THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. 149 
America. A large consignment' was suddenly stopped at Antwerp, and 
became the subject of a long correspondence. Great influence was used 
to allow them to pass, on the argument that, being unstamped, they 
could not compromise the reputation of Liege. The director, however, 
advised their seizure as being manifestly contraband, and ultimately 
succeeded in preventing them from being exported. Another incident 
resulting from the American War was the purchase in Germany, by 
Belgian speculators, of 100,000 Austrian refuse muskets at an average 
price of 5^ francs. These were rifled, repaired, and percussioned at 
Liege, exported without any proof, having already the Austrian mark, 
and sold in America for from 27 to 30 francs. This abuse led to the 
Koyal Arrete of 20th June, 1864, ordering that arms repaired or per- 
cussioned in this country should be submitted to proof. It may be 
doubted whether this decree is strictly enforced, as infractions of it are 
difficult to detect. Cases of arms are never, without special cause, 
opened or searched by the Customs' officers on export. 
The present system of proving rifled muskets, the only kind now 
used, is somewhat illusory. They are proved before being rifled, and then 
with spherical bullets. It will certainly be admitted that the operation 
of cutting three or four grooves through the whole length of a barrel 
must somewhat impair its strength, and that the strain exercised by a 
common round bullet, fitting loosely and wrapped in paper, is very 
different from that of a long cylinder double the weight of the former, 
and pressing hermetically, not on a single point, but on half an 
inch of the barrel. Muskets ought to be proved after being rifled, 
with a triple charge of powder, and also with the elongated bullet 
which they are intended to carry. Many governments, including our 
own, when contracting for muskets at Liege, require a second proof 
after rifling ; others, as for instance the Russians, do not. Most govern- 
ments enforce a strict inspection of their arms, and of every separate 
piece of them, by comptrollers of their own sent for that purpose to 
Liege. 
Section II. — State of Manufacture and Exports. 
Of the numerous manufactures flourishing in Belgium, this one stands 
seventh, in the number of hands which it occupies. The census of 1856 
sets down the number .of persons employed in it at 9,675. Other 
estimates bring the numbers directly or indirectly engaged in it up to 
20,000 or even 30,000. This industry is confined solely to the arron- 
dissement of Liege. It is this local concentration, together with the 
division of labour which prevails in the trade, and the pre-eminence 
which it has acquired in the markets of the world, that render it com- 
parable only to the watch- trade of Geneva. One feature in the arms 
trade, proving how much it develops the intelligence is, that many of 
the improvements in it are due to working men. At the same time, 
being practised at home, it is not so demoralizing as that carried on in 
