Page:History of merchant shipping and ancient commerce (Volume 3).djvu/20

 CHAPTER XV.

First Navigation Law in France, 1560—Law of Louis XIV., 1643, revised by Colbert, 1661—Its chief conditions—Regulations for the French Colonial trade—Slightly modified by the Treaties of Utrecht, 1713, and of 1763, in favour of England—Provisions of 1791 and 1793—Amount of charges enforced—French and English Navigation Laws equally worthless—"Surtaxes de Pavillon" and "d'Entrepôt"—"Droits de Tonnage"—Special exemption of Marseilles—French Colonial system preserved under all its Governments, but greatly to the injury of her people—English Exhibition of 1851—Messrs. Cobden and Chevalier meet first there, and ultimately, in 1860, carry the Commercial Treaty—The French, heavy losers by maintaining their Navigation Laws—Decline of French shipping—Mr. Lindsay visits France, and has various interviews with the Emperor, Messrs. Rouher and Chevalier on this subject—Commission of Inquiry appointed, and Law ultimately passed May 1866—Its conditions—Repeal Act unsatisfactory to the French Shipowners—Another Commission of Inquiry appointed, 1870—Views of rival parties—M. de Coninck—M. Bergasse—M. Siegfried—M. Thiers and Protection carry the day, and reverse, in 1872, much of the law of 1866—Just views of the Duke Decazes—Abolition for the second time of the "Surtaxes de Pavillon," July 1873      422-462

CHAPTER XVI.

Recent legislation relating to the loss of life and property at sea in British vessels—Committee on shipwrecks, 1836—Estimated loss of life at sea between 1818 and 1836—Recommendations of the Committee—Committee of 1843, loss of lives and ships at that period—First official return of wrecks, 1856—Loss of lives and ships, 1862 and 1873—Further recommendations—Various laws for the protection of seamen, 1846 to 1854—Agitation about "unseaworthy ships," 1855—Further provisions for the benefit of seamen, 1867-69-70—Mr. Samuel Plimsoll, M.P.—His first resolution, 1870—Introduces a Bill, 1871—Government measure of that year—Mr. Plimsoll publishes a book, 'Our Seamen,' 1873—An extension of the principle applied to testing chain-cables strongly urged—Mr. Plimsoll moves an Address for a Commission of Inquiry, which was unanimously granted—Royal Commission on unseaworthy ships 1873-74—Its members—Their order of reference—And mode of thorough investigation—Their reports—Load-line—Deck loads—Government survey—Its extension undesirable—Shipowners already harassed by over-legislation—Mode of inquiry into losses at sea, examined and condemned—Recommendations—Examination of masters and mates,