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The western section of the Franco-German linguistic boundary extends over Belgian territory through a country in which the formation of nationality has been exceedingly laborious. Flemish and Walloon, two languages within a single political boundary, represent the obstacles which stood in the way of national growth. Physically Belgium also consists of diversified regions. Its history is the long drawn-out struggle between two powerful neighbors. Over and over again its inhabitants have found themselves drawn into foreign quarrels against their will.

The country is a marshland in which the mountains and plains of Europe meet. The main divisions which correspond to this background have inherited the names of Flanders and Wallonia. The clashing-ground of men of the Alpine and Nordic races, Belgium received wave after wave of northerners who came to colonize its broad flatlands. At the time of the conquest, the Romans came upon long-established colonies, but found to their cost that Teuton invasions were not ended. In the fifth century of our era the northern lowland was cleared of Romans by the Franks; but to this day the dualism of its people has not been obliterated. To whatever extent inbreeding has destroyed racial purity, the Fleming of our day represents the Nordic race, while the Walloon is mainly Alpine. Of the two, the fair-complexioned product of the north speaks a Teutonic language, whereas the swarthy highlander is both the user and disseminator of French.

At the partition of the Carolingian Empire in 843,[7] the Schelde became the dividing line between Lotharingia and France. Flemings and Walloons, who had been thrown together for centuries, were separated into an eastern and a western group. Nevertheless their struggle for unity and independence continued to fill Belgium’s history. In the ensuing period of national trials, the political disruption of the country is manifested by the growth of civic communities. Belgium became in turn a Burgundian, an Austrian and a Spanish province. The golden age of the Burgundian period brought prosperity to the land, but economic decadence accompanied the prolonged strife between Hapsburgs and Bourbons. It was Belgium’s misfortune to be the scene on which the rivalry was fought out. With a population reduced by the horrors of war, Belgium emerged from under the heel of Spanish oppression only to fall successively under Austrian, French and Dutch domination. But the seed of nationality, planted upon its uncertain soil when the valley of the Schelde became part of Burgundy, sheltered a smouldering vitality which, finally, in the nineteenth century was fanned to independence.

The line of contact between French and the languages belonging to the Germanic group begins at the sea on French soil. Starting a few miles west of Dunkirk,[8] the linguistic divide follows a direction which is generally parallel to the political boundary between France and Belgium until, a few miles east of Aire, it strikes northeast to Halluin, which remains within the area of French speech. From this point on to Sicken-Sussen, near the German border, the line assumes an almost due east trend.

This division corresponds broadly to the mountainous and depressed areas into which Belgium is divided. The upland has always been the home of French. Walloon is but a modified form of the old langue d’oïl.[9] Flemish, on the other hand, is a Germanic language which spread over Belgian lowlands as naturally as the Low German dialects to which it is related had invaded the plains of northern Europe. This east-west line also marks the separation of the tall, blond, long-skulled Flemings from the short, dark, round-skull Alpine Walloons.

The remarkably straight course of the linguistic divide, in Belgian territory, is generally regarded as an effect of the plain over which it extends. Whatever ruggedness it may have once possessed has been smoothed away in the course of centuries by the ease with which either Flemish or French could spread in the low-lying flatland. The two languages have now been facing each other for about four centuries. Place names indicate that the variations of the line have been slight. It is a rare occurrence to find Roman village names north of its present extension. Teutonic roots, in locality names to the south, are likewise unusual. A few can be traced. Waterloo, Tubize, Clabecq, Ohain were once Flemish settlements. Tubize was originally known as Tweebeek and became a Walloon center in the fifteenth century. Ohain likewise is known in the form of Olhem in twelfth century documents.

