led Joseph II. came to the Austrian throne. He was a good man, and
wise in many ways, but he made the mistake of trying to bring in new
laws and customs which the people did not like. Belgium had been sunk,
ever since the time of Philip II., in poverty and ignorance. All the
people wished for was to be let alone, to amuse themselves, and to
have peace. But Joseph II. wanted to raise them up, and, most of all,
to spread knowledge and education among them.

The Austrian Netherlands--that is, Belgium--were more Catholic than
ever, and all the Bishops and priests were up in arms against the
reforms proposed by Joseph; and there was a revolution, which had not
finished when he died. It came to an end, however, soon after his
death, when the Catholics got all they wanted, though the Austrians
remained in power. But the country had become restless. 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. One of
the things they had to decide was what should be done with the
Austrian Netherlands, and the plan they arranged seemed a very good
one.

Austria did not want Belgium, and the plan was to make that country,
the Principality of Liege, and Holland, into one state, and call it
the "Kingdom of the Netherlands." It was to be ruled over by one of
the Orange family, a descen