of so doing, the French were soon deprived, by Napoleon, who
at one period in his ardour for military glory, sacrificed the navy, by
taking from it the best gunners in order to supply his artillery; also
the choicest and ablest men were selected wherever they could be found,
to fill up the ranks of the army, which were being constantly thinned by
the universal war which he was always waging with the greater part of
Europe. The ships were then manned with whatever refuse could be picked
up, and a Lieutenant Diez told me, that the crew of the vessel to which
he belonged was such, that they had not above twenty men who could go
aloft, and had they met with an English vessel of the same size, they
must have been taken without the least difficulty. But the officers in
the present French navy know that the case is now very different, for
the last twenty years the greatest attention has been devoted to that
arm, which is candidly acknowledged on the part of our naval officers,
of which I remember an instance at Smyrna, whilst dining at the English
consul's with eight or ten of them, being the commanders of the ships
which composed the English fleet, then lying at Vourla, when the
conversation falling upon the French navy, it was observed that nothing
could be more perfect than its state at that period, every man, down to
a cabin boy, knowing well his duty, and all the regulations and
manoeuvres being carried on with such perfect order and regularity.
There are however some advantages which we still maintain, afforded by
our foreign commerce being the most extensive, enabling us always to
have a greater number of sailors, and generally speaking more
experienced seamen, and a French naval captain who has seen a good deal
of service, once observed that there was another point in which we had a
superiority, and that was with respect to our ship's carpenters, which
was particularly illustrated in the combat at Navarin, as the morning
after the action the English were far in advance of the French, with
regard to the repairs which had been rendered necessary from the damages
which had been sustained.

The French now have several officers who are experienced practical men,
in whom the navy has great confidence, as, Admirals Duperre, Hugon,
Rosamel, Lalande, Beaudin, Roussin, Bergeret, Mackau, Casey, etc., all
of whose names have been before the public in different affairs in which
they have created their present reputation. During the