Part 66

They are under chiefs appointed for the specific purpose of superintending their conduct and behaviour, and are subordinate to particular officers, whose charge is confined to corps or companies that are called _odas_, a Turkish word, which properly signifies chamber or room, being thus called from the place in which they were ordered to mess. At Constantinople these chambers are covered with a sort of china ware; and there are recesses, called sophas, on which the men may sit or sleep. A kitchen is attached to each room, with every other convenience. When they take the field the same arrangement is attended to. The different companies being distributed in large round tents that are distinguished by the figures of beasts and Arabic words.

All the janizary companies consist of 196 men each. There are 101 companies of _jajabeys_, who form the garrisons of the most important places upon the frontiers. The officers belonging to these companies are permitted to ride in the presence of their general, which is a privilege peculiar to themselves. On this account they wear yellow half boots.

The _bolykys_ consist of 61 companies; the commanding officers are obliged to wear red half boots, which is to shew, that they are not permitted to go through their duty on horseback.

The _selmanys_ amount to 34 companies. The officers belonging to them are subject to the same regulations by which the _bolykys_ are governed. They must march by their general in red half boots on foot, with this exception, that 30 supernumerary young men, who are _seconded_, and in expectation of commissions through the influence of their parents, are allowed to ride until they get companies.

A select body of men is indiscriminately chosen out of these three sorts of janizaries; this chosen body is called _corigys_, and amounts to 930 men. Their particular duty is to protect the three imperial mansions of Constantinople, Adrianople, and Bursa.

Every janizary is obliged to give one and a half per cent. of all the money he receives in time of peace to the treasurer of his room, or to the treasurer general of the corps, and seven per cent. in time of war. In consideration of this sum he is allowed a space of ground, six feet in length and three in breadth to spread his mattrass; and he is moreover entitled to have every day at dinner and supper one plate of rice, a piece of mutton, and bread and water; so that a janizary may easily save the greatest part of his pay.

The uniform or clothing of a janizary is a _dolimaun_, or long robe with short sleeves. It is tied round the middle with a striped girdle of different colors, fringed at the ends with gold or silver. They wear over the _dolimaun_, a _saphi_, or blue surtout, in the same loose manner that Europeans wear great coats or cloaks.

Instead of a turban the janizaries have their heads covered with a _zarcola_, or cap made of felt, from which hangs a long hood of the same stuff, that reaches to their shoulders, and is worn on parade days. The zarcola is decorated with a quantity of long feathers, that are fixed in a small tube, and stand in the front of the cap. The janizaries in Constantinople usually carry a long stick or Indian cane, without any other arms or weapons; but when they are equipped for the field against any European power, they have a sabre and fusil or musquet. They likewise carry a powder horn, which hangs on the left side suspended from a leathern string that is thrown across the body.

In Asia, the janizaries always go armed with a bow and a quiver full of arrows. They are thus equipped on account of the scarcity of gunpowder.--They have besides a sort of poniard or large knife, which they draw against every person from whom they wish to extort any thing. The bows and arrows are regularly delivered out to the janizaries by the _alkitef-ter-dars_ or vice treasurers general.

The janizaries seldom marry, or if they do it is at an advanced age; for the Turks as well as other countries imagine that a married man cannot be so determined and careless of danger, as he must be who has no concerns to attend to besides his own. Matrimony, however, is not forbidden amongst them. On the contrary, when the ceremony is performed with the consent of their officers, they are permitted to take private lodgings, and are only required to appear every Friday at their rooms, and to parade before the _Wekilbarg_, or treasurer to the chamber, under pain of forfeiting their subsistence. When they get children, their pay is increased some aspres per day, by order of the grand Signor.

The body of janizaries is by no means, however, so considerable as it formerly was. In 1648, they were so formidable, that they assumed a dangerous influence over the government of the Empire. They even went so far as to dethrone the sultan Ibrahim, and afterwards to strangle him in the castle called the Seven Towers. Since that period the grand viziers have made a point to lower the pride and arrogance of the janizaries, in order to preserve the authority of their sovereigns, and to maintain their own: on this account they adopted the barbarous policy of sending the bravest on a forlorne hope at the siege of Candia; and they permitted the rest to marry, and to embrace various trades, contrary to the established rules of the corps, for the sole purpose of enervating the individuals belonging to it. By degrees persons without experience and addicted to the loosest effeminacy, were entrusted with commands; so that the janizaries soon came not to possess either the character or the bravery of their predecessors.

The remedy has been as fatal as the disease; they have had a profligate rabble in place of their hardy and enterprizing corps; and in the year 1808, deposed and put to death the grand Signor, for a bribe from a foreign ambassador.

