Ottoman Diplomats

Synopsis

Etienne Carathéodory Effendi reports about the ceremony accompanying the speech from the throne of King Leopold II on November 12th at the start of the new parliamentary year. In attachment is the King’s speech, which Carathéodory evaluates in his report. He explains that such a speech necessarily had to contain governmental theories. Those would not have pleased the conservatives from the Catholic Party. Carathéodory remarks that the liberals could have used more caution in the speech from the throne. The liberals provoked a storm in parliament, on the Catholic side, by making the King declare that state education should only be directed by the civil authority, and that the balance in expenses for religious education and state education would not be assured anymore. This could be seen as an attack on the previous (Catholic) government, and especially on ex-Prime Minster Jules Malou. Carathéodory does not expect a quick pacification, as the religious question formed the principal breaking point between the Catholics and the liberals, the two parties dividing the country.

Attachments

Speech from the throne (12-11-1878, Brussels, King Leopold II to the Belgian parliament, The King's speech at the start of the new parliamentary year contained theories from the new liberal government.)

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