ANTWERP AND"ITS APPROACHES.

ANTWERP was a marquisate under the Dukes of Brabant, and in- cluded Ghent, Termonde, 'roomy, Valenciennes, and all the castles

on the Scheldt. The city itself is situated on the eastern or right bank of the river, 17 leagues from the sea, 8 from Brussels, 6 from Bergen-op-Zoom, 22 from the Hague, 38 from Amsterdam, 11 from Breda, 8 from Tournhout, 3 from Lierre, 5 from Malines'or Mechlin 28 from Maestricht, 25 from Liege, 36 from Aix-la- Chapelle, GO front Luxembourg, 24 from Mons, 5 from St. Nicholas, 12 from Ghent.

The city of Antwerp was burnt by the Normans in 830, and half of the inhabitants massacred. In 879 it was taken possession of by the Moors. They were driven out, in 886, by the Gauls ; who kept possession till 980; Ivhen it fell into the hands of the Flemings. At the commence- ment of the sixteenth century, the Spaniards, tinder Charles, son of the Emperor Alaximilian, took the town. After a lapse of tWo hundred years, it came under the dominion of Austria. In 1585, it was taken by the Prince of Parma, after a twelvemonth's siege. After the battle of Rathilies, in 1706, it surrendered to the Duke of :Marlborough, the French having occupied it for some years previous. The French re- took it in 1746; quitted it again in 1748; again took possession of it in 1702 ; quitted it in 1793; took it once more in 1794, and held it till 0-41.1. From 1814 to 1816, it was garrisoned by the English, for William King of the Netherlands.

The population of Antwerp is about 60,000 two centuries back, it Was 200,000. It has 22 public squares, and 212 streets. The fine tower of nitre Dame is 450 It high, exelusive of the cross, which is la feet more. from the top can be seen every thing, even the smallest, that takes place in the Citadel.

The Church of Notre Dame is well known to artists from its pos- sessing two of the finest specimens of Rubens's pencil. They were car- ried off by the French, but restored along with the other restorations of 1815. We believe every means have been used, under their present circumstances, to protect them from accidental injury. When Napo- kon hadannexed the Belgian provinces to France, he formed the design of raising Antwerp into a great naval emporium. In pursuance of this design, in the summer of 180.1 he caused the first stone of a navy-yard to be laid with great solemnity by iMalonet, the :Maritime Prefect of the department. This yard was intended to be sufficiently spacious for laying down at least twenty ships of the line. It was never completed, and there is not at present a vestige of it remaining. On the port very large sums were expended; the wet•docks alone cost upwards of 13,000,000 of francs.

Antwerp and its Citadel were confided, after the disasters of the Russian campaign and the reverses which almost immediately followed, to the guardianship of the celebrated Carn6t. Carnet had fbr years abstained from mingling in public I.N:incss, ; and though it was said of

him in the early years of the that he organized ictory in the armies of France, during the 1,r:illant career of the Emperor he led a life of the most strict and imend,irions privacy, conversing only with a few friends and with his Ian in:. When, however, he saw the soil of his beloved France threatened; he came forth from his long re- treat to assist in its defence, and the immediate consequence of his

offer of service was the confiding of Antwerp to his care. high was his reputation, that no attempt was made to disturb him by the victo- rious Allies ; nor was it until the treaty of Paris that the city of Ant-

werp was placed at their disposal. 'Opposite the 'fete-de-Flandre, the Scheldt is about 700 yards across. It is 20 feet deep at low-water, and.40 feet deep at high-water. At that point it was proposed, in the time of Napoleon, to throw a bridge across, but a sort of pout vaunt is all that has ever been established for facilitating the communications between the opposite banks of the river. The quays, which extend front* the ruins of the arsenal, near the Citadel, to the wet-docks at the oppOsite extremity of the town, are spacious. The city is built in the form of a segment of a circle, of which the river is the chord. There are covered ways both on the land and the river side, communicating with the intrenched camp in the neighbour- hood of the Docks ; into which, should the town fall into the hands of the Dutch, the Belgian troops could readily retire. The fine walks which the quays afforded to the inhabitants, are now cut up into bat- teries, erected, some to threaten the Tete-de-Flaudre, and others to bombard the Citadel. The citadel is in the form of a pentagon, with nine bastions. It was erected in 1568, under the directions of the Duke of Alva, by Pacerotti. It has one principal entrance, on the North side, from the Marine Arsenal ; mid a private entrance, to admit supplies, from the East side, near the causeway, leading from Boom. It contains a handsome church, fifteen wells, and bomb-proof buildings for a garrison of 8,000 men. Its present garrison is about 6,000. The Citadel is a 'place of great strength: It is defended externally by several outworks ; two triangular batteries being situated to the landward, on the side opposite to the town, and three still more considerable fortifications on the promontory Called the Tete-de-Flandre, on the other side of the river. To strengthen himself on that side, General Chasse has caused the dikes t of the polder # to be cut ; and has thus in- undated the whole district from Burcht, above Antwerp, to the Pyp de Tabac, below it. The principal outworks on the : right bank arc the Lunette de Rid, which is close to the river, and the Lunette St. Laurent, which serves to protect the only landward 'entrance into the Citadel. Fort Montebello, which is in the immediate neighbour- hood of the Lunette St. Laurent, is in the hands of the Belgians. In addition to the Citadel, the Dutch. forces 'are,la possession of. Fort Liefkenshoek, on the left, and Fort on_the right bank of the river, both about three leagues below the city ;• the Lunette St. Laurent already noticed, above the city, on the right batik; the Tete- de-Flandre, with its dependency, Fort Oosterweel or St. Hilaire, on • 60,057. Encyclopadia Britannica, new edition, art. "Antwerp." • - • Dike does not bear in Holland the same meaning that it does in England; in liol• land it is used to signify a mound or bank for the purpose of protecting the low lands from inundation.

