Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/102

Rh 88 LUXEMBURG came to the house of Austria, and, after forming part of the arch duchy governed by Albert and Isabella, 1598-1632, followed the fate of the Spanish Netherlands till it was ceded by the treaty of Utrecht to the house of Hapsburg, It was deprived of Thionville, Montmedy, Damvilliers, Ivoix, and Marville by the treaty of the Pyrenees (1659) in favour of France ; and Louis XIV. occupied the town and great part of the province from 1684 till the treaty of Ryswick (1697). Seized by the French in 1793, it went in the main to form the department of Forets. On the 16th March 1815 William I. declared himself king of the Netherlands and duke of Luxemburg, and his claims were sanctioned by the treaty of -Dillemburg, of his place in the Germanic confederation. The fortress was assigned to the confederation itself, and was garrisoned by six thousand men, of whom one-fourth belonged to the grand-duke and three-fourths to the confederation. From the recognition of Belgian independence in 1830 to the treaty of London in 1839, matters were still more complicated ; there were two governments in Luxemburg one at Luxemburg, acting for the grand-duke, and the other at Arlon, acting for Belgium. By the treaty of London about 1218 square miles of the duchy with 149,571 inhabitants were trans ferred to Belgium, the German confederation and King AVilliam being compensated with parts of Limburg. On the dissolution of the confederation the duchy became free from its connexion with Germany, but the fortress remained in the hands of Prussia. A diplomatic contest for possession of the duchy took place between France and Prussia ; and the matter became the object of a special conference of the plenipotentiaries of the great powers, Holland, Belgium, and Italy, in 1867. The result was that the neutrality of Luxemburg was guaranteed and the military importance of the town destroyed. The actual demolition of the fortifications evacuated by the Prussians in September 1867 did not take place till 1872. See Bertholet, Hist, du duchi! de Luxembourg, Luxemburg, 1741-43 ; Vander- maelen, Diet, geogr. du Luxembourg, lirussels, 1838 ; Scliiitter, Ki it. Erbrterunyen iiber die frith. Gesch. der Grafschajt Luxemburg, Luxemburg, 1859 ; Griivig, Luxemburg, Land und VoJk, Luxemburg, 1867. LUXEMBURG, the capital of the grand-duchy, lies 34 miles north of Metz and 25 south-west of Treves, in a position as remarkable for natural beauty as for military strength. The main part of the town is built on a rocky table-land terminating precipitously towards the north-east and south ; Plan of Luxemburg. the modern portions, known as Pfaffenthal, Clausen, arid Grund, lie 200 feet below, in the valley of the Alzette. Till their demolition in terms of the treaty of 1867 the fortifications, on which the engineers of three centuries had expended their skill, were the great feature of the place; in point of strength they ranked, according to Carnot, second only to those of Gibraltar, and like them they were to a great extent hewn out of the solid rock. The site is now occupied partly by a fine public park, partly by new districts of handsome houses, which give the city more of the outward appearance of a capital. Among the buildings of historical interest are the cathedral of Notre Dame, erected by the Jesuits in 1613 ; the church of St Michel, dating from 1320; the Government-house, built in 1443, and still regularly occupied by the legislative assemblies; the town-house, built in 1830; the law courts, dating from 1565, but serving till 1795 as the residence of the governor of Luxemburg ; and the athenamm, built in 1594, and now (1882) attended by 500 to 600 pupils. The population of the city and suburbs, which was 15,930 in 1875, is now estimated at 19,000. Luxemburg (formerly called Lutzelburg) appears in 738 as a- castle presented to the abbey at Treves by Charles Martel. Tlie- town grew up in the course of the 10th century, and soon began to- surround itself with walls; but it was not till 1503 that a regular system of fortifications was commenced, and the principal features of the modern fortress were due to A^auban, who accompanied Crequi in his capture of the place in 1664. Extensive additions were made to the works in 1728-34. See Coster, Gcsch. dcr Fcstung Luxemburg, Luxemburg, 1869. LUXEMBURG, a province of the kingdom of Belgium,, lying at the south-eastern extremity of the country, and bounded N. and W. by the provinces of Liege and Namur,. S. by France, and E. by Prussia and by the grand-duchy of Luxemburg, from which it was separated in 1839. It is. the largest and most thinly populated of the Belgian pro vinces, 75 miles in length, 30 in breadth ; the population is 204,000. The ground is high, averaging 1200 feet above sea-level, and rising in parts over 2000. The soil is dry and slaty, with occasional sand and limestone. The aspect of the country is a succession of broad tracts of table land or plateaus covered with wood or heather, and intersected by wide and deep valleys; these contain streams,, half-dry during the summer, but quickly changed to sweep ing torrents by rain or melting snow. Peat is found on the hills, and occasional morasses, known by the name of &quot; hautes fanges,&quot; are to be met with on the tops of the highest mountains. The whole district is comprised within* the region of Ardennes. The agricultural produce is poor ; the various breeds of horses, cattle, sheep, &c., are remark ably small, though they all possess individual qualities of endurance or their flesh of flavour; the hams are re nowned. The forests abound in game of all kinds ; red deer are plentiful, and wild boars have of late become so abundant as to be a serious nuisance. The mineral productions are worthy of note. Iron is found in the valley of the Ourthe, and also farther south near Arlon ; lead is extracted at Longwilly, manganese at Biham, zinc- at Longwilly and Bleid. Building stone is to be hadi throughout the province, and is generally employed, brick houses being the exception. There are quarries of grey and rose-coloured marble at Wellin, and extensive slate quarries on the banks of the Semois, the Sure, and the Salm. The trade in wood and bark is considerable, and there are some important tanneries, as well as iron works, paper-mills, and limekilns. The principal rivers are the Semois, the Lesse, and the Ourthe, affluents of the Meuse, and the Sure, which flows into the Rhine ; of these the Ourthe alone is navigable for a few miles down from Barvaux. There are no canals in the province, so that Luxemburg is entirely dependent on railways for its traffic. The Brussels and Basel line runs through the whole pro vince, with a station at Arlon, the capital ; and branch lines, have been established to connect the principal markets, Marche, Durbuy, Bastogne, Virton, &c., with the main artery. The language spoken by the inhabitants is French, with an admixture of Walloon dialect and an inferior kind of German on the borders of the grand-duchy. The king of the Belgians and his brother the count of Flanders possess summer residences, with extensive forest lands, in the province of Luxemburg.