The janizaries consist chiefly of Christian children that have been taken in war, or of debauched Turks who are ignorant of their birth or connexion. Whenever any one dies, he leaves what little property or clothing, &c. he possesses to his messmen; even the Turks, from a species of social piety, always bequeath something to their particular _oda_, or chamber. The consequence of which is, that the chambers become extremely rich, and their wealth is frequently put out to interest at 25 per cent. Add to this, that the grand Signor directs that every thing which is supplied to the janizaries should be rated lower than to the rest of his subjects, which circumstance easily explains why the janizaries can live cheaper than other people in Turkey.

JANIZAR AGASI, a name or military title which is attached to the person who has the chief command of the janizaries. It corresponds, in some degree, with the rank of colonel general of infantry in old France, when that body was under the command of the duke of Epernon, and afterwards under the duke of Orleans in 1720. This _Aga_ takes precedence of all the infantry officers belonging to the Ottoman empire. The name is derived from _Aga_, which, in the Turkish language, signifies a staff, or baton. On public occasions the Aga always bears a staff in his hand; so indeed do all the janizaries when they appear in any large town or place, as an emblem of service.

This general was originally promoted to the rank of Aga out of the corps of janizaries. But as this was the occasion of much jealousy, and gave rise to various cabals, which frequently rendered the Aga contemptible in the eyes of his followers, the grand Signor at present appoints him from the Ichnoglans belonging to the seraglio.

The daily pay of the Aga amounts to one hundred aspres, which are equal to 20 ecus, or French half-crowns, making 55 cents of our money; independent of which he receives from 7 to 10 thousand French ecus or English half-crowns, on account of the Timars who are attached to his appointment. He moreover gets constant presents from the Sultan, especially when the janizaries have conducted themselves to his satisfaction on any critical emergency. The douceurs which are lavished upon the Aga, whenever he has the good fortune to stand well with the grand Signor, are innumerable; for it is through him, that every application is made for places of emolument. It is customary, however, in Turkey to bestow rank and advantageous posts not according to merit, but in proportion to the number of purses, (in which manner all large sums are counted) that are produced by the several candidates. A purse in Turkey contains about 250 crowns, or 300 of our dollars.

The Aga seldom appears in the streets of Constantinople without being followed by a large body of janizaries, most especially when any convulsion or disastrous event has happened in the empire. In these moments of public disturbance and consternation, the janizaries take occasion to demand an increase of pay threatening, in case of refusal, to pillage the town; which threat they have often put in execution. Whenever these mutinous proceedings take place, the Aga marches at the head of 30 or 40 _mungis_ or provost-marshals belonging to the janizaries, together with 5 or 600 of this militia, in order to seize the mutineers, and to have them safely conveyed to some prison. He has the power of life and death over every individual of the corps; but he never gives directions to have a janizary executed in open day, lest the sight of their suffering comrade should create a disturbance among the rest. Small crimes and misdemeanors among the janizaries are punished by the bastinado, which is exercised by striking repeated blows upon the sole of the foot; but when the guilt is capital, the Aga orders the culprit either to be strangled, or to be sewed up in a sack and thrown into a pond or river.

When the Janizar-Agasi dies, from disease or by violence, the whole of his property devolves to the treasury belonging to the corps of janizaries; nor can the grand Signor appropriate one aspre to his own use.

JAVELIN, a sort of spear 5¹⁄₂ feet long, the shaft of which was of wood with a steel point. Every soldier in the Roman armies had seven of these, which were very light and slender.

The Velites or light armed troops among the Romans were armed with javelins. They were two cubits long and one inch thick.

There were several sorts of javelins or darts used among the ancients; some of which were projected by the help of a short strap girt round their middle.

There was likewise another species of javelin, the bottom of which was ornamented with three feathers, in the same manner that arrows and darts are. These javelins have been used by the Poles and other nations, but principally by the Moors, who call them _zogaies_. In the early days of France, the javelin was likewise adopted in imitation of the Gauls; but it disappeared, with many other missile weapons, on the invention of fire-arms.

JAVELINE, _Fr._ See JAVELIN.

JEVELOT, _Fr._ Javelin. A term used among the ancients to express every thing that was missile; it is derived from the Latin, _jacutum à jaculando_.

JAZERAN, _Fr._ an obsolete term which was formerly applied to an able veteran.

ICH DIEN, _I serve_. A motto belonging to the badge of the arms of the British prince of Wales, which was first assumed by Edward surnamed the Black Prince, after the battle of Cressy in 1346. _Dieu et Mon Droit_, in the badge of the British king’s arms, was used by Richard I. on a victory over the French in 1194.

