492 BELGIUM to the independence of Belgium on condition that he should be made its king, but this was of no avail. On Oct. 25 he quitted Antwerp, and on the 27th Gen. Chasse com- menced a two days' bombardment of the town, by which wanton act the Dutch party crushed out all chance of a friendly settle- ment. On Nov. 10 the national congress was opened and the independence of Belgium pro- claimed. The form of monarchical govern- ment was adhered to, but the exclusion of the house of Orange for ever from the crown of Belgium was carried by an overwhelming ma- jority. King William now turned to the great powers who had given him Belgium and guar- anteed his quiet enjoyment of his new domin- ion. At his request a conference of the Euro- pean powers was held in London, which or- dered an armistice, and the retirement of the troops of both parties within their respective frontiers. On Jan. 20, 1831, the independence of Belgium was acknowledged by the confer- ence, binding Belgium to the assumption of a part of the state debt, which entailed upon her the payment of 14,000,000 florins annually. The crown was offered to the duke de Nemours, Louis Philippe's son, and declined, as the Euro- pean powers would not countenance that pro- ject. The national congress now determined by a majority to appoint a regent in place of the provisional government, and Baron Surlet de Choquier was elected. He took the reins of government and named a ministry, which, being composed of incongruous materials, soon resigned, and another was appointed. The choice of the ministry and national congress now fell on Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, who accepted the crown. His relationship to the royal family of England as widower of the princess Charlotte naturally procured him the sympathy of the British government, and he was soon considered as a kind of mediator between England and France. Not long after his coronation (July 21, 1831) Holland, in de- fiance of the armistice, sent an army across the frontier, and the new king thus found himself engaged in war, with a kingdom dis- organized, an army hastily levied, and an un- formed administration. Leopold asked aid from France, which was promptly afforded, and Marshal Gerard, accompanied by the duke of Orleans, marched an army to Brussels, which compelled the Dutch forces to retreat across their frontier. William of Holland had not, however, given his consent to the new order of things in Belgium, seeing that as yet the question of the public debt was not satis- factorily disposed of. Accordingly, the con- ference determined on compelling Holland to evacuate the Belgian territory, and an Anglo- French fleet was to cooperate with the army under Gerard in reducing the citadel of Ant- werp and Forts Lillo and Liefkenshoek. The siege of Antwerp began Nov. 29, 1832, and on Dec. 23 Gen. Chasse capitulated. The other forts were not evacuated, but Leopold declared himself satisfied to hold Limburg and Luxemburg against the strong places in question, and accordingly the French army retired. On Aug. 9, 1832, Leopold married the princess Louise, daughter of Louis Phi- lippe. The new king soon found himself obliged to dissolve the chamber which had elected him, and to summon a second. The final peace was concluded between Belgium and Holland April 19, 1839, at the dictation of the European powers, by which Luxem- burg and Limburg were divided between the contending parties, Holland receiving the eastern divisions with the fortresses of Maes- tricht, Venloo, and Luxemburg. The only effect upon Belgium of the revolutionary agi- tation of Europe in 1848 was the establish- ment of an electoral reform and the abolition of the newspaper duty. King Leopold ex- pressed his willingness to resign the crown, but the suggestion was not entertained. The coup d'etat of Napoleon in 1851 caused fresh embarrassment to Belgium by the influx of French refugees. The government felt obliged to suppress the most obnoxious journals, ex- pel a few refugees, and pass a law punish- ing attempts against the lives of foreign sov- ereigns. The conflict between the two po- litical parties, the Catholic and the liberal, turned chiefly on home questions, especially relative to the influence of the clergy in pub- lic instruction ; but by the year 1857 the lib- erals had gained the upper hand, ruling the country till 1870. The principal reforms ef- fected during this period were the abolition of the octrois eommunaux, or city gate tolls, and the tax on salt ; the substitution of the edu- cational qualification for officeholders instead of the tax-paying qualification; laws against election frauds ; and reforms in the penal code. The different copyright treaties concluded with France and other powers, though strong- ly opposed, proved beneficial to Belgian litera- ture. Commercial treaties were also concluded with France, England, and the United States, on the basis of free trade, similar in spirit to the treaty made between France and England. Leopold died Dec. 9, 1865, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Leopold II. The question of the fortification of Antwerp, which formed for years a bone of contention between the po- litical parties, was finally settled in favor of Belgium in 1870.- During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 Belgium observed a lonafide neu- trality, forbidding even the exportation of arms and other war material ; yet her position might have been endangered had it not been for England, which hastened to conclude a triple treaty with Prussia and France (Aug. 9, 1870), which guaranteed the independence and neutrality of Belgium according to the terms of the treaty of 1839. This triple treaty was to remain in force for only one year after the cessation of the war. See Let fondateurs de la monarcfiie beige, by Theo- dore Juste (Brussels, 1865 et seq.).