Belgium’s linguistic dualism prevailed throughout the five centuries of the Roman occupation. Intercourse at that time between the Belgae dwelling south of the Via Agrippa, and the Romans who were pushing steadily northwards was frequent and intimate. The Latin of the Roman invaders, modified by the Celtic and Germanic of native populations, gave birth eventually to the Walloon of subsequent times.[10] The Belgae of the lowlands farther north, however, successfully resisted the efforts made by the Romans to conquer them. The marshes of their nether country, and the forested area which was to be laid bare by the monks of the Middle Ages, constituted a stronghold in the shelter of which Germanic dialects took root. This forested area—the Sylva Carbonaria of the Romans—was the chief geographical feature which prevented thorough fusion of Flemings and Walloons. It was the westernmost extension of the Ardennes forests and its gloomy solitudes covered the largest part of the territory which has since become the province of Hainaut. Beyond its northern boundary lay the lands of Teutonic culture and language. To the Flemings, living north of the wooded curtain, the Gallo-Romans, who became known as Walloons, were the Walas or “foreigners” who dwelt south of the tree-studded barrier. A sharply defined line of separation intensified, in this manner, all pre-existing racial differences.

At a later date, the growth of the temporal power of the Roman Church resulted in the establishment of a number of bishoprics over districts segregated irrespectively of linguistic differences. Perhaps one of the most striking features of Belgian history is found in the fact that its linguistic and political boundaries have never coincided. Every century is marked by renewal of the age-long clashes between the northern and southern races which have been thrown in contact along the western end of the line which separates the plains of northern Europe from the mountainous southland of the continent.

It may be gathered from all this that the linguistic line of cleavage has undergone very little modification in the course of centuries.[11] It now divides the country into a northern section, the inhabitants of which consider Flemish as their vernacular, but who also generally understand French, and a southern section peopled by French-speaking inhabitants, who adhere to the use of Walloon dialects in the intimacy of their home life. To the east, the political frontier between Belgium and Germany does not divide the two countries linguistically. Within Prussian territory, Malmedy and a group of fifteen villages are inhabited by a French-speaking folk. As though to offset this intrusion of French speech on Prussian soil, a corresponding area of German speech is found in the Belgian province of Luxemburg around Arlon.[12] Altogether about 31,500 Belgians employ German as a vernacular.

The American Geographical Society of New York

Frontiers of Language and Nationality in Europe, 1917, Pl. I

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THE FRANCO-FLEMISH LINGUISTIC BOUNDARY

The figures of the last (Dec. 31, 1910) Belgian census[13] show that the Flemish provinces are bilingual, whereas the Walloon region is altogether French. Knowledge of French as an educational and business requirement accounts for its occurrence in Flanders. The Romance language, therefore, tends to supersede the Germanic idiom as a national vernacular. The utter absence of Flemish in the Belgian Congo constitutes perhaps the strongest evidence in favor of French as Belgium’s national language.

In northwestern France, the language of the plain has, since the thirteenth century, steadily receded before the uplander’s speech. At that time Flemish was spoken as far south as the region between Boulogne and Aire.[14] The area spreading east of the Atlantic, between the present linguistic boundary and a line connecting these two cities, is now bilingual with French predominating. It might be noted here, however, that Boulogne has been a French-speaking city since Frankish days.

The use of Flemish in France is restricted to the two arrondissements of Dunkirk and Hazebrouck as well as to a few communes of Lille. Dewachter’s studies[15] in this locality have been summarized by Blanchard.[16] According to these investigations, the arrondissement of Dunkirk contains 41 Flemish-speaking communes, four of purely French language and 20 of dual speech. Of the last, only five reveal a majority of Flemish speakers. In Hazebrouck there are 36 Flemish communes, eight French and nine bilingual. Five of the latter show French predominance. In the arrondissement of Lille, Flemish is spoken only in six bilingual communes, four of which have a majority of French-speaking residents. Furthermore a few Flemish-speaking families are found in the suburbs of St. Omer as well as in a commune near by. About one-third of the inhabitants of Tourcoing understand Flemish. This is also true of one-half the population of Roubaix. In each of the cities of Lille and Armentières, the ratio falls to one-quarter. Outside of the Flemish-tainted communes of the arrondissement of Lille, the boundary of this language is indicated by the course of the Aa, the canal of Neuffossé and the Lys.

