Edge of Europe - A Belgian Interactive AAR

[Gen. Marshall]

Gentlemen, let's stop this discussion. I am sure Mr. Lacroix would not seek to revolt against any legitimate government.


1836 Cabinet Appoinments

In the light of recent concerns about the cabinet position of Mr. de España, I must dismiss these concerns as being unfounded. If Mr. de España has been too busy to participate in the later (quieter) days of the Constitution, that does not mean he would in any way not deserve a position in the Cabinet or be incapable of holding one.

However, I wholly agree with the concern that Mr. Loewen does not have a position in the Cabinet, being a prominent member of the GLP and a valuable contributor to the Constitution. Therefore, with the consent of the King, Mr. de España and Mr. Loewen, I see fit to create an additional ministry, and make the following changes:

Willem Loewen ((Somberg)) will be the new Minister of the Interior.
Pierre-Claude de España ((czechmasaryk)) will be the new Minister of Education, providing proper education, and supporting the development of new technology for military and civil purposes ((Positive modifier to techs)).

- Prime Minister Maximiliaan van Brabant

 

[ThunderHawk3]

((Thunder, I'll leave it up to you to let Innovation control the Education slider or not))

((Since you don't have a Minister of Education, I suppose he should control the education slider - though of course, Pluto has already submitted a budget.

But you still have one appointment missing. You need a Chief of the General Staff.

EDIT: I don't know if I made this clear enough Ministers, but if you make your priorities clear I'll try to implement them in game or add an appropriate modifier, as the case may be. For example, the Minister of Finance might benefit the country with a small tax efficiency increase, which I'd mod in.

The trade-off is that for every minister appointed, I increase a pop consciousness modifier, since the goings-on of government are becoming more and more public.))

 

[yourworstnightm]

I hope the whoever get te Chief of General Staff position will be a experienced military man. When the French attack us we need someone who know what he's doing in charge.

 

[viola]

I hope the whoever get te Chief of General Staff position will be a experienced military man. When the French attack us we need someone who know what he's doing in charge.

I sincerely fear that the Jacobins will use their typical methods and will appoint their own cronies as generals, thus completely paralyzing the army.
Obviously this will help their "Revolutionary Militias" to pillage the ecclesiastical and aristocratic properties.

- Baron Frederick Van Den Brucke

 

[DensleyBlair]

((I'm about to bid adieu to WiFi for the day, but will get something together within the next few days.))

 

[atomicsoda]

I hope the whoever get te Chief of General Staff position will be a experienced military man. When the French attack us we need someone who know what he's doing in charge.

The French? I think we need to worry about the Dutch and ally with the French.

 

[Gen. Marshall]

((Since you don't have a Minister of Education, I suppose he should control the education slider - though of course, Pluto has already submitted a budget.

But you still have one appointment missing. You need a Chief of the General Staff.

EDIT: I don't know if I made this clear enough Ministers, but if you make your priorities clear I'll try to implement them in game or add an appropriate modifier, as the case may be. For example, the Minister of Finance might benefit the country with a small tax efficiency increase, which I'd mod in.

The trade-off is that for every minister appointed, I increase a pop consciousness modifier, since the goings-on of government are becoming more and more public.))

((Alright, then I suppose we could call it the Ministry of Education (rather than Innovation), with the same responsibilities. And since czech is gone for two days and the first budget draft is already made that means we don't have to worry about his responsibilities this time around.))

As for the appointment of a Chief of General Staff, I advise that André Damseaux ((Fingon888)) is appointed to the position. He is one of our most capable commanders.

- Prime Minister Maximiliaan van Brabant

 

[Somberg]

I would like to thank Prime Minister Van Brabant for appointing me as Minister of the Interior. I also agree with the Prime Minister Van Brabant in keeping Mijnheer De España within the government. I believe both of us will be valuable and competent members of this government. In accordance with the Constitution, I resign as Mayor of Antwerp. While it pains me to end my service to the people of the city of Antwerp, I will now be serving the Prime Minister and all of the people of Belgium as Minister of the Interior.

~ Willem Loewen, Minister of the Interior

 

[jeeshadow]

As some of you may know, I a was planning on joining the military before the General Election happened. I did this as I was unsure if the GLP was going to win, and I wanted to serve Belgium. As I have been chosen by Mijnheer van Brabant as Minister of War, I have chosen to accept this position. I feel I will be able to serve Belgium better at this time as Minister of War than as a solder.
-Aimeus Aerts, Minister of War

 

[Somberg]

I have been working to decide the course of action for the Ministry of the Interior and it has come to my attention that our factories are not producing as much as they could be because of a lack of factory workers. This is alarming as our industries should be producing at an optimum level, to ensure that they are producing the maximum amount of goods they can. As such, the Ministry of the Interior shall be beginning campaigns within Flanders and Wallonia to encourage greater employment within our factories ((national foci on encouraging craftsmen in Flanders and Wallonia)). It is my hope that this shall ensure our factories are fully employed and shall increase our industrial output.

