Vickipedia

SIEGE (Pr. a seat, a sitting down) is the sitting of au army before a hostile town or fortress with the intention of capturing it. With certain elements, the success of a siege is beyond doubt; the result being merely a question of time. These elements are : first, the force of the besiegers shall be sufficient to overcome the besieged in actual combat, man to man. If this be not the case, the besieged, by a sortie, might destroy the opposing works, and drive away the besiegers. The second element is, that the place must be thoroughly invested; so that no provisions, reinforcements, or other aliment of war can enter. The third element is, that the besiegers be undisturbed from without. For this it is essential that there shall not be a hostile army in the neighborhood; or, if there be, that the operations of the besiegers be protected by a covering army able to cope with the enemy’s force in the field. The ancients executed gigantic works to produce these effects. To complete the investment, they built a high and strong wall around the whole fortress; and to render themselves secure from without, they built a similar wall facing outwards, beyond their own position. The first was circumvallation, the second contravallation. It was thus that Caesar fortified himself while besieging Alexia, and maintained 60,000 men within his ring. In modern warfare, it is considered preferable to establish strong posts here and there round the place, and merely sentries and vedettes between.

Let us now assume that a fortress of great strength has to be reduced, and that the force of the enemy in the vicinity has been either subdued or held in check by a covering army. By rapid movements, the place is at once invested on all sides, This step constitutes merely a blockade; and if time be of little importance, is a sufficient operation, for hunger must sooner or later cause the fortress to surrender; but if more energetic measures are required, the actual siege must be prosecuted. Advantage is taken of any hidden ground to establish the park of artillery and the engineers’ park; or if there be none, these parks have to be placed out of range. The besieging force is now encamped just beyond the reach of the guns of the fortress; and their object is to get over the intervening ground and into the works without being torn to pieces by the concentrated fire of the numerous pieces which the defenders can bring to bear on every part. With this view, the place is approached by a series of zigzag trenches so pointed that they cannot be enfiladed by any guns in the fortress. In order to accommodate the forces necessary to protect the workers, the trenches at certain intervals are cut laterally for a great length, partly encircling the place, and affording safe room for a large force with ample battering material. These are called parallels, and they are generally three in number. The distance of the first parallel will increase as small-arms become more deadly; but with the old smooth-bore muskets it was usual to break ground at 600 yards from the covered way of the fortress, while at Sebastopol, ground was broken at 2000 yards, and in the siege of Paris by the Germans, the lines were begun at least 4 miles from the city.

The locality of the parallel being decided on, a strong body of men is sent to the spot soon after nightfall. The attention of the garrison is distracted by false alarms in other directions. Half the men are armed cap-a-pie, and lie down before the proposed parallel; while the other half, bearing each pick and shovel, and two empty gabions, prepare for work. Each man deposits the gabions where the parapet of the trench should be. He then digs down behind them, filling the gabions with the earth dugout; and, after they are filled, throwing it over them, to widen and heighten the parapet. Before daylight, the working-party is expected to have formed sufficient cover to conceal themselves and the troops protecting them. During the day, they—being concealed from the garrison—widen and complete their parapet, making it of dimensions sufficient to allow of wagons and bodies of troops with guns passing along. During the same night, other parties will have been at work at zigzags of approach from the depots out of range to the first parallel, which zigzags will be probably not less than 1000 yards in length. The profile of a completed trench is shown in fig. 1, the shaded portion representing a gabion. As a rule, the defenders will not expend ammunition on the first parallel, for its extent (often several miles) will render the probability of doing material damage extremely small. For this reason also, the dimensions of the parapet and its solidity are of far less importance in the first parallel than in the more advanced works of attack.

