels, and its memoirs
-are amongst the most ridiculous records of
-national trifling. The original which was
-of great antiquity, made of carved stone was
-replaced by one of iron. The present one is
-in bronze on the same model, and was cast
-by Duquesnoy in 1648. One story to account
-for its extreme popularity, is that it
-is a likeness of Godfrey, one of the Dukes
-of Brabant, who, when an infant, having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>
-escaped from his nurse, was discovered at
-the spot in the attitude immortalized by
-the little statue. By the mob, the mannekin
-is perfectly worshipped—he is called “le
-plus ancien bourgeois de la ville,” has the
-freedom of the city, and a feast day in July
-regularly appointed in his honour. On
-this occasion, he is clothed in a suit which
-was given him by Louis XV., consisting of
-a cocked hat and feathers, a sword and costume
-complete, the King, at the same time,
-creating him a Chevalier de St. Louis.
-Charles V. was equally beneficent to the
-mannekin, and Maximilian of Bavaria assigned
-him a valet-de-chambre. He has
-also been left legacies by more than one of
-the citizens; at the present moment his
-income is upwards of four hundred francs,
-paid to his valet for his services upon state
-occasions, and to a treasurer for the management
-of his estates. Brussels has, more
-than once, been thrown into dismay by the
-mannekin being carried off, and the utmost
-exertion has been made for his recovery.
-The last violence offered to him was his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span>
-being carried off a few years since; but he
-was discovered in the house of a liberated
-felon, and speedily restored to his old place
-and functions amidst the delight of the
-Brussellois.</p>
-
-<p>In the Place du Grand Sablon, another
-fountain, surmounted by a marble statue of
-Minerva, between figures, representing Fame
-and the river Scheldt, and holding a medallion
-with the heads of Francis I. and Maria
-Theresa was erected, as its inscription imports
-in 1711, by Thomas Bruce, Earl of
-Aylesbury, in recognition of the enjoyments
-he had experienced during a residence of
-forty years in Brussels.</p>
-
-<p>We dined to day with the gentlemen who
-formed the Commission of Inquiry which
-had lately visited the linen districts of Great
-Britain. The entertainment was at du
-Bos’, Rue Fossé-aux-Loups, the favourite
-restaurant of Brussels, and the dinner was
-altogether French, and equal to the best
-cuisine of the Palais Royale. The hotels of
-Brussels, those, I mean, in its upper town,
-are on an immense scale, especially the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span>
-Bellevue, which overlooks the park, and
-was in the very focus of the fight during the
-“glorious three days” of 1830. Beside it
-is the Hôtel de Flandres, said to have the
-most recherché table-d’hôte of the entire,
-and such is its popularity, that we could
-neither obtain apartments in the hotel on
-our arrival, nor seats at the table on a subsequent
-occasion. In this dilemma, we took
-up our residence at a house on the opposite
-side of the same square, the Hôtel Brittanique,
-where we found the arrangements
-as execrable, in every respect, as the charges
-were monstrous. As usual, however, a
-stranger with his foot on the step of his
-carriage, has no resource but to submit; but,
-as a general rule, the traveller who is in
-search of the <i>cheapest</i> hotel, should invariably
-address himself to that which has
-the reputation of being the <i>best</i>; where
-there is no temptation, as in the less frequented
-establishments, to make those who
-visit the house pay for the loss occasioned
-by the absence of those who avoid it, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span>
-where, even if the bill be occasionally something
-more than is equitable, he has, at least,
-the satisfaction of feeling that he has had
-<i>comfort</i> in exchange for extortion.</p>
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span></p>
-
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</h2>
-
-<p class="center">BRUSSELS.</p>
-
-<p class="center"><small>EFFECTS OF THE REPEAL OF THE UNION WITH
-HOLLAND.</small></p>
-</div>
-<div class="blockquot">
-
-<p class="hang">The Belgian revolution has produced no man of leading genius—The
-present ministry—M. Rogier—M. Liedtz, the Minister
-of the Interior—An interview at the Home Office—Project
-of steam navigation between Belgium and the
-United States—Freedom of political discussion in Belgium—<i>Character
-of King Leopold</i>—Public feeling in Brussels—The
-original union of Holland and Belgium apparently
-desirable—Commercial obstacles—Obstinacy of the
-King of Holland—Anecdote of the King of Prussia—The
-extraordinary care of the King for manufactures—<i>Prosperous</i>
-condition of Belgium under Holland—<i>Les Griefs
-Belges</i>—Singular coincidence between the proceedings of
-<span class="smcap">the repealers in Ireland and the repealers
-in Belgium</span>—Ambition for separate nationality—Imposition
-of the Dutch language unwise—Abolition of trial
-by jury—Now disliked by the Belgians themselves—Financial
-grievances—Inequality of representation—<span class="smcap">Conduct
-of the Roman Catholics</span>—Hatred of toleration—Attachment
-of the clergy to Austria—<i>Remarkable manifesto<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> of the clergy to the Congress of Vienna</i>—Resistance to
-liberty of conscience, and freedom of the press—Demand
-for tithes—Resistance of the priests to the toleration of
-Protestants—The official oath—<i>Protest of the Roman Catholic
-Bishops against freedom of opinion and education by the
-State</i>—Perfect impartiality of the Sovereign—Resistance
-of the priesthood—<i>The Revolution</i>—Union of the Liberals
-and Roman Catholics—Intolerant ambition of the clergy—Separation
-of the <i>Clerico-liberal party</i>—Present state
-of parties in the legislature—Unconstitutional ascendancy
-of the priests—<i>State of public feeling</i>—Universal disaffection—Curious
-list of candidates for the crown of Belgium
-in 1831—“<i>La Belgique de Leopold</i>,” its treasonable
-publications—Future prospects uncertain—Vain attempts
-to remedy the evils of the revolution—<i>Connexion
-with the Prussian League refused</i>—Impossibility of an
-union with Austria or Prussia—Union with France impracticable—Partition
-of Belgium with the surrounding
-states—<i>Possible restoration of the House of Nassau, in
-the event of any fresh disturbance</i>.</p>
-</div>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">We</span> this morning paid a visit to M.
-Liedtz, the minister of the interior, in his
-hotel at the “Palais de la Nation.” It is
-rather remarkable that neither the actual
-eruption of the revolution nor its subsequent
-influence, has been sufficient to draw
-forth any individual of leading genius, to
-give a complexion to the policy of the new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span>
-state. The actors who have played the
-most prominent <i>rôle</i> during the last ten
-years have been a few of the ancient
-Catholic noblesse, whose titles gave éclat
-to the movement, but who have long since
-withdrawn into retirement, or ceased to
-take a lead in the administration—and the
-body of lawyers whose professional aptitude
-to promote or profit by any change,
-has enabled them to step over the heads of
-their less adroit, but not less qualified associates,
-and to appropriate to themselves
-the “loaves and fishes” of office. Lastly,
-there were “the masses” whose impetuosity
-achieved the revolution, the “patrioterie”
-who form the tools of every revolution
-to be worked for the benefit of their
-more clear sighted superiors. But the
-daring spirits of 1830 have all disappeared;
-the present times do not require such
-fiery agents; the violence which effects a
-revolution, must be the first thing to be got
-rid of by those who would perpetuate it,
-and who speedily learn to exchange the
-exciting demand of “<i>delenda est Carthago</i>,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span>
-for the milder supplication of “<i>panem et
-Circenses</i>.” In this way the Masaniello
-of the revolution, M. de Potter, having been
-given to comprehend that his services had
-been rendered, and his presence no longer
-desirable, has long since withdrawn himself
-to ponder over, and, it is even added, <i>to
-regret</i> the events of 1830; but certainly to
-lament, in strong terms, his disappointment
-at their practical results.</p>
-
-<p>The present ministry did not, from all
-we could observe, command the confidence
-of their fellow citizens, nor do I recollect
-any one of them spoken of without a reference
-to some incapacity or disqualification
-for the office. M. Rogier, the minister of
-public works, had been a third or fourth
-rate barrister at Liege, and eked out an
-insufficient professional income by delivering
-lectures on French literature. His
-daring and energetic share in the events
-which displaced the old dynasty, recommended
-him to employment under the new,
-but the office assigned to him, that of the
-interior, involving the guardianship of trade<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span>
-and manufactures, was one for which he
-was little suited, either by education or
-taste, and he utterly destroyed the confidence
-of the merchants and mill owners, by
-avowing in one of his addresses to them,
-that they must be prepared to see “<i>commerce
-die a lingering death</i>,” if it were
-conducive to the permanence of the new
-order of things. M. Liedtz, with whom
-we had an interview this morning, had, like
-M. Rogier, been a lawyer, but of some
-standing and eminence in his profession.
-He had been, we heard, unfavourable to
-the revolution at its first out-break, but
-his talents speedily recommended him to
-the notice of the new authorities, who promoted
-him to be judge in the district of
-Antwerp, whence he was transferred to his
-present office on the removal of M. Rogier,
-to that of public works. He received us in a
-suite of very elegant apartments, much superior
-to those with which our own ministers
-are accommodated in Downing Street. He
-is a native of Audenarde, of humble parentage,
-but of considerable practical acquirements,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span>
-especially on agricultural matters. 
-He received us most affably, and after some
-conversation on commercial subjects, reverted
-at once to his own hobby, by asking
-after the progress of agriculture in Great
-Britain. The object of greatest interest
-with us was the duty which it had been
-announced that it was in contemplation by
-the government to impose upon the export
-of flax, and to which I have before alluded
-as the extraordinary expedient suggested
-by the agricultural members of the
-chambers, in order to protect the hand spinners
-from being superseded by machinery.
-The minister seemed fully to understand the
-absurdity of the suggestion, but still admitted
-that the “pressure from without” might compel
-him to introduce a bill upon the subject.
-He informed us, that a negociation has just
-been concluded with some speculators in
-the United States, supported by the Belgian
-government, with a view to running
-a line of steam-packets of great power from
-New York and Philadelphia to Antwerp and
-Ostend, touching at one of the southern
-ports of England, and thus it was expected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span>
-securing a share of the passenger trade, as
-well as opening, by degrees, a market for
-Belgian produce in the United States.</p>
-
-<p>One thing, in Belgium, I cannot but allude
-to as characteristic—the unrestrained freedom
-with which every individual discusses
-politics, and the unreserved candour
-and frankness with which each details his
-views and strictures. This is the more
-remarkable, because the universal tenor of
-opinion is, if not directly to complain, at
-least, to admit the existence of much cause
-for complaint. I never met with less
-<i>bigotted</i> politicians, and I have not seen a
-single individual, whom I would designate
-<i>a party-man</i>, in the English acceptation of
-the term, that is one who finds all right, or
-all wrong, precisely as the party with whom
-he sympathises be censured or lauded by
-the inference. But the fact is, there are no
-“optimists” in Belgium as yet, and there
-is so much that is unsatisfactory in every
-department, that the consciousness of it
-forces itself upon the conviction, if not the
-admission of every individual. The press,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span>
-too, is equally unreserved, and in the shops
-of the booksellers, we found numbers of
-publications devoted to the exposure of the
-present condition of the country.</p>
-
-<p>Still no creature, not even the most
-violent partisan of the House of Nassau
-whom I have met with, includes King
-Leopold in the scope of his censures.
-The revolution itself, its immediate agents
-and its consequences are the objects of
-their condemnation; but no one of the
-results from which they suffer, is ascribed
-to the influence or interference of the King.
-Those who regret the expulsion of the King
-of Holland, look upon King Leopold
-merely as his involuntary successor, and
-whilst they condemn the incapacity of his
-ministers, and the violence of the party in
-the house and in the country by whom
-they are controlled—all seemed to regard
-the King as only borne upon a tide of
-circumstances, which he is equally unable
-with them to resist or direct. His fondness
-for locomotion, his frequent visits to
-England and journeys to Paris, were the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span>
-subject of good humoured badinage, and
-have procured him the titles of “<i>le
-roi voyageur</i>,” and “<i>l’estafette nomade</i>.”
-“Il s’amuse,” said an intelligent Belgian,
-when I asked him what share the King
-took in politics, “he goes out of the way
-to Wiesbaden, and leaves things very much
-to themselves, or, what is nearly the same
-thing <i>to his ministers</i>.”</p>
-
-<p>In Brussels, of course, we found the
-revolution still popular; its population
-were the first to promote, and are the last
-to regret it. But it is an inland town, the
-residence of the court and the nobles, unconnected
-either with manufactures or commerce,
-and its shopkeepers have not
-suffered by the change, which has affected
-the prosperity of the trading districts.
-Equally independent of the loom and the
-sail, they only hear of the embarrassments
-of others, as a sound from a distance.
-Their intercourse is with the wealthy, who
-are congregated round the seat of the
-legislation and the palace of the sovereign;
-as yet their pursuits have not been affected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span>
-by the diminished resources of the middle
-and labouring classes, and besides the
-constant passage of strangers, as well as the
-permanent residence of some thousands of
-English and other wealthy foreigners, is a
-permanent source of income. But, throughout
-the country and in the provincial
-towns, we met with but one feeling of keen
-discontent with the result of the revolution,
-and alarm for the condition and prospects
-of the country.</p>
-
-<p>That the union of Belgium with Holland in
-1815 was one conceived, less with an eye to
-the interests of the two countries, than in an
-anxiety for the erection of a substantial
-power in that precise locality, as a security
-for the peace of Europe, is admitted by all
-engaged in its actual arrangements; but
-it is equally admitted, that whatever discordances
-there might have existed at the
-time between the feelings, the peculiarities
-and the interests of the two states, they
-presented no permanent obstacle to that
-“complete and intimate fusion” of the two
-people, which was ultimately anticipated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span>
-by the Congress of Vienna. It was in order
-to erect the new kingdom into a state of
-adequate importance, that England, in addition
-to concurring in the restoration of the
-ancient Netherlands of Charles V, divested
-herself of a portion of her colonial conquests
-during the war to re-annex them to Holland,
-thus feeding the national resources of
-both sections of the new alliance—the Belgian
-by an outlet for its manufactures, and the
-Dutch by a carrying trade for their shipping.</p>
-
-<p>The union, too, was a natural one, not
-only geographically, but intrinsically. Belgium
-had been compelled to become a
-manufacturing country by the closing of
-the Scheldt, at the treaty of Munster which
-ended the Thirty years’ war in 1648, one
-of those unnatural acts of state policy,
-that seems almost an impious interference
-with the benevolence of providence;
-and which by annihilating this noble
-river for all purposes of trade, had the
-contemplated effect of driving commerce
-to Amsterdam and Rotterdam, thus constraining
-the Belgians to betake themselves
-to industry and handicrafts at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span>
-home. With such elasticity did they conform
-to this necessity, that when the unnatural
-embargo was taken off by the progress of
-the French in 1794, the energies and genius
-of the population had made such a decided
-development, that they were not to be
-seduced back into their old pursuits of
-traffic, and the <i>manufactures</i> of Belgium continued
-to prosper under “the continental
-system” of Napoleon, down to the period
-of the general peace. Holland, on the contrary,
-with her hands fully employed by
-her shipping and her trade, and possessing
-no mines of iron or coal, had never either
-the inducement or the temptation to become
-a manufacturing country, so that nothing
-could apparently be more happy, than the
-union of one producing nation all alive
-with machinery, with its neighbour proportionably
-rich in shipping; and to open
-to both an extensive colonial territory,
-whose population the merchantmen of the
-one could supply with the produce of the
-other.</p>
-
-<p>But even here lay the seeds of unforeseen
-dissentions. Belgium, all whose notions of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span>
-commercial policy were formed upon the
-false and narrow basis of France, was perpetually
-calling for protective duties, bounties
-and prohibitions, without which her
-artisans were sinking under the effects of
-foreign competition; whilst to the Dutch,
-with their spirit of traffic and fleets of
-shipping, every restriction upon absolute
-free trade was a positive interception of
-gain. This antagonism of interests led to
-perpetual animosity in the states-general
-upon all questions of customs and imposts,
-and to such an extent did Holland give
-way upon these points, in order to protect
-the interests of Belgium at the sacrifice of
-her own, that a well informed author observes
-that, “<i>even supposing the desire for
-separation had not arisen in Belgium, the
-Dutch, ere long, would have been forced to
-call for this divorce in order to save Amsterdam
-and Rotterdam from ruin</i>.” It is more
-likely, however, that the march of manufacturing
-prosperity in Belgium, and the
-increased demand and consumption of her
-produce would have ultimately compensated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span>
-her commercial colleague for all intermediate 
-loss.<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span>
-But added to these pecuniary squabbles,
-there were deeper and less tangible causes
-of mutual repulsion, differences of language
-and religion, and local prejudices and antipathies,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span>
-out of which speedily sprung an 
-infinity of definite “grievances,” which
-timely and conciliating interference and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span>
-constitutional reforms might have allayed;
-but which, there can be no doubt,
-were obstinately and fatally neglected by
-the King of Holland, and his irresponsible
-ministers; and though it is absurd to regard
-them, even if unredressed, as justifiable
-grounds for revolution, they led ultimately
-to the expulsion of the family of Nassau
-from the Netherlands.</p>
-
-<p>It seems to be admitted upon all hands,
-that in this the King of Holland was seriously
-to blame, and that whilst the political
-causes of complaint were all capable
-of easy removal or redress, they were overlooked
-in his anxiety to stimulate and
-promote the commercial prosperity of the
-country. From the outset, he aimed
-at eradicating the French institutions, to
-which, during the twenty years of their
-connexion with that country, the Belgians<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span>
-had become strongly attached, and to assimilate
-them to the model of Holland.
-His conduct, in this attempt, was strongly
-contrasted with the prudence of the King
-of Prussia, who having received his Transrhenan
-provinces under precisely similar
-circumstances, had never once attempted
-to interfere with those habits and local
-constitutions to which the people had
-become familiarised. He even ventured to
-remonstrate with the King of Holland on
-the impolicy of his course, and to warn
-him of the discontents it was likely to
-engender, but received only a pettish reply
-that, “his Majesty was old enough to act
-for himself,”—a rebuff which the Prussian
-monarch is said to have retorted when,
-at a subsequent period, the King of Holland
-applied to him for assistance to reconquer
-Belgium, and he accompanied
-his refusal with a remark, that he presumed
-“his Majesty was old enough <i>to
-fight</i> for himself.”</p>
-
-<p>This unwise neglect of the political grievances
-of Belgium, cannot be compensated
-by the King’s exclusive devotion to its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span>
-manufacturing and substantial interests;
-and even in this, it is doubtful whether his
-zeal did not hurry him into an unwise extreme.
-His great ambition was to render
-his people “a nation of shopkeepers,” and
-develop as thoroughly the manufacturing
-resources of Belgium, as industry and care
-had matured the agricultural and commercial
-riches of Holland. There was no labour,
-no expense, no care, no experiment
-left unemployed to give life and impulse to
-their grand object. One engrossing topic
-was uppermost in his mind; which was not
-inaptly compared to a “price current,” solely
-influenced by the rise and fall of produce,
-or the fluctuations of the funds. The
-inventions of Watt and Fulton stood higher
-in his estimation than the achievements of
-Frederick or Napoleon. He protected the
-arts, not so much from admiration as
-policy, and he countenanced literature, not
-from any devotion to letters, but because
-it created a demand for articles of commerce.
-In short, there was nothing classic,
-inspiring or chivalrous in his bearing, all was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span>
-material, positive and mathematical. Business
-was his element, his recreation; and
-amusement, but a robbery of that time
-which he thought he ought to devote entirely
-to his people. He loved to surround
-himself with practical men, and he gained
-the good will of all the great commercial
-and financial aristocracy by the attention
-he paid to them, individually and collectively.
-It is incontestible, that if the happiness
-and welfare of a nation had depended
-on the laborious exertions and unremitting
-devotion of the sovereign to commercial
-affairs, then Belgium ought to have been as
-contented as it was prosperous, and its
-sovereign the most popular monarch in
-Europe.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
-
-<p>Under the auspices of such a sovereign,
-Belgium, during the fifteen years of its connexion
-with Holland, attained a height of
-prosperity which no human being presumes
-to question. Agriculture, recovering from
-the sad effects of war, and receiving an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span>
-augmented impulse from the demand created
-by the commerce of Holland, speedily attained
-the highest possible point of prosperity—mines
-were opened, coal, iron and
-all other, mineral wealth extensively explored;
-manufactures and machinery were
-multiplied to an extent beyond belief, and
-the trade of Antwerp even outstepped that
-of Holland in exporting the produce of
-Belgium. Roads, canals and means of
-communication were constructed with surprising
-rapidity; sound and practical education
-was universally diffused, in short,
-every element of material prosperity became
-fully developed, and what rendered the
-progress of the nation the more important,
-was the fact that it was not intermittent
-or capricious, but exhibited one steady
-march in its ascent in each successive year,
-from the period of the union to the hour
-of its disruption.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span></p>
-
-<p>In such a combination of circumstances,
-one is impatient to discover the specific
-causes of discontent which could inflame
-an entire population into all the fury of
-revolt, and to the expulsion by blood and
-the sword of a King, under whose sway
-they acknowledge themselves to be debtors
-for so many blessings. This is not the
-place to canvas their merits, but in merely
-enumerating the principal grievances of
-which they complain, the “<i>griefs Belges</i>,”
-as they were specially headed in the newspapers
-of the time, it is impossible to avoid
-being struck with the identity between the
-vast majority of the pretexts for revolt propounded
-by the “patrioterie” who Repealed
-the Union in Belgium, and the “patriots”
-who clamour for “the Repeal of the Union”
-in Ireland. Nor did this similarity escape
-the promoters of the revolution in either
-country. In Ireland, it has been ostentatiously<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span>
-and perseveringly dwelt upon, and 
-even down to the present hour, the example
-of the Belgians is paraded as an incentive
-to the ambition of the enemies of British
-connexion; and in Belgium, even before
-the revolution, the position of the two
-countries, as regarded their several legislative
-connexions with England and Holland,
-was the subject of repeated comparisons and
-condolence. The “Belge,” a journal which
-was active in the encouragement of the
-movement, thus alludes to the coincidence
-of their circumstances in 1830. “Belgium
-has been long the Ireland of Holland, the
-relation of the dominant power has been
-in almost every particular, that of “<i>the
-Sister Island</i>” to England—with the intolerable
-addition, however, that while Ireland
-has had the less population by far, Belgium
-had by far the greater—that Belgium paid
-much more than her proportion of the
-taxes, whilst Ireland paid much less—that
-Ireland often sent her inhabitants to share
-in the distribution of places, pensions and
-honours, whilst such a distribution amongst<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span>
-the Belgians was of extremely rare occurrence.”</p>
-
-<p>But the similarity consists not less in
-the ostensible grounds for revolt, than in
-the identity of the actual instruments and
-agents. In Belgium, as in Ireland, they
-were the uneducated and bigotted mob,
-inflamed by the half-educated press, and
-led on by a propaganda of priests and a
-crowd of unsuccessful and hungry lawyers.
-In both countries, too, the leaders of the
-movement, whatever may have been their
-real and secret sentiments, ostensibly professed
-to seek merely a redress of grievances,
-and to start with alarm at the idea
-of <i>separation</i>; their only desire being a <i>federative
-union</i> under the same crown, but
-with a distinct administration. The Belgian,
-however, soon felt that he wanted
-a power, which there is but little reason
-to ascribe to the Irishman of saying “thus
-far shalt thou go, and no farther,” and the
-stimulants applied to the versatile vanity of
-the people, soon rendered them impatient
-of any proposition short of actual independence.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span>
-An unfortunate phrase in the treaty 
-of Paris that Belgium was to be to Holland
-“as an accession of territory,” was construed
-into a national indignity, notwithstanding
-the expression of perfect equality
-and “fusion” which pervaded every other
-passage of the document, and the cry of
-“<i>a nation no longer a province</i>” became
-forthwith the aspiration of every discontented
-coterie. That distinction they have,
-at length, attained, and enjoy the barren
-eminence of a throne, but unfortunately
-without either the power, the wealth, or
-the influence as an European state, that
-are essential to give it dignity and stability.</p>
-
-<p>There are, however, some points of marked
-distinction between the two cases, inasmuch
-as whilst the Irish sufferers clamour
-<i>for</i> assimilation to England, those in Belgium
-flew to arms <i>against</i> assimilation with
-Holland; and, besides the Belgian repealer
-pursued his object of separation notwithstanding
-the admitted prosperity of his
-country, whilst the Irish one, less barefaced,
-tries eagerly to invent a case of distress in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span>
-order to justify his treason. Above all,
-there is this happy difference, that whilst
-in Belgium the repeal has been achieved
-at the expense of national prosperity, Ireland
-has still the opportunity to reflect and
-to be warned by her lamentable example.</p>
-
-<p>The civil grievances of the revolutionists
-arose out of certain measures of the King,
-in some of which he was manifestly wrong;
-his attempts to render Dutch the national
-language for all public documents in certain
-provinces—to abolish trial by jury, which
-had been established by the French—to
-remove the supreme court of judicature to
-the Hague—and to introduce the principles
-of Dutch law into all their pleas and proceedings.
-The two latter were the usual vexatious
-manifestations of the spirit of centralization,
-which a prudent government would
-never have attempted to force upon the
-unwilling prejudices of a nation; and the
-substitution of the Dutch tribunal for the
-trial by jury would have been a substantial
-injustice, had the people been unanimous,
-or even, in a considerable proportion, favourable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span>
-to it; but in the divisions upon 
-the question in the States General, large
-bodies of the Belgian representatives were
-found voting constantly against it; and
-<i>even now, notwithstanding its re-establishment,
-it has become more and more unpopular,
-and even those who supported it in 1830,
-refuse to sit upon juries themselves, or to
-uphold the system by their co-operation</i>. The
-alteration of the language was an unwise
-attempt to force upon four millions of Belgians
-the dialect of three millions of Dutch.
-This has, however, been sought to be defended
-by stating, that of the entire population
-of the united kingdom, one fifth
-alone spoke French, namely in Hainault,
-the Waloons, South Brabant, and a part of
-Luxembourg; and the remainder dialects of
-German, in the proportion of two fifths
-Dutch, and two fifths Flemish. The imposing
-Dutch upon the entire was not,
-therefore, more unjust than would have
-been a similar imposition of Flemish, <i>and
-yet, within this very year, the party who reviled
-the one to the death in 1830, have begun<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span>
-to petition the legislature for the other</i>! They
-are contented now to abandon French,
-which they then contended for, and to
-accept the barbarous patois of Flanders as
-its substitute, which would be equally unintelligible
-to the Waloons, and even in those
-districts of Antwerp which border upon
-Holland.</p>
-
-<p>Another complaint had reference to the
-disproportionate distribution of government
-patronage between the subjects of Holland
-and Belgium, in which there may have been
-much truth, and to which the government
-did not take the most wise nor the most
-soothing steps to reconcile the minority, by
-ascribing it to the <i>dearth of talent</i> amongst
-their countrymen. <i>Like the Irish</i>, the Belgian
-agitators protested against the taxes of
-Belgium being made applicable to the discharge
-of the national debt, of which the
-largest proportion had been contracted by
-Holland before the period of the union—but
-having by the Revolution secured the
-management of the national revenues in
-their own hands, <i>an evil of more serious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span>
-magnitude has been discovered, in the fact,
-that the expenditure of Belgium in every year
-since the Revolution, with the single exception
-of 1835, has exceeded the revenue by some
-millions of francs</i>. In 1831 and 1832 this
-was strikingly the case, the expenses of
-the war and of new establishments leading
-in the former year to an expenditure of
-upwards of four millions, and in the latter
-to eight millions sterling. In</p>
-
-<table>
-<tr><td>1833</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>   <td>£3,441,519</td> <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
-</tr>       
-<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,765,993</td>   
-<td>excess</td>   <td>£324,474</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1834</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    
-<td>&nbsp;3,371,182</td>    <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td>&nbsp;</td> <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,554,960</td>   <td>excess</td>    
-<td>&nbsp;183,778</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1835</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,695,225</td>   <td>excess</td>    
-<td>&nbsp;112,852</td></tr>
-<tr><td>&nbsp;</td>       <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,582,373</td> 
-<td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>  
-<tr><td>1836</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,382,286</td>    <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td>&nbsp;</td>       <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,469,031</td>   <td>excess</td>     
-<td>&nbsp;86,746</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1837</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,436,468</td>    <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td>&nbsp;</td>       <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>3,817,621</td>   <td>excess</td>    <td>&nbsp;381,153</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1838</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,784,253</td>    <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td>&nbsp;</td>       <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,885,232</td>   <td>excess</td>    <td>&nbsp;100,979</td></tr>
-<tr><td>1839</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    <td>&nbsp;4,163,821</td>    <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td>&nbsp;</td> <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;4,476,613</td>   <td>excess</td>    <td>&nbsp;312,792</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>The interest upon the national debt of
-the independent state exceeds at the present
-moment £800,000 a year. Besides, during
-the Dutch regime, it appeared that in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span>
-Belgium, <i>as in Ireland</i>, the malcontents
-bore the most trifling proportion of the national
-burthens, the revenue of the three
-years preceding the revolt being paid in
-the proportion of sixteen florins per head
-for every inhabitant of Holland, and only
-ten for those of the Netherlands.</p>
-
-<p>Another grievance, no less <i>Irish</i> than
-Belgian, was that the number of representatives
-was not regulated exclusively in
-proportion to the <i>population</i> of the two
-states, totally irrespective of the relative
-territory and possessions of each—and
-although the representation was exactly
-divided, one half of the States General being
-Dutch and one half Belgian, a division
-warranted by the large territorial interests
-of the former; the patriots and their disturbers
-complained “<i>Si l’on nous avait attribué
-une représentation en rapport avec la population</i>,
-<span class="allsmcap">NOUS AURIONS DOMINÉ LE NORD</span>.”<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>
-The frankness of this avowal has not yet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span>
-been imitated by the Repealers of Ireland;
-but its aspiration is not the less manifest
-in the similarity of their pretensions; and
-the frequent references of the Irish agitator
-in the House of Commons to the relative
-population and comparative electoral constituencies
-of the counties of England and
-Ireland, irrespective of their relative wealth
-and property, parrotted as they have recently
-been by members of her Majesty’s
-government, may no doubt be construed
-into an ill-concealed adoption of the sentiments
-of the repealers of Belgium.</p>
-
-<p>These, and a few other minor points, were
-the burthen of all the <i>civil</i> grievances against
-which the oppressed patriots of Belgium
-had to protest; and it is not difficult to perceive
-that it required but a little complaisance
-on the part of the Dutch government
-to redress them, although it is too late to
-regret that that redress was not timely
-applied. It is impossible, however, for
-any sober minded citizen to discern in the
-entire mass of these complaints, even in
-all their aggravation, any adequate ground<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span>
-for a resort to the last remedy of oppression—war,
-and revolution; and in vain
-would the restless promoters of the revolt
-have laboured to inflame the populace by
-rhapsodies on the glory of independence,
-or diatribes against the pronunciation of
-Dutch,—in vain would they have attempted
-to sting them into madness by calculations
-of finance, or lamentations over the exclusion
-of some provincial orator, from a seat
-in the legislature or a portfolio in some
-public bureau,—all these whips and stimulants
-would have been powerless and
-unfelt, had not <i>religion</i> been introduced in
-association with each, and the ascendancy
-of the Roman Catholic church been made
-the alpha and the omega—the beginning
-and the end—the burthen of every complaint,
-and the object of every exhortation.</p>
-
-<p>The avowed cause of the dissatisfaction
-of the clergy, was that the King <i>was a protestant</i>,
-and that protection and full toleration
-was extended to all sects and religious
-communities. The genius and pretensions
-of the Roman Catholic church<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span>
-seems, down to the present hour, to have
-undergone less modification in Belgium
-than in any other country of Europe, with
-the single exception, perhaps, of Rome
-itself. It was to preserve it in all its integrity
-that Philip II. and the Duke of Alva
-for thirty years exhausted the blood and
-treasure of Spain in its defence, and down
-to the present hour, its clergy exhibit a
-practical gratitude for their devotion, by the
-uncompromising assertion of every attribute
-for which they contended. Belgium is,
-at this moment, the most thoroughly catholic
-country in Europe, and the recent exploits
-of the Archbishop of Cologne attest
-the power of its example and its influence
-even over the adjoining states.</p>
-
-<p>Under the dominion of Austria, the
-authority of the church had been recognized
-by the crown, in all its plenitude and
-power, and the subsequent union of Belgium
-to France in 1795, was eagerly resisted
-by the clergy, who naturally saw in
-it the subversion of their power before that
-of the Goddess of Reason. But even the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span>
-influence of twenty years of intimate association
-with France, proved incapable to
-diminish the ardent subjection of the Belgians
-to their priesthood, or temper the
-ambition of their prelates and their clergy;
-and when, at length, the clasps which held
-together the empire of Napoleon, flew
-asunder in 1814, the utmost desire of the
-priesthood was to have Belgium again
-restored to her ancient masters, and <i>re-constructed
-as a province of Austria</i>, in which
-event, they calculated that the elevation
-of the church would follow, as of course.
-This, however, European policy forbade;
-and when, in 1814, the prelates of Flanders
-found themselves abandoned by their
-chosen sovereign, who accepted, in exchange,
-the more attractive provinces of Italy,
-and handed them over to one of the most
-Protestant monarchs in Europe, their consternation
-was unbounded, and in the extravagance
-of their disappointment, they had the
-madness to address a memorial to the Congress
-of Vienna, which is well worthy of
-being preserved as an authentic manifesto<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span>
-of the pretensions of the Roman Catholic
-church in modern times.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
-
-<p>It bears date in October, 1814, and is
-signed by the vicars-general of the Prince
-de Broglie, who was then Bishop of Ghent.
-It sets out by an exposition of a principle
-learned, they say, from experience, that it is
-indispensable for a catholic country passing
-under the government of a protestant sovereign,
-to stipulate for the free exercise of its
-own worship, and for placing all its ancient
-rights and privileges beyond the reach of any
-interference of the state (“<i>hors de toute atteinte
-de la part du Souverain</i>”). The religion
-of Luther, the vicars-general proceeded to
-remind the Congress, is merely <i>tolerated</i> in
-Germany beside that of Rome, although it is
-very absurd to approve of two doctrines that
-contradict each other; but in Belgium, the
-latter has been distinctly recognized from
-immemorial time, and they, therefore, feel
-it is incumbent on them early to demand a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span>
-formal guarantee for its exclusive exercise,
-“<i>l’exercice exclusif</i>,” which had been secured
-to them, at former times, by the most
-solemn treaties. They warn the Prince of
-Orange, that he will find it his future interest,
-as well as that of Europe in general,
-whose object it must be to have Belgium
-peaceful and contented, to enter into an
-inaugural compact with the church, regarding
-the maintenance of all its ancient authority,
-and candidly intimate that the
-result shall never be satisfactory, if their
-own demands are not complied with in the
-following particulars:—First, the exclusive
-establishment of the Roman Catholic religion,
-<i>with this exception, that the royal family and
-the court may have a place of protestant worship
-in their palaces or chateaus, but that on
-no pretence whatever, is a protestant church to
-be erected elsewhere</i>. The words of this
-postulate are as distinct as their import is
-remarkable in the nineteenth <span class="err" title="original: centurry">century</span>:—“Avec
-cette exception, que le Prince Souverain
-et son auguste famille seront libres<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span>
-de professer leur religion, et d’en exercer
-le culte dans leurs palais, chateaux, et maisons
-royales, ou les seigneurs de sa cour
-auront des chapelles et des ministres de
-leur religion, <i>sans qu’il soit permis d’ériger
-des temples hors de l’enceinte de ces palais,
-sous quelque pretexte que ce soit</i>.” Secondly,
-that the church was to have absolute dominion
-in all matters concerning its own
-affairs. Thirdly, that the Council of State
-was to be composed <i>exclusively of Roman
-Catholics</i>, including <i>two bishops</i> of the establishment.
-Fourthly and fifthly, that a
-nuncio should be received from the Roman
-See, to treat with the council, and a new
-concordat obtained with the Pope. Sixthly,
-<i>that it was indispensably essential, in order to
-provide a perpetual maintenance for the clergy
-beyond all control of the state, that tithes
-should be re-established throughout Belgium</i>;
-the protestants, of course, contributing to
-the maintenance of the church from which
-they dissented! Seventhly, the re-establishment
-of the university of Louvain;
-and lastly, the restoration of the <i>monks and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span>
-religious orders</i> which had been suppressed
-by the Emperor Joseph II, and “<i>as one of
-the most excellent means, and, perhaps, the
-only one, at the present day, to secure to
-youth the blessings of an education combining,
-at once, the principles of genuine religion and
-the acquirements of human learning, the re-establishment
-of the Jesuits throughout Belgium</i>.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>”</p>
-
-<p>Whether this extraordinary document
-was really framed with a view to influence
-the deliberations of the Congress, or written
-with a full anticipation of their ultimate
-conclusion, and designed only as a
-defiance and a bold forewarning of the consequence,
-it had but little weight at Vienna,
-and the provinces were consigned, without
-the required stipulations, to the King of
-Holland.</p>
-
-<p>The constitution of the new state was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span>
-based upon principles of the most unrestricted
-toleration and protection for all
-denominations of religion. But toleration
-and freedom of opinion are the very essence
-of the reformation, and the Roman
-Catholic clergy had the discernment to perceive
-that no more effectual system could
-have been established for the silent but
-ultimate subversion of their church, than
-by reducing it to an equality with every
-other, thus lending the authority of the
-state in ascribing to many the possession
-of that saving faith, which it is fatal to the
-very spirit of catholicism to have attributed
-to any but one—and that one, herself.
-Equal rights and protection were to her
-more pernicious than proscription and persecution,
-and no other course was left to
-her than that precisely which she adopted
-to protest against toleration in the first
-instance, and to revolt against it in the
-end.</p>
-
-<p>By an arrangement of the new government,
-no public functionary or officer connected
-with any department of the state,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span>
-was to enter upon his functions before
-having taken an oath to maintain all the
-principles and observe all the enactments
-of the Constitution. But as amongst these
-were comprised the fundamental law of
-“toleration,” another manifesto was instantly
-issued by the prelates, prohibiting all Roman
-Catholics from subscribing to the obnoxious
-oath, as subversive of all the principles
-of the church of Rome, and ruinous
-to her attributes and claims!</p>
-
-<p>The articles which they objected to were
-those which guaranteed to all religious
-denominations of Christians perfect liberty
-of conscience, freedom of worship, an
-equality of civil rights and indiscriminate
-eligibility to all public employments.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> To
-swear to the observance of such a law, the
-prelates declared to be neither more nor
-less than to exact equal protection for error
-as for truth,—and to countenance the admission
-to places of honour and trust, without
-distinction of religion, was merely sanctioning,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span>
-by anticipation, measures that might 
-hereafter be taken for permitting the interference
-of protestants in the affairs of the
-catholic community. The words of the
-Constitution established the unlimited exercise
-of public worship, “unless where it
-gave rise to any public disturbance,” <i>lorsqu’il
-a été l’occasion d’un trouble</i>; “but the
-bishops protested, that to give a power to
-the government to interfere under any limitation,
-was to submit the church to the
-authority of its enemies; and that <i>to
-swear obedience to any constitution which presumed
-the Catholic Church to be subject to the
-temporal law was manifestly to subscribe to its
-humiliation</i>.”<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> “To ascribe,” they said,
-“to a sovereign of a different faith, <i>a right
-of interference in the regulation of national
-education</i> would be to hand over public
-instruction to the secular power, and would
-exhibit a shameful betrayal of the dearest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span>
-interests of the church. There are other
-articles of the Constitution,” continues the
-manifesto, “which no true child of the
-Catholic Church can ever undertake, by a
-solemn oath, to observe or to support, and
-<i>above all others that which establishes</i> <span class="allsmcap">THE
-LIBERTY OF THE PRESS</span>!”</p>
-
-<p>This singular document bore the signatures
-of the Prince Maurice de Broglie,
-Bishop of Ghent, Charles Francis Joseph
-Pisani de la Gaude, Bishop of Namur,
-François Joseph, Bishop of Tournai, and of
-J. Forgeur and J. A. Barrett, the Vicars-General
-of Malines and Liege. I have preserved
-it and the memorial to the Congress
-of Vienna, as the most remarkable denunciations
-against liberty of conscience that
-modern times have produced, and a singular
-evidence of how little influence the example,
-or the intimate association of twenty
-years with the liberalism of France, was
-capable of producing on the spirit and
-genius of the church of Rome.</p>
-
-<p>Its promulgation produced an instant
-effect upon the weak consciences of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span>
-people, which, for a time, was productive
-of the utmost embarrassment to the establishment
-and arrangements of the new
-government, as individuals were prevented
-from accepting offices, which were open to
-them, from a dread of the vengeance of the
-altar. Its mischievous consequences were,
-however, after a time, defeated by the temperate
-conduct of the Prince de Mean, the
-last Prince Bishop of Liege, and subsequently
-Bishop of Malines, who had not
-signed the document, and who took the
-requisite oath, <i>subject to approval of the
-Pope</i>, an example which was speedily followed
-by all whom the incentive of office
-inspired with a natural anxiety to avail
-themselves of so high an authority.</p>
-
-<p>The King now administered the law with
-an apparent oblivion of every previous act
-of the Roman Catholic clergy. The income
-which was appropriated by the state for
-their support, was <i>augmented</i> at his suggestion,
-the remotest interference with their
-worship was in no solitary instance attempted,
-and churches were built for their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span>
-accommodation in the poorer districts, to
-which his Majesty himself was a liberal
-contributor. For some years every pretext
-for special complaint was successfully
-avoided, and the country was too rapidly
-prosperous to be yet ripe for any efforts to
-excite abstract discontent. But, at length,
-about 1825, the striking results of the
-Dutch system of National Education, to
-which I have referred in a former chapter,
-were so apparent, that the spread of
-intelligence and instruction became too
-alarming to permit the church to be longer
-quiescent, and resistance was at once commenced,
-notwithstanding the fact, that the
-religious education in the primary schools
-was scrupulously reserved for the superintendence
-of the priests, and theology was
-utterly excluded from the courses of the
-universities, and handed over exclusively to
-the college of Louvain. But education,
-even under these limitations, must be instantly
-suppressed, or unreservedly submitted
-to the church, without any control
-from the ministry of the interior. Some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span>
-concessions upon this point served only to
-give confidence to the boldness of further
-demands, and when these were resisted,
-every other grievance, civil and religious,
-having in the mean time undergone the
-necessary process of aggravation and
-distortion to ripen the passions of the
-“patrioterie” for revolt, the mine was considered
-ready for explosion, “and the whole
-country,” to use the words of Baron
-Keverberg,<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> “resounded with the cry of
-the priests, who filled Europe with their
-denunciations of resentment. To listen to
-them, one would imagine that the Catholic
-Church in the Netherlands groaned in the
-chains of an unrelenting oppression, and
-that the King had sworn to tear the faith
-of their fathers from the hearts of his subjects,
-and to hesitate at no measure, however
-furious or tyrannical, to “protestantize
-their country.” It is unnecessary to say that
-these were not only pure fabrications,
-“mere rhetorical artifices,” to serve the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span>
-purpose of the hour, since even their
-authors now admit this to be the fact.
-In a recent publication of the journal of
-Bruges, which is devoted to the <i>liberal</i>
-party, it avows that William I. so far from
-being the “protestant tyrant which it was
-then expedient to represent him, was the
-most tolerant of princes, ‘le plus tolerant
-que l’on puisse s’imaginer,’ and only hated
-by the priesthood because he would not
-endure them to <i>place the altar upon the
-throne itself</i>, as they have succeeded in
-doing by the revolution of 1830.”</p>
-
-<p>With this imperfect <i>aperçu</i> of the origin
-of the Belgian revolution, it is easy to
-collect its objects, its agents, and its effects.
-The union of the Liberals, with the priesthood
-and their followers, who formed the
-preponderating mass of the population,
-formed an alliance so powerful, that the
-whole strength of Holland was unequal to
-withstand it, much less the small body of
-reflecting and loyal subjects, who still remained
-faithful to the union and the crown,
-and who were not only overwhelmed by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span>
-violence of the commotion at the moment,
-but so utterly discomfited by its ultimate
-consequences, that they have never since
-been able to rally as a party. But the
-immediate object being once achieved, the
-union of the “<i>clerico-liberal</i>” confederacy
-did not long survive its consummation.
-The “compact alliance” between the priests
-and the liberals had been sought by the
-former only to effect a definite purpose,
-which could not otherwise be attained, <i>the
-Repeal of the Union</i>; and no sooner was this
-accomplished, than the intolerant ambition
-of the clergy, put an end to all further co-operation
-between them. The party of the
-priests had then become all powerful by
-their numbers, and no longer requiring
-the assistance of their former allies, they
-boldly attempted their own objects independently,
-and in defiance of them. It is
-rather a ludicrous illustration of their zeal
-and its aim, that among the crowd of
-aspirants who were named for the crown of
-Belgium in 1831, the <i>Pope</i> himself was put
-in nomination! and had the decision<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span>
-remained with the revolutionists, there can
-be no doubt that the Netherlands would
-have been added to the territory of the Holy
-See.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> Before twelve months from the expulsion
-of the King of Holland, the body by
-whom it was effected was split into two
-contending factions, and, at the present
-hour, the two opposing parties who contest
-every measure in the legislation of Belgium,
-are the quondam allies of the revolution,—the
-Liberals, and the “<i>parti prêtre</i>,” the
-latter of whom have the decided majority,
-and rule their former associates with a rod
-of iron.</p>
-
-<p>Every thing, in fact, is regulated by the
-wishes of that numerous body of the priesthood,
-who from their ardent exertions for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span>
-ascendancy, have obtained the title of the
-<i>La Mennaisiens</i>, and whose influence in
-every family and in every parish, rules,
-regulates and determines every political
-movement. They it is who conduct all
-the elections, name the candidates, and
-marshal the constituency to the poll, and
-when I was at Ghent, the curate of Bottelaer,
-a rural district in the vicinity, read
-from the altar the persons for whom the
-congregation were to vote, at a pending
-contest, on pain of the displeasure of the
-Bishop. If the coincidence does not strike
-irresistibly every individual, who has
-attended to what is passing in Belgium, it
-is here again unnecessary to point out the
-parallel, between the composition of the
-two parties, in that country and Ireland,
-who sympathise in the principle of repeal
-and separation. In each country the majority
-of the “movement” is composed of the
-Roman Catholic clergy, and the devotees
-of the church, but in both their strength
-would be ineffectual, and certainly their
-object suspected, had they not been joined<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span>
-by honest but mistaken individuals, who,
-aiming at Utopian theories in politics, have
-been content to employ for their accomplishment,
-the aid of those, whose designs
-are more essentially sectarian, than civil or
-political.</p>
-
-<p>In Belgium, however, the demonstration
-has been made, of what may be expected
-to ensue, should the project of Repealing
-the Union be ever successfully effected in
-Ireland. There, as in Flanders and Brabant,
-the priests and their followers would
-have the overwhelming majority; and
-caution or concealment being no longer
-essential, the triumph of their attempt,
-would be but the signal for discarding their
-allies, and proceeding boldly to the consummation
-of their own ambition. The union
-once repealed, the objects of the liberal
-protestants of Ireland and the Roman
-Catholic party, would be as distinct as the
-very spirit of freedom, and the genius of
-despotism could render them. The manifesto
-of the Roman Catholic prelates to
-the Congress of Vienna, and their protest
-against <i>Liberty of Conscience</i>, <i>Education</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span>
-and <i>the Freedom of the Press</i> in Belgium,
-made, not at any remote or antiquated era of
-history, <i>but within the last ten years</i>, sufficiently
-attest the animus in which their
-admirers and imitators would set about the
-regeneration of Ireland. The Archbishop
-of Malines would find a cotemporary and
-congenial spirit in the benignant prelate of
-Tuam, the pastoral superintendance of the
-clergy would be as vigorous in the elections
-for a domestic, as for a “Saxon” legislature,
-and as successful in securing a
-majority in the parliament of Dublin, as in
-the “Palace of the Nation,” and the services
-of the patriots who now shout in the train
-of the Agitator, could be as readily dispensed
-with in Ireland, as they have
-been summarily discarded in Belgium.</p>
-
-<p>Were the union between the two countries
-once repealed, the union between the
-two sections, by whose co-operation direct
-or indirect it had been effected, would not
-survive it one single year—the influence of
-the protestant and English party in Ireland,
-would in such a conjuncture be as effectually<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span>
-annihilated, as had been the adherents 
-of Holland, in Belgium; and the deluded
-liberals, by whose unwise assistance they
-had been overwhelmed, would find themselves
-in the position of the moderate
-section of the chambers of Brussels, the
-<span class="err" title="original: consciencious">conscientious</span>, but inefficient opponents of
-a despotism, more formidable than that
-they had overthrown, inasmuch as the
-tyranny of the million exceeds the tyranny
-of the individual, and infinitely more
-galling, inasmuch as they had themselves
-contributed unwillingly to impose it upon
-their country.</p>
-
-<p>In such a state of things, it is easy to
-imagine the discontent and disunion, which
-pervades every department of Belgium; its
-trade and manufactures, labouring under
-wants and pressures, which the government
-have not the power, however anxious their
-inclination, to relieve; the civil grievances
-for the abatement of which the revolution
-was undertaken, only partially redressed,
-and in some instances, exchanged for
-others, the immediate offspring of the
-remedy itself,—and to crown all, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span>
-government and the country submitted to
-a religious ascendancy, which is as unwisely
-exercised by the party who have attained
-to it, as it is suspected and disliked by
-their opponents, who smart under its caprices
-and suffer from its indiscretion.</p>
-
-<p>Even the very last act of the revolution,
-and that which might be regarded as placing
-the seal to the European bond, for its permanency,
-namely the ratification of the
-final treaty for the partition with Holland
-last year, seems to have only added to the
-existing insecurity; the leaders of 1830,
-loudly protesting against the assignment
-to Holland of these portions of Luxembourg
-and Limbourg, which have been decreed
-to her, and the mercantile interests, uniting
-in complaints, that the government of
-King Leopold, have been outwitted by the
-ministers of the Hague, and have not only
-submitted to surrender 350,000 of their
-already reduced population of consumers to
-Holland, but have ceded to her demands,
-which will inflict injury upon the navigation
-of the Meuse and the Scheldt.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span></p>
-
-<p>I can state from my own observation,
-that I have not conversed on the subject
-with a single individual in Belgium, who
-expressed himself thoroughly satisfied with
-the present posture of affairs. On the contrary,
-I have found every where irritated
-dissatisfaction, and if not open regret for
-the events of 1830, and distinct wishes for
-a reunion with Holland, the utmost perplexity
-to discover some yet untried expedient,
-which would hold out a hope of
-restoring the country to its tranquil prosperity,
-whether as an independent nation,
-or in incorporation with some other state.
