Part 235

"The politico-religious contest between Catholics and Liberals exists to a greater or less degree in all Catholic countries, and even in Protestant ones possessing, like Prussia, Catholic provinces: but nowhere is political life more completely absorbed by this antagonism than in Belgium, nowhere are the lines of the contest more clearly traced. … In order thoroughly to grasp the meaning of our politico-religious strife, we must cast a glance at its origin. We find this in the constitution adopted by the Congress after the Revolution of 1830. {2303} This constitution enjoins and sanctions all the freedom and liberty which has long been the privilege of England, and of the States she has founded in America and Australia. A free press, liberty as regards education, freedom to form associations or societies, provincial and communal autonomy, representative administration—all exactly as in England. How was it that the Congress of 1830, the majority of whose members belonged to the Catholic party, came to vote in favour of principles opposed, not only to the traditions, but also the dogmas of the Catholic Church? This singular fact is explained by the writings of the celebrated priest and author, La Mennais, whose opinions at that time exercised the greatest influence. La Mennais's first book, 'L'Essai sur l'indifference en Matière de Religion,' lowered all human reasoning, and delivered up society to the omnipotent guidance of the Pope. This work, enthusiastically perused by bishops, seminarists, and priests, established the author as an unprecedented authority. When, after the year 1828, he pretended that the Church would regain her former power by separating herself from the State, retaining only her liberty, most of his admirers professed themselves of his opinion. … Nearly all Belgian priests were at that time La Mennaisiens. They accepted the separation of Church and State, and, in their enthusiastic intoxication, craved but liberty to reconquer the world. It was thus that Catholics and Liberals united to vote for Belgium the constitution still in existence after a half-century. In 1832, Pope Gregory XVI., as Veuillot tells us, 'hurled a thunderbolt at the Belgian constitution in its cradle.' In a famous Encyclical, since incessantly quoted, the Pope declared, ex cathedrâ, that modern liberties were a plague, 'a delirium,' from whence incalculable evils would inevitably flow. Shortly afterwards, the true author of the Belgian constitution, La Mennais, having been to Rome in the vain hope of converting the Pope to his views, was repulsed, and, a little later, cast out from the bosom of the Church. The separation was effected. There was an end to that 'union' of Catholics and Liberals which had overthrown King William and founded a new political order in Belgium. It was not, however, till after 1838 that the two parties distinctly announced their antagonism. … The Liberal party is composed of all who, having faith in human reason and in liberty, fear a return to the past, and desire reforms of all sorts. … When Catholics are mentioned as opposed to Liberals, it is as regards their political, not their religious opinions. The Liberals are all, or nearly all, Catholics also; at all events by baptism. … The Catholic party is guided officially by the bishops. It is composed, in the first place, of all the clergy, of the convents and monasteries, and of those who from a sentiment of religious obedience do as they are directed by the bishop of the diocese and the Pope, and also of genuine Conservatives, otherwise called reactionists—that is to say, of those who consider that liberty leads to anarchy, and progress to communism. This section comprises the great mass of the proprietors and cultivators of the soil and the country populations. … We see that in Belgium parties are divided, and fight seriously for an idea; they are separated by no material, but by spiritual interests. The Liberals defend liberty, which they consider menaced by the aims of the Church. The Catholics defend religion, which they look upon as threatened by their adversaries' doctrines. Both desire to fortify themselves against a danger, non-existent yet, but which they foresee. … The educational question, which has been the centre of the political life of the country during the last two years, deserves expounding in detail. Important in itself, and more important still in its consequences, it is everywhere discussed with passion. Primary education was organized here in 1842, by a law of compromise adopted by the two parties, thanks to M. J. B. Nothomb, one of the founders of the Belgian Constitution, who died recently in Berlin, where he had been Belgian Minister for a space of upwards of forty years. This law enacted that every parish should possess schools sufficient for the number of children needing instruction; but it allowed the 'commune' to adopt private schools. The inspection of the public schools and the control of the religious teaching given by the masters and mistresses, was reserved to the clergy. Advanced Liberals began to clamour for the suppression of this latter clause as soon as they perceived the preponderating influence it gave the priests over the lay teachers. The reform of the law of 1842 became the watchword of the Liberal party, and this was ultimately effected in July, 1879; now each parish or village must provide the schools necessary for the children of its inhabitants, and must not give support to any private school. Ecclesiastical inspection is suppressed. Religious instruction may be given by the ministers of the various denominations, in the school buildings, but out of the regular hours. This system has been in force in Holland since the commencement of the present century. Lay instruction only is given by the communal masters and mistresses; no dogmas are taught, but the school is open to the clergy of all denominations who choose to enter, as it is evidently their duty to do. This system, now introduced in Belgium, has been accepted, without giving rise to any difficulties, by both Protestants and Jews, but it is most vehemently condemned by the Catholic priesthood. … In less than a year they have succeeded in opening a private school in every commune and village not formerly possessing one. In this instance the Catholic party has shown a devotedness really remarkable. … At the same time in all the Churches, and nearly every Sunday, the Government schools have been attacked, stigmatized as 'écoles sans Dieu' (schools without God), to be avoided as the plague, and where parents were forbidden to place their children, under pain of committing the greatest sin. Those who disobeyed, and allowed their children still to frequent the communal schools, were deprived of the Sacraments of the Church. They were refused absolution at confession, and the Eucharist, even at Easter. All the schoolmasters and mistresses were placed under the ban of the Church, and the priests often even refused to pronounce a blessing on their marriage. It is only lately that, contrary instructions having been received from Rome, this extreme step is now very rarely resorted to. The Liberal majority in the House has ordered a Parliamentary inquiry—which is still in progress, and the results of which in this last six months, fill the columns of our newspapers—in order to ascertain by what means the clergy succeed in filling their schools. … As a natural consequence of the excessive heat of the conflict, the two parties end by justifying the accusations of their adversaries. {2304} The Liberals become anti-religionists, because religion is—and is daily becoming more and more—anti-liberal; and the Catholics are afraid of liberty, because it is used against their faith, which is, in their opinion, the only true and the necessary foundation of civilization. … The existence in Belgium of two parties so distinctly and clearly separated, offers, however, some compensation: it favours the good working of Parliamentary government."