The progress of French, in the Flemish-speaking districts of France, may be followed through the growing invasion of French words in the local vernaculars. The Flemish spoken in Dunkirk or Hazebrouck is an archaic dialect which is growing further and further away from the Flemish of Belgium, as this language tends to identify itself with Dutch in order to acquire literary form. As a rule, French is gradually replacing the Germanic idiom throughout the line of linguistic contact. The Frenchifying of the communes between the Aa and Dunkirk has taken place within the last fifty years. In the same period, Flemish has almost entirely disappeared from the suburbs of St. Omer, and the progress of French towards Cassel and Hazebrouck becomes yearly more apparent. The bilingual aptitude of the inhabitants in all of these localities is on the increase in the sense that many of the Flemings are acquiring proficiency in French. Business requirements in a large degree account for the change.

The only opposition to the advance of French is found in the Flemish immigration which brings fresh linguistic energy in its train. Fortunately for the Romance language, the tide of this immigration is weak and the newcomers are easily assimilated by the French-speaking element. A locality in which the decline of French is noticeable is found in the vicinity of Menin on the Lys river. The number of Flemish immigrants is particularly heavy in this region. Communes which have been French since immemorial times are fast becoming Flemish. Everywhere else, however, French is steadily encroaching upon the domain of Germanic speech.

Fig. 12 is a view of the low-lying plain of Flanders in the vicinity of Waterloo.

Fig. 13—Shows the environs of Chaudfontaine and gives an excellent glimpse of the hilly country in which Walloon language has held its own. These two photographs show the contrast between the areas of Walloon and Flemish in Belgium.

Brussels typifies the bilingual character of the country of which it is the capital. French and Flemish are spoken both in its precincts and suburbs. The distribution of inhabitants, according to communes or wards, showed French predominance on December 31, 1910, as follows:

				Speaking
Communes	Number of	French-	Flemish-	French and
(wards)	inhabitants	speaking	speaking	Flemish
Bruxelles	177,078	47,385	29,081	85,414
Anderlecht	64,157	11,211	24,320	23,486
Etterbeck	33,227	11,107	6,596	13,166
Forest	24,228	7,975	5,247	8,756
Ixelles	72,991	39,473	6,733	19,799
Jette	14,782	1,811	7,775	4,191
Koekelberg	12,750	1,770	5,702	4,378
Laeken	35,024	4,720	12,702	15,230
Molenbeek-St. Jean	72,783	11,663	24,910	31,331
Saint-Gilles	63,140	24,376	5,928	27,497
Saint-Josseten-Noode	31,865	10,547	3,349	14,859
Schaerbeek	82,480	20,975	13,677	40,525
Uccle	26,979	5,818	9,074	10,169
Woluwe—St.-Lambert	8,883	2,035	3,839	2,262
	———	———	———	———
Totals	720,367	200,866	158,933	301,063

Although Brussels is generally placed on the Flemish side of the linguistic divide, it is interesting to note that the city may appropriately be considered as the northernmost extension of the area of Romance languages in Belgium. Only two villages of Flemish speech intervene between the capital and the Walloon area. They are Rhode-Saint-Genèse and Hoeylaert. Were it not for these two small communities, Brussels would not be an enclave of French speech in Flemish territory. But the two villages are separated by the forest of Soignes which extends in an elongated band, all the way south of Uccle and Boitsfort, to within reach of Waterloo. This wooded area acts as a link which connects Brussels with the ancient area of Romance speech. It tends to restrict Flemish in this section to the lowland to which it really belongs.

Within the city limits the canal, which now replaces the natural water course flowing on the site, divides Brussels into Flemish-speaking quarters and districts entirely given up to French language. West of the waterway, the native vernacular prevails predominantly. This section of the Belgian capital is the site of its industries. Its population consists mainly of laborers. As early as the twelfth century, the members of the city’s guilds found it convenient to reside along the banks of the stream which watered the heart of their settlement. In our day, this part of Brussels presents similar advantages to factory owners and operators of industrial plants.

Fig. 14—Sketch map of the environs of Brussels showing the forested patch of Soignes intervening between the Brussels area of French language (shown by dots) and the adjacent part of the area of the French language in Belgium (also shown by dots). The blank area is territory of Flemish speech. (Based on a map by P. Reclus in La Géographie, Vol. 28, 1913, p. 312.)

