Ottoman Diplomats

Synopsis

Etienne Carathéodory Effendi informs Carathéodory Pacha about the decision of the Belgian House of Representatives and the Senate when it came to the revision of the law from 1842 on primary education, more specifically on the secularisation of education. It led to a ‘battle’ between the two opposite sides: the Catholics who were against and the liberals who were in favour of secularisation. Stating that it was a matter of good conscience, the liberal Prince of Ligne voted against the opinion of his political friends. With difficulty, the liberal Frère-Orban government succeeded in making the bill pass. King Leopold II gave his royal assent. Etienne Carathéodory Effendi enclosed a copy of the Royal order, published in the Belgian Official Journal (Moniteur Belge). He describes the exasperation it engendered amongst the Catholics and the Catholic press. Furthermore, he gives his opinion and notes that in a country like Belgium, where two opposite sides were almost equally strong, more caution was needed. To conclude, he notes that this law would lead to the creation of ‘free schools’, meaning Catholic schools competing with the official state education.

Attachments

Copied Royal order (10-07-1879, Brussels, Moniteur Belge, Royal order concerning the revision of the law from 1842 on primary education, thus secularizing it.)

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