the session is held are paid sixty-two dollars a month. They are elected
for four years, half every two years. The political privileges of the
people are only less than those of our own country.

"The present king is Leopold I.[A] He is seventy-four years old, and for
the last fifty years has been a man of mark in Europe. He was for some
time in the service of the Emperor of Russia, and went to England with
the allied sovereigns, in 1814, where he became acquainted with, and
afterwards married, the Princess Charlotte, daughter of George IV.; but
she died within two years. In 1830 Leopold was elected King of Greece;
but he finally refused the crown, because the conditions he made were
not complied with. In 1831 he was elected King of the Belgians, and was
crowned the same year. The next year he married Louise, the daughter of
Louis Philippe, King of France. Leopold, Duke of Brabant, will succeed
him. He has several other sons and daughters, among them Marie
Charlotte, wife of Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, who has been elected
Emperor of Mexico. Leopold is one of the richest men in Europe.

[Footnote A: Leopold I. died Dec. 10, 1865, and was succeeded by his
son, Leopold II.]

"Nearly all the people of Belgium are Roman Catholics, there being but
about thirteen thousand Protestants and two thousand Jews; but the
largest religious liberty is allowed to all sects. A portion of the
salary of ministers of all denominations is paid from the national
treasury. While the Catholics receive seven hundred thousand dollars
from the state, the Protestants obtain eleven thousand, and the Jews two
thousand dollars. The salary paid by the state to the archbishop is four
thousand two hundred dollars, and to a bishop about three thousand.

"The history of Flanders is substantially the early history of Belgium.
Many changes were made in the territorial limit of the country from time
to time, in the hands of its different owners. The first mention of
this country in history is in the time of Julius Caesar, who conquered
the Low Countries, and the Romans held them till the year 400, when they
were joined to the empire of the Franks. They formed part of the vast
realm of Charlemagne.

"After the Romans had abandoned the territory, several independent
nobles established themselves in the southern part of the Netherlands.
Among them were the Counts of Flanders, who became very powerful and
influential men. They are to be regarded as th