The manufactures of this city have always held a dis tinguished place in the trade of Europe. Its laces and carpets have seldom been equalled, and never surpass ed; and though of late years, many of its workmen have been dragged from their homes, to supply the waste of the French armies, yet these manufactures are still car ried on to a considerable extent. All kinds of cotton and woollen stuffs are made here. Its eamlets are su perior, both in beauty and quality, to those of Leyden and England; and its silk stockings equal in fineness those of Paris, and, as they use only the silk of Pied mont, are far superior in quality. They manufacture also gold and silver lace, which can scarcely be distin guished from the finest of Lyons and Paris. Great quan tities of this article are sent. to India, and to every part of Europe ; and the Brussels merchants have greatly the advantage over all their competitors, since Labour is here much cheaper, and since they are allowed, as an encouragement to industry, to export it free of duty. The considerable drawback, however, upon tills manu facture is, that they must bring all their gold and sil ver wire from Paris, Amsterdam, and Lyons. It has, besides, several manufactories of potash; and its earthen ware is said to be even preferable to that of Delft or Rouen. But though Brussels may still surpass many of the cities of Europe in the beauty and quality of some of its manufactures, yet it has greatly fallen from its former eminence as a commercial city, and retains very little of that activity which characterised it while under the dominion of the Dukes of Brabant and the house of Austria. Its fair, which is held annually on the 8th of October, has now lost its most regular and wealthy vi sitors, the merchants of England; and the blockade of the Scheldt, greatly hinders its communication with tho eastern and western continents.
In 1321, the citizens of Brussels were divided into nine classes, called nations, who were formed of the principal artisans of the city. They are distinguished by the names of Notre Dame, St Giles, St Laurent, St Geri, St Jean, St Christophre, St Jaques, St Pierre, and St Nicholas, each nation having a chief or dean, with his assistant council. They were assembled by a bell, called the bell of the nations, to signify their consent, in the name of the city, to ally subsidy demanded by the sovereign, or to any proposition of the burgomaster.
Besides the governor-general and council, the magis tracy of Brussels formerly consisted of an amtnan, a burgomaster, seven echevins, two treasurers, a pen sionary, three secretaries, three gressicrs, and two re ceivers. These were elected by the governor from the descendants of seven patrician families, who according to Putcanus, a famous historian of the country, were anciently the lords of Brussels, viz. the families of Steen weghe, Slceuws, Serhuyghs, Coudenberg, Serrcelofs, Swccrts, and Rodenbeeck. It had also a deputy amman, an under burgomaster, nine counsellors chosen from the citizens, a superintendent of the canal, a receiver for the canal, and a gressier of the treasury. The se cond burgomaster, the counsellors, and the receivers, were named by the first burgomasters; and the offices of ammans, secretaries, and gressiers of the treasury, were perpetual. All matters relative to the citizens
were cognizable before the magistracy, with the right of appeal to the superior council. Since its annexation to France, however, this form of government has been abolished. It has now a prefect, a secretary-general, a receiver-general, a payer of the public treasure, and a director of the customs. It is the imperial court for the departments of Jcmappes, the Two Nethes, the Dyle, the Scheldt, and the Lys. It has also a court of criminal and special justice, with a chamber and tribu nal of commerce.
The city of Brussels owes its origin to St Gery, bi shop of Cambray, who, in the beginning of the 7th cen tury, built a chapel in a small island, formed by two branches of the Senile, and preached the gospel to the neighbouring peasants. Attracted by the pleasantness of the situation, and the piety of the venerable bishop, the peasants flocked from the surrounding country, and munerous huts soon arose along the banks of the river. These, in a short time, increased to a considerable vil lage, to which they gave the name of Brusscl, /armitage bridge, and so early as the year 900, it had both a mar ket and a castle.. In 1044, it was first enclosed with a wall, and fortified with towers. of some vestiges are still remaining ; and, in 1379, it was greatly en larged and walled round, in the manner in which it now appears. It became the residence of the Dukes of Bra bant, and afterwards of the Austrian governors, who kept their court here with all the honours of a sovereign prince ; and during the usurpation of Croumell, this city was also the occasional residence of Charles II. of England, and his brother the Duke of York.
In 1695, it was bombarded by :‘larshal Villcroy, who advanced towards Brussels in hopes of compelling the allies to raise the siege of and poured in such a quantity of bombs and red-hot bails, that the city took fire, in which 4000 houses, and 14 beautiful churches, were consumed. After the battle of Ramillies, it was abandoned by the friends of Philip V. and the keys of the city were presented to the Duke of Marlborough, who took possession of it in the name of Charles III. King of Spain. It was again besieged in 1708, by Maxi milian Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, who, after having been repulsed, was compelled to retire by the approach of the Duke of Marlborough. Marshal Saxe took Brus sels in 1746, but it was restored at the peace of Aix-la Chapelle, and continued under the Austrian government until the revolutionary war, when Dumourier entered it on the 14th of November 1792, soon after the battle of Jemappe. He, however, quitted it to the Austrians on the 23d of March in the following year, and left no traces of his hostile visit, except the universal defacing of the imperial ensigns. The French regained complete possession in the summer of 1794, and at the peace it was annexed to France. Population, 75,000; or, ac cording to Tinscau's Statistical View of France, 66,279. E. Long. 4° 26', N. Lat. 50° 51'. See Bygge's Travels in the French Republic, p. 51 ; Trotter's Memoirs of Mr Fox, p. 110, 153 ; Shaw's Sketches of the History of the ll'ethcrlands ; Holcroft's Travels from Ham burgh to Paris ; Peuchet Dictionnairc, f.7c.; and Tynna Alma• atach du Commerce, 1811. (//)