-<i>On all hands, it seemed to be felt that for
-things to go on as at present is impossible</i>,
-this was the constant theme of conversation
-in society, and the pamphlets and brochures
-which I picked up in the shops, are filled
-with discussions of the same subject, but
-in terms much more acrimonious and exciting.</p>
-
-<p>One of these, which I found selling at
-Ghent, entitled “<i>La Belgique de Leopold,
-par un voyageur Français</i>,” and which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span>
-though strongly in favour of Holland, is
-evidently written by a person well informed
-on the state of Belgium, thus speaks of the
-present state of feeling in that country;
-and the publicity with which pamphlets of
-this kind are exposed for sale, and their circulation
-are evidences of an extensive
-sympathy with the author’s views.
-“The Belgians,” the author says, “of
-all classes, representatives and constituencies,
-rich and poor, long for the
-arrival of the moment, which is to disembarrass
-them from an imaginary nationality,
-a delusive freedom and an independence,
-whose very name has become a jest—but
-they want as yet the energy which is
-essential to hasten their relief. It is possible,
-that in the little circle, whose life and
-fortunes are dependent upon Leopold, there
-may be some who flatter themselves with
-the hope that the ratification of the treaty
-of 1839, is the consolidation and establishment
-of his power * * But the vast
-body of the nation less involved in the
-immediate question of the revolution, are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span>
-far from regarding the present peaceful
-position as one of long duration, although
-guaranteed to the new state in the name of
-the same powerful courts, which by treaties
-not less solemn and sage had conferred the
-crown upon the former dynasty from whose
-brows, it had been rudely torn by the revolution
-* * * At this moment, the
-prolonged existence of Belgium, as an independent
-state, is a matter of impossibility,
-its manufactures, its commerce and its prosperity
-are annihilated, and it is crushed to
-the earth under the pressure of its debt and
-taxes. Without ships, colonies or commerce,
-and encumbered by an army, which
-never fights, and fortresses destined for
-demolition, it is merely the jibe and the
-laughing stock of Europe * * * The
-very authors of the revolt of 1830, blush
-for their own handiwork, and those who
-were then the most zealous apostles of
-revolution, now preach only contrition and
-repentance. The defection is universal—and
-above all the army,—the army, exposed
-every day to the most cutting sarcasms,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span>
-vents its indignation in menaces and murmurs.
-Every class of the population, including
-those who would have been perfectly
-contented with the present order of
-things, were the circumstances of the country
-at all tolerable; the whole nation, in
-short, except the fraction of a fraction,
-without numbers, wealth nor weight, unite
-in aspiration for the return of the House of
-Orange; and the restoration of the kingdom
-of 1815, is in every heart and on every
-tongue * * Belgium, has herself, no
-other alternative left to her, and if from
-predilection and choice she does not invoke
-the return of a race of princes enlightened,
-paternal, courageous and brave, she must
-speedily be reduced by famine, to implore
-the restoration, as her only relief from evils
-of the last extremity. Their restoration
-may be regarded, at this moment, as morally
-accomplished, the universal voice of the
-nation has decreed it, and it requires but
-an accident, an excuse, a name, a banner,
-and the existence of the revolutionary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span>
-kingdom is terminated without another
-‘protocol.’”<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p>
-
-<p>Under these circumstances, the position
-of King Leopold must be any thing but an
-easy one, if his ambition extends to the
-foundation of a royal dynasty for his descendants.
-The religious grievances of the
-nation are, it is too much to be feared, beyond
-his reach to correct, and the evils which
-beset and endanger its internal prosperity,
-arising out of the circumscribed resources of
-the nation, must look in vain to them for
-redress. The fundamental defect is the
-want of an adequate consumption for the
-produce of the national industry, and for
-this the ingenuity of the government has
-been ineffectually tortured to discover a
-remedy. It is idle to look to Germany or
-England for <i>commercial treaties</i> which would
-afford an opening for Belgian manufactures
-in competition with their own; important
-concessions have been made to France, by
-the reduction of duties upon her produce,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span>
-when imported into Belgium, but no reciprocal
-advantages have been obtained in
-return; on the contrary, ever since 1815,
-when the Netherlands were taken from her,
-to be given to Holland, she has exhibited
-a waspish impatience to embarrass and
-undermine her prosperity. <i>Prospects of
-colonization</i> have been discussed and even
-proposals made to other states for permission
-to attempt settlements on their distant
-territory—and where these have failed,
-commercial expeditions have been dispatched
-to Algiers, to Egypt, to Brasil,
-to Bolivia and Peru, all with a view to
-open a trading intercourse with the natives,
-but each and all have proved hopelessly
-unsuccessful.</p>
-
-<p>The manufacturers of Ghent and Verviers,
-have thus turned their eyes towards
-the Zoll-Verein, and year after year attempts
-have been made to effect a connexion,
-if not a formal juncture with the
-Prussian Commercial League; but here
-again disappointment alone awaited them,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span>
-for independently of the fact, that by the
-constitution of the Zoll-Verein, it is accessible
-only to those of German blood (on
-which score Luxembourg might have been
-admissible), it was manifestly hostile to
-the very spirit of the league, whose object
-is to protect their own native manufacturers,
-to admit amongst them a formidable rival,
-who would inundate them with her produce,
-and could take nothing from them in
-return.</p>
-
-<p>But if the necessities and weakness of
-Belgium, render it impracticable for her to
-continue as she is, and if national independence
-be irreconcilable with her prosperity,
-the question which occupies the thoughts
-of her discontented subjects, is to what
-quarter she shall turn for relief from without.
-To attach herself again to Austria,
-as before the French revolution, is a matter
-impracticable and could be productive of no
-advantage, even if it were otherwise. The
-condition of the Rhenish provinces, under
-the dominion of Prussia, would make her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span>
-eager for a similar incorporation, but this
-the interests of Europe, as well as those of
-Prussia herself forbid.</p>
-
-<p>An union with France would be equally
-hopeless and incompatible with the policy
-of the Congress of Vienna, and would, with
-the exception of the districts immediately
-bordering on the French frontier, be in the
-highest degree distasteful to the population
-at large. Their annexation to the territory
-of France in 1794, had been resisted by
-the clergy, and its termination in 1814
-was hailed with rapturous impatience by all
-classes. Their condition under the empire
-had been one “of the most insignificant
-vassalage. Their religious institutions destroyed,
-their cherished privileges annihilated,
-and all their rights and immunities
-for which they had been contending for
-centuries before, trodden under foot.”<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a>
-Even their commerce and manufactures
-were <span class="err" title="jeopardied">jeopardised</span> by the jealous rivalry of
-their new allies, their clergy debased, and
-their youth drafted off by conscription to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span>
-feed the slaughter of Europe. The recollection
-of this has left no vigorous desire for
-a return to fraternization with France, nor
-would France herself, however important
-Belgium might be as a political acquisition,
-consult the interest of her native manufactures
-by imparting an equality in all her
-advantages to competitors so formidable.
-Still so impatient are the Belgians to fly
-from the “ills they have,” that at the
-present moment, whilst the possibility of
-war between France and the rest of Europe
-occupies the attention of all the world,
-I was repeatedly assured in Belgium
-that it would only require France to
-give the signal, and a powerful section
-of the people would declare in her
-favour. So conscious are all parties of
-this, that the bare probability of war in
-Europe is looked to with the utmost alarm
-by the government, and the <i>Controleur</i>, an
-appropriately named journal, the organ of
-the clerical party, was anxiously busied,
-whilst I was in Ghent, in decrying any idea
-of a re-union with France, declaring in one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span>
-of its publications early in September:
-“Et comme nous n’avons pas pour habitude
-de cacher notre manière de voir, nous
-dirons rondement, <i>que nous serions plutôt
-Hollandais que Français</i>.—En dépit de M.
-Rogier.”</p>
-
-<p>Another suggestion has been the <i>partition</i>
-of Belgium between the surrounding
-states, but to this equally insurmountable
-obstacles present themselves. Antwerp
-and the districts on the Dutch frontier, if
-assigned to Holland, would have no longer
-employment for their capital and ships, and
-would again sink under the more favoured
-rivalry of Amsterdam and Rotterdam; and as
-Hainault and the fortresses along the Meuse
-and the Sambre would necessarily fall to
-the lot of France, a measure so menacing
-to the future security of Europe, would not
-be tolerated by her courts, unless these
-strongholds were garrisoned by the allies,
-an expedient which would be equally opposed
-by the pride and ambition of the
-French.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span></p>
-
-<p>If the further experience should unfortunately
-decide finally against the permanence
-of Belgium as an independent nation,
-the only practical expedient which remains,
-and that which has already received the
-sanction of all the great powers of Europe,
-would be a return to the disposition made
-by the Congress of Vienna, and the reincorporation
-of Holland and Belgium, to
-form again the united kingdom of the
-Netherlands. Personal aversion to King
-William would no longer oppose a barrier
-to such an arrangement, as his dominion has
-passed into other hands, and the Prince of
-Orange, the present king at all times enjoyed
-the popular affections, if not the national confidence
-of the people. Should any fresh convulsion
-arise, which for the sake of the peace
-of Europe, not less than for that of King
-Leopold, it is most earnestly to be hoped
-may be yet averted, all I have either seen
-or been able to learn from those best informed
-upon the matter, leaves little doubt
-in my mind, that the almost unanimous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span>
-wish of the people, should they be compelled
-to change their present dynasty,
-would point to the restoration of the House
-of Nassau.</p>
-
-<p class="center">END OF VOL. I.</p>
-
-<p class="p4 center">
-LONDON:<br>
-PRINTED BY SCHULZE AND CO., 13, POLAND STREET.
-</p>
-
-<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</h2>
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Made by Nurse and Co. Crawford Street, Bryanstone Square.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> So styled in the act by which Philip II, ceded to them
-the Sovereignty of the Low Countries.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Wordsworth’s Sonnet to Bruges.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> Query, St. Salvador.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> I must take this early opportunity of adding my tribute
-of gratitude to the compiler of these most invaluable volumes,
-the Hand-books of Northern and Southern Germany, they
-have been my constant companions, and I cannot do less
-than unite with every tourist, whom I met on the continent,
-in pronouncing them as matchless in the value and variety
-of their contents, as they are faultless in their accuracy.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> It is the custom in Belgium, in order to distinguish one
-member of the same family, to append to the surname of the
-husband that of his lady.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> At Ghent, this fee has been reduced to one half the
-sum.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> De l’Industrie en Belgique, Causes de Decadence et de
-Prosperité, &amp;c. par M. N. Briavionne, Bruxelles, 1839,
-vol. ii, p. 345.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> By the French commercial code, there are three descriptions
-of trading companies. First, <i>sociétés en nom collectif</i>,
-with all the attributes of an ordinary partnership in England;
-secondly, <i>sociétés en commandite</i>, where the great majority of
-the associated capitalists are sleeping partners, with no
-share in the management, no name in the firm, and responsible
-only to the extent of their registered capital, one or more
-of the partners, alone, having the conduct of the establishment,
-and being responsible to the public to the full extent
-of their property; and thirdly, the <i>sociétés anonymes</i>, which
-are, in every incident and particular analogous to the joint
-stock companies of England, only with a liability, limited in
-every instance to the amount of their shares.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> These engines are in great esteem, and I have found
-them in almost universal use in Belgium. The one alluded
-to above, was consuming from 5½ of to 6½ lbs. of coals, per hour,
-per horse power; whilst a low pressure engine in England,
-would require from 12 to 14lbs. In this country, they are
-likewise coming in greater demand, although here the
-saving of coal is a matter of less importance, and may be,
-in some degree, counterbalanced by the risk, and more
-frequent repairs, incidental to high pressure engines.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> The price of coal at Ghent, when I visited its manufactories
-was 20 francs for 1000 kilogrammes, or about
-sixteen shillings a ton for coals of Mons, which are brought
-from a considerable distance by the Scheldt; those of
-Charleroi are of better quality, and a shade higher in price.
-Coals have increased in price in Belgium within the last
-few years, as well from the greater demand, as an apprehension
-that the coal fields of the Ardennes were rapidly exhausting,
-but this alarm has of late been regarded as
-groundless. England, with a liberality, which manufactoring
-jealousy scarcely sanctions, has recently permitted the free
-export of coal both to Belgium, France and Prussia, a boon
-for which these governments, which are prohibiting British
-manufactures, and their mechanics and mill owners, who
-are contending with our own for the market, cannot be too
-grateful.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Three hundred bundles per day, being as nearly as
-possible eleven cuts to the spindle.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> COMPARATIVE WAGES PAID WORKERS.</p>
-
-<table class="autotable">
-<tr><td class="bt bb br bl">Description of Workers.</td>
-<td colspan="5" class="bt bb br bl">Wages per day of 11½ hours. <span class="smcap">England.</span></td>        
-<td colspan="3" class="bt bb br bl">Wages per day of 11½ hours. <span class="smcap">Belfast.</span></td>
-<td colspan="2" class="bt bb br bl">Wages per day of 11 hours.  <span class="smcap">Ghent.</span></td>   
-</tr>
-<tr><td class="bt bl br">&nbsp;</td>
-  <td colspan="5" class="tdc bt bl br">Average.</td>
-  <td colspan="3" class="tdc bt bl br">Average.</td> 
-  <td colspan="2" class="tdc bt bl br">Average.</td></tr>
-<tr><td class="bl br">&nbsp;</td>    
- <td class="bl tdc"><i>s.</i></td> 
-<td class="tdc"><i>d.</i></td>
-<td>&nbsp;</td>   
-<td class="tdc"><i>s.</i></td> 
-<td class="tdc br"><i>d.</i></td>     
-<td colspan="3" class="tdc bl br"><i>d.</i></td> 
-<td class="tdc bl"><i>s.</i></td> 
-<td class="tdc br"><i>d.</i></td> </tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="bl br">Spreaders</td>               
-<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="tdc">3</td>  
-<td class="tdc">to</td>  
-<td class="tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="br tdc">6</td>        
-<td colspan="3" class="tdc br bl">10</td>           
-<td class="bl tdc">0</td>     
-<td class="br tdc">11¾</td> </tr>
-<tr>
- <td class="bl br">First Drawing</td>           
-<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="tdc">0</td>  
-<td>&nbsp;</td>    
-<td class="tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="br tdc">3</td>         
-<td colspan="3" class="tdc bl br">8½</td>          
-<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
-<td class="br tdc">8½</td> 
- </tr>
-<tr><td class="bl br">Second Drawing</td>          
-<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="tdc">0</td> 
-<td>&nbsp;</td>     
-<td class="tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="br tdc">3</td>         
-<td colspan="3" class="tdc bl br">8½</td>          
-<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
-<td class="br tdc">8½</td> 
-</tr>
-<tr> <td class="bl br">Roving</td>                  
-<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="tdc">1</td>
-<td>&nbsp;</td>      
-<td class="tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="br tdc">5</td>          
-<td colspan="3" class="tdc bl br">9</td>          
-<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
-<td class="br tdc">9¼</td> 
-</tr>
-<tr> <td class="bl br">Carding</td>                 
-<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="tdc">0</td> 
-<td>&nbsp;</td>     
-<td class="tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="br tdc">6</td>    
-<td class="bl tdc">7½</td> 
-<td class="tdc">to</td> 
-<td class="br tdc">9½</td>         
-<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
-<td class="br tdc">9¼</td> 
-</tr>
-<tr> <td class="bl br">Spinner</td>                 
-<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="tdc">0</td>
-<td>&nbsp;</td>      
-<td class="tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="br tdc">4</td>         
-<td colspan="3" class="bl br tdc">10</td>          
-<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
-<td class="br tdc">8½</td> 
-</tr>
-<tr> <td class="bl br">Doffer</td>                  
-<td class="bl tdc">0</td>    
-<td class="tdc">8</td> 
-<td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
-<td class="br">&nbsp;</td>                     
-<td colspan="3" class="bl br tdc">5½</td>         
-<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
-<td class="br tdc">4¾</td> 
-</tr>
-<tr> <td class="bl br">Reeler (piece work)</td>     
-<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="tdc">0</td> 
-<td>&nbsp;</td>     
-<td class="tdc">1</td>    
-<td class="br tdc">6</td>       
-<td class="bl tdc">10</td> 
-<td class="tdc">to</td> 
-<td class="br tdc">11</td>      
-<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
-<td class="br tdc">9¼</td> 
-</tr>
-<tr> <td class="bl br">Dyer</td>                    
-<td class="bl tdc">2</td>    
-<td class="tdc">6</td> 
-<td>&nbsp;</td>     
-<td class="tdc">3</td>    
-<td class="br tdc">0</td>     
-<td class="bl tdc">1<i>s.</i></td> 
-<td colspan="2" class="br">4<i>d.</i></td>     
-<td class="bl tdc">1</td>      
-<td class="br tdc">3</td>     
-</tr>
-<tr> <td class="bl br">Bundler</td>                 
-<td class="bl tdc">2</td>    
-<td class="tdc">6</td> 
-<td>&nbsp;</td>       
-<td class="tdc">3</td>    
-<td class="br tdc">0</td>     
-<td class="bl tdc">1<i>s.</i></td> 
-<td colspan="2" class="br">5½</td>     
-<td class="bl tdc">1</td>      
-<td class="br tdc">5</td>     
-</tr> 
-
-<tr><td class="bl br">Hackler (Roughing for                                                       
-   Machine)</td>    
-<td class="bl">&nbsp;</td>            
-<td class="tdc">1<i>s.</i></td> 
-<td class="tdc">6<i>d.</i></td>
-<td>&nbsp;</td><td class="br">&nbsp;</td>          
-<td class="bl tdc">1<i>s.</i></td> 
-<td colspan="2" class="br">4<i>d.</i></td> 
-   
-<td class="bl tdc">1</td>      
-<td class="br tdc">7</td>  
-</tr>
-
-<tr> <td class="bb bl br">Overlooker</td>
-<td class="bb bl">&nbsp;</td>                
-<td class="bb tdc">4<i>s.</i></td> 
-<td class="bb tdc">6<i>d.</i></td> 
-<td class="bb">&nbsp;</td><td class="bb br">&nbsp;</td>         
-<td class="bb bl tdc">3<i>s.</i></td> 
-<td colspan="2" class="bb br">6<i>d.</i></td>     
-<td class="bb bl tdc">2</td>      
-<td class="bb br tdc">4½</td> </tr>
-</table>
-
-<p>These wages, <i>at present</i>, paying in Ghent, it must be borne
-in mind, are hardly a fair criterion, as flax spinning being
-entirely a new trade there, it was necessary to give an
-inducement by extra wages, for the cotton spinner’s to leave
-the work to which they were accustomed; but this will soon
-find its level.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> One cannot but remark the wretched quality of the
-window-glass, even in the most luxurious houses. It is
-uneven, warped, and of a dirty-green colour. It is chiefly
-made at Charleroi.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> The joke against Mechlin arises from an alarm being
-given that the cathedral was on fire, by some one who had
-seen the moonbeams shining through its gothic steeple—whence
-the proverb, that “the wise men of Mechlin went
-to put out the moon.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> Les machines sont là aussi multipliés, aussi variées que
-les besoins où on les applique: il y en a une pour chaque
-pensée, ou plutôt, c’est la même pensée qui a mille ministres;
-l’une scie, l’autre fend, l’autre coupe, l’autre rabotte;
-il y en a pour degrossir la pièce, il y en a pour lui
-donner la forme exacte, il y en a pour l’orner; il y en a
-pour la polir, le ciseau, le tour, le rabot, l’emporte pièce la
-tenaille, le marteau tous les instruments du menuisier, du
-tourneur, du forgeron, s’évertuent sur le fer comme sur le
-bois la plus tendre, mais sans menuisier, sans tourneur,
-sans forgeron—<i>la main qui les meut est une machine</i>, cette
-main, toujours sûre, toujours ferme, délicate, légère, qui
-n’a pas d’inégalité, qui ne depende pas d’une pensée capricieuse,
-qui ne se lasse pas, qui ne s’alourdit pas, qui ne vieillit
-pas! * * * * Cette machine n’a besoin de personne: on
-lui donne sa tâche un certain jour, et pourvu qu’on ne lui
-retire pas la portion de force motrice qui l’anime, elle terminera
-cette tâche à jour fixe: elle vous la livrera comme un
-ouvrier à la pièce: vous arriverez un beau matin, et vous la
-trouverez sortie du cylindre et tournant à vide, en attendant
-que vous lui donniez une nouvelle tâche.—<i>From an account
-of the great works at Seraing, in the</i> <span class="smcap">Revue de Paris</span>.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> “Les manufactures de Manchester ne voulant pas s’en
-remettre de ce soin au gouvernement, se sont cotisés, out
-réuni une somme annuelle suffisante pour organiser autour
-de leur ville une ligne de douane specialement consacré à
-empêcher la sortie des mécaniques qu’ils inventaient.”—<span class="smcap">De
-l’Industrie de Belgique</span>, vol. ii, p. 326.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> “She was in black down to her toes, with her hair concealed
-under a cambric border, laid close to the forehead:
-she was one of those kind of nuns, and please your honour,
-of which there are a good many in Flanders.” “By thy description
-Trim,” said my uncle Toby, “I dare say she was a
-young Beguine, of whom there are none to be found any
-where, except in the Spanish Netherlands, they differ from
-other nuns in this, that they can quit their cloisters, if they
-chose to marry—they visit, and take care of the sick by
-profession, but I had rather, for my own part, they did it
-out of good nature.”—<span class="smcap">Sterne.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> The 17th article of the <i>Constitution Belge</i>, contains the
-following pithy enactment as to national education. “L’Enseignement
-<i>est libre</i>, toute mesure préventive est interdite.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> “<i>Quelques mots sur l’état actuel de l’instruction primaire
-en Belgique, et sur la nécessité de l’améliorer.</i>”</p>
-
-<p>See also a clever paper by R. W. Rawson, Esq. in
-the Quarterly Journal of the Statistical Society of London,
-vol. 2, p. 385.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> The linen which we saw was of low quality, coarse and
-strong, and by no means cheap. It consisted of sheeting,
-for export to the Havannah, which, for five quarter’s wide,
-was sold at one shilling a yard.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> This latter quantity is found in the tables published by
-the Board of Trade, under the head of “Flax, Tow, or
-Codilla of Hemp and Tow.” The importation of “undressed
-hemp” is under another head, and amounts to 730,375 cwt.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> It is curious that this process which all concur in
-representing to be one requiring the utmost cleanliness
-and purity, should of all places be performed in Holland
-with an utter neglect of both. In an able document by
-Mr. Acton, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture for 1832,
-he gives the following account of the operation. “The mode
-of watering flax in Holland, and in the low lands of Belgium
-and France, is to put a dam across the canal, clean
-out the weeds and mud for a few yards next the dam, lay
-in three or four rows of sheaves of flax next the dam, and
-then covering these six inches deep with the rank herbage
-that grows in the canal, and the mud raked up from its
-bottom. A few more courses of sheaves are next placed in
-the same way as the first, and covered in the same way with
-weeds and mud, till the whole is put in steep. These fosses,
-and the mode of placing the flax in them, are as they ought
-to be, but the propriety of dragging up so much mud or
-slime from the bottom of the canals, to cover the sheaves,
-six inches deep, may well be doubted, it cannot fail to
-besmear the lint so much, as to render it so nasty, that it
-would require to be much rinsed and washed in the water
-to remove the mud. This not only creates labour, by no
-means the most agreeable, but must greatly injure the flax
-by ruffling it in the water, a thing that ought to be avoided.”—Vol.
-iv. p. 174.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> This important association has been for some years in
-operation, and amongst its functions has sent several commissioners
-into other countries to ascertain the relative
-value of their various processes. The result of these
-inquiries, they have condensed into a short manual for the
-use of the farmers and others engaged in the trade in
-Flanders; in order to confine it to whom it has been written
-and printed in Flemish. A copy of this valuable document
-translated into French, for which I am indebted to a particular
-source, I have placed in the appendix to these volumes.
-Knowing it as I do, to be the genuine and anxious suggestions
-of the best practical men in Belgium, it may be regarded
-as a faithful guide to their process, and would be
-well deserving of extensive circulation in the flax districts
-of Great Britain and Ireland.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> It consists, I believe, of about thirteen sail of small
-vessels.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> On the first out-break of the revolution, the people of
-Antwerp, strongly opposed to it, sent the following address
-to the King of Holland. “Sire, it is not without painful
-sensations that we have been apprised of the demand made
-to your Majesty, tending to obtain a separation of interests
-between the southern and northern provinces. The fear
-that our silence may be interpreted as an adhesion to this
-proposition, imposes upon us the duty of exposing to your
-Majesty, that the wish is in no way participated in by us.
-The experience of fifteen years has proved to us, in the most
-evident manner, that is to the free and mutual exchange of
-produce, that we are indebted for reciprocal prosperity. <i>The
-advantages that navigation derives from the colonies, the increasing
-outlets that these same colonies constantly offer to the
-produce of our industry, are irrefragible proofs, that any separation
-would not only be fatal to this province, but to the commercial
-industry of all Belgium.</i> Intimately persuaded of this
-great truth, we dare to make it known to your Majesty, with
-that confidence and respect inspired by a King, who desires
-the welfare of his people, and who will never labour but in
-the interest of its well understood prosperity.”—<i>Antwerp,
-September</i> 13<i>th</i>, 1830.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> De l’Industrie en Belgique, vol. 2, p. 384.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> <i>Exposé de la situation de la Province de la Flandre
-Orientale, pour l’année 1840. Ghent de l’imprimerie de
-Vanryckegem-Hovaerz, imprimeur du Governement Provincial.</i></p>
-
-<p>The numbers are as follows:</p>
-
-<table>
-<tr><td>Two</td> 
-<td>whose deficiency</td> 
-<td>is between</td> 
-<td>1,000 ff.</td> 
-<td>and</td>
-<td class="tdc">2,000.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Four</td>        
-<td class="tdc">”</td>         
-<td class="tdc">”</td>         
-<td>2,000</td>     
-<td class="tdc">”</td>  
-<td class="tdc">3,000.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>One</td>         
-<td class="tdc">”</td>         
-<td class="tdc">”</td>       
-<td>3,000</td><td class="tdc">”</td>     
-   <td class="tdc">4,000.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>One</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>
-<td class="tdc">”</td>      
-<td>6,000</td>     
-<td class="tdc">”</td>   <td class="tdc">7,000.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Two</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         
-<td>7,000</td>     
-<td class="tdc">”</td>   <td class="tdc">8,000.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>One</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>        
-<td>14,000</td>     
-<td class="tdc">”</td>  <td class="tdc">15,000.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>One</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>        
-<td>19,000</td>     
-<td class="tdc">”</td>  <td class="tdc">20,000.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>One</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>        
-<td>20,000</td>     
-<td class="tdc">”</td>  <td class="tdc">25,000.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Three</td>       <td class="tdc">”</td>       <td class="tdc">”</td>        
-<td class="tdc">25,000</td>    
- <td class="tdc">”</td>  <td>30,000.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>One</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>        
-<td>35,000</td>    
- <td class="tdc">”</td>  <td class="tdc">40,000.</td></tr>
-<tr><td>Two</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>             
-<td colspan="3" class="tdc">unknown</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> Le Guide Indispensable, p. 103.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> The Belgian manufacturers themselves were, as I have
-before stated, perfectly alive to the mischief which the separation
-from Holland was certain to entail upon them; and
-it is curious, as well as interesting, to remark the circumstantial
-fidelity with which these protectors warned the
-movement party of the consequences which they were provoking,
-and which have since been accomplished to the letter.
-The following reasons against separation from Holland were
-published at the time in one of the journals of Antwerp, when
-the prospect of Repealing the Union was most unpalatable:</p>
-
-<p>“Ever since some parts of our southern provinces have
-unfurled the banner of insurrection, all business has ceased.
-Circulation has been interrupted, and several establishments,
-which required the employment of great capital and
-afforded the means of subsistance to numerous families,
-have been destroyed and burned. Public tranquillity disturbed
-in every manner; men, the most peaceable, and a
-short time ago happy in the bosom of their families, prospering
-under the protection of order and the laws, now
-forcibly torn from their homes to perform military service
-of which they are ignorant, and which they dislike; their
-property every day exposed and ready to become the prey
-of an unbridled populace—a state of anarchy which will
-end by creating parties who will shortly lacerate each
-other; and lastly, a most forbidding future preparing for
-them. Such is a faint picture of the evils which a rebellious
-and unconstitutional rising has already produced. But all
-that has hitherto been witnessed is in no wise to be compared
-to the consequences which must result from an unseasonable
-separation, which has been demanded with a 
-levity which no man of sense can comprehend.</p>
-
-<p>It is true, that among the men who figure as the
-authors and supporters of a separation, there are to be
-observed no manufacturers: and, indeed, what manufacturer,
-what merchant, what agriculturist even, could fall
-into such an error?</p>
-
-<p>You cry out for a separation, and would fain persuade
-yourselves that it would be all in your favour. With
-similar levity you take upon yourselves to dictate the conditions
-of a separation. This shows but little foresight.</p>
-
-<p>The northern part of the kingdom has taken up the
-gauntlet, which you so imprudently threw down. Hear
-one of their organs, and consider the consequences which
-must, and ought to ensue to Belgium when once isolated
-and abandoned to itself.”</p>
-
-<p>The following is the reply of the Dutch to your challenge:—</p>
-
-<p>“‘We are glad,’ say they, ‘that the proposal for a
-divorce has been made by you. Let it take place, and the
-cloud which has darkened the horizon of our country will
-be dissipated. A glorious sun will then soon shine upon it.
-Soon will the decadence of Amsterdam and its causes cease,
-and the separation will give it the life and activity which it
-lost by the union.</p>
-
-<p>But let us examine what will be the result of this
-divorce to the northern provinces?</p>
-
-<p>Relieved from an odious manufacturing system, we
-shall be able to establish our customs on a perfectly commercial
-system: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Dort, Middleburgh,
-will become so many free ports, into which moderate
-duties, exempt from vexatious modes of collection, will
-bring back our old commerce in all its force. The duties at
-present imposed upon sugar, coffee, and other articles of
-trade, will be revoked.</p>
-
-<p>The inhabitants will purchase fuel, clothing, stuffs,
-and all the commodities which trade, manufacture, and
-the necessities of a people require, in England, and wherever
-they can produce them upon better terms than in the
-southern provinces, where all these articles will be loaded
-with duties and restrictions, and will be therefore dearer.</p>
-
-<p>Our country will again become the centre and mart
-of all the productions and riches of the world which are
-destined for and consumed in Germany and the provinces
-of France bordering on the Rhine, as well as in many other
-places which now escape us.</p>
-
-<p>The products of our colonies will be no longer carried
-except to our own ports, to the exclusion of all others, and
-they will be freed from all the duties and charges with
-which they are at present burdened, and which our Sovereign
-has established for the advantage of the Belgians alone.
-Thus not only the mother country, but the colonies, also,
-will enjoy the advantage of the separation. The duty of 25
-per cent. established at Java in favour of the Belgians will
-be abolished, and it is thus that, wherever the standard of
-Holland shall be displayed, liberty, prosperity, and public
-happiness will prevail; and let no one present to you as a
-burdensome set-off the debt which will remain to our
-charge.’”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> White, v. i, p. 124, &amp;c.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> A full detail of the state of the kingdom, at the outbreak
-of the revolution will be found in a volume published by
-the Baron Keverberg, who had been governor of East
-Flanders under the King of Holland, <i>Du Royaume des Pays-Bas,
-sous la rapport de son origine, de son developement, et de
-sa crise actuelle, Brussels, 1836</i>.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> <i>Essai historique et critique sur la révolution Belge.</i> <i>Par</i>
-<span class="smcap">M. Nothcomb</span>. <i>Brussels, 1833.</i></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> A copy of this singular document, will be found at the
-end of these volume.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> Un des plus excellens moyens, et peut-être le seul qui
-existe aujourd’hui, d’assurer aux jeunes gens une éducation
-qui réunit tout à la fois l’esprit de la religion et les talens
-les plus éminens <i>serait de rétablie les jesuites</i> dans la Belgique.—<i>Memor.
-art. 8.</i></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> This singular manifesto will be found in the appendix at
-the end of these volumes.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> Jurer d’observer et de maintenir une loi qui <i>suppose</i> (<i>!</i>)
-que l’église catholique est soumise aux lois d’état, c’est
-manifestaient s’exposer a coopérer à l’asservissement de
-l’église.—<i>Jugement doctrinal</i>, (Art. 193, see appendix).</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> Page <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> The list of candidates suggested for the throne of
-Belgium in 1831, contains some names which are rather
-extraordinary, such as Colonel Murat, La Fayette, Colonel
-Fabvier the Philhellene, Sebastiani, Châteaubriand, Prince
-Carignan of Piedmont, M. Rogier, Count de Merode, the
-present King of Greece, Prince John of Saxony, the Duke
-of Leuchtenberg, son to Eugene Beauharnais, Louis Philippe,
-and the Duke de Nemours, who was actually chosen, but
-declined the honour.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> La Belgique, No. 1, p. 13, 16, 20, 23, 24, 27; and
-No. 2, p. 49.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> White, vol. i. p. 23.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class="transnote">
-<h3><a id="Corrections"></a>Corrections</h3>
-<p>The word “controul” was changed to “control” throughout the text.</p>
-
-
-<p>The first line indicates the original, the second the correction.</p>
-
-<p>p. <a href="#Page_39">39</a></p>
-<ul>
-<li>the sign-board of the “Diaman-zetter,”</li>
-
-<li>the sign-board of the “<span class="u">Diamant</span>-zetter,”</li>
-</ul>
-<p>p. <a href="#Page_91">91</a></p>
-<ul><li>it was ever dragged to
-to the field</li>
-
-<li>it was ever dragged <span class="u">to the</span> field</li></ul>
-<p>p. <a href="#Page_115">115</a></p>
-<ul><li>lying immediatetely in front</li> 
-
- <li>lying <span class="u">immediately</span> in front</li> 
-</ul>
-<p>p. <a href="#Page_153">153</a></p>
-<ul>
-<li>would get over
-their associaton</li>
-
-<li>would get over
-their <span class="u">association</span></li></ul>
-
-<p>p. <a href="#Page_160">160</a></p>
-
-<ul><li>that the goverment reduced the term</li>
-
-<li>that the <span class="u">government</span> reduced the term</li></ul>
-
-<p>p. <a href="#Page_176">176</a></p>
-
-<ul><li>fearful of the slighest speculation</li>
-
-<li>fearful of the <span class="u">slightest</span> speculation</li></ul>
-
-<p>p. <a href="#Page_252">252</a></p>
-
-<ul><li>in the nineteenth centurry</li>
-
-<li>in the nineteenth <span class="u">century</span></li></ul>
-
-<p>p. <a href="#Page_261">261</a></p>
-
-<ul><li>at no measure, how-ver</li>
-<li>at no measure, <span class="u">however</span></li></ul>
-<p>p. <a href="#Page_268">268</a></p>
-<ul><li>the
-consciencious, but inefficient opponents</li>
-
-<li>the
-<span class="u">conscientious</span>, but inefficient opponents</li></ul>
-
-<p>p. <a href="#Page_277">277</a></p>
-
-<ul><li>were jeopardied by the jealous rivalry</li>
-
-<li>were <span class="u">jeopardised</span> by the jealous rivalry</li></ul>
-
-<h4>Errata</h4>
-
-<p>“Hans Hemling” should read <span class="u">“Hans Memling”</span>.</p>
-
-<p>“Audeghem” should read <span class="u">“Auderghem”</span>.</p>
-<p>The errata have been applied to this etext.</p>
-</div>
-<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73911 ***</div>
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+<body>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73911 ***</div>
+
+<div class="transnote"><h3>Transcriber’s note</h3>
+
+<p>Variable spelling and hyphenation have been retained. Minor punctuation
+inconsistencies have been silently repaired. A list of the changes made
+can be found <a href="#Corrections">at the end of the book</a>. </p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<h1>
+BELGIUM.
+
+VOL. I. 
+</h1>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<figure class="figcenter illowp45" id="titlepage" style="max-width: 37.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/titlepage.jpg" alt="titlepage">
+</figure>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center">
+BY THE SAME AUTHOR.</p>
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p class="center"><span class="allsmcap">IN THE PRESS, IN 2 VOLS. POST 8vo. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">THE STATES OF
+
+THE PRUSSIAN LEAGUE.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="allsmcap">BY</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">J. EMERSON TENNENT, ESQ. M.P.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+<span class="allsmcap">AUTHOR OF “BELGIUM,” “THE HISTORY OF MODERN GREECE,” &amp;c.</span>
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<figure class="figcenter illowp100" id="frontispiece" style="max-width: 37.5em;">
+  <img class="w100" src="images/frontispiece.jpg" alt="frontispiece">
+  <figcaption class="caption">WATERMAN’S HALL, GRASS QUAY, GHENT. <br>Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street.</figcaption>
+</figure>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center">
+BELGIUM.</p>
+
+<p class="center p4"><span class="allsmcap">BY</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">J. EMERSON TENNENT, ESQ., M.P.</p>
+
+<p class="center p2">AUTHOR OF “LETTERS FROM THE ÆGEAN,” AND “HISTORY OF
+MODERN GREECE.”</p>
+
+<p class="center p4">“L’UNION FAIT LA FORCE,”—MOTTO OF BELGIUM.</p>
+
+<p class="center p4">IN TWO VOLUMES.</p>
+
+<p class="center p2">VOL. I.</p>
+<p class="center p6">
+LONDON:
+<br>
+RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
+<br>
+<span class="font"><b>Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty.</b></span>
+<br>
+1841.
+</p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center p4">
+LONDON:<br>
+PRINTED BY SCHULZE &amp; CO., 13, POLAND STREET. 
+</p>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p class="center">TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
+<br>
+ <span class="large">LORD STANLEY, M.P.</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">&amp;c. &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span class="allsmcap">MY DEAR LORD,</span> 
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">My</span> desire to inscribe this page with your
+name, is associated with the recollection of
+the period when you filled one of the highest
+administrative offices in Ireland; and when
+your firm and vigorous discharge of it,
+effectually stifled the designs of those, whose
+measures, if tolerated, would have drawn
+down upon that country, consequences similar
+to those which similar proceedings
+have, unhappily, entailed upon Belgium. The
+value and effect of that nervous policy, by
+which you “boldly muzzled treason” then,
+is attested by the contrast, which the social
+condition of Ireland exhibits now, under
+the nominal government of those who have
+submitted to abandon it; and whose sacrifices<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[vi]</span>
+to purchase the loyalty, and secure the
+permanent attachment of the Irish Repealers,
+have been rewarded by an intimation
+of a prospective fraternization with the
+“hereditary enemies of England,” so soon
+as their “compact alliance,” with the English
+administration shall have expired.</p>
+
+<p>“History is philosophy teaching by example;”
+and it is not to be supposed that
+there are not, even amongst the zealots for
+the Repeal of the Union in Ireland, some
+few who will be attentive to its lessons:
+it is chiefly in this anxious hope, that I
+have transcribed the present volumes. The
+more so too, because Belgium is the one
+bright example, which those who have addressed
+themselves to unsettle the allegiance
+of the Irish people, have always ostentatiously
+paraded for their imitation and
+encouragement. From this selection they
+cannot now retreat; and I confidently believe,
+that the exposition contained in the
+following pages of the condition of that
+country, after ten years of separation and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[vii]</span>
+independence, will exhibit Belgium to Ireland,
+if as an example at all, only as—</p>
+
+<blockquote><p class="center">
+Exemplar vitiis imitabile.
+</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Neither the social nor the material prosperity
+of Belgium, affords anything encouraging
+to the hopes of those who can profit
+by the experience of others; and as, in
+Ireland, the materials in which the vital
+experiment must be made are similar, the
+results to be anticipated must be the same.
+With Popery, merely as a complexion of
+Christianity—as a distinctly marked form
+of religion—a legislator has no further concern,
+than as regards the question of enlightened
+toleration. But <i>political Popery</i>,
+that character in which the followers of the
+Church of Rome, are exhibiting themselves
+in Belgium and in Ireland—“resting their
+lever on one world,” as Dryden says, “to
+move another at their will”—enters essentially,
+and of necessity, into the investigation
+and study of the statesman. And, in no
+instance, in modern times, has it so unreservedly
+exhibited itself, as in the conception,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_viii">[viii]</span>
+the achievement, and the results, of the
+Belgian revolution. It remains to be seen,
+whether the Liberal party in Ireland, whose
+co-operation encourages and sustains the
+advocates of the Repeal of the Union, will
+relish the prospect of such an absolute religious
+ascendancy of the majority in that
+country, as that which has succeeded to the
+most absolute freedom of worship, and the
+most unlimited liberty of conscience in the
+Low Countries.</p>
+
+<p>On the score of substantial and material
+prosperity, a similar question must arise.
+The application of machinery to every
+branch of production, has effected a revolution
+in the economy of European manufactures,
+which is only paralleled by the
+effects, upon learning, of the discovery of
+printing. The poorest, and, occasionally,
+the smallest communities, have been, at
+various times, the most successful producers
+of certain commodities, which were
+the offspring of hand labour, and the
+fruits of individual dexterity; and the price
+of which, therefore, was not sensibly affected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_ix">[ix]</span>
+by the greater or less amount of their
+consumption. But when human ingenuity
+became infused into iron—when the industry
+and adroitness of a million of hands had
+been concentrated in the single arm of the
+Briareus of steam—the movements of the
+mighty prodigy became necessarily expanded
+in proportion to its power, and required
+a correspondingly enlarged field for their
+display. To produce successfully by machinery,
+it is indispensible to produce extensively;
+but Belgium, apparently unconscious
+of this important truth, proceeded to
+contract, instead of enlarging, her limits;
+and her powers of production, thus cribbed
+and restrained, without the opportunity of
+exercise, have pined and wasted away and
+are now on the brink of decay.</p>
+
+<p>The two banks, east and west of the
+Rhine, present at this moment a singular
+and striking illustration of the opposite
+effects of the cultivation or neglect of this
+principle in modern manufacture. <i>To the
+right</i>, we have the numerous little industrious
+states and principalities of Western Germany,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_x">[x]</span>
+each ambitious of acquiring manufacturing
+power, and each possessing it to a certain
+extent; but each unable, till lately, to succeed
+or prosper, owing to the narrowness
+of its individual bounds; till, at last,
+awakened to a consciousness of their real
+and actual wants, they, by one simultaneous
+movement, levelled every intervening barrier,
+and threw their united territories into
+the one grand area of the Prussian Commercial
+League; the success of which has
+hitherto realized their utmost expectations.</p>
+
+<p><i>On the left</i> of the Rhine we had, ten
+years ago, Belgium and Holland enjoying
+that <i>union</i> which Germany has but lately
+attained, and reaping all the advantages
+which it was possible to derive from it—till,
+in the “madness of the hour,” the latter
+undid the very bonds of her prosperity,
+reversed the process by which Germany is
+rising to prosperity, and, resorting to repeal
+and separation, she has lost, as a matter
+of course, every advantage which she had
+drawn from union and co-operation. A
+similar proceeding cannot fail to inflict<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xi">[xi]</span>
+similar calamities upon Ireland; and the same
+destruction of her manufactures which has
+followed the exclusion of Belgium from the
+markets and the colonies of Holland, would
+inevitably overtake the manufacturers of
+Ireland, if placed upon the footing of a
+stranger and a rival in the ports and
+colonies of Great Britain.</p>
+
+<p>It is with an ardent hope that the question
+of the Repeal of the Union in Ireland
+may be tested by arguments such as these,
+by those who will pause to weigh it at all,
+that I have ventured to bring before its
+advocates the real condition of that country
+which their own leader has selected for
+their example and their model. And conscious
+of the deep interest which your
+Lordship has ever taken in the condition
+of Ireland, and your intimate acquaintance
+with her wants and her resources, I am
+anxious to recommend my exertions to
+notice by the prestige of your name.</p>
+
+<p>At the same time, as I have never submitted
+to you in conversation or otherwise
+the contents of these volumes, it is possible<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xii">[xii]</span>
+that you may dissent from opinions which
+I have ventured to express. But my object
+has been merely to collect facts as to the
+influence of the recent revolution, and I
+neither discuss the policy of the settlement
+of Holland as concluded at the Congress of
+Vienna, nor question the prudence of those
+governments in Europe, which, after the
+events of 1830, found it necessary to put
+an end to hostilities by concurring in the
+independence of Belgium.</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+I remain,
+<br>
+My dear Lord,
+<br>
+Most truly yours,
+<br>
+J. EMERSON TENNENT.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<small>17, Lower Belgrave Street, Belgrave Square,
+London, February, 22, 1841.</small>
+</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiii">[xiii]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="ANNONCE">ANNONCE.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">The</span> details regarding the commerce and
+manufactures of Belgium, which will be
+found in the following pages, are the result
+of personal enquiry, corrected by the annual
+statistical returns, published by the
+Belgian Government, and confirmed by the
+labours of M. Briavionne in a recent work,
+to which I have frequently referred—“<i>De
+L’Industrie en Belgique</i>.” It may, also, give
+them some additional weight, to add, that
+the opinions expressed, arose out of visits
+made to the principal manufacturing districts,
+accompanied by two gentlemen of
+extensive practical acquaintance with the
+manufacturers of Great Britain; Mr. Thomson<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xiv">[xiv]</span>
+of Primrose, near Clitheroe, and Mr.
