The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-19 00:00:00

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THE F.RENC'H NAVY.

r PRICE SD,

( Continued from The Sun of May 26.)
MANNING THE FLEET.
The available resources of France in point of seamen
are stated by the CoMmission, and by all the evidence
on the subject, to be more than sufficient to man every
ship in the fleet with excellent crews, and in a very short
time. The organisation for this object undoubtedly
constitutes the most for.nidable element of the French
naval power, and should be clearly understood in this
country.
The report of the sub-commission, drawn up by M.
Lanjuinais, informs us that the "inscription maritime
was founded by Colbert in an ordinance of 1689, and
was finally established by the law of the 3d Brumaire,
in the year IV. " The inscription maritime,'" he
says, "places at the disposal of the State an entire class
of citizens, whether in time of peace or in time of war."
It applies to every man who gets his livelihood on the
sea as a boatman, a fisherman, or a sailor, and includes
every boatman upon rivers as far as the spring tides are
felt.

Comparing the "inscription maritime " with the con-
scription for the army, the report admits that the former
is far the more severe. "In fact," it says,
" After seven years' service the soldiers are free, while
sailors, on the contrary, by the law of the 3d Brumaire,
are placed at the disposal of the Government from 18 to 50
years of ago ; they are obliged to embark at all times when
required ; and they are compelled to live constantly in
their ' quarters, unless furnished with leave of absence by
the Commissary of the Inscription."
The sub-commission denies that all this involves any
violation of the principle of equality, and quotes an
article of the law
" By which a sailor can have his name taken off the lists
of the inscription one year after a simple declaration that
he wishes to renounce the profession of sailor or fisher-
man."

