this work, which in 1908 was being rapidly pushed on, Antwerp might
be regarded as one of the best fortified positions in Europe, and so
long as its communications by sea are preserved intact it will be
practically impregnable.

Two subsidiary or minor problems remained over. (1) The much-discussed
removal of the existing enceinte in order to give Antwerp further
growing space. If it were removed there arose the further question,
should a new enceinte be made at the first line of outer forts, or
should an enceinte be dispensed with? An enceinte following the line of
those forts would be 30 m. in length. Then if the city grew up to this
extended enceinte the outer forts would be too near. To screen the city
from bombardment they would have to be carried 3 m. further out, and the
whole Belgian army would scarcely furnish an adequate garrison for this
extended position. A new enceinte, or more correctly a rampart of a less
permanent character, connecting the eight forts of the inner line and
extending from Wyneghem to a little south of Hoboken, was decided upon
in 1908. (2) The second problem was the position on the left bank of the
Scheldt. All the defences enumerated are on the right bank. On the left
bank the two old forts Isabelle and Marie alone defend the Scheldt. It
is assumed (probably rightly) that no enemy could get round to this side
in sufficient strength to deliver any attack that the existing forts
could not easily repel. The more interesting question connected with
the left bank is whether it does not provide, as Napoleon thought, the
most natural outlet for the expansion of Antwerp. Proposals to connect
the two banks by a tunnel under the Scheldt have been made from time to
time in a fitful manner, but nothing whatever had been done by 1908 to
realize what appears to be a natural and easy project.

_Population._--The following statistics show the growth of population in
and since the 19th century. In 1800 the population was computed not to
exceed 40,000. At the census of 1846 the total was 88,487; of 1851,
95,501; of 1880, 169,100; of 1900, 272,830; and of 1904, 291,949. To
these figures ought to be added the populations (1904) of Borgerhout
(43,391) and Berchem (26,383), as they are part of the city, which would
give Antwerp a total population of 361,723.

_History._--The suggested origin of the name Antwerp from _Hand-werpen_
(hand-throwing), because a mythical robber chief indulged in the
practice of c