+J. Mulholland, of Belfast, a member of a
+family, the extent of whose machinery and
+productions in the staple commodity of
+Ireland—the linen trade—is, I believe, the
+greatest in the kingdom. And though these
+volumes, or their contents, have not actually
+been submitted to their inspection, I believe
+that I have their perfect concurrence in the
+sentiments which they embody, upon the
+subject of the trade and manufactures of
+Belgium.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xv">[xv]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS
+
+<br>
+ <span class="allsmcap">OF THE</span> 
+<br>
+ FIRST VOLUME.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<table>
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER I.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="hang"><span class="smcap">Ostend</span>, the Harbour—Canal Docks—Police—Economy
+of a private carriage for a party on the continent—General
+aspect of Ostend—Effluvia—Siege in
+1604—Fortifications—Promenade—Sands and sea-bathing—Commerce—<span class="smcap">Bruges</span>,
+the railroad—Belgium
+naturally suited to railroads—Old canal travelling
+to Bruges superseded—Appearance of the
+city—Its style of ancient houses—The streets—Canals
+and gardens—Squares—Style of public edifices—Resembles
+Pisa—<i>Ancient history of Bruges</i>—Its old
+palaces—Marriages of Charles the Rash and Mary
+of Burgundy—Singular marriage custom of the middle
+ages—House in which the Emperor Maximilian
+was confined—Residences of Edward IV. of England,
+and of Charles II.—<i>Commercial greatness of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvi">[xvi]</span>
+Bruges</i>—The Hanseatic League—Her tapestries—The
+order of the Golden Fleece instituted in her
+honour—Saying of the Queen of Philip the Fair—Story
+of the Burghers at the court of John of
+France—<i>Her present decay</i>—Air of reduced nobility—Costume
+of the middle classes—Grave demeanour
+of the citizens—No traces of the Spaniards to be
+found in the Low Countries—<i>Flemish sculptures in
+wood</i>—Pictures—No modern paintings in Bruges—<i>Collection
+in the Church of St. Sauveur</i>—Characteristics
+of the early Flemish school—The paintings in
+<i>the Museum</i>—Statue of Van Eyck—His claim to be
+the inventor of oil painting—<i>Collection in the Chapel
+of the Hospital of St. John</i>—Story of Hans Memling—The
+cabinet of St. Ursula—The folding-doors
+of the Flemish paintings—The Hospital of St. John—Statue
+by Michael Angelo—<span class="smcap">Tombs of Mary of
+Burgundy and Charles the Rash</span>—The tower
+of Les Halles—Carillon—Splendid view—The <i>Palais
+de Justice</i>—Superb carved mantel-piece—<i>Hotel
+de Ville</i>—Its statues destroyed by the French revolutionists—Diamond
+setters—Comparison of
+Bruges and Tyre—Mr. Murray’s hand-books—The
+manufacture of lace in Belgium. </td>     
+<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER II.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="hang">
+Bruges a cheap residence—Tables-d’Hôte, their influence
+upon society—Canal from Bruges to Ghent—Absence
+of country mansions—Gardens—Appearance
+of <span class="smcap">Ghent</span>—M. Grenier and M. de Smet de<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xvii">[xvii]</span>
+Naeyer—The <i>Conseil de Prud’hommes</i>, its functions—Copyright
+of designs in Belgium—<span class="smcap">The linen
+trade of Belgium</span>—Its importance—Great value
+of Belgian flax—Its cultivation—Revenue derived
+from it—Inferiority of British flax—Anxiety of the
+government for the trade in linen—Hand-spinners—Spinning
+by machinery—<i>Société de la Lys</i>—Flower
+gardens—The Casino—Export of flowers—General
+aspect of the city—<i>Its early history</i>—Vast wealth
+expended in buildings in the Belgium cities accounted
+for—Trading corporations—Turbulence of the
+people of Bruges and Ghent—<i>Jacques van Artevelde</i>—His
+death—Philip van Artevelde—Charles V.—His
+<i>bon mots</i> regarding Ghent—Latin distich, characteristic
+of the Flemish cities—Siege of Ghent, Madame
+Mondragon—House of the Arteveldes—Hôtel
+de Ville—The belfry and Roland—The <i>Marché de
+Vendredi</i>—The great cannon of Ghent. </td>    
+<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER III.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="hang">
+Manufacture of machinery in Ghent—Great works of
+the Phœnix—Exertions of the King of Holland to
+promote this branch of art—His success—Policy of
+England in permitting the export of tools—Effect
+of their prohibiting the export of machines upon the
+continental artists—Present state of the manufactures
+in Belgium—<i>The Phœnix</i>, its extent, arrangements
+and productions—<i>The canal of Sas de Gand</i>—<i>The
+Beguinage</i>—Tristam Shandy—The churches
+of Ghent—Religious animosity of the Roman Catholics—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xviii">[xviii]</span><i>The cathedral of St. Bavon</i>—Chef-d’œuvre
+of Van Eyck—Candelabra of Charles I—Carved
+pulpit—<i>Church of St. Michael</i>—Vandyck’s crucifixion—The
+brotherhood of St. Ivoy—Church of
+St. Sauveur—Singular picture in the church of
+St. Peter—Dinner at M. Grenier’s—Shooting with
+the bow—Roads in Belgium—Domestic habits of
+the Flemings—The Flemish language—<i>Count d’Hane</i>—Mansion
+of the Countess d’Hane de Steenhausen—Gallery
+of M. Schamps—<i>The University</i>
+of Ghent—State of primary education in Belgium.</td>      
+<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_93">93</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER IV.</td></tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="hang">
+The market-day at Ghent—The peasants—The linen-market—The
+Book-stalls—<i>Courtrai</i>—The Lys—<i>Denys</i>—Distillation
+in Belgium—<span class="smcap">Agriculture in
+Flanders</span>—A Flemish farm—Anecdote of Chaptal
+and Napoleon—Trade in manure—<i>The Smoor-Hoop</i>—Rotation
+of crops—<span class="smcap">Cultivation of Flax</span>—Real
+importance of the crop in Belgium—Disadvantageous
+position of Great Britain as regards
+the growth of flax—State of her importations from
+abroad and her dependency upon Belgium—In the
+power of Great Britain to relieve herself effectually—System
+in Flanders—<i>The seed</i>—Singular fact
+as to the Dutch seed—Rotation of crops—Spade
+labour—Extraordinary care and precaution in <i>weeding</i>—<i>Pulling</i>—<span class="smcap">The
+Rouissage</span>—In Hainault—In
+the Pays de Waes—At Courtrai—The process in
+Holland—The process in the Lys—<i>A Bleach-green</i>
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xix">[xix]</span>—The damask manufacture in Belgium—A manufactory
+in a windmill—Introduction of the use of
+<i>sabots</i> into Ireland—<i>Courtrai</i>, the town—Antiquities—The
+Church of Notre Dame—Relic of Thomas à
+Becket—<span class="smcap">The Maison de Force at Ghent</span>—The
+System of prison discipline—Labour of the inmates—Their
+earnings—Remarkable story of Pierre
+Joseph Soëte—Melancholy case of an English prisoner—<i>A
+sugar refinery</i>—State of the trade in Belgium—Curious
+frauds committed under the recent
+law—<i>Beet-root sugar</i>—Failure of the manufacture—A
+tumult at Ghent—<i>The New Theatre</i>—Cultivation
+of music at Ghent—Print works of M. Desmet de
+Naeyer—Effects of the Revolution of 1830 upon
+the manufactures of Belgium—Opposition of Ghent
+and Antwerp to a separation from Holland—M.
+Briavionne’s exposé of the ruin of the trade in
+calico printing—Smuggling across the frontiers—Present
+discontents at Ghent—Number of insolvents
+in 1839—General decline of her manufactures.</td>      
+<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER V.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="hang">
+The railroad—Confusion at Malines—Country between
+Ghent and Dendermonde—<i>Vilvorde</i>—<i>The Palace
+of Laeken</i>—First view of Brussels—The Grand
+Place in the old town—The Hôtel de Ville and Maison
+Communale—The new town—The churches of Brussels—<i>The
+carved oak pulpits of the Netherlands</i>—<span class="smcap">St.
+Gudule</span> monuments—Statue of Count F. Merode—Geefs,
+the sculptor—Notre Dame de la Chapelle—<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xx">[xx]</span><i>The museum</i>—Palais de l’Industrie—The gallery of
+paintings—<span class="smcap">The library</span>—Its history—<i>Remarkable
+MSS.</i>—Curiosities in the museum of antiquities—Private
+collections—Rue Montagne de la Cour—The
+theatre—Historical associations with the Hôtel
+de Ville—Counts Egmont and Horn—The civil
+commotions of Philip II—<i>The fountains of Brussels</i>—The
+Cracheur—<i>The Mannekin</i>, his memoirs—Fountain
+of Lord Aylesbury—Dubos’ restaurant—The
+hotels of Brussels—Secret to find the cheapest hotels
+in travelling.</td>      
+<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_186">186</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr><td colspan="2" class="tdc">CHAPTER VI.</td></tr>
+<tr>
+<td class="hang">The Belgian revolution has produced no man of leading
+genius—The present ministry—M. Rogier—M.
+Liedtz, the Minister of the Interior—An interview at
+the Home Office—Project of steam navigation between
+Belgium and the United States—Freedom of
+political discussion in Belgium—<i>Character of King
+Leopold</i>—Public feeling in Brussels—The original
+union of Holland and Belgium apparently desirable—Commercial
+obstacles—Obstinacy of the King of
+Holland—Anecdote of the King of Prussia—The extraordinary
+care of the King for manufactures—<i>Prosperous</i>
+condition of Belgium under Holland—<i>Les
+Griefs Belges</i>—Singular coincidence between the
+proceedings of <span class="smcap">the repealers in Ireland and
+the repealers in Belgium</span>—Ambition for separate
+nationality—Imposition of the Dutch language
+unwise—Abolition of trial by jury—Now disliked by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxi">[xxi]</span>
+the Belgians themselves—Financial grievances—Inequality
+of representation—<span class="smcap">Conduct of the
+Roman Catholics</span>—Hatred of toleration—Attachment
+of the clergy to Austria—<i>Remarkable manifesto
+of the clergy to the Congress of Vienna</i>—Resistance to
+liberty of conscience, and freedom of the press—Demand
+for tithes—Resistance of the priests to the
+toleration of Protestants—The official oath—<i>Protest of
+the Roman Catholic Bishops against freedom of opinion
+and education by the State</i>—Perfect impartiality of
+the Sovereign—Resistance of the priesthood—<i>The
+Revolution</i>—Union of the Liberals and Roman Catholics—Intolerant
+ambition of the clergy—Separation
+of the <i>Clerico-liberal party</i>—Present state of parties
+in the legislature—Unconstitutional ascendancy of
+the priests—<i>State of public feeling</i>—Universal disaffection—Curious
+list of candidates for the crown of
+Belgium in 1831—“<i>La Belgique de Leopold</i>,” its
+treasonable publications—Future prospects uncertain—Vain
+attempts to remedy the evils of the revolution—<i>Connexion
+with the Prussian League refused</i>—Impossibility
+of an union with Austria or Prussia—Union
+with France impracticable—Partition of
+Belgium with the surrounding states—<i>Possible restoration
+of the House of Nassau in the event of any
+fresh disturbance.</i> </td>     
+<td class="tdrbottom"><a href="#Page_217">217</a></td></tr>
+</table>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiii">[xxiii]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center"><span class="allsmcap">TO SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH THE</span> 
+<br>
+TRADE AND MANUFACTURES OF BELGIUM.</p>
+
+<ul>
+<li>Fisheries, i. <a href="#Page_9">9</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Lace, manufacture of, i. <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Conseils de Prud’hommes, i. <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li>
+
+<li>The Linen Trade, i. <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Cultivation of Flax, i. <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_137">137</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Linen Yarn Mills, i. <a href="#Page_63">63</a>; ii, 193.</li>
+
+<li>Export of Flowers, i. <a href="#Page_72">72</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Manufacture of Machinery, i. <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>; ii. 25, 174.</li>
+
+<li>Exportation of Machinery from England, i. <a href="#Page_94">94</a>; ii. 185.</li>
+
+<li>Distillation, i. <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Flemish Agriculture, i. <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Bleaching, i. <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Crushing of Oil, i. <a href="#Page_151">151</a>; ii. 106.</li>
+
+<li>Manufacture of Wooden Shoes, i. <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Refining of Sugar, i. <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Beet-root Sugar, i. <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Calico-printing, i. <a href="#Page_170">170</a>.</li>
+
+<li>Carpet-weaving, ii. 28.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_xxiv">[xxiv]</span>
+</li>
+<li>Carriage-building, ii. 29.</li>
+
+<li>Books, ii. 29.</li>
+
+<li>Transit Trade of Belgium, ii. 45.</li>
+
+<li>Shipping, ii. 40.</li>
+
+<li>Silk Trade, ii. 45.</li>
+
+<li>Cotton Trade, ii. 91.</li>
+
+<li>Gilt Leather chairs, ii. 109.</li>
+
+<li>Railroads, ii. 119.</li>
+
+<li>Brewing, ii. 131.</li>
+
+<li>Cutlery, ii. 157.</li>
+
+<li>Paper, Manufacture of, ii. 163.</li>
+
+<li>Coal Mines, ii. 168.</li>
+
+<li>Fire-arms and Cannon, ii. 191.</li>
+
+<li>Woollen Trade, ii. 199.</li>
+
+<li>Joint Stock Companies, ii. 204.</li>
+
+<li>General State and Prospects of Belgian Manufacturers, i. <a href="#Page_81">81</a>; ii. 210.</li>
+</ul>
+
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[1]</span>
+<p class="center">BELGIUM.</p>
+
+<h2>CHAPTER I.</h2>
+
+<p class="center">OSTEND AND BRUGES.</p>
+</div>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="hang"><span class="smcap">Ostend</span>, the Harbour—Canal Docks—Police—Economy
+of a private carriage for a party on the continent—General
+aspect of Ostend—Effluvia—Siege in 1604—Fortifications—Promenade—Sands
+and sea-bathing—Commerce—<span class="smcap">Bruges</span>,
+the railroad—Belgium naturally suited to railroads—Old
+canal travelling to Bruges superseded—Appearance
+of the city—Its style of ancient houses—The
+streets—Canals and gardens—Squares—Style of public
+edifices—Resembles Pisa—<i>Ancient history of Bruges</i>—Its
+old palaces—Marriages of Charles the Rash and Mary
+of Burgundy—Singular marriage custom of the middle
+ages—House in which the Emperor Maximilian was
+confined—Residences of Edward IV. of England, and of
+Charles II.—<i>Commercial greatness of Bruges</i>—The
+Hanseatic League—Her tapestries—The order of the
+Golden Fleece instituted in her honour—Saying of the
+Queen of Philip the Fair—Story of the Burghers at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span>
+court of John of France—<i>Her present decay</i>—Air of
+reduced nobility—Costume of the middle classes—Grave
+demeanour of the citizens—No traces of the Spaniards
+to be found in the Low Countries—<i>Flemish sculptures in
+wood</i>—Pictures—No modern paintings in Bruges—<i>Collection
+in the Church of St. Sauveur</i>—Characteristics of
+the early Flemish school—The paintings in <i>the Museum</i>—Statue
+of Van Eyck—His claim to be the inventor of oil
+painting—<i>Collection in the Chapel of the Hospital of St.
+John</i>—Story of Hans Memling—The cabinet of St.
+Ursula—The folding-doors of the Flemish paintings—The
+Hospital of St. John—Statue by Michael Angelo—<span class="smcap">Tombs
+of Mary of Burgundy and Charles the
+Rash</span>—The tower of Les Halles—Carillon—Splendid
+view—The <i>Palais de Justice</i>—Superb carved mantel-piece—<i>Hotel
+de Ville</i>—Its statues destroyed by the French
+revolutionists—Diamond setters—Comparison of Bruges
+and Tyre—Mr. Murray’s hand-books—The manufacture
+of lace in Belgium.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="right">
+September, 1840.
+</p>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">At</span> sunset when about ten to fifteen miles
+from land, we had the first sight of the
+coast of the “Low Countries,” not as on
+other shores discernible by hills or cliffs,
+but by the steeples of Nieuport, Ostend,
+and Blankenburg rising out of the water;
+presently a row of wind-mills, and the tops
+of a few trees and houses, and finally a long
+line of level sand stretching away towards<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[3]</span>
+Walcheren and the delta of the Scheldt.
+Within fourteen hours from heaving up our
+anchor at the Tower, we cast it in the
+harbour of Ostend, a narrow estuary
+formed where the waters of a little river
+have forced their way through the sand-banks
+to the sea. An excellent quay has
+been constructed by flanking the sides of
+this passage with extensive piers of timber,
+whilst the stream being confined by dams
+and sluices above, is allowed to rush down
+at low water, carrying before it to the sea,
+any silt which may have been deposited by
+the previous tide.</p>
+
+<p>At the inner extremity of the harbour,
+spacious basins have been constructed for
+the accommodation of the craft which ply
+upon the Canal de Bruges, which connects
+that town with Ghent and Ostend, but its
+traffic is now much diminished by the
+opening of the railroad, as well as from
+other causes.</p>
+
+<p>Neither the police nor the custom-house
+officials, gave any inconvenience with our
+passports or our baggage, beyond a few<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[4]</span>
+minutes of unavoidable delay, and within
+half an hour from the packet touching the
+pier, we found ourselves arranged for the
+night at the Hotel de la Cour Impériale
+in the Rue de la Chapelle.</p>
+
+<p>I may here mention as a piece of recommendatory
+information to future travellers,
+that the journey, of which these volumes
+are a memento, was performed in an open
+English carriage, the back seat of
+which was sufficiently roomy to accommodate
+three persons, leaving the front for
+our books, maps and travelling comforts,
+and the box for our courier and a postillion;
+and that except upon mountain roads, we
+made the entire tour of Belgium, Rhenish
+Prussia, and Germany, from Bavaria to
+Hanover, with a pair of horses. For such
+a journey, no construction of carriage that
+I have seen is equal to the one which we
+used, a britscka, with moveable head, and
+windows which rendered it perfectly close
+at night or during rain.<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> I have not made
+a minute calculation as to expenses, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span>
+even on the score of economy, I am inclined
+to think this mode of travelling, for three
+persons and a servant, will involve <i>less
+actual outlay</i> than the fares of diligences,
+and Eil Wagens or Schnell posts. In Belgium,
+our posting, with two horses, including
+postillions, fees and tolls, did not
+exceed, throughout, elevenpence a mile;
+in Prussia, ninepence; and in Bavaria, even
+less. Besides the perfect control of one’s
+own time and movements, is a positive
+source of economy, as it avoids expense at
+hotels, while waiting for the departure of
+stages and public conveyances, after the
+traveller is satisfied with his stay in the
+place where he may find himself, and is
+anxious to get forward to another. Between
+the advantages gained in this particular, and
+the means of travelling comfortably at
+night almost without loss of sleep, through
+some of the sandy and uninteresting plains
+of northern Germany, I am fully of opinion
+that our English carriage, independently of
+its comparative luxury, not only diminished
+the expense of our journey, but actually<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span>
+added some weeks to its length, within the
+period which we had assigned for our return.
+In Belgium, however, and Saxony where
+railroads are extensively opened, a carriage
+affords no increase of convenience, on the
+contrary, in <i>short stages</i>, which should be
+avoided, it will be found to augment the
+expense without expediting the journey.</p>
+
+<p>Ostend presents but a bad subject for the
+compilers of guide books, as it does not
+possess a single “lion,” nor a solitary object,
+either of ancient or modern interest, for
+the tourist. Its aspect too is unsatisfactory,
+it is neither Dutch, French, nor Flemish,
+but a mixture of all three, and its houses
+with Dutch roofs, Flemish fronts, and
+French interiors, are painted all kinds of
+gaudy colours, red, green and blue, and
+covered with polyglot sign boards, announcing
+the nature of the owner’s calling
+within, in almost all the languages of Northern
+Europe.</p>
+
+<p>Being built in a dead flat, the town has
+of course no sewers—it was Saturday evening
+when we arrived, and in honour of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span>
+approaching Sabbath, I presume, every house
+within the walls seemed busied in pumping
+out its cesspool and washing the contents
+along the channels of the streets, creating
+an atmosphere above that “all the
+perfumes of Arabia would not sweeten.”
+This, however, is an incident by no means
+peculiar to Ostend, the great majority of
+the cities in the “Low Countries” being
+similarly circumstanced.</p>
+
+<p>Although a place of importance five
+hundred years ago, every trace of antiquity
+in Ostend has been destroyed by the many
+“battles, sieges, fortunes,” it has passed. It
+was enclosed in the fifteenth century, fortified
+by the Prince of Orange in the sixteenth,
+and almost razed to the ground in its defence
+against the Spaniards in the seventeenth,
+when Sir Francis Vere, (one the military
+cavaliers, whom, with Sir Philip Sydney and
+others, Elizabeth in her capricious sympathy,
+had from time to time sent to the aid of the
+protestant cause in the Netherlands), held
+its command at the close of its remarkable
+siege by the forces of the Archdukes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span>
+Albert and Isabella.<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> This memorable
+siege, which the system of antiquated
+tactics then in vogue, protracted for
+upwards of three years, “became a school
+for the young nobility of all Europe,
+who repaired, to either one or the other
+party, to learn the principles and the practice
+of attack and defence.” The brothers
+Ambrose and Frederick Spinola here earned
+their high reputation as military strategists,
+and the former eventually forced Ostend
+to surrender, after every building had
+been levelled by artillery, and innumerable
+thousands had found a grave around its
+walls. In the subsequent troubles of the
+eighteenth century, it was again repeatedly
+besieged and taken, sharing in all these
+disastrous wars which have earned for
+Belgium, the appropriate soubriquet of the
+“Cock-pit of Europe.” Its fortifications
+are still maintained in tolerable repair, one
+large battery called Fort Wellington, is of
+modern construction, and a long rampart,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span>
+which was originally designed to protect
+the town from the inundation of the sea, has
+been converted into a glacis, and strengthened
+with stone, brought, at a considerable
+cost, from Tournay, as the alluvial sands of
+Flanders cannot supply even paving stones
+for her own cities. The summit of this
+defence is an agreeable promenade along
+the sea, which rolls up to its base, and as
+far as the eye can reach, stretch long hills
+of sand, which the wind sets in motion,
+and has driven into heaps against the walls
+and fortifications. The level and beautiful
+strand, however, renders Ostend an agreeable
+bathing-place, and it is fashionably frequented
+for that purpose during the months
+of summer, when the town presents the
+usual <i>agréments</i> of a watering place, baths,
+ball rooms, cafés, and a theatre.</p>
+
+<p>As the second sea-port in the kingdom,
+it enjoys a considerable share of the
+shipping trade of Belgium, but it has no
+manufactures, and the chief emoluments
+of the lower classes, arise from the fishery<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span>
+of herrings and oysters, the bed of the
+latter, “le parc aux huitres,” being the
+leading lion recommended by the valet-de-place,
+to the notice of the stranger at
+Ostend; and the green oysters of Ostend
+(<i>huitres vertes d’Ostende</i>), one of the luxuries
+of the Parisian gourmands. Oysters
+are, indeed, the first dish introduced at
+every Belgian dinner-table, and the facility
+of the railroad has considerably augmented
+the demand at Ostend.</p>
+
+<p>The herring fishery has, of late years,
+almost disappeared from the coast of Flanders.
+It was once one of the most lucrative
+branches of trade in the Low Countries;
+and Charles V, when he visited the
+grave of Beukelson, who discovered the
+method of pickling herrings, at Biervliet,
+near Sluys, caused a monument to be
+erected over his remains. With the
+Reformation, however, and the lax observance
+of Lent upon the continent, the demand
+for salted fish declined, and Holland
+herself now retains but a remnant of her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span>
+ancient trade; which, however, she cultivates
+with a rigid observance of all its ancient
+formalities—the little fleet of fishing
+boats assemble annually at Vlaardingen, at
+the entrance of the Maas—the officers assemble
+at the Stad-huis, and take the ancient
+oath to respect the laws of the fishery;
+they then hoist their respective flags, and
+repair to the church to offer up prayers for
+their success. The day of their departure
+is a holiday on the river. The first cargo
+which reaches Holland, is bought at an extravagant
+price, and the first barrel which is
+landed on the shore, is forwarded as a present
+to the King.</p>
+
+<p>Ostend, Blankenburg, Nieuport, Antwerp,
+and even Bruges, had once a valuable
+share in this important fishery, but it
+has of late years been utterly lost; not
+more than three sloops, we were told, having
+put to sea in any year since 1837, and
+even then with indifferent success. The
+cod-fishery, however, has been more prosperous,
+employing between five and six<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span>
+hundred seamen at Ostend alone; but even
+this is bolstered and sustained by the unsound
+expedient of government bounties.</p>
+
+<h3>BRUGES.</h3>
+
+<p>We left Ostend for Bruges by the railroad,
+sending forward our carriage to
+Ghent. The fare for the entire distance
+is little more than for one half, the trouble
+of mounting and dismounting, being the
+same for the longer as for the shorter
+stage. The arrangements of the railroad
+differ in no essential particular from those
+of England, except that every passenger’s
+luggage is more scrupulously examined
+and charged for extra weight, after which,
+it is taken from the custody of the owner,
+who receives a ticket, on the production
+of which, it is delivered up to him,
+on reaching the town for which his place
+has been secured. This system, however,
+is found to be productive of frequent
+mistakes and confusion, from trunks and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span>
+portmanteaus being sent beyond their destination,
+or left behind altogether. The conductors
+and officials are all arrayed in uniform,
+and the starting of the train from
+each station is announced by a few notes
+of a trumpet. The engines are chiefly of
+English manufacture, with the exception of
+a few made at Liege.</p>
+
+<p>Belgium is of all countries in Europe the
+best calculated for railroads; its vast alluvial
+plains, hardly presenting a perceptible
+inequality. From Ostend to Ghent, I
+scarcely noticed a single cutting or an embankment,
+the rails being laid upon the
+natural surface of the ground, and the direction
+as straight as the flight of an arrow,
+without the necessity of a curve or inclination,
+except to approach some village station
+on the road.</p>
+
+<p>The old mode of conveyance by the
+Trekschuit, on the Canal de Bruges, though
+not discontinued, is comparatively deserted
+for the railroad. It is, however, by no
+means disagreeable, the boats being drawn
+along at the rate of nearly six miles an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span>
+hour, the accommodation excellent and
+unique, and the only drawback, the effluvia
+which in summer arises from the almost
+stagnant waters of the canal, occasionally
+heightened by the poisoned streams in
+which flax had been steeped by the farmers,
+which is instantly fatal to the fish.</p>
+
+<p>The air and general appearance of Bruges,
+on entering it by the railroad, which passes
+direct into the centre of the town, cannot
+fail to arrest the interest and attention of a
+stranger. It is unlike any place that one has
+been accustomed to before, and is certainly
+the most perfect specimen of a town of the
+middle ages on this side the Rhine. Its
+houses have not been rebuilt in modern
+times, and with their ample fronts, vast
+arched entrances and sculptured ornaments,
+and fantastic gables, are all in keeping with
+our stately impressions of its feudal counts
+and affluent but turbulent burghers. “Le
+voyageur,” says its historian, M. Ferrier,
+“au milieu de ces vieux hôtels, de ces
+pierres féodales encore debout, espère toujours
+qu’une noble dame au chaperon de<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span>
+velours et au vertugadin élargi, va sortir
+des portes basses en ogives le faucon au
+poign, la queue retroussée par un page.”</p>
+
+<p>Instead of the narrow, dingy passages
+which occur in cities of similar antiquity
+and renown, there is an air peculiarly gay
+and imposing in the broad and cheerful
+streets of Bruges; its streets enlivened by
+long lines of lindens and oriental plane
+trees, and traversed by canals, not sluggish
+and stagnant, but flowing with an active
+current through the city. Upon these, the
+wealthier mansions open to the rear, a
+little ornamented “pleasance” separating
+them from the river, laid out in angular
+walks, and ornamented with evergreens,
+clipped <i>en quenouille</i>, and here and there a
+statue or an antique vase. The squares
+maintain the same character of dignity and
+gravity, overshadowed with “old ancestral
+trees,” and flanked by their municipal
+halls and towers—the monuments of a time
+when Bruges was the Tyre of Western Europe,
+and her Counts and citizens combined
+the enterprize and wealth of the merchant<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span>
+with the fiery bearing of the soldier. 
+These edifices, too, exhibit in their style
+something of the sturdy pride of their founders,
+presenting less of ornament and decoration
+than of domineering height and massive
+solidity, and striking the visitor rather by
+their strength than their elegance. On the
+whole, Bruges reminded me strongly of
+Pisa, and some of the towns of northern
+Italy, whose history and decline are singularly
+similar to its own. The air of its
+edifices and buildings is the same, and
+there is around it a similar appearance of
+desertion rather than decay—though in
+Bruges the retirement and solitude which
+was, till recently, its characteristic, has
+been much invaded by the concourse of
+strangers whom the railroad brings hourly
+to visit it.</p>
+
+<p>Bruges, in the olden time, was indebted
+for its political importance to its being the
+most ancient capital of the Low Countries,
+and one of the residences of the old “Foresters
+of Flanders,” and of that illustrious line
+of sovereign Counts and Dukes, whose dynasty<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span>
+extends almost from Charlemagne to 
+Charles V, and whose exploits enrich the
+annals of the crusades and form the theme
+of the romancers and minstrels of the middle
+ages. Of the palaces of these stormy
+potentates, scarcely a vestige now remains,
+except a few dilapidated walls of the “Princenhof,”
+in which Charles le Téméraire
+espoused Margaret of York, the sister of
+our Edward IV, and in which, also, his
+interesting daughter, Mary of Valois, Duchess
+of Burgundy, married Maximilian of
+Austria, son to Frederick IV—that “portentous
+alliance,” which subsequently
+brought the Netherlands under the dominion
+of the Emperor, and consigned them,
+on the abdication of Charles V, to the tender
+mercies of the sanguinary Philip of
+Spain. At her nuptials, the Duke of Bavaria
+acted as proxy for the imperial bridegroom,
+and according to the custom of the
+period, passed the night with the young
+duchess, each reposing in full dress, with
+a sword placed between them, and in the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span>
+presence of four armed archers of the
+guard.</p>
+
+<p>On the opposite side of the same square,
+stands, likewise, the house, now an estaminet,
+in which her husband, Maximilian,
+then King of the Romans, was, after her
+death, confined by the citizens of Bruges,
+in 1487, in consequence of a dispute as to
+the custody of his two children, in whom,
+by the death of their mother, was vested
+the right to the sovereignty of Flanders.
+In spite of the fulminations of the Pope,
+and the march of the Emperor, his father,
+with an army of forty thousand men, the
+undaunted burghers held him a prisoner
+for six weeks, till he submitted to their
+terms and took an oath to respect their
+rights, and exact no vengeance for their
+violent demonstration in their assertion.</p>
+
+<p>Bruges was, likewise, upon two occasions
+the asylum of the exiled monarchs of
+England; once when Edward IV took refuge
+there, when flying from the Earl of
+Warwick’s rebellion; and, again, when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span>
+Charles II, in his exile, occupied a house
+in the Place d’Armes, at the corner of the
+Rue St. Amand. It is now the shop of a
+tailor.</p>
+
+<p>But all our recollections of Bruges are
+crowded with associations of the poetry of
+history; and the very names of her
+chieftains, Baldwin of the Iron Arm, Robert
+of Jerusalem, Margaret of Constantinople,
+Philip the Handsome, and Louis of
+Crecy, call up associations of chivalry, gallantry
+and romance.</p>
+
+<p>From the thirteenth century to the close
+of the sixteenth, Bruges was at once in the
+plentitude of her political power and the
+height of her commercial prosperity. As
+the furs and iron of the north were not yet
+carried by sea round the Baltic, and the
+wealth of India still poured through the
+Red Sea into Genoa and Venice, Bruges
+became one of the great entrepots where they
+were collected, in order to be again distributed
+over Western Europe; and with
+Dantzic, Lubeck, Hamburg, and a few other
+trading cities of the west, Bruges became<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span>
+one of the leading commandaries of the
+Hanseatic League. The idea of marine
+insurances was first acted upon at Bruges
+in the thirteenth century, and the first
+exchange for the convenience of merchants
+was built there in the century following.</p>
+
+<p>Her manufactures were equally celebrated
+with her traffic and her trade. Her tapestries
+were the models, and, indeed, the progenitors
+of the Gobelins, which were established
+in France by a native of Bruges,
+under the patronage of Henry IV; and the
+fame of her woolstaplers and weavers has
+been perpetuated in the order of the Golden
+Fleece, the emblem of which was selected
+by Philip the Good in honour of the artizans
+of Bruges.</p>
+
+<p>It was a native of Bruges, Beham, who,
+fifty years before the enterprise of Columbus,
+ventured to “tempt the western
+main,” and having discovered the Azores,
+first led the way to the awakening of a new
+hemisphere.</p>
+
+<p>Of the luxury of her citizens in this age,
+many traditions are still extant; such as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span>
+that of the wife of Philip the Fair exclaiming
+on finding herself eclipsed in the splendour
+of her dress by the ladies of her
+capital:—“<i>Je croyais être ici la seule reine,
+mais j’en vois plus de cent autour de moi!</i>”
+A similar story is recorded of their husbands,
+who when they returned to Paris
+with their Duke, Louis le Mael, to do homage
+to King John, the successor of
+Philip of Valois, felt affronted on finding
+that no cushions had been provided for
+them at a banquet to which they were
+invited by the King, and having sat upon
+their embroidered cloaks, declined to resume
+them on departing, saying:—“<i>Nous
+de Flandre, nous ne sommes point accoutumés
+où nous dinons, d’emporter avec nous les
+coussins.</i>”</p>
+
+<p>All this has now passed away, other nations
+have usurped her foreign commerce,
+and her own rivals at home have extinguished
+her manufactures. But still in
+her decline, Bruges wears all the air of
+reduced aristocracy; her poor are said to
+be frightfully numerous in proportion to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span>
+her population, but they are not, as elsewhere,
+ostentatiously offensive; except a
+few decrepid objects of compassion, by the
+door of the cathedral, we did not see a
+beggar in the streets. The dress of the
+lower orders is remarkable for its cleanliness
+and neatness, and an universal costume
+with the females of the bourgeoisie,
+was a white muslin cap with a lace border
+and a long black silk cloak, with a hood
+which covered the head, and is evidently a
+remnant of the Spanish mantilla. There
+was, also, a cheerful decorum in the carriage
+of the people whom we met in the
+streets, that one felt to be in accordance
+with the gravity of such a venerable old
+place, as if the streets were consecrated
+ground:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">The city one vast temple, dedicate</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To mutual respect in word and deed,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To leisure, to forbearances sedate,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">To social cares, from jarring passions freed.<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>By the way, it is an instance of the abiding
+hatred with which the people of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span>
+Low Countries must have, traditionally, regarded
+their former tyrants, that so few
+traces of their dominion or their presence
+should now be discernible in the country
+which they so long blasted with their presence.
+Occasionally, one recognizes in
+the olive complexion and coal black eye of
+the Fleming, the evidences of her southern
+blood; and at Ghent and Brussels there are
+one or two families who still bear the names
+of Alcala, Rey and Hermosa, and a few
+others who trace their origin to Castilian
+ancestors; but there are no striking monuments
+now existing of a people, who so long
+exercised a malignant influence over the
+destinies of Flanders.</p>
+
+<p>It is true that but a short period, about
+a century and a half, elapsed from the death
+of Mary of Burgundy to that of Albert and
+Isabella, but it is equally true, that for
+generations before, the princes of the Low
+Countries had sought their matrimonial
+alliances at the court of Spain; and under
+Philip the Handsome and Charles V, when
+the Netherlands were in the pride of their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span>
+prosperity, they afforded an alluring point
+for the resort of the adventurers of that
+country, and of the numbers who availed
+themselves of the royal encouragement to
+settle there; it is curious that not a mansion,
+not a monument, or almost a remnant
+should now be discernible.</p>
+
+<p>In Bruges, as in most other catholic
+cities, the chief depositaries of objects of
+popular admiration are the churches; and
+of these, the most attractive and remarkable
+are the matchless sculptures in wood
+which decorate the confessionals and
+pulpits, and in the richness and masterly
+workmanship of which, the specimens in
+the Netherlands are quite unrivalled.
+Bruges is rich in these. In the church of
+Notre Dame, the pulpit is a superb work
+of art of this description; chiselled in oak,
+supported by groups of figures the size of
+life, and decorated throughout with arabesques
+and carvings of flowers and fruit
+of the most charming execution. It is of
+vast dimensions for such a work, reaching
+from the floor almost to the gothic roof of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span>
+the building. In the same church there
+are two confessionals of equal elegance,
+each separated, as usual, into three apartments
+by partitions, in front of each of
+which are caryatides, which support the roof.</p>
+
+<p>In the church of the Holy Saviour,<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a>
+the grand organ presents another example
+of this gorgeous carving; and in the little
+chapel of St. Sang, which is possessed
+of a few drops of <i>the genuine blood of our
+Saviour</i>, periodically exhibited in its jewelled
+shrine to the faithful, there is a pulpit, perhaps,
+of better workmanship than taste, the
+shell of which represents the terrestrial
+globe, (orbis veteribus cognita), with a delineation
+of those geographical outlines
+which were known at the period of its
+erection.</p>
+
+<p>In works of art, the burghers of Bruges
+seem to have been generous as well as ambitious
+in adorning their city, so long as
+its municipal affluence placed it within their
+power to gratify their tastes. The churches,
+are, therefore, rich in works of the <i>early</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span>
+Flemish school—the Van Eycks and Hans
+Hemling, and Pourbus and their collaborators
+and successors: but at the period
+when the new Flemish school had arisen,
+with Otto Vennius, and attained its eminence
+under Rubens and Vandyk, Bruges
+had already suffered her decline, the sun
+of her prosperity had gone down, and she
+possesses no works of their pencil. The
+chief depositaries of paintings in the city,
+are the church of St. Sauveur, the chapel
+of the Hospital of St. John, and the Gallery
+of the Museum near the Quai du
+Miroir. The three collections present precisely
+the same array of names, and the
+same features of art, insipid and passionless
+faces, figures harsh and incorrect in
+drawing, finished with that elaborate care
+which seems to have been at all times the
+characteristic of the schools of both Flanders
+and Holland, and gaudy, inharmonious
+colours, upon a brilliant and generally
+gilded ground, in the Byzantine style.
+Except as mere antiquities, these pictures
+have but little interest to any except the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span>
+mere historian of the art. The collection
+in St. Saveur I did not see, as it had been
+removed in consequence of a recent fire,
+but it seems from the lists to be rather extensive.</p>
+
+<p>That in the <i>Museum</i> is numerous, but
+monotonous and tiresome, for the reasons I
+have mentioned, though Sir Joshua Reynolds
+speaks with high approbation of some
+beauties, I presume, it requires the eye of
+an artist to discern them. The gallery
+here contains, also, a statue, by Calloigne,
+a native artist, of John Van Eyck, the
+painter, called “John of Bruges,” to whom
+has been ascribed the invention of painting
+in oil. His claim to the discovery is, of
+course, incorrect, as the mummy cases of
+Egypt sufficiently attest, but his merit as
+one of those, who, earliest and most successfully
+applied it to the purposes of art, is
+sufficiently indicated by a glance at his
+pictures, and their comparison with the inferior
+productions of his contemporaries in
+Italy.</p>
+
+<p>But the principal exhibition of the old<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span>
+masters of Bruges, is in the parlour of the
+chapel at the ancient <i>Hospital of Saint John</i>.
+Here the pride of the custodian are the
+chef-d’œuvres of Hans Memling. Hemling
+was a soldier and a roué, a prodigal and a
+genius utterly unconscious of his power.
+He ended a career of excesses by enlisting
+in one of the military companies of Bruges,
+his native city, and from the battle of
+Nancy, whither he had followed Charles
+the Rash, in 1477, he was carried, wounded
+and dying, to the Hospital of St. John.
+The skill of the leeches triumphed, however,
+and Hans was restored to strength
+and vigour, when, for want, perhaps, of
+some other asylum, he spent ten years of
+his subsequent life amongst his friends in
+the hospital, and enriched its halls with the
+choicest specimens of his art. These pictures
+are of marvellous brilliancy, although
+it is said, that Hemling rejected the use of
+oil, which had been introduced by his contemporary
+and rival, Van Eyck, and adhered
+to the old plan of tempering his
+colours with size and albumen. The artist,
+too, has introduced into them portraits<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span>
+of the nuns and sisters of charity, who were
+the attendants of the sick in the hospital—a
+delicate and yet lasting memorial of his
+gratitude for their kindnesses towards himself.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst a number of portraits and scriptural
+subjects, the gem of the collection is
+a little, old-fashioned <i>cabinet</i>, probably intended
+for the reception of relics, some
+three feet long and broad in proportion,
+covered with a conical lid, and the whole
+divided into pannels, each containing a
+scene from the legend of St. Ursula, and
+the massacre of herself and her eleven
+thousand virgins, by the Goths, at Cologne.
+This curious little antique is so highly
+prized, that it is shown under a glass cover,
+and the directors of the hospital refused to
+exchange it for a coffer of the same dimensions
+in solid silver. The execution of the
+paintings has all the characteristic faults
+and beauties of its author, only the former
+are less glaring from the small dimensions
+of the figures. The faces of the ladies exhibit
+a good perception of female beauty,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span>
+and St. Ursula herself has her hair plaited
+into braids and drawn behind her ear, much
+in the fashion of the present time in
+England.</p>
+
+<p>The majority of the other pictures have
+the folding doors which were peculiar to
+all the painters of the Low Countries, till Rubens
+latterly dispensed with the use, though
+they are to be seen on his matchless “Descent
+from the Cross,” and some others
+of his pictures in the cathedral at Antwerp.
+They served to close up the main composition
+when folded across it; and as they are,
+themselves, painted on both sides, so as to
+exhibit a picture whether closed or open,
+they had the effect of producing five compartments
+all referring to the same subject, but
+of which the four outward ones are, of
+course, subsidiary to the grand design
+within.</p>
+
+<p>The hospital in which these pictures are
+exhibited, is one of the best conducted
+establishments of the kind I have ever seen.
+Its attendants, in their religious costume, and
+with their nun’s head-dresses, move about<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span>
+it with the quiet benevolence which accords
+with their name, as “sisters of charity,”
+and the lofty wards, with the white linen
+of the beds, present in every particular an
+example of the most accurate neatness and
+cleanliness.</p>
+
+<p>Both it and the churches I have named,
+stand close by the station of the railway
+by which the traveller arrives from Ghent
+or from Ostend. Besides their curious old
+paintings, the churches have little else remarkable;
+they are chiefly built of brick, and
+make no very imposing appearance. That
+of the St. Sauveur, contains a statue in
+marble attributed to Michael Angelo, and
+though not of sufficient merit to justify the
+supposition, is in all probability the work of
+one of his pupils. The story says, that it
+was destined for Genoa, but being intercepted
+on its passage by a Dutch privateer,
+was carried to Amsterdam, where it was
+purchased by a merchant of Bruges, and
+presented to his native city.</p>
+
+<p>But the chief object of interest, and,
+indeed, the grand lion of Bruges, is the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span>
+tomb of Mary of Burgundy in a little
+chapel of the same cathedral. The memory
+of this amiable Princess, and her early fate
+are associated with the most ardent feelings
+of the Flemings; she was the last of their native
+sovereigns, and at her decease, their principality
+became swallowed up in the overgrown
+dominion of the houses of Austria;
+like Charlotte of England, she was snatched
+from them in the first bloom of youth, she
+died before she was twenty-five, in consequence
+of a fall from her horse when
+hawking, and the independance of her
+country expired with her. Beside her, and
+in a similar tomb, repose the ashes of her
+bold and impetuous father, Charles the
+Rash, which was constructed by order of
+Philip of Spain. The chapel in which
+both monuments are placed, was prepared
+for their reception at the cost of Napoleon,
+who, when he visited Belgium, with Maria
+Louisa, in 1810, left a sum of money to
+defray the expense of their removal. Both
+tombs are of the same model, two rich
+sarcophagi, composed of very dark stone,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span>
+ornamented with enamelled shields, and
+surmounted by recumbent statues, in gilded
+bronze, of the fiery parent and his gentle
+daughter. The blazonry of arms upon
+the innumerable shields which decorate
+their monuments, and the long array of
+titles which they record, bespeak the large
+domains, which, by successive alliances, had
+been concentrated in the powerful house of
+Burgundy. The inscription above the
+ashes of Charles the Rash, is as follows:</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p>CY GIST TRES HAVLT TRES PVISSANT ET MAGNANIME
+PRINCE CHARLES DVC DE BOVRG<sup>ne</sup> DE LOTHRYCKE DE
+BRABANT DE LEMBOVRG DE LVXEMBOVRG ET DE GVELDRES
+CONTE DE FLANDRES D’ARTOIS DE BOVRG<sup>ne</sup> PALATIN
+ET DE HAINAV DE HOLLANDE DE ZEELANDE DE
+NAMVR ET DE ZVTPHEN MARQVIS DV SAINCT EMPIRE
+SEIGNEUR DE FRISE DE SALINS ET DE MALINES, LEQVEL
+ESTANT GRANDEMENT DOVÉ DE FORCE CONSTANCE ET
+MAGNANIMITÉ PROSPERA LONGTEMPS EN HAVLTES
+ENTREPRINSES BATAILLES ET VICTOIRES TANT A
+MONTLHERI EN NORMANDIE EN ARTHOIS EN LIEGE QVE
+AVLTREPART JVSQVES A CE QVE FORTVNE LVI TOVRNANT
+LE DOZ LOPPRESSA LA NVICT DES ROYS, 1476
+DEVANT NANCY FVT DEPVIS PAR LE TRES HAVT TRES
+PVISSANT ET TRES VICTORIEVX PRINCE CHARLES EMPEREUR
+DES ROMAINS V<sup>mc</sup> DE CE NOM SON PETIT
+NEPHEV HERITIER DE SON NOM VICTOIRES ET SEIGNORIES<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span>
+TRANSPORTE A BRVGES OV LE ROI PHILIPPE DE CASTILLE
+LEON ARRAGON NAVARE ETC. FILS DUDICT EMPEREVR
+CHARLES LA FAICT METTRE EN CE TOMBEAU
+DU COTÉ DE SA FILLE ET VNIQVE HERITIERE MARIE
+FEMME ET ESPEVSE DE TRES HAVLT ET TRES PVISSANT
+PRINCE MAXIMILIEN ARCHIDVC D’AVSTRICE DEPVIS
+ROI EMPEREVR DES ROMANS—PRIONS DIEV POVR SON
+AME.—AMEN.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The sincere and unaffected sorrow of
+those who raised a monument to the Princess,
+is much more impressively bespoken in the
+simple and natural language of its inscription.
+After recapitulating the pompous
+honours of her house, and her greatness as
+a Queen, they have thus expressed affectionate
+esteem for her as a woman and a wife.
+“Five years she reigned as Lady of the
+Low Countries, for four of which she lived
+in love and great affection with my Lord,
+her husband. She died deplored, lamented
+and wept by her subjects, and by all who
+knew her as was never Princess before.
+Pray God for her soul. Amen.”</p>
+
+<p>The most conspicuous object in Bruges,
+both from a distance and within the walls, is
+the lofty tower of an ancient building,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span>
+called “Les Halles”—an edifice of vast
+extent, whose original destination seems to
+be but imperfectly known, but which, in all
+probability, served as a depot for merchandize
+during the palmy days of the Hanseatic
+League, whilst in its ponderous tower were
+deposited the ancient records of the city.
+The lower buildings are now partly unoccupied,
+and partly used for the purposes of a
+covered market, and on the tower are stationed
+the warders, who, night and day, look out for
+fires in the streets of the city or the suburbs.
+It contains, likewise, one of those
+sweet carillons of bells, which, in their excellence,
+seem to be peculiar to the Netherlands,
+as in no other country that I am
+aware of do their chimes approach to any
+thing like harmonious music. In the tower
+of Les Halles and some others in Belgium,
+they are set in motion by a huge cylinder
+with moveable keys, similar to those in a
+barrel organ or a Geneva box. The tunes
+are arranged and altered every year at
+Easter, and the carillon, besides announcing
+every hour, is played almost daily for the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span>
+amusement of the citizens. But besides
+the mechanical arrangement, there are keys
+which can be played on at pleasure, and
+during our visit, the “chief musician”
+commenced this feat, hammering with his
+fists, defended first by strong leather, and
+tramping with his heels, till every muscle
+in his whole body seemed called into
+action—an exercise very like that of
+Falstaff’s recruit Bullfrog, when he “caught
+a cold <i>in ringing in the king’s affairs</i> upon
+the coronation day.”</p>
+
+<p>The view from this tower is really surprising,
+owing to the vast level plain in
+which it stands, and which stretches to the
+horizon without an undulation upon every
+side; the view is only limited by the ability
+of the eye to embrace it, and the sight is
+bewildered with the infinity of villages,
+towers, forests, canals and rivers which it
+presents, taking in at one vast glance, the
+German Ocean, the distant lines of Holland,
+the towers of Ghent, and to the south,
+the remote frontier of France. Its views,
+like almost every thing else in the Netherlands,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span>
+are peculiar to itself, and in the 
+repose and richness of cultivated beauty,
+have not a parallel in any country of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>In a small square adjoining that in which
+stands the tower of Les Halles, are two
+other ancient buildings of equal interest.
+The <i>palais de justice</i> occupies the site of
+the old “palace of the Franc or liberty of
+Bruges.” It contains in one of its apartments,
+(the others are chiefly modern,)
+a remarkable mantel-piece of carved
+oak, covering the entire side of the hall,
+and consisting of a number of statues the
+size of life, let into niches decorated with
+the most elaborate and beautiful carvings,
+and surmounted by the armorial bearings
+of Burgundy, Brabant, and Flanders. This
+singular specimen of the arts, dates from
+the reign of Charles V. and contains
+statues of the Emperor himself, with Maximilian,
+and Mary of Burgundy to his left
+hand; on his right, those of Charles le
+Téméraire, and his Lady Margaret of York.
