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MARINE REVIEW. ade -- Quaint French Documents. Pa yeor Ww. W ALTON. | A curious decree was promulgated by Louis XV. and his council on the 28th of January 1716, touching the payment of head money for the privilege of engaging in the slave trade. Upon representations made to the king, being in his coun- cil; by divers merchants of the kingdom, that they have obtained from the late king permits for the trade in negroes on the coast of Guinea, to transport them thence to the islands of America, upon an undertaking which they have entered into to pay thirty livres ($6.00) for each one of whom they shall land on the island -of San Domingo, and fifteen livres ($3.00) for those whom they shall land on the Windward isles, the whole for the maintenance of'the forts and offices established on the said coast of Guinea; and that certain of their ships having arrived they do not know into whose hands they ought to pay the said sums and get their receipts, and their request, if it please the eg to settle this question for them. "The report being heard, the king being in his council, with the advice of his uncle regent, has decreed, and does decree that the merchants of the kingdom who have taken out licenses since the month of November, 1713, to send their vessels to the coast of Guinea to trade in negroes, and who have transported them thence to the French islands of America, shall pay into the hands of the treasurer general of marine on duty, for each head of blacks that they shall land at the islands and toast of San Domingo and at the Windward isles, the sums mentioned in their contracts, and conformably thereto, upon which their contractsshall be sur- rendered to them and they shall thereupon be and shall remain well.and truly quit and discharged. "Done at the council of state of the king, his majesty being present, held at Paris the twenty- eigth © of January 1716. [Signed.] PHELYPEAUX: "The executive order is appended, very quaint and tedious, legal verbiage not being a modern invention. Fhe day following an edict was published Seibibitine 4 all commerce with the South seas; Louis' faithful ally, King Phillip V. of Spain, having reserved that trade for his own nation. Louis, by the grace of God king of France and of Navarre, to. all who. shall see these present letters, greetings: Whereas, the late king of glorious memory our highly honored lord and ancestor,* has expressly forbidden all merchants, shipowners, captains and masters of vessels of our realm to hold any voyage navigation or commerce with the South sea; since by the treaty of peace, which was concluded at Utrecht it was understood and reciprocably promised that the commerce and navigation in for- eign countries dependent upon the king of Spain shall continue precisely as they were during the reign and until the death of the most Catholic King Charles II, that all nations should obey the ancient laws and regulations made on behalf of the said com- merce and navigation; the resolutions wehave formed to preserve inviolate the said treaty, has made us think it necessary to renew the prohibitions already made, and toeven impose severer penal- ties against its infraction. ® Upon these facts, with the advice of our dear and well be- loved uncle the. Duke of Orleans, regent, of our dear and well beloved cousin, the Duke of Bourbon,of our dear and well beloved uncle the Duke of Maine; of our dear and well beloved uncle the Count of Toulouse; and other peers of France; great and notable personages of our kingdom; and with our certain knowledge, full power and royal authority, we, by these presents, signed by our. own hands, again set forth a strict prohibition unto all merchants, brokers, or others of our kingdom to form any commercial enter- prise and to send any vessels to the South seas. And to all owners, captains and officers of ships, master pilots, marine officers, and, generally, to all our subjects of whatever quality or condition they may be, to hold any voyage, navigation or com- merce in the said sea, under any pretext whatever, under penalty of the confiscation of the vessels and of their cargo, and of death to the-captains and commanders of said vessels. We decree that if any of the said captains or commanders should die in any port of the South sea where he shall have en- gaged in commerce contrary to the tenor of this prohibtion, which ever officer who shall succeed him as commander of the vessel, shall draw upa report of all that shall have been done in con- travention of this statute by the said deceased captain, and fit out at once and set sail for France, allowing neither loading nor unloading of cargo, under like penalty of death. We further ordain, subject to the same penalties, that if any of the aforesaid captains or commanders of the said vessels should die en-route for the South sea the officer who then assumes com- mand shall break the voyage and return to France with the ship and cargo, or at least take the vessel to some other place where commerce and navigation are not prohibited. Nearly a page of formalities follow, verbal repetition and descriptions of the great seal of yellow wax with which the royal edicts were ornamented and rendered valid. 'The reader will excuse these formalities, no doubt, gladly consigning them to the limbo where alone is found, at present, the "divinity" that doth hedge a King." * Louis XIV was his great grandfather. Right and Left Instead of Starbord and Port. _ Since July 1 last the old words of command "starboard" and 'port'? have given way to "right". and "left" on the ships of the North German Lloyds and the Hamburg-American lines, and the old masters who were very much opposed to the change now say that it has been attended with most satisfactory results. The new orders were brought about through the conflict in com- mands and the manner of their execution, mainly, of the change from steam to sail. On the lakes this subject has received a great deal of attention, especially from the fact that the crossing of wheel chains in a large number of steam vessels makes conditions even more complicated. Another annual meeting of the supervising inspectors of steam vessels has been held within the past week, and nothing has been done in the matter of asking that a uni- formity in straight or crossed chains be adopted, but it is inter- esting to note the success attending the sweeping change made by the two Atlantic companies. As soon as the order "right" is given under the new rules on these boats, the telegraph is moved to the right, the wheel is revolved to the right, the ship turns to the right, the rudder indicator points right, the rudder itself moves right, and the steering mark on the compass as well, and so wice versa when the order left is given. Nothing can be simpler, and no possibility of mistake can arise. The Nautical Magazine in speaking of this new order of things says: "The objection has been raised that the new words of command are not international, and therefore illegal. This statement, however, will not hold 'good, as both English and American pilots, in whom every one has confidence, have made no difficulties in using the new words of command when piloting ships of the two before mentioned companies." Importance of Experimental Tanks. 'The bureau recommends the immediate construction of an experimental tank, for use in determining the resistance of ships by means of models. In preparing the designs of new ves- sels of novel types, the want of such apparatus has been greatly felt in the past, and with the high speeds now so generally used its importance is constantly increasing. Mr. William Denny, one of the most progressive and well informed Scotch ship build- ers, in a letter written in 1887 relative to the importance of the assistance that an experimental tank may render to the naval de- signer, expresses himself as follows: 'The truth is that of all the problems about a steamship the only one at the present moment incapable of being solved by a priori methods in extreme cases is that of the speed and power. No ability and no training will enable even the most skillful naval architect to overcome the want of an experimental tank in coping with these questions. My partners are so firmly con- vinced of the value of the tank that every one of them regards the large amount of money sunk in it in the form of a capital, and the large amount still to be sunk in it, as one of our best in- vestments, and have met without grudging the annual outlay re- quired for its administration'."--Annual Report of Chief of Con- struction, United States Navy. 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