~ Willem Loewen, Minister of the Interior

 

[Belgiumruler]

I have been working to decide the course of action for the Ministry of the Interior and it has come to my attention that our factories are not producing as much as they could be because of a lack of factory workers. This is alarming as our industries should be producing at an optimum level, to ensure that they are producing the maximum amount of goods they can. As such, the Ministry of the Interior shall be beginning campaigns within Flanders and Wallonia to encourage greater employment within our factories ((national foci on encouraging craftsmen in Flanders and Wallonia)). It is my hope that this shall ensure our factories are fully employed and increase our industrial output.

~ Willem Loewen, Minister of the Interior

I believe the current problem with our craftsmen is that they don't want to get that job in Belgium because low wages and long working hours, resulting in them migrating to America and Australia, I can be wrong, but for that I would need to take a look at the migration report. Campaigns would help, but would not solve all the problems.

- Signed: Jos de Leeuw

 

[Harpsichord]

I believe the current problem with our craftsmen is that they don't want to get that job in Belgium because low wages and long working hours, resulting in them migrating to America and Australia, I can be wrong, but for that I would need to take a look at the migration report. Campaigns would help, but would not solve all the problems.

- Signed: Jos de Leeuw

I have no doubt that the good capitalists of our nation will endeavour to maintain their competitiveness. I would be most surprised if they willing lose all their manpower oversees.

 

[Plutonium95]

I believe the current problem with our craftsmen is that they don't want to get that job in Belgium because low wages and long working hours, resulting in them migrating to America and Australia, I can be wrong, but for that I would need to take a look at the migration report. Campaigns would help, but would not solve all the problems.

- Signed: Jos de Leeuw

I can assure you that Belgium is extremely competitive with other industrial nations, of which I must remind you there are few. There are no guarantees of wages or shorter working hours in foreign lands, but if the people wish to look for them, that is the benefit of capitalism, not something that government needs to deal with. And I can promise you that we are not losing factory workers to the Australian Penal Colony. The true issue is that factory jobs are still new and people are not aware of the opportunities, Minister Loewen's proposal to raise awareness for the positions is a very good one.

- Minister of Finance Michel Daret

 

[Scrapknight]

I concur with the good Minister of Finance. The real problems are not poor conditions in our factories, but that the people in Belgium aren't filling them. I feel that a good campaign, therefore, would not just inform people of positions but draw them out of the countryside into the cities, where higher-paying work can be found. This will improve the lot of the common man, providing him with new opportunities, while simultaneously allowing industry to flourish by providing it with new workers without imposing any undue restrictions on capital. Monseiur Daret is right: our nation is one of the most competitive in the world among industrial countries. Here in Belgium, every man can vote and has the rights to his property. Anyone can make it here. Adding limits on employment only impedes the worker's ability to make good. After all, it will ultimately reduce his wages, whether through the invisible hand driving down wages or restricting the amount of work he can take on.

Monseiur Loewen, as it is my duty to help ensure our factories are well-supplied, if you could provide me with information ((a screenshot)) of our industry so I can determine if our government should be placing orders for goods, it would be much appreciated. I do have an additional recommendation. As it is not our government's policy to directly engage in construction, which I approve of, we must have a strong capitalist class to build and operate essential services for the naion. Therefore, I recommend adjusting the campaign to include promoting investment ((encouraging capitalists)) as well as attempting to increase our labor force. With both of these together, we can expedite the industrialization of our nation.

 

[Plutonium95]

You are quite right Monsieur and I appreciate your support. It just so happens that I have reports on both our industry and trade from when I was trying to determine our tax base.

- Michel Daret, Minister of Finance

 

[atomicsoda]

I have been working to decide the course of action for the Ministry of the Interior and it has come to my attention that our factories are not producing as much as they could be because of a lack of factory workers. This is alarming as our industries should be producing at an optimum level, to ensure that they are producing the maximum amount of goods they can. As such, the Ministry of the Interior shall be beginning campaigns within Flanders and Wallonia to encourage greater employment within our factories ((national foci on encouraging craftsmen in Flanders and Wallonia)). It is my hope that this shall ensure our factories are fully employed and shall increase our industrial output.

~ Willem Loewen, Minister of the Interior

I think this is a very good proposal. I would also say that I do not think we are losing craftsman to emigration. Very few countries have any factories and those that do do not have better conditions than the modern factories of Belgium.

 

[ThunderHawk3]

Brabant 1836-1837: The Treasury, The Factories, and The Fourth Estate​

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Maximiliaan van Brabant began his administration with a cabinet reshuffle. After hearing the protests from the mayor of Antwerp and his friends in the party, the Prime Minister chose to given Loewen the Interior Ministry, shunting De España sideways into the new Ministry of Innovation. Loewen would quickly gain a reputation as a quick and decisive leader as he worked with the Commerce Ministry (though Georges Savarin did not always completely agree with his plans) and liberal backbenchers to promote industrial employment throughout Belgium. By spring of 1837, the most profitable industry in Belgium, the Flemish fabric industry, was operating at full capacity (though the other factories lagged behind), and the less lucrative Wallonian ammunition industry was not far behind. The other productive quarters, the steel, small arms, cement, and canned food businesses, lagged behind in their respective outputs. Managers in these industries would claim that this was because they were meeting demand with their present staffs (and the canned food industry was actually losing money), but unemployment would remain zero in Belgium in mid-1837 despite the surge in the work force.

