EARLY BELGIAN COLONIAL EFFORTS - The University of Texas at ...

For a variety of reasons 216 the political crisis that had enveloped Belgium for the
previous eight years subsided sufficiently enough for the king to again proceed with the
formulation of a Belgian colonial policy. 217 Leopold had always been interested in the
colonial aspect, and, despite some questionable constitutional positions, he had
managed to surround himself with a small but similarly minded group of supporters and
backers. 218 Although almost all were outside the government, a few (Count Félix de
Mérode and Baron Jean Baptiste Nothomb) 219 served in the cabinet. For its own part the
chambers had little enthusiasm for colonial adventures. The most often expressed and
compelling reason for this was the fear of expending capital on foreign adventures when
there was a more urgent need for domestic investment. Leopold did not agree that one
precluded the other and considered the attitude of the cabinet and the chambers and
perhaps the constitutional system to be shortsighted. 220
05 for a list by name and origin of families and 104 where eight hundred eighty is given as the total
number. The actual number may be closer to two thousand.
216 The treaty setting Belgian boundaries and ending the war with the Netherlands was finalized
in 1839. 217Previous attempts were Ethiopia and Mexico to name two.
218 J. Deharveng, Histoire De La Belgique Contemporaine, 1833-1944 (Bruxelles: Dewit, 1928),
489-92. 219Both Mérode and Nothomb served as ministers of various ministries, Nothomb also served as
Prime Minister from April 13, 1841 to July 30, 1845. Edouard Blondeel van Cuelebroucke and Martial
Cloquet were diplomats of lower rank and influence but were a strong supporter of Leopold’s
imperialistic efforts, as Blondeel’s secret missions to Spain and Nicaragua, and Cloquet’s activity in
Guatemala showed.
220 “…constitutional government, especially in a small country, takes a great deal of time, and
causes sight to be lost of the questions, which lone can secure to the country a political future. I have
many a time that I saw you feeling more and more interest therein, and I am very anxious that it should be
so, for it is time to be seriously occupied with those questions; otherwise Belgium will find herself at the
tail of all other countries.
I have heard that an association of German princes is actively occupied in an attempt at
colonization in Texas…” Leopold to General Goblet, 27 February 1844 in Théodore
Juste, Memoirs of Leopold I, King of the Belgians, from unpublished documents
Translated by Robert Black. (London: Sampson Low, Son & Martson, 1868), 211.
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