Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/744

738 LUXEMBUEG LUYNES ber of breweries. Luxemburg is a representa- tive monarchy, the king of the Netherlands be- ing the grand duke and sharing the legislative functions with a diet which consists of 40 depu- ties, elected in 13 electoral districts by a direct vote for a term of six years. Every third year one half of the members are elected. The chamber meets annually and elects its own president and vice presidents. The grand duke is represented by a prince of his family, who bears the title of stadtholder ; and a special sec- retary for the affairs of the grand duchy is em- ployed in the royal cabinet at the Hague. The highest administrative board is the "govern- ment," in the city of Luxemburg, consisting of a president and three directors general. The revenue in 1871 amounted to $1,064,000, the expenditure to $988,000. The public debt, ex- clusively consisting of railroad loans, amounts to about $2,280,000. The armed force num- bers about 500 men. The aggregate length of railroads is about 105 m. The king of the Netherlands was by virtue of this possession a member of the German confederation, had a vote in the diet, and furnished for Luxemburg and Limburg a contingent of about 3,000 men to the federal army; but in 1866 the dissolution of the confederation put an end to the connec- tion of Luxemburg with Germany. The state of public affairs in the duchy for some time gave rise to serious complications, the German diet having authorized the king in 1839 to rule it according to the political principles which prevail in other parts of the Netherlands, while the Luxemburgers demanded a more liberal form of government. Hassenpflug, the minis- ter in Luxemburg, was at length compelled to resign in 1840. After the accession of King William II. some privileges were granted to the grand duchy (Oct. 12, 1841), and in 1842 it joined the German Zollverein. Until 1848, however, the country was agitated by political and religious strife, in which the Roman Cath- olic bishop Laurent took a conspicuous part. The revolution of 1848 put an end to this agi- tation, and introduced parliamentary govern- ment, which however has since been modified. The conflict between the liberal and the gov- ernment party ended in 1858 in favor of the latter, and the royal civil list was raised in the same year from 100,000 to 200,000 francs. In 1867 Napoleon III. entered into secret nego- tiations with the king of the Netherlands for the sale of the grand duchy, and an agreement would have been arrived at but for the protest of the North German confederation, which, supported by the South German states, notified France that the transfer of the grand duchy to that power would be opposed if necessary by force of arms. In order to fiad a peaceable solution for the threatening complication, a conference of the powers which had signed the treaty of 1839 met in London on May 7, 1867, which on May 11 agreed upon the fol- lowing treaty: "Luxemburg remains with the house of Nassau-Orange, and forms for ever a neutral state, which is placed under the joint guarantee of all the signers of the treaty with the exception of the neutral Belgium. The grand duchy continues to belong to the Ger- man customs union ; the fortress is evacuated by the Prussian troops, razed by the king of the Netherlands, and cannot be restored." LUXEMBURG, a city, capital of the grand duchy of Luxemburg, on the Elze or Alzette, 76 m. S. S. E. Of Liege ; pop. in 1871, 14,440. Its situation has been frequently compared with that of Jerusalem ; it is completely sur- rounded by high escarped rocks. The upper town occupies a plateau, joined to the neigh- boring country only on the west. On the other three sides are precipices nearly 200 ft. deep. Similar rocks rise opposite to these, en- closing a valley, in whose depths the lower town nestles. The communication between the upper and lower towns is by flights of steps, or by streets carried up in zigzags, so as to make them passable for carriages. The fortifications of Luxemburg, which gave the town a remarkably picturesque appearance, were successively increased and improved by the Spaniards, Austrians, French, and Dutch, and entirely repaired and much strengthened after 1830 by the German diet, but were razed in 1867 and the following years, in accordance with the stipulation of the treaty of London. The most remarkable part of the fortifications was that called Le Hone, a projecting headland of rock, hollowed out from top to bottom, and commanding with its loopholes and embrasures the valley up and down ; its casemates resem- bled those of Gibraltar. Carnot declared Lux- emburg to be "the strongest fortress in Eu- rope, next to Gibraltar ; the only point for an attack upon France from the direction of the Moselle." In spite of its strength, however, none of the many sieges of Luxemburg was particularly remarkable. It was one of the principal fortresses of the German confedera- tion, and garrisoned by 6,000 Prussian troops. Luxemburg has a fine cathedral and other churches, and various public institutions. The industry is carried on in the lower town, where are many mills, dye works, and manufacturing establishments. An international bank with a capital of 40,000,000 francs was established here in 1856. The great Luxemburg railway con- nects it with Brussels and Treves, and diligences with Metz, the journey to the latter city leading over some of the most favorite hunting grounds and the wildest regions of the Ardennes. LUXOR. See THEBES. LI VISES, Honore Theodoric Paul Joseph d'ilbert, duke de, a French archasologist, Worn in Paris, Dec. 15, 1802, died in Rome, Dec. 14, 1867. He was descended from the elder branch of the ancient family of Albert, which assumed alternately the names of Luynes and Ohevreuse, from an intermarriage in 1622 of Claude de Lorraine, one of the early lords of the town of Chevreuse, with the widow of Charles d' Al- bert, duke de Luynes, the latter a constable of