+These specimens of the perfection to which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span>
+this description of modelling has attained
+amongst the Flemings, must really be seen,
+in order to be sufficiently comprehended.</p>
+
+<p>The other building adjoining is the
+<i>Hotel de Ville</i>, a small, but elegant example
+of the gothic architecture in the fourteenth
+century. The many niches which
+now stand empty at each compartment of
+its front, were formerly filled with statues
+of the native Princes of Flanders and Burgundy,
+to the number of thirty-three; numerous
+shields, charged with arms surmounted
+the principal windows, and on a
+little balcony in front, the Dukes, on the
+occasion of their inauguration, made oath
+to respect the rights and privilege of their
+subjects. But in 1792, the soldiers of the
+French directory, under Dumourier, in the
+“fine frenzy” of republicanism, tore down
+these ancient monuments of the former history
+of Bruges, as “the images of tyrants”
+and pounding them to dust, flung them upon
+a pile composed of fragments of the gallows
+and the scaffold, and ordered it to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span>
+kindled by the public executioner. The
+grand hall in the Hotel de Ville is occupied
+as a library, and contains a large and
+valuable collection of books and manuscripts.</p>
+
+<p>Bruges was the birth-place of Berken, who
+discovered the art of polishing the diamond,
+and, as if the secret were still confined to
+the craft, (in fact it was for a length of time
+a secret amongst the jewellers of the Low
+Countries), one still sees over many a door
+in Bruges, the sign-board of the “<span class="err" title="original: Diaman">Diamant</span>-zetter,”
+who resides within.</p>
+
+<p>In other cities, one would feel as if compiling
+a guide-book in noting these particulars
+of Bruges; but here it is different, as
+every spot, however trifling, is exalted by
+some traditionary association with the
+past. “In the thirteenth century,” says the
+Hand-book, “the ambassadors of twenty
+states had their hotels within the walls of
+the city, and the commercial companies of
+seventeen nations were settled and carried
+on their traffic within its walls. It became
+the resort of traders of Lombardy and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span>
+Venice, who carried hither the merchandize
+of Italy and India, to be exchanged for the
+produce of Germany and the north. The
+argosies of Genoa and Constantinople, frequented
+her harbour, and her warehouses
+were stored with the wool of England, the
+linen of Belgium, and the silk of Persia.”<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+Can any one read this record of the past,
+and comparing it with the desolation of the
+present, avoid being reminded of the magnificent
+description and denunciation of
+Tyre, by Ezekiel. “Fine linen from Egypt
+was that which thou spreadest forth for thy
+sails; the inhabitants of Zidon were thy mariners;
+the men of Persia were thine army;
+and they of Gammadin were on thy towers,
+and hung their shields upon thy walls to
+make thy beauty perfect. Tarshish was
+thy merchant, and with iron and with tin<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span>
+they traded in thy fairs. Syria gave thee
+emeralds and broidered work, and coral, and
+agate. Judah traded in thy markets in
+honey, and oil, and balm. Damascus in the
+wine of Hebron and white wool. Arabia
+occupied with thee in lambs and in goats;
+and the merchants of Sheba brought thee
+precious stones and gold. * * * They
+that handle the oar, the mariner and pilots
+of the sea, shall come down from thy ships;
+they shall stand upon the land, and in their
+wailing they shall cry, what city is like unto
+Tyre, like unto the destroyed in the midst
+of the waters?”</p>
+
+<p>Of all her active pursuits, Bruges now retains
+no remnant except the manufacture of
+lace, to which even her ancient fame has
+ceased to give a prestige; and it is exported
+to France to be sold under the name of <i>Point
+de Valenciennes</i>. Mechlin, Antwerp, Ypres
+and Grammont share with her in its production;
+and it is interesting to observe
+how this mignon and elegant art, originally,
+perhaps, but the pastime of their young
+girls and women, has survived all the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span>
+storms and vicissitudes which have from
+time to time suspended or disturbed the
+other national occupations of the Belgians,
+and now enables the inhabitants of their superannuated
+cities, in the ruin of their own
+fortunes, to support themselves, as it were,
+upon the dower of their females. France,
+in the time of Colbert, seduced the manufacture
+to establish itself at Paris by actual
+gifts of money; and England, emulous of
+sharing in it, purchased the lace of Belgium
+to sell to Europe as her own, and
+made by it such a reputation, that <i>English
+lace</i> is still a popular name for a particular
+description made at Brussels!</p>
+
+<p>The exquisitely fine thread which is made
+in Hainault and Brabant for the purpose
+of being worked into lace, has occasionally
+attained a value almost incredible. A
+thousand to fifteen hundred francs is no
+unusual price for it by the pound, but some
+has actually been spun by hand of so exquisite
+a texture, as to be sold at the rate
+of ten thousand francs, or upwards of £400,
+for a single pound weight. Schools have been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span>
+established to teach both the netting of the
+lace and drawing of designs by which to work
+it, and the trade, at the present moment, is
+stated to be in a more flourishing condition
+than it has been ever known before, even in
+the most palmy days of the Netherlands.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</h2>
+ 
+<p class="center">GHENT.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="hang">Bruges a cheap residence—Tables-d’Hôte, their influence
+upon society—Canal from Bruges to Ghent—Absence of
+country mansions—Gardens—Appearance of <span class="smcap">Ghent</span>—M.
+Grenier and M. de Smet de Naeyer—The <i>Conseil
+de Prud’hommes</i>, its functions—Copyright of designs in
+Belgium—<span class="smcap">The linen trade of Belgium</span>—Its importance—Great
+value of Belgian flax—Its cultivation—Revenue
+derived from it—Inferiority of British flax—Anxiety
+of the government for the trade in linen—Hand-spinners—Spinning
+by machinery—<i>Société de la Lys</i>—Flower
+gardens—The Casino—Export of flowers—General
+aspect of the city—<i>Its early history</i>—Vast wealth
+expended in buildings in the Belgium cities accounted for—Trading
+corporations—Turbulence of the people of
+Bruges and Ghent—<i>Jacques van Artevelde</i>—His death—Philip
+van Artevelde—Charles V.—His <i>bon mots</i> regarding
+Ghent—Latin distich, characteristic of the Flemish
+cities—Siege of Ghent, Madame Mondragon—House of
+the Arteveldes—Hôtel de Ville—The belfry and Roland—The
+<i>Marché de Vendredi</i>—The great cannon of Ghent.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Bruges</span> has the reputation of being an
+economical residence for persons of limited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span>
+fortune, but I have reason to believe it does
+not fully merit it. I have understood, that
+at the termination of the war, a large mansion
+with every appurtenance, was to have
+been had for twenty-five pounds a year,
+but the concourse of English, and the influx
+of strangers, has now placed it, in this
+respect, pretty much upon a par with other
+places of the continent.</p>
+
+<p>We dined at an excellent table-d’hôte
+at the Hôtel de Commerce, the only inconvenience
+being the early hour, 2 o’clock,
+but this, and even earlier hours for dinner,
+we became, not only reconciled to, but almost
+to prefer before leaving Germany.
+To the prevalence of these tables-d’hôte in
+every town and village of the continent, must,
+no doubt, be ascribed much of that social
+feeling and easy carriage which characterise
+the people of almost every country in Europe
+except our own. Being frequented by persons
+of all ranks, they lead to an assimilation
+of manners and of taste, which must
+be conducive to general refinement; and
+by an interchange of opinions and a diffusion<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span>
+of intelligence during the two or three 
+hours of daily intercourse, they must contribute
+to a diffusion of information, and a
+better understanding between all classes.</p>
+
+<p>In England, with our present sectional
+ideas and well defined grades, their introduction
+would be impossible, or if attempted,
+would only serve to make more
+distinct and compact the divisions into
+which society is parcelled out. And yet,
+how desirable would it be that some successful
+expedient could be discovered to
+produce a more frequent intercourse between
+these numerous castes, and to soften down
+these Hindoo prejudices, which are an unquestionable
+source of insecurity and weakness
+in England. It is to this, that in a great
+degree is to be ascribed the virulence of
+political jealousies, and the intense hatred
+of political parties. So long as wealth is constituted
+the great standard which is to
+adjust conventional precedence, affluence
+and intelligence must form one exclusive
+race, of whose feelings, habits, objects and
+desires, poverty and ignorance, as they <i>can<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span>
+know nothing</i>, may be easily persuaded to
+believe them hostile and destructive to
+their own; and even mediocrity of rank,
+as it stands aloof from either, will continue
+to look with alarm and jealousy upon both.</p>
+
+<p>Were it practicable, by any salutary expedient,
+to enable the humble and laborious
+<i>to perceive for themselves</i>, that the enjoyments
+and habits of the rich are not necessarily
+antagonist to their own, it would at
+once paralyze the strength of the demagogue
+and the incendiary. Religious bigotry
+and political malignity, like sulphur
+and nitre, are explosive only when combined
+with the charcoal of ignorance.</p>
+
+<p>The railroad from Bruges to Ghent,
+runs for the entire way within view, and
+frequently along the bank of the canal
+which connects the two cities, and which
+occasionally presents greater beauty than
+one is prepared to expect; its waters folded
+over with the broad leaves of the water
+lilly, and variegated with its flowers, and
+those of the yellow bog bean; and its steep
+banks covered with the tassels of the flowering<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span>
+rush. The road passed through numerous 
+copses, cultivated for firewood and
+planted with the oak, the chesnut and the
+weeping birch, with here and there broad
+patches of firs and hornbeam. But the
+beauty of the long lines of ornamental
+trees which enclose the road and sometimes
+border the canals in Flanders, is much impaired
+by the fashion of pollarding their
+tops for the purpose of fuel.</p>
+
+<p>One misses, also, the numerous seats and
+mansions of the landed gentry to which
+we are familiarized in travelling in our own
+country, “the happy homes of England,”
+that constitute the rich luxuriance of a
+British landscape. But here, their erection
+is discountenanced by the law against
+primogeniture, by which the property of
+the individual is compulsorily divided
+amongst his heirs; and, at former
+periods, their absence may, perhaps, be
+ascribed to the insecurity of the country,
+perpetually visited with war and all its accessories,
+so that men found their only
+safety within the walls of their fortified<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span>
+towns. In the neighbourhood of Ghent,
+however, they are more frequent than in
+any other district of Belgium which I have
+seen, an evidence, perhaps, of the more
+abundant wealth of its successful manufactures
+and merchants.</p>
+
+<p>In the vicinity of all the villages and
+suburbs, each house is provided with a garden,
+richly stocked with flowers, (amongst
+which the multitude of dahlias was quite
+remarkable), and surrounded, not by a
+fence, but more frequently, in gardens of
+any extent, by a broad dyke of deep water,
+covered with lillies and aquatic plants.
+Every inch of ground seemed to have been
+subjected to the spade, and with a more
+than Chinese economy of the soil, made
+to contribute either to the decoration or
+the support of the owner’s dwelling.</p>
+
+<p>After passing the hamlets of Bloemendael
+(the valley of flowers), and Aeltre, we
+came in sight of Ghent, situated on a
+considerable elevation above the water of
+the Scheldt (pronounced <i>Skeld</i>), the Lys,
+the Lieve, and the Moer, which meet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span>
+around its base, and with their communicating
+branches and canals, divide the city
+into six-and-twenty islets, connected by
+upwards of eighty bridges of wood or stone.
+Its towers and steeples are discernible for
+some miles before it is reached, mingled
+with the tall chimnies of its numerous
+manufactories, which mark it as the Manchester
+of Belgium.</p>
+
+<p>The court-yard of the station was filled
+with a crowd of omnibuses, fiacres and
+<i>vigilantes</i>, an improvement upon the cabs of
+London, and a drive of a few minutes
+brought us to the Cauter, or Place d’Armes,
+where, following the direction of the Hand-book,
+we stopped at the Hôtel de la Poste,
+a spacious house, kept by a M. Oldi, who,
+we were told, was son to a Baroness of the
+same name, who figured on the occasion of
+the trial of Queen Caroline.</p>
+
+<h3>GHENT.</h3>
+
+<p>My anxiety was to learn something of
+the actual state of manufacturing industry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span>
+in Belgium, and Ghent, its principal seat
+and centre, presented the most favourable
+opportunities. Our introductions were numerous,
+but my chief obligations are to
+<i>M. Grenier</i>, one of the most intelligent and
+accomplished men of business whom it has
+been my good fortune to meet. He had
+been formerly an officer in the Imperial
+Guard of Napoleon, whilst Belgium was a
+province of the empire, but on the return
+of peace, in 1815, betook himself to pursuits
+of commerce, and is now connected
+with some of the most important manufacturing
+and trading establishments of Belgium.
+I owe a similar acknowledgment
+for the polite attentions of <i>M. de Smet de
+Naeyer</i>,<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> an eminent manufacturer, and one
+of the officers of the Chamber of Commerce
+and of the Conseil de Prud’hommes
+at Ghent.</p>
+
+<p>The latter body which is an institution,
+originally French, was introduced in Belgium<span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span>
+by a decree of Napoleon in 1810. It 
+is a board formed jointly of employers and
+workmen, elected by annual sections, and
+discharging all its functions, not only gratuitously
+as regards the public, but without
+payment to its own members, beyond the
+mere expenditure of the office, and a moderate
+salary to a secretary. Its duties have
+reference to the adjustment of the mutual
+intercourse between workmen and their
+masters in every branch of manufacture,
+the prevention of combinations, the performance
+of contracts, the regulation of
+apprenticeship, and the effectual administration
+of the system of <i>livrets</i>—a species of
+permanent diploma, which the artisan received
+on the termination of his pulpilage,
+signed by the master to whom he had been
+articled, and sealed by the President of the
+Conseil de Prud’hommes. Without the
+production of his <i>livret</i>, no tradesman can
+be received into employment; and in it
+are entered all his successive discharges
+and acquittances with his various masters.
+The powers of fining and of forfeiture exercised<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span>
+by the conseil, are summary up to a 
+certain amount, and in cases of graver importance,
+there is a resort to the correctional
+police.</p>
+
+<p>But the main functions of the Conseil de
+Prud’hommes are the prevention of any
+invasion of the peculiar rights of any
+manufacturer, or the counterfeit imitation
+of his particular marks; and especially
+the protection of the copyright of all designs
+and productions of art for the decoration
+of manufactures. With this view,
+every proprietor of an original design,
+whether for working in metals or on woven
+fabrics, is empowered to deposit a copy of
+it in the archives of the council, enveloped
+in a sealed cover, and signed by himself;
+and to receive in return a certificate of its
+enrolment, and the date of reception. At
+the same time, he is called upon to declare
+the length of time for which he wishes to
+secure to himself the exclusive right of its
+publication, whether for one, two, or three
+years, or for ever, and in either case, a
+trifling fee is demanded, in no instance exceeding<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span>
+a franc for each year the protection 
+is claimed, or ten for a perpetuity.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> In
+the event of any dispute as to originality
+or proprietorship, the officer of the council
+is authorized to break the seal, and his
+testimony is conclusive as to the date and
+circumstances of the deposit.</p>
+
+<p>The effect of this simple and inexpensive
+tribunal has been found so thoroughly
+effectual, that the most equitable security
+has been established for designs of every
+description applicable to works of taste, and
+the <i>intellectual property</i> of a pattern has
+been as thoroughly vindicated to its inventor
+through the instrumentality of the
+register of the Prud’hommes, as his
+<i>material property</i>, in the article on which it
+is to be impressed, is secured to him by the
+ordinary law. In fact, the whole operation
+of the institution at Ghent has proved so
+beneficial to manufactures universally, that
+by a <i>projet de loi</i> of 1839, similar boards
+are about to be established in all the leading<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span>
+towns and cities, as Liege, Brussels, 
+Courtrai, Antwerp, Louvain, Mons, Charleroi,
+Verviers, and the manufacturing districts,
+generally, throughout Belgium.</p>
+
+<p>One of our first visits was to a mill for
+spinning linen yarn, recently constructed
+by a joint stock company, called <i>La Société
+de la Lys</i>, in honour, I presume, of the
+Flemish river on which it is situated, and
+which is celebrated on the continent for the
+extraordinary suitability of its waters for
+the preparation of flax. Belgium, from the
+remotest period, even, it is said, before the
+Christian era, has been celebrated for its
+manufacture of clothing of all descriptions.
+It was from Belgium that England derived
+her first knowledge of the weaving of wool;
+damask has been made there since the time
+of the Crusades, when the soldiers of Godfrey
+of Bouillon and of Count Baldwin,
+brought the art from Damascus; and to the
+present hour, the very name of “<i>Holland</i>”
+is synonymous with linen, and the cloth so
+called, has for centuries been woven principally
+in Flanders.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span></p>
+
+<p>Under the government of Austria, the
+manufacture seems to have attained its
+acmé of prosperity in the Netherlands, her
+exports of linen, in 1784, amounting to
+27,843,397 yards, whilst at the present
+moment, with all her increase of population
+and discoveries in machinery, she
+hardly surpasses thirty millions. Again,
+under the continental system of Napoleon,
+from 1805 to 1812, it attained a high degree
+of prosperity, which sensibly decreased
+after the events of 1814, when English produce
+came again into active competition
+with it.</p>
+
+<p>The cultivation of flax is still, however,
+her staple employment, one acre in every
+eighty-six of the whole area of Belgium,
+being devoted to its growth. In peculiar
+districts, such as Courtrai and St. Nicolas,
+so much as one acre in twenty is given to
+it; and in the Pays de Waes, it amounts
+so high as one in ten. Every district of
+Belgium, in fact, yields flax, more or less,
+except Luxembourg and Limburg, where it
+has been attempted, but without success;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span>
+but of the entire quantity produced, Flanders
+alone furnishes three-fourths, and the
+remaining provinces, one. The quality of
+the flax, too, seems, independently of local
+superiority in its cultivation, to be essentially
+dependent upon the nature of the
+soil in which it is sown. From that around
+Ghent, no process of tillage would be sufficient
+to raise the description suitable to
+more costly purposes; that of the Waloons
+yields the very coarsest qualities; Courtrai
+those whose strength is adapted for thread;
+and Tournai alone furnished the fine and
+delicate kinds, which serve for the manufacture
+of lace and cambric.</p>
+
+<p>Of the quantity of dressed flax prepared
+in Belgium, calculated to amount to about
+eighteen millions of kilogrammes, five millions
+were annually exported to England
+and elsewhere, on an average of eight
+years, from 1830 to 1839. According to
+the returns of the Belgian custom-houses,
+the export has been as follows—from 1830
+to 1839.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span></p>
+
+<table>
+<tr><td>1831</td>    <td>5,449,388</td>  <td class="tdc">kilogr.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1832</td>    <td>3,655,226</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1833</td>    <td>4,392,113</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1834</td>    <td>2,698,870</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1835</td>    <td>4,610,649</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1836</td>    <td>6,891,991</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1837</td>    <td>7,403,346</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1838</td>    <td>9,459,056</td>  <td class="tdc">”</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>It is important to observe the steady
+increase of the English demand since
+1834. The remainder is reserved for home
+manufacture into thread and cloth, and it
+is estimated by M. Briavionne, that the
+cultivation of this one article alone, combining
+the value of the raw material with
+the value given to it by preparation, in its
+various stages from flax to linen cloth,
+produces annually to Belgium, an income
+of 63,615,000 francs.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p>
+
+<p>Belgium possesses no source of national
+wealth at all to be put into comparison<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span>
+with this, involving as it does, the concentrated
+profits both of the raw material and
+its manufacture, and, at the present moment,
+the attention of the government and
+the energies of the nation are directed to
+its encouragement in every department,
+with an earnestness that well bespeaks their
+intimate sense of its importance.</p>
+
+<p>Nor are the prudent anxieties of the Belgium
+ministry on this point without serious
+and just grounds. Their ability to enter into
+competition with England in the production
+of either yarn or linen cloth, arises
+solely from the fortunate circumstance to
+which I have just alluded, that not only
+do they themselves produce the raw material
+for their own manufactures, but it is they,
+who, likewise, supply it to their competitors,
+almost at their own price. <i>Such is the superiority
+of Belgian flax, that whilst, in some
+instances, it has brought so high a price as
+£220 per ton, and generally ranges from £80
+to £90; not more than £90 has in any instance
+that I ever heard of, been obtained for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span>
+British, and its ordinary average does not
+exceed £50.</i></p>
+
+<p>The elements of their trade are, therefore,
+two-fold, the growth of flax, and secondly,
+its conversion by machinery into yarn and
+cloth. In the latter alone, from the relative
+local circumstances of the two countries,
+it is utterly impossible that Belgium
+could successfully maintain the contest
+with England, with her inferior machinery,
+her more costly fuel, and her circumscribed
+sale; but aided by the other happy advantage
+of being enabled to supply herself with the
+raw material at the lowest possible rate, and
+her rivals at the highest, she is in possession
+of a position of the very last importance.</p>
+
+<p>But, should any circumstance arise to
+alter this relative position, should England
+wisely apply herself to the promotion of
+such an improvement in the cultivation and
+dressing of her flax at home as would
+render it in quality equal to that for which
+she is now dependent for her supply from
+abroad—should India or her own colonies<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span>
+betake themselves to its production, or
+should some other country, adopting the
+processes of Belgium, supplant her in the
+market, and thus reduce her competition
+with England to a mere contest with machinery,
+the linen trade of Belgium could
+not by any possibility sustain the struggle,
+and her staple manufacture for centuries
+would pass, at once, into the hands of her
+rivals.</p>
+
+<p>Conscious of their critical situation in
+this respect, the King of Holland, during his
+fifteen years’ administration of the Netherlands,
+bestowed a care upon the encouragement
+and improvement of their mechanical
+skill, which may have, perhaps, been carried
+to an unwise extreme; and with a
+similar anxiety for the maintenance of their
+ascendancy in the other department, the
+ministers of King Leopold have devoted
+a sedulous attention to the cultivation
+of flax; and the very week of my
+arrival at Ostend, a commission had just
+returned from England, whose inquiries had
+been specially directed to the question of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span>
+imposing restrictions upon its exportation.</p>
+
+<p>Much of the uneasiness of the government
+upon this head, arises, at the present
+moment, from the necessity of promoting
+vigorously the spinning by machinery, and,
+at the same time, the difficulty of finding
+employment for the thousands who now
+maintain themselves by the old system of
+spinning by hand, and whom the successful
+introduction of the new process will
+deprive of their ordinary means of subsistence.
+Although this is one of those complaints
+to which we have long been familiarized
+in England, and which the people
+of this country have, at length, come to
+perceive is not amongst—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="center">“Those ills that kings or laws can cause or cure,”</p>
+</div>
+
+<p class="noin">the alarm and perplexity of the Belgians,
+and their earnest expostulation on finding
+their employment suddenly withdrawn,
+have caused no little embarrassment to their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span>
+own government; and a formidable party,
+both in the country and in the House of
+Representatives, have been gravely consulting
+as to the best means of securing a
+continuance of their “ancient industry” to
+the hand-spinners at home, by restricting
+the export of flax to be spun by machinery
+abroad!</p>
+
+<p>The practicability of this, and the propriety
+of imposing a duty upon all flax
+shipped for England, was understood to be
+the subject of inquiry by the commission
+despatched by the Chambers to England,
+which consisted of Count d’Hane, a member
+of the upper house, M. Couls, the
+representative for the great linen district of
+St. Nicolas, and M. Briavionne, a successful
+writer upon Belgian commerce, and one
+or two other gentlemen connected with the
+linen trade.</p>
+
+<p>The application of machinery to the manufacture
+of linen yarn, though comparatively
+recent in its introduction into Belgium,
+has, nevertheless, made a surprising
+progress, and bids fair, if unimpeded, to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span>
+maintain a creditable rivalry with Great
+Britain. The offer by Napoleon, in 1810,
+of a reward of a million of francs for the
+discovery of a process by which linen could
+be spun into yarn with the same perfection
+as cotton, naturally gave a stimulus to all
+the artisans of the empire, and almost simultaneously
+with its promulgation, a manufacturer
+of Belgium, called Bawens, announced
+his application of the principle of
+spinning through water, which is now in
+universal use. The old system of dry spinning,
+however, still obtained and was persevered
+in till superseded, at a very recent
+period, by the invention of Bawens, improved
+by all the subsequent discoveries in
+England and France.</p>
+
+<p>The seat of the manufacture, at present,
+is at Ghent and Liege, and is confined to
+a very few extensive establishments, projected
+by joint stock companies, or Sociétés
+Anonymes,<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> for the formation of which,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span>
+there has latterly been almost a mania in
+Belgium. Four of these establishments,
+projected between 1837 and 1838, proposed
+to invest a capital amounting amongst the
+whole, to no less than fourteen millions of
+francs. One of them at Liege, perfected its
+intention and is now in action. A second,
+at Malines (Mechlin), was abandoned
+after the buildings had been erected, and
+the other two at Ghent, are still only
+in process of completion. Besides these,
+there is a third at Ghent, in the hands
+of an individual, calculated for 10,000
+spindles.</p>
+
+<p>That which we visited belonging to <i>La
+Société de la Lys</i>, may be taken as a fair<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span>
+illustration of the progress which the art
+has made in Belgium, as the others are all
+constructed on similar models, and with the
+same apparatus in all respects. It was originally
+calculated for 15,000 spindles, but of
+these not more than one third are yet erected,
+and in motion, and but 5,000 others are in
+preparation. The steam engines were made
+in England, by Messrs. Hall, of Dartford,
+on the principle known as Wolf’s patent,
+which, using two cylinders, combines both
+a high and low pressure, and is wrought
+with one half to one third the fuel
+required for the engines, in ordinary use in
+England,<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> an object of vast importance in a
+country where coals are so expensive as they<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span>
+are in Belgium.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> The machinery is all made
+at the Phœnix works in Ghent, the preparatory
+portions of it are excellent, and exhibit
+all the recent English improvements, and
+in roving they use the new spiral frames.
+But the spinning rooms show the Belgian
+mechanics to be still much behind those of
+Leeds and Manchester, as evinced by the
+clumsiness and imperfect finish of the
+frames, although they were still producing
+excellent work; the yarn we saw being of
+good quality, but of a coarse description,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span>
+and intended for home consumption, 
+and for the thread-makers of Lisle. The
+quantity produced, per day, was quite equal
+to that of English spinners,<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> and their
+wages much the same as those paid in Ireland,
+and somewhat less than the English.<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a></p>
+
+<p>On the whole, the linen trade of Belgium,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span>
+notwithstanding its extensive preparation
+of machinery, and the extraordinary demand
+for its flax, must be regarded as in
+anything but a safe or a permanent position.
+In those stronger articles which can be
+made from flax of English growth, the
+English considerably undersell her already;
+an important trade is, at this moment, carried
+on in the north of Ireland in exporting
+linen goods to Germany, whence they were
+formerly imported into England, and whence
+they are still sent into Belgium, where the
+damask trade of Courtrai, which has been
+perpetually declining since 1815, is now, all
+but superseded by the weavers of Saxony
+and Herrnhut; and the tickens of Turnhout,
+by those woven from the strong thread of
+Brunswick.</p>
+
+<p>The contemplated measure of the French
+government, to impose a heavy duty on
+the importation of linen-yarn, will, if persevered
+in, be most prejudicial to the
+spinners of Belgium, as more or less, it
+must inevitably diminish their consumption.
+On the other hand, as England
+herself may be said to grow no flax for her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span>
+own manufacture, and that of Ireland is
+not only far inferior in quality to the Dutch
+and Belgian, but inadequate to her own consumption,
+and every year increasing in demand
+and rising in price,—so long as Great
+Britain is thus dependant upon her own rivals
+for a supply of the raw material to feed her
+machinery, at an expense of from 8 to 10
+per cent, for freight and charges, in addition
+to its high first cost, and whilst she must,
+at the same time, compete with them in
+those continental markets, which are open
+to them both, the spinning mills of Belgium
+cannot but be regarded otherwise than as
+formidable opponents. Nor is this apprehension
+diminished by the fact, that Belgium,
+which a few years since had no
+machinery for spinning yarn, except what
+she obtained from other countries, or could
+smuggle from England at a serious cost, is
+now enabled to manufacture her own, and
+has all the minerals, metals, and fuel within
+herself, which combined with industry and
+skilled labour, are essential to bring it to
+perfection. For the present, the English
+manufacturer, has a protection in the cost of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span>
+his machinery alone—the factory of the
+<i>Société de la Lys</i> cost £80,000 to erect, which
+supposing its 10,000 spindles to be in action,
+would be £8 per spindle, and as only the one
+half of these are at present employed, the
+actual cost is sixteen pounds; whilst an extensive
+mill can be erected in Ireland for
+from £4 to £5, and in England for even less.
+The difference of interest upon such
+unequal investments, must be a formidable
+deduction from the actual profits of the
+Belgians.</p>
+
+<p>We returned to our Hotel by a shady
+promenade along the <i>Coupure</i>, which connects
+the waters of the Lys with the canal
+of Bruges, the banks of which planted with a
+triple row of tall trees, form one of the most
+fashionable lounges and drives in Ghent.
+Opening upon it are the gardens of the
+Casino, a Grecian building of considerable
+extent, constructed in 1836 for the two
+botanical and musical societies of Ghent,
+and, in which, the one holds its concerts,
+and the other its spring and autumn exhibition
+of flowers. At the rear of the building
+is a large amphitheatre with seats cut from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span>
+the mossy bank and planted with flowers,
+where the <i>Société de St. Cecile</i> give their Concerts
+d’Eté, which are held in the open air,
+in summer, and at which as many as six
+thousand persons have occasionally been
+accommodated.</p>
+
+<p>In the rearing of flowers, Belgium and
+more especially Ghent, has outrivalled the
+ancient florists of Holland, the city is
+actually environed with gardens and green-houses,
+and those of the Botanical Society,
+are celebrated throughout Europe for their
+successful cultivation of the rarest exotics.
+At Ghent their sale has, in fact, become an
+important branch of trade; plants to the
+value of a million and a half of francs having
+been exported annually, on account of the
+gardeners in the vicinity; and it is no
+unusual thing to see in the rivers, vessels
+freighted entirely with Camellias, Azaleas,
+and Orange trees, which are sent to all
+parts of Europe, even to Russia by the
+florists of Ghent.</p>
+
+<p>The general appearance of the city, without
+being highly picturesque, is to a
+stranger, of the most agreeable I remember<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span>
+to have seen. It does not present 
+in the mass of its houses and buildings, that
+uniform air of grave antiquity which belongs
+to those of Bruges, the greater
+majority of the streets having been often
+rebuilt and modernized, as well as from the
+effects of civic commotions, as to suit the
+exigencies of trade and manufactures, which,
+when they deserted the rest of Belgium,
+seem to have concentrated themselves here.
+Its modern houses are almost all constructed
+on the Italian model, with ample
+<i>portes-cochers</i>, spacious court yards, lofty
+staircases, tall windows, and frequently
+frescoes and bas-reliefs, to decorate the
+exterior.<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Almost every house is furnished
+with an <i>espion</i>, a small plate of looking-glass
+fixed outside the window, at such an
+angle, that all that is passing in the street
+is seen by those inside, without their appearing
+themselves.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span></p>
+
+<p>Here and there upon the quays and in
+the narrower streets, there are to be found
+the gloomy old residences of the “Men
+of Ghent,” now converted into inns or
+ware-rooms, with their sharp tilted roofs,
+high stepped gables, abutting on the
+street, fantastic chimneys, and mullioned
+windows, sunk deep into the walls.
+And turning some sudden corner in a narrow
+passage obstructed by lumbering
+waggons, drawn by oxen, one finds himself
+in front of some huge old tower, or venerable
+belfry, covered with gothic sculpture,
+and stretching up to the sky till he has to
+bend back his head to descry the summit of
+it. One singular old building on the Quai
+aux Herbes, remarkable for its profusion
+of Saxon arches and stone carvings, was
+the Hall of the Watermen, whose turbulent
+insurrection under John Lyon, is detailed
+with quaint circumstantiality in the pages of
+Froissart. But in the main, the streets of
+Ghent are lively and attractive, and its
+squares, spacious and planted with trees,
+forming a striking contrast to the melancholy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span>
+brick and mortar buildings, that compose 
+the manufacturing towns of England.
+Here too, as in Manchester and Leeds, the
+population seem all alive and active, but
+instead of the serious and important earnestness
+which one sees in every countenance
+in Lancashire, the Gantois seems to go
+about his affairs with cheerfulness and
+alacrity, as if he was less employed on
+business than amusement. The canals
+are filled with heavily laden barges, and
+the quays with long narrow waggons of
+most primitive construction, into which
+they unload their cargoes; whilst the number
+of handsome private carriages, that one
+sees in every thoroughfare, bespeak, at once,
+the wealth and refinement of the population.
+The shops are exceedingly good
+though not particularly moderate in their
+charges, and I was somewhat surprised to
+see as an attraction on the sign boards at
+the doors of the drapers and modistes, the
+announcement that <i>Scotch</i> and <i>English goods</i>
+were to be had within. Altogether the combination
+of antique singularity with modern<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span>
+comfort, commercial bustle, wealth, gaiety,
+cleanliness, and vivacity, which is to
+be seen at Ghent, cannot fail to strike the
+most hurried traveller, and I doubt much
+whether it is to be found in equal perfection,
+in any other city of the continent of equal
+extent.</p>
+
+<p>Every quarter of the city exhibits traces of
+the former wealth of the burghers, and every
+building has some tradition characteristic
+of the fiery turbulence of this little municipal
+republic. Bruges and Ghent are, in
+this regard, by far the most interesting
+towns of Flanders. Brussels, Liege and
+Ypres, are all of more modern date and
+infinitively less historical importance, during
+the stormy period of the Flemish annals
+from the 12th to the 16th century. Ghent
+was a fortified town a thousand years ago,
+when its citadel was erected by Baldwin
+of the Iron Arm, but it was only with the
+rage for the Crusades, that the wealth and
+importance of the towns of the Low Countries
+arose; when the Seigneurs, in order
+to obtain funds to equip them for their
+expeditions to the Holy Land, released the inhabitants<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span>
+of the towns from their vassalage, 
+and sold to them the lands on which their
+cities were built, and all the rights of self government,
+privileges which subsequently assumed
+the form of a corporate constitution.
+Ghent thus obtained her independence
+from Philip of Alsace, in 1178, and for the
+first time secured the right of free assembly,
+the election of her own provosts, a common
+seal, and belfry, always an indispensable
+accompaniment of civic authority, and important
+in sounding the alarm and convoking
+the citizens upon every emergency.</p>
+
+<p>It was in consequence of these momentous
+concessions, that whilst the lords
+of the soil and their agrarian followers were
+wasting their energies in distant war, or
+subsisting by rapine and violence against
+one another, the inhabitants of the towns,
+secured within their walls and fortified
+places, were enabled to devote themselves
+to manufactures and to commerce, and
+thus to concentrate in their own hands, the
+largest proportion, by far, of the monied
+wealth of the Netherlands.</p>
+
+<p>But, coupled with their high privileges,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span>
+there were also some restrictions, to which
+we of to-day are indebted for the vast and
+magnificent edifices which the burghers of
+these flourishing communities have left for
+our wonder and admiration. The rights
+accorded to them by their Seigneurs were
+rigidly confined to the limits of their own
+walls, no free burgher could purchase or
+hold landed estate beyond the circuit of his
+municipality; and thus, whilst driven to
+accumulate capital in the pursuit of trade
+and traffic, they were equally constrained to
+invest it, not in land, like the retired merchants
+of modern times, but in the construction
+of these vast palaces and private
+mansions, and in the decorations of their
+dwellings, and the adornment of their cities.</p>
+
+<p>It is to this political circumstance of
+their position that we are to refer, in order
+to account for the extent and splendour of
+those ancient houses which we meet at
+every turning in Bruges and Ghent—for
+the costly carvings and sculptured decorations
+of their fronts and interiors, and for
+the quantity of paintings and ornaments in
+which they abound.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span></p>
+
+<p>The accumulation of their municipal resources,
+too, required to be similarly disposed
+of, and was applied to the erection of
+their lofty belfries, the construction of those
+gigantic towers which are elevated on all
+their churches, and to the building of their
+town halls and hôtels-de-ville, whose magnitude
+and magnificence, are a matter,
+equally of admiration of the genius which
+designed, and astonishment at the wealth
+which was necessary to erect them.</p>
+
+<p>As the towns increased in prosperity and
+wealth, money always sufficed to buy from
+their sovereigns fresh privileges and powers,
+and fresh accessions of territory to be added
+to their municipal districts, till, at length,
+the trades became so numerous as to enroll
+themselves in companies, half civil and
+half military, whilst all united to form
+those trading commandaries or Hansen,
+the spread of which, over the north-west of
+Germany, forms so remarkable a feature
+in the history of commerce and civilization.
+Foremost in the Netherlands in the race
+of prosperity was Ghent, which, within a
+century from its enfranchisement, by Philip<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span>
+of Alsace, rendered itself, in effect, the
+capital of Flanders, with an extent and importance
+even greater than the capital of
+France, whence Charles V subsequently
+ventured upon his bon mot, that he could
+put all Paris in his <i>glove</i> “<i>dans mon gant</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>But with this increase of prosperity, increased,
+also, the troubles and cares of
+these republican communities; their excessive
+wealth at once engendering internal
+rivalries and faction, and inviting foreign
+cupidity and invasion. “Never,” says
+Hallam, “did liberty wear a more unamiable
+aspect than among the burghers of
+the Netherlands, who abused the strength
+she gave them, by cruelty and insolence.”
+The entire history of Bruges and Ghent,
+but especially the latter, is, in fact, a series
+of wars, to repel the aggressions of France,
+or to suppress the turbulence and insurrectionary
+spirit of their own citizens. These
+were not the mere tumultuous skirmishes
+which have been dignified by the title of
+<i>wars</i> amongst the rival cities and states of
+northern Italy about the same period, and
+in which it not unfrequently happened that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span>
+no blood was spilt; but in the battles of
+Courtrai, Rosebeke and Everghem, the citizens
+could send 20 to 40,000 soldiers into
+the field, and conducted their hostilities
+almost upon the scale of modern warfare.
+At Courtrai, “the men of Ghent” carried
+off seven hundred golden spurs from
+the defeated nobles of France. When
+Charles VII was preparing to expel the
+English from Calais, Philip the Good was
+able to send him 40,000 men as a subsidy,
+of whom 16,000 were from Ghent alone.</p>
+
+<p>Nor were these <i>internal</i> feuds upon a
+minor scale. Jacques van Artevelde, the
+Masaniello of Flanders, and more generally
+known as “<i>the Brewer of Ghent</i>,” from
+his having joined the guild of that trade,
+from which he was afterwards chosen by
+fifty other corporations of tradesmen, as
+the head of each, was enabled to organize
+such an army of the city companies, as to
+render his alliance an object of importance
+to Edward III of England, when making
+his preparations for invading France.</p>
+
+<p>Under this extraordinary “tribune of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span>
+the people,” Ghent was enabled, virtually,
+to cast off its allegiance to the courts of
+Flanders, to elect Artevelde as their Ruwaert
+or Protector, and to bid defiance to
+their native sovereign, backed by all the
+power of France. Artevelde became the
+personal friend and counsellor of the English
+King, who sent ambassadors to his
+court, and entered into alliance with the
+city he commanded in conjunction with
+that of Bruges and Ypres. It was at the
+suggestion of Artevelde, that Edward quartered
+the arms of France and assumed the
+fleur de lis, which for so many centuries
+was borne upon the shield of England; and
+it was in the palace of the Flemish demagogue,
+that Queen Philippa gave birth to a
+son, whose name has made Ghent familiar
+in the annals of England:—</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="center">“Old John of <i>Gaunt</i>, time honoured Lancaster.”</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Ruwaert in honour of Philippa gave
+her name to his son, who, at a subsequent
+period, became the demagogue of Ghent,
+and who,</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span></p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent10">“Dire rebel though he was,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Yet with a noble nature and great gifts</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Was he endowed: courage, discretion, wit,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">An equal temper and an ample soul,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Rock bound and fortified against assaults</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of transitory passion: but below</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Built on a surgeing subterranean fire</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That stirred and lifted him to high attempts,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">So prompt and capable, and yet so calm.</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">He nothing lacked in sovereignty but the right;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nothing in soldiership except good fortune.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="right">
+<i>Taylor’s Philip van Artevelde.</i>
+</p>
+
+<p>But the fate, like the fortune of Artevelde,
+was characteristic of the proverbial
+caprice and vacillations of republican popularity.
+After being for ten years or more,
+the idol of the people, he presumed to induce
+them to expel the Counts of Flanders
+from the succession, and to acknowledge
+the Black Prince, the son of his friend, as
+their sovereign in his stead; but his followers,
+startled at so bold a proposition,
+made a pretence for getting rid of their
+“protector,” and massacred Artevelde in
+his own house, which they burned to the
+ground, “Poor men raised him,” says
+Froissart, “and wicked men slew him.”</p>
+
+<p>Thirty years after, when Flanders, by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span>
+the marriage of Margaret with Philip the
+Hardy, Duke of Burgundy, became united
+with that sovereignty, and the citizens were
+again at war amongst themselves, “the
+men of Ghent” elected Philip van Artevelde,
+godson of Queen Philippa, and her
+namesake, the son of their former favourite
+and victim, as their leader in their strifes
+with the burghers of Bruges, who were
+about to cut a canal from their city to
+Denys, which would have been injurious to
+the prosperity of Ghent, which had “the
+harvest of the river for her revenue,” when
+Philip defeated the army of Louis le Mael,
+entered Bruges in triumph, and carried off
+the Golden Dragon as large as an ox, which,
+till lately, surmounted the belfry of Ghent,
+and is said to have been brought home by
+the Flemings who followed Count Baldwin to
+Constantinople.</p>
+
+<p>For sometime, in the heyday of good
+fortune,</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent4">“Van Artevelde in all things aped</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The state and bearing of a sovereign prince;</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Had bailiffs, masters of the horse, receivers,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">A chamber of accompt, a hall of audience;</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Off gold and silver eat, was clad in robes</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Of scarlet furred with minever, gave feasts</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">With minstrelsy and dancing, night and day——”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>But the power of France leagued with
+his native sovereign was irresistible, and
+at the battle of Rosebeke, he laid down, at
+once, his usurped authority and his life.</p>
+
+<p>Under the Dukes of Burgundy, the annals
+of these remarkable military merchants
+is the same continued story of broils and
+battles, and the union of Flanders to Austria,
+by the marriage of Mary of Burgundy,
+only brought a fresh line of combatants
+into the Low Countries.</p>
+
+<p>In 1500, Charles V, the grandson of this
+ominous alliance, was born at Ghent, in the
+old château of the Counts of Flanders, the
+remains of which are still to be seen in the
+Place de St. Pharailde, converted into a
+cotton factory, the lofty chimney of which
+now pours its volume of smoke above the
+cradle of a monarch who made it his boast,
+that “the sun never set upon his dominions.”</p>
+
+<p>With the same fiery independence of
+their forefathers, the “men of Ghent,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span>
+resisted the despotism of the Emperor as
+sturdily as they had done the exactions of
+their Earls and Dukes; and it was after
+quelling one of these insurrections, that
+Charles, intent on devising a punishment
+for their contumacy, was advised by the
+Duke of Alva, the future Moloch of the
+Netherlands under Philip II, to raze it to
+its foundations, when Charles replied by
+pointing to its towers and palaces, and
+asking him in a repetition of his former
+witticism, “combien il croyait qu’il fallait
+de peaux (<i>villes</i>) d’Espagne, pour faire un
+<i>gant</i> de cette grandeur.”</p>
+
+<p>Charles, however, exacted a punishment
+more humiliating, if not so savage as that
+contemplated by the <i>bourreau</i> of the church,
+by repealing all the charters of the city,
+dismounting their famous bell, Roland,
+fining the community, and compelling the
+ringleaders to supplicate his mercy in
+their shirts, with halters round their necks,
+a ceremony which is erroneously said to
+have been commemorated by the magistrates
+of Ghent continuing to wear the rope,
+as a part of their official costume, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span>
+which is still kept alive in the distich which
+enumerates the characteristics of the Flemish
+cities:—</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Nobilibus Bruxella viris—Antuerpiæ nummis</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Gandavum laqueis, formosis Brugia puellis</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Lovanium doctis, gaudet Mechlinia stultis.<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>With the abdication of Charles V, that
+most remarkable incident in the history of
+kings, which took place in the church of
+St. Gudule at Brussels, and the accession
+of Philip II, arose the reign of terror in
+the Netherlands, when Alva and his bloodhounds
+ravaged Flanders, and their successors,
+for twenty years, rendered her cities
+abattoirs of Europe.</p>
+
+<p>In these events, Ghent took a prominent
+part, and the siege of her citadel, which
+was garrisoned by the Spaniards, affords the
+noble story of its defence till reduced by
+famine, when the Flemish, on its surrender,
+discovered that its heroic resistance
+had been the work of a woman, Madame<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span>
+Mondragon, the wife of the commandant,
+who, in the absence of her husband, had
+assumed his command, and capitulated only
+when hunger and disease had reduced her
+little garrison to one hundred and fifty
+souls, including herself and her children.
+Philip, weary of the war, and assured of
+the loss of Holland, which had adopted its
+liberator, the Prince of Orange, as its sovereign,
+compromised in some degree with
+the Flemish, by separating their country
+from the crown of Spain, and conferring it
+on his daughter, Isabella, by whose marriage
+with Albert, it became again united
+to the house of Austria, under whose dominion
+it remained, with the exception of
+its brief occupation by Louis XIV previous
+to the treaty of Utrecht, till incorporated
+with the French republic in 1794, and subsequently
+annexed to Holland in February
+1815.</p>
+
+<p>The streets of Ghent are full of monuments
+and reminiscences of these stormy
+and singular times. In a small triangular
+place, called the Toad’s-corner (Padden
+hoek), stood the house of the elder Artevelde<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span>
+and the scene of his murder; that which
+has been erected upon the spot, bears an
+inscription on its front:—“<span class="allsmcap">ICI PERIT VICTIME
+D’UNE FACTION, LE XXVII JUILLET
+MCCCXXXXV, JACQUES VON ARTAVELDE QUI
+ELEVA LES COMMUNES DE FLANDRE A UNE
+HAUTE PROSPERITÉ.</span>”</p>
+
+<p>In the <i>Hôtel de Ville</i>, one of the enormous
+edifices of the period, in Moresco
+gothic architecture, the celebrated declaration,
+called “the Pacification of Ghent,”
+by which the states of the Netherlands
+formed their federation to resist the tyrannous
+bigotry of Philip II, was signed by
+the representatives of Holland and Belgium
+in 1576.</p>
+
+<p>Close by it stands the belfry from which
+Charles V directed the removal of the pride
+of the burghers, their ponderous bell <i>Roland</i>,
+which, by turns, sounded the tocsin
+of revolt, or chimed in the carillon of loyalty;
+the tradition says it was of such dimensions
+as to weigh six tons, and was
+encircled by an inscription:—</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">Mynen naem is Roland—als ick clippe dan is’t brandt</div>
+<div class="verse indent0">Al sick luyde, dan is’t <i>storm in Vlaenderlande</i>.</div>
+</div></div></div>
+<blockquote><p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span></p>
+<p>“<i>When I ring, there is fire; when I toll, there is a tempest in Flanders.</i>”</p>
+ </blockquote>
+
+<p class="noin">And many a stormy reveille it must have
+pealed over the hive of turbulent craftsmen
+who swarmed around its base.</p>
+
+<p>Not far from the belfry, is the Friday
+market (<i>Marché de Vendredi</i>), “the forum”
+of ancient Ghent, where all its municipal
+ceremonies were solemnized, and all its
+popular assemblies were convened, to the
+tolling of their favourite bell; in which,
+also, the Counts of Flanders took the oath
+of inauguration, on their accession to the
+sovereignty. It was here that John Lyon
+convened his guild of watermen, and persuaded
+them to assume the old symbol of
+revolt, the white hood, in order to resist
+the exactions of Louis le Mael; and it was
+here that John Breydel, another fiery demagogue,
+marshalled his band of “lion’s
+claws” in 1300, and led them to the “Battle
+of the Spurs” at Courtrai; and it was
+here that Jacques van Artevelde, at the
+head of his “trades’ union,” was proclaimed
+Ruwaert of Flanders. It was here<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span>
+that the commotions, so quaintly detailed by
+Froissart, took place between the fullers
+and the weavers, on Black Monday, in
+1345, when the latter were expelled from
+Ghent, after leaving fifteen hundred of their
+number dead in the streets; and it was
+here that, in later times, the ferocious
+Duke of Alva lit the flames of the inquisition,
+and consumed the contumacious protestants
+of the Low Countries.</p>
+
+<p>In Ghent, almost every great event in
+the chronicles of the old city is, more or less,
+identified with the Marché de Vendredi.
+In the centre of its square, the citizens, in
+1600, erected a column to the memory of
+Charles V, which was levelled by the French
+republicans in 1794, in order to plant the
+tree of liberty on its foundation.</p>
+
+<p>In a recess of this market-place, stands
+the wonder of Ghent, “<i>la merveille de
+Gand</i>,” an enormous cannon of the fourteenth
+century, used by Philip van Artevelde,
+at the siege of Audenarde in
+1382; but how it was ever dragged 
+<span class="err" title="original: to to">to</span> the field, or manœuvred in the action, is
+one of the enigmas of ancient warfare, as it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span>
+is upwards of eighteen feet long, ten inches
+in the diameter of the bore, and weighs
+thirty-nine thousand pounds. It is made of
+malleable iron, and is mentioned by Froissart
+as discharging balls during the siege, with
+a report which “was heard at five leagues
+distance by day, and ten by night,” and
+sounded as if “<i>tous les diables d’enfer fussent
+en chemin</i>.” It was brought from Audenarde
+to Ghent, having, I presume, been
+left upon the field by the discomfited Flemings.
