Part 113
The lieutenant general, who is second in command over the artillery and engineers, is, in his civil capacity, the first in rank among the members of the board; which comprehends four other principal officers; the surveyor general, the clerk of the ordnance, the store-keeper, and the clerk of deliveries. During the absence of the master general, or the vacancy of the office, the whole executive power devolves on the board; and it belongs to them, though they are subject to the interposition of the master general, to make contracts for stores, and for performance of services, and to direct the issue of stores and of money. The signatures of three members of the board, of whom the clerk of the ordnance must be one, are necessary for the payment of money.
Fortifications are erected by the commanding engineer, pursuant to an order from the master general, for carrying a project into execution, according to an approved plan and estimate. The estimate is usually formed in the first place by the engineer, who is afterwards to execute the work; and its accuracy is examined into by a committee of engineers at home, the expediency of the measure being submitted to the master general. All fortifications, works, and repairs are carried on by measurement and by contract, except where the soldiers of the corps of royal military artificers have been employed; and even in such cases the materials worked up by the soldiers are usually supplied by contract.
The sums voted for the ordnance, consist of the three following heads:--1st. The ordinary, which comprehends the provision for the ordinary establishment, civil and military, for the year ensuing, 2dly; The extraordinary, which comprehends every service known before hand, of a temporary and contingent nature, being a provision for the ensuing year also; and 3dly, the services unprovided for, consisting of services which either have been actually paid in the past year, as is generally the case, or which are supposed to have been paid, but which were not foreseen when the estimate for the past year was made up. Among these unforeseen expences are included various exceedings, which have happened in the individual services voted in the past year’s ordnance estimates; to which are added, such sums as may be necessary to make up the deficiency of the sum directed to the ordnance use from the naval service.
OFFICERS _belonging to the military branch of the ordnance_.
_Corps of Royal Engineers._
One master general, one lieutenant general, one chief engineer and colonel, five colonels, six lieutenant colonels, fifteen captains, thirteen captain lieutenants, twenty-seven first lieutenants.
OFFICERS _belonging to the royal military academy at Woolwich_.
One governor, one lieutenant governor, one inspector, one professor of mathematics, one professor of fortification, one mathematical master, one arithmetical master, two French masters, one assistant fortification master, two drawing masters, one fencing master, one dancing master, two model makers, one clerk.--Salaries unknown.
_Ship-Letter_ OFFICE. During the continuance of the British army in Holland, a mail was made up every Tuesday and Friday night, and forwarded to Yarmouth, where two packets, taken from the Cuxhaven station, were appointed to convey them to the Helder. A gentleman (the deputy comptroller of the foreign office) was sent to the head quarters, as army post master, and in like manner made up two mails per week, but they were sometimes detained for despatches.
On application from the duke of York the letters of soldiers (being subscribed by the commanding officer) were suffered to pass at the reduced charge of one penny, although that sum was not paid at the time of the letter being put into the post-office, as the act of parliament on the subject requires.
The following particulars, relative to this useful and humane establishment, were issued from the general post-office, on the 20th of September, 1799.
“Notice is hereby given, that letters addressed to persons serving with the army under the command of field marshal his royal highness the duke of York, will be received at the Ship-Letter office twice, instead of once in the week, viz. on Tuesday and Friday from ten in the morning until ten o’clock at night, and not on Thursday, as mentioned in the advertisement from this office of the 10th instant.
“And that such letters will be regularly forwarded in vessels from Yarmouth to the Helder Point on the same days as the mails are sent to Cuxhaven.
“Letters by this conveyance will be chargeable with an half-rate of postage, under the act of the 39th of his present majesty, of sixpence each single letter, one shilling double, one shilling and sixpence treble, and so on in proportion, excepting single letters to and from private soldiers and sailors, which are chargeable with one penny only, under the act of the 35th of his present majesty.
“And that newspapers will also be forwarded at a rate of three pence upon each, provided such paper is sent without cover, or in covers open at the sides.”
_Transport_ OFFICE, in the British service. The transport-office is a newly created board, and was instituted in July, 1794, at first for the superintendance of the transport service only; but to that employment has since been added the management of the prisoners of war, in health, at home, and abroad.
The immediate duty of this office, so far as related to the transport service, used to be performed by the commissioners of the navy; except in some instances, where the ordnance, or other departments hired the transports wanted for their own immediate service; and the present transport board have pursued the modes of engaging transports which were practised by the navy board, when the transport service was under its directions; but it was thought expedient to constitute a distinct board, to transact the business of that extensive branch of the naval service; and from the unparalleled extent to which that service has been carried during the present war, it is highly proper that every possible check and control should be put over so vast an expenditure of money.
