members each, the result would have been a deadlock,
but there were always two or three Belgians who held government offices;
and these were compelled, on pain of instant dismissal, to vote for a
government measure or at least to abstain. Thus the king could always
rely on a small but constant majority, and by its aid he did not
hesitate to force through financial and legislative proposals in the
teeth of Belgian opposition. It is only fair, however, to the
arbitrary king to point out how earnestly he endeavoured to promote the
material and industrial welfare of the whole land, and to encourage to
the best of his power literary, scientific and educational progress. In
Holland the carrying-trade, which had so long been the chief source of
the country's wealth, had been utterly ruined by Napoleon's Continental
System. On the other hand, Belgian industries, which had been
flourishing through the strict embargo placed upon the import of British
goods, were now threatened with British competition. The steps taken by
the energy and initiative of the king were, considering the state of the
national finances, remarkable in the variety of their aims and the
results that they achieved. The old Amsterdam Bank was transformed into
a Bank of the Netherlands. A number of canals were planned and
constructed. Chief among these was the North Holland Canal, connecting
Amsterdam with the Helder. The approaches to Rotterdam were improved, so
that this port became the meeting-point of sea-traffic from England and
river-traffic by the Rhine from Germany. But both these ports were
quickly overshadowed by the rapid recovery of Antwerp, now that the
Scheldt was free and open to commerce. Other important canals, begun and
wholly or in part constructed, during this period were the
Zuid-Willemsvaart, the Zederik, the Appeldoorn and the Voorne canals.
Water communication was not so necessary in the south as in the north,
but care was there also bestowed upon the canals, especially upon the
canal of Terneuzen connecting Ghent with the western Scheldt, and many
highways were constructed. To restore the prosperity of the Dutch
carrying-trade, especially that with their East Indies, in 1824 a
Company--_de Nederlandsche Handekmaatschappij_--was founded; and at the
same time a commercial treaty was concluded with Great Britain, by which
both nations were to enjoy free trade with each other's East Indian
possessions. The _Handekmaatschappij_ had a capital