The Alaska daily empire., 1914-08-13
LIEGE AND NAMUR
 IN PUBLIC EYE

many's plan to cut across Belgium in. to French territory but in itself and regardless of its strategic position is prize which any power may well de- sire. For miles 1t stretches along the banks of the Mouse, yeritable Pitts burgh, with its scores of blast furn- aces, pudding furnaces, rolling mills, and forges and is the home of the famed Cockerill Works, one of the worlds largest manufactories of ma chinery.
 The city proper lies at the junction of the Mouse and the ourthe and has population of upwards of 16S,0O0. The city is known to travellers for its beautiful gardens which seem to have conquered in the struggle with coal dust, for Liege is coal and iron city, and its mines form maze of tunnels under the city and river bed. During the past century Liege has played but small part in war, but, in the very centre of conflict today 1t finds itself well defended with modern Qualifications, and military strategists are beginning to believe that it is far better equipped than they had imag- ined. In 1888 Belgium decided to for tify adequately both Liege and Namur, the two most important points on the Mouse River, and at each place a num- Der of detached forts were construct ed. At Liege twelve of these forts were built, six on the right and six on the left side of the river, the average distance between the forts being four miles. Twenty-Five thousand men are necessary for their adequate defense.
 History first takes note of Liege in the sixth century, at which time a town grew up around the original chapel founded there by St. Monulph, Bishop of Tongres. In the tenth cen tury the Episcopate of Notger, sue ceeding the earlier line, was marked by large territorial acquisitions, and the See became recognized as an in- dependent principality of the French Empire. The exactions of the Episco- pal sovereigns gave rise to innumer- able popular struggles for freedom, and the domestic unrest, coupled with the desire of the soyereigns to pre- serve their neutrality in the various wars and to prevent raids by invading armies finally resulted in Marl- borough's taking Liege in 17O2.
 The fortress was then garrisoned by the Dutch until ITS. In 1792 the prin- cipality was overrun by the French revolutionary forces and until the fall of Napoleon was annexed to France, being known as the Department of Ourthe. In 1915 the Congress of Vienna decreed that Liege should form a part of the Netherlands under the rule of William I of the House of Orange. In 1880 the city played an active part in the Belgian revolt, and since that time has been incorporated in the Kingdom of Belgium.
 The lower part of the city has the crooked narrow streets of ancient times and is a well known spot to tourists. The upper portion is as fa- nous for it's wonderful gardens, and beautiful bridges which span the river at many points, and claims among It's other points of interest, the great cathedral of St. Paul. founded in the tenth century and rebuilt in the thir- teenth. The University, founded in 1877 is one of the largest in the coun- try and Is ranked high in the mining and manufacturing world.
 Namur.
 After nearly a century of peace the guns of Namur, which is serving as basis for the allied armies engaged in the attempt to resist Belgium's in- yaders are called once more into ac. tion and the grim fortress on the hill is again ready. to hold it's own against an attacking enemy should the oc- casion arise.
 Probably no other town in all Europe knows so well the horrors of war as does this onetime stronghold of the Aduatuci. The city is situated at the junction of the Sambre and the Mouse rivers, the fortress itself rising in formidable horseshoe of nine de- tached forts overlooking the city which spreads below, network of bridges and factories. Since the time of Julius Caesar the fort of Namur has been one of the most coveted vantage points in all the European wars. It has been repeatedly besieged and cap tured. In June of 1892 it was taken by the French under Louis XIV, who later under Boufflers lost it to the Allies under William III in 1895. Then it wavered back and forth between the French and Austria. During the Ma poleonic regime, in 1794, it came again to the French who held it until 1874. When the Congress of Vienna began the work of reconstructing Europe. in the we'll known series of decrees, Ma mur became a part of Belgium and has remained so until the present time.
 The whole rock bluff on which the forts stand is literally honey-comed with underground passages built to withstand siege, and in them an army may disappear for weeks. In the cen ter a huge pit is cut down through the rock to the bed of the river, thus sup plying water. Gallery after gallery all cut out at one time or another for defense, run in every direction. Some parts have been enlarged to form rooms or halls, the largest of which is claimed to have been broken out by prisoners of war and is thirty feel high. The dungeon is located exactly above the point where the two rivers meet and bears traces of practically