matic negotiations, the Belgian provinces, subject before the French revolution to the House of Austria, were ordered by the Congress to be annexed to the territory of the republic, and the whole to be erected into a kingdom with the son of the last Stadtholder, Willem V., as hereditary sovereign. In consequence, the latter was proclaimed King of the Netherlands at the Hague on the 16th of March, 1815, and recognised as sovereign by all the powers of Europe. The established union between the northern and southern provinces of the Netherlands was dissolved by the Belgian revolution of 1830, and their political relations were not readjusted until the signing of the Treaty of London, April 19, 1839, which constituted Belgium an independent kingdom. King Willem I. abdicated in 1840, making over the crown to his son Willem II., who, after a reign of nine years, left it to his heir, the present sovereign of the Netherlands.

King Willem II. had a civil list of 1,000,000 guilders, or 83,3331.; but the amount was reduced to 600,000 guilders, or 50,0007., at the commencement of the reign of the present king; there is also a large revenue from domains. There is in addition an allowance of 150,000 guilders, or 12,500l., for the members of the royal family and the maintenance of the Court. The latter sum is divided at present in the manner that the heir-apparent has 100,000 guilders, or 8,3331.; and the remaining 50,000 guilders, or 4,1667., are given as a subsidy for the maintenance of the royal palaces. The family of Orange are, besides, in the possession of a very large private fortune, acquired, in greater part by King Willem I., in the prosecution of vast enterprises, tending to raise the commerce of the Netherlands.

The House of Orange has given the following Sovereigns to the Netherlands, since its reconstruction as a kingdom by the Congress of Vienna:

The average reign of the three Sovereigns, inclusive of that of the present king, amounted to 19 years.

Constitution and Government.

The present constitution-grondwet-of the Netherlands received the royal sanction October 14, 1848, and was solemnly proclaimed Nov. 3, 1848. It vests the whole legislative authority in a Parliament composed of two Chambers, called the States-General. The Upper House, or first Chamber, consists of 39 members, elected by the provincial States from among the most highly assessed inhabitants

of the eleven provinces. The second Chamber of the States-General, slected by ballot, at the rate of one deputy to every 45,000 souls, numbers 86 members. All citizens are voters who are 23 years of age, natives of the Netherlands, not deprived of civil rights, and pay assessed taxes to an amount varying from 20 guilders (1. 138. 4d.) for the poorer districts to 112 guilders (91. 68. 8d.) for the richest and most populous electoral district, Amsterdam. The total number of electors in 1882 was 126,290, or 1 voter in about 33 persons. Clergymen, judges of the Hoogen Raad or High Court of Justice, members of the Chamber of Accounts, and Governors of Provinces are debarred from being elected. The members of the second Chamber receive an annual allowance of 2,000 guilders, or 1667., besides travelling expenses. Every two years one-half of the members of the second Chamber, and every three years onethird of the members of the Upper House, retire by rotation. The Sovereign has the right to dissolve either of the Chambers separately, or both together, at any time, but new elections must take place within forty days. The second Chamber alone has the initiative of new laws, together with the government, and the functions of the Upper House are restricted to either approving or rejecting them, without the right of inserting amendments. The ministers must attend at the meetings of both Houses, but have only a deliberative voice, unless they are members. The King has full veto power, but it is seldom, if ever, brought into practice. Alterations. in the Constitution can only be made by the vote of two-thirds of the members of both Houses, followed by a general election, and a second confirmation, by two-third vote, of the new StatesGeneral.

The executive authority is, under the Sovereign, exercised by a responsible Council of Ministers. There are eight heads of departments in the Ministerial Council (appointed April 22, 1883), namely:

1. The Minister of the Interior and President of the Council of Ministers.-Dr. J. Heemskerk.

2. The Minister of Foreign Affairs.-Jonkheer Dr. P. J. A. M. van der Does de Willebois.

3. The Minister of Finance.-W. J. L. Grobbee.

4. The Minister of Justice.-Dr. M. W. Baron du Tour van Bellinchave.

5. The Minister of the Colonies.-J. P. Sprenger Van Eyk (Dec. 29, 1883).

6. The Minister of Marine.-W. F. van Erp Taalman Kip A 7. The Minister of War.-General A. W. P. Weitzel.

8. The Minister of Public Works and Commerce (Waterstaat).J. G. van der Bergh.

Each of the above ministers has a salary of 12,000 guilders, or 1,000l. per annum. Whenever the sovereign presides over the deliberations of the ministry, the meeting is called a Cabinet Council, and the privilege to be present at it is given to princes of the royal family called in for the purpose. There is also a State Council-Raad van State-of 14 members, of which the sovereign is president, and which he must consult on all legislative and a great number of executive matters.

