148 THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. 
in the ancient trade customs of the place. The utmost division of labour 
prevails in this manufacture. Each class of mechanics has its own 
speciality. The master alone possesses the collective knowledge neces- 
sary for making a gun. But the first thing which every workman is 
obliged to acquire is a knowledge of barrels, and this for the following 
reasons : — A double-barrelled breech-loader is subjected to three proofs, 
the fiist on each barrel separately, the second on the barrels when 
welded together, the third when percussioned and jointed. If the 
barrel bursts on the first proof, the barrel-maker must replace it, and 
loses, therefore, the fruit of his labour. If a barrel bursts on the second 
proof, the garnisher is also made responsible jointly with the barrel- 
maker. If the barrel bursts on the third proof, all those who have 
assisted in the work — viz., the barrel-maker, the garnisher, and the 
"systemeur" (percussioner), must suffer, and all lose the fruit of their 
labour, unless the defect can be traced to the fault of any one of the 
three in particular. The whole price of the job is stopped from their 
account in the manufacturers' books. Thus every workman is made 
responsible for the quality of the barrel, and he is therefore in self- 
defence obliged to scrutinize it thoroughly before beginning to work on 
it. Such a severe system would be vainly attempted elsewhere. It is 
sometimes even unjust, but affords the highest guarantee of the soundness 
of a barrel, It is submitted to by all as an immemorial usage. This 
docility of the working class, combined with an abundant supply of 
labour, is one of the main causes of the astounding development of the 
Liege arms trade. 
It is true that for a time great laxity crept into the administration of 
the proof-house, to such a degree that the Liege mark came into disre- 
pute even among the negroes, for whose benefit the cheap muskets called 
" bords" are manufactured* A former director was obliged to abscond 
in 1852 on being detected of a long course of malversation by which he 
contrived to appropriate 50,000 francs of the public funds. These frauds 
were at last discovered by the banker of the commission, and led to the 
appointment of a commission of inquiry, and then to the revised code 
of 1853. An occasional charge against the trade is that after proof the 
bore of a gun is fraudulently enlarged (to remove some inner flaw, &c), 
and the barrel thus weakened. This fraud is now impossible, and could 
not have been practised if the law had been honestly executed, as the 
stamp of calibre has always existed since 1672. 
Through the vigilance of the present director, M. Polain, a novel fraud 
was discovered in 1862. Rough gun-barrels were being exported under 
the name of gas-pipes on a large scale without any proof. Some 
thousands found their way to England, and from thence probably to 
* These are distinguished from military muskets ("armes de guerre ") by 
having the definitive mark stamped four or five inches up the barrel, instead of 
at the breech as on the regular musket. They are proved like fowling-pieces, 
with a two-third charge. 