The rising ground east of the canal has always been favored as a residential site by the leaders of the community. In the Middle Ages the counts of Brabant erected their palace on the summit of this eminence. Since then the well-to-do residents of Brussels have built their homes on this side of the canal. The bourgeois class followed the lead of the aristocracy as soon as their commercial and industrial revenues equaled those of their titled countrymen. French, the language of culture in the land, naturally took root in this eastern section of Brussels. The tendency of the privileged classes to select this part of the city for their residence is as strong today as in the past. The bracing air of the heights and of the forest of Soignes near by affords an inducement which cannot be found in the bottom of the valley. Spacious avenues enlivened by elaborate residences extend along the crest lines. The intervening blocks are tenanted by the middle classes. Educational institutions also flourish in these eastern wards of Brussels. French prevails overwhelmingly in all their nooks and bypaths.

The growth of French in Brussels is strongly brought out by a comparison of the following census figures for the years 1846 and 1910:

	1846	1910
French-speaking inhabitants	70,000	480,000
Flemish “ “	130,000	280,000
	———	———
Totals	200,000	760,000

The gradual replacement of Flemish by French in Brussels may often be traced to recent changes in the growth of the city.[17] In the faubourgs of Woluwe, Boitsfort and Uccle the number of users of French is on the increase each year. The growth proceeds with sufficient regularity to forecast a thorough spread of the language by 1935. In some cases it is easy to foresee that some of the outlying villages will be Frenchified sooner than certain wards of the western part of the city. Tervueren and Linkebeek, for instance, are both noted for the charm of their scenery. Both are centers of attraction for the well-to-do Belgians and as a result tend to lose their Flemish character.

In recent years a keen struggle for predominance between Flemings and Walloons has been observed in every province of the country. Each element aspires to impose its racial traits, customs and ideals on its rival. The contest sometimes degenerates into extreme bitterness. The university, the street, the theater, even the government offices are converted into scenes of polemical wrangling. News items in the dailies reveal a constant state of tension between “Flammigants” and “Fransquillons.” In this racial struggle, language has been adopted as the rallying standard of both parties. Each faction consistently aims to eliminate the study of the rival tongue in the primary schools of its territory.

The Walloons now represent a true blend of northern, central and southern European types. The mingling was attended by the clash and contest which has always marked racial fusion. As a language Walloon forced itself into existence out of the confusion which followed a long bilingual period and by the sheer obstinacy of an humble Belgo-Roman people whose ears had been attuned to vernacular speech at church and school. It was no mean feat for the inhabitants of the principality of Liége to have retained their language, surrounded as they were by Germanic peoples on all sides but one. The ancient state had the shape of a triangle whose base abutted against a land of French speech. Its sides, however, on the north and the east penetrated like a wedge into districts of Flemish and German.

The language became prevalent in the principality of Wallonia after the tenth century. It was then still in a state of infancy and the literature of its early period is relatively poor.[18] Contrasted with official and aristocratic French the Walloon was a dialect of little account prior to the eighteenth century. Since that time, however, genuine interest has been manifested in its folk-tales and literature by educated Frenchmen. But it remained for Dutch presumption to give a final impetus to the revival of Walloon. By the terms of the treaty of Vienna, Belgium and Holland had been assembled into a single state known as the Netherlands. The Dutch represented the dominant element in the union. Their endeavor to impose their language on the Flemings and Walloons was vigorously resisted by the latter. The streets of Belgian towns resounded with the hatred of the Dutch expressed in Walloon words.[19] The separation of Belgium from Holland in 1830 was in a sense the expression of the linguistic diversity which had characterized the kingdom of the Netherlands.

Fusion of the two elements of the Belgian population is observable in the Brabant country, in the vicinity of the linguistic frontier. Flemish laborers tend to invade Walloon settlements with the result that the number of inhabitants of Flemish speech is on the increase. A counter immigration of Walloons into Flemish villages also exists, with a corresponding addition to the number of French-speaking inhabitants wherever it takes place. The fact remains, however, that while Flemings acquire the French spoken by Walloons, it is an extremely rare occurrence for the latter to take up Flemish. In the course of time the Flemish immigrant in Walloon villages learns French, while the Walloon newcomer in Flemish villages manages to impose his language on his new neighbors. The net result is a gain for the French language.