+Its popular soubriquet is “<i>Dulle
+Greite</i>,” or Mad Margaret, in compliment
+to a Countess of Flanders, of violent memory,
+who is still known by the traditional
+title of “the Black Lady,” given to her by
+her subjects.</p>
+
+<p>These and a thousand similar records
+and memorials of the olden time, render a
+stroll through the streets of Ghent, one of
+singular interest and amusement; and, perhaps,
+there is no city of Europe which more
+abounds in these relics of local history, or
+has preserved so many characteristics of
+manners and customs in keeping with its
+associations of the past.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</h2>
+
+<p class="center">GHENT.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="hang">Manufacture of machinery in Ghent—Great works of the
+Phœnix—Exertions of the King of Holland to promote
+this branch of art—His success—Policy of England in
+permitting the export of tools—Effect of their prohibiting
+the export of machines upon the continental artists—Present
+state of the manufactures in Belgium—<i>The Phœnix</i>,
+its extent, arrangements and productions—<i>The canal of
+Sas de Gand</i>—<i>The Beguinage</i>—Tristam Shandy—The
+churches of Ghent—Religious animosity of the Roman
+Catholics—<i>The cathedral of St. Bavon</i>—Chef-d’œuvre of
+Van Eyck—Candelabra of Charles I—Carved pulpit—<i>Church
+of St. Michael</i>—Vandyck’s crucifixion—The
+The brotherhood of St. Ivoy—Church of St. Sauveur—Singular
+picture in the church of St. Peter—Dinner at
+M. Grenier’s—Shooting with the bow—Roads in Belgium—Domestic
+habits of the Flemings—The Flemish
+language—<i>Count d’Hane</i>—Mansion of the Countess
+d’Hane de Steenhausen—Gallery of M. Schamps—<i>The
+University</i> of Ghent—State of primary education in Belgium.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Having</span> heard so much in England of
+the gigantic scale of the establishments for
+the construction of machinery in Belgium,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span>
+we paid a visit this morning to the great
+<i>Phœnix Iron works</i> at Ghent, the largest in
+the kingdom; (indeed, I may presume, the
+largest in Europe), except those of Seraing
+near Liege. The surprising progress which
+the Belgians have, within the last few years,
+made in this department, is naturally a subject
+of the deepest interest in this country.
+Twenty years ago, the manufacturers of the
+Netherlands were altogether dependant
+upon France and England, for everything
+except the most ordinary pieces of machinery,
+which were used in the simplest
+processes—but the refusal of Great Britain,
+to permit its exportation upon any terms,
+naturally left them no alternative, but
+either to abandon their manufactures, or to
+apply their own ingenuity to the construction
+of machinery for themselves. To the
+encouragement of the latter attempt, the
+King of Holland, for the fifteen years that
+Belgium was under his protection, applied
+himself with an energy and zeal, that is
+positively without parallel; patronage, personal
+exertions, and pecuniary assistance,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span>
+were devoted to the promotion of this important
+object, with an assiduity and perseverance
+almost incredible; his efforts
+were crowned with perfect success, and
+even his enemies, are forced to admit that
+the singular developement which has taken
+place in the resources of Belgium, in this
+important department, are all to be ascribed
+to the untiring energy and exertions of the
+King of Holland.</p>
+
+<p>His efforts were much facilitated by the
+relaxation, in the meantime, of the policy
+of England, so far as to permit the free
+exportation of certain machinery, and what
+was of infinitely greater importance, <i>of the
+most complex and ingenious tools</i> for its construction.
+The effects of the latter measure,
+in particular, and the impetus which
+it has communicated to the manufacture
+of machinery, not only in Belgium, but in
+every other country of Europe which aspires
+to it, is positively beyond calculation. It
+gave, at once, to our continental rivals the
+very arcana of our superiority; tools that are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span>
+themselves the most beautiful and elaborate
+machines, performing like automatons operations
+that once required all the intelligence
+as well as all the dexterity of an
+artisan; lathes and planes that grapple
+with a beam of iron as if it were green
+wood, and shape and polish the most ponderous
+shafts with as much ease as a turner
+produces an ivory toy.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Placing these unreservedly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span>
+in the hands of the engineers of 
+the continent, and, at the same time, refusing
+to let them have the articles which they
+were almost spontaneously to produce, was
+neither more nor less than peremptorily
+withholding the fruit, but making no compliment
+whatever of sending the tree.</p>
+
+<p>The refusal of Great Britain to concede
+the whole question has, at all times, excited
+an intense feeling on the continent, and
+the Belgians themselves are amongst the
+loudest in denouncing this “jealous and
+narrow-minded policy of England;” forgetful
+that they themselves in 1814 adopted
+identically the same course, and prohibited
+under pain of fine and imprisonment the
+exit of their own machinery or artisans, such
+as they were! Even now, the value of that
+which England conceded, is forgotten in the
+importance attached to that which she still
+withholds, and even the appearance of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span>
+mystery connected with the prohibition
+increases its importance in imagination and
+whets the appetite to obtain it. A whimsical
+illustration of their ideas upon the
+subject occurs in the work of M. Briavionne,
+who gravely asserts that “the manufacturers
+of Lancashire, impatient to participate in
+the cares of the government upon this point,
+have submitted to a voluntary tax sufficient
+to organize a perpetual guard, which surrounds
+Manchester night and day to prevent
+the exit of machinery.”<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>However, it is notorious that notwithstanding
+these sleepless precautions and in
+spite of every prohibition, machinery of
+every description is at the present moment
+smuggled into Belgium, and every other
+state that requires it—not, perhaps, in such
+quantities as to serve for the fitting up of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span>
+extensive factories, but so as to afford a
+model of every improvement and every
+new invention for the instant adoption,
+and imitation of the continental engineers
+and mechanicians. Thus provided and
+thus encouraged, speculating upon capital
+supplied lavishly by their government,
+equipped with the most valuable English
+tools, inspected by English artisans, and
+working from English models, the Belgians
+have now far outstripped all the rest of Europe
+in the manufacture of machines of every
+description, and in all but the cost of construction,
+and that beauty of finish which
+matured skill can alone achieve, they at
+present bid fair to rival England herself in
+her peculiar and hitherto undisputed domain.</p>
+
+<p>The establishment of the Phœnix, is one
+of those which have sprung up, thus stimulated
+and thus encouraged. It was originally
+erected by an individual proprietor,
+M. Huytens Kerremans, in 1821, and attained
+much of its reputation under the
+management of an Englishman, named<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span>
+Bell, so much so, that at the period of the
+revolution in 1830, it employed upwards
+of two hundred and twenty workmen daily.
+In 1836, on the death of the proprietor, it
+passed into the hands of a joint stock company,
+by whom it has been enlarged to
+more than thrice its previous extent, at an
+expense of upwards of one million of francs.
+It is at present conducted by Mr. Windsor,
+a gentleman from Leeds, and is certainly
+the most admirably arranged establishment
+of the kind I have ever seen—those of
+England not excepted.</p>
+
+<p>It at present employs seven hundred
+hands, of whom two hundred are apprentices,
+and of the remainder, between fifty
+and sixty English. The range of its productions
+includes every species of machine
+used for spinning flax, cotton, silk, or wool,
+as well as for other manufactures in which
+machinery is required, for which there is
+a brisk demand at present, not only in
+Belgium, but for Spain, Austria, France
+and Holland. In point of finish and beauty,
+the spinning machinery is certainly, as I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span>
+have said, inferior to the English, it is
+also stated to be defective in other respects,
+but those proprietors of mills who
+are using it, made no complaints to me
+upon the subject, and seemed perfectly
+satisfied with its execution. Some of the
+heavier articles in process of construction,
+especially a spiral roving-frame which some
+English workmen were completing, seemed,
+in every respect both of finish and action,
+to be quite equal to those made at Manchester
+and Leeds.</p>
+
+<p>The establishment contains a preparatory
+workshop on a comprehensive scale,
+fitted up with small tools and machinery,
+and superintended by two competent directors,
+solely for the instruction of apprentices,
+and its success we were told had
+been most gratifying. The Englishmen
+employed at the Phœnix receive higher
+wages than the Flemings, but the majority
+of them are only retained till their original
+engagements shall have been completed,
+when their services will be dispensed with,
+and their places supplied by native workmen,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span>
+at wages not exceeding twenty francs 
+per week, and fully competent to undertake
+their duties.</p>
+
+<p>One important feature in this immense
+manufactory is, that it is gradually succeeding
+in making its own tools, instead of
+importing them as heretofore from England.
+The majority of those in use had been already
+constructed upon the spot upon
+English models, and at the moment we
+called, a planing machine, twenty feet long,
+was in process of erection, together with
+drills, sliding lathes, dividing and filing apparatus,
+and in short, every description of
+tool in use in Great Britain. In this respect,
+the directors assured me of their
+confidence of being, for the future, perfectly
+independent of any supply from abroad—but
+I should add, that afterwards at the rival establishment
+at Seraing, where all the tools
+are imported from England, I was told that
+those made at the Phœnix were not only
+much more expensive, but of inferior
+quality.</p>
+
+<p>The works were in full employment at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span>
+the period of our visit, from the fact of there
+being three flax spinning mills in course of
+construction in Ghent; but it remains to
+be seen whether its present vigorous prosperity
+is the result of a permanent cause,
+and whether the career of Belgian manufactures,
+and the demand created in consequence,
+will be such as to maintain in
+remunerative operation this splendid establishment,
+as well as that of Seraing and
+the minor works of the same kind at Brussels,
+Verviers, Namur, Charleroi and
+elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>In the neighbourhood of the Phœnix, we
+passed the great basin of the Sas de Gand
+Canal, which by connecting Ghent with
+Terneuse at the mouth of the Scheldt, has
+effectually rendered it a sea-port in the heart
+of Belgium. This bold idea was originally
+conceived by Napoleon, but carried into
+effect, and the basin completed, by the
+King of Holland only two years before he
+was driven from the country by the revolution.
+As the embouchure of the canal,
+however, is situated in Zeeland, a province<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span>
+of the Dutch dominions, its navigation was
+effectually closed from 1830 to 1839, when
+the treaty was ratified, which finally determined
+the limits of the two States. During
+those nine years, the magnificent dock at
+Ghent, and the line of the canal itself, were
+stagnant, and the passage rapidly filling up
+with sand and silt, another of the many
+inconveniences entailed upon the merchants
+of Belgium by “the repeal of the union.”
+It is at last, however, opened to the trade,
+and when we saw it, contained a number of
+vessels, some discharging cotton, and one
+taking in cargo for the Havanna. During
+the few months that had elapsed from its
+opening in October, 1839, upwards of one
+hundred and twenty vessels had entered and
+departed by it from Ghent, for Holland,
+and the Hanse Towns, London, the Mediterranean,
+and the United States.</p>
+
+<p>On our return we drove to the <i>Beguinage</i>,
+a little enclosed district, appropriated as
+the residence of an ancient community of
+nuns, who take no vow, but on contributing
+to the general funds of the community, are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span>
+admitted into the sisterhood, and devote
+their lives to works of charity and benevolence,
+especially to attendance on the sick
+and poor. They are each clad in the costume
+of the order. For a head-dress, they carry the
+<i>beguine</i>, a veil of white muslin, folded square,
+and laid flat upon the top of the head,
+whence they derive their name, with a black
+silk hood, termed a <i>faille</i>, said to have been
+anciently worn by the ladies of Flanders,
+and closely resembling, both in name and
+appearance, the <i>faldetta</i> of the Maltese.
+This interesting society contains between
+seven and eight hundred members, and
+occupies not a detached building, as elsewhere,
+but a little retired section of the
+city, surrounded by a fosse, and enclosed
+by a wall, at the gate of which, one of the
+sisterhood acts as porter. The whole is
+divided into streets, consisting of rows of
+quaint looking little houses, of venerable
+brick-work, with Dutch gables and cut stone
+windows, each door inscribed with the
+name of a particular saint, Agatha,
+Catherine, or Theresa, instead of that of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span>
+its occupant. In the centre is a spacious
+square, with an old Spanish looking church,
+rather richly ornamented, and containing a
+few curious paintings and carvings in oak.
+The order is of very high antiquity, dating
+some twelve hundred years ago, and the
+present establishment was founded in the
+thirteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>When the convents of the Low Countries
+were reduced in number by the Austrian
+government under Joseph II, he made a
+special exemption in favour of the Beguines,
+they were equally recognized and protected,
+when the French directory completed the
+suppression of the remaining religious
+houses of Belgium, and the King of
+Holland following the same example, confirmed
+them, in the possession of their privileges
+and property, by a charter granted in
+1826 or 1827. A number of the sisters
+occupy a portion of their time in making
+lace; their dwellings, streets and gardens,
+are preserved with a “beauty of cleanliness”
+truly delightful. Every thing we could
+see or learn of their inmates was characterized<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span>
+by gentleness and goodness, and 
+their active benevolence, (in spite of my
+uncle Toby’s insinuation,) the dictate of
+their heart, and not of their profession.<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a>
+In the whole aspect of their dwelling, there
+was nothing of the</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Relentless walls, whose darksome round contains,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">Repentant sighs and voluntary pains.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p class="noin">But a cheerful serenity, and an enlivening
+interest, very different from the ideas
+usually associated with the gloom of a convent.</p>
+
+<p>The churches of Ghent in which, as
+usual, the grand objects of curiosity and
+vertu are amassed and exhibited, are in point<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span>
+of number, richness, and sombre beauty, quite
+proportionate to the other attractions of
+Ghent. They are all, (with one exception,
+that of St. Peter’s, which is a copy of the one
+at Rome,) built in the same venerable and
+massive style of gothic architecture, with
+huge square turrets, lofty aisles, rich altars,
+pulpits of carved oak and marble, and
+chapels decorated with paintings by
+the old masters of the Flemish School.
+The population is almost exclusively
+Roman Catholic, hardly 2000 of its 95,000
+inhabitants being of the reformed religion.
+For the use of the latter, a church was appropriated
+by the King of Holland, in
+1817, which had once been attached to a
+convent of Capuchins, and on their suppression,
+had been converted into a military
+magazine and hospital by the French.
+Such, however, was the animosity of the
+priesthood to this act of toleration on the
+part of the King, that it was for some time
+necessary to station a guard, both within
+the church and without, to protect those<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span>
+who frequented it from violence or insult.
+And yet Ghent has the reputation of being
+the least intolerant and bigoted city in
+the Netherlands.</p>
+
+<p>The cathedral of St. Bavon, besides being
+the oldest, is by far the most magnificent
+in Ghent, and seems, in fact, to have a high
+reputation for its splendour, as we repeatedly
+heard of it at subsequent points of
+our tour. The whole of the basement is
+occupied by one vast crypt or <i>souterrain</i>,
+the low vaulted arches of which, rest on
+the shafts of the huge columns which
+support the roof of the grand edifice
+above. Like it, it is divided into a series
+of little gloomy chapels, containing the
+tombs of some of the ancient families of distinction,
+and occasionally decorated by pictures
+and statues of extreme antiquity.
+The brothers John and Hubert Van Eyck,
+the painters and their sister, who was likewise
+an artist, sleep in one grave under the
+floor of this melancholy vault. Over the
+grand entrance to the cathedral is a curious
+old statue of St. Bavon holding a hawk<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span>
+upon his wrist, a curious attitude, though
+characteristic of the manners of the times.
+The coup-d’œil of the interior is surprisingly
+grand, the choir being separated from
+the nave and aisles by lofty columns of
+variegated marbles, and the entrance to each
+of the four and twenty chapels which surround
+the church, covered by a screen of neat
+design, sometimes in carved oak or stone,
+but more frequently in gilded brass or
+iron of exquisite workmanship.</p>
+
+<p>The numerous paintings with which the
+church is covered are few of them of extraordinary
+merit, they are chiefly by the
+artists, contemporary and subsequent to
+Rubens, Crayer, Otto Vennius, Honthorst,
+Serghers and others. The most remarkable
+painting is that of the Saint Agneau or
+adoration of the lamb by the Van Eycks.
+It is in marvellous preservation, and is one
+of the most valuable specimens remaining
+of the school to which it belongs. It contains
+a profusion of figures, finished with
+the richness and delicacy of a miniature,
+and represents the lamb upon an altar, in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span>
+the midst of a rich landscape, surrounded
+by angels, and worshipped by multitudes of
+popes, emperors, monks and nuns. It is
+surmounted and surrounded by a number
+of compartments, containing pictures of
+the Saviour and the Virgin, and representing
+divers incidents in the life of the former;
+in addition to these, there were originally
+six doors or <i>volets</i> to the picture, which, by
+some ignorance of the persons in charge of
+them, were actually sold in 1816 for a
+mere trifle to an Englishman called Solly,
+from whom they were bought by the King
+of Prussia, for 400,000 francs, and they now
+decorate the museum at Berlin. There is
+also a picture by Rubens, of St. Bavon
+retiring to a monastery, after having distributed
+his goods to the poor, which was
+carried by Napoleon to Paris, and restored
+in 1819.</p>
+
+<p>The choir, which is finished with
+carved mahogany, has on either side, at the
+entrance, two statues of St. Peter and St.
+Paul casting the viper from his hand, by
+Van Poucke, a modern Flemish sculptor,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span>
+who died at Rome in 1809. Among its
+other ornaments are four lofty candelabra
+of polished copper, once the property of
+Charles I of England, and sold along with
+the other decorations of the chapel at
+Whitehall by order of the Commonwealth.
+Round the altar are also some tombs of the
+former prelates of Ghent, amongst which,
+that by Duquesnoy of the Bishop Triest,
+is regarded as the finest piece of sculpture
+in the Netherlands. The mitred dignitaries
+each repose upon his sculptured
+sarcophagus, or kneel with clasped and
+upraised hands:</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Seeming to say the prayer when dead,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">That living they had never said.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>Here, again, the pulpit is an extraordinary
+production in carved wood of huge
+dimensions, but with white marble ornaments
+and figures injudiciously intermingled
+with the rich old oak. The principal
+figures are statues of Truth awakening
+Time, and presenting to him the scriptures
+with the motto, “<i>surge qui dormis illuminabit<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span>
+te Christus!</i>” This pulpit, which is 
+far inferior to those at Antwerp and elsewhere,
+is not by Verbruggen, who is the
+Canova of wood, but by an artist of Ghent,
+called Laurence Delvaux, who died about
+1780.</p>
+
+<p>The other churches present a succession
+of objects which is almost as tiresome to
+visit as it is tedious to enumerate. That
+of St. Michael, in extent and magnificence,
+is second only to the cathedral.
+Amongst a host of ordinary
+paintings, and some by modern artists,
+especially one of great merit, by Paelinck,
+a native of Ghent, it possesses a chef
+d’œuvre of Vandyk, a “Crucifixion,” in
+which he has introduced the same magnificent
+horse as in his picture of Charles V, in
+the Sal di Baroccio, at Florence. Sir Joshua
+Reynolds calls it “one of his noblest
+works.” It had been injured by repeated
+cleanings, but M. Voisin, the historian of
+Ghent, observes with much naïveté, “qu’il
+vient d’être restauré par un artiste habile.”
+Who he may be who has ventured to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span>
+restore a chef-d’œuvre of Vandyck, M.
+Voisin discreetly forbears to name.</p>
+
+<p>An association, called the Brotherhood
+of St. Ivoy, formerly met in this church,
+which was composed of the most distinguished
+members of the bar, who gave
+advice to the poor, and bore the expense
+of any legal process which it might be necessary
+to institute for them out of a
+common fund. This law hospital has not,
+however, survived the revolution of 1830.
+The music and choir of St. Michael’s are
+remarkably fine, the organ is of extraordinary
+richness and volume, and nothing
+could possibly be more sublime than its
+melodious tones resounding amidst the
+“dim religious light” of the old gothic
+church, when</p>
+
+<div class="poetry-container">
+<div class="poetry">
+  <div class="stanza">
+    <div class="verse indent0">“Through the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault,</div>
+    <div class="verse indent0">The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.”</div>
+  </div>
+</div>
+</div>
+
+<p>In the church of St. Sauveur, Rue des
+Prêtres, there is a painting of the “Descent
+from the Cross,” by Van Hanslaere, one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span>
+of the most distinguished living artists of
+Belgium, and in that of St. Peter, a copy
+by Van Thulden, from Rubens’ picture of
+the Triumph of Truth over Luther and
+Calvin, who are represented in the agonies
+of annihilation, trampled underfoot by the
+rampant followers of Truth, who are pursuing
+their disciples in all directions. In
+the foreground, a lion is introduced allegorically,
+pawing a wolf whom he has just
+strangled, emblematic, no doubt, of the
+fall of heresy under the hands of the church.</p>
+
+<p>We drove to the village of Gavre, about
+ten miles from Ghent, to dine at the villa
+of M. Grenier, a very splendid house recently
+erected upon one of the very few
+elevated points, for it cannot be called a
+hill, which are to be found in Flanders,
+and which, from the vast level plain over
+which it rises, commands a most enchanting
+view; the ancient town of Audenarde
+lying <span class="err" title="original: immediatetely">immediately</span> in front, and the “lazy
+Scheldt” winding its devious way amidst
+innumerable hamlets, woods and villages
+as far as the eye could reach.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span></p>
+
+<p>It was at Gavre, that the Duke of Marlborough
+encamped on his triumphal march
+from Ramillies, where, after taking all the
+intervening cities and strong-holds of Flanders,
+together with Audenarde and Ghent,
+almost in the space of a week, he addresses
+thence to the Duchess the remarkable letter,
+in which he says, “so many towns have
+submitted since the battle, that it really
+looks more like a dream than truth,” and
+in another place, he says, “I am so persuaded
+that this campaign will give us a
+good peace, that I beg of you to do all you
+can that our house at Woodstock may be
+carried up as much as possible, that I may
+have a prospect of living in it.”</p>
+
+<p>It was the fête of some saint in the villages
+through which we drove, and every
+country inn seemed full of enjoyment; tents
+filled with dancers, and parties engaged in
+athletic games before the doors. In one
+place a considerable crowd were assembled
+round the maypole to shoot with the bow
+at the popinjay. This is a favourite exercise
+of the Flemings, who are exceedingly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span>
+expert in it, the company which we passed,
+was composed indifferently of the gentry
+and peasants, who seemed to enter into
+it with equal spirit. At Ghent, there is an
+association for the purpose of practising
+the use of the bow, called the Confrères de
+Saint George, a relic of the time when
+every district of Flanders had a similar
+society, all which used to meet at Ghent
+to contend for the prize, and the successful
+town caused a mass to be celebrated in honour
+of the victor, and gave to the poor
+the scarlet cloaks, laced with gold, which
+had been worn as the costume of the day.</p>
+
+<p>The roads through this part of Belgium
+are made like those of France, with a raised
+pavé in the centre only, a custom enforced,
+in a great part, by the great expense
+of bringing stones from a distance for their
+construction, scarcely any being to be
+found in Flanders or the west. The bye-roads
+being all across sand, unconsolidated
+in any way, are all but impassable.</p>
+
+<p>The Belgian hour for dinner is equally
+early with that of the tables-d’hôte, being<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span>
+from two to three or four o’clock, and as there
+is no prolonged sitting for wine afterwards,
+the entertainment ends before we in England
+think of dressing for dinner. The cuisine
+at M. Grenier’s was altogether French, including,
+however, some dishes peculiarly
+Flemish, amongst others, the large smoked
+ham, which is an invariable accompaniment
+at every table throughout Belgium,
+and seems to be in as high estimation now,
+as when Rome was supplied with them by
+the ancient Menapii of the Ardennes; it
+comes to table decorated by a chased silver
+handle screwed on to the shank bone, to
+avoid using the fork in carving it. Another
+national dish was the <i>hareng frais</i>,
+herring pickled like anchovies, and used
+like them without further cooking: it is,
+however, equally common in Holland, where
+the fishery is of high importance—in Belgium
+it is rapidly declining.</p>
+
+<p>The style of everything in M. Grenier’s
+establishment, and in those of the same
+rank where we had the honour to visit,
+was essentially French, his family having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span>
+been educated in Paris, and the conversation
+was of course in French, although
+every one at table seemed to understand
+English perfectly. Flemish is spoken only
+by the peasantry and the working classes.
+The account given of it as a dialect was,
+that “Dutch is bad German, and Flemish
+bad Dutch.” It is, however, by no means
+inharmonious, and in point of antiquity,
+I was told by Count d’Hane, that the earliest
+printed comedy in Europe still exists in
+Flemish. A stroll in the grounds after
+dinner, and music and singing on our return
+to the drawing-room concluded an
+exceedingly agreeable evening, and we
+returned early to Ghent.</p>
+
+<p class="right">
+10 September, 1840.
+</p>
+
+<p>We had, this morning, a visit from
+Count d’Hane, a member of the “senate,”
+the elective House of Peers for Belgium,
+to which he is returned for the district of
+Alost. The Count is a younger brother of
+the most distinguished family of Ghent, and
+head of the educational section of the legislature,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span>
+besides being an ardent amateur of 
+agriculture. He is married to the only
+daughter of M. de Potter (not the de Potter
+of the Revolution, however) and in conformity
+to the Flemish usage, has appended
+the name of that family to his own. We
+drove along with him to the house of his
+mother, the Dowager Countess d’Hane de
+Steenhausen, in the Rue des Champs, the
+most splendid mansion in the city, built in
+the style of Louis XIV, and containing a
+collection of choice pictures of the Dutch
+school. The dining-room is a superb
+saloon with mirrored walls, an inlaid parquet
+and richly painted ceiling: the latter,
+however, is torn down in many places, the
+soldiers of the French revolutionary army
+having thrust their sabres through it in
+1794, in the hope of finding gold concealed
+between it and the floor above, an outrage,
+the traces of which the owners have never
+removed. It was in these apartments that
+the late Count received the Emperor Alexander
+on his return from England after the
+Peace of Paris, and the same suite of rooms<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span>
+were subsequently the residence of Louis
+XVIII, who fled hither during the Hundred
+Days, and remained till the events of 1815,
+restored him to his throne.</p>
+
+<p>A few doors distant in the same street,
+we visited the gallery of M. Schamps which
+had long been regarded as one of the lions of
+Ghent. It has since been dispersed and sold.
+When we saw it, it was numbered and catalogued,
+and the rooms filled with dealers
+from all parts of Europe, inspecting their
+intended purchases previous to the auction,
+which was to take place a few days after.
+The gentleman by whom it was originally
+collected is but recently dead, and its dispersion
+now was attributed, we were told,
+partly to impatience of the present proprietor,
+at having his retirement perpetually invaded
+by travellers to see his pictures, and
+partly by the operation of the law against
+primogeniture, which rendered its sale indispensable,
+in order to a more equal partition
+of the family estates.</p>
+
+<p>Count d’Hane did us the favour to conduct
+us over the buildings of the University,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span>
+one of the many valuable institutions for
+which Belgium is indebted to the munificence
+of the King of Holland. It was
+founded by him in 1816, and thrown open
+for the reception of students in 1826; an
+inscription upon the portico records the
+event, <i>Auspice Gulielmo I. Acad. Conditore,
+posuit, S. P. Q. G.</i> <span class="allsmcap">DCCCXXVI</span>. the initials
+in the usual magniloquence of the low
+countries, represent the Senatus Populus
+Que Gandavensis!</p>
+
+<p>The buildings from a design of Roelandt,
+an artist of Nieuport, are in a style of chaste
+Corinthian architecture, the portico ornamented
+with sculpture in alto relievo, the
+vestibule superbly flagged in a mosaic of
+colored marbles, and the hall and staircase
+ornamented with busts and caryatides in
+white marble. The theatres are on a magnificent
+scale, richly furnished and lighted
+by lofty lanterns in the vaults of the roof.
+The course of education, besides most extensive
+primary schools, comprises the faculties
+of law, medicine and divinity, with
+science and belles-lettres, and the number of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span>
+students is between 300 and 400 attending
+the classes of thirty professors. There is
+attached to the University a library of sixty
+thousand volumes, a collection of philosophical
+apparatus of great value, and museums
+of antiquities, natural history, mineralogy
+and comparative anatomy, and the
+whole institution having been recently remodelled
+and placed under the care of a
+vigilant and anxious committee, it promises
+to be one of the most important and beneficial
+foundations in the kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>The entire system of primary education,
+however, is in anything but a satisfactory
+position in Belgium. Under the regence
+of Holland, the Dutch system of rational
+education was imparted to Belgium. Schools
+were established in every district, under the
+superintendance of provincial committees,
+instruction was supplied gratuitously, and
+the children of the poor were required to
+avail themselves of it, whilst to secure its
+efficiency, no teacher was allowed to be employed
+who had not undergone a thorough<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span>
+examination, and been furnished with a
+diploma of competency.</p>
+
+<p>This feature of the government was from
+the first vehemently opposed by the Belgian
+clergy, who saw in it an encroachment upon
+the right claimed by the Catholic Church to
+regulate the quantity as well as the quality
+of national education, and when in 1830,
+they succeeded in effecting the “repeal of the
+Union,” between the two countries, the entire
+system was abolished at one fell swoop.<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p>Education, like every thing else, was declared
+to be free, and the new government
+did away with all official supervision of
+schools, and the necessity for any enquiry
+into the competency of teachers. The
+result of this has been, that although the
+number of schools has not been diminished,
+the nature of the instruction and the qualification
+of the teacher, is of so very low a
+description, as to be thus characterised in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span>
+a modern work upon the subject, by M.
+Ducpétiaux,<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> himself, a distinguished Belgian,
+and intimately acquainted with the
+subject.</p>
+
+<p>“Instruction in our schools is generally
+faulty and incomplete, and little merits the
+praise which has been bestowed upon it.
+<i>The best thing that can be said in its favour is,
+that it is better than no instruction at all</i>, and
+that it is more satisfactory to see children
+sitting on the benches of a school, even
+although they be doing nothing to the purpose,
+than to behold them working mischief
+on the streets. They are taught to read,
+write, and figure a little; <i>to teach them less
+is scarcely possible</i>. We speak here of primary
+schools in general, and affirm that
+those who attribute a moralising influence
+to the majority of these schools, deceive
+themselves in a manner the most strange<span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span>
+and prejudicial to the interest of the class
+whose children are the pupils in these seminaries.
+A degree of instruction so limited,
+so meagre, is nearly equivalent to
+none whatever; and it is impossible that
+things should be in a better case, seeing
+that the education of the <i>teachers</i> themselves
+is of the most imperfect kind. Barely
+do these persons know the little which
+they undertake to impart, and they have,
+generally speaking, the most superficial
+notions of those methods of instilling knowledge,
+which they impudently attempt to
+apply in the case of those only a little more
+ignorant than themselves.”</p>
+
+<p>The experiment of education on both
+systems has now had an ample trial in
+Belgium; first in fifteen years of government
+protection, and now in ten years of
+“free trade.” The result has been a convincing
+failure, and those most clamorous
+for the latter system in 1830, are now
+the most urgent in their demands to revert
+to the former. The provincial deputations,
+in their reports, recommend the same<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span>
+course, and the legislature have so far
+subscribed to their views, as to propose a
+projet de loi for carrying them into effect,
+by restoring a modification of the system,
+as before the revolution.</p>
+
+<p>We dined with Count d’Hane at three
+o’clock in the afternoon, and as usual, the
+party broke up between seven and eight
+o’clock.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p><span class="smcap">Note.</span>—As the comparative cost of machinery in Belgium,
+and in England, is a matter of much interest at the
+present moment, a list of the prices of that manufactured
+at Ghent, with the English charges for the same articles,
+contrasted with each item, will be found in the Appendix
+No. I.</p>
+</div>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</h2>
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">GHENT AND COURTRAI.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="hang">The market-day at Ghent—The peasants—The linen-market—The
+Book-stalls—<i>Courtrai</i>—The Lys—<i>Denys</i>—Distillation
+in Belgium—<span class="smcap">Agriculture in Flanders</span>—A
+Flemish farm—Anecdote of Chaptal and Napoleon—Trade
+in manure—<i>The Smoor-Hoop</i>—Rotation of crops—<span class="smcap">Cultivation
+of Flax</span>—Real importance of the
+crop in Belgium—Disadvantageous position of Great
+Britain as regards the growth of flax—State of her importations
+from abroad and her dependency upon Belgium—In
+the power of Great Britain to relieve herself
+effectually—System in Flanders—<i>The seed</i>—Singular
+fact as to the Dutch seed—Rotation of crops—Spade
+labour—Extraordinary care and precaution in <i>weeding</i>—<i>Pulling</i>—<span class="smcap">The
+Rouissage</span>—In Hainault—In the Pays
+de Waes—At Courtrai—The process in Holland—The
+process in the Lys—<i>A Bleach-green</i>—The damask manufacture
+in Belgium—A manufactory in a windmill—Introduction
+of the use of <i>sabots</i> into Ireland—<i>Courtrai</i>,
+the town—Antiquities—The Church of Notre Dame—Relic
+of Thomas à Becket—<span class="smcap">The Maison de Force at
+Ghent</span>—The System of prison discipline—Labour of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span>
+inmates—Their earnings—Remarkable story of Pierre
+Joseph Soëte—Melancholy case of an English prisoner—<i>A
+sugar refinery</i>—State of the trade in Belgium—Curious
+frauds committed under the recent law—<i>Beet-root
+sugar</i>—Failure of the manufacture—A tumult at
+Ghent—<i>The New Theatre</i>—Cultivation of music at Ghent—Print works
+of M. Desmet de Naeyer—Effects of the
+Revolution of 1830 upon the manufactures of Belgium—Opposition
+of Ghent and Antwerp to a separation from
+Holland—M. Briavionne’s exposé of the ruin of the
+trade in calico printing—Smuggling across the frontiers—Present
+discontents at Ghent—Number of insolvents
+in 1839—General decline of her manufactures.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p>This being the market day for linen, we
+went early to the Marché de Vendredi
+where it is held. The winter, however, is
+the season in which the market is seen to the
+greatest advantage, as the farmers are not
+then prevented by their agricultural employments
+from attending to the weaving, and
+bringing of it to town for sale in December
+and January; so many as 2000 pieces
+have been sold in the course of a morning.
+The appearance of the peasantry was particularly
+prepossessing, their features handsome,
+their dress and person neat in the
+extreme; the women generally wearing long<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span>
+cloaks, made of printed calico, and the
+men the blouse of blue linen, which has
+become almost the national costume of
+Belgium.</p>
+
+<p>The sellers of linen were arranged in long
+lines, each with his webs before him resting
+on a low bench, whilst the police were
+present to preserve order, and see that
+every individual kept his allotted place.
+The webs had all previously been examined
+by a public officer, who affixed his seal to
+each, not as any mark of its quality or
+guide to its price, but merely to testify that
+it was not fraudulently made up—that it
+was of the same quality throughout as on
+the outer, fold, and that the quantity was
+exactly what it professed to be; any fraud
+attempted, in any particular, exposing the
+offender to the seizure and forfeiture of the
+web.<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a></p>
+
+<p>The other articles for sale in the market<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span>
+were vegetables and fruit of the ordinary
+kinds, (with a profusion of Mirabelle plums,
+the trees of which we saw, repeatedly,
+planted in hedge-rows), woollen cloth, cutlery,
+household furniture, and pottery of a
+very rude description, together with numerous
+stalls of books. The latter were chiefly
+religious, but amongst the others were a
+number of the old popular histories, which
+seem to be equally favourites in England
+and Flanders, such as “<i>Reynaert den Vos</i>;”—“<i>de
+schoone historie van Fortunatus borsen</i>;”—“<i>de
+schoone historie van den edelen Jan van
+Parys</i>;”—“<i>de Twee gebroders en vroome riddens
+Valentyn en Oursen den Wilden men</i>;”—“<i>Recretiven
+Droomboek</i>.” &amp;c., &amp;c.</p>
+
+<p>After breakfast we went by the railroad
+to Courtrai, a distance which the train accomplishes
+in a little more than two hours.
+My object, in the excursion, was to see the
+process, which is peculiar to this district,
+of steeping flax in the running waters of the
+Lys. This river, which rises in the Pays
+de Calais, and forms one of the boundaries
+between France and Belgium, derives its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span>
+name, in all probability, from the quantity
+of water-lilies which flourish in its sluggish
+current, and which are said to be the origin
+of the fleur-de-lys in the royal arms of
+France. The road passes through Denys,
+Waereghem and Haerlebeke, three towns
+which are the chief in Communes of the
+same name, and are all bustling little places,
+combining with agricultural industry, a considerable
+trade in linen which is the great
+staple of the district. At Denys, there are
+also extensive distilleries of Geneva which
+enjoys a considerable reputation in Belgium,
+where the spirit produced by distillation is
+invariably bad, except in the provinces of
+Limbourg and Luxembourg, where it approaches
+somewhat to the character of the
+Dutch. This remarkable difference between
+the produce of two countries, so
+similar in almost all their resources for the
+manufacture, is, perhaps, to be found in
+the almost total absence of any duty of excise
+upon distillation, which it was found
+essential to reduce to a mere nominal sum
+since 1830, in order to protect the agriculture<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span>
+of Belgium, and which, consequently, 
+brought the trade into the hands of the very
+lowest class, both of distillers and consumers.</p>
+
+<p>The entire surface of the country, between
+Ghent and Courtrai, is one unbroken
+plain, which, though less rich and luxuriant
+than the alluvial soils of Holland and of
+England, exhibits, in all directions, the most
+astonishing evidence of that superiority in
+agricultural science for which the Flemings
+are renowned over Europe. The natural
+reluctance of their thin and sandy soil has
+been overcome by dint of the most untiring
+labour—an attention to manuring, which
+approaches to the ludicrous in its details,
+and, above all, by a system of rotation, the
+most profoundly calculated and the most
+eminently successful.</p>
+
+<p>The general aspect of a Flemish farm;
+the absence of hedge-rows, or, where they
+are to be found, their elaborate training and
+inter-texture, so as to present merely a
+narrow vegetating surface of some two or
+three feet high, and twice as many inches in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span>
+thickness; the minute division of their
+fields into squares, all bearing different
+crops, but performing the same circle of
+rotation, and the total disappearance of all
+weeds or plants, other than those sought to
+be raised; all these show the practical and
+laborious experience, by which they have
+reduced their science to its present system,
+and the indomitable industry by which,
+almost inch by inch, these vast and arid
+plains have been converted from blowing
+sands into blooming gardens. Here draining
+and irrigation are each seen in their
+highest perfection, owing to the frequent
+intersection of canals; whilst the same circumstance,
+affording the best facilities for
+the transport of manure, has been one of
+the most active promoters of farming improvement.
+Chaptal relates, that having
+traversed one of the sandy plains of Flanders
+in company with Napoleon, the Emperor,
+on his return to Paris, adverted to the circumstance
+of its gloomy barrenness with
+an expression of surprise as well as regret,
+when the practical philosopher suggested,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span>
+that the construction of a canal across it
+would, within five years, convert the unproductive
+waste into luxuriant farms. The
+experiment was tried, and proved triumphantly
+successful. The canal was opened,
+and in less than the time predicted, the
+results anticipated were more than realized
+in its effects.</p>
+
+<p>To fix the flying sands of Belgium, the
+main and permanent expedient has been
+the application of manures; the preparation
+and care of this important ingredient
+has been, in Flanders, reduced to an
+actual trade, and barges innumerable are
+in constant transit on the canals, conveying
+it from its depôts and manufactories in the
+villages and towns to the rural districts,
+where it is to be applied. Servants, as a
+perquisite, are allowed a price for all the
+materials serviceable for preparing it, which
+they can collect in the house and farm-yards,
+and the value of which often amounts to as
+much as their nominal wages. Pits and
+a tank, called a <i>smoor-hoop</i>, or smothering
+heap, are attached to every farm, and tended<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span>
+with a systematic care that bespeaks the
+importance of their contents. Into these,
+every fermentable fluid is discharged, and
+mixed with the refuse of vegetables; the
+rape-cake, which remains after expressing
+the oil, wood-ashes, soaper’s waste, grains
+from distilleries, weeds from the drains, and,
+in short, every other convertible article collected
+in the establishment; and often, in
+addition, plants such as broom are sown in
+the lands, expressly for the purpose of being
+ploughed in when green to increase their
+fertility, or to be cut for fermentation in the
+<i>smoor-hoop</i>. This latter is constructed
+with bricks, like a tan-pit, and covered with
+cement to avoid escape or filtration; and
+its contents, at the larger establishments,
+are sold to the farmers at from three to five
+francs a hogshead, in proportion to the
+quality.</p>
+
+<p>The circle of rotation is observed with
+equal precision and scientific skill, and generally
+consists of four or five crops and a
+clean fallow, but varies, of course, according
+to the nature of the soil and the articles in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span>
+demand. The season was too advanced for
+us to see the majority of the crops upon the
+ground, the grain being mostly housed; but
+those which were still in the field were of
+the most luxuriant quality. Pasturage, there
+was comparatively little; but clover, the
+chef-d’œuvre of Flemish husbandry, whence
+it was introduced into England, we saw in
+high perfection. Some plants which are
+not usual in Great Britain were to be seen in
+great abundance; large fields of tobacco,
+hemp, colza or rape-seed, which is largely
+sown for crushing, buck-wheat or <i>sarrasin</i>,
+(probably another importation of the Crusaders)
+from which they make a rich and
+nutritious bread. Beans and feeding crops,
+especially carrots, which the sandy lands produce
+luxuriantly, and turnips, appeared to
+be favourites especially near the villages.</p>
+
+<p>But the important article, and that which
+I was most desirous to see, was the <i>flax</i>,
+which, however, had been almost all pulled
+before my visit, so that I could only see the
+<i>rouissage</i> or process of watering—which,
+in the district around Courtrai, is performed
+in a manner almost peculiar to themselves;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span>
+indeed, I may say altogether so, so far
+as success is concerned; for although the
+same practice prevails in the Department
+du Nord, in France, in the vicinity
+of St. Amand and Valenciennes, it is
+with a much less satisfactory result: and
+in Russia, where it is practised to some extent,
+the flax produced is, in every way, of
+inferior quality. It seems, in fact, to be a
+question whether, in addition to the slow
+and deep current of the Lys, and its remarkable
+freedom from all impurity, it be
+not possessed of some peculiar chemical
+qualities, which account for its efficiency
+for this purpose, whilst identically the same
+process utterly fails in other streams with
+no perceptible difference in the quality of
+their waters.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to over estimate the importance
+to Great Britain of such an immediate
+improvement in the process of
+flax cultivation at home, as will place her
+on an equality with her rivals abroad. At
+present, it is an incontrovertible and uneasy
+fact, that with her trade in yarn and linen
+hourly encreasing, she is in the same<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span>
+proportion becoming more and more dependant
+upon foreign countries for the
+supply of the raw material. The cultivation
+of flax in England, is, in all probability,
+diminishing in amount, whilst year after
+year, our imports from Holland, Belgium
+and Prussia, are rising in a remarkable
+manner. Only look to the following facts.
+The great increase in our manufacture of
+linen yarn, both in England, Scotland and
+Ireland has taken place, since the year
+1820; we then imported largely from the
+continent, and spun only for our own
+weavers at home, we have since then ceased
+to import yarn spun by machinery altogether,
+except a very small portion of the very
+finest for cambrics; and actually export to
+France, and elsewhere, to the value of
+£746,000 per annum. Our exports of British
+and Irish linen have increased in the
+mean time, from 36,522,333 yards in 1820,
+to 60,954,697 in 1833, and 77,195,894
+yards in 1838, and what has been the
+case as regards the importation of flax? The
+import duty upon foreign flax, both dressed
+and undressed, was at the commencement<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span>
+of this period, £10. 14<i>s.</i> 6<i>d.</i> per cwt.; as
+our manufacture increased, and our home
+supply fell short, that duty was, in 1825,
+reduced to <i>four pence</i>; when the import increased
+from 376,170 cwt. to 1,018,837 cwt.
+In the year following, the necessity still becoming
+more pressing, and no relief arising
+from home, it was further reduced to <i>three
+pence</i>; the year following to <i>two pence</i>, and
+in 1828 to <i>one penny</i>. The importation, all
+this time, has been going on steadily increasing,
+showing an average on the five
+years, from 1830 to 1835, of 751,331 cwt.,
+and amounting, by the last printed returns
+of the House of Commons, for 1838, to
+1,626,276 cwt.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> It is manifest, that a trade
+so valuable to us as our linen manufacture,
+can never be said to be safe, so long as we
+are thus dependant for the very means of
+its support upon those whose manifest
+advantage it is to destroy it.</p>
+
+<p>In order to remedy this evil, it seems to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span>
+me, to require only a vigorous exertion on
+behalf of our own farmers, and those whose
+direct interest it is to give them encouragement
+to lead to such an improvement in
+our process of cultivation and dressing, as
+would speedily render our flax of equal
+quality with that of our rivals in the Low
+Countries; we may thus safely rely on its
+augmented value in the market, to ensure
+its production in sufficient quantity to
+meet our demands, and relieve us altogether
+from a dependance upon foreigners.
+For the landed proprietor and the farmer,
+not less than the manufacturer, there is a
+mine of unwrought wealth to be secured in
+this important article, and my earnestness
+upon this point arises from the fact that
+from all I have seen myself, or can possibly
+learn from others, the field is equally open
+to England as to the Netherlands—she
+obtains the seed from the same quarter,
+her soil and her climate are equally suitable;
+the plant up to a certain stage, is as
+healthy and promising with us, as with
+them, but there the parallel ceases, and in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span>
+all the subsequent processes, the superior
+system of the Belgian gives him a golden
+advantage over us. Still notwithstanding
+all our disadvantages, Irish flax, for the
+strong articles, to which alone it is suited,
+produces a firmer, and in every respect, a
+better thread than Flemish or Dutch of
+the same character.</p>
+
+<p>One source of superiority which the
+farmer of Holland and the Netherlands
+enjoys, is derived from the fact of his
+<i>saving the seed</i> of his own flax. In the first
+instance, he imports, as we do from Riga,
+seed which yields a strong and robust plant,
+during the first year; its produce is then preserved
+and sown a second time, when it
+becomes more delicate in its texture, and
+the seed then obtained, is <i>never parted with</i>
+by the farmer, but produces the finest and
+most valuable plant. As this, however, in
+time deteriorates, it is necessary to keep up
+a constant succession by annual importation
+of northern seed, which in turn become
+acclimated, refined, and are superseded
+by the next in rotation. The sagacious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span>
+Hollander thus obtains for himself a seed
+for his own peculiar uses, of twice the value
+of any which he exports; an advantage of
+which England cannot expect to avail herself,
+till the process of saving the flax-seed
+for herself, becomes more generally introduced,
+instead of annually importing upwards
+of 3,300,000 bushels, as we do at present.</p>
+
+<p>In Flanders, where the cultivation is so
+all important, the <i>rotation</i> of all other
+crops, is regulated with ultimate reference
+to the flax, which comes into the circle
+only once in seven years, and in some
+instances, once in nine, whilst, as it approaches
+the period for saving it, each
+antecedent crop is put in with a double
+portion of manure. For itself, the preparation
+is most studiously and scrupulously
+minute, the ground is prepared
+rather like a flower-bed than a field, and
+<i>spade labour</i> always preferred to the coarser
+and less minute operation of the plough,
+every film of a weed is carefully uprooted,
+and the earth abundantly supplied, generally
+with liquid manure, fermented with rape<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span>
+cake. The seed is then sown remarkably
+<i>thick</i>, so that the plants may not only support
+one another, but struggling upwards
+to the light, may throw out few branches,
+and rise into a taller and more delicate
+stem. The <i>weeding</i> is done, whilst the
+plant is still so tender and elastic as that
+it may rise again readily after the operation,
+and it is a remarkable illustration of the
+studied tenderness with which the cultivation
+is watched, that the women and children
+who are employed to weed it, are generally
+instructed to do so against the wind, in
+order that the breeze may lift the stems as
+soon as they have left them, instead of
+allowing them to grow crooked, by lying
+too long upon the ground. Again, in order
+to give it a healthy support during its
+growth, <i>stakes</i> are driven into the ground
+at equal distances, from the top of which,
+cords, or thin rods are extended, dividing
+the field into minute squares, and thus preventing
+the plants from being laid down
+by any but a very severe wind.</p>
+
+<p>The time of <i>pulling</i> depends upon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span>
+whether the farmer places most value
+upon the seed or the fibre of the particular
+field. If the former, he must wait till the
+plant is thoroughly ripe, its capsules hard,
+its leaves fallen, and its stem yellow; but in
+this case, the stalk is woody and the fibre
+coarse and hard; whereas, if the fineness of
+the fibre be the first object, it is pulled
+whilst the stalk is still green and tender,
+and before the fruit has come to maturity.