_E. de Laveleye, The Political Condition of Belgium (Contemporary Review, April, 1882), pages 715-724, with foot-note._

NETHERLANDS: (Belgium): A. D. 1876-1890. The founding of the Congo Free State.

See CONGO FREE STATE.

NETHERLANDS: (Holland, or the Kingdom of the Netherlands): A. D. 1887. Revision of the Constitution.

The constitution of 1848 (see above), in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, was revised in 1887, but in a very conservative spirit. Attempts to make the suffrage universal, and to effect a separation of church and state, were defeated. The suffrage qualification by tax-payment was reduced to ten guilders, and certain classes of lodgers were also admitted to the franchise, more than doubling the total number of voters, which is now estimated to be about 290,000. All private soldiers and non-commissioned officers of the regular army are excluded from the franchise. The upper chamber of the States General is elected as before by the Provincial States, but its membership is raised to fifty. The second chamber, consisting of one hundred members, is chosen directly by the voters. In the new constitution, the succession to the throne is definitely prescribed, in the event of a failure of direct heirs. Three collateral lines of descent are designated, to be accepted in their order as follows: 1. Princess Sophia of Saxony and her issue; 2. the descendants of the late Princess Marian of Prussia; 3. the descendants of the late Princess Mary of Wied. The late king of the Netherlands, William III., died in 1890, leaving only a daughter, ten years old, to succeed him. The young queen, Wilhelmina, is reigning under the regency of her mother.

_The Statesman's Year-book, 1894._

ALSO IN: _The Annual Register, 1887._

_Appleton's Annual Cyclopœdia, 1887._

NETHERLANDS: (Belgium): A. D. 1892-1893. The revised Belgian Constitution. Introduction of plural Suffrage.

