Helena, Napoleon declared that the
war continued chiefly because he would not give up Antwerp. "Antwerp,"
he said, "was to me a province in itself. If they would have left it
to me, peace would have been concluded." He wanted to keep a fleet in
the Scheldt, so as to threaten England. If you look at a map of
Europe, you will see how near the Scheldt is to Kent and Essex. The
Belgians cannot do us any harm, but it would be a dangerous thing for
England if some strong and unfriendly nation had possession of
Antwerp.
But we must leave Antwerp, and hurry on to Brussels, which is the
capital of Belgium.
It is just an hour by railway, and as the train rushes on you will see
on your right a town from the middle of which rises a massive square
tower. The town is Malines (or Mechlin), and the tower is that of the
Cathedral of St. Rombold. Malines was once, like Bruges, a most
important city, and so many pilgrims went there that the cost of
building the cathedral was paid out of their offerings. It is now the
seat of the Archbishop of Belgium; but its former glory has long since
departed, and it is even more quiet and desolate than Bruges.
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