LIEGE, the capital of the bishopric of the same name, stands upon the Maes, in a fine valley surrounded with woods and hills, being a free imperial city, and one of the largest and most eminent in Europe. Though it is 100 miles from the sea by water, the Maes is navigable up to it. The city has 16 gates; 17 bridges, some of them very handsome; 154 streets, many of them straight and broad; a fine episcopal palace; a very large stately cathedral, in which, besides five great silver coffers full of relics, are several silver statues of saints, and a St George on horseback of massy gold, presented to the cathedral by Charles the Bold, by way of atonement for using the inhabitants cruelly in the year 1468. Of the other churches, that of St Paul is the most remarkable, both for its structure and fine ornaments in painting and marble. The city is well fortified, and there are also two castles on the mountain of the Holy Walburg for its defence. Besides a great number of other convents of both sexes, here is a college of English Jesuits, founded in the year 1616, and a fine nunnery of English ladies. Indeed, churches, convents, and other religious foundations, take up the greater part of it. The reader, therefore, no doubt, will take it for granted, that it is a most blessed, holy, and happy city. But however it may fare with the profane, unhallowed laity, it is certainly the paradise of priests, as it is expressly called, by way of eminence. It is divided into the old and new, or the upper and lower; and the latter again into the island, and the quarter beyond the Maes. The houses are high, and built of bluish marble. In the town and suburbs are 12 public places or squares, 10 hospitals, a beguin-house, and two fine quays, planted with several rows of trees, for the burgliers to take the air; but a great part of that within the walls is taken up with orchards and vineyards. The manufactures of this city are arms, nails, leather, serge, and beer. In St William's convent, without the city, is the tomb of the famous English traveller Sir John Mandeville, with an inscription in barbarous French, requesting those who read it to pray for his soul. Near it are kept the saddle, spurs, and knife, that he made use of in his travels.
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After having seen most of the cities of any note in the world, he made choice of this to spend the eve of his life in. A little way from the city, on the other side of the Maes, stands the episcopal palace of Seraing, in which the bishops generally reside during the summer. The population is estimated at 80,000. N. Lat. 50. 36. E. Long. 5. 40.
Some disturbances took place here in the year 1789, in consequence of certain disputes that had arisen between the prince-bishop and the inhabitants. The latter having demanded certain privileges, which he did not think proper to grant, they took up arms, and compelled him and his chapter to comply with their request. The prince, together with many of the clergy, nobility, and citizens, alarmed by this commotion, and dreading the consequences of popular fury, which when once roused seldom knows any bounds, sought safety by a voluntary exile. They then appealed to the imperial chamber; and this tribunal, instead of acting the part of arbiter, decided as a sovereign, and ordered the circles of the Lower Rhine and Westphalia to execute the sentence.
The king of Prussia, at whose court one of the chiefs of the insurrection had resided, and who wished to gain a party at Liege, became mediator; and seemed to favour the Liegeois, many of whose claims were just, though they attempted to enforce them by violence and the most illegal steps. Intoxicated with this protection, the people of Liege treated the remonstrances of their bishop, the decrees of the imperial chamber, and the resolutions of the directory of the two circles, with the utmost contempt; and proceeded so far as even to dethrone their prince, by appointing a regent in the person of a French prelate. The electoral college having deliberated on the best means of putting an end to these disturbances, its propositions, though modified by M. Dohm the Prussian plenipotentiary, made the insurgents break out into open sedition. Deceived by their leaders, they gave themselves up every day to new excesses; the effects of the citizens were exposed to pillage, and their persons to insult. The king of Prussia, who was desirous to bring matters to an accommodation, and not to instigate the Liegeois to become independent, finding that the efforts of his minister were not attended with the desired success, seemed unwilling to interfere any farther in an affair which might have led him into a quarrel with the empire. The executive troops, at the same time, remained almost in a state of inactivity; and seemed rather to guard the frontiers of this petty state, than to make any attempt to reduce it to obedience. Neither this conduct, however, nor the exhortations of Prussia, added to the moral certainty of their being soon compelled to lay down their arms, made any change in the conduct of the malecontents. They declared openly, in the face of all Europe, that they would either conquer or die; and they persisted in this resolution, while commerce, manufactures, and the public revenues, were going daily to decay.
Having at length openly attacked the executive forces without the territories of their city, the emperor could no longer remain an indifferent spectator. It was now full time to put a period to that madness to which the people had abandoned themselves; and to accomplish this in an effectual manner, the imperial
chamber at Weizlar requested the emperor, as a member of the ancient circle of Burgundy, to execute its orders respecting this object. In consequence of this measure, Baron Alvinzi, who commanded a body of Austrians cantoned in Limburg and the confines of Brabant, notified, by order of Marshal Bender, to the states and municipality of Liege, that the emperor intended to send troops into their city and territories, for the purpose of restoring tranquillity and good order. The states had already been informed of this resolution by their agent at Weizlar. They therefore wrote to Marshal Bender, to assure him of the respectful confidence which they placed in the justice and magnanimity of the emperor, and to request that the Austrian troops might enter alone, without those of the electors; and that they might be confined to occupy the gates and the suburbs only. To this letter, which was carried to Brussels by a deputation of the states, Marshal Bender returned a very satisfactory answer, relating to the disposition of the electoral troops: but Baron Alvinzi, in a note which he wrote to the states, insisted among other articles, that all the citizens should throw down their arms; that proper accommodations should be prepared for the officers and men; that the warlike stores, collected for making resistance, should be removed; and that cockades, and every other distinctive mark of the like kind, should be laid aside before the arrival of the imperial troops. However humiliating these preliminaries might be, especially that of a general disarming, the states and municipalities acquiesced without the least reserve; and their submission, as sudden as complete, was communicated to the people, with an exhortation to follow their example.
Notwithstanding this pacific appearance, two days before the entrance of the imperial troops, the municipal council of Liege, flattering themselves, perhaps, with the hopes of assistance from Prussia, assured the inhabitants that they would remain unshaken in their post, and that they had sworn never to desert the cause in which they were engaged. This, however, did not prevent the Austrian troops, to the number of 6000, from penetrating, without opposition, into the heart of the city; where they occupied every post; made the citizens lay aside their arms, uniforms, and cockades; and in a single hour, dethroned so many sovereigns of a year. The greater part of the municipal officers, who two days before had solemnly promised such great things, betook themselves to flight, and retired either to France or Wesel; while the ancient magistracy, which had been expelled in the month of August 1789, was provisionally reinstated by the directorial commissioners.—The decrees of the imperial chamber at Weizlar have since been executed in their utmost extent. The ancient magistracy was restored; and the prince himself returned. The French took this city in 1792, were driven out in 1793, but occupied it again in 1794. From this time they retained possession of it till 1815, when it was annexed to the kingdom of the Netherlands.