A great agitation among the Belgian workingmen, ending in a formidable strike, in 1890, was only quieted by the promise from the government of a revision of the constitution and the introduction of universal suffrage. The Constituent Chambers, elected to perform the task of revision, were opened on the 11th of July, 1892. The amended constitution was promulgated on the 7th of September, 1893. It confers the suffrage on every citizen twenty-five years of age or over, domiciled in the same commune for not less than one year, and not under legal disqualification. The new constitution is made especially interesting by its introduction of a system of cumulative or plural voting. One supplementary vote is conferred on every married citizen (or widower), thirty-five years or more of age, having legitimate issue, and paying at least five francs per annum house tax; also on every citizen not less than twenty-five years old who owns real property to the value of 2,000 francs, or who derives an income of not less than 100 francs a year from an investment in the public debt, or from the savings bank. Two supplementary votes are given to each citizen twenty-five years of age who has received certain diplomas or discharged certain functions which imply the possession of a superior education. The same citizen may accumulate votes on more than one of these qualifications, but none is allowed to cast more than three. On the adoption of the new constitution, the Brussels correspondent of the "London Times" wrote to that journal; "This article, which adds to manhood suffrage as it exists in France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, the United States, and the Australian colonies, the safeguard of a double and triple suffrage accorded to age, marriage, and paternity, as well as to the possession of money saved or inherited, or of a profession, will constitute one of the distinguishing marks of the new Belgian Constitution. As it reposes upon the just principle that votes must be considered in reference to their weight rather than to their numbers, it has had the effect of putting an immediate end to the violent political crisis which disturbed the country. It has been accepted without much enthusiasm, indeed, but as a reasonable compromise. The moderates of all classes, who do not go to war for abstract theories, think that it has a prospect of enduring." An attempt to introduce proportional representation along with the plural suffrage was defeated. The constitution of the Senate raised questions hardly less important than those connected with the elective franchise. Says the correspondent quoted above: "The advanced Radical and Socialist parties had proposed to supplement the Chamber, the political representation of the territorial interests of the country, by a Senate representing its economic interests. The great social forces—capital, labour, and science—in their application to agriculture, industry, and commerce, were each to send their representatives. It may be that this formula, which would have made of the Belgian Senate an Assembly sui generis in Europe, may become the formula of the future. The Belgian legislators hesitated before the novelty of the idea and the difficulty of its application. This combination rejected, there remained for the Senate only the alternative between two systems—namely, to separate that Assembly from the Chamber by its origin or else by its composition. The Senate and the Government preferred the first of these solutions, that is to say direct elections for the Chamber, an election by two degrees for the Senate, either by the members of the provincial councils or by specially elected delegates of the Communes. But these proposals encountered from all the benches in the Chamber a general resistance." The result was a compromise. The Senate consists of 76 members elected directly by the people, and 26 elected by the provincial councils. The term of each is eight years. The Senators chosen by the councils are exempted from a property qualification; those popularly elected are required to be owners of real property yielding not less than 12,000 francs of income, or to pay not less than 1,200 francs in direct taxes. The legislature is empowered to restrict the voting for Senators to citizens thirty years of age or more. {2305} The members of the Chamber of Representatives are apportioned according to population and elected for four years, one half retiring every two years. The Senate and Chamber meet annually in November, and are required to be in session for at least forty days; but the King may convoke extraordinary sessions, and may dissolve the Chambers either separately or together. In case of a dissolution, the constitution requires an election to be held within forty days, and a meeting of the Chambers within two months. Only the Chamber of Representatives can originate money bills or bills relating to the contingent for the army. The executive consists of seven ministries, namely of Finance, of Justice, of Interior and Instruction, of War, of Railways, Posts and Telegraphs, of Foreign Affairs, of Agriculture, Industry and Public Works. The King's Privy Council is a distinct body.

NETHERLANDS: End----------

NEUCHATÊL: Separation from Prussia.

See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1803-1848.

NEUENBERG: Capture by Duke Bernhard (1638).

See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.

NEUSTRIA.

See AUSTRASIA.

NEUTRAL GROUND, The.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1780 (AUGUST-SEPTEMBER).

NEUTRAL NATION, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: HURONS, &c.

NEUTRAL RIGHTS.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1804-1809.

NEVADA: Start--------

NEVADA: The aboriginal inhabitants.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: SHOSHONEAN FAMILY.

NEVADA: A. D. 1848-1864. Acquisition from Mexico. Silver discoveries. Territorial and State organization.

"Ceded to the United States at the same time, and, indeed, as one with California [see MEXICO: A. D. 1848], this region of the Spanish domain had not, like that west of the Sierra Nevada, a distinctive name, but was described by local names, and divided into valleys. In March following the treaty with Mexico and the discovery of gold, the inhabitants of Salt Lake valley met and organized the state of Deseret, the boundaries of which included the whole of the recently acquired Mexican territory outside of California, and something more." But Congress, failing to recognize the state of Deseret, created instead, by an act passed on the 9th of September, 1850, the Territory of Utah, with boundaries which embraced Nevada likewise. This association was continued until 1861, when the Territory of Nevada was organized by act of Congress out of western Utah. Meantime the discovery in 1859 of the extraordinary deposit of silver which became famous as the Comstock Lode, and other mining successes of importance, had rapidly attracted to the region a large population of adventurers. It was this which had brought about the separate territorial organization. Three years later the young territory was permitted to frame a state constitution and was admitted into the Union in October, 1864.

_H. H. Bancroft, History of the Pacific States, volume 20: Nevada, page 66._

NEVADA: End--------

NEVELLE, Battle of (1381).

See FLANDERS: A. D. 1379-1381.

NEVILLE'S CROSS, OR DURHAM, Battle of.

