LIEGE, a province of the Netherlands, formed in part out of what, before the French Revolution, was the independent ecclesiastical state of that name, and was by France divided into the departments of the Ourthe and of the Sambre and Meuse. It contains also small parts taken from the duchy of Limburg, from the county of Dahlen and the abbey of Stablo, and also of certain villages known by the name of Terres de Redemption. It extends in N. lat. from 49° 40' to 50° 46', and in E. long. from 4° 49' to 5° 57', and is 2255 square miles in extent. It comprehends four arrondissements, divided into nine cantons, and those into 466 communes, containing 360,000 inhabitants, who are chiefly of the Walloon race, and speak that language, though of late years the use of the French tongue has been very much extended. The face of the country in the northern part is hilly; but in the southern, the largest division is mountainous, where the Ardennes forms a considerable portion. The soil is very various. On both sides the Meuse, towards the province of Limburg, there are some plains of moderate fertility, and well cultivated; but on that part where the Ourthe joins the Meuse, and especially towards Luxemburg, the land is rocky and stony, with much slate, which last is the prevailing stone in the woody district of the Ardennes. Agriculture in the north affords moderate products, in the south very poor returns; so that an importation of corn is regularly required, though the extension of potatoes, which has taken place of late years, has diminished the demand for grain. The woods are one of the chief sources of the wealth procured from the soil, and they cover more than 200,000 acres. There are mines producing iron and coal, which, before the revolution effected in Brussels in 1830, was a great source of benefit, the former yielding employment to numerous persons in making ironmongery goods; and the latter being of vast importance when the fuel consumed in Holland was drawn by the Meuse from Liège, instead of being furnished by sea from England. Besides the iron manufactures, there are others of paper, wood-work, leather, beer, and corn spirits. The city of Liège, the capital of the province and of the arrondissement of the same name, is situated on the left bank of the Meuse, where it is joined by the Ourthe. It is in a picturesque and fertile district, in a valley of contracted extent. It is fortified, and defended by two powerful citadels on the western and northern sides. It is not well built, though there are some spacious houses and splendid churches, with pleasing promenades. It contains 8000 houses, and 48,000 inhabitants, who are chiefly employed in the fabrication of great guns and small arms, cutlery, and other iron wares. There are breweries, distilleries, and tanneries, and other branches of industry; but all have suffered severely by political occurrences.