BELGIAN INDEPENDENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 5 August 1930, Page 2

BELGIAN INDEPENDENCE

Celebrations in Belgium to mark tlie 10()th anniversary of national independence recall the unhappy union between that country and Holland. After the fall of Napoleon the allied Powers, desiring to have a strong kingdom to serve as a check on the ambitious designs >of France, and without consulting the wishes or the inclinations of the people, united Belgium with Holland to form the enlarged State of the Netherlands. At first the union gave promise of success,' but differing character, hah its, .language, and religion of the two sections soon developed into serious hostility." The, phlegmatic . Dutch had nothing in common with the lighthearted Belgians, and two peoples incapable of union found independent courses in widely differing channels. 'T.ie grounds of Belgian dissatisfaction were easily intelligible. With a population half as great again as Holland representation was equal in the States-General, Belgium was more heavily taxed than Holland. the Court and all public offices were located at The Hague, the public service, at home and abroad, and the army, •were almost wholly controlled by Dutch, and an attempt wafe. made to change the language of the Belgian people by abolishing French in all judicial proceedings. The storm that was to overwhelm the union began whom news of the success of the Paris revolution _ of 1830 reached Brussels, anti serious rioting soon ..spread throughout Belgium. Matters .reached a climax when the Prince of Orange with his Dutch troops was compelled to retreat after severe fighting, and the Belgians, who up to this had asked for reforms only, then demanded complete independence. A provisional Government was formed, and at a national congress the Belgian Constitution, embodying all the main featuies of the British Constitution, was framed, and the independence of Belgium formally proclaimed. The Crown was finst offered to the second son of the King of Trance, and on his declining it the candidate of the British Government, Prince Leopold lof Saxe-Coburg, became the first King of Belgium under the new Constitution. Later, a dispute arose oveT the division of certain territory, and! a chapter of history seldom read in these days was opened, when on the refusal of the King of Holland to abide! by the decision of the Powers he ivas coerced bv a French army laying siege to Antwerp, and by the blockading of the Scheldt by ai combined British and French fleet. From the time of the separation from Holland the history of Belgium unider three Kings, Leopold 1., Leopold Ti;, ’and Albert 1., has, with the exception of the years of the war, been one of steady progress and peaceful development. The population has doubled and rhh coal deposits have enabled her to become a great industrial nation, But perhaps the most wonderful achievement of the last fifty years has been the development of a flourishing colonial possession in Africa, an undertaking that owes its success in the initial stages, at least, to the initiative, and enterprise of Leopold 11. Belgum has made a wonderful recovery (since the war, and a balanced budget, reduction in taxes, in-, creased wages and salaries, and a steady liquidation of the national debt afford the best evidence of returning prosperity. Yet a cloud no bigger than a man s hand has arisen above the political horizon.' The Flemings, essentially Dutch, and composing the population of the northern half of Belgium, have made demands for complete self-gov-ernment, some going so far as to advocate separation. The Flemish movement is now recognised as a serious problem, and although certain language concessions have been made so that the centenary celebrations may take pace in an atmosphere of goodwill, far greater concessions will have to'be made if the Dutch in northern Belgium are to remain a contented section of the Belgian people. The record of Belgium during the last hundred years has be4n one of marked (progress, and it would be pity if future development were hindered by internal dissension.