+At Courtrai and its vicinity, the flax when
+severed from the ground, after being carefully
+sunned and dried, is stored for twelvemonths
+before it is submitted to the
+process of watering. In the Pays de Waes,
+however, this practice does not obtain, the
+steeping taking place immediately on its
+being pulled, and I find the inclination of
+opinion to be in favour of the latter mode,
+as the former is said to render the flax
+harsh and discolored, whilst that immersed
+at once is soft and silky, and of a delicate
+and uniform tint.</p>
+
+<p>It is remarkable that although the process
+of <i>rouissage</i> or watering is felt to be<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span>
+one of the utmost nicety and importance,
+the ultimate value of the flax being mainly
+dependent upon it, no uniform system prevails
+throughout the various provinces of Belgium.
+In Hainault and around Namur, where
+an impression is held that the effluvia of the
+flax, whilst undergoing the <i>rouissage</i>, is
+injurious to health, it is interdicted by the
+police, and it is consequently dew-riped,
+simply by spreading it upon the grass, and
+turning it from time to time, till the mucilaginous
+matter, by which the fibre is retained
+around the stem, is sufficiently
+decomposed to permit of its being readily
+separated from the wood. In the Pays de
+Waes, the flax is steeped in still water as
+in Ireland, except that in the latter country,
+a small stream is contrived, if possible, to
+pass in and out of the pit during the process.<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a>
+The system of the Pays de Waes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span>
+is that which has met with the most decided
+approbation in Belgium; it is recommended
+officially to the farmers in the
+instructions published by the Société
+Linière, an association instituted for the
+purpose of promoting the cultivation of
+flax, and its various manufactures.<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span>
+system at Courtrai, consists in immersing
+the flax, after being dried and stored for
+twelvemonths, in the running water of the
+Lys; an operation, which in their hands, is
+performed with the utmost nicety and precision,
+and for which it is so renowned that
+the crops for many miles, even so far as
+Tournai, are sent to the Lys to undergo
+the <i>rouissage</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The flax, tied up in small bundles, is
+placed perpendicularly in wooden frames
+of from twelve to fifteen feet square, and
+being launched into the river, straw and
+clean stones are laid upon it till it sinks
+just so far below the surface of the stream as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span>
+to leave a current both above and below it,
+which carries away all impurities, and keeps
+the fibre clean and sweet during the period
+of immersion. This continues for seven
+or eight days, according to the heat of the
+weather and the temperature of the water,
+and so soon as the requisite change has
+taken place in the plant, the frames are
+hauled on shore, and the flax spread out
+upon the grass to sun and dry it previously
+to its being removed to undergo the further
+processes. The <i>rouissage</i> at Courtrai is
+usually performed in May, and again in
+the months of August and September; after
+which the flax merchants of Brabant and
+the north send their agents amongst the
+farmers, who purchase from house to
+house, and, on a certain day, attend at the
+chief town of the district to receive the
+“deliveries,” when the qualities of the
+crop and the average prices are ascertained
+and promulgated for the guidance of the
+trade.</p>
+
+<p>From the flax grounds which lie close
+by Courtrai, on the right bank of the Lys,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span>
+we crossed the river to the bleach-green on
+the opposite side of the river, and if we
+might judge from the extent of the buildings,
+which were not larger than a good
+barn, the process must be a very simple
+one in Flanders, or the employment very
+limited at Courtrai. The most important
+establishments of this kind, however, are
+at Antwerp, Brussels and Tournai.</p>
+
+<p>The cloth on the grass was principally
+diaper made on the spot and at Ypres
+(whence it derives its name, <i>d’Ypres</i>,) but
+it was coarse, and the designs ordinary and
+inartificial. The manufacture of the article
+in which Belgium formerly excelled so
+much as to supply the imperial household
+during the reign of Napoleon, was ruined by
+his fall and the breaking up of the continental
+system. At one time not less than
+3000 workmen were employed in this
+branch alone, but the separation of Belgium
+from France in 1815, and the simultaneous
+imposition of an almost prohibitory duty
+on her damask has reduced the trade to a
+mere cypher, not above three hundred<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span>
+workmen being now employed at Courtrai,
+the great seat of the manufacture.</p>
+
+<p>Close by the bleach-green, we entered
+a windmill for grinding bark, and at a short
+distance from it, another of the same primitive
+edifices was at full work, crushing
+rape oil. I never saw such a miniature
+manufactory—in one little apartment,
+about ten feet square, the entire process
+was carried on to the extent of a ton of
+seed, yielding about thirty-six gallons of
+oil per day. In one corner, the seed was
+being ground between a pair of mill-stones;
+in another, pounded in mortars
+by heavy beams shod with iron, which
+were raised and fell by the motion of the
+wind; the material was then roasted in
+an iron pan over a charcoal fire, till the
+oil became disengaged by the heat, and
+was then crushed by being inclosed in
+canvas bags enveloped in leather cases,
+and placed in grooves, into which huge
+wooden wedges were driven by the force
+of the machinery; the last drop of oil was
+thus forced out by a repetition of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span>
+process, and the residue of the seed which
+came forth in cakes as flat and as hard as
+a stone, were laid on one side to be sold
+for manure and other purposes.</p>
+
+<p>A manufactory of <i>sabots</i> was attached to
+the back mill, and sold for five-pence and
+six-pence a pair for the largest size, and half
+that amount for those suited to children.
+Surely the introduction of these wooden
+shoes would be a great accession to the
+comforts of the Irish peasantry, as well as
+a new branch of employment in their manufacture.
+An expert Flemish workman
+can finish a pair within an hour, and with
+care they will last for three months. Four
+pair of thick woollen socks to be worn
+along with them costs eighteen-pence, so
+that for four shillings, a poor man might
+be dry and comfortably shod for twelve
+months. In winter, especially, and in wet
+weather, or when working in moist ground,
+they are infinitely to be preferred, and
+although the shape may be clumsy, (though
+in this respect, the Flemish are superior to
+the French), it is, at least, as graceful as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span>
+the half-naked foot and clouted shoe of the
+Irish labourer. I doubt much, however,
+whether the people, though ever so satisfied
+of their advantages, would get over
+their <span class="err" title="original: associaton">association</span> of “arbitrary power and
+brass money” with the use of “wooden
+shoes.”</p>
+
+<p>Courtrai itself is a straggling, cheerless-looking
+town, and possesses few objects of
+any interest. Outside the gate is the
+field on which was fought the Battle of the
+Golden Spurs in 1302, and a little chapel
+still marks the spot which was the centre
+of the action. Its large market for flax
+and linen has made its name familiar
+abroad, but it has little within itself to
+detain a stranger in search of the picturesque.
+Its only antique buildings are the
+Town Hall and the church of Notre-Dame,
+the former contains two richly carved
+mantel-pieces, evidently of very remote
+date. The latter was built by Count Baldwin,
+who was chosen Emperor at Constantinople
+in the fourth Crusade, and contains,
+amidst a host of worthless pictures,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span>
+a Descent from the Cross, by Vandyck.
+Amongst the curiosities in the sacristy, is
+a sacerdotal dress of Thomas a’Becket, of
+most ample dimensions, which the saint
+left behind him on returning to England after
+his reconciliation with Henry II. At either
+extremity of the bridge which crosses the
+Lys in the centre of the town are two vast
+circular towers, called the <i>Broellen Torren</i>
+which were built in the fifteenth century,
+and still serve as the town prisons. The
+chief support of the town is still derived
+from its linen weaving, which unlike the
+usual practice in Belgium, is done in large
+factories, at which the workmen attend as
+in England. The production of linen of all
+kinds at Courtrai is about 30,000 pieces
+a year. There is also a considerable manufactory
+of thread.</p>
+
+<hr class="tb">
+
+<p>We this morning accompanied Count
+d’Hane to visit the celebrated prison of
+Ghent, the <i>maison de force</i>, which received
+the applause of Howard himself, and has been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span>
+the model for most of the improved penitentiaries
+of Europe. It was erected in 1774,
+under the auspices of Maria Theresa, whilst
+the Spanish Netherlands were still attached
+to the House of Austria, and for its present
+state of completion and perfected system,
+it is indebted to the care and munificence of
+the late King, William I. of Holland. It,
+at present, incloses upwards of 1,100 prisoners,
+divided and classified into various
+wards, and employed in various occupations
+according to the nature of their
+crimes and the term of their punishment.
+Of these, two hundred were condemned to
+perpetual labour, and one to solitary confinement
+for life, the remainder for temporary
+periods.</p>
+
+<p>In Ghent there has not been more than
+<i>three</i> capital executions since the year 1824,
+and as Belgium has no colonies to which
+to transport her secondary offenders, they
+are condemned to imprisonment in all its
+forms in proportion to the atrocity of their
+crimes.</p>
+
+<p>Labour enters into the system in all its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span>
+modifications, and as the rations of food supplied
+to the prisoners are so calculated as to
+be barely adequate to sustain life, they are
+thus compelled, by the produce of their own
+hands, to contribute to their own support.
+According to the nature of their offences, the
+proportion of their earnings which they receive
+is more or less liberal; they are separated
+into three classes:—1st. The <i>condamnés
+aux travaux forcés</i>, who receive but
+three tenths of their own gains; 2nd. the
+<i>condamnés à la réclusion</i>, who receive four
+tenths; and 3rd. the <i>condamnés correctionellement</i>,
+who receive one half. The
+amount of these wages may be seen to be
+but small, when the sum paid for making
+seven pair of <i>sabots</i>, or seven hours’ labour,
+is but one penny. Of the sum allotted to
+him, the criminal receives but one half immediately,
+with which he is allowed to buy
+bread, coffee, and some other articles at a
+canteen established within the prison, under
+strict regulations, and the other moiety is
+deposited for his benefit in the savings’ bank
+of the jail, to be paid to him with interest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span>
+on his enlargement. A prisoner, notwithstanding
+his small wages, may, after seven
+years’ confinement, have amassed one
+hundred and twenty francs exclusive of interest.</p>
+
+<p>The labour of the prison consists, in the
+first place, of all the domestic work of the
+establishment, its cleansing, painting and
+repairs, its cooking, and the manufacture
+of every article worn by the inmates; and
+secondly, of yarn spinning, weaving and
+making shirts for the little navy of Belgium,<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a>
+and drawers for the soldiers, together
+with other similar articles suited for public
+sale. Prisoners who have learned no
+trade, are permitted to make their choice,
+and are taught one. The cleanliness of
+every corner is really incredible, and such
+are its effects upon the health of the inmates,
+that the deaths, on an average, do
+not exceed, annually, one in a hundred.
+After paying all its expenses of every description,
+the profits of the labour done in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span>
+the prison leaves a surplus to the government,
+annually, to an amount which I do
+not precisely remember, but which is something
+considerable.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the prisoners, one very old
+man was pointed out to me, named Pierre
+Joseph Soëte, seventy-nine years of age,
+sixty-two of which he had spent within the
+walls of this sad abode. He was condemned,
+at the age of seventeen, for an
+atrocious offence; in a fit of jealousy, he
+had murdered a girl, to whom he was about
+to have been married, by tying her to a
+tree and strangling her. He entered the
+jail when a boy, and had grown to manhood
+and old age within its melancholy walls;
+and the tenor of his life, I was told, had
+been uniformly mild and inoffensive. Five
+years since, the father of our friend, Count
+D’Hane, who was then Governor of Ghent,
+had represented the story to King Leopold,
+and the unfortunate old man was set at
+liberty; but in a few weeks, he presented
+himself at the door of the prison, and begged
+to be permitted to enter it again, and to die<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span>
+there as he had lived. I asked him why
+he had taken this extraordinary resolution,
+and he told me that the world had nothing
+to detain him; he had no longer a relative
+or a living face within it that he knew; he
+had no home, no means of support, no
+handicraft by which to earn it, and no
+strength to beg, what could he do, but return
+to the only familiar spot he knew, and
+the only one that had any charms for him!
+Poor creature! his extraordinary story, and
+his long life of expiation, rendered it impossible
+to remember or resent his early crime,
+and yet I could not look at such a singular
+being without a shudder.</p>
+
+<p>Another, but a still more melancholy
+case, was pointed out to me. I asked the
+physician, Dr. Maresca, if there were any
+foreigners in the jail, and he told me there
+were several from Germany and France;
+and one, an Englishman, who had been
+confined some years before for an attempt
+at fraud, and who, between chagrin and
+disease, was now dying in the hospital. I
+went to see him, and found him in bed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span>
+in the last feeble stage of consumption.
+His story was a very sad one—his name
+was Clarke, he seemed about thirty-five or
+thirty-six years of age, and had come over
+with his wife to seek for work as a machine
+maker at one of the engine factories
+in Ghent. He was disappointed—he could
+get no adequate employment—he saw his
+young wife and his little children perishing
+from hunger in a strange land, and, in an
+evil hour, he forged a document for some
+trifling sum to procure them bread. He
+was detected, tried and condemned to five
+years’ imprisonment in the <i>maison de force</i>.
+What became of his family he no longer
+knew; they had, perhaps, returned to
+England, but he could not tell. The physician
+told me that his conduct had all
+along been most excellent, so much so,
+that the <span class="err" title="original: goverment">government</span> reduced the term of his
+imprisonment from five years to four, and
+he had now but eighteen months to remain.
+But he was dying, and of a broken heart
+through sorrow and mortification. The
+physician had tried to obtain a further reduction<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span>
+of his term; but it was not thought 
+prudent at the time to accede to his representations,
+and now it was too late to renew
+the application. Dr. M. thought he
+would now be liberated if the application
+were repeated, but it was more humane,
+he said, to leave him as he was, as he
+had every attention he required; the hospital
+was comfortable, and the rules of the
+prison had all been relaxed in his favour,
+so that he had books and every indulgence
+granted to him, and a few weeks would
+soon release him from all his sorrows.
+Poor fellow! I hardly knew whether he
+seemed gratified or grieved by our visit;
+but his situation, surrounded by foreigners,
+to whose very language he was a stranger,
+far from home and England, and without a
+friend or relation to watch his dying bed
+was a very touching one, and it was rendered,
+perhaps, more so, by the very sympathy
+and kindness which seemed to be
+felt for him by all around him.</p>
+
+<p>On the opposite side of the canal, we
+visited the sugar refinery of M. Neyt. This<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span>
+is a trade of much importance to Belgium,
+and, like almost every other department of
+her manufactures, at present in a very
+critical condition. The establishment of M.
+Neyt, though of great extent, being calculated
+to work twenty-five tons of sugar in
+the week, is not greater than some others
+in Ghent, Antwerp and Brussels. The
+machinery is all of the newest construction
+for boiling <i>in vacuo</i>, upon Howard’s principle,
+with some recent improvements by,
+I think, M. Devos-Maes; which, though
+expensive in the first instance, tends materially
+to diminish the cost by accelerating
+the completion of the process.</p>
+
+<p>All the sugar we saw in process was
+from Java and Manilla, and vessels were
+loading in the canal in front of the works
+with purified lump for Hamburgh. This
+branch of Belgian commerce has been retarded
+by a series of vicissitudes, and seems
+still destined to perilous competition, not
+only from Holland, which already disputes
+the possession of the trade with her, but
+from the states of the Prussian League in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span>
+which there are eighty-four refineries of
+sugar already. Holland and Belgium have,
+for many years, enjoyed a large revenue
+from this most lucrative process for the
+supply of Germany and for export to the
+Mediterranean; a manufacture in which
+they have been enabled to compete successfully
+with England, owing to their being at
+liberty to bring the raw material from any
+country where it is to be found cheapest,
+whilst Great Britain has necessarily been
+restricted to consume only the produce of
+her own colonies by the protective duty
+imposed upon all others. Holland has,
+however, by her recent treaty with Prussia,
+taken steps to preserve her present advantageous
+position as regards the supply of
+Germany, whilst her bounties to her own
+refiners afford an equal encouragement
+with that held out by their government to
+those of Belgium.</p>
+
+<p>The false policy of the system of bounties
+has, however, operated in Belgium, as
+it has invariably done elsewhere, to give an
+unreal air of prosperity to the trade, whilst<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span>
+it opened a door to fraud, the never failing
+concomitant of such unsound expedients.
+To such an extent was this the case, that
+on its recent detection and suppression, a
+reaction was produced in the manufacture,
+that for the moment threatened to be fatal.
+The duty on the importation of raw sugar
+amounts to 37 francs per 100 kilogrammes,
+and a drawback was paid down to 1838 on
+every 55 kilogrammes of refined sugar exported.
+This proportion was taken as the
+probable quantity extractible from 100 kilogrammes
+of the raw article, but the law
+omitted to state <i>in what stage</i> of refinement,
+or of what precise quality that quantity
+should be. The consequence was, that sugar
+which had undergone but a single process,
+and still retained a considerable weight of
+its molasses, was exported, and a drawback
+was thus paid upon the entire 75 to 80 kilogrammes,
+which, had the process been completed,
+would only have been demandable on
+fifty-five. The encouragement designed to
+give a stimulus to improvement, thus tended
+only to give an impulse to fraud, and vast<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span>
+quantities of half refined sugar were sent
+across the frontiers, and the drawback paid,
+only to be smuggled back again for a repetition
+of the same dishonest proceeding.
+The attention of the government being,
+however, awakened by a comparison of the
+relative quantities of raw sugar imported,
+and of refined exported, on which the drawback
+was claimed, a change was made in
+the law in 1838, by which the drawback
+was restricted to a per centage on nine
+tenths only of the raw sugar imported,
+thus securing a positive revenue upon the
+balance, and at the same time some practical
+expedients were adopted for the prevention
+of fraud for the future. These latter
+were found to be so effectual, that four establishments
+in Antwerp discontinued the
+trade altogether immediately on the new
+law coming into force, and this example
+was followed by others elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>There are still between 60 and 70 refineries
+in Belgium, and in 1837 and 1838, the
+importations of raw sugar and the exports
+of refined were as follows:</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span></p>
+
+<p class="center">RAW SUGAR IMPORTED.</p>
+
+ 
+<table><tr><td>In 1837.</td>   <td>20,128,618 kilogrammes.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>In 1838.</td>   <td>16,814,940 kilogrammes.</td></tr>
+ </table>
+
+<p class="center">REFINED SUGAR EXPORTED.</p>
+
+<table> 
+<tr><td>In 1837.</td>   <td>8,484,097 kilogrammes.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>In 1838.</td>   <td>8,113,897 kilogrammes.</td></tr>
+ </table>
+
+<p class="noin">An amount, which whilst it shows the general
+importance of the trade, seems to indicate
+that it is not increasing. The home
+consumption of Belgium as compared to
+England, is as 2 kils. per each individual to
+8. In France the quantity used per head,
+is 3 kils. and in the rest of Europe about
+2½. But to the Belgians, this export trade
+is the vital object at the present moment,
+and any alteration of our law which would
+permit the import of foreign sugar into
+England, at a diminished duty, or encourage
+the growth of beet-root for the manufacture
+of sugar, would be fatal to the
+trade of the Netherlands, and to Holland,
+not less than to Belgium.</p>
+
+<p>In the latter country, the production of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span>
+sugar from beet-root, notwithstanding the
+encouragement given to it by Napoleon,
+was never very extended nor successful.
+It disappeared almost entirely in 1814, and
+was not revived for twenty years, till in
+1834, a fresh impulse was given to the Belgians
+to renew the experiment from witnessing
+the example of its success in France
+and some establishments were erected in
+Brabant and Hainault. But the vast advantages
+derived by the refiners of foreign
+sugar from the facility for fraud afforded by
+the defective state of the law, completely extinguished
+the attempt. Even now the expense
+of the process, which renders the cost
+of the beet-root sugar nearly equal to that
+extracted from the cane, together with the
+inferiority for every purpose of the beet-root
+molasses, holds out but little prospect
+of its ever becoming a productive department
+of national manufacture.</p>
+
+<p>On the evening of our arrival, a considerable
+tumult was excited around the front
+of the <i>Hotel de la Poste</i> where we staid,
+which we found arose from the eagerness<span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span>
+to obtain admission to the new Theatre,
+which stands next door to the Hotel, and
+which was that evening to be opened for
+the first time. Some soldiers were stationed
+to keep off the crowd, but as their
+impatience increased, the orders of the military
+were but little regarded, till, at length,
+the struggle came to an open rupture with
+them, and the officer on guard after going
+through all the preliminaries of intimidation,
+expostulation and scolding, at length,
+fairly lost all temper, and commenced boxing
+“the leader of the movement!” A ring
+being made for the combatants, the officer
+was beaten, and walked off to his quarters,
+and the pressure of the crowd, being by
+this time relieved, the spectators hurried
+into the theatre.</p>
+
+<p>The new building is very magnificent; a
+new street having been formed to open at
+a suitable site for it, one side of which it
+occupies exclusively. The centre of the
+front, projects in the form of a wide semi-circle,
+so that carriages drive right under
+the building to set down their company at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span>
+the foot of the grand staircase. Besides
+the theatre itself, there is a suite of halls
+for concerts, capable of containing two
+thousand persons, and the entire is finished
+internally in the style of Louis XIV, with
+a prodigality of colours, gilding, and ornamental
+carving that is quite surprising. It
+is certainly the most beautiful theatre I
+have seen, as well as one of the most spacious.</p>
+
+<p>The “<i>spectacle</i>” and the opera are still
+amongst those necessaries in the economy
+of life in Belgium, which late dinner
+hours and fastidious taste have not as yet
+interfered with. Ghent has long been
+eminent for its successful cultivation of
+music. A few years since, the <i>chefs d’orchestre</i>
+in the four principal theatres in the
+kingdom were all natives of Ghent, and
+the names of Verheyen, Ermel and Angelet,
+all born in the same place, are familiar to
+every amateur of the science. The <i>Société
+de St. Cecile</i>, a musical association, is the
+most eminent in the Netherlands, and at a
+concert at Brussels in 1837, where all the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span>
+musicians of the chief cities of the kingdom
+competed for a prize; the first honours, two
+golden medals were given by acclamation to
+those of Ghent.</p>
+
+<p>The print works of M. De Smet de Naeyer
+are situated in the <i>Faubourg de Bruges</i>, and,
+like almost all in the Netherlands, exhibit no
+division of labour; the cotton being spun,
+woven, and printed upon the same premises.
+In the latter department, their productions
+are of a very ordinary description, and their
+designs in a very inferior class of art. The
+machinery was partly French and partly
+Belgian, of a cumbrous and antiquated
+construction, compared with that in use in
+England; but, as the recent improvements
+in Great Britain have all been conceived
+with a view to the speediest and cheapest
+production to meet a most extensive demand,
+their introduction into Belgium, where
+the market is so extremely circumscribed,
+would only be an augmentation of expense,
+without any correspondent advantage. The
+works were idle at the moment of our
+visit.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span></p>
+
+<p>This important department of manufacture
+is reduced to the lowest ebb in Belgium
+by the effects of the revolution of
+1830. Previous to this event, the Belgian
+calico printer being admitted to the markets
+of Holland and her colonies, had an outlet
+for his produce, quite sufficient to afford
+remunerative employment for all his machinery;
+but when, by her separation from
+Holland, Belgium was excluded from the
+Dutch possessions, both in the East and
+West Indies, and restricted to the supply of
+her own population, she suddenly found the
+number of her consumers reduced from
+between <i>fifteen</i> and <i>sixteen millions</i> to something
+less than <i>four</i>. In articles which are
+universally produced by the unaided labour
+<i>of the hand</i>, a limitation on the gross consumption
+cannot, as a general rule, effect
+any very material alteration in the individual
+price, where fair competition shall
+have already reduced and adjusted it by a
+remunerative standard. But when it comes
+to an active competition <i>with machinery</i>, the
+case is widely different; the outlay for apparatus<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span>
+and the cost of labour being almost 
+the same for the production of one hundred
+pieces as for ten, it is manifest that the
+man who has a market for one hundred, can
+afford to sell each one for a much less sum
+than he who can only dispose of ten—even
+without including in the calculation the interest
+of the capital embarked, which must,
+of course, be ten times the amount upon the
+small production that it is upon the large.
+It is her almost unlimited command of
+markets, and the vast millions of consumers
+who must have her produce, in her various
+colonies and dependencies, that, combined
+with her matchless machinery, places the
+manufactures of England almost beyond the
+reach of rivalry as regards the moderation
+of their price; and thus gives them, in spite
+of duties, that, in any other case, would
+amount to a prohibition, a lucrative introduction
+into those countries themselves,
+which are fast acquiring her machinery, but
+look in vain for her limitless markets.</p>
+
+<p>The merchants of Antwerp and the
+manufacturers of Ghent, had the good sense,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span>
+probably purchased by experience, to recognize
+this incontrovertible principle, and
+foreseeing, clearly, the ruin of their pursuits
+in the results of the Repeal of the Union with
+Holland, they loudly protested against the
+proceedings of the revolutionists of 1830.<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a>
+But, as “madness ruled the hour,” their
+protestations were all unheeded—they were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span>
+overborne by numbers; and, as the patriots
+of Ireland, in rejecting the advantages held
+out to them by Great Britain in the celebrated
+“commercial propositions” of 1785,
+adopted as their watchword “<i>perish commerce</i>,
+but live the constitution;” so the
+patriots of Belgium, in their paroxysm of
+repeal, reproached their less frenzied fellow-countrymen
+with “allowing the profits on
+their cottons, or the prices of their iron, to
+outweigh the independence of their country!”
+The revolution was accomplished
+in their defiance, and the ruin of their trade
+was consummated by the same blow.</p>
+
+<p>With respect to the very branch of manufacture
+which has led to these observations,
+the printing of calicoes and woollens, M.
+Briavionne, an impartial historian, and so far
+as political inclination is concerned, strongly
+biassed in favour of the revolution, thus
+details its immediate effects upon it. After
+describing the rapid decline of the cotton
+trade in general, since 1830, he goes on to
+say, “In the department of printing, the
+results have not been more satisfactory;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span>
+many of the leading establishments of Ghent,
+and of Brussels have been altogether abandoned,
+or their buildings dismantled and
+converted to other purposes, and their utensils
+and machinery sold off by public auction.
+Ghent, in 1829, possessed <i>fifteen</i>
+print-works—in 1839 she had but <i>nine</i>; in
+Brussels, at the same time, and in Ardennes
+and Lierre, there were <i>eleven</i> houses of
+the first rank, of these <i>six</i> have since closed
+their accounts. Other establishments there
+are, it is true, that have sprung up in the
+interim, but, in the aggregate, the number
+is diminished. In prosperous years, the production
+of Belgium might have amounted,
+before the revolution, to about 400,000
+pieces. Ghent, alone, produced 300,000 in
+1829, but its entire production, at present,
+does not amount to 20,000, nor does that of
+the largest house in Belgium exceed 45,000
+pieces.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is this to be ascribed to any want
+of ability in the Belgian mechanics; on the
+the contrary, they are qualified to undertake
+the most difficult work, but they can only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span>
+employ themselves, of course, when such
+are in actual demand. They are, in consequence,
+limited to the production of the
+most low priced and ordinary articles; fast
+colours and cheap cloth are all they aspire to.
+High priced muslins they rarely attempt,
+and although they have ventured to print
+upon mousseline-de-laine, they have been
+forced almost altogether to abandon it. In
+fact, the double rivalry of France, on
+the one hand, and England on the other,
+keeps them in continual alarm, and renders
+them fearful of the <span class="err" title="original: slighest">slightest</span> speculation or
+deviation from their ordinary line of production.
+France, on the contrary, enters
+their market relying upon the elegance and
+originality of her patterns; and England
+notwithstanding her heavy and unimaginative
+designs, conceived in inferior taste,
+still maintains her superiority by means of
+her masterly execution and the lowness of
+her price. Thus, whilst French muslins sell
+readily for from two to three francs an ell,
+England can offer hers for forty-five centimes,
+or even less, and those of Belgium<span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span>
+vary from sixty centimes to a franc and a
+quarter per ell; not only so, but for that
+which she can now with difficulty dispose
+of for sixty centimes, she had, thirty-five
+years ago, an ample demand at two francs
+and a half.</p>
+
+<p>This destruction of her home trade by
+the competition of foreigners, she has
+sought in vain to retrieve by her shipments
+abroad; she has exported to Brazil and to
+the Levant, to the South Sea and Singapore,
+and finally, she has turned to Germany
+and the fairs of Francfort-on-the-Maine—in
+short, she has tried every opening,
+and found only loss in all. The only
+market in which she has contrived to hold
+a footing is that of Holland, and even this
+is every day slipping from her, although,
+before the revolution of 1830, it consumed
+one half of her entire production.</p>
+
+<p>Belgium has not, like England, manufacturers,
+who, devoting themselves to the
+supply of the foreign market alone, and
+bestowing upon it their undivided study
+and attention, attain a perfect knowledge<span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span>
+and command of it in its every particular;
+but here, every printer looks to exportation
+only as an expedient to get rid of his surplus
+production, after satisfying the demand
+of his home consumption. Such a system
+is pregnant with evils, but it is in vain to
+attempt its alteration so long as we have
+England for our rival, with her great experience,
+her vast command of capital, and
+her firm possession of the trade.”<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>The information which I received from
+M. De Smet, M. Voortman, M. de Hemptine
+and others, more than confirmed, in
+its every particular, this deplorable exposé
+of M. Briavionne. Belgian prints are constantly
+undersold by from 10 to 15 per
+cent by English goods, imported legitimately
+into their market, notwithstanding a duty
+of a hundred florins upon every hundred
+kilogrammes, an impost which being assessed
+by weight, falls heavily on that class
+of goods which are the great staple of
+England, and amounts to about <i>six shillings</i><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span>
+upon a piece of the value of <i>fourteen</i>. Nor
+is this all—their market is systematically
+beset by smugglers across the frontiers of
+France and Holland, who, inundating it
+with French and English goods, exempt
+from duty, have reduced the price of Belgian
+production to an ebb utterly incompatible
+with any hope of remuneration. This
+is an evil, however, to which not their peculiar
+branch alone, but every protected
+manufacture in the country is equally
+liable, and for redress of which they have
+vainly invoked the interference of their
+legislature—the mischief is of too great
+magnitude to be grappled with or remedied.</p>
+
+<p>The only relief which their government
+has attempted, has been by the deplorable
+expedient of themselves supplying capital
+to sustain the struggle. A manufactory,
+however, which they undertook to support,
+at Ardennes-on-the-Meuse, constructed
+with machinery upon English models, and
+conducted by English managers, became
+an utter failure and was abandoned;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span>
+and in like manner, an association which
+they had encouraged to attempt an export
+trade, after numerous shipments to Portugal,
+the Mediterranean, the East Indies,
+South America, and the United States,
+became utterly insolvent, and involved
+the government in a loss of 400,000 francs.
+In the mean time, England and France
+monopolise the most profitable portions of
+their trade, the latter supplying them, almost
+exclusively with the more costly articles
+of ornament and fancy, and the imports
+of medium goods from the former
+having been, in the first six months of the
+present year, upwards of 17,000 pieces
+more than in 1839.</p>
+
+<p>This is one illustration, and I regret to
+say, only one out of many of the ruinous effects
+of the “Repeal of the Union,” In Ghent,
+from its peculiar position and the active
+genius of its population, its results have been
+felt with more severity than elsewhere, though
+its influence is discernible, to a greater or
+less degree, in every quarter of Belgium. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span>
+merchants of Ghent, however, make no
+secret of their dissatisfaction, and exclaim
+boldly against the indifference or incompetence
+of the ministry to adopt measures
+for their redress. In an especial degree,
+their dissatisfaction manifests itself against
+the present minister of the interior, M.
+Liedtz, who having been a lawyer, is presumed
+to be imperfectly acquainted with
+commerce, and is said to be as unjustly
+partial to agriculture, as he is coldly indifferent
+to trade. One gentleman complained
+bitterly that having, some time since, accompanied
+a deputation to an interview
+with the minister on the subject of the
+decline of the cotton trade, M. Liedtz
+abruptly ended the conference, almost before
+they had opened their grievances,
+by exclaiming:—“Come, now we have
+heard enough about cotton—how are your
+cows?”</p>
+
+<p>In Ghent, business has always been conducted,
+not only upon an extended scale,
+but upon the most solid and steady basis;
+bank accommodation and discounts are unknown,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span>
+in fact, in Belgium, and a bill, if 
+drawn at all, is, as a general rule, held over
+to maturity, and collected by the drawer.
+This may, in a great degree, account for
+the trifling balances which suffice to produce
+a suspension of business. In an
+annual document, published officially, I
+presume, I perceive that although the number
+of failures in Ghent for the year 1839,
+amounted to twenty, the amount of their
+united deficiencies did not exceed 198,000
+francs.<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span></p>
+
+<p>The sufferings of Ghent seem to be so
+generally admitted, and so unequivocally
+ascribed to the operation of the revolution,
+that no scruple or delicacy is observed by
+the press or the public in ascribing them
+to its proper cause. A curious illustration
+of this, we observed in a volume entitled,
+“<i>Le Guide Indispensable du Voyageur sur les
+Chemins de Fer de la Belgique</i>,” sold at all
+the stations on the government railway,
+and in the case in which I bought my copy,
+by persons in the government uniform. In
+a short notice of Ghent, it contains the following
+passage of plain speaking upon this
+point. “During the fifteen years of the
+Dutch connexion, the population, the
+wealth and the prosperity of Ghent never
+ceased to increase; manufactures were multiplied,
+streets enlarged, public buildings
+erected, and large and beautiful houses
+constructed; in short, Ghent had become
+a great commercial city. <i>The revolution of
+1830 at once arrested this career of improvement,
+and Ghent, whose prosperity was the
+offspring of peace and of her connexion with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span>
+Holland, now seems to protest, by her silence,
+against a change which she finds to be fraught
+to her with ruin.</i> The citadel was only
+taken when all hope had disappeared of
+maintaining the supremacy of King William;
+but,” adds the author, “it is to be
+hoped that, little by little, the influence of
+new institutions may rally the hopes of the
+Gantois, and, at last, reconcile them to the
+consequences of the Belgian revolution.”<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a>
+And the new institution which is to achieve
+such a triumph, is to be, of course, <i>the
+railroad</i> from Ostend to Cologne.</p>
+
+<p>Our stay at Ghent had been somewhat
+longer than our original intention, but we
+found it a place abounding in attractions,
+not only from its hereditary associations,
+but from the enterprising and ingenious
+character of its inhabitants, and the progress
+which they have achieved in their
+multifarious pursuits. Besides, it is always
+a matter of the deepest interest to observe
+the success or failure of a great national<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span>
+experiment, such as is now in process in
+Belgium, where, after an interval of upwards
+of two centuries, during which they
+have formed a portion of another empire,
+its inhabitants are testing the practicability
+of restoring and supporting their old national
+independence, notwithstanding all
+the changes which two hundred years have
+produced in the policy, the commerce, and
+the manufacturing power of Europe—changes
+not less astonishing than those
+which, almost within the same interval, the
+discovery of printing has produced in the
+diffusion of learning, or that of gunpowder
+in the system of ancient warfare.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</h2>
+
+<p class="center">BRUSSELS.</p>
+</div>
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="hang">The railroad—Confusion at Malines—Country between
+Ghent and Dendermonde—<i>Vilvorde</i>—<i>The palace of Laeken</i>—First
+view of Brussels—The Grand Place in the old town—The
+Hôtel de Ville and Maison Communale—The new
+town—The churches of Brussels—<i>The carved oak pulpits of
+the Netherlands</i>—<span class="smcap">St. Gudule</span> monuments—Statue of
+Count F. Merode—Geefs, the sculptor—Notre Dame de la
+Chapelle—<i>The museum</i>—Palais de l’Industrie—The gallery
+of paintings—<span class="smcap">The Library</span>—Its history—<i>Remarkable
+MSS.</i>—Curiosities in the museum of antiquities—Private
+collections—Rue Montagne de la Cour—The
+theatre—Historical associations with the Hôtel de Ville—Counts
+Egmont and Horn—The civil commotions of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span>
+Philip II—<i>The fountains of Brussels</i>—The Cracheur—<i>The
+mannekin</i>, his memoirs—Fountain of Lord Aylesbury—Dubos’
+restaurant—The hotels of Brussels—Secret
+to find the cheapest hotels in travelling.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">We</span> again availed ourselves of the railroad
+from Ghent to Brussels, starting
+from the Monk’s Meadow at eight o’clock
+in the morning, and made the journey
+in about three hours and a half. The
+route is considerably increased in length,
+owing to the line making an angle in
+order to traverse Malines, which has
+been made a centre at which every
+branch of the entire system converges
+and take a fresh departure. This arrangement
+may be a convenience to the
+directory, but it is an annoyance to the
+public, not only by the extension of the
+distance they have to travel, but by
+the scene of bustle, confusion, and risk
+created by the concourse of so many
+trains at the same point, the nuisance
+and danger of which can hardly be exaggerated;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span>
+engines bellowing, horns sounding, 
+luggage moving, and crowds rushing
+to secure their places in the departing
+train, or to escape from being run over
+by the one coming in.</p>
+
+<p>The aspect of the country was, in all
+directions, the same—tame, but rich and
+luxuriant, with vessels toiling along its
+tributary canals, and here and there the
+Scheldt making its tortuous windings
+through long lines of pines and alders.
+One thing strikes a stranger as singular
+in this province, the almost total absence
+of pasture land, and the appearance of
+no cattle whatsoever in the fields, the
+ground being found to be more valuable
+under cultivation, and cattle more economically
+fed within doors. The railroad
+passes by some pretty but unimportant
+villages, such as Wetteren and Auderghem,
+before arriving at Termonde, more familiarly
+known to us as the Dendermonde
+of my Uncle Toby’s military commentaries.
+At Auderghem, a road turns to the right to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span>
+Alost, one of the most flourishing towns
+of East Flanders, and a prosperous seat of
+the flax and linen trade.</p>
+
+<p>After passing Dendermonde, we entered
+the province of Brabant, at the little village
+of Hombech, and the train, after traversing
+Lehendael (the Valley of Lillies), stopped
+at Mechlin, whose towers had been visible
+long before reaching the station. One of
+the most conspicuous objects here, is an
+immense brick building, erected in 1837 or
+38, for the purpose of spinning linen yarn,
+but never having been applied by its proprietors
+to that purpose, has lately been
+purchased by an English gentleman, Mr.
+Fairburne, to be converted into a manufactory
+of machinery, a department of manufacture
+which, in the present state of
+of Belgium, I much fear is not likely to
+prove more encouraging.</p>
+
+<p>From Malines to Brussels, the distance is
+fifteen miles, and was performed in something
+less than half an hour, the road lying
+through broad meadows and more extensive
+pastures than any I have yet seen in Belgium.
+On the left, these plains swell into a gentle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span>
+hill of some miles in length, on which the
+towers and steeples of Brussels are discernible
+long before we approach them.
+Within a few miles of Malines, we passed
+Vilvorde, an ancient place, but now only
+remarkable for its vast prisons, which are
+seen at a considerable distance. It was at
+Vilvorde that Tindal, the first translator
+of the Bible into English, was burned for
+heresy in 1536.</p>
+
+<p>Before arriving at the termination of the
+journey, the road sweeps along between
+two gentle elevations, that on the left being
+covered with the villas and pleasure-grounds
+of Schaerbeek, the Hampstead of Brussels,
+and to the right, with the woods and palace
+of Schoenberg, near the village of Laeken,
+a favourite residence of King Leopold. It
+was built in 1782, by the Archduke Albert,
+for the sister of the unhappy Marie
+Antoinette, and to serve for the future
+residence of the Austrian governor of the
+Netherlands. It suffered during the saturnalia
+of the French revolution, when a
+lofty tower, which rose above the woods<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span>
+that surround it, was torn down and sold
+for the price of the materials. Napoleon was
+partial to the palace as a summer retreat,
+and it was whilst lingering here with Marie
+Louise, that he completed the final and fatal
+arrangements for the invasion of Russia. It
+is handsomely, rather than magnificently
+furnished, but the grounds and gardens,
+which have all been re-modelled in the
+English style, are amongst the most beautiful
+in Europe, and command extensive
+views of the broad wooded campagne of
+Brabant, and the cheerful heights and
+gothic towers of Brussels.</p>
+
+<p>The first sight of Brussels, on approaching
+it from the side of Malines, is well calculated
+to give a favourable impression of its beauty
+and extent, the long planted line of the
+Allée Vert, terminating at the handsome
+gate d’Anvers, (formerly the Porte Guillaume,
+before the change of dynasty), with
+its dark iron balustrade and gilded capitals,
+and in front, the steep acclivity covered
+with streets and buildings of the modern
+and more elegant town, whilst the turrets<span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span>
+of the Hôtel de Ville and the towers of St.
+Gudule are equally conspicuous, rising
+above the roofs of the ancient city which
+nestles at its base. The city itself, though
+of remote antiquity, has nothing very antique
+in its first appearance, and, in fact,
+it is only in the narrow alleys and passages
+of the lower quarter that the mansions and
+municipal buildings of the former nobles
+and burghers of Brabant are to be discerned.
+Even here there are fewer architectural
+traces of the magnificence of the
+middle ages than in almost any other of the
+great cities of Belgium. The Grand Place is
+a splendid exception to this observation, as
+it is surrounded on all sides with lofty old
+Spanish-looking houses, in the style, at
+least, if not of the date of the palmy days
+of Brabant, its high peaked roofs bristling
+with tiers of little grim windows, its
+pointed gables covered with bas-reliefs and
+carvings, and the ample fronts of its mansions
+richly decorated with arabesques in
+stone, which had once been gaudily coloured,
+and here and there tipped with gold.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span>
+On one side starts up to a surprising height
+the gothic tower of the Hôtel de Ville, by
+far the most beautiful in the Low Countries,
+and on the opposite one is a vast gloomy-looking
+building, now converted into shops,
+which was once the <i>Maison Communale</i> of
+the city; and being rebuilt by the Infanta
+Isabella, in the early part of the seventeenth
+century, was, in commemoration of
+the deliverance of Brussels from the plague,
+dedicated to Notre Dame de la Paix, with
+an inscription, which is still legible, though
+much defaced: “<i>A peste, fame et bello libera
+nos Maria pacis</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>It is in the narrow and dingy passages of
+this lower town, that a stranger feels all the
+associations of the olden time around him;
+but on ascending by the steep and precipitous
+streets to the modern quarter, with its
+light and beautiful houses, its open squares
+and gardens, with their fountains and statues,
+and all that is French and fashionable,
+the charm of association is gone, and one
+feels something like coming suddenly into
+the daylight from the dim scenery of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span>
+melodrame. To the stranger in Brussels
+there are, therefore, two distinct sets of
+objects of attraction. In the new town
+there are the palaces of the King and the
+nobles, the park, the public promenades, the
+chambers of the Senate and the Commons,
+the splendid hotels of the Place Royal, and
+the libraries and museums that occupy
+the château which was once the residence
+of the Austrian viceroys; whilst in the old
+town, there are the churches of the fourteenth
+and fifteenth centuries, with their
+superb oak carvings, stained windows and
+statuary, the Hôtel de Ville, the gloomy
+old mansions of the past race of nobles,
+and all the characteristic memorials of the
+ancient capital. The first are speedily disposed
+of by the tourist, as there is nothing
+unique in any of the lions of Brussels, its inhabitants
+are, in fact, anxious to have their
+city considered a miniature Paris, and it
+seems to have been laid out altogether on the
+model of the French capital, with its boulevards
+and its palace gardens, its opera,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span>
+its restaurants and its “café des milles colonnes.”</p>
+
+<p>The churches, are, as usual, splendid specimens
+of gorgeous altars, (with their ponderous
+candelabra and Madonnas in embroidered
+petticoats,) solemn aisles, marble
+columns, painted ceilings, Flemish pictures
+and carved pulpits, so flowing and graceful
+in their execution, that they look as if the
+Van Hools and Van Bruggens of former
+times, possessed some secret for fusing the
+knotted oak and pouring it into moulds to
+form their statues and their wreathes of flowers.
+Their Pulpits are, in reality, one of the
+wonders of the Netherlands, they are of immense
+dimensions, some of them reaching
+almost as high as the gothic arches which
+separate the nave from the side aisles.
+The lower department usually represents
+some appropriate scene from the events
+of sacred history, the expulsion of Adam
+and Eve from Paradise, Elijah fed by
+ravens, the conversion of St. Paul, with
+the frightened horse most vigorously introduced,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span>
+or Christ calling Peter and Andrew, 
+who are represented in their boat by the
+sea-shore, with their nets and fish, all exquisite
+specimens of the art; and, occasionally,
+the designs are allegorical, with
+figures of Time, Truth and Christianity.
+Above these, usually rises a rock, or
+a mass of foliage and flowers, on which
+are perched birds and other accompaniments,
+and on this rests the shell of the
+pulpit, the whole is then surmounted, either
+by a canopy sustained by angels and cherubims,
+or by the spreading branches of a
+palm tree, so arranged as to overshadow
+the whole. Almost every great church and
+cathedral in Belgium contains one of these
+unique productions of an art which is now
+almost extinct, or, at least, possessed of no
+practitioners at all qualified to cope in excellence
+with these ancient masters. The confessionals,
+altars and organs are likewise
+elaborately covered with these almost unique
+decorations, and even the doors and windows
+sometimes exhibit specimens of extraordinary
+beauty and value.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span></p>
+
+<p>The <i>church of St. Gudule</i>, which is the
+most remarkable at Brussels, has two huge
+gothic towers, each nearly the same height
+with St. Pauls, and from their solid and
+massy construction looking even more stupendous;
+but the effect is seriously injured
+by a number of ordinary houses, which
+have been permitted to be erected against
+the very walls of the building!—a curious
+instance of the absence of all taste in the
+ecclesiastical body, who can thus permit,
+for money, the actual defacement of their
+finest building. The pillars which sustain
+the roof within, bear each in front a colossal
+statue, of which there are fourteen or
+sixteen representing the various saints and
+apostles, some of them by Duquesnoy and
+Quellyn, but the generality of inferior merit.
+The pulpit was carved by Van Bruggen in
+1699, and was presented to the cathedral
+by the Empress Maria Theresa.</p>
+
+<p>The windows which are of dimensions
+proportioned to the huge scale of the church
+are all of rich stained glass, partly antique
+and partly of modern execution, but of great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span>
+brilliancy of tint and high talent in design.
+The high altar is so composed by some ingenious
+machinery within, that the sacred
+wafer descends apparently of itself, at the
+moment when the host is about to be elevated
+by the officiating priest.</p>
+
+<p>Around the choir are the monuments of
+some of the ancient Dukes of Brabant, surmounted
+by their effigies in armour, with
+swords and helmets disposed by their side;
+that of John II, who married Margaret of
+England, and died in 1318, bears a figure of
+the Belgic lion in gilded bronze, which
+weighs nearly three tons. Opposite this is
+another to the memory of the Archduke
+Ernest of Austria, on which rests a figure
+clad in mail. Close by it a marble slab
+in the floor covers the vault in which are
+interred some members of the imperial
+family who died during their vice-royalty at
+Brussels.</p>
+
+<p>One statue in St. Gudule is remarkable
+as a favourable specimen of modern art in
+Belgium, it is that of the Count Frederick
+de Merode, a young nobleman of most<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span>
+amiable personal character, whose father was
+of one of the ancient families of Brabant,
+and his mother a Grammont. On the outburst
+of the revolution in 1830, he returned
+from France, where he was residing, enrolled
+himself as a volunteer in a corps of
+sharpshooters raised by the Marquis de
+Chasteler, and was killed whilst leading
+a charge against the Dutch rear-guard,
+under the command of Duke Bernard of
+Saxe Weimar. This monument is by Geefs
+of Brussels, who has evinced equal judgment
+and ability in retaining the national
+blouse as the costume of his statue, and
+yet so disposing it as to render it perfectly
+classical by his arrangement. Geefs is by
+far the most distinguished artist, as a sculptor,
+in Belgium, and has recently erected
+a spirited statue of General Belliard in the
+Park overlooking the Rue Royale, and
+the grand monument over the remains of
+the revolutionary partisans, who fell in the
+three glorious days “of 1830,” and are
+interred in the centre of the <i>Place des
+Martyrs</i>.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span></p>
+
+<p>The other churches of Brussels contain
+little that is worth a visit. In that of Notre
+Dame de la Chapelle, there is a high altar
+from a design by Rubens, one of those
+works in which he has so profusely exhibited
+his astonishing command of arabesque
+and allegorical devices. The pulpit is
+another specimen of wood carving, representing
+Elijah fed by ravens. It is remarkable
+that in all the churches of Brussels,
+there is not a single painting of more than
+common place ability, nor a single specimen
+of either Vandyck or Rubens—painters,
+it would seem, like prophets, are to seek
+for their patrons at some distance from
+home.</p>
+
+<p>The municipal collections of art are deposited
+in the museum and picture gallery
+in the Palais des Beaux Arts, formerly the
+vice-regal residence of the Austrian governors.
