A SHORT HISTORY
I must write just one chapter on Belgian history.
Dates are tiresome things, though they are useful pegs, so to speak,
on which to hang the facts of history, and help us to recollect the
order in which they happened. However, we shall not bother with many
dates. I shall make the whole story as plain and simple as possible;
and, besides, you can skip it all if you find it too stupid and dull.
The first thing to understand about the tiny corner of Europe which is
now called Belgium is that very long ago it was divided into a great
many small States, each of which was ruled over by some Duke, or
Count, or Baron, or some noble with another title, who made peace or
war with his neighbours, just as the Kings of Europe do nowadays.
There were the Dukes of Brabant, and the Counts of Flanders and of
Namur, the Lords of Malines, and the Bishop-Princes of Liége, and many
more. You will see where their States lay if you look at the map.
The most famous was Flanders, for the great Flemish cities, such as
Ghent, Bruges, and Ypres, became strong and rich by reason of their
trade and manufactures.
In the towns the merchants and tradesmen were banded together in
societies called guilds. There were guilds of weavers, and butchers,
and other trades; and they defended themselves so well against the
nobles, who often tried to attack their liberties, that the towns
became strongholds of freedom.
But, unfortunately, they were always quarrelling. Each town wanted to
be richer than its neighbour. Each town cared only for itself, so they
often fought. Ghent wanted to ruin Ypres, and the men of Ghent helped
an English army to attack Ypres. At other times the guildsmen of
Bruges fought against those of Ghent. Thus for many years this part of
Europe was divided into petty States, and the towns, in spite of their
wealth and freedom, were always rebelling against their Princes, or
fighting with each other. And all this time, close at hand and
watchful, there was a mighty State, called "The Burgundies," whose
dominions were ever stretching farther and farther.
At last a day came when a certain Count of Flanders died, leaving no
heir male, and a Duke of Burgundy, called Philip the Hardy, married a
Flemish Princess, and obtained possession of Flanders. Gradually after
that the Dukes of Burgundy became rulers of all the country which we
now call Belgium, except the Principality of Liége, which remained
independent under its Bishop-Princes till recent times.
The last Duke of Burgundy was Charles the Bold, a brave warrior, but
very fierce and cruel. He was killed in a battle, and his daughter,
Mary of Burgundy, married an Austrian Archduke called Maximilian; and
then Flanders, Brabant, and the other places we have spoken of, passed
under the Austrian Royal Family, which is called the House of
Hapsburg.
Maximilian and Mary had a son, called Philip the Handsome, who married
Joanna the Mad, daughter of King Ferdinand of Spain. The son of this
marriage was Charles V., who was neither mad nor handsome, but one of
the most famous men in history. He not only ruled over the
Netherlands, as Belgium and Holland were called, but also over Spain,
and all the immense Spanish Empire, and was, moreover, Emperor of
Germany.
After reigning for forty years, Charles V. gave up his royal honours
to his son Philip; and then began a terrible time for the Netherlands.
Philip hated the liberty which the people of the Netherlands loved.
They had, especially in the towns, been accustomed to make laws for
themselves, which their old Dukes and Counts, and also the Hapsburgs,
had always sworn to maintain. But Philip resolved to put an end to all
this freedom, and to be their absolute master.
[Illustration: VILLAGE & CANAL, ADINKERQUE.]
He also hated the Protestants, of whom there were many in the
Netherlands, and resolved to destroy them. For this purpose he
introduced a kind of court, called the Inquisition, which inquired
into the religious faith of everyone, and sent people to be tortured
and burned to death if they were not Catholics.
The people became furious against Philip, and rebelled in defence of
their liberty, and against the Inquisition. For a long time the
contest, which is called the "Revolt of the Netherlands," went on.
Philip was enormously rich, and had a great army and a strong fleet.
The Spanish soldiers, whom he let loose upon the people, were cruel,
as well as highly trained. Men, women, and children were tortured,
robbed, burnt to death, killed in battle, and murdered in cold blood
by thousands. Few things, if any, more terrible have been known in the
history of the world.
The chief Protestant leader was that Prince of Orange called William
the Silent, of whom you must often have heard. After the contest had
continued for some years, instead of being dismayed, he was more
resolute than ever, and persuaded the Southern or Belgian part of the
Netherlands, and the Northern or Dutch part, to promise that they
would help each other, and fight against the Spaniards till they were
free.
But in a very short time the Southern and the Northern Netherlands
drifted apart. The Dutch stood firm, and were saved in the long, weary
struggle. They shook off the yoke of Spain, and gained their liberty.
