Antwerp, having now reached the zenith of its com mercial greatness, began to feel those symptoms of de cay, which, however slow in their operations, never fail to effect the ruin of every human establishment. The wars, which raged in the Low Countries, contributed to diminish the activity of commerce, by the exorbitant rate of 12 per cent., to which the interest of money had been raised; as well as by the ravages to which Ant werp was particularly exposed. The sack of the town by the duke of Parma in 1585, and the excesses com mitted by the persecuting duke of Alva‘ induced the protestant inhabitants to seek an asylum in England, and in Holland ; hut particularly in Amsterdam, to which the trade of Antwerp was now transferred.
At the conclusion of these commotions, when the united provinces were liberated from the Spanish yoke, Antwerp might still have recovered from the shocks which its commerce had received ; but, by a fatal mis take, it abandoned the common cause, and thus gave the last blow to its commercial existence. The Dutch had the complete command of the Scheldt by means of fort Lillo ; and Antwerp, thus excluded from the ocean, was restricted to a precarious traffic with the neighbour ing provinces. The ruin of Antwerp was also sanc tioned by Philip IV, who, in 1648, agreed by an article in the treaty of Munster, that no large merchant vessel should sail to this city ; but that the cargo should be first unloaded in the Dutch ports, and then conveyed in small vessels to Antwerp.
These misfortunes directed the attention of the in habitants to the establishment of manufactures. Those of lace and tapestry form an important branch of com merce; and the manufactures of printed cotton, and stuffs of silk and wool, have met with success. In 1757,
an extensive hat manufactory was erected, in which there acre no fewer than forty-five English workmen; and a of the city's resources was de rived from the banking and assurance companies.
The late emperor Joseph attempted to open the navi gation of the Scheldt, but, from several causes, this measure was never effected. In 1794, when the Nether lands were annexed to France, the navigation of the Scheldt was declared free; and its commerce, since that period, has regularly increased. The following list of the vessels which arrived there, from 1800 to 1805, will exhibit a view of its present flourishing state: A canal has lately been ordered to be executed, for joining the Rhone, the Meuse, and the Scheldt ; and new dock-yards, and a magnificent quay, are in a state of forwardness. In 1805, nine ships of the line from 74 to 110 guns, were on the stocks.
According to Guiccardini, the population of Antwerp, when us commerce was most flomishing, was 100,000; but Busching makes the number of inhabitants 200,000, about the middle of the sixteenth century. The po pulation must now be increasing with rapidity ; but it is only a few years ago since it was estimated at 50,000. Distance from Amsterdam, seventy-five miles south ; and from Brussels twenty-five miles north. E. Long. 4" 24' 19". N. Lat. 51° 15' 22". See Guiccardini's Descrittione di tutu Paesi Bassi. In ?nversa. 1567, p. 126. Peuchet's Dia. Geograph. et Contmerf, vol. ii. p. 569. Pinkerton's Geography, vol. i. p. 320, Note, and Beckmann's Hist. of Inventions, vol. i. p. 592. ilumc's Hist. Chap. xxvi. vol. S. p. 398, chap xh vol. 5. p. 195.