Since the institution of this board, which took place in July 1794, to 22d June 1797, the tonnage of vessels, hired as regular transports for four or six months certain, amounted to 99,656 tons; the tonnage of the vessels hired on freight for service amounted to 178,560 tons; making the whole tonnage 278,216. The total expenditure for this service, during this period, amounted to 4,088,524_l._, 3_s._ 5_d._
The total expence of this establishment for the year 1796, is stated to have been as follows:
Salaries and allowances £. 8,838 12 0 Contingent expences 3,907 12 2 Travelling charges and extra pay to officers on distant duty 583 15 6 ------------- Total paid by the public 13,329 19 8 ------------- The fees which were received from individuals amounted, in the transport department, to £. 2,128 7 6 Ditto prisoners of war, to 114 7 6 Making together £. 2,242 15 5 out of which sum there has been paid to clerks £. 1,650; and for taxes on salaries £. 334 7 6, which is carried forward to the account of the year 1797.
Deducting from the sum of 13,329 19 8 The taxes paid to government 334 7 6} 592 15 0 And the balance carried to 1797 258 7 6} -------------
The expence to the public for the year 1796, appears to have been 12,737 4 8
In a schedule of the fees paid at the war office, and a paper describing the application thereof, it appeared, that (with the exception of an occasional arrangement made in favor of two retired principal clerks) they have been exclusively paid in certain proportions to the following clerks and officers:--
1. Deputy secretary at war. 2. First clerk. 3. Principal clerk. 4. Ditto. 5. Ditto. 6. Clerk for the entry of commissions. 7. Clerk for accounts of deserters. 8. Clerk for business of widows’ pensions. 9. Examiner of army accounts. 10. Assistant to the examiner of army accounts. It appeared on examination, that during the years 1792, and 1796, (being respectively periods of peace and war) the amount of all fees received and distributed at the war office, was in the year 1792, 4,991_l._ 3_s._ 4_d._ In the year 1796, 42,731_l._ 11_s._ 11_d._
_War_ OFFICE, British service, the nature of the accounts which come into the war office, the first head consists of the annual accounts of the ordinary and incidental charges of established regiments; the second regimental extraordinaries, or incidental expences more properly belonging to established corps than to the army in general, which latter are known by the term, “extraordinaries of the army.” All claims made by the regimental agents come under the inspection of the “examiner of army accounts,” to whose office they are transmitted of course, in virtue of a general delegation of that duty to him by the secretary at war: after his examination and report, the secretary at war, in many instances, orders partial issues of money by letter to the pay master general. No final payment is made, except under the authority of a warrant countersigned by the secretary at war, and in most instances by three lords of the treasury. The regimental agents account finally to the secretary at war. They are likewise accountable to him and to the commander in chief, for every species of mismanagement or misconduct with respect to the officers and soldiers, &c.
The forms under which all payments derived from the establishment are conducted, consist of the following papers:
1. The establishment of a regiment.
2. The warrant from the war-office to make out debentures, with the state of charges annexed.
3. The debenture made up at the pay-office.
4. The final or clearing warrant.
5. The pay-office state.
OFFICERS, in a _military sense_, are of several denominations and ranks, viz.
_Commissioned_ OFFICERS, are those appointed by commission; such are all from the general to the cornet and ensign, both inclusive.
_Warrant_ OFFICERS, those who have no commissions, but only warrants from such boards, or persons, who are authorized by law to grant them.
_Non-commissioned_ OFFICERS, are Serjeant majors, quarter master serjeants, serjeants, drum and fife majors, who are appointed by the commanding officers of regiments, and by them may be reduced without a court-martial. But it is not in the power of any captain of a company, or other subordinate officer, to reduce a serjeant without the sentence of a general or regimental court-martial.
_General_ OFFICERS, are those whose command is not limited to a single company, troop, or regiment; but extends to a body of forces, composed of several regiments: such are the general, lieutenant general, major general, and brigadier general; on the United States establishment we have three brigadier generals; and the territory of the United States consists of three districts, over each of which a general presides.
_Field_ OFFICERS, are such as command a whole regiment; as the colonel, lieutenant colonel, and major.
_Staff_ OFFICERS, are all those officers who are not attached to companies in a regiment; whose duties extend over the whole; or a large section, such as a brigade or division; such as the quarter master general, and the adjutant and inspector general, brigade officers, and aids-de-camp, also the quarter masters, adjutants, the physicians, surgeons, and chaplains.
_Subaltern_ OFFICERS, are lieutenants, cornets, and ensigns.
