Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1919 — Belgium’s Independence. [ARTICLE]

Belgium’s Independence.

More than 75 years agp Belgium declared her independence of Holland,' to which she had been united by the settlement of 1815. Long-standing dissatisfaction first broke into open rebellion on the night of August 25, when the performance of the opera “La ,Muette de Portici,” with Its passionate appeal for emancipation, inflamed the audiehce to such n degree that the people left the opera house and flew to arms. Europe regarded the outbreak as merely a local riot until a month later, when the Dutch jarmy sent to* reestablish order in Brussels was led into a trap from which it extricated itself only after four days* heavy fighting and the loss of 1,500 men. Immediately on the withdrawal of the defeated troops a provisional government was assembled and on October 4 Belgium was proclaimed an independent state. . • ¥