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Justice is administered by the High Court of the Netherlands (Cour de Cassation), by five courts of justice, by 23 district tribunals, and by the various cantonal courts; trial by jury is unknown in Holland.

Church and Education.

According to the terms of the Constitution, entire liberty of conscience and complete social equality is granted to the members of all religious confessions. The royal family, and a majority of the inhabitants, belong to the Reformed Church. In the last census returns the number of Protestants is given at 2,469,814; of Roman Catholics, 1,439,137; Old Catholics, 6,251; of divers other Christian denominations, or of unknown creed, 15,739; and of Jews, 81,693. The government of the Reformed Church is Presbyterian; while the Roman Catholics are under an archbishop, of Utrecht, and four bishops, of Haarlem, Breda, Roermond, and Hertogenbosch. The salaries of several British Presbyterian ministers, settled in the Netherlands, and whose churches are incorporated with the Dutch Reformed Church, are paid out of the public funds. For Protestant Churches the sum of 116,1417. is set down in the budget of 1885; for Roman Catholics, 48,0741.; and for Jews, 1,0657.

Education is spreading throughout the kingdom. It is calculated that among the strictly rural population of the kingdom, one-fourth. of the grown-up men, and one-third of the women, can neither read nor write. In 1882, of the conscripts called out, 9.9 per cent. could neither read nor write, the percentage being highest in North Brabant, where it was 18.6. However, the education of the rising generation is provided for by a non-denominational Primary Instruction Law, passed in 1857, supplemented, with important alterations, tending to extend national education, by another law, passed August 18, 1878. Under the regulations of the latter Act, the cost of primary instruction is borne jointly by the State and the communes, the State being responsible for 30 per cent., and the communes for 70 per cent. of the total expenditure. This division is modified by the Act of July 11, 1884, which restricts the contribution of the State. According to Government returns for 1882,

there are 2,822 public elementary schools, with 11,250 teachers, and 1,143 private schools, with 4,606 teachers. Of the private schools 1,129 are not subsidised. At the same date, the pupils in the public schools numbered 413,204, and the pupils in the private schools 144,728. A fuller education than the schools for primary instruction impart is given in 75 public middle-class schools with 6,000 pupils, and 29 additional 'Latin schools and gymnasia,' with 2,144 pupils in 1882; besides special secondary day and evening schools, private middle-class schools, and technical schools of various kinds. There are four universities at Leyden, Groningen, Amsterdam, and Utrecht, with 1,538 students in 1883, and a polytechnic institution at Delft, with 350 pupils. The ecclesiastical training schools comprise five Roman Catholic and three Protestant seminaries. There were besides 836 public and private infant schools, with 89,048 pupils, in 1882. In 1880, Government spent 185,2647. on private education; in 1881, 388,7691.; and in 1882, 503,8131.; in 1881 the communes expended 461,1437.; and in 1882, 582,0061. Besides this 89,7981. were spent on normal schools in 1881, and 98,4847. in 1882.

Revenue and Expenditure.

The national revenue is derived mainly from excise duties, chief among them those on spirits, from direct taxes, on land and assessed,

and from stamps. Interest upon the public debt forms the principal branch of expenditure. The following tables exhibit the revenue and expenditure of the kingdom in each of the years 1875 to 1883, with the estimates for 1884:

The budget estimates of revenue and expenditure for the year 1885 were as follows:

It will be seen from the above tables that there has been recently considerable deficits in the finances of the Netherlands, these deficits being partly caused by expenditure on public works, which are paid for out of revenue each year.

The expenditure of the Department for the Colonies,' entered in the budget estimates, only refers to the central administration. There is a separate budget for the great colonial possessions in the East Indies, voted as such by the States-General. The financial estimates for the year 1885 calculated the total revenue at 141,879,307 guilders, or 11,823,275l., with an expenditure of 143,136,408 guilders, or 11,928,0341. The expenditure of 1884 was distributed between the colonies and the mother country in the following proportions:

Guilders

Administrative and other expenses in the colonies. . 117,958,017 Home government expenditure 25,178,391

Total expenditure

143,136,408

£11,928,034

See under Dutch East Indies, in Part II. of the Statesman's Year-book.

It will be seen from the preceding budget estimates for the kingdom of the Netherlands, that the largest branch of expenditure is

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