The Frontiers of Language and Nationality in Europe. Leon Dominian

      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:

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