204 THE ARMS TRADE OF BELGIUM. 
erected for this purpose, as also a great number of new machines for all 
purposes. The ordinary field and siege artillery will probably be com- 
pleted in 1865. The vast defences of Antwerp, so far as decreed by the 
law of 1859, are all but finished, and even partially armed. The eight 
detached forts are provided with their guns and stores. The enceinte of 
the town and the future batteries on the Scheldt will require much 
heavier guns. What guns these are to be is not yet decided, and will 
depend on some future experiments. The government already possesses 
an 8-inch steel 100-pounder weighing five tons, and calculated to bear a 
charge of 40 lbs. of powder, and to throw a projectile of 200 lbs. weight ; 
its cost was 3,400£. Another still heavier is ordered. 
The following is a brief statement of the antecedents and origin of 
the present royal manufactory of small-arms. The chief improvements 
in the fabrication of the old musket were due to the French govern- 
ment. In 1777, King Louis XVI. instituted a Commission in order to 
lay down fixed principles for the construction of all arms. This Com- 
mission caused a pattern musket to be set up on the best principles 
then known, and drew up a Code of Eegulations defining the qualities 
and tests to be required in receiving the materials ; describing minutely 
the further tests and guages to be applied in verifying every component 
part as well as the finished musket ; finally, depicting in a series of 
elaborate engravings every separate piece and every instrument used 
in the process of reception. For fifty years this pattern of 1777 
remained, in the eyes of the Liege workman, the standard of per- 
fection. In 1804, the French government established a manufactory of 
muskets at Liege in the ' old Dominican Convent, under a private 
contractor. This establishment only lasted for a year and a-half, but 
introduced great improvements in the tools, machinery, and processes 
employed. The new contractor relinquished the factory, and reverted 
to the old system of home labour, only keeping a few barrel mills and 
a workshop for making and repairing tools. Still the viewing Com- 
mission of that time, being composed of experienced officers and comp- 
trollers, rendered great service in training the workmen. Young men 
who preferred the profession of making to that of carrying arms, and 
who could produce a chef d'ceuvre in that craft, were dispensed from 
military service. Thus 40,000 good muskets were made annually at 
Liege for the Imperial government. 
Again, a factory of muskets was established by King William at 
Liege in 1827, under the management of a contractor, but it was subse- 
quently abandoned. The Belgian Military Department used the build- 
ing only for the reception of arms, which were all supplied by private 
makers. An experiment of manufacturing arms for its own account 
was first tried by this government in 1838, in a hired building, and 
yielded so much advantage that the government determined to build a 
factory of its own. To justify this measure, it was held up as intended 
to assist and instruct the trade. Thus the piesent factory arose in 1840. 
