THE ARMS TRADE OP BELGIUM. 145 
regulate the conditions necessary for exercising the trade of a " maitre 
garnisseur de cannons," as well as the prices to be paid to them by the 
merchants (" marchands d'armes ") for every description of barrel or part of 
an arm. The same stringent regulations prevailed in France and Eng- 
land from a still earlier date for the proof of gun-barrels. The earliest 
" banc d'epreuves," that of St. Etienne, dates back as far as the reign of 
Francis I. The London Armourers' Company was authorized by a 
Koyal Charter of 1637 to prove and stamp every description of 
portable gun-barrel. The Birmingham Proof-house was established in 
1813. 
The wars of the French Kevolution had, of course, a great effect upon 
the fortunes of Liege. The decisive battle of Jemmappes, on the 6th of 
May, 1792, opened all Belgium to the army of Dumouriez. The French 
entered Liege on the 28th of November ; and being left in rags by their 
own government, supported themselves by pillage. Four Commissioners, 
presided over by Dan ton, were sent by the Convention to restore order, 
but far surpassed the soldiers in the extent of their depredations, which, 
they amply atoned for by their revolutionary ardour. The Belgians 
generally showed great indifference to being made free and happy. Liege, 
however, was a marked exception, and imitated, on a small scale, the 
saturnalia of Paris. The Austrians, under the Prince Josias, of Saxe- 
Coburg, grand uncle of the present King, recovered all Belgium, for 
fifteen months, by the battle of Neerwinden (18th March, 1793), but 
again had to retreat before Jourdan andPichegru after the battle of Fleurus 
(June 1794). For a year Belgium was again a prey to wholesale rapacity, 
disguised under the most fervid eloquence, till the country accepted as a 
relief its annexation to France, decreed by the French Convention on the 
1st of October, 1795. 
During the French domination the manufacture of arms was much 
hampered by the law. No arm or piece of an arm of the military calibre 
could be manufactured outside the government factory without a special 
authority. Slave trade guns were alone excepted. All others were pro- 
hibited from export if their calibre exceeded that of twenty-two to the 
pound. In 1810 the Emperor issued a decree on the proof of fire-arms, 
which, with some modifications, is still in force here. By it all manu- 
facturers, dealers, and gunsmiths were prohibited from selling any bar- 
rel, without its having been previously marked, under a penalty of 300 
francs for the first offence, and double that fine for the second, besides 
the confiscation of the barrel. Arms destined for commerce were de- 
clared seizable if they did not vary at least 2 millimetres from the mili- 
tary calibre, which was 0*0177 of a metre. An exception was made in 
favour of slave trade guns, which, however, were not allowed to circulate 
in France, but were to be deposited in the seaports. 
In 1814 the system of monopoly ceased with the entrance of the Allies. 
The arms trade became free, and divided itself into three great categories, 
those oj military arms, of commercial arms, and of high-class fowling- 
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