_Flag_ OFFICERS, are admirals who hoist flags at the mast-heads.
_Sea_ OFFICERS, are, in general, all those who have any command in the navy.
The following observations, are generally applicable to every other military situation on service, that we recommend them to the serious attention of every officer.
It is the duty of all officers, to take notice of any negligence, or impropriety of conduct, in the men, whether on duty or off duty, although the person, or persons offending, should not belong to their particular regiments. All neglects of duty, they are immediately to report to the officer commanding the guard; and they are enjoined to confine, and to report to the commanding officer of the regiment to which they belong, any non-commissioned officers or soldiers, they may detect in disorderly practices, or who appear out of their quarters, conducting themselves either in point of behaviour or appearance, in a manner unbecoming soldiers.
_Brevet_ OFFICER, in the British service. One who in doing duty with other corps takes rank according to the commission which he holds, and which is superior to the one for which he actually receives pay, or by which he can do duty in his own. A captain lieutenant, for instance, in the 23d regiment of foot, who has the rank of brevet major in the army, may, when that corps does brigade duty, command every captain on service with him. The word _brevet_ is taken from the French, and in the instance before us means rank without pay. During the French monarchy there were various instances in which individuals held posts of honor during the king’s pleasure, or during their own natural lives. Hence _ducs à brevet_; dukes by brevet: or to use an expression more familiar to us, persons who received the patent letter of a dukedom during their natural lives. _Brevet_ likewise signified a sum attached by order of the king to the sale of a commission or place for the benefit of a deceased person’s wife, heirs, or creditors: this was called _brevet de retenue_. So that the word _brevet_, though limited to one sense amongst us, was applicable to rank and emolument among the French. Hence _breveter_ signified to give a person a commission, place, or employment; to invest him with honorary rank; or to authorise him to receive a pension. _Brevet de capitaine_, signifies the commission, or rank of a captain.
_Civil_ OFFICERS _belonging to the British laboratory at Woolwich_:--
One comptroller, one chief fire-master, one assistant fire-master, one inspector of gunpowder manufactures, six clerks, one extra clerk, one surgeon, one inspector of artillery, one assistant ditto, one clerk and draftsman, one clerk, one proof master, one searcher, one instrument keeper, one modeller, one assistant, one constructor of artillery carriages, one assistant to ditto, one second assistant, and two clerks.
OFFICERS _belonging to the British military repository at Woolwich_:--
One superintendant, one modeller, one clerk, one draftsman, one astronomical observer at Greenwich, salaries unknown. To these may be added, the officers belonging to the different out ports and garrisons that are subject to the British government.
_Commissioners and_ OFFICERS _of the British hospital at Chelsea_:--
The _civil department_ consists of:
The president of the council. First lord of the treasury. The two secretaries of state. The paymaster general of land forces. The secretary at war. The two comptrollers of army accounts. The governor and lieutenant governor. Salaries unknown.
The _military department_ consists of:--
Governor. Lieutenant governor. Major. Adjutant. Treasurer, who is the paymaster general for the time being. Deputy treasurer, one clerk, two chaplains, one secretary and registrar, two clerks, one agent and paymaster to the out pensioners, one physician, one comptroller, one steward, one surgeon, two surgeon’s mates, one apothecary, one truss maker, one whitster, one wardrobe keeper, one compter of coal-yard, one organist, one clerk of the works, one master lamp-lighter, one master butler, one master cook, one second cook, two under cooks, one scullery man, one gardener, one master barber, one engine keeper, one clock keeper, one canal keeper and turncock, one sexton, one usher of the hall, one porter, one cellarman, two sweepers, one matron, one master mason, one master smith, one master painter, and one plumber.
_Field_ OFFICERS _belonging to the several regiments of militia in Ireland_.--By an act passed on the 24th of March 1801, the number of field officers of this description has been increased by adding one additional lieutenant colonel, and one additional major, to such of the Irish regiments as consist of eight companies or upwards, and one additional major to such of the said regiments as consist of seven companies or under. The following counties consist of eight companies and upwards:--_Antrim_, _Armagh_, _North Cork_, _South Cork_, _city of Cork_, _Donegall_, _city of Dublin_, _Galway_, _Kerry_, _Kilkenny_, _King’s County_, _County of Limerick_, _Londonderry_, _Louth_, _Meath_, _Monaghan_, _Roscommon_, _Tipperary_, _Tyrone_, _Waterford_, and _Wexford_. The _Carlow_, _Cavan_, _Clare_, _North Downshire_, _South Downshire_, _County of Dublin_, _Fermanagh_, _Kildare_, _Leitrim_, _city of Limerick_, _Longford_, _North Mayo_, _South Mayo_, _Queen’s County_, _Sligo_, _Westmeath_, and _Wicklow_, regiments consist of seven companies, or are under seven companies.
