Luxemburg and Her Neighbours Author:Ruth Putnam Subtitle: A Record of the Political Fortunes of the Present Grand Duchy From the Eve of the French Revolution to the Great War, With a Preliminary Sketch of Events From 963 to 1780 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1918 Original Publisher: G. P. Putnam's sons Subjects: Luxembourg History / General Travel /... more » Europe / Benelux Countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg) Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER IV THE REVOLUTION WITHIN AND WITHOUT THE UNITED STATES OF BELGIUM THE Declaration of Independence robbed the deposed ruler of a few weeks only of his sovereignty in the Belgic Lands.' On February 20, 1790, Joseph II. died, a thoroughly disheartened and disappointed man, who never understood why his beneficent plans for his people's welfare had failed of their mark. The refusal to accept his excellent plans was simply inexplicable! A pamphlet entitled // Diavolo in Vienna drew his picture in lines so very different from his own conception of himself as the intelligent benefactor of his divers peoples! And he was, indeed, almost a man of weight in his century. But he toiled in vain. To the hereditary Hapsburg estates, the Emperor's brother, Leopold, Grand Duke of Tuscany, was heir. In September he was elected Emperor, so that he was eventually successor in all the fraternal dignities. This son of Maria Theresa held different views from his senior and, before his actual accession, had taken pains to publish his opinions to the world at large so that all might read the plain statements of his political platform. The new United States of Belgium paid, however, little heed to the Austrian sovereign who was claiming to be their legal overlord. They continued to make their...« less