A crushing defeat suffered by an army of the Scots, invading England under their young king, David Bruce, who was taken prisoner. The battle was fought near Durham, October 17, 1346.

_J. H. Burton, History of Scotland, chapter 25 (volume 3)._

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1333-1370.

NEW ALBION, The County Palatine of.

By a royal charter, witnessed by the Deputy-General of Ireland, at Dublin, June 21, 1634, King Charles I. granted to Sir Edmund Plowden and eight other petitioners, the whole of Long Island ("Manitie, or Long Isle"), together with forty leagues square of the adjoining continent, constituting the said domain a county palatine and calling it New Albion, while the island received the name of Isle Plowden. "In this document the boundaries of New Albion are so defined as to include all of New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania embraced in a square, the eastern side of which, forty leagues in length, extended (along the coast) from Sandy Hook to Cape May, together with Long Island, and all other 'isles and islands in the sea within ten leagues of the shores of the said region.' The province is expressly erected into a county palatine, under the jurisdiction of Sir Edmund Plowden as earl, depending upon his Majesty's' royal person and imperial crown, as King of Ireland.'" Subsequently, within the year 1634, the whole of the grant was acquired by and became vested in Plowden and his three sons. Sir Edmund, who died in 1659, spent the remainder of his life in futile attempts to make good his claim against the Swedes on the Delaware and the Dutch, and in exploiting his magnificent title as Earl Palatine of New Albion. The claim and the title seem to have reappeared occasionally among his descendants until some time near the close of the 18th century.

_G. B. Keen, Note on New Albion. (Narrative and Critical History of America, J. Winsor, editor, volume 3, pages 457-468)._

ALSO IN: _S. Hazard, Annals of Pennsylvania, pages 36-38 and 108-112._

NEW AMSTERDAM.

The name originally given by the Dutch to the city of New York.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1634; and 1653.

Also the name first given to the village out of which grew the city of Buffalo, N. Y.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1786-1799.

NEW BRUNSWICK: Start--------

NEW BRUNSWICK: Embraced in the Norumbega of the old geographers.

See NORUMBEGA; also, CANADA: NAMES.

NEW BRUNSWICK: A. D. 1621-1668. Included in Nova Scotia.

See NOVA SCOTIA: A. D. 1621-1668.

NEW BRUNSWICK: A. D. 1713. Uncertain disposition by the Treaty of Utrecht.

See CANADA: A. D. 1711-1713.

NEW BRUNSWICK: A. D. 1820-1837. The Family Compact.

See CANADA: A. D. 1820-1837.

NEW BRUNSWICK: A. D. 1854-1866. The Reciprocity Treaty with the United States.

See TARIFF LEGISLATION (UNITED STATES AND CANADA): A. D. 1854-1866.

NEW BRUNSWICK: A. D. 1867. Embraced in the Confederation of the Dominion of Canada.

See CANADA: A. D. 1867.

NEW BRUNSWICK: End--------

NEW CÆSAREA, OR NEW JERSEY.

See NEW JERSEY: A. D. 1664-1667.

NEW CARTHAGE. The founding of.

See CARTHAGENA, THE FOUNDING OF.

NEW CASTILE.

See PERU: A. D. 1528-1531.

{2306}

NEW ENGLAND: Start--------

NEW ENGLAND. [Footnote: The greater part of New England history is given elsewhere, as the history of the several New England states, and is only indexed in this place, instead of being repeated.]

NEW ENGLAND: The Aboriginal Inhabitants.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

NEW ENGLAND: The Norumbega of early geographers.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1498.

NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1498. First coasted by Sebastian Cabot.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1498.

NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1524. Coasted by Verrazano.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1523-1524.

NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1602-1607. The voyages of Gosnold, Pring and Weymouth.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1602-1605.

NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1604. Embraced in the region claimed as Acadia by the French.

See CANADA: A. D. 1603-1605.

NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1605. Coast explored by Champlain.

See CANADA: A. D. 1603-1605.

NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1606. Embraced in the grant to the North Virginia Company of Plymouth.

See VIRGINIA: A. D. 1606-1607.

NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1607-1608. The Popham Colony on the Kennebec. The fruitless venture of the Plymouth Company.

See MAINE: A. D. 1607-1608.

NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1614. Named, mapped and described by Captain John Smith.

See AMERICA: A. D. 1614-1615.

NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1620. The voyage of the Mayflower and the planting of Plymouth Colony.

See MASSACHUSETTS: A. D. 1620.

NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1620-1623. Incorporation of the Council for New England, successor to the Plymouth Company. Its great domain and its monopoly of the Fisheries.