The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-05-09
THE F|ATEO
 LUxEMBURC


 As result of the war it is practically certain that the checkered existence of Luxemburg as an indepdent grand duchy will come to an end. At the very outset of the war the Germans. disregarding the treaty by which they were bound with the other powers to guarantee the neutrality of the grand duchy, took possession of Luxemburg and have since, for all practical pur- poses, incorporated it into the empire. That the Kaiser, in the event of a Teutonic victory, would give up Lux emburg is a possi bility even more re- mote than that he would voluntarily abandon Belgium. On the contrary, an Allied triumph in all probability means that Luxemburg will be incor- porated with Belgium. The failure of the government of the grand-duehy to make even the slightest show of resistance to the Germans, or to make a serious protest against the Teutonic occupation, has, so Allied statesman declare, relieved their governments of any obligation to maintain an inde- pendence and neutrality which the Luxemburg government has abandon ed. The larger part of old Luxem burg was already a part of Belgium before the war, the Belgian province of Luxemburg having an area. of l. 695 square miles in extent and has
 
 It will be forty-nine years on Sum day since a conference of the repre- sentatives of the powers met in Lon don and agreed upon a. treaty guaran- teeing the neutrality of the grand duchy. the retirement of the Prus- sian fortress, and the dismantIing of the great fortress of Luxemburg, reckoned to be the most formidable stronghold in Europe with the sole exception of Gibraltar. Prussia was one of the powers. to respect and guarantee the neutrality of her little neighbor. Prior to the London com ference of May 2, 1867, a diplomatic contest for the possession of the duchy had been waged between Prus- sia and France. All of the great pow CTS, and also Italy, Holland and Bel giun, were represented at the Lon don conference. The province was di- vided, Belgium receiving a, rich and populous section, while the remainder became the independent and neutral grand-ducfy of Luxemburg, with it's crown hereditary in the Nassau fam fly, the reigning house of the Neither lands. The Prussians evacuated the fortress a few months later, but the actual demolition of the Qualifications did not take place until 1872.
 The grand-duchy of Luxemburg is sandwiched in between Belgium. Rhenish Prussia and France, and it thus occupies an important strategic position. It was originally called Lut- zelburg, and was governed by Ger man princes, whose progenitor was Count Siegfried of the Ardennes It subsequently, became a possession of the counts of Limburg, one of whom assumed the name of Count of Lux emburg. To this house belonged the Emperors Henry VII, Charles ", son of King John of Bohemia, Wen ceslas and Sigismund, in the four teenth and fifteenth centuries, all of whom but the first also reigned over Bohemia. Charles w. elevated Lux emburg to the rank of a duchy. Wen ! ceslas, after the free and easy man ner of the monarchs of that period, gave the country as a birthday gift to his niece Elizabeth, who in turn gave it to Philip the GSod of Burgundy. Later it came in to the possession of l Maxirnilian of Austria, and the Elm peror Charles V. gave it to his son. Philip II. of Spain. In 1713 it was