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FRANCE - MILITARY. Seven documents recording the military and naval strength of France, 1782-1785, four relating to the army, and three comparing French naval forces to those of Great Britain and Spain, all the documents in manuscript on paper, written in an elegant cursive hand in brown and red ink, in tables ruled and framed in a grid of liquid gold, green, red and black, five including the central achievement of the royal arms, each one page, 670 x 1030 mm (four damaged by water in upper left margins, touching first words of titles; occasional small tears in outer margins).
A handsome series of schedules, showing the military and naval establishments immediately before and after the Treaty of Paris. They reflect the reforming energy of the Marquis de Ségur, Minister of War from 1780. He devoted himself to the elimination of corruption and pecuniary waste, and was an ardent supporter of the American War of Independence. He was particularly concerned to establish a permanent officer corps, in order to strengthen the general service corps. The Comte d'Artois (1757-1836), for whom two of the military tables were intended, was Louis XVI's younger brother and reigned as Charles X from 1824-1830.
The tables set out the entire military establishment, including the King's Household, the French and Swiss Guards, the Gendarmerie, the Military Households of the Princes, and the Infantry, Cavalry, Colonial Artillery, Dragoons, Provincial Troops, with particulars of their uniforms, names of marshals and senior officers, and 'Recapitulations' of regiments, battalions and squadrons showing their total strength. The comparative tables of the navies of France, Spain and England, naming the vessels in each class and summarising the numbers of vessels, cannon and crewmembers, show that the French fleet was reduced between 1783 and 1784, while the English fleet was superior in size throughout the period, with, in 1784, 308 vessels to France's 246, and 13,788 cannon to the French 8,549.
A handsome series of schedules, showing the military and naval establishments immediately before and after the Treaty of Paris. They reflect the reforming energy of the Marquis de Ségur, Minister of War from 1780. He devoted himself to the elimination of corruption and pecuniary waste, and was an ardent supporter of the American War of Independence. He was particularly concerned to establish a permanent officer corps, in order to strengthen the general service corps. The Comte d'Artois (1757-1836), for whom two of the military tables were intended, was Louis XVI's younger brother and reigned as Charles X from 1824-1830.
The tables set out the entire military establishment, including the King's Household, the French and Swiss Guards, the Gendarmerie, the Military Households of the Princes, and the Infantry, Cavalry, Colonial Artillery, Dragoons, Provincial Troops, with particulars of their uniforms, names of marshals and senior officers, and 'Recapitulations' of regiments, battalions and squadrons showing their total strength. The comparative tables of the navies of France, Spain and England, naming the vessels in each class and summarising the numbers of vessels, cannon and crewmembers, show that the French fleet was reduced between 1783 and 1784, while the English fleet was superior in size throughout the period, with, in 1784, 308 vessels to France's 246, and 13,788 cannon to the French 8,549.
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