1. A Brussels factory, circa 1836​

Elsewhere in the offices of government, the Finance Minister Michel Daret called an early meeting with the other ministries to discuss the budget, eventually hammering out a compromise that levied 50% taxes on most of society, 25% on high-income individuals, and funding most ministries at 30% of their budget needs. While most were disappointed with their alottments, Daret regarded it as a fair compromise between the offices of government. After more than a year, Belgium was running an average surplus of around 1,200 Belgian francs (or about 12 pounds sterling) a day and had a reserve of more than 840,000 francs (or about 8,400 pounds) despite the Savarin's one-time expense in establishing a stockpile of about 50 clipper convoys and a hundred tons of regular clothes.

Savarin's Commerce Ministry also oversaw the construction of privately funded and owned railway lines throughout the whole of Belgium. By July 1836, construction was in progress throughout the whole of Flanders, funded heavily by Flemish cloth magnates, but by the end of the year, all of Wallonia had been similarly covered in new railway projects. While applauded by industrialists and militarists alike, private railway investment did divert funds away from the expansion of industry throughout the nation. No new factories were built in Belgium in 1836 or the first quarter of 1837. The projects drew criticism from the reactionary and conservative quarters of the Parliament, who alleged that railway construction was impinging on traditional aristocratic land holdings and siphoning agricultural workers into the cities.

Beyond the halls of government, Vlaamse Beweging - the Flemish Movement - received an unexpected boost in August of 1836 with the popularization of Hendrik Conscience's epic novel De Leeuw van Vlaanderen (The Flemish Lion), which energized the party's base in the north. The nationalistic novel told the inspiring story of Flemish resistance of French oppression during the 1302 Battle of the Golden Spurs. Vlaamse Beweging's deputies, galvanized by fresh support and with increased attention in the papers, ferociously attacked the recently passed Command Language Act in the latter half of 1836.

2. De Leeuw van Vlaanderen, 1838 edition​

But the greatest issue of Brabant's government in 1836 was not industry or railroads or finance or even the Flemish - though the issue began in Flanders. It was the press. On January 16, 1836, shortly after the conclusion of the General Election, an article was scheduled to be published in a Flemish-language paper about a minor Vlaanderen nobleman's scandalous love affair and adultery. He petitioned the courts to bar the publication of the article on the grounds that it would seriously harm the Belgian state by undermining the aristocracy. The argument found little sympathy in the courts and the petition denied, but the paper was temporarily enjoined against publishing the article while the matter was considered.

This temporary censorship of the press, which was widely publicized, unsurprisingly, by the papers after the fact, galvanized a Belgium that had only just realized it was largely liberal, and brought the limitations of Article V of the Belgian Bill of Rights to the forefront of the debate. In February 1836, the Campaign for a Free Press was formed in Brussels. On April 7, 1837, members staged a peaceful march in front of the capitol involving more than twenty-five thousand people, and the Ministry of Justice reported it had received a formal petition for a free press signed by more than 178,000 people. The following day, the Senate communicated to the Chamber of Deputies that it would be willing to pass reform legislation to placate the movement. The King also summoned Prime Minister Brabant to the Palace, to, as the papers put it, "express his concern" regarding the issue. What exactly was said is not known to the public, but clearly the Campaign for a Free Press had left its mark.


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Player Actions Needed:
You can pass a political reform IG. Free Press is on the table. Thoctar, as the Minister of Justice, it falls to you to recommend political reform if you'd like to suggest another. Naturally, the Prime Minister can also propose an alternate political reform if he so chooses. Whatever it is would be a constitutional amendment and require the support of 2/3 of the deputies and the King.

If you please, Gen. Marshall, also review the previously proposed constitutional amendments and tell me which, if any, you support so that we can vote on them.

I'll give you a day on the outside to make up your minds on alternate reforms before we move on to a vote. People can choose to agitate, make policy adjustments, move sliders, declare coups, or anything else they want to do in the meantime.

 

[atomicsoda]

I urge the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice to listen to the people and give Belgium a truly free press.

 

[Plutonium95]

These leaps in industry and economics are proof that our liberal and free government is the way of the future. Our entire country is covered in railroads, some were even thanks to Daret Industrial, and they connect everyone like they never have been before. Our factories are running at full capacity, with people eagerly taking up new factory jobs and the urban life styles they allow. Our government is running a surplus nearly twice the size of the one that had been predicted and our treasury is swelling. I think that we are looking at the beginning of a glorious future for Belgium.

- Michel Daret, Minister of Finance

 

[NikoHoI3]

I also urge the Prime Minister and Minister of Justice to concur with Belgians on the issue of Free Press. The Freedom of Press is one of the civil liberties' all people should have. I response to the petition and demands of the Belgian people, I would like to create the Issue of Free Press Committee to deal with such legislation, and constitutional amendments.

I am glad with the job our Finance Minister is doing when it comes to the economy, although I do not agree with such low funding to our education system.

Christian Lacroix, Liberal MP for Liège