commerce of Belgium, followed, in order of importance, by Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Russia, and the United States. In the export market of Belgian produce France likewise takes the first place, followed by Great Britain, the Netherlands, and Germany.

The commercial intercourse of Belgium with Great Britain is shown in the subjoined tabular statement, giving the total exports from Belgium to the United Kingdom, and the total imports into Belgium of the produce and manufactures of Great Britain and Ireland, in each of the ten years 1865 to 1874 :—

The staple article of exports from Belgium to the United Kingdom consists in silk manufactures, of the value of 2,769,510l. in 1874. The other articles of export to Great Britain comprise chiefly agricultural produce, among them flax, of the value of 968,7541.; butter, of the value of 465,5171.; and live animals, principally sheep, of the value of 285,5037. in 1874. The imports of British home produce into Belgium consist in the main of iron, and of woollen and cotton manufactures, the iron of the value of 966,3347., the woollens of the value of 485,7731., and the cottons of the value of 763,4427. in the year 1874.

The international commerce of the kingdom is almost entirely carried on by foreigners, chiefly under the British flag. The commercial marine, on the decline for a number of years, consisted at the end of 1874 of 58 vessels of an aggregate burthen of 31,792 tons, inclusive of 19 steamers of a total burthen of 16,210 tons.

One of the most important natural productions of Belgium, and hief basis of its industry, is coal, which is found in three of the nine provinces of the kingdom, Hainaut, Namur, and Liège, about three-fourths of the total annual produce being raised in the firstnamed province. The quantity of coal raised in Hainaut in 1873 was 11,652.953 tons, being about the same as in 1872; but its value in 1873 was estimated at 17s. 4d. per ton-instead 11s. in

1872-therefore at an aggregate of 10,211,0601. The number of hands employed in 1873 was 79,556, being 5,873 more than in 1872. Their annual average wage was 55-681. per head, being an increase of 40 per cent. over the preceding year. The cost of production in 1873 was estimated at 7,596,6647. or 0·6417. per ton, and the net profit at 0-2237. per ton. The quantity raised in 1873, as compared with the number of hands, was only 146 tons per workman, a decrease of 11 tons over the previous year. In England the average production of each workman in 1873 was 250 tons, or 104 tons more than in Hainaut.

In the year 1871 the total coal production of Belgium amounted to 13,733,176 tons, of a total value of 153,803,000 francs, or 6,152,1207. Of this total there were used for home consumption 9,546,972 tons, while the exports amounted to 4,186,204 tons. In 1870 the exports amounted to 3,114,850; in 1869 to 3,581,235; and in 1868 to 3,754,645 tons.

The imports of foreign coal into Belgium amounted in 1874 to 458,282 tons, being more than in 1872 but less than in 1873. In the above total English coal counted for 243,361 tons, and Prussian for 76,000. The exports of coal in 1874 amounted to 4,461,723 tons, being a decrease by 721,650 tons as compared with 1872, and by 271,537 as compared with 1873. The aggregate value of coal and coke exported in 1874 was 5,130,8837., or 687,6771. less than in 1873. The great bulk of these exports went to France.

The sub

In Belgium the State is a great railway proprietor, and the State Railway is one of the largest sources of national revenue. joined tabular statement shows the length of railways, distinguishing State and private lines, open in Belgium at the end of 1874:—

Kilomètres

Lines built and worked by the State

595

Lines belonging to Companies, but leased by the
State

746

The cost of the permanent way and buildings of the State Railway amounted to 18,280l. per mile. The net revenue of the State Railway amounts at present to 1,5087. per mile. The law obliges the State Railway to redeem itself with its own capital, or to purchase itself with its own surplus revenue, and it is expected that this will have taken place about the year 1884. As each conceded railway lapses

gratuitously to the State in 90 years from the period of its construction, the entire system will in time become national property.

The work of the Post Office in Belgium was as follows in the year 1874:

Number 58,036,628

6,035,861

30,094,207

58,825,598

On the 1st of January, 1875, there were 479 Post Offices in Belgium. The Telegraphs in Belgium carried 2,750,223 despatches, private and official, in the year 1874. On the 1st of January, 1875, the total length of telegraph lines was 4,909 kilomètres, and the length of wires 20,512 kilomètres. There were at the same date 474 telegraph stations.

Money, Weights, and Measures.

The money, weights, and measures of Belgium, and the British equivalents, are as follows:

Belgium was one of the four Continental States-comprising, besides, France, Italy, and Switzerland—which formed a Monetary League in 1865. The four States entered into a Convention by which they agreed upon the French decimal system, establishing perfect reciprocity in the currency of the four countries, and giving the franc, livre, or lira, the monetary unit of each of them, as well as its multiples or fractions in gold or silver, the same course and value throughout the extent of their respective territories.

Statistical and other Books of Reference concerning Belgium.

1. OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Almanach Royal Officiel de Belgique, contenant les attributions et le personnel de tous les services publics du royaume. Année 1875. Bruxelles, 1875. Annuaire statistique de la Belgique. 4. Bruxelles, 1875.

Documents Statistiques, publiés par le départ. de l'Intérieur, avec le concours de la commission centrale de statistique. Bruxelles, 1875.

Population de la Belgique. Recensement général. Publié par le Ministre de l'Intérieur. 4. Bruxelles, 1871.

Statistique générale de la Belgique, publié par le départ. de l'Intérieur. 8. Bruxelles, 1865-75.

