The USA had a tea party and Belgium has a night at the opera. Sometimes something stirs and the people realize it is time to separate. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
The image on the stamp is taken from a well known painting by Charles Soubre. The painting depicts revolutionary leader Charles Rogier leading 300 volunteers from the city of Liege to fight in the uprising against the Dutch in Brussels in 1830. So many years later, it seems surprising to use such an image. It makes the undertaking appear heroic. The history of the Belgian government is that it is not afraid to get tough with for example labor agitators who disturb the peace. Perhaps there is a conflict there. Belgium took a different tact on the 150th anniversary in 1980, with stamps showing the Opera house and the then new King of Belgium.
The stamp today is issue A119, a 20 Centimes stamp issued by Belgium on September 10th, 1955. This was a two stamp issue the celebrated an exhibition in Liege on the romantic movement of the volunteers to Brussels 125 years before during the uprising against Dutch rule. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.
Until the late 18th century, much of modern day Belgium was a part of the Catholic Hapsburg Holy Roman Empire. The revolutions spreading from France and Napoleon’s army put an end to that. The majority of the people in the area were French speaking so this made some sense. After Napoleon’s final defeat, the peace conference awarded the area to the Netherlands. This was at the suggestion of Britain who wanted a large strong Netherlands as a counterweight to France and to repay Netherlands for colonies in Asia taken from the Netherlands during Napoleon’s occupation that were not getting returned. Forget Ceylon, how about Belgium? Strange but true. Netherlands, now United Netherlands was Protestant and spoke Dutch, a Germanic language. Thus there was tension and the Belgian people, especially the French speakers did not feel represented by the new situation.
In 1830, there was an opera put on in Brussels that depicted romantically Neapolitans rising up against the Spanish masters. The audience was moved and filed out of the theatre joining riots against Dutch rule. At the same time Frenchman Charles Rogier was leading his volunteers from Liege to join the uprising. Not realizing that if he has lost the opera fans it is over, the King of the Netherlands sent two of his sons to Brussels to deal with it. The first son offered negotiations but the best deal to be had was not something his father would agree to. The next Prince lead the army in to reestablish control over Brussels. His army’s ranks had been greatly thinned by desertions of ethnic Belgians and was not strong enough to end the uprising.
Holland than turned to Great Britain to try to settle the issue. Disappointing the Netherlands, the British proposed a separate Belgium kingdom ruled by a King who was closely related to the British royal family but also acceptable to France. The revolutionary leader, and now former Frenchman Charles Rogier severed several terms as Prime Minister. Since 1830, Dutch speakers in Belgium are the ones who feel less than fully represented by the government.
Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast French tenor Adolphe Nourrit, whose romantic, patriotic singing so stirred the Brussels’ crowd. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.