Manifesto of the Province of Flanders

"[1] The States also declared "all officials, lieges and other servants, whoever they may be, free and absolved from all concluded and indebted contracts, and discharged from every oath done to the fallen count of Flanders.

"[2] Resistance against the reign of Joseph II in the Austrian Netherlands, which worsened in 1786–87 when a number of States refused to pay their taxes (beden) and the landvoogden reversed all reform decrees on their own authority, escalated to open rebellion in the course of 1789, heavily influenced by the simultaneous French Revolution and Liège Revolution which had commenced a few months earlier.

[4] From Breda in the Dutch Republic, a small army of patriots first conquered Brabant, next Flanders, Hainaut, Tournai and the Tournaisis, Namur and the rest of the Southern Netherlands except Luxembourg, finally taking Brussels in December.

[5] The manifesto elaborates why the Habsburg princes had not fulfilled their "constitutional" duties, and therefore, the abjuration of Joseph II's right to rule was justified.

After summing up all violations of their rightful freedoms, the States of Flanders conclude: "Thus, one sought to subject the brave Netherlanders[6] to complete slavery, and treat them like the inhabitants of Moravia and Croatia."