Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/101

Rh L U X L U X 87 last moments he was attended by the famous Jesuit priest Bourdaloue, who said on his &quot;death, &quot; I have not lived his life, but I would wish to die his death.&quot; The holy father certainly had not lived like Luxembourg, whose morals were conspicuously bad even in those times, and whose life had shown very slight signs of religious conviction. But as a general he was Conde s grandest pupil. Utterly slothful, like Conde&quot;, in the management of a campaign, and therein differing from Turenne, at the moment of battle he seemed seized with happy inspirations, against which no ardour of William s and no steadiness of Dutch or English soldiers could stand. His death and Catinat s disgrace close the second period of the military history of the reign of Louis. XIV., and Catinat and Luxembourg, though inferior to Conde and Turenne, were very far superior to Tallard and Villeroi. He was distinguished for a pungent wit. One of his best retorts referred to his deformity. &quot;I never can beat that cursed hump back,&quot; William was reputed to have said of him. &quot; How does he know I have a hump 1 ?&quot; retorted Luxembourg, &quot;he has never seen my back.&quot; He left four sons, the youngest of whom was a marshal of France as Mare chal de Montmorency. See the various memoirs and histories of the time. There are some interesting facts in Desormcaux s Histoire de la Maison de Montmorency. Camille Rousset s Louvois should also be studied. LUXEMBURG, a grand-duchy of Europe, governed under a special constitution by the king of the Netherlands, is bounded on the N. and E. by Rhenish Prussia, S. by Lorraine and the French department Meurthe-et-Moselle, and W. by Belgian Luxemburg. It measures 32 miles from Hartelingen to Rosport, both on the Sure, and 50 miles from Rumelange in the south to Weiler in the north. The surface contains 639,000 acres (998 square miles), of which 293,554 acres are arable, 61,033 meadow- land, 143,812 woodland, 54,135 coppice, and 540 vine yards. The hills in the south of the duchy are a con tinuation of the Lorraine plateau ; and the northern districts are crossed in all directions by outrunners from the Ardennes. With the exception of the Chiers, which flows into the Meuse near Sedan after a course of 50 miles, the streams all drain into the Moselle, which forms the boundary between Luxemburg and the Rhine province for about 20 miles. The Sure or Sauer, the most important stream in the duchy, rises at Vaux-les-Rosieres in Belgian Luxemburg, crosses the duchy, and forms the eastern boundary from the confluence of the Our till it joins the Moselle after a course of 50 miles, during which it receives the Wiltz, the Woltz, the Alzet, &c. At Mondorf there are mineral wells and a bathing establishment. The soil of Luxemburg is generally good ; the southern districts are on the whole the most fertile as well as the most populous. Building materials of all sorts are obtained throughout the duchy, and in the south there is iron- ore of fair quality the mining area at present occupying from 8000 to 10,000 acres. Galena is worked on the frontier between Ober- wampach and Longville, and antimony at Gosdorf near Wiltz. Since 1842 Luxemburg has been included in the Zollverein, and its principal dealings are, consequently, with Germany. Besides the iron furnaces, situated all of them in the south near the Lorraine plateau, the industrial establishments of the country comprise a large number of tanneries, a dozen weaving factories, an important glove-making factory, a pottery, paper-mills for all sorts of paper, breweries and distilleries, and two sugar refineries. A German patois mixed with French words is spoken throughout the country ; but French, which is universally employed by the commercial com munity, is also the common speech of all classes on the French and Belgian frontiers. Though perfect liberty of worship prevails, Roman Catholicism is almost the sole form of religion in the duchy, the only dissenters worthy of note being the Protestant Prussian employe s and about three hundred Jewish families. The government is in the hands of the grand-duke, who sanctions and promulgates the laws. Between 1850 and 1879 the king of the Netherlands was represented in his grand-ducal func tions by his brother Prince Henry ; but since the prince s death he has resumed the personal direction of affairs. The grand-duchy is a neutral and independent state, and its crown hereditary in the Nassau family (Treaty of London, March 11, 1867). A house of representatives and a council of state, named by the grand-duke, compose the administrative body. The representatives, to the number of forty-four, are chosen by the people in the pro portion of one for from 4000 to 5500 inhabitants. No law can be passed without the consent of the house of representatives. Bills are introduced by the grand-duke, but the house has also the right of initiative. A single battalion (150) of Luxemburg chasseurs composes the grand-ducal army, all voluntary recruits. The gendar merie also consists of about 150 men. There are two courts of first instance in the duchy, one at Luxemburg, the other at Diekirch, and a high court and a court of appeal, both at Luxemburg. Criminals appear before the court of assize at Luxemburg. By grand-ducal decree the order of the Crown of Oak was instituted for the duchy, December 29, 1841, and that of the Golden Lion, February 5, 1858. The communal councils are under the supervision of the district commissioners, who are subject in turn to the minister of the interior. The administration of the town of Luxemburg depends immediately on the Govern ment. Education is in a flourishing state : there are 642 primary schools attended by 31,000 pupils; Luxemburg has a normal school and an athenaeum ; Diekirch and Echternach have each a gymnasium. The bishopric of Luxemburg, containing 13 diaconates, subdivided into 253 parishes, holds its authority directly from the Holy See. From 6,000,000 to 7,000,000 francs is the annual amount of the state budget, and the public debt was 12,000,000 francs in 1863. Since 1854 there has been a grand-ducal bronze coinage. The following table shows the administrative divisions and the population (total, 205,158) according to the census of 1875. Districts. Cantons. Communes. Population. Luxemburg Luxemburg 13 42 006 Capellen 11 16,363 Esch 13 24 158 Mersch 11 14,264 Grevenmacher Echternach Grevenmacher 8 9 10 13,136 14,918 13 796 Diekirch Clerf 10 13,899 Diekirch 13 18,254 13 15 042 Vianden 3 3,350 Wiltz 13 15 972 Next to the capital come Echternach with 3920, and Diekirch with 3130 inhabitants, both worthy of note for their blast fur naces. At Echternach an annual procession is held in honour of St &quot;Willibrord, dating from 1374. Grevenmacher is the centre of a great wine district. The Luxemburg territory as well as the country of Ardenne was included in Belgica Prima at the first division of Gaul by Augustus in 27 B.C. ; during the Frankish period it formed part first of Austrasia, then of Lorraine, and then of Lower Lorraine. On the dismemberment of ancient Austrasia the countship of Ardenne fell to Ricuin ; and, when after Ricuin s death his children divided his possessions, Ardenne .proper was obtained by Count Sigfried (Sigefroi). The county of Luxemburg, as Ardenne came to be called after the chief town, was raised to be a duchy in 1354, and existed as an independent state till 1451, when it was seized by Philip, duke of Burgundy. The dynasty which he displaced had been ambitious and active, and had, in the person of Henry VII., attained the imperial dignity, and in that of John ascended the throne of Bohemia. As a Burgundian possession Luxemburg