ICHNOGLANS. It has been a singular maxim of policy among the Turks to prefer Christian slaves, as confidential servants, to their own countrymen. Their motive originates in an idea, that the former having lost all recollection of their native spot, and of the tenderness which is innate between child and parent, would have no other interest at heart but that of their employers; whereas freemen in general measure their attachment to their masters by the rule of self accommodation and personal emolument. From these principles the grand Signor has established a body of Ichnoglans, in order that they may be devoted to his service; and as a security for their affection he frequently raises individuals amongst them to the highest posts of trust and dignity in the empire. The rank of _Sepaler Agasi_, or general of cavalry, has been conferred upon them; which appointment, next to that of grand vizir, of Mufti or of Bostangi, is the most considerable belonging to the Ottoman empire.

ICHNOGRAPHIE, _Fr._ Ichnography.

ICHNOGRAPHY, in fortification, denotes the plan or representation of the length and breadth of a fortification; the distinct parts of which are marked out either on the ground itself, or on paper. By this we are at once acquainted with the value of the different lines and angles which determine the exact breadth of fossés, the depth of ramparts, and of parapets. So that, in fact, a plan, upon the correct principles of ichnography, represents a work as it would appear if it were levelled to its foundations, and shewed only the expanse of ground upon which it had been erected. But the science of ichnography does not represent either the elevation or the depth of the different parts belonging to a fortification. This properly comes under profile, which does not, however, include length. See PLAN.

JEE, _Ind._ a title of respect which is used in India, and signifies sir, master, worship.

JEE POTR, _Ind._ a statement and decree.

JEHAUNDER, _Ind._ a term used in India, signifying the possessor of the world.

JEHAUN GEER, _Ind._ a term used in India, signifying the conqueror of the world.

JEHAUN SHAH, _Ind._ king of the world.

JEHOULDAR, _Ind._ Treasurer.

JELOUDAR, _Ind._ belonging to the train or equipage.

JEMADE, _Ind._ the Indian word for month.

JEMIDAR or JEMMADAR, _Ind._ means a captain or chief of a company; it is the title of a black officer who has the same rank as a white lieutenant in the E. India company’s service. The author of the history of the Carnatic calls Jemidars or Jemmadars, captains either of horse or foot.

JENIZER-EFFENDI, an appointment among the Turks, which in some degree resembles that of provost-marshal in European armies. The only functions which this officer is permitted to exercise are those of judge to the company. He sits on particular days for the purpose of hearing the complaints of the soldiers, and of settling their differences. If a case of peculiar difficulty should occur, he reports the same to the Aga, whose opinion and determination are final.

JERSEY, an island on the coast of Normandy in France, which has belonged to the English ever since the Norman conquest. Although this island, as well as that of Guernsey, is still governed by the ancient Norman laws, it is nevertheless subject to the British mutiny act in many particulars.

JERUMONA, _Ind._ Mulct, fine, or penalty.

JETH, _Ind._ the name of a month which in some degree coincides with our month of May.

JET, _Fr._ a term signifying the motion of any body that is urged forward by main force; it likewise means the space which is gone over by any propelled body.

JET _des bombes_, _Fr._ This word has been adopted instead of _Tir_, which formerly expressed the course that a shell took when it was thrown out of a mortar by the power of gunpowder.

We sometimes use the words _flight_ and _range_, to express the same action and progress.

The jet or flight of a bomb usually forms a curved line; but many engineers assert, that when the mortar is placed horizontally, it describes the three movements that are made by a cannon ball, viz. The violent or strait forward one, the mixed or curved, and the natural one, which is perpendicular.

It is particularly incumbent upon the officers who superintend the mortar duty, to ascertain, by a correct observation of the eye, the exact distance to which he means to throw the bomb. With this view he must give as many degrees of elevation as may be found necessary by the judgment he has formed.

In order to obtain some degree of certainty he first throws a bomb, by way of experiment, and he increases or diminishes his degrees of elevation according to the distance it runs, and from the spot on which it falls.

These are the only rules which are generally followed by those officers who have the direction of mortars. However, according to St. Remi the French bombardiers frequently make use of tables in order to calculate precisely the different lines of extent according to the different elevations of the mortar, particularly with respect to the degrees of the square rule from 1 to 45·

Although this method has been sanctioned by various and innumerable experiments, it has nevertheless been exposed to some censure. Mr. Blondel has written a treatise on the subject. This engineer asserts, that he has discovered a way of firing true, which exceeds all former inventions.

We are of opinion, that the best method must be that which is founded upon practical and daily experience. Those men who are in the continual habit of exercising in mortar duty, and who can form just calculations, especially with regard to the quality and quantity of gunpowder, will always be esteemed in preference to the most profound theorists.

According to the experiments which have been made by bombardiers with respect to the flight of bombs, a mortar is said to propel or urge forward in proportion to the quantity and quality of the gunpowder, by which it is charged.

A mortar, for instance, which has twelve inches calibre, and which is loaded with two pounds of mealed gunpowder gives a difference in its flight of 48 feet from one degree to another; and 2160 feet in its greatest extent under the elevation of 45 degrees.