Today, after almost a hundred years’ quiescence, the Belgian question enters upon another critical stage. The problem is one of language in so far as the two languages spoken in the country represent the aims and interests of two different peoples. The Belgian question dates, in reality, from the treaty of Verdun of 843 and the partition of Charlemagne’s empire. Belgium then became the westernmost province of the transition state known as Lothringia. It was the hedge-country artificially created to act as a barrier between the peoples of Romanic and Teutonic speech. Its population, drawn from both elements, has been the alternate prey of French and German powers. But all of Belgium’s troubled history has been affected by the shape of the land. The only frontier with which the nation has been supplied by nature is the sea on the west. On the other three sides land features merge gradually with the main types in their neighborhood. Within Belgian territory, the lowlands of northern Europe join with the outliers of the uplifts of central Europe and their extension into France. Nowhere is the break sharp. The basin of the Schelde itself trespasses on the neighboring basins of the Rhine, the Meuse and the Somme.

Aggravation of the feud between Walloons and Flemings may lead to secession. The Flemish provinces might then cast their political lot with the Dutch, with whom their intercourse has been marked by a degree of friendliness which has never characterized their relations with other neighbors. This extreme course might not unreasonably be adopted as a measure of self-preservation.[20] The languages spoken in Holland and Flanders are practically identical. Religious differences alone have stood in the way of political fusion in the past. Flemish princes, swayed by religious scruples, had refused to side with the Protestant communities whose political connection had been established by the Union of Utrecht in 1597. The menace of absorption by Germany may yet drive the Flemings to union with their close kinsmen of the lowlands on the north. Walloons would then naturally revert to French allegiance. The coincidence of political and linguistic boundaries in the westernmost section of central Europe would then become an accomplished fact.

The language of the Duchy of Luxemburg is a Low German dialect in which a strong proportion of Walloon French words is found. French is taught in schools and is the language of the educated classes. It is also used in tribunals, and in many places as the official language of governing and administrative bodies. The use of French is largely due to intimate intellectual ties which bind Luxemburgers and Frenchmen. It is estimated that at least 30,000 natives of the Grand Duchy, or about one-eighth of its population, emigrate to France for business reasons. Many marry French women. Maternal influences prevail with the children born of these unions with the result that, upon returning to their native land, the families bring French speech along.

But French as a commercial language is on the wane throughout the Grand Duchy. German has been replacing it gradually since 1870. This is one of the results of the small state’s admission into the ring of German customs. Prior to that period business was transacted mainly in the French dialect of Lorraine. The spread of German is furthermore the result of a systematically conducted propaganda carried on with well-sustained determination. German “school associations” and “Volksvereine,” established in every city of importance, help to spread German speech and thought. Lectures of the type entitled “The beauty of Schiller’s and Goethe’s speech” are delivered by orators who are in reality skilled pioneers of empire engaged in the work of reclaiming populations to Germanism. The efficiency of their methods is proved by the results they have obtained. Out of a population of about 21,000 inhabitants, hardly 4,000 natives of Luxemburg speak French exclusively, while of the six or seven papers published in the capital, two alone are issued in French.

This closing of the German grip over the land stimulated the growth of national feeling among the inhabitants. They were reminded by their leaders that, from having formerly been one of the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands, the duchy acquired the status of a sovereign state in 1890, on the accession of Queen Wilhelmina to the throne. Henceforth the maintenance of Luxemburg’s independence rests on the European powers’ observance of the pledges by which they guaranteed national freedom for this little state.[21] The natives are free from the burden of onerous taxation imposed on inhabitants of the neighboring powerful countries. Peaceful development of their commerce and industry is thus facilitated. Their land is richly endowed by nature. The wine produced in the Moselle valley and the extensive deposits of high grade iron ore found around Etsch make the community one of the most prosperous on the European continent.

