12.Belgium, A Country Created by Scraps of Paper and Rich in Everything except Internal Harmony

THE modern kingdom of the Belgians consists of three parts:the plain of Flanders along the shores of the North Sea, the low plateau between Flanders and the mountains of the east, rich in iron and coal, and the Ardennes Mountains of the east, through which the Meuse flows in pleasant curves, bound for the marshes of the Low Countries a short distance further towards the north.

The iron and coal deposits centering around the cities of Liége, Charleroi and Mons(the great war for Democracy had a strange habit of bringing the names of coal and iron cities to the front pages of our newspapers)are so plentiful that Belgium will probably be able to provide the world with those two necessities of modern life long after the coal fields and iron beds of Germany, France and England shall have been exhausted.

But this country, blessed with what the Germans so often call the“heavy industry”,has curiously enough no good modern harbors of its own. The coast along the Channel, shallow and protected by a most complicated arrangement of sand banks and shallow places, has no ports worthy of the name.The Belgians have dug artificial harbors in Ostende and Zeebrugge and Nieuwport, but Antwerp, her most important harbor, lies forty miles distant from the North Sea, and the river Scheldt for the last thirty miles of its course runs through Dutch territory, a slightly absurd arrangement and one which might be called“unnatural”from a geographic point of view but unavoidable in a world ruled by scraps of paper signed by the delegates to solemn international conferences.As however Belgium is a country that was the direct outcome of a number of such conferences, we ought to know something about the historical antecedents that faced their Excellencies whenever they settled comfortably around their green tables to decide the fate of the world.

The Gallica Belgica of the Romans had been inhabited by Celts(the same people as the original settlers of Britain and France)and a number of small Germanic tribes. All of these were forced to recognize the suzerainty of the Romans who pushed forward in a northern direction across the plains of Flanders and over the hills of the Ardennes until they reached the almost impassable marshes which were to give birth to the modern kingdom of the Netherlands.Next it was a minor province of the empire of Charlemagne.Next, by the disastrous treaty of Verdun of 843 it was made part of the central kingdom of Lothair.Next it was divided into a large number of semi-independent duchies and counties and bishoprics.Next, the Habsburgs, the most competent real estate manipulators of the Middle Ages, got hold of it.But the Habsburgs were not looking for coal and iron.They were looking for safe returns on farm land and for quick returns on trade.Hence the eastern part of the country(and by far the most important)was regarded as a semi-wilderness.But Flanders was given every opportunity to develop its latent forces and did so, until during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries of our era it was by far the richest part of northern Europe.

This was due to a fortunate geographic position which allowed medieval ships of moderate size to penetrate far inland and to the fact that the early rulers of Flanders were men and women of quite exceptional ability who encouraged the development of industrialism while all other feudal chieftains stuck closely to agriculture and despised capitalism as heartily as the Church despised the idea of taking interest on loans.

In consequence of this very wise policy, Bruges and Ghent and Ypres and Cambrai waved fat and rich and opulent, doing the work that other countries should have performed for themselves if their sovereigns had allowed them to grasp their opportunities. The subsequent downfall of these early centers of capitalistic industries was brought about by a combination of geography and human—all too human—characteristics.

Geography did its share by changing certain currents in the North Sea which filled the harbors of Bruges and Ghent with such vast and unexpected masses of sand that those cities became completely landlocked. While the labor unions(the guilds)which in the beginning had been a source of tremendous strength, rapidly degenerated into tyrannical and short-sighted organizations, founded for no other purpose than to slow up and impede every known form of industrial activity.

As the old native dynasties had died out and Flanders had been temporarily annexed by the French, there was no one to intervene and the tides and the walking-delegates between them reduced Flanders to a somnolent region of pleasant little whitewashed farms and beautiful ruins which inspire old English ladies to some of their most atrocious water-colors but where the grass has never ceased to grow between the well polished cobble-stones of the ancient tenement quarters.

The Reformation did the rest. For Flanders after a short and very sharp upheaval in favor of the Lutheran doctrines remained faithful to the Mother Church.And when their northern neighbors gained their independence, Holland hastened to close the last remaining port of their old rival, and with Antwerp cut off from the rest of Europe, the whole of Belgium went into a prolonged period of hibernation, out of which it did not arise until the needs of James Watt's hungry machines drew the world's attention to her immense riches in natural materials.

Then foreign capital hastened to the valley of the Meuse and in less than twenty years Belgium had become one of the leading industrial nations of Europe. It was then that the Walloon or French speaking part of the country(everything west of Brussels)came fully into its own, for although it contained only 42% of the total population it soon became by far the richest part of the whole country and the Flemings were reduced to a race of semi-conquered peasants whose language might be tolerated in the kitchen and in the stable but which should never be spoken in the parlor of a civilized household.

To make matters still a little more complicated, the Congress of Vienna of 1815 which was supposed to settle the peace of the world for all time(a sort of Versailles of a century ago)had seen fit to make Belgium and Holland into a single kingdom, so as to have a powerful northern balance against the French.

The end of this strange political marriage came in the year 1830 when the Belgians arose against the Dutch, and the French(as was to be expected)rushed to their assistance. The Great Nations(a little late as usual)interfered.A prince of the house of Coburg uncle of Queen Victoria(Uncle Leopold was a very serious gentleman who exercised a very profound influence upon his dear little niece)was made King of the Belgians.He had just refused a similar offer from the side of the Greeks and never had any reason to regret his choice.For the new kingdom proved to be a success.The mouth of the Scheldt remained in Dutch hands, but Antwerp became once more one of the most important harbors of western Europe.

The Great European Powers had officially proclaimed Belgium a“neutral power”. But King Leopold(the son of the founder of the dynasty)was much too shrewd to have any confidence in such paper keep-off-the-grass signs.He worked hard to make his country something more than a third-rate little nation, existing merely by the grace of its richer neighbors.When a certain gentleman by the name of Henry Stanley returned from the heart of Africa, Leopold prevailed upon him to come to Brussels and out of this interview grew the International Association of the Congo, which in due course of time was to make Belgium one of the largest colonial powers of the modern world.

Today the main problem before Belgium, with its magnificent geographic situation right in the heart of the most prosperous part of northern Europe, is no longer an economic one. It is a racial one.The Flemish majority is rapidly catching up with the French minority in the matter of general education and scientific and cultural development.It is clamoring for a share in the administration of the country from which it has been kept separated ever since the founding of the independent kingdom It insists upon absolute equality for both languages, for Flemish as well as for French.

But I had better leave this subject alone. It puzzles me and I fail to see why it should be that way.The Flemings and the Walloons have a common racial origin and share almost twenty centuries of common history.Yet they live like cats and dogs.In the next chapter we shall meet the Swiss who speak four different languages, German, French, Italian and Romonsch(a strange Roman tongue surviving among the mountains of the Engadine)and they get along with each other without any real basic friction.There must be a reason for this but I for one am willing to confess that it surpasses my own understanding.