Manual of Ship Subsidies | Page 8

AI: See p. 76, post.]
[Footnote AJ: Meeker.]
[Footnote AK: Lindsay, vol. IV, p. 198, note.]
[Footnote AL: Wells, p. 148.]
[Footnote AM: Bates, p. 87; also p. 130.]
[Footnote AN: Meeker.]
[Footnote AO: Meeker.]
[Footnote AP: See p. 77, post.]
[Footnote AQ: Meeker.]
[Footnote AR: Meeker.]
[Footnote AS: Parl. papers, 1867-68, 1868-69.]
[Footnote AT: See p. 20, ante.]
[Footnote AU: The American Steamship Co. of Phila., with 4 iron
steamers built on the Delaware--the Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and
Illinois.]
[Footnote AV: Meeker.]
[Footnote AW: Ultimately embracing the American, Red Star, White
Star, Atlantic Transport, and Dominion Lines.]
[Footnote AX: For details of this contract see report of (U.S.)
commissioner of navigation for 1903, pp. 48-52, and 224-268. The two
steamships called for were the Lusitania, 31,550 gross tons, launched
June 7, 1906; and the Mauretania, 31,937 gross tons, launched Sept. 19,
1906, both quadruple screw turbines, about 70,000 horsepower; the
largest, fastest, and completest steamers afloat till the production in

1911 of the Olympic, 45,324 gross tons, of the International Mercantile
Marine Co.'s White Star Line.]
[Footnote AY: U.S. consul, Charlottetown, P.E.I. in daily Con. Repts.
(Jan. 20) 1911, no. 16.]
[Footnote AZ: Consul General Small, Halifax, in Con. Repts. (Dec.)
1905, no. 303.]
[Footnote BA: The American Year Book, 1911.]
[Footnote BB: American Year Book, 1911.]
[Footnote BC: Lloyd's Register, 1910-11.]

CHAPTER III
FRANCE
France has been rightly termed the bounty-giving nation par
excellence.[BD] She first adopted a policy of State protection of native
shipping in the middle of the sixteenth century with the enactment
(1560) of an exclusive Navigation Act, forbidding her subjects to
freight foreign vessels in any port of the realm, and prohibiting foreign
ships from carrying any kind of merchandise from French ports.[BE]
This was followed up in the next century with the institution of the
direct bounty system to foster French-built ships.[BD]
In the reign of Louis XIV, Colbert, Louis's celebrated finance minister,
perfected (about 1661) an elaborate system of navigation laws,
evidently copied from the rigorous English code. This was directed
primarily against the commerce of Holland and England, with the
ultimate object of upbuilding the home merchant marine and the laying
of a broad basis for a national navy.[BF] These acts included decrees
giving French ships the monopoly of trade to and from the colonies of
France; imposing tonnage duties on foreign shipping; awarding direct
premiums on French-built ships. England retaliated immediately.

Holland remonstrated first, then made reprisals. For a time under
Colbert's energetic administration of the finances and the marine,
"prosperity grew apace. At the end of twelve years everything was
flourishing."[BG] Then came the six years' war (1672-1678) with
France and England combined against Holland, and at its end the
French merchant marine lay sorely crippled.[BG]
Still the fundamental principles of the stringent navigation laws long
remained. A decree in 1681, and subsequent ordinances, defined what
should constitute a French vessel; and corporal punishment was
ordained against a captain for a second offence in navigating a vessel of
alien ownership under the French flag.[BH] By later decrees, no alien
was permitted to command a French vessel. An ordinance of 1727
further restricted alien command by shutting out even French subjects
who had married aliens.[BH] It was required that every French vessel
should be manned by a crew two-thirds of whom were French
subjects.[BH] The system of regulations restricting the trade of the
French colonies to French ships, and to the home market held till well
into the nineteenth century.
During the Revolution a decree (May, 1791) prohibited acquisition of
all vessels of foreign build. In 1793 (Sept.) it was ordained that no
foreign commodities, productions, or merchandise should be imported
into France, or into any of her colonies or possessions, except directly
in French ships, or in ships belonging to the inhabitants of the countries
in which the articles imported were produced, or from the ordinary
ports of sale or exportation. All officers and three-fourths of the crew
were required to be natives of the country of which the foreign vessel
bore the flag, under penalty of confiscation of vessel and cargo, and a
fine enforcible under pain of imprisonment. A tonnage tax was levied
on foreign ships alone.
Despite this elaborate code designed for its benefit the domestic
mercantile marine almost entirely disappeared during the wars of the
Republic and the Empire; and after the Restoration its revival was so
slow that for some time foreign ships were absolutely necessary for the
supply of the French market.[BH] Still the underlying principles of the

code were retained by the Restoration Government, modified in a few
particulars. The modifications included the removal of the prohibition
on indirect commerce--- the carrying trade between France and other
countries:--yet advantage even in this commerce was held for the
French flag through "flag surtaxes," added to