+In one wing of the building,
+called the Palais d’Industrie, are deposited
+models of machinery, agricultural instruments,
+and inventions of all kinds applicable
+to manufactures. The collection is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span>
+costly and extensive, and cannot fail to exercise
+a beneficial influence in the education
+of mechanics. The main galleries of the
+palace are filled with the national pictures,
+which amount to between three and four
+hundred. The description of a painting is
+scarcely more intelligible or satisfactory than
+the description of an overture. Amongst
+the collection are a few of considerable
+merit, but the vast majority are of the most
+ordinary description. There are a few by Rubens
+and Vandyck, not of the first order,
+some by Breughel, Cuyp, Gerard Dow, and
+the chiefs of that school; a multitude by
+the Crayers and Van Oorts and Vander
+Weydes, whose works one meets in every
+Flemish chapel, and a number of the early
+painters of the Netherlands, in which, I
+confess, I am not connoisseur enough to
+discover anything very attractive beyond
+their antiquity and curiosity as specimens
+of the feeble efforts of art in its infancy.</p>
+
+<p>Under the same roof is the magnificent
+Library, begun by the Dukes of Burgundy
+so far back as the fourteenth century, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span>
+enriched by every subsequent sovereign of
+the Netherlands, till its treasures now
+amount to 150,000 volumes of printed
+books and 15,000 manuscripts; amongst
+which are numbers whose pedigree through
+their various possessors is full of historical
+interest, and some which belonged to the
+library of Philip the Hardy, in 1404, and
+described in the “<i>Inventoire des livres et
+roumans de feu Monseigneur</i> (<i>Philip le
+Hardi</i>), <i>a qui Dieu pardonne, que maistre
+Richart le Conte, barbier de feu le dict
+Seigneur, a euzen garde</i>.” Its chief treasures
+it owes, however, to Philip the Good,
+the Lorenzo de Medicis of the Low Countries,
+who attracted to his court such geniuses
+as Oliver de la March, Monstrelet,
+Philip de Commines, the chroniclers and
+men of learning of his time, and kept constantly
+in his employment the most able
+“clerks,” “<i>escripvains</i>” and illuminators,
+engaged in the preparation of volumes
+for his “librarie,” and having united
+all the provinces of the Netherlands under
+his dominion, he collected at Brussels the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span>
+manuscripts of the Counts of Flanders, in
+addition to his own. The identical copy of
+the Cyropedia of Xenophon, which he had
+transcribed for the study of his impetuous
+son, Charles le Téméraire, and which
+accompanied him to the disastrous field of
+Morat, is still amongst the deposits in this
+superb collection.</p>
+
+<p>Another of its illustrious founders was
+Margaret of Austria, <i>la gente demoiselle</i>,
+daughter to the gentle-spirited Mary of
+Burgundy, and friend of Erasmus and Cornelius
+Agrippa, who amassed for it the
+invaluable collection of “<i>Princeps</i>” editions,
+which were then issuing from the early
+press of Venice and the North. The Library
+still contains the common-place book
+of this interesting Princess, with her verses
+in her own handwriting, and music of her
+own composition.</p>
+
+<p>Another equally charming guardian of
+literature was her niece, Mary of Austria,
+the sister of Charles V and Queen Dowager
+of Hungary, who transferred to the library
+of Brussels the manuscripts which her husband,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span>
+Louis II, had inherited from his 
+grandfather, Mathias Corvinus. Amongst
+these, is a missal, one of the wonders of
+the collection, painted at Florence in 1485,
+and abounding in the most exquisite miniatures,
+arabesques and illuminated cyphers.
+From the period of its deposit in Brussels,
+the Dukes of Brabant took their oath of
+inauguration by kissing the leaves of this
+priceless volume, and two pages which had
+been opened for this purpose at the accession
+of Albert and Isabella, in November
+1599, are spotted with the flakes of snow
+which fell upon the book during the solemnity.</p>
+
+<p>In the vicissitudes of Brussels, the contents
+of her Library has always been an
+object of cupidity for her invaders. In
+1746, Marshal Saxe sent a selection of its
+treasures to Paris, which were restored in
+1770, and again seized by the revolutionary
+army of Dumourier in 1794, and though
+recovered in 1815, it was with the loss of
+many of its precious deposits. But even
+the disappearance of these was less exasperating<span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span>
+than the insensate vandalism of the 
+savants of the revolution, who actually
+rubbed out with their wetted fingers, the
+portraits of the ancient emperors and kings,
+and even of the saints who happened to
+wear a crown, in order to evince their inexpressible
+hatred of monarchy.</p>
+
+<p>Amongst the manuscripts, are some few
+which escaped from the sack of Constantinople
+in 1453, and bear the names and
+handwriting of Chalcondylas, Chrysolaras,
+and the restorers of Grecian literature, who,
+on the overturn of the Eastern Empire,
+found a refuge at Rome and at the court of
+the Medicis. The bindings of numbers of
+them, bear the imperial cypher of Napoleon,
+but the majority have still their ancient
+velvet covers, the richness of which,
+with their clasps of gilded silver which secure
+them, attest the value which was
+placed upon their contents by their illustrious
+owners.</p>
+
+<p>An adjoining apartment is devoted to
+some interesting antiquities, among which,
+are a court-dress of Charles II, a souvenir
+of his sojourn at Brussels during the ascendancy<span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span>
+of Cromwell; a cloak of feathers, 
+which belonged to Montezuma; the cradle
+in which Charles V. was rocked; and
+two stuffed horses which bore Albert and
+Isabella at the battle of Nieuport, one an
+Andalusian barb which had accompanied
+the Infanta from Spain, the other a Moravian
+which afterwards saved the life of
+the Archduke at the siege of Ostend in
+1604.</p>
+
+<p>In the private mansions of Brussels there
+are numerous collections of pictures and
+objects of vertu, much more valuable than
+those which are the property of the nation.
+Those of the Duke d’Aremberg, the Prince
+de Ligne, M. Maleck de Werthenfels, and
+the Count Vilain XIV, contain several
+masterpieces of the Dutch and Flemish
+masters, and some few by Raphael Leonardo
+de Vinci, and the chiefs of the Italian
+school. The name of this latter gentleman
+is somewhat remarkable; his ancestor, who
+was ennobled by Louis XIV, being permitted
+to append the cypher of the monarch
+to his name and that of his descendants.
+The collection of the Duke d’Aremberg,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span>
+besides a number of paintings of great excellence,
+contains a remarkable marble,
+which has excited much curious investigation
+amongst the dilettanti; it is a head,
+the fragment of a statue, which <i>is said</i> to
+have originally belonged to the main figure
+in the group of the Laocoon in the Vatican,
+the present head being only a restoration.
+The truth of this is questioned, but the connoisseurs
+attached to Napoleon were so
+satisfied of its truth, that the Emperor, by
+their advice, offered the possessor, weight for
+weight, gold for marble, if he would allow
+the head to resume its ancient position on
+the shoulders of the statue which was then
+in the gallery of the Louvre. The Duke,
+unwilling to part with it, declined, but
+aware of the determined nature of Napoleon’s
+caprices, sent it privately out of the
+country, and had it concealed at Dresden
+till the fall of the Emperor, when it was
+restored to its old place in the library of
+the Palais d’Aremberg. That the head of
+the central figure in the group of the Vatican
+is a restoration, there can be no doubt;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span>
+it was copied, it is said, from an antique
+gem. The head at Brussels, was found by
+some Venetian explorers, and sold to the
+father or grandfather of the present Duke
+d’Aremberg. Whether it be the genuine
+original or not, no possible doubt can be
+entertained of its masterly execution, and
+the vigour and fire of expression with which
+it glows, justify any opinion in favour of its
+origin.</p>
+
+<p>An almost precipitous street, appropriately
+called “Rue Montagne de la
+Cour,” rises in a straight line from the
+lowest level of the ancient town to the hill
+on which the new one is situated, which
+is filled with the best and most showy shops
+in Brussels; jewellers, printsellers, confectioners
+and modistes, and crowded at all
+hours of the day with carriages and fashionable
+loungers. At the bottom of this steep
+acclivity, is the Place de la Monnaie, where
+stands the theatre, in which the actual
+insurrection commenced in 1830, when
+the audience, inflamed by the music and
+declamation of the Muette de Portici, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span>
+inspired by the estro of Masaniello, rushed
+into the street and proceeded at once to demolish
+the residence of the minister, M.
+van Maanen. Turning a corner from this,
+one finds himself suddenly in the midst of
+the antique square in which stands the
+Hôtel de Ville, and the other principal municipal
+edifices of the past age—the <i>forum</i>
+of ancient Brabant, as the Place de Monnaie
+is of the modern. It was in this and
+in the sombre old mansions that are to be
+found in the precincts around it, that the
+pride of democracy appears to have delighted
+in “recording in lofty stone” its
+own magnificence, and lavished their public
+wealth upon the towers of the Town
+Hall, the most imposing monument of the
+popular power.</p>
+
+<p>But, independently of its democratic
+associations, the Hôtel de Ville of Brussels
+was the scene of the most extraordinary
+episode that has ever been recorded in the
+chronicles of kings;—it was in the grand
+hall of the Hôtel de Ville that Charles V.
+wearied with the crown of a monarch, laid<span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span>
+it aside to assume the cowl of a monk, and
+took his departure from the throne of an
+empire to die, a maniac, in the cell of a
+monastery. It was from one of the windows
+of the same building that the ferocious
+Duke of Alva looked on, in person, at the
+execution of two of the purest patriots of
+their own or any subsequent age—Lamoral,
+Count Egmont, and Philip de Montmorency,
+Count Horn—the first and most illustrious
+martyrs of the Reformation in the Netherlands.
+During the reign of terror under
+Philip II., Brussels was the grand scene
+of Alva’s atrocities and of his successors’
+incapacity. It was in the little square of
+the Petit Sablon, that the protestant confederates
+assembled to draw up their famous
+remonstrance to Margaret of Parma, the
+sister and vice-queen of the bigotted tyrant,
+on the occasion of presenting which, by the
+hands of de Bredérode, the unlucky exclamation
+of “the beggars,” (<i>Gueux</i>) escaped
+from the incautious lips of the Count de
+Berlayment, in whispering his counsel to
+the grand-duchess to reject their prayer,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span>
+a word which fell like a blister, and was
+adopted, at once, as the title and the sting
+of the protestant conjuration.</p>
+
+<p>The square of the Hôtel de Ville was the
+scene of every popular commotion that has
+agitated Brabant, from the origin of the
+ducal dynasty, to the halcyon days of
+Albert and Isabella: it resounded with the
+insane riots of the Iconoclasts in 1566, and
+it was illuminated by the flames of the Inquisition,
+in which the same infuriated
+fanatics made a final expiation for their
+violence. It ran red with the blood of
+the protestants under Philip II.; and,
+in 1581, it rang with the acclamations
+of the followers of the Prince of Orange
+over the temporary abolition of the worship
+of Rome. So little is its architectural aspect
+altered since these thrilling scenes,
+that, with the Hôtel de Ville on one side,
+and on the other the old communal house,
+in which Egmont and Horn spent the night
+previous to their execution; and around
+them the venerable gothic fronts and fretted
+gables of its ancient dwellings, one might<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span>
+almost imagine it the ready scenery, and
+half expect the appearance of the dramatis
+personæ to re-enact the tragedy.</p>
+
+<p>The ornamental monuments of Brussels
+are neither very numerous, nor remarkable
+for their refinement of taste. The public
+fountain called “le Cracheur,” is the statue
+of a man, with his arms folded, and vomiting
+the stream for the accommodation of
+the public; and the famous little fountain
+of the <i>mannekin</i>, in the Rue de
+Chene, supplies her customers with water
+in a style perfectly unique, at least, in a
+statue. This eccentric little absurdity is
+the darling of the bourgeoisie, and the popular
+palladium of Brussels, and its memoirs
+are amongst the most ridiculous records of
+national trifling. The original which was
+of great antiquity, made of carved stone was
+replaced by one of iron. The present one is
+in bronze on the same model, and was cast
+by Duquesnoy in 1648. One story to account
+for its extreme popularity, is that it
+is a likeness of Godfrey, one of the Dukes
+of Brabant, who, when an infant, having<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span>
+escaped from his nurse, was discovered at
+the spot in the attitude immortalized by
+the little statue. By the mob, the mannekin
+is perfectly worshipped—he is called “le
+plus ancien bourgeois de la ville,” has the
+freedom of the city, and a feast day in July
+regularly appointed in his honour. On
+this occasion, he is clothed in a suit which
+was given him by Louis XV., consisting of
+a cocked hat and feathers, a sword and costume
+complete, the King, at the same time,
+creating him a Chevalier de St. Louis.
+Charles V. was equally beneficent to the
+mannekin, and Maximilian of Bavaria assigned
+him a valet-de-chambre. He has
+also been left legacies by more than one of
+the citizens; at the present moment his
+income is upwards of four hundred francs,
+paid to his valet for his services upon state
+occasions, and to a treasurer for the management
+of his estates. Brussels has, more
+than once, been thrown into dismay by the
+mannekin being carried off, and the utmost
+exertion has been made for his recovery.
+The last violence offered to him was his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span>
+being carried off a few years since; but he
+was discovered in the house of a liberated
+felon, and speedily restored to his old place
+and functions amidst the delight of the
+Brussellois.</p>
+
+<p>In the Place du Grand Sablon, another
+fountain, surmounted by a marble statue of
+Minerva, between figures, representing Fame
+and the river Scheldt, and holding a medallion
+with the heads of Francis I. and Maria
+Theresa was erected, as its inscription imports
+in 1711, by Thomas Bruce, Earl of
+Aylesbury, in recognition of the enjoyments
+he had experienced during a residence of
+forty years in Brussels.</p>
+
+<p>We dined to day with the gentlemen who
+formed the Commission of Inquiry which
+had lately visited the linen districts of Great
+Britain. The entertainment was at du
+Bos’, Rue Fossé-aux-Loups, the favourite
+restaurant of Brussels, and the dinner was
+altogether French, and equal to the best
+cuisine of the Palais Royale. The hotels of
+Brussels, those, I mean, in its upper town,
+are on an immense scale, especially the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span>
+Bellevue, which overlooks the park, and
+was in the very focus of the fight during the
+“glorious three days” of 1830. Beside it
+is the Hôtel de Flandres, said to have the
+most recherché table-d’hôte of the entire,
+and such is its popularity, that we could
+neither obtain apartments in the hotel on
+our arrival, nor seats at the table on a subsequent
+occasion. In this dilemma, we took
+up our residence at a house on the opposite
+side of the same square, the Hôtel Brittanique,
+where we found the arrangements
+as execrable, in every respect, as the charges
+were monstrous. As usual, however, a
+stranger with his foot on the step of his
+carriage, has no resource but to submit; but,
+as a general rule, the traveller who is in
+search of the <i>cheapest</i> hotel, should invariably
+address himself to that which has
+the reputation of being the <i>best</i>; where
+there is no temptation, as in the less frequented
+establishments, to make those who
+visit the house pay for the loss occasioned
+by the absence of those who avoid it, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span>
+where, even if the bill be occasionally something
+more than is equitable, he has, at least,
+the satisfaction of feeling that he has had
+<i>comfort</i> in exchange for extortion.</p>
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</h2>
+
+<p class="center">BRUSSELS.</p>
+
+<p class="center"><small>EFFECTS OF THE REPEAL OF THE UNION WITH
+HOLLAND.</small></p>
+</div>
+<div class="blockquot">
+
+<p class="hang">The Belgian revolution has produced no man of leading genius—The
+present ministry—M. Rogier—M. Liedtz, the Minister
+of the Interior—An interview at the Home Office—Project
+of steam navigation between Belgium and the
+United States—Freedom of political discussion in Belgium—<i>Character
+of King Leopold</i>—Public feeling in Brussels—The
+original union of Holland and Belgium apparently
+desirable—Commercial obstacles—Obstinacy of the
+King of Holland—Anecdote of the King of Prussia—The
+extraordinary care of the King for manufactures—<i>Prosperous</i>
+condition of Belgium under Holland—<i>Les Griefs
+Belges</i>—Singular coincidence between the proceedings of
+<span class="smcap">the repealers in Ireland and the repealers
+in Belgium</span>—Ambition for separate nationality—Imposition
+of the Dutch language unwise—Abolition of trial
+by jury—Now disliked by the Belgians themselves—Financial
+grievances—Inequality of representation—<span class="smcap">Conduct
+of the Roman Catholics</span>—Hatred of toleration—Attachment
+of the clergy to Austria—<i>Remarkable manifesto<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> of the clergy to the Congress of Vienna</i>—Resistance to
+liberty of conscience, and freedom of the press—Demand
+for tithes—Resistance of the priests to the toleration of
+Protestants—The official oath—<i>Protest of the Roman Catholic
+Bishops against freedom of opinion and education by the
+State</i>—Perfect impartiality of the Sovereign—Resistance
+of the priesthood—<i>The Revolution</i>—Union of the Liberals
+and Roman Catholics—Intolerant ambition of the clergy—Separation
+of the <i>Clerico-liberal party</i>—Present state
+of parties in the legislature—Unconstitutional ascendancy
+of the priests—<i>State of public feeling</i>—Universal disaffection—Curious
+list of candidates for the crown of Belgium
+in 1831—“<i>La Belgique de Leopold</i>,” its treasonable
+publications—Future prospects uncertain—Vain attempts
+to remedy the evils of the revolution—<i>Connexion
+with the Prussian League refused</i>—Impossibility of an
+union with Austria or Prussia—Union with France impracticable—Partition
+of Belgium with the surrounding
+states—<i>Possible restoration of the House of Nassau, in
+the event of any fresh disturbance</i>.</p>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="smcap">We</span> this morning paid a visit to M.
+Liedtz, the minister of the interior, in his
+hotel at the “Palais de la Nation.” It is
+rather remarkable that neither the actual
+eruption of the revolution nor its subsequent
+influence, has been sufficient to draw
+forth any individual of leading genius, to
+give a complexion to the policy of the new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span>
+state. The actors who have played the
+most prominent <i>rôle</i> during the last ten
+years have been a few of the ancient
+Catholic noblesse, whose titles gave éclat
+to the movement, but who have long since
+withdrawn into retirement, or ceased to
+take a lead in the administration—and the
+body of lawyers whose professional aptitude
+to promote or profit by any change,
+has enabled them to step over the heads of
+their less adroit, but not less qualified associates,
+and to appropriate to themselves
+the “loaves and fishes” of office. Lastly,
+there were “the masses” whose impetuosity
+achieved the revolution, the “patrioterie”
+who form the tools of every revolution
+to be worked for the benefit of their
+more clear sighted superiors. But the
+daring spirits of 1830 have all disappeared;
+the present times do not require such
+fiery agents; the violence which effects a
+revolution, must be the first thing to be got
+rid of by those who would perpetuate it,
+and who speedily learn to exchange the
+exciting demand of “<i>delenda est Carthago</i>,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span>
+for the milder supplication of “<i>panem et
+Circenses</i>.” In this way the Masaniello
+of the revolution, M. de Potter, having been
+given to comprehend that his services had
+been rendered, and his presence no longer
+desirable, has long since withdrawn himself
+to ponder over, and, it is even added, <i>to
+regret</i> the events of 1830; but certainly to
+lament, in strong terms, his disappointment
+at their practical results.</p>
+
+<p>The present ministry did not, from all
+we could observe, command the confidence
+of their fellow citizens, nor do I recollect
+any one of them spoken of without a reference
+to some incapacity or disqualification
+for the office. M. Rogier, the minister of
+public works, had been a third or fourth
+rate barrister at Liege, and eked out an
+insufficient professional income by delivering
+lectures on French literature. His
+daring and energetic share in the events
+which displaced the old dynasty, recommended
+him to employment under the new,
+but the office assigned to him, that of the
+interior, involving the guardianship of trade<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span>
+and manufactures, was one for which he
+was little suited, either by education or
+taste, and he utterly destroyed the confidence
+of the merchants and mill owners, by
+avowing in one of his addresses to them,
+that they must be prepared to see “<i>commerce
+die a lingering death</i>,” if it were
+conducive to the permanence of the new
+order of things. M. Liedtz, with whom
+we had an interview this morning, had, like
+M. Rogier, been a lawyer, but of some
+standing and eminence in his profession.
+He had been, we heard, unfavourable to
+the revolution at its first out-break, but
+his talents speedily recommended him to
+the notice of the new authorities, who promoted
+him to be judge in the district of
+Antwerp, whence he was transferred to his
+present office on the removal of M. Rogier,
+to that of public works. He received us in a
+suite of very elegant apartments, much superior
+to those with which our own ministers
+are accommodated in Downing Street. He
+is a native of Audenarde, of humble parentage,
+but of considerable practical acquirements,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span>
+especially on agricultural matters. 
+He received us most affably, and after some
+conversation on commercial subjects, reverted
+at once to his own hobby, by asking
+after the progress of agriculture in Great
+Britain. The object of greatest interest
+with us was the duty which it had been
+announced that it was in contemplation by
+the government to impose upon the export
+of flax, and to which I have before alluded
+as the extraordinary expedient suggested
+by the agricultural members of the
+chambers, in order to protect the hand spinners
+from being superseded by machinery.
+The minister seemed fully to understand the
+absurdity of the suggestion, but still admitted
+that the “pressure from without” might compel
+him to introduce a bill upon the subject.
+He informed us, that a negociation has just
+been concluded with some speculators in
+the United States, supported by the Belgian
+government, with a view to running
+a line of steam-packets of great power from
+New York and Philadelphia to Antwerp and
+Ostend, touching at one of the southern
+ports of England, and thus it was expected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span>
+securing a share of the passenger trade, as
+well as opening, by degrees, a market for
+Belgian produce in the United States.</p>
+
+<p>One thing, in Belgium, I cannot but allude
+to as characteristic—the unrestrained freedom
+with which every individual discusses
+politics, and the unreserved candour
+and frankness with which each details his
+views and strictures. This is the more
+remarkable, because the universal tenor of
+opinion is, if not directly to complain, at
+least, to admit the existence of much cause
+for complaint. I never met with less
+<i>bigotted</i> politicians, and I have not seen a
+single individual, whom I would designate
+<i>a party-man</i>, in the English acceptation of
+the term, that is one who finds all right, or
+all wrong, precisely as the party with whom
+he sympathises be censured or lauded by
+the inference. But the fact is, there are no
+“optimists” in Belgium as yet, and there
+is so much that is unsatisfactory in every
+department, that the consciousness of it
+forces itself upon the conviction, if not the
+admission of every individual. The press,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span>
+too, is equally unreserved, and in the shops
+of the booksellers, we found numbers of
+publications devoted to the exposure of the
+present condition of the country.</p>
+
+<p>Still no creature, not even the most
+violent partisan of the House of Nassau
+whom I have met with, includes King
+Leopold in the scope of his censures.
+The revolution itself, its immediate agents
+and its consequences are the objects of
+their condemnation; but no one of the
+results from which they suffer, is ascribed
+to the influence or interference of the King.
+Those who regret the expulsion of the King
+of Holland, look upon King Leopold
+merely as his involuntary successor, and
+whilst they condemn the incapacity of his
+ministers, and the violence of the party in
+the house and in the country by whom
+they are controlled—all seemed to regard
+the King as only borne upon a tide of
+circumstances, which he is equally unable
+with them to resist or direct. His fondness
+for locomotion, his frequent visits to
+England and journeys to Paris, were the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span>
+subject of good humoured badinage, and
+have procured him the titles of “<i>le
+roi voyageur</i>,” and “<i>l’estafette nomade</i>.”
+“Il s’amuse,” said an intelligent Belgian,
+when I asked him what share the King
+took in politics, “he goes out of the way
+to Wiesbaden, and leaves things very much
+to themselves, or, what is nearly the same
+thing <i>to his ministers</i>.”</p>
+
+<p>In Brussels, of course, we found the
+revolution still popular; its population
+were the first to promote, and are the last
+to regret it. But it is an inland town, the
+residence of the court and the nobles, unconnected
+either with manufactures or commerce,
+and its shopkeepers have not
+suffered by the change, which has affected
+the prosperity of the trading districts.
+Equally independent of the loom and the
+sail, they only hear of the embarrassments
+of others, as a sound from a distance.
+Their intercourse is with the wealthy, who
+are congregated round the seat of the
+legislation and the palace of the sovereign;
+as yet their pursuits have not been affected<span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span>
+by the diminished resources of the middle
+and labouring classes, and besides the
+constant passage of strangers, as well as the
+permanent residence of some thousands of
+English and other wealthy foreigners, is a
+permanent source of income. But, throughout
+the country and in the provincial
+towns, we met with but one feeling of keen
+discontent with the result of the revolution,
+and alarm for the condition and prospects
+of the country.</p>
+
+<p>That the union of Belgium with Holland in
+1815 was one conceived, less with an eye to
+the interests of the two countries, than in an
+anxiety for the erection of a substantial
+power in that precise locality, as a security
+for the peace of Europe, is admitted by all
+engaged in its actual arrangements; but
+it is equally admitted, that whatever discordances
+there might have existed at the
+time between the feelings, the peculiarities
+and the interests of the two states, they
+presented no permanent obstacle to that
+“complete and intimate fusion” of the two
+people, which was ultimately anticipated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span>
+by the Congress of Vienna. It was in order
+to erect the new kingdom into a state of
+adequate importance, that England, in addition
+to concurring in the restoration of the
+ancient Netherlands of Charles V, divested
+herself of a portion of her colonial conquests
+during the war to re-annex them to Holland,
+thus feeding the national resources of
+both sections of the new alliance—the Belgian
+by an outlet for its manufactures, and the
+Dutch by a carrying trade for their shipping.</p>
+
+<p>The union, too, was a natural one, not
+only geographically, but intrinsically. Belgium
+had been compelled to become a
+manufacturing country by the closing of
+the Scheldt, at the treaty of Munster which
+ended the Thirty years’ war in 1648, one
+of those unnatural acts of state policy,
+that seems almost an impious interference
+with the benevolence of providence;
+and which by annihilating this noble
+river for all purposes of trade, had the
+contemplated effect of driving commerce
+to Amsterdam and Rotterdam, thus constraining
+the Belgians to betake themselves
+to industry and handicrafts at<span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span>
+home. With such elasticity did they conform
+to this necessity, that when the unnatural
+embargo was taken off by the progress of
+the French in 1794, the energies and genius
+of the population had made such a decided
+development, that they were not to be
+seduced back into their old pursuits of
+traffic, and the <i>manufactures</i> of Belgium continued
+to prosper under “the continental
+system” of Napoleon, down to the period
+of the general peace. Holland, on the contrary,
+with her hands fully employed by
+her shipping and her trade, and possessing
+no mines of iron or coal, had never either
+the inducement or the temptation to become
+a manufacturing country, so that nothing
+could apparently be more happy, than the
+union of one producing nation all alive
+with machinery, with its neighbour proportionably
+rich in shipping; and to open
+to both an extensive colonial territory,
+whose population the merchantmen of the
+one could supply with the produce of the
+other.</p>
+
+<p>But even here lay the seeds of unforeseen
+dissentions. Belgium, all whose notions of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span>
+commercial policy were formed upon the
+false and narrow basis of France, was perpetually
+calling for protective duties, bounties
+and prohibitions, without which her
+artisans were sinking under the effects of
+foreign competition; whilst to the Dutch,
+with their spirit of traffic and fleets of
+shipping, every restriction upon absolute
+free trade was a positive interception of
+gain. This antagonism of interests led to
+perpetual animosity in the states-general
+upon all questions of customs and imposts,
+and to such an extent did Holland give
+way upon these points, in order to protect
+the interests of Belgium at the sacrifice of
+her own, that a well informed author observes
+that, “<i>even supposing the desire for
+separation had not arisen in Belgium, the
+Dutch, ere long, would have been forced to
+call for this divorce in order to save Amsterdam
+and Rotterdam from ruin</i>.” It is more
+likely, however, that the march of manufacturing
+prosperity in Belgium, and the
+increased demand and consumption of her
+produce would have ultimately compensated<span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span>
+her commercial colleague for all intermediate 
+loss.<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span>
+But added to these pecuniary squabbles,
+there were deeper and less tangible causes
+of mutual repulsion, differences of language
+and religion, and local prejudices and antipathies,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span>
+out of which speedily sprung an 
+infinity of definite “grievances,” which
+timely and conciliating interference and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span>
+constitutional reforms might have allayed;
+but which, there can be no doubt,
+were obstinately and fatally neglected by
+the King of Holland, and his irresponsible
+ministers; and though it is absurd to regard
+them, even if unredressed, as justifiable
+grounds for revolution, they led ultimately
+to the expulsion of the family of Nassau
+from the Netherlands.</p>
+
+<p>It seems to be admitted upon all hands,
+that in this the King of Holland was seriously
+to blame, and that whilst the political
+causes of complaint were all capable
+of easy removal or redress, they were overlooked
+in his anxiety to stimulate and
+promote the commercial prosperity of the
+country. From the outset, he aimed
+at eradicating the French institutions, to
+which, during the twenty years of their
+connexion with that country, the Belgians<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span>
+had become strongly attached, and to assimilate
+them to the model of Holland.
+His conduct, in this attempt, was strongly
+contrasted with the prudence of the King
+of Prussia, who having received his Transrhenan
+provinces under precisely similar
+circumstances, had never once attempted
+to interfere with those habits and local
+constitutions to which the people had
+become familiarised. He even ventured to
+remonstrate with the King of Holland on
+the impolicy of his course, and to warn
+him of the discontents it was likely to
+engender, but received only a pettish reply
+that, “his Majesty was old enough to act
+for himself,”—a rebuff which the Prussian
+monarch is said to have retorted when,
+at a subsequent period, the King of Holland
+applied to him for assistance to reconquer
+Belgium, and he accompanied
+his refusal with a remark, that he presumed
+“his Majesty was old enough <i>to
+fight</i> for himself.”</p>
+
+<p>This unwise neglect of the political grievances
+of Belgium, cannot be compensated
+by the King’s exclusive devotion to its<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span>
+manufacturing and substantial interests;
+and even in this, it is doubtful whether his
+zeal did not hurry him into an unwise extreme.
+His great ambition was to render
+his people “a nation of shopkeepers,” and
+develop as thoroughly the manufacturing
+resources of Belgium, as industry and care
+had matured the agricultural and commercial
+riches of Holland. There was no labour,
+no expense, no care, no experiment
+left unemployed to give life and impulse to
+their grand object. One engrossing topic
+was uppermost in his mind; which was not
+inaptly compared to a “price current,” solely
+influenced by the rise and fall of produce,
+or the fluctuations of the funds. The
+inventions of Watt and Fulton stood higher
+in his estimation than the achievements of
+Frederick or Napoleon. He protected the
+arts, not so much from admiration as
+policy, and he countenanced literature, not
+from any devotion to letters, but because
+it created a demand for articles of commerce.
+In short, there was nothing classic,
+inspiring or chivalrous in his bearing, all was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span>
+material, positive and mathematical. Business
+was his element, his recreation; and
+amusement, but a robbery of that time
+which he thought he ought to devote entirely
+to his people. He loved to surround
+himself with practical men, and he gained
+the good will of all the great commercial
+and financial aristocracy by the attention
+he paid to them, individually and collectively.
+It is incontestible, that if the happiness
+and welfare of a nation had depended
+on the laborious exertions and unremitting
+devotion of the sovereign to commercial
+affairs, then Belgium ought to have been as
+contented as it was prosperous, and its
+sovereign the most popular monarch in
+Europe.<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a></p>
+
+<p>Under the auspices of such a sovereign,
+Belgium, during the fifteen years of its connexion
+with Holland, attained a height of
+prosperity which no human being presumes
+to question. Agriculture, recovering from
+the sad effects of war, and receiving an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span>
+augmented impulse from the demand created
+by the commerce of Holland, speedily attained
+the highest possible point of prosperity—mines
+were opened, coal, iron and
+all other, mineral wealth extensively explored;
+manufactures and machinery were
+multiplied to an extent beyond belief, and
+the trade of Antwerp even outstepped that
+of Holland in exporting the produce of
+Belgium. Roads, canals and means of
+communication were constructed with surprising
+rapidity; sound and practical education
+was universally diffused, in short,
+every element of material prosperity became
+fully developed, and what rendered the
+progress of the nation the more important,
+was the fact that it was not intermittent
+or capricious, but exhibited one steady
+march in its ascent in each successive year,
+from the period of the union to the hour
+of its disruption.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span></p>
+
+<p>In such a combination of circumstances,
+one is impatient to discover the specific
+causes of discontent which could inflame
+an entire population into all the fury of
+revolt, and to the expulsion by blood and
+the sword of a King, under whose sway
+they acknowledge themselves to be debtors
+for so many blessings. This is not the
+place to canvas their merits, but in merely
+enumerating the principal grievances of
+which they complain, the “<i>griefs Belges</i>,”
+as they were specially headed in the newspapers
+of the time, it is impossible to avoid
+being struck with the identity between the
+vast majority of the pretexts for revolt propounded
+by the “patrioterie” who Repealed
+the Union in Belgium, and the “patriots”
+who clamour for “the Repeal of the Union”
+in Ireland. Nor did this similarity escape
+the promoters of the revolution in either
+country. In Ireland, it has been ostentatiously<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span>
+and perseveringly dwelt upon, and 
+even down to the present hour, the example
+of the Belgians is paraded as an incentive
+to the ambition of the enemies of British
+connexion; and in Belgium, even before
+the revolution, the position of the two
+countries, as regarded their several legislative
+connexions with England and Holland,
+was the subject of repeated comparisons and
+condolence. The “Belge,” a journal which
+was active in the encouragement of the
+movement, thus alludes to the coincidence
+of their circumstances in 1830. “Belgium
+has been long the Ireland of Holland, the
+relation of the dominant power has been
+in almost every particular, that of “<i>the
+Sister Island</i>” to England—with the intolerable
+addition, however, that while Ireland
+has had the less population by far, Belgium
+had by far the greater—that Belgium paid
+much more than her proportion of the
+taxes, whilst Ireland paid much less—that
+Ireland often sent her inhabitants to share
+in the distribution of places, pensions and
+honours, whilst such a distribution amongst<span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span>
+the Belgians was of extremely rare occurrence.”</p>
+
+<p>But the similarity consists not less in
+the ostensible grounds for revolt, than in
+the identity of the actual instruments and
+agents. In Belgium, as in Ireland, they
+were the uneducated and bigotted mob,
+inflamed by the half-educated press, and
+led on by a propaganda of priests and a
+crowd of unsuccessful and hungry lawyers.
+In both countries, too, the leaders of the
+movement, whatever may have been their
+real and secret sentiments, ostensibly professed
+to seek merely a redress of grievances,
+and to start with alarm at the idea
+of <i>separation</i>; their only desire being a <i>federative
+union</i> under the same crown, but
+with a distinct administration. The Belgian,
+however, soon felt that he wanted
+a power, which there is but little reason
+to ascribe to the Irishman of saying “thus
+far shalt thou go, and no farther,” and the
+stimulants applied to the versatile vanity of
+the people, soon rendered them impatient
+of any proposition short of actual independence.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span>
+An unfortunate phrase in the treaty 
+of Paris that Belgium was to be to Holland
+“as an accession of territory,” was construed
+into a national indignity, notwithstanding
+the expression of perfect equality
+and “fusion” which pervaded every other
+passage of the document, and the cry of
+“<i>a nation no longer a province</i>” became
+forthwith the aspiration of every discontented
+coterie. That distinction they have,
+at length, attained, and enjoy the barren
+eminence of a throne, but unfortunately
+without either the power, the wealth, or
+the influence as an European state, that
+are essential to give it dignity and stability.</p>
+
+<p>There are, however, some points of marked
+distinction between the two cases, inasmuch
+as whilst the Irish sufferers clamour
+<i>for</i> assimilation to England, those in Belgium
+flew to arms <i>against</i> assimilation with
+Holland; and, besides the Belgian repealer
+pursued his object of separation notwithstanding
+the admitted prosperity of his
+country, whilst the Irish one, less barefaced,
+tries eagerly to invent a case of distress in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span>
+order to justify his treason. Above all,
+there is this happy difference, that whilst
+in Belgium the repeal has been achieved
+at the expense of national prosperity, Ireland
+has still the opportunity to reflect and
+to be warned by her lamentable example.</p>
+
+<p>The civil grievances of the revolutionists
+arose out of certain measures of the King,
+in some of which he was manifestly wrong;
+his attempts to render Dutch the national
+language for all public documents in certain
+provinces—to abolish trial by jury, which
+had been established by the French—to
+remove the supreme court of judicature to
+the Hague—and to introduce the principles
+of Dutch law into all their pleas and proceedings.
+The two latter were the usual vexatious
+manifestations of the spirit of centralization,
+which a prudent government would
+never have attempted to force upon the
+unwilling prejudices of a nation; and the
+substitution of the Dutch tribunal for the
+trial by jury would have been a substantial
+injustice, had the people been unanimous,
+or even, in a considerable proportion, favourable<span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span>
+to it; but in the divisions upon 
+the question in the States General, large
+bodies of the Belgian representatives were
+found voting constantly against it; and
+<i>even now, notwithstanding its re-establishment,
+it has become more and more unpopular,
+and even those who supported it in 1830,
+refuse to sit upon juries themselves, or to
+uphold the system by their co-operation</i>. The
+alteration of the language was an unwise
+attempt to force upon four millions of Belgians
+the dialect of three millions of Dutch.
+This has, however, been sought to be defended
+by stating, that of the entire population
+of the united kingdom, one fifth
+alone spoke French, namely in Hainault,
+the Waloons, South Brabant, and a part of
+Luxembourg; and the remainder dialects of
+German, in the proportion of two fifths
+Dutch, and two fifths Flemish. The imposing
+Dutch upon the entire was not,
+therefore, more unjust than would have
+been a similar imposition of Flemish, <i>and
+yet, within this very year, the party who reviled
+the one to the death in 1830, have begun<span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span>
+to petition the legislature for the other</i>! They
+are contented now to abandon French,
+which they then contended for, and to
+accept the barbarous patois of Flanders as
+its substitute, which would be equally unintelligible
+to the Waloons, and even in those
+districts of Antwerp which border upon
+Holland.</p>
+
+<p>Another complaint had reference to the
+disproportionate distribution of government
+patronage between the subjects of Holland
+and Belgium, in which there may have been
+much truth, and to which the government
+did not take the most wise nor the most
+soothing steps to reconcile the minority, by
+ascribing it to the <i>dearth of talent</i> amongst
+their countrymen. <i>Like the Irish</i>, the Belgian
+agitators protested against the taxes of
+Belgium being made applicable to the discharge
+of the national debt, of which the
+largest proportion had been contracted by
+Holland before the period of the union—but
+having by the Revolution secured the
+management of the national revenues in
+their own hands, <i>an evil of more serious<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span>
+magnitude has been discovered, in the fact,
+that the expenditure of Belgium in every year
+since the Revolution, with the single exception
+of 1835, has exceeded the revenue by some
+millions of francs</i>. In 1831 and 1832 this
+was strikingly the case, the expenses of
+the war and of new establishments leading
+in the former year to an expenditure of
+upwards of four millions, and in the latter
+to eight millions sterling. In</p>
+
+<table>
+<tr><td>1833</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>   <td>£3,441,519</td> <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+</tr>       
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td><td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,765,993</td>   
+<td>excess</td>   <td>£324,474</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1834</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    
+<td>&nbsp;3,371,182</td>    <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td> <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,554,960</td>   <td>excess</td>    
+<td>&nbsp;183,778</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1835</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,695,225</td>   <td>excess</td>    
+<td>&nbsp;112,852</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td>       <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,582,373</td> 
+<td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>  
+<tr><td>1836</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,382,286</td>    <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td>       <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,469,031</td>   <td>excess</td>     
+<td>&nbsp;86,746</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1837</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,436,468</td>    <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td>       <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>3,817,621</td>   <td>excess</td>    <td>&nbsp;381,153</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1838</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,784,253</td>    <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td>       <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;3,885,232</td>   <td>excess</td>    <td>&nbsp;100,979</td></tr>
+<tr><td>1839</td>   <td>the revenue was</td>    <td>&nbsp;4,163,821</td>    <td>and</td><td>&nbsp;</td></tr>
+<tr><td>&nbsp;</td> <td>the expenditure</td>    <td>&nbsp;4,476,613</td>   <td>excess</td>    <td>&nbsp;312,792</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>The interest upon the national debt of
+the independent state exceeds at the present
+moment £800,000 a year. Besides, during
+the Dutch regime, it appeared that in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span>
+Belgium, <i>as in Ireland</i>, the malcontents
+bore the most trifling proportion of the national
+burthens, the revenue of the three
+years preceding the revolt being paid in
+the proportion of sixteen florins per head
+for every inhabitant of Holland, and only
+ten for those of the Netherlands.</p>
+
+<p>Another grievance, no less <i>Irish</i> than
+Belgian, was that the number of representatives
+was not regulated exclusively in
+proportion to the <i>population</i> of the two
+states, totally irrespective of the relative
+territory and possessions of each—and
+although the representation was exactly
+divided, one half of the States General being
+Dutch and one half Belgian, a division
+warranted by the large territorial interests
+of the former; the patriots and their disturbers
+complained “<i>Si l’on nous avait attribué
+une représentation en rapport avec la population</i>,
+<span class="allsmcap">NOUS AURIONS DOMINÉ LE NORD</span>.”<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a>
+The frankness of this avowal has not yet<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span>
+been imitated by the Repealers of Ireland;
+but its aspiration is not the less manifest
+in the similarity of their pretensions; and
+the frequent references of the Irish agitator
+in the House of Commons to the relative
+population and comparative electoral constituencies
+of the counties of England and
+Ireland, irrespective of their relative wealth
+and property, parrotted as they have recently
+been by members of her Majesty’s
+government, may no doubt be construed
+into an ill-concealed adoption of the sentiments
+of the repealers of Belgium.</p>
+
+<p>These, and a few other minor points, were
+the burthen of all the <i>civil</i> grievances against
+which the oppressed patriots of Belgium
+had to protest; and it is not difficult to perceive
+that it required but a little complaisance
+on the part of the Dutch government
+to redress them, although it is too late to
+regret that that redress was not timely
+applied. It is impossible, however, for
+any sober minded citizen to discern in the
+entire mass of these complaints, even in
+all their aggravation, any adequate ground<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span>
+for a resort to the last remedy of oppression—war,
+and revolution; and in vain
+would the restless promoters of the revolt
+have laboured to inflame the populace by
+rhapsodies on the glory of independence,
+or diatribes against the pronunciation of
+Dutch,—in vain would they have attempted
+to sting them into madness by calculations
+of finance, or lamentations over the exclusion
+of some provincial orator, from a seat
+in the legislature or a portfolio in some
+public bureau,—all these whips and stimulants
+would have been powerless and
+unfelt, had not <i>religion</i> been introduced in
+association with each, and the ascendancy
+of the Roman Catholic church been made
+the alpha and the omega—the beginning
+and the end—the burthen of every complaint,
+and the object of every exhortation.</p>
+
+<p>The avowed cause of the dissatisfaction
+of the clergy, was that the King <i>was a protestant</i>,
+and that protection and full toleration
+was extended to all sects and religious
+communities. The genius and pretensions
+of the Roman Catholic church<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span>
+seems, down to the present hour, to have
+undergone less modification in Belgium
+than in any other country of Europe, with
+the single exception, perhaps, of Rome
+itself. It was to preserve it in all its integrity
+that Philip II. and the Duke of Alva
+for thirty years exhausted the blood and
+treasure of Spain in its defence, and down
+to the present hour, its clergy exhibit a
+practical gratitude for their devotion, by the
+uncompromising assertion of every attribute
+for which they contended. Belgium is,
+at this moment, the most thoroughly catholic
+country in Europe, and the recent exploits
+of the Archbishop of Cologne attest
+the power of its example and its influence
+even over the adjoining states.</p>
+
+<p>Under the dominion of Austria, the
+authority of the church had been recognized
+by the crown, in all its plenitude and
+power, and the subsequent union of Belgium
+to France in 1795, was eagerly resisted
+by the clergy, who naturally saw in
+it the subversion of their power before that
+of the Goddess of Reason. But even the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span>
+influence of twenty years of intimate association
+with France, proved incapable to
+diminish the ardent subjection of the Belgians
+to their priesthood, or temper the
+ambition of their prelates and their clergy;
+and when, at length, the clasps which held
+together the empire of Napoleon, flew
+asunder in 1814, the utmost desire of the
+priesthood was to have Belgium again
+restored to her ancient masters, and <i>re-constructed
+as a province of Austria</i>, in which
+event, they calculated that the elevation
+of the church would follow, as of course.
+This, however, European policy forbade;
+and when, in 1814, the prelates of Flanders
+found themselves abandoned by their
+chosen sovereign, who accepted, in exchange,
+the more attractive provinces of Italy,
+and handed them over to one of the most
+Protestant monarchs in Europe, their consternation
+was unbounded, and in the extravagance
+of their disappointment, they had the
+madness to address a memorial to the Congress
+of Vienna, which is well worthy of
+being preserved as an authentic manifesto<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span>
+of the pretensions of the Roman Catholic
+church in modern times.<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<p>It bears date in October, 1814, and is
+signed by the vicars-general of the Prince
+de Broglie, who was then Bishop of Ghent.
+It sets out by an exposition of a principle
+learned, they say, from experience, that it is
+indispensable for a catholic country passing
+under the government of a protestant sovereign,
+to stipulate for the free exercise of its
+own worship, and for placing all its ancient
+rights and privileges beyond the reach of any
+interference of the state (“<i>hors de toute atteinte
+de la part du Souverain</i>”). The religion
+of Luther, the vicars-general proceeded to
+remind the Congress, is merely <i>tolerated</i> in
+Germany beside that of Rome, although it is
+very absurd to approve of two doctrines that
+contradict each other; but in Belgium, the
+latter has been distinctly recognized from
+immemorial time, and they, therefore, feel
+it is incumbent on them early to demand a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span>
+formal guarantee for its exclusive exercise,
+“<i>l’exercice exclusif</i>,” which had been secured
+to them, at former times, by the most
+solemn treaties. They warn the Prince of
+Orange, that he will find it his future interest,
+as well as that of Europe in general,
+whose object it must be to have Belgium
+peaceful and contented, to enter into an
+inaugural compact with the church, regarding
+the maintenance of all its ancient authority,
+and candidly intimate that the
+result shall never be satisfactory, if their
+own demands are not complied with in the
+following particulars:—First, the exclusive
+establishment of the Roman Catholic religion,
+<i>with this exception, that the royal family and
+the court may have a place of protestant worship
+in their palaces or chateaus, but that on
+no pretence whatever, is a protestant church to
+be erected elsewhere</i>. The words of this
+postulate are as distinct as their import is
+remarkable in the nineteenth <span class="err" title="original: centurry">century</span>:—“Avec
+cette exception, que le Prince Souverain
+et son auguste famille seront libres<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span>
+de professer leur religion, et d’en exercer
+le culte dans leurs palais, chateaux, et maisons
+royales, ou les seigneurs de sa cour
+auront des chapelles et des ministres de
+leur religion, <i>sans qu’il soit permis d’ériger
+des temples hors de l’enceinte de ces palais,
+sous quelque pretexte que ce soit</i>.” Secondly,
+that the church was to have absolute dominion
+in all matters concerning its own
+affairs. Thirdly, that the Council of State
+was to be composed <i>exclusively of Roman
+Catholics</i>, including <i>two bishops</i> of the establishment.
+Fourthly and fifthly, that a
+nuncio should be received from the Roman
+See, to treat with the council, and a new
+concordat obtained with the Pope. Sixthly,
+<i>that it was indispensably essential, in order to
+provide a perpetual maintenance for the clergy
+beyond all control of the state, that tithes
+should be re-established throughout Belgium</i>;
+the protestants, of course, contributing to
+the maintenance of the church from which
+they dissented! Seventhly, the re-establishment
+of the university of Louvain;
+and lastly, the restoration of the <i>monks and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span>
+religious orders</i> which had been suppressed
+by the Emperor Joseph II, and “<i>as one of
+the most excellent means, and, perhaps, the
+only one, at the present day, to secure to
+youth the blessings of an education combining,
+at once, the principles of genuine religion and
+the acquirements of human learning, the re-establishment
+of the Jesuits throughout Belgium</i>.<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a>”</p>
+
+<p>Whether this extraordinary document
+was really framed with a view to influence
+the deliberations of the Congress, or written
+with a full anticipation of their ultimate
+conclusion, and designed only as a
+defiance and a bold forewarning of the consequence,
+it had but little weight at Vienna,
+and the provinces were consigned, without
+the required stipulations, to the King of
+Holland.</p>
+
+<p>The constitution of the new state was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span>
+based upon principles of the most unrestricted
+toleration and protection for all
+denominations of religion. But toleration
+and freedom of opinion are the very essence
+of the reformation, and the Roman
+Catholic clergy had the discernment to perceive
+that no more effectual system could
+have been established for the silent but
+ultimate subversion of their church, than
+by reducing it to an equality with every
+other, thus lending the authority of the
+state in ascribing to many the possession
+of that saving faith, which it is fatal to the
+very spirit of catholicism to have attributed
+to any but one—and that one, herself.
