But the beauty of the Meuse is its least recommendation to the affection of the Belgians; and, like the vale of Avoca, and the banks of some other equally exquisite streams, which are “sacred only in song,” its picturesque attractions, are, at every spot, most rudely torn away by the very matter-of-fact speculators of the neighbourhood, in the search of the mineral treasures which they conceal. Rocks of black marble are rolled down to the edge of the road, and left ready for transport to the river; limestone is tumbled from the cliffs, and numerous manufactories of alum are constructed between Namur and Schlayen. These and the other riches of the Meuse, its floors of coal and beds of iron render this rugged defile the most important and valuable possession of the crown.
At Andennes we passed the first of those vast manufactories, the establishment of which has made the name of one Englishman more renowned in Belgium than those of all its native speculators combined—Mr. William Cockerill. Every district of the kingdom exhibits some memorial of his enterprise, and there is scarcely a branch of the national industry which, if it does not owe its introduction to his suggestion, is not indebted to his genius for its improvement. He came to Verviers in 1798, an humble mechanic, in search of employment, returning with a numerous family from Stockholm, where he had been to erect some apparatus for spinning wool. He obtained an engagement with a house there to construct for them machinery for the same purpose, similar to that in use in England, and by dint of singular talents, unwearied industry, and energies almost unparalleled, he speedily elevated himself to wealth and importance; mines were sounded at his suggestion, iron-works constructed, cotton-mills built, woollen-machinery erected, in short, every department of Belgian art received a new impulse under his all-grasping and comprehensive superintendence, aided by the munificence of Napoleon, and, subsequently, by the equally ardent co-operation of King William of Holland, who seemed to place the national funds for the promotion of industry, almost at his disposal. Under the powerful influence of France, and even afterwards with access to the extensive markets and colonies of Holland, the vastness of his speculations were not disproportionate to the wants and commercial connexions of the kingdom. But the simile of a tub for a whale is no actual exaggeration to represent the incompatibility of his Leviathan establishments, to the puny resources of the new and independent kingdom, within which they were suddenly walled up by the revolution of 1830. The gross of green spectacles which Moses brought home from the fair, were not more utterly disproportionate to the wants of the family of the Vicar of Wakefield.
The establishment of Andennes had been originally constructed by the act of the government and the King of Holland, for the printing of calicoes in the style, and with a view to out-rival the English—every process was borrowed from them, the machinery, the workmen, the designs, were all brought from England, and, for a time, the concern seemed to be prosperous. But the events of 1830 soon put a stop to that; it was useless to print calicoes while there was no stranger to buy, and no one at home to wear them, and in the course of a few years, the works were sold by order of the government to pay off their advances, and bought by their original promoter, who converted them into a paper-mill.
This trade is now one of the most prosperous in Belgium. She formerly imported her paper from France at from twenty to five-and-twenty per cent. dearer than she can now produce it for herself, thanks to the ingenuity and enterprise of Mr. Cockerill, which gave the manufacture a new character by the introduction of the machines for producing the entire contents of the vat in one continuous sheet. Since that period, the manufacture has advanced with a rapidity that is quite surprising. In 1836 there were seven machines on the same construction in use in Belgium; in 1839 nineteen, but of these six have now been attached to Holland by her acquisitions in Luxembourg and Limbourg. The value of their produce is upwards of nine millions of francs per annum, and their success has communicated an impulse to the production of books at Brussels, that has rendered it likewise one of the most important and promising branches of the national industry.
A few miles from Andennes, after passing a romantic old ruin of the castle of the Dukes of Beaufort near Bien, we stopped to breakfast at the foot of the romantic fortress of Huy, which was long considered as the portal of the Meuse, till its inefficiency was demonstrated by Marlborough and Marshal Villeroy in “King William’s wars,” who took and retook it four times within as many years, almost without a struggle.
CHAPTER IV.
HUY, SERAING, LIEGE, AND VERVIERS.
Huy—The citadel—Churches—The mineral and coal districts of Belgium—Prosperity of coal mines—Quantity produced in Belgium compared with other countries—Its price at Ghent, Brussels, and Antwerp—Panic in 1836 for the exhaustion of coal in Belgium—Scenery of the Meuse—Remarkable individuals born in its vicinity—Chateaux of Aigremont and Chokier—Seraing—Immense extent of the works—Its produce within its own walls—History of the establishment—Palace of the Prince Bishops of Liege—Encouraged by the King of Holland—The building—Huge steam engine—Surprising extent of the operations carried on—Iron works—Halls for construction of machines—Vast numbers of workmen employed—Its exports—Mr. John Cockerill—Extent of his speculations—Development of Seraing attributable to them—Its future prospects—Policy of England in regard to the export of machinery—Importation of machinery into Belgium—Road to Liege—Liege—No sympathy with its history—Turbulent and unamiable character of its ancient populace—Prince Bishop declares war upon France—Share of the Liegois in the revolution of 1830—Her threatened attack upon Seraing—The town—Manufacture of fire-arms and cannon—A flax mill—Its churches poor—The Palais de Justice—University—Scenery of the Vesdre—The railroad—Chaud-fontaine—Spa—Deserted—Verviers—The town—Conduct during the revolution—The woollen trade of Belgium—Want of native wool—Extent and decline of the trade—Its causes—Statement of M. Briavionne—Joint Stock Companies in Belgium—Account of two at Verviers—The mania for speculation—Its failure—The Prussian frontier—Limbourg—Prospects of Belgium—Her bad condition—Policy of the King of Holland—That of the present government—Present aspect of their trade—Impossibility of competing with England—Character of the Belgian mechanics—Ruinous effects of the “Repeal of the Union.”
Huy is beautifully situated at the angle, where a mountain torrent pours past it to the Meuse. Its fortress stands on a bold detached rock, of great height and breadth, around the base of which the town is built almost upon the sands of the river; and beneath its shelter are collected the churches, monasteries, and houses of the ancient city. The fortifications are now in excellent repair, having been restored after the war by English engineers under the direction of Colonel Blanshard, at the expense of the King of Holland; but the town itself is fast hurrying to decay. Its vicinity to Seraing, the seat of the once powerful Prince Bishops of Liege, rendered Huy a place of evident interest as an ecclesiastical frontier as well as a military one; and the church militant below, emulous of the strongholds of earthly power above, had within the small circuit of its wall no less than a cathedral, fourteen churches, and a still greater number of monasteries, abbeys, and convents, all of which, with the exception of the cathedral and a richly carved gateway that conducts to it, are now in ruins.
Here, for the first time in Belgium, we saw vineyards and their “purple store;” but the wine is execrable, and used only for the most inferior purposes. The position of Huy on the river, and its admirable facilities for traffic, made it a flourishing entrepôt for grain and agricultural produce, in which it carries on a bustling traffic on the river; as well as in the produce of its numerous quarries. A short distance from Huy commence the coal fields, which extend to the district surrounding Liege, the working of which was attempted so far back as the 12th century. In coals, Belgium is, perhaps, the richest country of the west of Europe, with the single exception of Great Britain; the districts in which it abounds being, in England, in the proportion of one-twentieth of her entire surface; in Belgium, a thirtieth; and in France only a two hundredth part. But her success in raising them is not in the same proportion, England having produced, in 1838, twenty-three millions of tons; France, two millions and a half; and Belgium only four.