ABSTRACT
The story of the reopening of the Scheldt comprises four principal episodes. First came the unsuccessful campaign of the 1780’s, culminating in the celebrated attempt of the Emperor Joseph II to compel tht Dutch Republic to open the river. Ten years later Revolutionary France overthrew the Republic and with it the closure of the Scheldt. But although the year 1795 marked the real end of the closure, it was not until 1815 that the reunion of the Netherlands under the ægis of the Great Powers promised to effect a permanent solution of the “Scheldt question”. This promise was not, however, to be fulfilled. In 1830 came the Belgian Revolution and with it the need to seek a settlement of the question along new lines. That settlement was ultimately achieved by the treaties of 1839.