Tableau général du commerce avec les pays étrangers, publié par le ministre des finances. 4. Bruxelles, 1875.

Report by Mr. E. H. Egerton, British Secretary of Legation, on the production of coal in Belgium, dated Nov. 28, 1868; in 'Reports of H. M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' No. I. 1870. 8. London, 1870.

Report by Mr. H. G. Edwardes, British Secretary of Legation, on the coal statistics of Belgium for the years 1868, 1869, and 1870, dated Brussels, December 1, 1871; in 'Reports of H. M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' No. I. 1872. 8. London, 1872.

Report by Mr. H. Barron, British Secretary of Legation, on the population, commerce, and industry of Belgium, dated Brussels, March 5, 1875; in Report, by H.M.'s Secretaries of Embassy and Legation.' Part I. 1875. 8. London, 1873.

Report by Mr. Vice-Consul [D'Arcy on the trade of Ostend, dated Ostend, December 2, 1874; in Reports from H.M.'s Consuls.' Part I. 1875. 8. London, 1875.

Report by Mr. Consul Grattan on the trade and commerce of Antwerp for the year 1874; dated Antwerp, March 22, 1875; in Reports from H.M.'s Consuls.' Part V. 1875. 8. London, 1875.

Report by Mr. Grattan, Bitish Consul, on the trade of Antwerp from the years 1869 and 1870, dated Brussels, December 1, 1871; in 'Reports from H. M.'s Consuls.' No. I. 1872. 8. London, 1872.

Report by Mr. Consul Grattan, on the trade of Antwerp in 1872, dated Antwerp, Nov. 15, 1873; in 'Reports from H.M.'s Consuls.' Part I. 8. London, 1874.

Report by Mr. Curry, British Consul, on the trade of Ostend, Nieuport, Bruges, and Ghent, dated Ostend, Dec. 27, 1872; in Report by H. M.'s Consuls on British Trade abroad.' Part I. 8. London, 1873.

Trade of Belgium with the United Kingdom; in Annual Statement of the Trade of the United Kingdom with Foreign Countries for the year 1874.' Imp. 4. London, 1875.

2. NON-OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS.

Annuaire financier de la Belgique. 8. Bruxelles, 1875.

Bavary (Ch. Victor de), Histoire de la Révolution Belge de 1830. 8. Bruxelles, 1874.

Janssens (Eug.) Annuaire de la mortalité, ou tableau statistique des causes de décès et du mouvement de la population. 8. Bruxelles, 1874.

Laveleye (E. de) Essai sur l'économie Rurale de la Belgique. 8. Paris, 1865. Malou (J.) Notice historique sur les finances de la Belgique. Fol. Paris, 1868. Meulemans (Aug.) La Belgique, ses ressources agricoles, industrielles et commerciales. 8. Bruxelles, 1866.

Tarlier (H.), Almanach du commerce et de l'industrie de la Belgique. 8. Bruxelles, 1875.

DENMARK.

(KONGERIGET DANMARK.)

Reigning Sovereign and Family.

Christian IX., King of Denmark, born April 8, 1818, the fourth son of the late Duke Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-SonderburgGlücksburg, and of Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel. Appointed to the succession of the Crown of Denmark by the treaty of London, of May 8, 1852, and by the Danish law of succession of July 31, 1853. Succeeded to the throne on the death of King Frederik VII., November 15, 1863. Married, May 26, 1842, to

Louise, Queen of Denmark, born Sept. 7, 1817, the daughter of Landgrave Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel. Issue of the union are:-1. Prince Frederik, heir-apparent, born June 3, 1843; married July 28, 1869, to Princess Lowisa, only daughter of the King of Sweden and Norway; offspring of the union are two sons, Christian, born Sept. 26, 1870, and Karl, born August 3, 1872, and a daughter Lowisa, born Feb. 17, 1875. 2. Princess Alexandra, born Dec. 1, 1844; married, March 10, 1863, to Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. 3. Prince Wilhelm, born Dec. 24, 1845; admiral in the Danish navy; elected King of the Hellenes, under the title of Georgios I., by the Greek National Assembly, March 31, 1863; married Oct. 27, 1867, to Olga Constantinowna, Grand-Duchess of Russia. 4. Princess Maria Dagmar, born Nov. 26, 1847; married, Nov. 9, 1866, to Grand-duke Alexander, heir-apparent of Russia. 5. Princess Thyra, born Sept. 29, 1853. 6. Prince Waldemar, born Oct. 27, 1858.

Brothers and Sisters of the King.-1. Duke Karl, born Sept. 30, 1813; married, May 19, 1838, to Princess Wilhelmina, born Jan. 18, 1808, daughter of the late King Frederik VI. of Denmark. 2. Princess Frederica, born Oct. 9, 1811; married, Oct. 30, 1834, to Duke Alexander of Anhalt Bernburg; widow Aug. 19, 1863. 3. Prince Friedrich, born Oct. 23, 1814; married, Oct. 16, 1841, to Princess Adelaide of Schaumburg-Lippe, of which union there are issue two sons and three daughters, namely, Augusta, born Feb. 27, 1844; Friedrich, born Oct. 12, 1855; Louise, born Jan. 6, 1858; Marie, born Aug. 31, 1859; and Albert, born March 15, 1863. 4. Prince Wilhelm, born April 10, 1816; field-marshal-lieutenant in the service of Austria.