Its
restlessness was increased by the French Revolution, which was now in
full progress; and all was ripe for another change of rulers, which
soon came.
The French Republicans, who beheaded their own King and his Queen (who
was, by-the-by, a sister of Joseph II.), invaded Belgium, driving out
the Austrians, and made it a part of France.
One thing the French did was very popular with the Belgians. It was
this: there was a treaty, called the Treaty of Muenster, made as long
before as the year 1648, which declared that the Dutch were to have
control of the Scheldt, and ever since then that splendid river, on
which Antwerp stands, had been closed, so that the trade of Antwerp,
the great Belgian seaport, had been entirely ruined. The French now
declared the Scheldt a free river, to be used by all nations. This was
tidings of great joy to the Belgians; but England would not allow the
Treaty of Muenster to be torn up in this way, and a war began between
England and France, which lasted till the fall of Napoleon in 1814.
During all that war Belgium was ruled by the French. When Napoleon
gave up his throne, and was sent to the Island of Elba, the Great
Powers met to settle Europe, which he had turned upside down.
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