All such additional field officers, if qualified, in manner as field officers of the same rank in the militia of Ireland are now by law required to be, and not disapproved by the lord lieutenant, or other chief governor or governors of Ireland, within fourteen days after such certificate shall have been laid before him or them, shall, to all intents and purposes, be deemed and taken as field officers of the respective regiments in the respective ranks to which their commissions shall respectively appoint them; and shall have the same powers according to such commissions respectively, that other field officers in the militia now have, and shall have rank, and receive pay according to such rank from the dates of their respective commissions, in manner and form as the field officers of the militia regiments of Ireland are now entitled thereto.
OFFICER _in waiting_. The officer next for duty is so called. He is always mentioned in orders, and ought to be ready for the service specified, at a minute’s warning. He must not, on this account, quit the camp, garrison, or cantonments.
OFFICER _of the day_. An officer whose immediate duty is to attend to the interior œconomy and good order of the corps to which he belongs, or of those with which he does mixed duty. The following regulations will explain the nature of that duty when troops are encamped:--
The officers for daily duty in camp, independent of guards, will be a general or generals of the day, according to the circumstances and strength of the camp. In large camps there will be a lieutenant general of the day, and a major general for each wing, or one major general of cavalry, and one of infantry; and majors of brigade in the same proportion: a field officer per brigade, and a captain and subaltern of the day per regiment, and an adjutant and quarter master of the day per brigade.
The general of the day is to superintend the regularity and discipline of the camp, in every particular: he is to visit the guards of the camp and the outposts (unless the latter are put under the command of some particular officer): he is to call out and inspect the inlying piquets, as often, and at such times as he thinks proper: he is to receive all reports in camp, and make immediate communication of any extraordinary occurrences, to the commander in chief.
The captain of the day of each regiment superintends the cleanliness and regularity of the camp of the regiment: he attends the parading of all regimental guards, orders the roll to be called frequently and at certain hours, and reports every thing extraordinary to the commanding officer.
The subaltern of the day assists the captain in his various duties, and reports to him any irregularity, which may come to his knowlege.
The captain and subaltern of the day, are each to visit the hospital at uncertain hours, the captain is to make his report of the state of the hospital to the commanding officer of the regiment.
The regularity of the men’s messing is an object of primary importance. The captain or subaltern of the day must visit, and inspect the kettles, at the hour appointed for cooking, and no kettle is to be taken from the kitchens till this inspection is made, and the signal is given by the drum for the men to dine, which should be at the same hour, throughout the camp. Independent of this regimental arrangement, the officers of companies must daily and hourly attend to the messing and every circumstance of the œconomy of their companies, in camp more particularly than in quarters.
The adjutant of the day, of the brigades, is to assist the brigade major in the various details of it, and in the absence of the brigade major is to receive and execute all orders; it may frequently be necessary for him likewise to attend for orders, at head-quarters. It is the duty of the quarter master of the day, of the brigade, to attend to the cleanliness of the camp; to take care that all broken glass and filth of all kinds is removed, for which the quarter master of each regiment is responsible, as far as the camp of his regiment is concerned.
The officers on duty and those in waiting, as next for duty, who are always to be mentioned in the orders of the day, are constantly to remain in camp, or within their cantonments. No officer is, on any account, to sleep out of camp, or cantonments, without leave.
Officers making written report, are to sign them, specifying their rank, and the regiments to which they belong.
All orders relating to the men are to be read to them by an officer per company, at the next parade after such orders are given out.
When there is a field officer of the day, it is his duty to visit all guards frequently during the day and night; in the morning, on the dismounting of the guards, he will collect the reports, and carry them to the governor or commandant, together with any observations he may himself have made, in the course of his duty in the preceding day. When there is no field officer of the day, the reports will be collected, and delivered to the governor, by the captain of the main guard. Each regiment must have an alarm post assigned to it, to which it will repair in case of fire, or any other extraordinary alarm either by day or by night.
_Marine_ OFFICERS, all those who command in that body of troops employed in the sea service, under the direction of the lords of the admiralty.
OFFICIAL, all orders, reports, applications, memorials, &c. which pass through the regular channels of communication, are called official.
OFFICIER, _Fr._ See OFFICER.
OFFICIER _sur terre_, _Fr._ a land officer, or any commissioned person in the land service.
OFFICIER _du genie_, _Fr._ an engineer.