1853.] Lanjuinais on the Maritime Inscription. of war as soon as they reach their twentieth year. The number of young men who each year attain to the age of twenty is greater than the number required to fill the vacancies in the army. Every one, therefore, need not serve, but only those to whose lot it falls, and they are only required to remain with their colours for seven years. The navy, on the contrary, can only be supplied from that very limited portion of the population who, being seamen by profession, are fit for the service of the fleet. The existing proportion between the number of men required for the navy and the small number of men who are sailors by trade, has rendered it necessary to impose the obligation of serving upon them all, and for nearly the whole of their lives. Before the days of Louis XIV., whenever a maritime war called for armaments, it was not to the town or country populations that attention was turned. Every harbour was closed, and with or against their will, as many sailors as were needed were taken and sent on board the ships of the fleet. It was impressment, as practised by the English up to our own times. This violent mode of recruiting came on a sudden, and upset all the arrangements of trade, and weighed in a most unequal manner upon the sailors, who were taken without distinction of age or previous service. An ordonnance of 17th December, 1665, made a first attempt at classification in some of the departments, which was afterwards applied to all the ports of the kingdom by ordonnances in 1668, 1673, and 1689. The system rested upon the preparation for every town or village on the coasts of a general roll of the sailors established there. They were divided into three classes, each of which were to serve one year on board the king's ships, and two years in the merchant service. In Brittany, Guyenne, Normandy, and Picardy, the service was only one year in four. Maritime districts were formed with inspectors to each. Those who disobeyed the summons to serve were treated as deserters, and captains were forbidden to employ men thus refusing to serve, or 215 whose names were not duly inscribed in the rolls. (Every year the rolls were examined; dead men and invalids struck off, and names added of those who had embraced the sea as their profession; M. Lanjuinais enters at length into these points and other details, which complete the subject.) The maritime inscription thus established was, at the period of the first revolution, the subject of serious discussion in the Constituent Assembly and the National Convention; but even in those days of universal revision of laws and institutions it was seen advisable to maintain that system which had for more than a century ensured the supply of men for the navy. The laws of the 15th May and 31st December, 1790, 13th May, 1791, and above all, that of the 3 Brumaire, year IV., did, in fact, keep up, with some modifications, the system which, since the time of Louis XIV., placed at the disposition of the state, in time of peace as well as of war, from the age of 18 to that of 50, an entire class of citizens. And this is the legislation which, in all its fundamental dispositions, is in force at the present time. The rigours of the Inscription have been compensated for by certain exemptions, and by financial advantages acceded to them. 1. The enrolled seamen alone have the right of navigating, of fishing, and of plying with boats on the waters of the sea, and of the roadsteads, streams, rivers, and pools which the law assimilates to the sea. 2. They are entitled, when in the service of the state, to pensions after twenty-five years' service, and to pensions for wounds and infirmities, like those of the officers and soldiers of the army. (Law of the 18th April, 1831.) 3. After reaching fifty years of age, and after twenty-five years' service, whether in the navy or merchant service, or even in the merchant service alone, the seamen to whom the law last mentioned does not apply, have a claim upon the chest of the Marine Invalides (into which a reserve of three per cent. of their wages has been paid) for halfpay, according to the provisions of the law of the 13th May, 1791. This half-pay is either a third or a quarter of the pay of their respective ranks, and may, with certain additions authorised by law, reach the amount of 600 francs. 4. The widows and children of sailors have a right, by the same law, to pensions or half-pay, and to assistance. 5. The sailors have the right to receive and to transmit gratuitously to their families, allotments of their pay and prize money, &c. 6. Every citizen comprised in the Naval Inscription is exempt from all other public service except that of the navy, the arsenals, and the sedentary national guard of his arrondissement. 7. They have the right at any age to free themselves from the duties attached to the Naval Inscription by a simple declaration that they renounce the profession of the sea. The Maritime Inscription has its admirers and its opponents. Two centuries of experience do not allow us to doubt its efficacy, but we must, nevertheless, examine the objection raised, and also compare it with the modes practised by other nations for recruiting their navies. The general objection is that the duty of military service falls much more heavily upon seamen than upon soldiers, and in effect, after seven years' service a soldier is free, whilst a sailor is placed at the disposal of Government from 18 years of age to 50, is held to serve whenever required, and is obliged to reside within his own quartier, unless furnished with a ticket of leave from the Commissioners of Inscription. No doubt there is here a great inequality, but there is nothing contrary to the principles of the Constitution, since the defence of the coasts and of the commercial and maritime interests can only be