The first parallel AAA, fig. 2, being completed, the engineers select points near its extremities, at which they erect breast-works, B, B, to cover the bodies of cavalry, who are kept at hand to resist sorties from the garrison. The length of the parallel is usually made sufficient to embrace all the works of two bastions at least. Sites are then chosen for batteries, C, C, which are built up of fascines, gabions, sandbags, and earth. They are placed at points in the parallel formed by the prolongation of the several faces of the bastions, ravelins, and other works of the fortress, which faces the batteries are severally intended to infilade by a ricochet fire. Other batteries will be formed for a vertical fire of mortars and shell-guns. By these means it is hoped that the traverses on the hostile ramparts will be destroyed, the guns dismounted, and the defenders dispersed, before the final approaches bring the assailants to the covered-way. The sappers will now commence their advance towards the points, or salient angles, of the two bastions to be attacked. If, however, the trench were cut straight towards the fortress, its guns could easily destroy the workmen, and enfilade the approach. To prevent this, it is cut in short zigzags—as at D—the direction always being to a point a few yards beyond the outmost flanking works of the garrison. The side of each trench nearest the fortress is protected by gabions and sandbags, as in the case of the parallel.

At intervals, short spurs of trench, incipient parallels, are cut, as at E, to contain small-arms-men, to act as guards to the sappers. The second parallel is about 300 yards from the enemy’s works, and has to be more strongly formed than the first. It often terminates in a redoubt, F, to hold some .light artillery, and a strong force of infantry, who could assail any sortie in flank; or it may run into the first parallel, as G-, giving easier access for troops than through the zigzags. The second parallel is riveted with sandbags, in which loopholes are left for musketry. After passing the second parallel, the angles of the zigzags become more acute, to prevent enfilading. At about 150 yards, certain demi-parallels, H, are cut, and armed with howitzer batteries, to clear the covered-way, while riflemen also act from it. The third parallel is at the foot of the glacis. Thence the place, after being sufficiently battered, is taken by a storming-party, who make their way over the glacis, or the covered-way is topped by the double sap, as in fig. 3; which is a safer plan for the army general, though much more deadly to the sappers. When the crest of the fig 3—Double Sap. covered-way has thus been reached, batteries of heavy artillery will be there established, for the purpose of breaching the walls of the ravelin and bastion; while at the same time miners will first seek to destroy the defenders’ counter-mines (which would otherwise be likely to send these batteries into the air), and then will excavate a tunnel to the ditch, at the foot of the counterscarp.

If the breach becomes practicable, a storming-party will emerge from this tunnel or gallery, and seek to carry the opposite work by hard fighting. If inner works still subsist, which would tear assailants to pieces, the double sap may be continued across the ditch, if a dry ditch, right up the breach, that counter-batteries may be formed. If the ditch be wet, means must be adopted for a causeway or a bridge. By these means, however obstinate may be the defence, if the besieging force be sufficiently strong, and aid do not arrive from without, the ultimate success of the attack becomes certain. Vauban raised attack to a superiority above defence, first, by the introduction of ricochet fire, which sweeps a whole line; and secondly, by originating parallels. Before his time, the whole attack was conducted by zigzag approaches; in which the troops actually in front could be but few, and were therefore unable to withstand strong sorties of the garrison, who, in consequence, frequently broke out and destroyed the works of the besiegers, rendering a siege an operation of a most uncertain character.

REBE’LLION (Lat. rebellio, from bellum, war, a revolt by nations subdued in war), an openly avowed renunciation of the authority of the government to which one owes allegiance, or a levying of war to resist the authority of the government. Unlike insurrection, which may be merely an opposition to a particular law, rebellion involves a design to renounce all subjection to the state. A commission of rebellion is a commission awarded against a person who treats the sovereign’s authority with contempt, by not obeying his proclamation according to his allegiance, and refusing to attend his sovereign when required. It consists of four commissioners, who are ordered to attack the rebel wherever found. In Scotland, by legal fiction, a debtor disobeying a charge on letters of horning to pay or perform in terms of his obligation, was accounted a rebel, as being disobedient to the sovereign’s command contained in the writ. This disobedience was called civil rebellion, and the penal consequences of actual rebellion followed it, until they were abolished by 20 Geo. II. c. 50. By the old form of diligence (which is still competent), it has therefore been said that debtors were imprisoned not for debt but for rebellion. The fiction was discarded in the provisions of the statute 1 and 2 Vict. c. 114, simplifying the form of diligence and the steps by which imprisonment for debt is effected.

