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 490 BELGIUM proportion of taxes is mitigated by the admis- sion of those citizens who pay the next largest sums, so that the list shall always be kept up to the footing of at least one eligible person for every 6,000 inhabitants. The representatives receive pay at the rate of about $20 per week. Senators receive no pay. Each house may originate laws, but money bills must originate with the representatives. The chambers as- semble as of right on the second Tuesday in November. The king may dissolve the cham- bers, but the act of dissolution must contain a provision for convoking them again within two months. The executive government con- sisted in 1871 of six departments, namely : foreign affairs, finance, justice, public works, war, and the interior. The minister of foreign affairs is premier. Besides the heads of these departments there are a number of ministers without portfolio, who form a privy council called together on special occasions by the sovereign. Titles of nobility are allowed by the constitution, but without particular privi- leges, all Belgians being equal in the eye of the law. Trial by jury on criminal and po- litical charges, and offences of the press, are provided for. Taxes and the army contin- gent must be voted annually. The law is administered by local and provincial tribu- nals, with courts of appeal at Brussels, Ghent, and Lie'ge. Various pernicious influences have produced a vast amount of pauperism. In 1857 the 908,000 families of the kingdom were, according to an official report made to the legislature, divided into 89,000 which were wealthy, 373,000 living in straitened circum- stances, and 446,000 living in a wretched con- dition. Of the latter class 266,000 received support from the state. The Roman Catholic religion is largely predominant in Belgium. The number of Protestants is variously estimated at from 10,000 to 25,000. The Jews num- ber about 2,000. The stipends of ministers of all denominations are derived from the state. At the head of the. Catholic church are the archbishop of Mechlin and the bishops of Ghent, Bruges, Liege, Nainur, and Tournay. Monas- tic institutions are very numerous. In 1866 there were 2,893 monks in 178 monasteries, and 15,205 nuns in 1,144 convents and commu- nities. The " Protestant Evangelical Church," to which the majority of Belgian Protestants belong, is governed by a synod which sits once a year at Brussels, and is composed of the clergy- men of the body and a representative from each of the congregations. There are government universities at Ghent and Li6ge, a Roman Cath- olic university at Louvain, and a free university at Brussels. There are superior public schools in most of the cities, and a great number of schools have been established for instruction in particular branches of industry, agricultural pro- cesses, chemistry, and design. The conservatory of music at Brussels is one of the most famous in the world. The number of primary schools in 1864 was 5,664 (against 5,520 in 1851), of which 4,006 were under the control of the state. They were attended by 544,761 pupils; and the expenditure incurred for their support by the state, the provinces, and the communes was 10,942,000 fr. About 30 per cent, of the adult population in 1871 were unable to read and write. The history of Belgium as an in- dependent state dates from 1830, at which time it was separated from the kingdom of the Netherlands. Under the Romans the coun- try formed a part of Gallia Belgica, a name de- rived from its original inhabitants. (See GAUL, and BELG.E.) After the fall of the West Ro- man empire a number of feudal lords achieved power in the Belgic territories, under the Frankish and German monarchs, among whom the counts of Flanders rose to historical dis- tinction. From failure of male heirs their pos- sessions devolved to the house of Burgundy in 1384, which gradually extended its influence, by conquest or treaty, over the greater part of the Netherlands. (See BRABANT, BURGUNDY, and FLANDERS.) On the death of Charles the Bold, his daughter Mary, the greatest heiress of Europe, married Maximilian of Austria, afterward emperor of Germany ; and under his successor Charles V. the rule of the Low Countries was joined to the crown of Spain. Both Maximilian and Charles respected in some degree the freedom and rights of their Ba- tavian and Belgic subjects. But Philip II. drove them into that revolt which ended in the independence of the United Provinces, and the confirmation of the yoke of Spain on the necks of the Belgians. (See NETHERLANDS.) From this period Belgium followed the fortunes of Spain. In 1598 Philip bestowed the Flemish provinces on his daughter Isabella and her hus- band Albert, during which period something was effected toward the settlement of the in- ternal affairs of the province. On the death the government, and the Spanish Low Countries were for the next century the battlefield of Eu- rope. The cities were taken and retaken, the territory cut up, and passed from one power to another by the treaties of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668), Nimeguen (1678), and Ryswick (1697), until the peace of Utrecht (1713) gave the country to Austria ; and, as though these in- fluences had not been sufficiently injurious to the country, the so-called barrier treaty of 1715 delivered over several of the fortresses to Holland, in order to create a barrier against French ambition. Holland closed the Scheldt, and so diverted the trade of Antwerp, and in 1722 the rising commerce of Ostend was sacrificed to the Dutch. The empress Maria Theresa appointed Charles, duke of Lorraine, her viceroy, and under his equitable rule the people enjoyed an interval of peace. Jo- seph II. shook off the bonds of the barrier treaty with the Dutch, and compelled Holland to withdraw her army of occupation, but could not succeed in reopening the navigation of the Scheldt. He also addressed himself to
 * of Isabella without issue, Spain again assumed