confided to men devoted to maritime pursuits, and their small number renders it necessary that all should be called in order to render the defence effective. But, at the same time, the sailor has a liberty which the soldier has not, as a sailor can at any time renounce his profession. This state of things is well defined in 1st article of the law of the 15th May, 1790, and the 25th article of the law of 3rd Brumaire, year IV. The first of these articles says'Every French citizen may embrace the maritime professions; all those who do embrace them will be liable to public service at sea or in the arsenals.' The second says 'Every seaman, whatever be his age, who wishes to renounce either going to sea or fishing, will be erased from the Maritime Inscription, by his simple declaration to that effect, one year after it has been made.' The right of the State is thus established on solid grounds. The service is also less rigorous than it appears, when we take into account the advantages granted; and by the reports made on the subject, it is shown that the exacted service does not exceed six years for each man, that is to say, one year less than that of a soldier. The condition of the soldier, moreover, is not always the most favourable. He cannot marry. He leaves a profession, and becomes less able to exercise it after his term of service is over. The sailor, on the other hand, continues in civil life and can marry. remains in his own profession and acquires more skill in it, so that he is more sought after by captains of vessels when he has served his time in a ship of war. He receives also a much higher pay than does the soldier. Hẹ Moreover, what other means could be substituted for this? There are three. Impressment, military recruiting, and voluntary engagement. Impressment is a barbarous means, the time for which is passed. It would not be endured, even in time of war. Military recruiting is employed by no maritime power of first rank. It is practised in Russia, and the results do not invite imitation. Some experience of it is gained in France by the loans which the fleet receive every year from the contingents of the army. Naval officers highly prize the robust and disciplined men thus obtained, but they are only fit, except with rare exceptions, for gunnery and work on deck, and the proportion of one third of these men 1853.] The System of Maritime Inscription to be maintained. to the whole crew could not be exceeded without great inconvenience. No doubt the use of steam propulsion becoming more general, this proportion may be increased. But however much such recruiting may enable the State to husband the resources afforded by the Inscription, it never can supply its place. Voluntary enrolment remains to be considered. This is the method adopted for manning the powerful navies of England and the United States. In France, a sailor receives from 24 to 36 francs a month, whilst the United States gives them on an average 75 francs, and England 45 francs. It would, therefore, be necessary greatly to increase the pay of the sailor. In fact, sailors will not enter the service of the State unless the advantages are equal to or greater than those of the commercial navy; that is to say, unless their pay is 40 to 50 francs a month, and the price demanded would rise very much whenever the State required a thousand seamen at once, and on a fixed day, for some perilous expedition. Nevertheless, although from the restricted numbers of the seafaring profession, voluntary enrolment cannot be the principal means of recruiting the navy, it would be useful to recur to it more than has been done hitherto, and to encourage it by sufficient bounties. It is, therefore, prudent to maintain the law of Maritime Inscription so long as the amount of our maritime population remains so low as to prevent our having recourse to other means. As the Maritime Inscription is the general and permanent enrolment of the sailors scat tered over the French territory, it becomes useful to study what are the real efficacious resources offered to the fleet by its lists, and what modifications it is susceptible of. On the 1st of January, 1850, the maritime population presented an effective total of 139,310 men; of this number 67,805 are, from various causes, exempt from service, leaving 71,505 as the number of men available for the service of the State. M. Lanjuinais enters next into minute calculations on the growth 217 and progress-or the diminution and decay of the naval service of France; and then remarks : To sum up, we believe that, taking into account all eventualities, we may reckon on 40,000 seamen thoroughly qualified for war, and on 20,000 men borrowed from the inscription and from the recruits, capable of doing good service if properly embodied with the former. We It would be easy to go beyond these limits, but our ships would lose in their aptitude for navigation and combat more than they would gain by the mere increase of numbers. should thereby be only falling back again into the errors which brought about the ruin of our fleets under the Empire, and which taught us, most cruelly, that at sea as on shore, victory belongs to the army which is best organized and first on the field of battle! Not that we are to count as nothing the novices, the officiers mariniers, and the seamen above age, who are not included in the 60,000 men of whom you are certain, but you must reserve them for services on shore, for transports, and the defence of the coasts. After having ascertained what are the resources furnished by the inscription for a great war, it will be easily seen that such a mode of recruiting can, without pressing too heavily on the maritime population, suffice for the wants of the fleet, such as you will require it in ordinary times. The permanent levy has, since the year 1835, given 5000 seamen a-year to the fleet. If