Corruption in contracts, the bane of all French administra- tion,
would seem to have invaded the marine administration, supposed, on the whole, to be the purest of the departments. M. Gerville de Reache, deputed to examine the management of the Navy, reports that the League of Peace controls a Fleet twice as strong as that of France, a disparity due to gross mis- management, especially in the purchase of stores. The practice has been to over-buy, in order to make the contracts bigger, and so, it may be suspected, increase the commission. Cordage, for example, was found stored up sufficient for a hundred years, and much of it had to be condemned as useless. The " waste" in this and other ways is estimated at a million a year, the whole of which is a deduction from the sum available for annually increasing the strength of the Fleet. It does not appear that any individual is accused of pocketing the money, or that there is any remedy except in taking more care for the future. It is curious to note how all countries succeed in- maintaining discipline among the fighting officers, and jail in maintaining it in the quasi-civil departments of the Bathe services. We fear the truth is, that the death penalty works, and that no other does.
Previous page
