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Title: Belgium, Vol. 1 (of 2)
Author: Sir James Emerson Tennent
Release date: June 25, 2024 [eBook #73911]
Language: English
Original publication: London: R. Bentley, 1841
Credits: Peter Becker, Eleni Christofaki and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BELGIUM, VOL. 1 (OF 2) ***
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_
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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.
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