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Antwerp army artists band Baron Lambermont Belgian art Belgian revolution Belgium bers Binche Bishop Borinage Brabant Bruges Brus Brussels Burgundy called canals capital cent century cercles CHAPTER Charles Church citizens classes colony communes Congo Constitution Count of Flanders Court Duke Dutch election Emperor established Europe existence famous favor fête Flanders Flemings Flemish movement foreign France French German Ghent gian gium Government Grand Hainaut Hasselt held Holland Hotel House of Burgundy important increased kermesse King land language Leopold less Liberal bands Liberals Liége Limburg Louvain Luxemburg Mary of Burgundy ment Meuse mines modern Monnaie Mons movement Namur Netherlands officers Palace passed period political popular population possessed practice prosperity provinces race railways religious residence revolution river royal rule Scheldt schools sels sion Socialist society tion town vote Walloon women
Popular passages
Page 104 - Political parties did not exist. The executive members were chosen more or less from both sides, and formed what was called the party of Union. This happy condition of things could not be expected to last longer than the circumstances which rendered it possible. The passing of the national peril revived the ceaseless turmoil of faction fighting.
Page 100 - The text of articles 9 and 10 of the said treaty is as follows : "Art. 9: Belgium, within the limits traced in conformity with the principles laid down in the present preliminaries, shall form a perpetually neutral State. The Five Powers, without wishing to intervene in the internal affairs of Belgium, guarantee her that perpetual neutrality as well as the integrity and inviolability of her territory in the limits mentioned in the present article.
Page 100 - Belgium, within the limits specified in articles 1, 2, and 4, shall form an independent and perpetually neutral state. It shall be bound to observe such neutrality towards all other states.
Page 58 - ... advantageously placed for communication by various waterways with the central and eastern provinces of Belgium. ; ^ The period of Antwerp's greatest splendor was between the years 1550 and 1560, when it contained the houses of not fewer than a thousand foreign merchants. These houses were divided among six nations, viz., the Spaniards, the Danes and the Hansa together, the Italians, the English, the Portuguese, and the Germans. In 1560 more business was done in one month at Antwerp than in two...
Page 73 - MY DEAR MRS. BESANT,— I am painfully conscious that I gave you but little help in your trouble yesterday. It is needless to say that it was not from want of sympathy. Perhaps it would be nearer the truth to say that it was from excess of sympathy. I shrink intensely from meddling with the sorrow of anyone whom I feel to be of a sensitive nature. 'The heart hath its own bitterness, and the stranger meddleth not therewith.
Page 171 - ... fewer than fifty thousand who drink a quart. In the latter total are no doubt included many who are not miners, but the majority of them are. In Belgium the drink question is aggravated by the poisonous nature of the intoxicant and by the admitted inability of the Government to devise any means of preventing adulteration. Lest the reader should imagine that there is some exaggeration in the figures just given, it may be mentioned that the total consumption of spirits in the country during a year...
Page 72 - I thought I was the only Queen here, but I see a thousand around me." At that time Bruges was the leading financial city in Western Europe, or as it was put in those days north of the Alps. The prices on its exchange ruled those elsewhere. It was said that more trading ships were to be seen in its harbour at Damme than in any other port save Venice. The Hansa, English and Italian merchants had...
Page 267 - Dutch the part of Limburg lying on the right bank of the Meuse was ceded to Holland as compensation for what it lost in Luxemburg.
Page 15 - Ostrasized after 1830, the Flemish language has gained in the last forty years a position of equality with French as the official language of Belgium. The following statistics will be useful for purposes of reference in connection with the language question. By the census of 1890 the population of Belgium was 6,069,321. Of this number 2,744,271 spoke only Flemish...
Page 137 - Louvain 30,765 42,001 Malines 31,371 59,218 Mons 26,061 27,349 Tournai 30,824 37,640 Charleroi 10,702 27,415 Namur 24,716 32,047 Ypres 16,698 17,542 Verviers 27,115 48,583 The increase in the urban population has only been remarkable in a few places. At Mons and Ypres it has been infinitesimal. Considering the growth of the Belgian population it is curious to note that it has been due not so much to an extraordinarily high birth rate as to a low death rate.