Nevertheless the country seemed predestined by nature itself to form a part of Germany. The broken surface of the Ardenne hilly region and the extension of the plateau of Lorraine are drained by the Sauer and Moselle into German territory. The life of the inhabitants of the entire state is influenced by this easterly drift and tends yearly to greater dispersal in the same direction. This is the danger which prompts them to cling to their independence with patriotic tenacity. Their feelings are reflected in their national hymn, which begins with the words “Mir welle bleiwe wat mer sin” (We wish to remain what we are). These are the words of the tune rendered daily at noon by the chimes of the Cathedral of Luxemburg.

Some fifty miles north of Luxemburg, and at the point of contact of the French, German and Dutch languages, lies the neutral territory of Moresnet, barely three and a quarter square miles in area. This forgotten bit of independent land is claimed by both Prussia and Belgium on account of the exceedingly valuable zinc deposits which it contains. It has a population of some 3,000 inhabitants who, alone among Europeans, enjoy the inestimable privilege of not paying taxes to any government. A Burgomaster, selected alternately from among Prussian and Belgian subjects, rules this diminutive state in conjunction with a Communal Council.

The survival of such a relic of medieval political disorders was due to the impossibility of making a settlement between the two claimants of its territory. In the fifteenth century its mines were the property of the Dukes of Limburg, who had leased them to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. Shortly after the French Revolution, they were declared national property by the French Republic and were operated by the government.[22] With the fall of Napoleon, the estate passed under the management of both Prussia and Holland. After the Belgian revolution of 1830, however, the entire property became part of Belgium’s share. A demand for rents in arrears from the lessee by Prussia, although recognized as valid by the courts of Liége, was not approved by the new Belgian state and the only compromise that could be reached was a declaration of the neutrality of the territory.

The Belgian question as well as the related Luxemburg and Moresnet problems, the latter being of slight significance, present themselves today as economic settlements no less than political adjustments. The inner reason which had led German hope to dwell on the annexation of Belgium is the knowledge that such an addition in territory would convert Germany into the dominating industrial nation of Europe. This position of superiority would be firmly established if, in addition, the French basins of Longwy and Briey could be turned into Reichslands, as had been done with Alsace-Lorraine in 1870. Fortunately for Europe, the developments of the armed contest begun in 1914 proved that the threat of this economic vassalage is no longer to be feared. Incidentally it is worth remembering that its realization would obviously have been followed by the loss of Holland’s independence.

Belgium’s political independence is therefore a necessity for the fine adjustment of the balance of European industrial life. And there are quarters where such economic considerations carry greater weight than national sentiments. The main point to be made, however, is that Belgian nationality is entitled to survival, whether it be examined from a material or a moral standpoint. Changes, if any, of its frontiers are indicated in the east, where Malmedy and its environs in Rhenish Prussia constitute a domain of French language. The exchange of this territory for districts of German speech in Belgian Luxemburg and the strategic reinforcement of this eastern frontier, as a safeguard against future aggression, are desirable for Belgians as well as for Germans.

TABLE I

French- and Flemish-Speaking Inhabitants of Belgium

Census of December 31, 1910

				Speaking
Provinces	Number of	French-	Flemish-	French and
	inhabitants	speaking	speaking	Flemish
Antwerp	968,677	12,289	762,414	113,606
Brabant	1,469,677	382,947	603,507	381,997
E. Flanders	1,120,335	9,311	934,143	116,889
W. Flanders	874,135	31,825	669,081	123,938
Hainaut	1,232,867	1,113,738	17,283	49,575
Liége	888,341	748,504	14,726	50,068
Limbourg	275,691	9,123	218,622	29,386
Luxemburg	231,215	183,218	153	1,393
Namur	362,846	342,379	733	4,436
	————	————	————	———
Totals	7,423,784	2,833,334	3,220,662	871,288

This table shows French predominance for the entire country. The arrangement given immediately below brings out this fact more clearly.

Inhabitants speaking	French only	2,833,334
““	French and Flemish	871,288
““	French and German	74,993
““	French, German and Flemish	52,547
““	German only	31,415
““	German and Flemish	8,652
““	Flemish only	3,220,662
““	None[23] of the three languages	330,893
		————
		7,423,784