The Belgians halted between two opinions, and were lost. Most of them
were Catholics, which made it easier for them to submit to Philip. But
the most industrious of the population fled, and the trade and
manufactures which had made their country prosperous went to Holland.
After that, a great historian says, "the Flemish and Brabantine cities
were mere dens of thieves and beggars."
The Spaniards ruled over Belgium, which was now called the "Spanish
Netherlands," till a daughter of Philip's, Isabella by name, married
an Austrian Archduke called Albert. They received Belgium as a
wedding-gift. The bride's father, the tyrant Philip, died about that
time, and Albert and Isabella went to Brussels, where the people, in
spite of the miserable state of their country, had a fine time of it
with banquets, processions, and fireworks.
But two more changes were at hand. When Albert died Belgium went back
to Spain; and once again, after long wars, during one of which
Brussels was nearly all destroyed by fire, it was handed over to
Austria. This was in the year 1714; and after that it was called the
"Austrian Netherlands."
Thus, you see, the Belgians were constantly being passed from one set
of masters to another, like a race of slaves. They had not stuck to
the brave Dutch, and fought on till they were free, and so never could
tell who were to be their next rulers.
This could not be good for the character of any people. However, they
were, on the whole, happy under the House of Hapsburg till an Emperor
called Joseph II. came to the Austrian throne. He was a good man, and
wise in many ways, but he made the mistake of trying to bring in new
laws and customs which the people did not like. Belgium had been sunk,
ever since the time of Philip II., in poverty and ignorance. All the
people wished for was to be let alone, to amuse themselves, and to
have peace. But Joseph II. wanted to raise them up, and, most of all,
to spread knowledge and education among them.
The Austrian Netherlands--that is, Belgium--were more Catholic than
ever, and all the Bishops and priests were up in arms against the
reforms proposed by Joseph; and there was a revolution, which had not
finished when he died. It came to an end, however, soon after his
death, when the Catholics got all they wanted, though the Austrians
remained in power. But the country had become restless. Its
restlessness was increased by the French Revolution, which was now in
full progress; and all was ripe for another change of rulers, which
soon came.
The French Republicans, who beheaded their own King and his Queen (who
was, by-the-by, a sister of Joseph II.), invaded Belgium, driving out
the Austrians, and made it a part of France.
One thing the French did was very popular with the Belgians. It was
this: there was a treaty, called the Treaty of Münster, made as long
before as the year 1648, which declared that the Dutch were to have
control of the Scheldt, and ever since then that splendid river, on
which Antwerp stands, had been closed, so that the trade of Antwerp,
the great Belgian seaport, had been entirely ruined. The French now
declared the Scheldt a free river, to be used by all nations. This was
tidings of great joy to the Belgians; but England would not allow the
Treaty of Münster to be torn up in this way, and a war began between
England and France, which lasted till the fall of Napoleon in 1814.
During all that war Belgium was ruled by the French. When Napoleon
gave up his throne, and was sent to the Island of Elba, the Great
Powers met to settle Europe, which he had turned upside down. One of
the things they had to decide was what should be done with the
Austrian Netherlands, and the plan they arranged seemed a very good
one.
Austria did not want Belgium, and the plan was to make that country,
the Principality of Liége, and Holland, into one state, and call it
the "Kingdom of the Netherlands." It was to be ruled over by one of
the Orange family, a descendant of William the Silent.
And there was something more. The William of Orange who was to be King
of the Netherlands had a son, and the English arranged that this son
should marry our Princess Charlotte, who was heir to the throne of
England; and so all the coasts of the Netherlands opposite England,
with Antwerp and the Scheldt, were to be in the hands of a friendly
nation allied by marriage to the English Royal Family. The proposed
marriage was publicly announced in March, 1814, but it never took
place. The Princess Charlotte married a German, called Prince Leopold
of Saxe-Coburg, and the young Prince of Orange married a Russian Grand
Duchess.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands, however, was set up; and at the Battle
of Waterloo, which was fought in June, 1815, after Napoleon escaped
from Elba, a force of Netherlanders, some of them Dutch and some of
them Belgians, fought under the Duke of Wellington, when he gained the
great victory which brought peace to Europe.
And now it was supposed that the Belgians would settle quietly down,
and form one people with the Dutch, who spoke a language so like their
own Flemish, and who came of the same race. But not a bit of it. The
Dutch were mostly Protestants, and almost all the Belgians were
Catholics. There were disputes about questions of religion from the
very first. Disagreements followed on one subject after another; and,
to make a long story short, in fifteen years there was a revolution in
the Belgian provinces of the new kingdom.
