Potassium Salts Products . Miscellaneous Textiles, &c. (i) Sulphuric Acid and Superphosphate Fac (ii) Factories producing Soda, Chlorine, and (iii) Factories making various other Mineral (iv) Factories making Coal and Wood Dis- 145 145 146 146 147 147 (a) Organizations to promote Trade and Commerce Commercial and Industrial Organizations 151 I. FORMATION OF THE BELGIAN FRONTIER (a) The Southern (Franco-Belgian) Frontier IV. EXTRACTS FROM TREATIES, &c. PAGE (A) Period 1814-30 1. Memorandum addressed by the British Cabinet to the Allied Sovereigns, October 1813. 2. Preliminary Treaty of Paris, May 30, 1814 3. The Eight Articles of July 21, 1814 4. Convention between Great Britain and the Nether- 6. Convention between Great Britain, the Netherlands, 203 204 204 205 8. Boundary Treaty between Prussia and the Netherlands, signed at Aix-la-Chapelle, June 26, 1816, and Treaty of Limits between Prussia and the Netherlands, signed at Cleves, October 7, 1816, and Treaty between Prussia and the Netherlands, signed at Frankfurt, November 8, 1816 207 207 208 210 (B) Period 1830-43 1. First Protocol of the Conference of London, November 4, 1830 210 2. Palmerston to Ponsonby, December 1, 1830 211 3. Eleventh Protocol of the Conference of London, January 20, 1831 211 4. Twelfth Protocol of the Conference of London, January 27, 1831 5. The Bases of Separation. 'Pièce annexée au protocole de la Conférence de Londres, du 27 janvier 1831. Bases destinées à établir la séparation de la Belgique d'avec la Hollande. Arrangements 6. Eighteenth Protocol of the Conference of London, February 18, 1831. Adhesion of King William to the Bases of Separation 7. Twenty-first Protocol of the Conference of London, June 26, 1831. The XVIII Articles . 8. Forty-ninth Protocol of the Conference of London, October 14, 1831. The XXIV Articles 9. Convention of London, May 21, 1833 PAGE 213 213 214 10. Treaty between Holland and Belgium, April 19, 1839 214 11. Treaty between Holland and Belgium, February 3, 1843 12. Convention between Holland and Belgium supplementary to the above, May 20, 1843 . 13. Conventions for determining the Boundaries with Luxemburg, Holland, and Prussia, August 1843 . AUTHORITIES SPECIAL MAP 216 216 216 217 220 I. GEOGRAPHY PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL (1) POSITION AND FRONTIERS BELGIUM lies between 49° 29′ and 51° 31' north latitude and 2° 33′ and 6° 10' east longitude, and occupies an area of 11,373 square miles, or nearly twice the size of Yorkshire. It marches on the north and north-east with Holland, on the south-west with France, and on the east with the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg and the German province of Rhenish Prussia. At the meeting-point of Belgium, Germany, and Holland is the territory of neutral Moresnet. Hardly any of the boundaries can be called natural. The Belgian frontier nowhere follows any great physical feature except along the Meuse, where, however, the narrowness of the strip of Holland (Dutch Limburg) intervening between Belgium and Prussia makes it impossible to regard this as a true natural frontier. The position of the Belgian boundary is everywhere due to intricate historical facts. The nearest approach to a natural frontier is on the east, where the frontier approximately follows a linguistic division (see further, under Race and Language '). The south-west frontier may be so far said to have a physical basis, that it is due to the efforts of France to secure this portion of her own frontier by a line of fortresses lying out in the plain in front of and parallel to the ridge of chalk downs which runs from Cap Gris Nez to St. Quentin. In order to defend Picardy it was always necessary for France to have a foothold in the Flemish plain. Farther east again the French B |