Coupled with its ancient fiery and quarrelsome disposition, its chief manufacture is a characteristic one, being that of cannon and fire-arms, which it at one time, exported to Spain, Portugal, Holland and America. Under France, the imperial factory of arms furnished annually, twenty-seven thousand muskets for the imperial army. A story is told that the rest of the trade, anxious to share in the profits of the monopoly, besought Napoleon to admit them to a share of the supply, and presented him with a finely-finished piece as a specimen of their talents. But as, either by accident or malice, the bore of the barrell was too narrow to admit the ramrod, the Emperor gave no other answer than a frown to their ill-supported petition. Under Holland in 1829, the production of Liege amounted to no less than 190,660 stand of arms; in 1836, it rose to nearly double that quantity, but it is at present, fallen much _below one half_, and the trade is still in a state of decline. The manufacture is carried on at the homes of the workmen, who, nevertheless, established a perfect division of labour in producing the various parts, and can furnish the entire at a lower rate than either Birmingham or France, a double-barrelled gun can be had for thirty or even twenty francs. The percussion lock has not yet been substituted in the Belgian army for the flint. The cannon foundery is calculated to produce 300 pieces a year; and in 1837, the most flourishing period of the trade, it even exceeded that number. There is a flax-spinning mill at Liege with 10,000 spindles, the property of a joint-stock company, of whom Mr. Cockerill was the chief proprietor. Its works are now languid, owing to a want of consumption, and a gentleman acquainted with its affairs, spoke very despondingly of its prospects. Coals, though found in the immediate neighbourhood, are dear, as they lie deep, and we saw them generally mixed into balls with clay for the use of the stoves in the hotels and private houses, an indication that their price is a stimulant to economy.