The Belgians proclaimed their wish to make a kingdom of their own, and
once more the Great Powers met to consider what was to be done with
them this time. The meeting was in London, where five very shrewd and
wily gentlemen, from England, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia,
sat and talked to each other for week after week about what they
should do with this broken kingdom, which was, as it were, thrown on
their hands. They were far too polite to quarrel openly; but Russia,
Prussia, and Austria would have liked to force the Belgians to keep to
what had been arranged in 1814, while England and France were on the
side of the Belgians. On one thing, and one thing only, they all
agreed, and that was not to have another European war.
In the long run England and France managed to persuade the others that
the best thing was to let the Belgians have their own way, and choose
a King for themselves. They first set their affections on a son of
Louis Philippe, the King of France, and asked him to be their King.
But England would not hear of this, so his father told him to refuse.
Then the Belgians were advised to choose that Prince Leopold of
Saxe-Coburg who had married Princess Charlotte. She was now dead, and
he had been living in England ever since. They took this advice, and
in 1831 he accepted the offer they made him, and was crowned at
Brussels as Leopold I., King of the Belgians.
Thereafter he married a daughter of Louis Philippe, and reigned till
the year 1865, when he died, and was succeeded by his son, Leopold
II., who is the present King. This is how the southern provinces of
the Netherlands were made into the little, independent kingdom of
Belgium.
Since then the trade and commerce of Belgium have grown. Antwerp has
become a huge seaport; Brussels flourishes. The industries of Ghent
are prosperous. Throughout the Walloon country, from the busy forges
of Liége to the coal-mines round Mons, there is a hard-working and, on
the whole, successful people. Even fallen Bruges has lately been
struggling to rise again.
But, unfortunately, there is another side to the picture. You have
often heard it said that "as the twig is bent, the tree grows." It is
the same with mankind. The character and manners of grown-up people
depend on how they have been trained when young. If a child is
bullied, and passed from one master to another, ill-treated and
frightened, it is apt to grow up timid and untruthful. The same thing
may be seen in nations. To this day the lower classes in Belgium bear
traces of the long period of subjection, and the race has not
recovered from the time when the Spaniards turned so many famous towns
into dens of thieves and beggars. They are very often cunning, timid
though boastful, and full of the small tricks and servile ways which
are natural in a people which once had all manliness and courage
crushed out of it.
Another unlucky thing for the Belgians is that they quarrel dreadfully
among themselves about public questions. In all countries there are
quarrels of this sort, but in Belgium these disputes poison the whole
life of the country. They are divided into Catholics and Liberals, and
the best interests of the State are lost sight of in the squabbling
which goes on between these two parties. By the laws of Belgium all
religions are equal. There is no Established Church. The Parliament
each year finds money for the Catholic clergy, for the English
Protestant chaplains, and for those of any other faith, if there are
enough of them to form a congregation of a certain size. But this has
not brought peace. In England, as you know, only some foolish people
allow their political disputes to interfere with their private
friendships, or with their amusements. But in Belgium the Catholics
and the Liberals never forget their differences. It is like the time
when the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. There are Catholic
football clubs and Liberal football clubs; the public-houses are
either Catholic or Liberal; and even children are taught at school to
have feelings of this sort. One day a small girl was asked out to tea
with some English children. When the hour came, her mother found her
crying, and asked her what was the matter. "I'm afraid," she sobbed,
"to go and play with these little heretics!"
[Illustration: WATERLOO: THE FARM OF LA BELLE ALLIANCE AND THE MOUND
SURMOUNTED BY THE BELGIAN LION.]
The great quarrel is about education. The Liberals want to make a law
that all children must go to school, but the Catholics will not agree
to this. The priests have so much influence, and work so hard at
the elections, that, except in Brussels, Liége, and a few more places,
the people are frightened to vote against them. So there has always
been a Catholic Government in power for the last twenty-five years.
The Great Powers, when they allowed the Belgians to have their own way
and choose a King for themselves, took Belgium under their protection,
and made it a "neutral state"--that is to say, a country which may not
be attacked or entered by the armies of other nations which are
fighting each other, and which is not permitted to make war on other
countries. This was a great blessing for the Belgians, because their
country is so small and weak, and so many battles used to be fought in
it that it was called "the cock-pit of Europe." But whether the people
of a neutral state are ever likely to be brave and self-sacrificing is
another thing.