In 1622, during the reign of Albert and Isabella, the opening of a canal from Bruges to Ostend, _viâ_ Plasschendacle was for the first time determined upon. Twenty years later was dug the canal from Bruges to Nieuport and from Nieuport to Dunkerque. In 1646 Dunkerque was given up to France, and consequently the Flemings were obliged, in 1664, to direct their attention towards Ostend. The dimensions of this canal were now largely increased, and the sluices of Plasschendacle replaced by those of Slykens, much nearer the sea. In 1717, a powerful society, known as the _Compagnie des Indes_, was organised at Ostend. The undertaking met with wonderful success at its very beginning, and would probably have given back to Bruges some of its former movement and life, had not the Treaty of Paris of 1727, inspired by the jealousy of Holland and England, suspended for seven years the grant of the company, and later on forbidden all commercial intercourse between the Austrian Netherlands and the Indies. Four years later the Treaty of Vienna of 1731, stipulated expressly—Sec. 4 of the Act, dated from the Hague, 20th February, 1732—“That all commerce and navigation from the Austrian Netherlands to the East Indies, as also that all commerce and navigation from the East Indies to the Austrian Netherlands, shall cease for ever.”
In 1783, Joseph II., wishing to end the state of subjection that his provinces were labouring under, conceived the idea of linking the waters of Flanders with those of the sea, by means of canals to be dug exclusively in Flemish ground. He failed in the attempt, and it was only after the Netherlands had been joined to the French Empire that the work which the inhabitants of Bruges had been in vain seeking for centuries was again attempted. At their urgent request, Napoleon ordered a canal to be dug from Bruges to Sluys _viâ_ Damme; this it was intended to lengthen later on, as far as the Scheldt, somewhere near Breskens. The works unfortunately were carried on with extreme slowness, and the fall of the empire prevented their completion. In 1818 the canal was opened.
In 1829, King William found out the inefficiency of the issues of the Zwyn; he resumed the scheme of Napoleon I., and decided to push the new canal on to Breskens. The works were on the point of being ordered, when, in 1830, the Revolution broke out, and Bruges saw the realisation of her hopes again deferred.