The expression ‘The Great Rebellion,’ is generally applied in England to the revolt of the Long Parliament against the authority of Charles I. It began with the votes of the two Houses regarding the militia in 1642, by which they endeavored to seize the military power of the country, and the departure of the king for York, which was immediately followed by the breaking out of hostilities. The civil war was, properly speaking, terminated by the submission of Charles to the Scots, in April 1646; but the period of the rebellion is usually held to include the Commonwealth or Protectorate, and to extend to the restoration of Charles II. in May 1660. The revolts in behalf of the House of Stuart in 1715 and 1745 ire often, particularly in Scotland, spoken of emphatically as ‘The Rebellion.’ The former rising in favor of the Chevalier de St. George, son of James II. of England, called the Old Pretender, was headed by the Earl of Mar, and put down in 1716: the latter was led by Prince Charles Edward, known as the Young Pretender, who, landing in the Hebrides, was joined by the Highland chieftains and numerous followers, and after taking possession of Edinburgh, and marching to Derby, retreated into Scotland, and was defeated with great slaughter by the Duke of Cumberland at Culloden, on the 16th of April 1746.

POLICE, military, has two significations—1st, the organized body employed within an army to preserve civil order, as distinct from military discipline; and 2d, a civil police with a military organization. The police of an army commonly consists of steady intelligent soldiers, who act under the orders of the provost-marshal, and arrest all persons out of bounds, civilians not authorized lo pass the lines, disorderly soldiers, &c.; they also attend to sanitary arrangements. As in all military matters, the police of an army possess summary powers, and a sentence of the provost-marshal is carried out immediately after it is pronounced.

Of civil police with military organization may be instanced, as specimens, the Gendarmerie (q. v.) of France, the Sbirri of Italy, and, in an eminent degree, the Irish constabulary.

AMMUNI’TION. Sometimes this name is given to cannon and mortars, as well as to the projectiles and explosive substances employed with them; but more usually A. is considered to apply to the latter—such as shot, shell, gunpowder, cartridges, fuses, wads, grenades. Muskets, swords, bayonets, and other small-arms are sometimes, but improperly, included under this term. The Royal laboratory at Woolwich is the place where A. is chiefly prepared for the British army and navy. The cannon-balls maybe cast at some of the great iron-foundries in the north; the shells maybe cast or forged in the shell-factory at Woolwich; the muskets may be made at Birmingham, and the rifles at Enfield; the bullets at the shot-factories; the gunpowder at Waltham-Abbey—and so on; but the ‘making up’ of the A. is mostly conducted at the establishment above mentioned. Bags of serge, in enormous number, are cut out and made, and filled to form the cartridges for large ordinance. Bags or tubes of paper are made and filled to constitute blank cartridges for small-arms; while the ball-cartridges are enclosed in thin copper cylinders. The tubes and combustibles for war-rockets and fuses are also manufactured. The cartridges for small-arms (rifles, muskets, carbines, and pistols) are made in millions; since it is on those that the main offensive operations of an army depend. It has been calculated by the Woolwich authorities, that a British army of 60,000 men, comprising a fair average of infantry, cavalry, artillery, and engineers, ought to be provided with no less than 18,000,000 ball-cartridges for small-arms, for six months’ operations. These would require 1000 A. wagons, and 3600 horses, to convey them all at once. It is therefore deemed better that, under any such circumstances, there should be established entrepots for supplying the troops from time to time. The wagons constructed for this kind of service will carry 20,000 rounds of small-arm A. each; the cartridges are packed in boxes, and the wagons are drawn by four horses each- Several wagons are organized into an ‘equipment,’ under the charge of a detachment of artillery; and there are several such equipments for an army of the magnitude above mentioned—one for each division of infantry, a small portion for the cavalry, and the rest in reserve. It has been laid down that an army of 60,000 men ought to have 2,680,000 cartridges with them, besides those in reserve; and that the conveyance of such a quantity, with a few forges and stores, would require 150 A. wagons, 830 men, and 704 horses. The equipment would return to the entrepot for a new supply when needed. In the Peninsular War, and at Waterloo, the English used two-horse carts, carrying about 10,000 rounds of small-arm A. each; but a superior kind of wagon has been since introduced. In the field an infantry soldier usually carries about 60 rounds, put in compartments in his pouch. When the word A. is used in connection with artillery matters, the ‘ fixed’ A. comprises the loaded shells, cartridges, and carcasses; whereas the ‘unfixed’ are the unfilled case-shot, grape-shot, and shell. During peace, the Woolwich Laboratory serves out little less than a million lbs. of gunpowder annually, in A. for the army and navy, for purposes of exercising, saluting, &c.