General Dubourg, "Ancien Officier de la Marine,"
declares indeed, in his work on the subject, that the in-
scription is so hated, that no man follows the sea who
can by possibility get a living by other means ' • that the
seafaring population consists only of those who, as the
children of sailors or fishermen, have had no other re-
source ; and he attributes the slow growth of French
maritime commerce entirely-to this cause. But, what-
ever Mr. Cobden may assert, commerce is not the first
object with the people of France, and the " inscription
maritime" is applauded by all classes (except the seamen
themselves) as the main element of their naval power.
Admiral Grivel, in his evidence, does not hesitate to
term it " slavery," but the commission of a Republican
Assembly elected by universal suffrage nevertheless gives
an unbounded approval of the "institution," terming it
"this precious reserve."
Whatever the character of the system in this respect,
we have only to deal with it as a formidable engine
constantly at the disposal of the French Government,
and especially important to the object the commission
had most at heart, which, as M. Dufaure, the President,
expresses it, was "to create the means of passing with
the greatest facility and promptitude from a peace to a
war establishment.
To carry out the inscription, the five arrondissements
into which the coasts of France are distributed are sub-
divided into "sous-arrondissements" and " quartiers,"
under the charge of " commissaries " of various grades,
of "syndics," and of "gardes maritimes," who are con-
stantly employed in maintaining the system in full
vigour and activity ; it is always in operation during
peace, and in readiness to pat forth all its power at once
in case of war. These officers, to the number of upwards
of 600, and their several stations on the coast, may be
read in the French Navy List (Annuaire de la Marine).
The men demanded from the commissaries are speedily
collected and sent to the port, the centre of the ar-
rondissement, at each of which is a depot on shore for a
division of "equipages de ligne," under a captaine de
vaisseau." The moment the men arrive they are formed
into " compagnies de ligne," in combination with the
other principal elements required to form a crew. Each
"compagnie" is under a "lieutenant de vaisseau," and
consists of 104 men. They are kept constantly under
training, and when a ship is to be manned they are
marched on board under the lieutenant, who continues
to be specially attached to his "compagnie" after em-
barkation. A line-of-battle ship takes five or six "com-
pagnies," a first-class frigate three and a half. The cap-
tain is appointed by the Minister of War, and about a
fourth part of the complement, consisting of additional
officers, artificers, engineers, and boys are provided
from other sources. The main body of the crew thus
joins with the foundations of order, training, and dis-
cipline already established, and a rapid progress to com-
plete efficiency is rendered easy.
The report states the whole maritime population to
amount to 139,310 ; 14,051 are artificers, only liable to
be levied for service in the dockyards ; 3,744 are " capi-
taines au long cours," who, if levied, become " enseignes
auxiliaires ;" 1,217 coast pilots are virtually exempt ;
6,492 " maitres au cabotage" are seldom called out in
time of peace. The boys and " novices" are placed at
the high figure of 42,301, and are put aside as unfit for
service in the fleet, though a large number would be
fully qualified for second and third class seamen. The
object is, however, to man the fleet at the commence-
ment of a war with picked and trained men.
With this important object the " levee permanente"
was established in 1835, which, setting aside
" The men who were weak and those who were too old
or too young, extended only to seamen officers of the grade
of second masters under 45 years of age, and to quarter-
masters and seamen between 20 and 40.N0w, the lists of
the levee permanents' showed, on the Ist of January,
1850, an effective force of 51,641 seamen; of 1,400 first
and second masters ; 'and 3,372 maitres au cabotage.'
Total, 56,760. According to the opinion of the most expe-
rienced officers, the maritime population fit for war service
must be reduced to this number."
The "levee permanente" exists by virtue of a simple
circular of April 9, 1835, setting aside by a stroke of the
pen the regulations of the law of 3d Brumaire, which
enacted that the seamen should be called out in classes
when required, in order to lighten in some degree the
oppressive character of the system.
From the lists thus formed the men chosen for service
are those "who have not already served the State."
" If this first class does not satisfy all the requirements,
whether as regards numbers or as regards grades and quali-
fications, the levee then takes as the second class the sea-
men and seamen officers who have less than four years' ser-
vice • and in extraordinary cases it can take all the remain-
der Of the maritime population. Some commandants have
complained that the levee permanente' mans the fleet
with men inexperienced and weak, on account of their
youth. This is true ; but this inconvenience is compen-
sated for by the immense advantage of making all the
sailors pass through the fleet at an age when they learn
readily and accustom themselves without difficulty to the
yoke of discipline. The ships of war are thus a most valu-
able school for the young sailors, who, grown strong by the
good food on board, and trained to the management of
arms and to all the manoeuvres, are an excellent reserve for
the fleet, and render the best services to commerce."
From the 56,760 men on the "levee permanente" still
further deductions are made, in order to arrive at the
very pith and marrow of the seafaring population :
" A note, emanating from the Ministry of Marine, dated
Nov. 20, 1850, goes yet further, taking the men whoi have
not yet served the State, and whose education is in this
respect incomplete, together with those who since they
were paid off may have become unfit for the service, and
the number of useful men from the 'inscription maritime'
is reduced to 51,641."
And after taking into consideration the various cir-
cumstances that may occur at the commencement of a
war, the report arrives at the following conclusion :
"We think that, taking all eventualities into account,
we may depend upon 40,000 seamen eminently fit for war,
and upon 20,000 borrowed partly from the `inscription,'
and partly from recrutement,' capable of rendering effec-
tive service, ifjudiciously amalgamated with th
butef ourerii ships
would might, undoubtedly go beyond this limit, .
would lose in efficiency what they would gam in numbers.
This would be to fall into the errors which led to the ruin of
our fleets under the Empire, and which has cruelly taught
us that at sea, as on land, victory belongs to the force that
is best organised,and that can be first brought into the field.
This does not imply that we are to count for nothing the
novices with little expFrience and the seamen above age
disposal , but they who are not comprised in. the (4:1,000 men of whom you
transports, thd
forb coastre reserved
vdeed-
have the certain
d be more than sufficient to
ffoenresee.rviTcehsiosnpserhosonre,nelfoi; tohuel
equip our entire fleet, composed of the force of 328 ships,
established by the ordinance of November 22, 1846. In
fact,. according to the notes wo cite (from the Ministry of
Marine), it would require to man all these ships 59,921
petty officers and seamen, of whom the third part should
be furnished by recrutement,' according to the proportion
always admitted."
By the tables at p. 318, vol. 1, we see that the petty
officers, seamen, and " hommes de recrutement" form
three-fourths of the numbers of which the French fleet is
composed in time of peace ; the same proportions ap-
plied to the 60,000 men of these classes they could com-
mand in the event of war, will give a fleet of 80,000.
According to the proportion of these classes in our fleet,
60,000 petty officers, seamen, and landsmen would be
sufficient for a fleet of nearly 120,000 men.
We learn by the answer of Admiral de Mackau that
the number of men he calculated to be necessary to man
the whole fleet, as established by the ordinance of No-
vember, 1846, when he was Minister of Marine,
was 95,481. 40,000 picked and trained seamen out of
this number would be a larger proportion than any
English fleet during the war ever possessed. The "horn-
mes de recrutement " are landsmen, supplied to the fleet
from the land conscription, on the requisition of the
Minister of Marine. After seven years' service in the
army, these men would be exempt from further service ;
but a law is in existence by which every man who has ever
served in the navy can be compelled to join it again, in case
of emergency, and the sam e law would apply to the seamen
who have renounced seafaring pursuits. By this means
some thousand additional trained men might be obtained
by no greater stretch of arbitrary power than that
which, "by a simple circular," set aside the only pro-
tection the law afforded to seamen--viz., the levee by
classes.

One source remains to be mentioned—the " Infanterie
de la Marine," 12,500 strong. This corps, during peace,
provides garrisons for the colonies and guards for the
arsenals, but it is subject to serve afloat. As 7,500 are
in the colonies, only 5,000 would beat once available for
sea service. The commission recommended that this
corps should be abolished, and it is therefore not corn-
prised in its calculations ; but the most eminent naval