The same mortar gives a difference, from one degree to another, of 60 feet, provided there be two pounds and a half of the same powder in its chamber, and it gives 2700 feet, for its greatest flight.

It finally gives 72 feet difference from one degree to another, if the charge consists of three pounds of mealed gunpowder, and the elevation be taken at 45 degrees, which in the opinion of bombardiers, is the greatest flight, taking a range of 3240 feet.

Among the French bombardiers there are tables put out according to this calculation, which may be found in Blondel or St. Remi. These tables are adapted to mortars of 12 inches calibre, which weight we have taken for example.

JET, among the French is likewise applied to the range taken by a fusee, as _jet de la fusee_, the flight of a fusee.

In cannon founderies it is further used to express the different pipes or hollows which are made of clay or wax, in order to convey the liquid metals into their moulds. In this sense it means _cast_, so that _jet_ may be properly called a vent or aperture which is made at the extreme end of the mould and through which the metal is poured.

_Un beau_ JET, _Fr._ a fine cast.

JETTER, _Fr._ to pour metal into a mould.

JETTEE, _Fr._ a pier. It usually consists of a projection, made with stone, brick or wood at the extreme ends of a harbor, for the purpose of resisting the impetuosity of the waves.

JEU _de hazard_, _Fr._ chance play. It was our intention to have entered fully into this subject, as far as it concerns the military system, under the head _hazard_; but as the matter has been more particularly adverted to in a French author, we judge it best to quote from that authority, and to shew, that, corrupt as the old government of France most unquestionably was, the character of its army was not neglected. Every species of chance play was strictly forbidden in the French camps and garrisons, and throughout their armies. The prohibitions on this head bear the most ancient dates. On the 24th of July, 1534, Francis I. issued an order, which was again confirmed by Henry II. on the 22d of May, 1557, that no comrade should, under any pretext whatever, obtain money from a brother soldier by play. It was further ordained, that in case of foul play, the persons who should be discovered were, for the first offence, to be publicly flogged, and for the second to be punished in the like manner, to have their ears cut off, and to be banished for ten years. The delinquents were committed to the charge and custody of the provost, who was authorized to confiscate every farthing that was played for. Dice and cards were rigorously forbidden under the same penalties, as well as all sorts of games which might create animosities and dissentions among individuals.

On the 15th of January, 1691, Louis XIV. issued an order from the privy council, by which he expressly forbade not only the officers belonging to his army, but likewise all other persons of whatever sex or denomination to play at _Hoca, Pharoah, Barbacole, Basset, and Pour et Contre_. The penalties for every infraction or breach of this order were as follows. Those persons who played were fined 1000 livres or 200 dollars, and the master or mistress of the house where games of the above description were allowed, stood fined in 6000 livres, or 1200 dollars for each offence. One third of these penalties was applied to his majesty’s use, one third to the relief of the poor of the place where the offence was committed, and the other third was paid to the informer. It was further ordained, that in case the persons so discovered were unable to pay the fines, their persons should be taken into custody. Those subjected to the penalty of 1000 livres were imprisoned four months, and those who incurred the fine of 6000 livres, without having the means to pay it, were imprisoned one year. The intendants, or lord-lieutenants of the provinces and armies, the police magistrates, and the military provosts, were all and severally directed to see this edict put into execution; and by a circular letter, which in 1712, was written, in the king’s name, by M. Voisin, to the different governors and lords-lieutenants of provinces, the prohibitions were extended to the lansquenet, or private soldier.

On the 25th of August, 1698, Louis XIV. issued out an order, by which he rigorously forbade, under pain of death, every individual belonging to the French cavalry or infantry, (suttler and private soldier included) to keep any gaming table in camp or quarters. In consequence of these regulations, and with the view of introducing the strictest principles of honor and regularity in a profession which must be tarnished even by the breath of suspicion, on the 1st of July, 1727, Louis the XVth ordained by the 43d article of war, that whatsoever soldier, horse or foot, was convicted of cheating at play, should be punished with death. He further directed, that in case any hazard table should be set up in a camp, or garrison, the commanding officer or governor was to order the same to be broken forthwith, and to commit all persons concerned therein to prison.

JEWAER KHANNA, _Ind._ The jewel office.

IHTIMAMDAR, _Ind._ A person appointed by the Hindoo magistrate, who has the superintending agency over several towns.

IJELAS, _Ind._ The general assembly of the court of justice in Bengal, so called.

_To_ IMBODY, in a military sense, implies to assemble under arms, either for defence or offence. This term is particularly applied to the meeting of the militia.

IMPETUS, in mechanics, the force with which one body impels or strikes another. See GUNNERY. MOMENTUM.

IMPOSTS, that part of a pillar in vaults or arches, on which the weight of the whole rests.

IMPREGNABLE. Any fortress or work which resists the efforts of attack, is said to be impregnable.

_To_ IMPRESS, to compel any body to serve.