However, it is notorious that notwithstanding these sleepless precautions and in spite of every prohibition, machinery of every description is at the present moment smuggled into Belgium, and every other state that requires it—not, perhaps, in such quantities as to serve for the fitting up of extensive factories, but so as to afford a model of every improvement and every new invention for the instant adoption, and imitation of the continental engineers and mechanicians. Thus provided and thus encouraged, speculating upon capital supplied lavishly by their government, equipped with the most valuable English tools, inspected by English artisans, and working from English models, the Belgians have now far outstripped all the rest of Europe in the manufacture of machines of every description, and in all but the cost of construction, and that beauty of finish which matured skill can alone achieve, they at present bid fair to rival England herself in her peculiar and hitherto undisputed domain.
The establishment of the Phœnix, is one of those which have sprung up, thus stimulated and thus encouraged. It was originally erected by an individual proprietor, M. Huytens Kerremans, in 1821, and attained much of its reputation under the management of an Englishman, named Bell, so much so, that at the period of the revolution in 1830, it employed upwards of two hundred and twenty workmen daily. In 1836, on the death of the proprietor, it passed into the hands of a joint stock company, by whom it has been enlarged to more than thrice its previous extent, at an expense of upwards of one million of francs. It is at present conducted by Mr. Windsor, a gentleman from Leeds, and is certainly the most admirably arranged establishment of the kind I have ever seen—those of England not excepted.
It at present employs seven hundred hands, of whom two hundred are apprentices, and of the remainder, between fifty and sixty English. The range of its productions includes every species of machine used for spinning flax, cotton, silk, or wool, as well as for other manufactures in which machinery is required, for which there is a brisk demand at present, not only in Belgium, but for Spain, Austria, France and Holland. In point of finish and beauty, the spinning machinery is certainly, as I have said, inferior to the English, it is also stated to be defective in other respects, but those proprietors of mills who are using it, made no complaints to me upon the subject, and seemed perfectly satisfied with its execution. Some of the heavier articles in process of construction, especially a spiral roving-frame which some English workmen were completing, seemed, in every respect both of finish and action, to be quite equal to those made at Manchester and Leeds.
The establishment contains a preparatory workshop on a comprehensive scale, fitted up with small tools and machinery, and superintended by two competent directors, solely for the instruction of apprentices, and its success we were told had been most gratifying. The Englishmen employed at the Phœnix receive higher wages than the Flemings, but the majority of them are only retained till their original engagements shall have been completed, when their services will be dispensed with, and their places supplied by native workmen, at wages not exceeding twenty francs per week, and fully competent to undertake their duties.
One important feature in this immense manufactory is, that it is gradually succeeding in making its own tools, instead of importing them as heretofore from England. The majority of those in use had been already constructed upon the spot upon English models, and at the moment we called, a planing machine, twenty feet long, was in process of erection, together with drills, sliding lathes, dividing and filing apparatus, and in short, every description of tool in use in Great Britain. In this respect, the directors assured me of their confidence of being, for the future, perfectly independent of any supply from abroad—but I should add, that afterwards at the rival establishment at Seraing, where all the tools are imported from England, I was told that those made at the Phœnix were not only much more expensive, but of inferior quality.
The works were in full employment at the period of our visit, from the fact of there being three flax spinning mills in course of construction in Ghent; but it remains to be seen whether its present vigorous prosperity is the result of a permanent cause, and whether the career of Belgian manufactures, and the demand created in consequence, will be such as to maintain in remunerative operation this splendid establishment, as well as that of Seraing and the minor works of the same kind at Brussels, Verviers, Namur, Charleroi and elsewhere.
In the neighbourhood of the Phœnix, we passed the great basin of the Sas de Gand Canal, which by connecting Ghent with Terneuse at the mouth of the Scheldt, has effectually rendered it a sea-port in the heart of Belgium. This bold idea was originally conceived by Napoleon, but carried into effect, and the basin completed, by the King of Holland only two years before he was driven from the country by the revolution. As the embouchure of the canal, however, is situated in Zeeland, a province of the Dutch dominions, its navigation was effectually closed from 1830 to 1839, when the treaty was ratified, which finally determined the limits of the two States. During those nine years, the magnificent dock at Ghent, and the line of the canal itself, were stagnant, and the passage rapidly filling up with sand and silt, another of the many inconveniences entailed upon the merchants of Belgium by “the repeal of the union.” It is at last, however, opened to the trade, and when we saw it, contained a number of vessels, some discharging cotton, and one taking in cargo for the Havanna. During the few months that had elapsed from its opening in October, 1839, upwards of one hundred and twenty vessels had entered and departed by it from Ghent, for Holland, and the Hanse Towns, London, the Mediterranean, and the United States.
On our return we drove to the Beguinage, a little enclosed district, appropriated as the residence of an ancient community of nuns, who take no vow, but on contributing to the general funds of the community, are admitted into the sisterhood, and devote their lives to works of charity and benevolence, especially to attendance on the sick and poor. They are each clad in the costume of the order. For a head-dress, they carry the beguine, a veil of white muslin, folded square, and laid flat upon the top of the head, whence they derive their name, with a black silk hood, termed a faille, said to have been anciently worn by the ladies of Flanders, and closely resembling, both in name and appearance, the faldetta of the Maltese. This interesting society contains between seven and eight hundred members, and occupies not a detached building, as elsewhere, but a little retired section of the city, surrounded by a fosse, and enclosed by a wall, at the gate of which, one of the sisterhood acts as porter. The whole is divided into streets, consisting of rows of quaint looking little houses, of venerable brick-work, with Dutch gables and cut stone windows, each door inscribed with the name of a particular saint, Agatha, Catherine, or Theresa, instead of that of its occupant. In the centre is a spacious square, with an old Spanish looking church, rather richly ornamented, and containing a few curious paintings and carvings in oak. The order is of very high antiquity, dating some twelve hundred years ago, and the present establishment was founded in the thirteenth century.
When the convents of the Low Countries were reduced in number by the Austrian government under Joseph II, he made a special exemption in favour of the Beguines, they were equally recognized and protected, when the French directory completed the suppression of the remaining religious houses of Belgium, and the King of Holland following the same example, confirmed them, in the possession of their privileges and property, by a charter granted in 1826 or 1827. A number of the sisters occupy a portion of their time in making lace; their dwellings, streets and gardens, are preserved with a “beauty of cleanliness” truly delightful. Every thing we could see or learn of their inmates was characterized by gentleness and goodness, and their active benevolence, (in spite of my uncle Toby’s insinuation,) the dictate of their heart, and not of their profession.[18] In the whole aspect of their dwelling, there was nothing of the
“Relentless walls, whose darksome round contains,