Polder is a name given by the Dutch to those fields that lie considerably below the ordinary level of the river. By cutting the dike that surrounds them, they can of course at any time be flooded.

t e et an , mmediately opposite to the Citadel. There is also a redoubt called Zwyndrecht attached tit the Tete-de-Flandre, but it is of no great value.

TETE-DE.PLANDRE.—This strong fortification has three grand bas- tions; two which command the river, and one to the westward or land side, besides some strong works built under the direction of the Duke of Wellington to defend the access by the Ghent road. The whole of the works are entirely surrounded by ditches about fifty feet across. The Tete-de-Flandre must be carried before an effectual attack can be made upon the Citadel. Since the peace, the military roads and approaches round the fort have been put in complete repair : formeriv there was a marsh for some miles round, which was completely im- passable.

GHENT, or Gs NI), is situated on the Scheldt, at its confluence with the Lys, 10 leagues N. W. of Brussels, and about the same distance S. W. of Antwerp. The Lys nearly surrounds the town. Ghent has a commodious canal navigation to Bruges, which is about 22 miles dis- tant on the road to Ostend. The city is completely surrounded: with ditches, fed by the different streams in its neighbourhood; there are nine principal gates, all furnished with drawbridges and guard- houses. Sixty-eight principal bridges (forty-five of stone and twenty- three of wood), besides numerous smaller ones for foot ptc.sengers, con- nect the different parts of the town. The citadel, which stands :a the N.E. extremity, facing the road to Antwerp, is a regular square, with strong bastions at each corner. To the north, is a canal which runs to Sas de Gand and Terneuse. The circuit of the walls of Ghent is about twelve miles. It contains about 70,000 inhabitants. The streets are spacious, and the market-places large and numerous. There are many buildings still remaining, which exhibit the architecture of its ancient masters, the Moors and Spaniards. Ghent anti its nei.ch- bouthood have been a principal theatre of warflere in all tine long-enn- tested struggles of the different competitors for the se.vereigntv of Flanders, whether Austrians, Spaniards, French, or Di.: l:. In ancient times, the city was formidable; but under the modern r :-, tent of attack. it is incapable of much resistance, from the great ext.] e el' its lines. it is worthy of remark, that the citadels both of this 1-l: te. alai Antwerp were not built for defence from foreign assailan1, hot as a militiuT cheek upon the mutinous spirit of the cities 6:m1s:4N-es, amidst thy: conflicting interests of the different states who hell thew from time to time in subjection.: BEners:-or-Zoosr, one of the strongest fortresses in Dutch 13rabanr, is situated about 25 miles N. of Antwerp and 22 S. w. of Breda. It stands partly on a hill, and partly on the river Z . b r ouch of time East Scheldt. Along the river, opposite the Isle of Tholeo, is a line of very strong batteries. Another line of forts stretches across the country northward, completely commanding all the approaches from the Dutch side.; Bergen-op-Zoom contains 5,000 inhabitants, exclusive of the garrison. An attempt to storm it, in 1813, • was attendee' with great loss to the English force employed.

Bunna is a strongly-fortified town ; it stands on the rivers An and Merck, 22 miles N. E. of Bergen-op-Zoom, and 22 W. by S. of Bois- le-Due, or, as the Dutch call it, Hertogenbosch. Breda contains up- wards of 2,000 houses, and not less than 9,000 inhabitants.

Baussess, the capital of the new kingdom of Belgium, is situated about 10 leagues from Antwerp, and about the same distance from Ghent. The city is walled, with different gates of entrance. The river Senne passes through. the middle of the town, together with a canal connected with that branch of the river which falls into the Scheldt near Boom. A chain of fortifications surrounds the whole town, and there are double rows of trees both around the outer fortifie cations and the city walls. The population of Brussels is about 70,0110, besides military. In 1578, the city lost 27,000 of its inhabitants by the plague. In 1695, it was bombarded by the French, under Marshal Villeroy; when upwards of 4,000 houses, and 16 churches, chapels, and convents were destroyed. There is a paved road from Antwerp to Malines, and one which leads through the midst of the forest of Soigny to Waterloo.

MALINES, or MEcittisf, stands on the river Pyle, a branch of the Scheldt, 12 miles 1s. E. of Brussels, about the same distance N. W. of

Louvaine, and 15 miles S.E. of Antwerp. The town is intersected by numerous canals. It is noted for its founderies for cannon and other warlike engines ; it has also famous quilt-manufactures, and excellent beer. Its most noted production, however, is its well-known thread lace, which is even more celebrated than that of Brussels. Mechlin contains a population of 16,000. It is well fortified.

DENDERMONDE, or TERMONDE, lies on the:bank of the Scheldt to the right of the high road leading from Ghent to Antwerp. It occupies a very convenient position as a military. station from which to attack either of these cities, and more particularly by the ready access to stores and provisions from its water-carriage. Dendermonde contains 8,000 inhabitants.