THE FRENCH CONSIDERED AS A MILITARY NATION, &e. 
Dépét,* or repository of maps and plans 
of war, &c. &c. was established by Lou- 
vois in 1688: archives were collected, 
memoirs, the correspondence of gene- 
rals, and accounts of military transac- 
tions were arranged in order. The im- 
portance of the establishment was soon 
perceived: the materials were encreased 
and more methodically arranged, by 
Marshal de Maillebois, who was appoint- 
ed director in 1730.. The most important 
improvement was made by M. de Choi- 
seul, who established a corps of geogra- 
phical engineers, and charged this dé- 
pot with the direction of their labours. 
Lieutenant-general De Vault simplified 
the ntmerous documents, by retrenching 
from the military correspondences and 
memoirs whatever was superfluous, and 
classing the remainder chronologically 
under the head of a different army or 
operation. In this manner he arranged 
all the military events from the German 
war, in 1677, to the peace of 1763: this 
‘analysis forms 125 volumes, each of 
which is preceded by a very succinct 
historical summary of what is more fully 
detailed in the body of it. This esta- 
jp blishment survived the revolution.— 
* When France was at war with all Eu- 
rope, the advantages which she derived 
from this collection of the military and 
topographical labours of the monarchy, 
from the body of information which it 
contained respecting the resources and 
the country of the hostile powers were 
so great, that it was thought necessary 
to give the institution a new organiza- 
tion. At the time when individual sa- 
. erifices were proudly laid upon the altar 
of patriotism, private cabinets gave up 
their scarcest maps to government ; the 
suppression of monasteries and abbeys 
called to light those geographical trea- 
sures which had lain buried in obscurity; 
intelligent officers were placed in the 
depot, and no less than thirty-eight per- 
sons were employed in drawing plans 
of campaigns, sieges, &c.; mathema- 
ticians and astronomers were attached 
to the institution, and dispatched to dif- 
ferent places; and the dépdt now con- 
» tains one of the first collections in Europe 
_ of geographicalworks. It forms various 
Sections of geographers, who are at pre- 
sent employed in constructing accurate 
Maps of the four united departments, 
309 
Piedmont, Savoy, Helvetja, and the part 
of Italy comprised between the Adige 
and the Adda. One section, in conjunc- 
tion with the Bavarian engineers, is 
constructing a topographical map of 
Bavaria; another is carrying into execu~ 
tion the military surveys, &c. ordered’ 
by general Moreau for the construction 
of a map of Suabia. It has just pub- 
lished an excellent map of the Tyrol, 
and resumed the continuation of the 
superb map of the environs of Versailles. 
Since the year 1795, it has formed a 
library composed of upwards of 8000 
volumes or MSS. the most rare, as well 
as the most esteemed, respecting every 
branch of the military art. General 
Andreossy is now on the point of pub- 
‘lishing a periodical work to be entitled 
“© Mémorial du Dépot- de la Guerre,” the 
object of which is to unite the exposition 
of the knowledge necessary for the di- 
rection of the dépét for geographical 
engineers, staff-officers, military men in’ 
general, and for historians. The author 
of “ Paris as it was, &c.’’? concludes his 
letter thus: “ In order to give you at 
one view a complete idea of the collec- 
tions of the Dépdt de la Guerre, and’ 
what they have furnished during the’ 
war for the service of the government 
and of the armies, I shall end my letter’ 
by stating, that independently of 8000 
chosen volumes, among which is a va- 
luable collection of Atlasses, of 2700 
volumes of old archives, and of upwards® 
of 909 cartons or pasteboard boxes 
of modern original documents, the 
dépét possesses 131 volumes, and 78’ 
carions of descriptive memoirs (composed 
at least of 50 memoirs each), 4700 en- 
graved maps, of each of which there are 
from two to twenty-five copies, exclu- 
sively of those printed at the dépédt, and’ 
upwards of 7400 valuable manuscript 
maps, plans, or drawings, of marches, 
battles, sieges, &e. By order of the 
government it has furnished, in the 
course of the war, 7278 engraved maps, 
207 manuscript maps or plans, 61 at- 
lasses of various parts of the globe, and 
upwards of 600 descriptive memoirs.” 
Are the French likely to forget the’ 
science of engineering? What is Great~ 
Britain about that she does not rival her 
enemy in establishments of such national 
importance ? Bot 
- of . . . . . . . . 
»  * Vora more ample account of this institution, see ‘ Paris as it was and as it is:” we 
are ¢onsuiting the first volume for these particulars. : 
“WED 
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