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Updated: May 7, 2025
No less zealous was the king for the prosperity of Belgian industries; Ghent with its cotton factories and sugar refineries, Tournai with its porcelain industry, and Liège with its hardware, all were the objects of royal interest. The great machine factory at Seraing near Liège under the management of an Englishman, Cockerill, owed its existence to the king.
Another boat, the Albert, was built at Stettin, after the same type and at about the same epoch; and the question was considered of placing a reaction propeller upon the Great Eastern. About 1860 the question was taken up again by the house of Cokerill de Seraing, which built the Seraing No. 2, that did service as an excursion boat between Liége and Seraing.
All the evolutions were easy, even without the help of the rudder, and the ways in which the propelling tubes could be placed were capable of being varied ad infinitum by a system of levers. The Seraing No. 2 had an engine of a nominal power of 40 horses, and took on an average 30 minutes to make the trip, backward and forward, of 85 kilometers, with four stoppages.
The king supported, also, the creation of several factories, such as the "Phoenix" at Ghent and "Cockerill" at Seraing. It was during his reign that Belgian collieries began considerably to increase their production and that the first blast furnaces were erected near Liége and Charleroi. The Dutch king attempted also to develop national education.
The first consequence of the Revolution was to disorganize Belgian industry, which had lost the Dutch market, the powerful works of Cockerill, at Seraing, being among the few which did not suffer from the change. The introduction of machinery in a country so rich in coal-fields not only restored the situation but enormously increased industrial production in the Southern districts.
It is possible in Liege to forget or rather impossible to recall the soiled and grimy country that stretches from its gates in the direction of Seraing. Even under the sway of the Spanish tyranny this was an independent state under the rule of a Bishop Prince, who was also an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.
It was interesting in leaving the city to see the disposition of troops; we passed through Seraing, where are those tremendous Cockerill factories, and soon arrived opposite the famous Fort Hollogne which did such wonderful work in the defense of Liége, August 5th.
That this sum was beneficially used for the assistance of manufacturing and industrial enterprise, as at Seraing and elsewhere, and that it contributed to the growing prosperity of the southern provinces, is certain. But the needless mystery which surrounded its expenditure led to the suspicion that it was used as a fund for secret service and political jobbery.
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