to those we add 1000 volunteers of all ranks, all alike being for three years of service, we have 18,000 seamen. In addition to these we may reckon on 1000 young soldiers entered for seven years' service, making a total of 25,000 men, which may easily be raised to 30,000 men by an increase of the voluntary enrolment and of the military contingent. Without having recourse then to extraordinary levies, which must be reserved for great events, there is a sufficient effective force to enable France always to keep a powerful fleet afloat. After hearing this report, the Commission d'Enquête decide that the system of maritime inscription should be maintained, as well as all the rights and privileges attached to the seaman's profession. They then entered into a full and lengthy consideration of the position of the engineers and firemen. We cannot but regret that on our side of the water, just at the moment when everything should have been attempted to render the anomalous position of the engineers more comfortable, an order has been issued to enforce their wearing the humiliating uniform, with a steam engine on the button, which the dress regulations provide. Hitherto this regulation has been wisely allowed to fall into desuetude, and the engineers dressed themselves respectably in a round blue jacket, and looked like seamen, if they did not look like dashing officers. This unhappy steam-engine button, if the order be but foolishly enforced, will disgust many of these valuable men, and drive them out of a service which offers, at the best, but few attractions. Passing over, most unwillingly, nearly 100 pages, which relate to naval schools, and the education and training both of men and officers, we come to the important subject of the allotment of men to ships-or rather, to the discussion of what a ship's company ought to be. Shall it be divided into special companies of top-men, gunners, boarders, small-arms men, &c.?- or shall every man, more or less, be called upon, as circumstances may require, to discharge any or all of these varied duties? Admiral Mackau, in his evidence, states clearly enough how the matter now stands in the French navy. He says: We have only arrived at this system of organization by companies in our equipages de ligne after trying many systems. First we had équipages de haut bord, or line-of-battle ship's crews. This answered well enough for a 74-gun ship, but when we wanted to fit out a ship heavier than a 74, or one smaller than a line-of-battle ship, it was necessary to add to the liner's complement, or to take fractions of it, both of which processes were inconvenient. Next we came to battalions; one of which was to form a frigate's crew, and two that of a line-ofbattle ship; but this was no improvement. At last we came to the company as the unit best adapted to so varied requirements.. The company as a unit gives great facilities in forming the crews of ships of all ranks. Four companies for a 74; five or six for heavier ships; two or three for frigates of second and third rank; a company or a com pany and a half for corvettes and brigs, and half companies for vessels of the flotilla. These companies being under the permanent and direct command of lieutenants and ensigns (de vaisseau) and of midshipmen, attached to them for a whole campaign, and subject to the authority of the captains of the ships, have constantly offered good examples of discipline and interior administration. The commission eventually decided upon a gradual introduction of the system of companies of artillerymen and of marksmen. Much attention seems to be directed in France to the plan of having a number of practised marksmen on board, armed with what they call armes de précision, or precise arms-1 -the last improvement that can be made on Minié. On this subject we must quote a few words from Admiral Verninac: Question.-Do you think that the men on board our ships are sufficiently well prepared for the duties of musquetry? Answer. That depends very much upon the commanding officers of fleets, or of divisions. I will cite, as a good example, the conduct of the Prince de Joinville, that prince in whom are united all the virtues of a great citizen, and all the qualities of a great captain. Every ship's company in his squadron was able to handle a musket sufficiently well to ensure the success of a landing, or of a fight of sharpshooters. In contrast with this example, I have seen crews who barely knew how to load a firelock. Was this their own fault? No! they had not been taught. In short, there is no reason why a good sailor should not be an excellent marksman. In addition to the example offered by the Prince de Joinville's fleet, if another be wanted, I will cite that of the crew of the Redoubtable, at the battle of Trafalgar. This ship of 74 guns, boarded, at the very commencement of the action by the Victory, of 120 guns, with Nelson on board, was about to come out of the strife triumphant, thanks to the superiority of her musquetry; already a portion of her crew were masters of the deck of the Victory, when a second threedecker, and a two-decker, came and riddled her with the fire of their artillery, and obliged her, in self-defence, to recal her men, who were already preparing to make good prize of the ship of the English admiral (!!) This example of the crew of a small ship, subduing in fifteen minutes the crew of a larger vessel, by the superiority of her musquetry practice, is sufficient to prove that there is no UNNATURAL light awakes the midnight sky! The faces of the marble Gods of Rome And now the portals of the night Rush through the golden hell below! What mortal fiend holds orgie at this hour?— Hark to yon harp, whose chords no cry can drown, Who sits, midst rolling clouds, upon a tower! And tiger clasp of limbs all bare; The while, with voice that pierces through the roar, |