+Equal rights and protection were to her
+more pernicious than proscription and persecution,
+and no other course was left to
+her than that precisely which she adopted
+to protest against toleration in the first
+instance, and to revolt against it in the
+end.</p>
+
+<p>By an arrangement of the new government,
+no public functionary or officer connected
+with any department of the state,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span>
+was to enter upon his functions before
+having taken an oath to maintain all the
+principles and observe all the enactments
+of the Constitution. But as amongst these
+were comprised the fundamental law of
+“toleration,” another manifesto was instantly
+issued by the prelates, prohibiting all Roman
+Catholics from subscribing to the obnoxious
+oath, as subversive of all the principles
+of the church of Rome, and ruinous
+to her attributes and claims!</p>
+
+<p>The articles which they objected to were
+those which guaranteed to all religious
+denominations of Christians perfect liberty
+of conscience, freedom of worship, an
+equality of civil rights and indiscriminate
+eligibility to all public employments.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a> To
+swear to the observance of such a law, the
+prelates declared to be neither more nor
+less than to exact equal protection for error
+as for truth,—and to countenance the admission
+to places of honour and trust, without
+distinction of religion, was merely sanctioning,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span>
+by anticipation, measures that might 
+hereafter be taken for permitting the interference
+of protestants in the affairs of the
+catholic community. The words of the
+Constitution established the unlimited exercise
+of public worship, “unless where it
+gave rise to any public disturbance,” <i>lorsqu’il
+a été l’occasion d’un trouble</i>; “but the
+bishops protested, that to give a power to
+the government to interfere under any limitation,
+was to submit the church to the
+authority of its enemies; and that <i>to
+swear obedience to any constitution which presumed
+the Catholic Church to be subject to the
+temporal law was manifestly to subscribe to its
+humiliation</i>.”<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> “To ascribe,” they said,
+“to a sovereign of a different faith, <i>a right
+of interference in the regulation of national
+education</i> would be to hand over public
+instruction to the secular power, and would
+exhibit a shameful betrayal of the dearest<span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span>
+interests of the church. There are other
+articles of the Constitution,” continues the
+manifesto, “which no true child of the
+Catholic Church can ever undertake, by a
+solemn oath, to observe or to support, and
+<i>above all others that which establishes</i> <span class="allsmcap">THE
+LIBERTY OF THE PRESS</span>!”</p>
+
+<p>This singular document bore the signatures
+of the Prince Maurice de Broglie,
+Bishop of Ghent, Charles Francis Joseph
+Pisani de la Gaude, Bishop of Namur,
+François Joseph, Bishop of Tournai, and of
+J. Forgeur and J. A. Barrett, the Vicars-General
+of Malines and Liege. I have preserved
+it and the memorial to the Congress
+of Vienna, as the most remarkable denunciations
+against liberty of conscience that
+modern times have produced, and a singular
+evidence of how little influence the example,
+or the intimate association of twenty
+years with the liberalism of France, was
+capable of producing on the spirit and
+genius of the church of Rome.</p>
+
+<p>Its promulgation produced an instant
+effect upon the weak consciences of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span>
+people, which, for a time, was productive
+of the utmost embarrassment to the establishment
+and arrangements of the new
+government, as individuals were prevented
+from accepting offices, which were open to
+them, from a dread of the vengeance of the
+altar. Its mischievous consequences were,
+however, after a time, defeated by the temperate
+conduct of the Prince de Mean, the
+last Prince Bishop of Liege, and subsequently
+Bishop of Malines, who had not
+signed the document, and who took the
+requisite oath, <i>subject to approval of the
+Pope</i>, an example which was speedily followed
+by all whom the incentive of office
+inspired with a natural anxiety to avail
+themselves of so high an authority.</p>
+
+<p>The King now administered the law with
+an apparent oblivion of every previous act
+of the Roman Catholic clergy. The income
+which was appropriated by the state for
+their support, was <i>augmented</i> at his suggestion,
+the remotest interference with their
+worship was in no solitary instance attempted,
+and churches were built for their<span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span>
+accommodation in the poorer districts, to
+which his Majesty himself was a liberal
+contributor. For some years every pretext
+for special complaint was successfully
+avoided, and the country was too rapidly
+prosperous to be yet ripe for any efforts to
+excite abstract discontent. But, at length,
+about 1825, the striking results of the
+Dutch system of National Education, to
+which I have referred in a former chapter,
+were so apparent, that the spread of
+intelligence and instruction became too
+alarming to permit the church to be longer
+quiescent, and resistance was at once commenced,
+notwithstanding the fact, that the
+religious education in the primary schools
+was scrupulously reserved for the superintendence
+of the priests, and theology was
+utterly excluded from the courses of the
+universities, and handed over exclusively to
+the college of Louvain. But education,
+even under these limitations, must be instantly
+suppressed, or unreservedly submitted
+to the church, without any control
+from the ministry of the interior. Some<span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span>
+concessions upon this point served only to
+give confidence to the boldness of further
+demands, and when these were resisted,
+every other grievance, civil and religious,
+having in the mean time undergone the
+necessary process of aggravation and
+distortion to ripen the passions of the
+“patrioterie” for revolt, the mine was considered
+ready for explosion, “and the whole
+country,” to use the words of Baron
+Keverberg,<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> “resounded with the cry of
+the priests, who filled Europe with their
+denunciations of resentment. To listen to
+them, one would imagine that the Catholic
+Church in the Netherlands groaned in the
+chains of an unrelenting oppression, and
+that the King had sworn to tear the faith
+of their fathers from the hearts of his subjects,
+and to hesitate at no measure, however
+furious or tyrannical, to “protestantize
+their country.” It is unnecessary to say that
+these were not only pure fabrications,
+“mere rhetorical artifices,” to serve the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span>
+purpose of the hour, since even their
+authors now admit this to be the fact.
+In a recent publication of the journal of
+Bruges, which is devoted to the <i>liberal</i>
+party, it avows that William I. so far from
+being the “protestant tyrant which it was
+then expedient to represent him, was the
+most tolerant of princes, ‘le plus tolerant
+que l’on puisse s’imaginer,’ and only hated
+by the priesthood because he would not
+endure them to <i>place the altar upon the
+throne itself</i>, as they have succeeded in
+doing by the revolution of 1830.”</p>
+
+<p>With this imperfect <i>aperçu</i> of the origin
+of the Belgian revolution, it is easy to
+collect its objects, its agents, and its effects.
+The union of the Liberals, with the priesthood
+and their followers, who formed the
+preponderating mass of the population,
+formed an alliance so powerful, that the
+whole strength of Holland was unequal to
+withstand it, much less the small body of
+reflecting and loyal subjects, who still remained
+faithful to the union and the crown,
+and who were not only overwhelmed by the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span>
+violence of the commotion at the moment,
+but so utterly discomfited by its ultimate
+consequences, that they have never since
+been able to rally as a party. But the
+immediate object being once achieved, the
+union of the “<i>clerico-liberal</i>” confederacy
+did not long survive its consummation.
+The “compact alliance” between the priests
+and the liberals had been sought by the
+former only to effect a definite purpose,
+which could not otherwise be attained, <i>the
+Repeal of the Union</i>; and no sooner was this
+accomplished, than the intolerant ambition
+of the clergy, put an end to all further co-operation
+between them. The party of the
+priests had then become all powerful by
+their numbers, and no longer requiring
+the assistance of their former allies, they
+boldly attempted their own objects independently,
+and in defiance of them. It is
+rather a ludicrous illustration of their zeal
+and its aim, that among the crowd of
+aspirants who were named for the crown of
+Belgium in 1831, the <i>Pope</i> himself was put
+in nomination! and had the decision<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span>
+remained with the revolutionists, there can
+be no doubt that the Netherlands would
+have been added to the territory of the Holy
+See.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a> Before twelve months from the expulsion
+of the King of Holland, the body by
+whom it was effected was split into two
+contending factions, and, at the present
+hour, the two opposing parties who contest
+every measure in the legislation of Belgium,
+are the quondam allies of the revolution,—the
+Liberals, and the “<i>parti prêtre</i>,” the
+latter of whom have the decided majority,
+and rule their former associates with a rod
+of iron.</p>
+
+<p>Every thing, in fact, is regulated by the
+wishes of that numerous body of the priesthood,
+who from their ardent exertions for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span>
+ascendancy, have obtained the title of the
+<i>La Mennaisiens</i>, and whose influence in
+every family and in every parish, rules,
+regulates and determines every political
+movement. They it is who conduct all
+the elections, name the candidates, and
+marshal the constituency to the poll, and
+when I was at Ghent, the curate of Bottelaer,
+a rural district in the vicinity, read
+from the altar the persons for whom the
+congregation were to vote, at a pending
+contest, on pain of the displeasure of the
+Bishop. If the coincidence does not strike
+irresistibly every individual, who has
+attended to what is passing in Belgium, it
+is here again unnecessary to point out the
+parallel, between the composition of the
+two parties, in that country and Ireland,
+who sympathise in the principle of repeal
+and separation. In each country the majority
+of the “movement” is composed of the
+Roman Catholic clergy, and the devotees
+of the church, but in both their strength
+would be ineffectual, and certainly their
+object suspected, had they not been joined<span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span>
+by honest but mistaken individuals, who,
+aiming at Utopian theories in politics, have
+been content to employ for their accomplishment,
+the aid of those, whose designs
+are more essentially sectarian, than civil or
+political.</p>
+
+<p>In Belgium, however, the demonstration
+has been made, of what may be expected
+to ensue, should the project of Repealing
+the Union be ever successfully effected in
+Ireland. There, as in Flanders and Brabant,
+the priests and their followers would
+have the overwhelming majority; and
+caution or concealment being no longer
+essential, the triumph of their attempt,
+would be but the signal for discarding their
+allies, and proceeding boldly to the consummation
+of their own ambition. The union
+once repealed, the objects of the liberal
+protestants of Ireland and the Roman
+Catholic party, would be as distinct as the
+very spirit of freedom, and the genius of
+despotism could render them. The manifesto
+of the Roman Catholic prelates to
+the Congress of Vienna, and their protest
+against <i>Liberty of Conscience</i>, <i>Education</i>,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span>
+and <i>the Freedom of the Press</i> in Belgium,
+made, not at any remote or antiquated era of
+history, <i>but within the last ten years</i>, sufficiently
+attest the animus in which their
+admirers and imitators would set about the
+regeneration of Ireland. The Archbishop
+of Malines would find a cotemporary and
+congenial spirit in the benignant prelate of
+Tuam, the pastoral superintendance of the
+clergy would be as vigorous in the elections
+for a domestic, as for a “Saxon” legislature,
+and as successful in securing a
+majority in the parliament of Dublin, as in
+the “Palace of the Nation,” and the services
+of the patriots who now shout in the train
+of the Agitator, could be as readily dispensed
+with in Ireland, as they have
+been summarily discarded in Belgium.</p>
+
+<p>Were the union between the two countries
+once repealed, the union between the
+two sections, by whose co-operation direct
+or indirect it had been effected, would not
+survive it one single year—the influence of
+the protestant and English party in Ireland,
+would in such a conjuncture be as effectually<span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span>
+annihilated, as had been the adherents 
+of Holland, in Belgium; and the deluded
+liberals, by whose unwise assistance they
+had been overwhelmed, would find themselves
+in the position of the moderate
+section of the chambers of Brussels, the
+<span class="err" title="original: consciencious">conscientious</span>, but inefficient opponents of
+a despotism, more formidable than that
+they had overthrown, inasmuch as the
+tyranny of the million exceeds the tyranny
+of the individual, and infinitely more
+galling, inasmuch as they had themselves
+contributed unwillingly to impose it upon
+their country.</p>
+
+<p>In such a state of things, it is easy to
+imagine the discontent and disunion, which
+pervades every department of Belgium; its
+trade and manufactures, labouring under
+wants and pressures, which the government
+have not the power, however anxious their
+inclination, to relieve; the civil grievances
+for the abatement of which the revolution
+was undertaken, only partially redressed,
+and in some instances, exchanged for
+others, the immediate offspring of the
+remedy itself,—and to crown all, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span>
+government and the country submitted to
+a religious ascendancy, which is as unwisely
+exercised by the party who have attained
+to it, as it is suspected and disliked by
+their opponents, who smart under its caprices
+and suffer from its indiscretion.</p>
+
+<p>Even the very last act of the revolution,
+and that which might be regarded as placing
+the seal to the European bond, for its permanency,
+namely the ratification of the
+final treaty for the partition with Holland
+last year, seems to have only added to the
+existing insecurity; the leaders of 1830,
+loudly protesting against the assignment
+to Holland of these portions of Luxembourg
+and Limbourg, which have been decreed
+to her, and the mercantile interests, uniting
+in complaints, that the government of
+King Leopold, have been outwitted by the
+ministers of the Hague, and have not only
+submitted to surrender 350,000 of their
+already reduced population of consumers to
+Holland, but have ceded to her demands,
+which will inflict injury upon the navigation
+of the Meuse and the Scheldt.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span></p>
+
+<p>I can state from my own observation,
+that I have not conversed on the subject
+with a single individual in Belgium, who
+expressed himself thoroughly satisfied with
+the present posture of affairs. On the contrary,
+I have found every where irritated
+dissatisfaction, and if not open regret for
+the events of 1830, and distinct wishes for
+a reunion with Holland, the utmost perplexity
+to discover some yet untried expedient,
+which would hold out a hope of
+restoring the country to its tranquil prosperity,
+whether as an independent nation,
+or in incorporation with some other state.
+<i>On all hands, it seemed to be felt that for
+things to go on as at present is impossible</i>,
+this was the constant theme of conversation
+in society, and the pamphlets and brochures
+which I picked up in the shops, are filled
+with discussions of the same subject, but
+in terms much more acrimonious and exciting.</p>
+
+<p>One of these, which I found selling at
+Ghent, entitled “<i>La Belgique de Leopold,
+par un voyageur Français</i>,” and which<span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span>
+though strongly in favour of Holland, is
+evidently written by a person well informed
+on the state of Belgium, thus speaks of the
+present state of feeling in that country;
+and the publicity with which pamphlets of
+this kind are exposed for sale, and their circulation
+are evidences of an extensive
+sympathy with the author’s views.
+“The Belgians,” the author says, “of
+all classes, representatives and constituencies,
+rich and poor, long for the
+arrival of the moment, which is to disembarrass
+them from an imaginary nationality,
+a delusive freedom and an independence,
+whose very name has become a jest—but
+they want as yet the energy which is
+essential to hasten their relief. It is possible,
+that in the little circle, whose life and
+fortunes are dependent upon Leopold, there
+may be some who flatter themselves with
+the hope that the ratification of the treaty
+of 1839, is the consolidation and establishment
+of his power * * But the vast
+body of the nation less involved in the
+immediate question of the revolution, are<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span>
+far from regarding the present peaceful
+position as one of long duration, although
+guaranteed to the new state in the name of
+the same powerful courts, which by treaties
+not less solemn and sage had conferred the
+crown upon the former dynasty from whose
+brows, it had been rudely torn by the revolution
+* * * At this moment, the
+prolonged existence of Belgium, as an independent
+state, is a matter of impossibility,
+its manufactures, its commerce and its prosperity
+are annihilated, and it is crushed to
+the earth under the pressure of its debt and
+taxes. Without ships, colonies or commerce,
+and encumbered by an army, which
+never fights, and fortresses destined for
+demolition, it is merely the jibe and the
+laughing stock of Europe * * * The
+very authors of the revolt of 1830, blush
+for their own handiwork, and those who
+were then the most zealous apostles of
+revolution, now preach only contrition and
+repentance. The defection is universal—and
+above all the army,—the army, exposed
+every day to the most cutting sarcasms,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span>
+vents its indignation in menaces and murmurs.
+Every class of the population, including
+those who would have been perfectly
+contented with the present order of
+things, were the circumstances of the country
+at all tolerable; the whole nation, in
+short, except the fraction of a fraction,
+without numbers, wealth nor weight, unite
+in aspiration for the return of the House of
+Orange; and the restoration of the kingdom
+of 1815, is in every heart and on every
+tongue * * Belgium, has herself, no
+other alternative left to her, and if from
+predilection and choice she does not invoke
+the return of a race of princes enlightened,
+paternal, courageous and brave, she must
+speedily be reduced by famine, to implore
+the restoration, as her only relief from evils
+of the last extremity. Their restoration
+may be regarded, at this moment, as morally
+accomplished, the universal voice of the
+nation has decreed it, and it requires but
+an accident, an excuse, a name, a banner,
+and the existence of the revolutionary<span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span>
+kingdom is terminated without another
+‘protocol.’”<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a></p>
+
+<p>Under these circumstances, the position
+of King Leopold must be any thing but an
+easy one, if his ambition extends to the
+foundation of a royal dynasty for his descendants.
+The religious grievances of the
+nation are, it is too much to be feared, beyond
+his reach to correct, and the evils which
+beset and endanger its internal prosperity,
+arising out of the circumscribed resources of
+the nation, must look in vain to them for
+redress. The fundamental defect is the
+want of an adequate consumption for the
+produce of the national industry, and for
+this the ingenuity of the government has
+been ineffectually tortured to discover a
+remedy. It is idle to look to Germany or
+England for <i>commercial treaties</i> which would
+afford an opening for Belgian manufactures
+in competition with their own; important
+concessions have been made to France, by
+the reduction of duties upon her produce,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span>
+when imported into Belgium, but no reciprocal
+advantages have been obtained in
+return; on the contrary, ever since 1815,
+when the Netherlands were taken from her,
+to be given to Holland, she has exhibited
+a waspish impatience to embarrass and
+undermine her prosperity. <i>Prospects of
+colonization</i> have been discussed and even
+proposals made to other states for permission
+to attempt settlements on their distant
+territory—and where these have failed,
+commercial expeditions have been dispatched
+to Algiers, to Egypt, to Brasil,
+to Bolivia and Peru, all with a view to
+open a trading intercourse with the natives,
+but each and all have proved hopelessly
+unsuccessful.</p>
+
+<p>The manufacturers of Ghent and Verviers,
+have thus turned their eyes towards
+the Zoll-Verein, and year after year attempts
+have been made to effect a connexion,
+if not a formal juncture with the
+Prussian Commercial League; but here
+again disappointment alone awaited them,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span>
+for independently of the fact, that by the
+constitution of the Zoll-Verein, it is accessible
+only to those of German blood (on
+which score Luxembourg might have been
+admissible), it was manifestly hostile to
+the very spirit of the league, whose object
+is to protect their own native manufacturers,
+to admit amongst them a formidable rival,
+who would inundate them with her produce,
+and could take nothing from them in
+return.</p>
+
+<p>But if the necessities and weakness of
+Belgium, render it impracticable for her to
+continue as she is, and if national independence
+be irreconcilable with her prosperity,
+the question which occupies the thoughts
+of her discontented subjects, is to what
+quarter she shall turn for relief from without.
+To attach herself again to Austria,
+as before the French revolution, is a matter
+impracticable and could be productive of no
+advantage, even if it were otherwise. The
+condition of the Rhenish provinces, under
+the dominion of Prussia, would make her<span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span>
+eager for a similar incorporation, but this
+the interests of Europe, as well as those of
+Prussia herself forbid.</p>
+
+<p>An union with France would be equally
+hopeless and incompatible with the policy
+of the Congress of Vienna, and would, with
+the exception of the districts immediately
+bordering on the French frontier, be in the
+highest degree distasteful to the population
+at large. Their annexation to the territory
+of France in 1794, had been resisted by
+the clergy, and its termination in 1814
+was hailed with rapturous impatience by all
+classes. Their condition under the empire
+had been one “of the most insignificant
+vassalage. Their religious institutions destroyed,
+their cherished privileges annihilated,
+and all their rights and immunities
+for which they had been contending for
+centuries before, trodden under foot.”<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a>
+Even their commerce and manufactures
+were <span class="err" title="jeopardied">jeopardised</span> by the jealous rivalry of
+their new allies, their clergy debased, and
+their youth drafted off by conscription to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span>
+feed the slaughter of Europe. The recollection
+of this has left no vigorous desire for
+a return to fraternization with France, nor
+would France herself, however important
+Belgium might be as a political acquisition,
+consult the interest of her native manufactures
+by imparting an equality in all her
+advantages to competitors so formidable.
+Still so impatient are the Belgians to fly
+from the “ills they have,” that at the
+present moment, whilst the possibility of
+war between France and the rest of Europe
+occupies the attention of all the world,
+I was repeatedly assured in Belgium
+that it would only require France to
+give the signal, and a powerful section
+of the people would declare in her
+favour. So conscious are all parties of
+this, that the bare probability of war in
+Europe is looked to with the utmost alarm
+by the government, and the <i>Controleur</i>, an
+appropriately named journal, the organ of
+the clerical party, was anxiously busied,
+whilst I was in Ghent, in decrying any idea
+of a re-union with France, declaring in one<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span>
+of its publications early in September:
+“Et comme nous n’avons pas pour habitude
+de cacher notre manière de voir, nous
+dirons rondement, <i>que nous serions plutôt
+Hollandais que Français</i>.—En dépit de M.
+Rogier.”</p>
+
+<p>Another suggestion has been the <i>partition</i>
+of Belgium between the surrounding
+states, but to this equally insurmountable
+obstacles present themselves. Antwerp
+and the districts on the Dutch frontier, if
+assigned to Holland, would have no longer
+employment for their capital and ships, and
+would again sink under the more favoured
+rivalry of Amsterdam and Rotterdam; and as
+Hainault and the fortresses along the Meuse
+and the Sambre would necessarily fall to
+the lot of France, a measure so menacing
+to the future security of Europe, would not
+be tolerated by her courts, unless these
+strongholds were garrisoned by the allies,
+an expedient which would be equally opposed
+by the pride and ambition of the
+French.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span></p>
+
+<p>If the further experience should unfortunately
+decide finally against the permanence
+of Belgium as an independent nation,
+the only practical expedient which remains,
+and that which has already received the
+sanction of all the great powers of Europe,
+would be a return to the disposition made
+by the Congress of Vienna, and the reincorporation
+of Holland and Belgium, to
+form again the united kingdom of the
+Netherlands. Personal aversion to King
+William would no longer oppose a barrier
+to such an arrangement, as his dominion has
+passed into other hands, and the Prince of
+Orange, the present king at all times enjoyed
+the popular affections, if not the national confidence
+of the people. Should any fresh convulsion
+arise, which for the sake of the peace
+of Europe, not less than for that of King
+Leopold, it is most earnestly to be hoped
+may be yet averted, all I have either seen
+or been able to learn from those best informed
+upon the matter, leaves little doubt
+in my mind, that the almost unanimous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span>
+wish of the people, should they be compelled
+to change their present dynasty,
+would point to the restoration of the House
+of Nassau.</p>
+
+<p class="center">END OF VOL. I.</p>
+
+<p class="p4 center">
+LONDON:<br>
+PRINTED BY SCHULZE AND CO., 13, POLAND STREET.
+</p>
+
+<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop">
+
+<div class="chapter">
+<h2 class="nobreak" id="FOOTNOTES">FOOTNOTES</h2>
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> Made by Nurse and Co. Crawford Street, Bryanstone Square.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> So styled in the act by which Philip II, ceded to them
+the Sovereignty of the Low Countries.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Wordsworth’s Sonnet to Bruges.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> Query, St. Salvador.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> I must take this early opportunity of adding my tribute
+of gratitude to the compiler of these most invaluable volumes,
+the Hand-books of Northern and Southern Germany, they
+have been my constant companions, and I cannot do less
+than unite with every tourist, whom I met on the continent,
+in pronouncing them as matchless in the value and variety
+of their contents, as they are faultless in their accuracy.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> It is the custom in Belgium, in order to distinguish one
+member of the same family, to append to the surname of the
+husband that of his lady.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> At Ghent, this fee has been reduced to one half the
+sum.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> De l’Industrie en Belgique, Causes de Decadence et de
+Prosperité, &amp;c. par M. N. Briavionne, Bruxelles, 1839,
+vol. ii, p. 345.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> By the French commercial code, there are three descriptions
+of trading companies. First, <i>sociétés en nom collectif</i>,
+with all the attributes of an ordinary partnership in England;
+secondly, <i>sociétés en commandite</i>, where the great majority of
+the associated capitalists are sleeping partners, with no
+share in the management, no name in the firm, and responsible
+only to the extent of their registered capital, one or more
+of the partners, alone, having the conduct of the establishment,
+and being responsible to the public to the full extent
+of their property; and thirdly, the <i>sociétés anonymes</i>, which
+are, in every incident and particular analogous to the joint
+stock companies of England, only with a liability, limited in
+every instance to the amount of their shares.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> These engines are in great esteem, and I have found
+them in almost universal use in Belgium. The one alluded
+to above, was consuming from 5½ of to 6½ lbs. of coals, per hour,
+per horse power; whilst a low pressure engine in England,
+would require from 12 to 14lbs. In this country, they are
+likewise coming in greater demand, although here the
+saving of coal is a matter of less importance, and may be,
+in some degree, counterbalanced by the risk, and more
+frequent repairs, incidental to high pressure engines.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> The price of coal at Ghent, when I visited its manufactories
+was 20 francs for 1000 kilogrammes, or about
+sixteen shillings a ton for coals of Mons, which are brought
+from a considerable distance by the Scheldt; those of
+Charleroi are of better quality, and a shade higher in price.
+Coals have increased in price in Belgium within the last
+few years, as well from the greater demand, as an apprehension
+that the coal fields of the Ardennes were rapidly exhausting,
+but this alarm has of late been regarded as
+groundless. England, with a liberality, which manufactoring
+jealousy scarcely sanctions, has recently permitted the free
+export of coal both to Belgium, France and Prussia, a boon
+for which these governments, which are prohibiting British
+manufactures, and their mechanics and mill owners, who
+are contending with our own for the market, cannot be too
+grateful.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Three hundred bundles per day, being as nearly as
+possible eleven cuts to the spindle.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> COMPARATIVE WAGES PAID WORKERS.</p>
+
+<table class="autotable">
+<tr><td class="bt bb br bl">Description of Workers.</td>
+<td colspan="5" class="bt bb br bl">Wages per day of 11½ hours. <span class="smcap">England.</span></td>        
+<td colspan="3" class="bt bb br bl">Wages per day of 11½ hours. <span class="smcap">Belfast.</span></td>
+<td colspan="2" class="bt bb br bl">Wages per day of 11 hours.  <span class="smcap">Ghent.</span></td>   
+</tr>
+<tr><td class="bt bl br">&nbsp;</td>
+  <td colspan="5" class="tdc bt bl br">Average.</td>
+  <td colspan="3" class="tdc bt bl br">Average.</td> 
+  <td colspan="2" class="tdc bt bl br">Average.</td></tr>
+<tr><td class="bl br">&nbsp;</td>    
+ <td class="bl tdc"><i>s.</i></td> 
+<td class="tdc"><i>d.</i></td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>   
+<td class="tdc"><i>s.</i></td> 
+<td class="tdc br"><i>d.</i></td>     
+<td colspan="3" class="tdc bl br"><i>d.</i></td> 
+<td class="tdc bl"><i>s.</i></td> 
+<td class="tdc br"><i>d.</i></td> </tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="bl br">Spreaders</td>               
+<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="tdc">3</td>  
+<td class="tdc">to</td>  
+<td class="tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="br tdc">6</td>        
+<td colspan="3" class="tdc br bl">10</td>           
+<td class="bl tdc">0</td>     
+<td class="br tdc">11¾</td> </tr>
+<tr>
+ <td class="bl br">First Drawing</td>           
+<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="tdc">0</td>  
+<td>&nbsp;</td>    
+<td class="tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="br tdc">3</td>         
+<td colspan="3" class="tdc bl br">8½</td>          
+<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
+<td class="br tdc">8½</td> 
+ </tr>
+<tr><td class="bl br">Second Drawing</td>          
+<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="tdc">0</td> 
+<td>&nbsp;</td>     
+<td class="tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="br tdc">3</td>         
+<td colspan="3" class="tdc bl br">8½</td>          
+<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
+<td class="br tdc">8½</td> 
+</tr>
+<tr> <td class="bl br">Roving</td>                  
+<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="tdc">1</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>      
+<td class="tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="br tdc">5</td>          
+<td colspan="3" class="tdc bl br">9</td>          
+<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
+<td class="br tdc">9¼</td> 
+</tr>
+<tr> <td class="bl br">Carding</td>                 
+<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="tdc">0</td> 
+<td>&nbsp;</td>     
+<td class="tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="br tdc">6</td>    
+<td class="bl tdc">7½</td> 
+<td class="tdc">to</td> 
+<td class="br tdc">9½</td>         
+<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
+<td class="br tdc">9¼</td> 
+</tr>
+<tr> <td class="bl br">Spinner</td>                 
+<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="tdc">0</td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td>      
+<td class="tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="br tdc">4</td>         
+<td colspan="3" class="bl br tdc">10</td>          
+<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
+<td class="br tdc">8½</td> 
+</tr>
+<tr> <td class="bl br">Doffer</td>                  
+<td class="bl tdc">0</td>    
+<td class="tdc">8</td> 
+<td>&nbsp;</td><td>&nbsp;</td>
+<td class="br">&nbsp;</td>                     
+<td colspan="3" class="bl br tdc">5½</td>         
+<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
+<td class="br tdc">4¾</td> 
+</tr>
+<tr> <td class="bl br">Reeler (piece work)</td>     
+<td class="bl tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="tdc">0</td> 
+<td>&nbsp;</td>     
+<td class="tdc">1</td>    
+<td class="br tdc">6</td>       
+<td class="bl tdc">10</td> 
+<td class="tdc">to</td> 
+<td class="br tdc">11</td>      
+<td class="bl tdc">0</td>      
+<td class="br tdc">9¼</td> 
+</tr>
+<tr> <td class="bl br">Dyer</td>                    
+<td class="bl tdc">2</td>    
+<td class="tdc">6</td> 
+<td>&nbsp;</td>     
+<td class="tdc">3</td>    
+<td class="br tdc">0</td>     
+<td class="bl tdc">1<i>s.</i></td> 
+<td colspan="2" class="br">4<i>d.</i></td>     
+<td class="bl tdc">1</td>      
+<td class="br tdc">3</td>     
+</tr>
+<tr> <td class="bl br">Bundler</td>                 
+<td class="bl tdc">2</td>    
+<td class="tdc">6</td> 
+<td>&nbsp;</td>       
+<td class="tdc">3</td>    
+<td class="br tdc">0</td>     
+<td class="bl tdc">1<i>s.</i></td> 
+<td colspan="2" class="br">5½</td>     
+<td class="bl tdc">1</td>      
+<td class="br tdc">5</td>     
+</tr> 
+
+<tr><td class="bl br">Hackler (Roughing for                                                       
+   Machine)</td>    
+<td class="bl">&nbsp;</td>            
+<td class="tdc">1<i>s.</i></td> 
+<td class="tdc">6<i>d.</i></td>
+<td>&nbsp;</td><td class="br">&nbsp;</td>          
+<td class="bl tdc">1<i>s.</i></td> 
+<td colspan="2" class="br">4<i>d.</i></td> 
+   
+<td class="bl tdc">1</td>      
+<td class="br tdc">7</td>  
+</tr>
+
+<tr> <td class="bb bl br">Overlooker</td>
+<td class="bb bl">&nbsp;</td>                
+<td class="bb tdc">4<i>s.</i></td> 
+<td class="bb tdc">6<i>d.</i></td> 
+<td class="bb">&nbsp;</td><td class="bb br">&nbsp;</td>         
+<td class="bb bl tdc">3<i>s.</i></td> 
+<td colspan="2" class="bb br">6<i>d.</i></td>     
+<td class="bb bl tdc">2</td>      
+<td class="bb br tdc">4½</td> </tr>
+</table>
+
+<p>These wages, <i>at present</i>, paying in Ghent, it must be borne
+in mind, are hardly a fair criterion, as flax spinning being
+entirely a new trade there, it was necessary to give an
+inducement by extra wages, for the cotton spinner’s to leave
+the work to which they were accustomed; but this will soon
+find its level.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> One cannot but remark the wretched quality of the
+window-glass, even in the most luxurious houses. It is
+uneven, warped, and of a dirty-green colour. It is chiefly
+made at Charleroi.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> The joke against Mechlin arises from an alarm being
+given that the cathedral was on fire, by some one who had
+seen the moonbeams shining through its gothic steeple—whence
+the proverb, that “the wise men of Mechlin went
+to put out the moon.”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> Les machines sont là aussi multipliés, aussi variées que
+les besoins où on les applique: il y en a une pour chaque
+pensée, ou plutôt, c’est la même pensée qui a mille ministres;
+l’une scie, l’autre fend, l’autre coupe, l’autre rabotte;
+il y en a pour degrossir la pièce, il y en a pour lui
+donner la forme exacte, il y en a pour l’orner; il y en a
+pour la polir, le ciseau, le tour, le rabot, l’emporte pièce la
+tenaille, le marteau tous les instruments du menuisier, du
+tourneur, du forgeron, s’évertuent sur le fer comme sur le
+bois la plus tendre, mais sans menuisier, sans tourneur,
+sans forgeron—<i>la main qui les meut est une machine</i>, cette
+main, toujours sûre, toujours ferme, délicate, légère, qui
+n’a pas d’inégalité, qui ne depende pas d’une pensée capricieuse,
+qui ne se lasse pas, qui ne s’alourdit pas, qui ne vieillit
+pas! * * * * Cette machine n’a besoin de personne: on
+lui donne sa tâche un certain jour, et pourvu qu’on ne lui
+retire pas la portion de force motrice qui l’anime, elle terminera
+cette tâche à jour fixe: elle vous la livrera comme un
+ouvrier à la pièce: vous arriverez un beau matin, et vous la
+trouverez sortie du cylindre et tournant à vide, en attendant
+que vous lui donniez une nouvelle tâche.—<i>From an account
+of the great works at Seraing, in the</i> <span class="smcap">Revue de Paris</span>.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> “Les manufactures de Manchester ne voulant pas s’en
+remettre de ce soin au gouvernement, se sont cotisés, out
+réuni une somme annuelle suffisante pour organiser autour
+de leur ville une ligne de douane specialement consacré à
+empêcher la sortie des mécaniques qu’ils inventaient.”—<span class="smcap">De
+l’Industrie de Belgique</span>, vol. ii, p. 326.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> “She was in black down to her toes, with her hair concealed
+under a cambric border, laid close to the forehead:
+she was one of those kind of nuns, and please your honour,
+of which there are a good many in Flanders.” “By thy description
+Trim,” said my uncle Toby, “I dare say she was a
+young Beguine, of whom there are none to be found any
+where, except in the Spanish Netherlands, they differ from
+other nuns in this, that they can quit their cloisters, if they
+chose to marry—they visit, and take care of the sick by
+profession, but I had rather, for my own part, they did it
+out of good nature.”—<span class="smcap">Sterne.</span></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> The 17th article of the <i>Constitution Belge</i>, contains the
+following pithy enactment as to national education. “L’Enseignement
+<i>est libre</i>, toute mesure préventive est interdite.”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> “<i>Quelques mots sur l’état actuel de l’instruction primaire
+en Belgique, et sur la nécessité de l’améliorer.</i>”</p>
+
+<p>See also a clever paper by R. W. Rawson, Esq. in
+the Quarterly Journal of the Statistical Society of London,
+vol. 2, p. 385.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> The linen which we saw was of low quality, coarse and
+strong, and by no means cheap. It consisted of sheeting,
+for export to the Havannah, which, for five quarter’s wide,
+was sold at one shilling a yard.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> This latter quantity is found in the tables published by
+the Board of Trade, under the head of “Flax, Tow, or
+Codilla of Hemp and Tow.” The importation of “undressed
+hemp” is under another head, and amounts to 730,375 cwt.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> It is curious that this process which all concur in
+representing to be one requiring the utmost cleanliness
+and purity, should of all places be performed in Holland
+with an utter neglect of both. In an able document by
+Mr. Acton, in the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture for 1832,
+he gives the following account of the operation. “The mode
+of watering flax in Holland, and in the low lands of Belgium
+and France, is to put a dam across the canal, clean
+out the weeds and mud for a few yards next the dam, lay
+in three or four rows of sheaves of flax next the dam, and
+then covering these six inches deep with the rank herbage
+that grows in the canal, and the mud raked up from its
+bottom. A few more courses of sheaves are next placed in
+the same way as the first, and covered in the same way with
+weeds and mud, till the whole is put in steep. These fosses,
+and the mode of placing the flax in them, are as they ought
+to be, but the propriety of dragging up so much mud or
+slime from the bottom of the canals, to cover the sheaves,
+six inches deep, may well be doubted, it cannot fail to
+besmear the lint so much, as to render it so nasty, that it
+would require to be much rinsed and washed in the water
+to remove the mud. This not only creates labour, by no
+means the most agreeable, but must greatly injure the flax
+by ruffling it in the water, a thing that ought to be avoided.”—Vol.
+iv. p. 174.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> This important association has been for some years in
+operation, and amongst its functions has sent several commissioners
+into other countries to ascertain the relative
+value of their various processes. The result of these
+inquiries, they have condensed into a short manual for the
+use of the farmers and others engaged in the trade in
+Flanders; in order to confine it to whom it has been written
+and printed in Flemish. A copy of this valuable document
+translated into French, for which I am indebted to a particular
+source, I have placed in the appendix to these volumes.
+Knowing it as I do, to be the genuine and anxious suggestions
+of the best practical men in Belgium, it may be regarded
+as a faithful guide to their process, and would be
+well deserving of extensive circulation in the flax districts
+of Great Britain and Ireland.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> It consists, I believe, of about thirteen sail of small
+vessels.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> On the first out-break of the revolution, the people of
+Antwerp, strongly opposed to it, sent the following address
+to the King of Holland. “Sire, it is not without painful
+sensations that we have been apprised of the demand made
+to your Majesty, tending to obtain a separation of interests
+between the southern and northern provinces. The fear
+that our silence may be interpreted as an adhesion to this
+proposition, imposes upon us the duty of exposing to your
+Majesty, that the wish is in no way participated in by us.
+The experience of fifteen years has proved to us, in the most
+evident manner, that is to the free and mutual exchange of
+produce, that we are indebted for reciprocal prosperity. <i>The
+advantages that navigation derives from the colonies, the increasing
+outlets that these same colonies constantly offer to the
+produce of our industry, are irrefragible proofs, that any separation
+would not only be fatal to this province, but to the commercial
+industry of all Belgium.</i> Intimately persuaded of this
+great truth, we dare to make it known to your Majesty, with
+that confidence and respect inspired by a King, who desires
+the welfare of his people, and who will never labour but in
+the interest of its well understood prosperity.”—<i>Antwerp,
+September</i> 13<i>th</i>, 1830.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> De l’Industrie en Belgique, vol. 2, p. 384.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> <i>Exposé de la situation de la Province de la Flandre
+Orientale, pour l’année 1840. Ghent de l’imprimerie de
+Vanryckegem-Hovaerz, imprimeur du Governement Provincial.</i></p>
+
+<p>The numbers are as follows:</p>
+
+<table>
+<tr><td>Two</td> 
+<td>whose deficiency</td> 
+<td>is between</td> 
+<td>1,000 ff.</td> 
+<td>and</td>
+<td class="tdc">2,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Four</td>        
+<td class="tdc">”</td>         
+<td class="tdc">”</td>         
+<td>2,000</td>     
+<td class="tdc">”</td>  
+<td class="tdc">3,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>One</td>         
+<td class="tdc">”</td>         
+<td class="tdc">”</td>       
+<td>3,000</td><td class="tdc">”</td>     
+   <td class="tdc">4,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>One</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>
+<td class="tdc">”</td>      
+<td>6,000</td>     
+<td class="tdc">”</td>   <td class="tdc">7,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Two</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         
+<td>7,000</td>     
+<td class="tdc">”</td>   <td class="tdc">8,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>One</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>        
+<td>14,000</td>     
+<td class="tdc">”</td>  <td class="tdc">15,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>One</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>        
+<td>19,000</td>     
+<td class="tdc">”</td>  <td class="tdc">20,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>One</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>        
+<td>20,000</td>     
+<td class="tdc">”</td>  <td class="tdc">25,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Three</td>       <td class="tdc">”</td>       <td class="tdc">”</td>        
+<td class="tdc">25,000</td>    
+ <td class="tdc">”</td>  <td>30,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>One</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>        
+<td>35,000</td>    
+ <td class="tdc">”</td>  <td class="tdc">40,000.</td></tr>
+<tr><td>Two</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>         <td class="tdc">”</td>             
+<td colspan="3" class="tdc">unknown</td></tr>
+</table>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> Le Guide Indispensable, p. 103.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> The Belgian manufacturers themselves were, as I have
+before stated, perfectly alive to the mischief which the separation
+from Holland was certain to entail upon them; and
+it is curious, as well as interesting, to remark the circumstantial
+fidelity with which these protectors warned the
+movement party of the consequences which they were provoking,
+and which have since been accomplished to the letter.
+The following reasons against separation from Holland were
+published at the time in one of the journals of Antwerp, when
+the prospect of Repealing the Union was most unpalatable:</p>
+
+<p>“Ever since some parts of our southern provinces have
+unfurled the banner of insurrection, all business has ceased.
+Circulation has been interrupted, and several establishments,
+which required the employment of great capital and
+afforded the means of subsistance to numerous families,
+have been destroyed and burned. Public tranquillity disturbed
+in every manner; men, the most peaceable, and a
+short time ago happy in the bosom of their families, prospering
+under the protection of order and the laws, now
+forcibly torn from their homes to perform military service
+of which they are ignorant, and which they dislike; their
+property every day exposed and ready to become the prey
+of an unbridled populace—a state of anarchy which will
+end by creating parties who will shortly lacerate each
+other; and lastly, a most forbidding future preparing for
+them. Such is a faint picture of the evils which a rebellious
+and unconstitutional rising has already produced. But all
+that has hitherto been witnessed is in no wise to be compared
+to the consequences which must result from an unseasonable
+separation, which has been demanded with a 
+levity which no man of sense can comprehend.</p>
+
+<p>It is true, that among the men who figure as the
+authors and supporters of a separation, there are to be
+observed no manufacturers: and, indeed, what manufacturer,
+what merchant, what agriculturist even, could fall
+into such an error?</p>
+
+<p>You cry out for a separation, and would fain persuade
+yourselves that it would be all in your favour. With
+similar levity you take upon yourselves to dictate the conditions
+of a separation. This shows but little foresight.</p>
+
+<p>The northern part of the kingdom has taken up the
+gauntlet, which you so imprudently threw down. Hear
+one of their organs, and consider the consequences which
+must, and ought to ensue to Belgium when once isolated
+and abandoned to itself.”</p>
+
+<p>The following is the reply of the Dutch to your challenge:—</p>
+
+<p>“‘We are glad,’ say they, ‘that the proposal for a
+divorce has been made by you. Let it take place, and the
+cloud which has darkened the horizon of our country will
+be dissipated. A glorious sun will then soon shine upon it.
+Soon will the decadence of Amsterdam and its causes cease,
+and the separation will give it the life and activity which it
+lost by the union.</p>
+
+<p>But let us examine what will be the result of this
+divorce to the northern provinces?</p>
+
+<p>Relieved from an odious manufacturing system, we
+shall be able to establish our customs on a perfectly commercial
+system: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Dort, Middleburgh,
+will become so many free ports, into which moderate
+duties, exempt from vexatious modes of collection, will
+bring back our old commerce in all its force. The duties at
+present imposed upon sugar, coffee, and other articles of
+trade, will be revoked.</p>
+
+<p>The inhabitants will purchase fuel, clothing, stuffs,
+and all the commodities which trade, manufacture, and
+the necessities of a people require, in England, and wherever
+they can produce them upon better terms than in the
+southern provinces, where all these articles will be loaded
+with duties and restrictions, and will be therefore dearer.</p>
+
+<p>Our country will again become the centre and mart
+of all the productions and riches of the world which are
+destined for and consumed in Germany and the provinces
+of France bordering on the Rhine, as well as in many other
+places which now escape us.</p>
+
+<p>The products of our colonies will be no longer carried
+except to our own ports, to the exclusion of all others, and
+they will be freed from all the duties and charges with
+which they are at present burdened, and which our Sovereign
+has established for the advantage of the Belgians alone.
+Thus not only the mother country, but the colonies, also,
+will enjoy the advantage of the separation. The duty of 25
+per cent. established at Java in favour of the Belgians will
+be abolished, and it is thus that, wherever the standard of
+Holland shall be displayed, liberty, prosperity, and public
+happiness will prevail; and let no one present to you as a
+burdensome set-off the debt which will remain to our
+charge.’”</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> White, v. i, p. 124, &amp;c.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="label">[32]</a> A full detail of the state of the kingdom, at the outbreak
+of the revolution will be found in a volume published by
+the Baron Keverberg, who had been governor of East
+Flanders under the King of Holland, <i>Du Royaume des Pays-Bas,
+sous la rapport de son origine, de son developement, et de
+sa crise actuelle, Brussels, 1836</i>.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="label">[33]</a> <i>Essai historique et critique sur la révolution Belge.</i> <i>Par</i>
+<span class="smcap">M. Nothcomb</span>. <i>Brussels, 1833.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="label">[34]</a> A copy of this singular document, will be found at the
+end of these volume.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="label">[35]</a> Un des plus excellens moyens, et peut-être le seul qui
+existe aujourd’hui, d’assurer aux jeunes gens une éducation
+qui réunit tout à la fois l’esprit de la religion et les talens
+les plus éminens <i>serait de rétablie les jesuites</i> dans la Belgique.—<i>Memor.
+art. 8.</i></p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="label">[36]</a> This singular manifesto will be found in the appendix at
+the end of these volumes.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="label">[37]</a> Jurer d’observer et de maintenir une loi qui <i>suppose</i> (<i>!</i>)
+que l’église catholique est soumise aux lois d’état, c’est
+manifestaient s’exposer a coopérer à l’asservissement de
+l’église.—<i>Jugement doctrinal</i>, (Art. 193, see appendix).</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="label">[38]</a> Page <a href="#Page_193">193</a>.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="label">[39]</a> The list of candidates suggested for the throne of
+Belgium in 1831, contains some names which are rather
+extraordinary, such as Colonel Murat, La Fayette, Colonel
+Fabvier the Philhellene, Sebastiani, Châteaubriand, Prince
+Carignan of Piedmont, M. Rogier, Count de Merode, the
+present King of Greece, Prince John of Saxony, the Duke
+of Leuchtenberg, son to Eugene Beauharnais, Louis Philippe,
+and the Duke de Nemours, who was actually chosen, but
+declined the honour.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="label">[40]</a> La Belgique, No. 1, p. 13, 16, 20, 23, 24, 27; and
+No. 2, p. 49.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="footnote">
+
+<p><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="label">[41]</a> White, vol. i. p. 23.</p>
+
+</div>
+
+<div class="transnote">
+<h3><a id="Corrections"></a>Corrections</h3>
+<p>The word “controul” was changed to “control” throughout the text.</p>
+
+
+<p>The first line indicates the original, the second the correction.</p>
+
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_39">39</a></p>
+<ul>
+<li>the sign-board of the “Diaman-zetter,”</li>
+
+<li>the sign-board of the “<span class="u">Diamant</span>-zetter,”</li>
+</ul>
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_91">91</a></p>
+<ul><li>it was ever dragged to
+to the field</li>
+
+<li>it was ever dragged <span class="u">to the</span> field</li></ul>
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_115">115</a></p>
+<ul><li>lying immediatetely in front</li> 
+
+ <li>lying <span class="u">immediately</span> in front</li> 
+</ul>
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_153">153</a></p>
+<ul>
+<li>would get over
+their associaton</li>
+
+<li>would get over
+their <span class="u">association</span></li></ul>
+
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_160">160</a></p>
+
+<ul><li>that the goverment reduced the term</li>
+
+<li>that the <span class="u">government</span> reduced the term</li></ul>
+
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_176">176</a></p>
+
+<ul><li>fearful of the slighest speculation</li>
+
+<li>fearful of the <span class="u">slightest</span> speculation</li></ul>
+
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_252">252</a></p>
+
+<ul><li>in the nineteenth centurry</li>
+
+<li>in the nineteenth <span class="u">century</span></li></ul>
+
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_261">261</a></p>
+
+<ul><li>at no measure, how-ver</li>
+<li>at no measure, <span class="u">however</span></li></ul>
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_268">268</a></p>
+<ul><li>the
+consciencious, but inefficient opponents</li>
+
+<li>the
+<span class="u">conscientious</span>, but inefficient opponents</li></ul>
+
+<p>p. <a href="#Page_277">277</a></p>
+
+<ul><li>were jeopardied by the jealous rivalry</li>
+
+<li>were <span class="u">jeopardised</span> by the jealous rivalry</li></ul>
+
+<h4>Errata</h4>
+
+<p>“Hans Hemling” should read <span class="u">“Hans Memling”</span>.</p>
+
+<p>“Audeghem” should read <span class="u">“Auderghem”</span>.</p>
+<p>The errata have been applied to this etext.</p>
+</div>
+<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73911 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
author	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-01-14 19:06:05 -0800
committer	nfenwick <nfenwick@pglaf.org>	2025-01-14 19:06:05 -0800
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