The chief kinds of A. will be found briefly described under their proper headings.

PRIZE-COURT is a court which adjudicates the property in vessels captured at sea from a belligerent; and the rule is, that when a captor brings home a prize, the tribunal of his own country has jurisdiction to declare whether he is entitled to it, which decision is binding everywhere. A prize-court differs from other courts in this, that the property of foreigners is brought within its jurisdiction, not by consent, as is implied with regard to the ordinary municipal courts, but by force. By natural law, one would suppose that the tribunals of the captor’s country are no more the rightful exclusive judges of captures in war, made on the high seas, from under the neutral flag, than are the tribunals of the neutral country. Nevertheless, such is the rule of international law, which vests the jurisdiction in the prize-court. In Britain, the court is created by commission under the Great Seal, and the judge of the Admiralty Court is usually appointed. Lord Stowell was the judge during the French war, and, during the time he sat as judge, delivered many important judgments in this difficult branch of the law.

PRIZE, PRIZE-MONEY, terms having reference to property captured from an enemy, or to enemy’s property captured from a neutral in time of war. The circumstances under which such capture is justifiable are stated under capture, as regards naval operations; military prize and its distribution to the army are described under BOOTY. It remains only, therefore, to notice the procedure taken in respect to vessels and property captured by the navy. On a ship being taken, she must be sent to a port belonging to the capturing power, where the Court of Admiralty,on full evidence, adjudicates whether she be lawful prize or not. If the decision be affirmative, the prize is then sold; or if a ship-of-war, (a certain allowance per gun is granted by the state. The produce of the sale or grant is lodged in the hands of the Accountant-general of the Navy, for distribution to the officers and men who assisted at the capture. The net produce of the sale or grant is first divided rateably among any ships (if there be more than one) concerned in the capture. The share of each ship is then divided into eight equal parts. If she were employed under the orders of a flag-officer, he gets one-eighth, and the captain two-eighths; if not, the captain has three-eighths; one-eighth is divided among the lieutenants and officers of corresponding relative rank; one-eighth is shared by the junior commissioned officers and warrant officers; one-eighth goes to the midshipmen and petty officers; and the remaining two-eighths among the seamen, marines,and boys.

A’MBULANCE, a military term which is somewhat differently applied in different countries. In France, an A. is a portable hospital, one of which is attached to every division of an army in the field, and provided with all the requisites for the medical succor of sick or wounded troops. Such an A. is stationed at some spot removed from immediate danger; and soldiers are sedulously employed after a battle in seeking out those who have fallen, and conveying them to the A. Baron Larrey, during the great wars of the First Napoleon, brought this department of medical business to a high degree of efficiency, and set an example to the rest of Europe. When England engaged in war with Russia in 1854, the A. arrangements, like many others relating to the army, were in a very imperfect state. In the English army, A., strictly speaking, means a field hospital with all its wagons, litters, tents, cooking canteen, &c-; but sometimes the name is applied to a four-wheeled wagon or a two-wheeled cart fitted up for the reception of wounded men. When Lord Raglan was about to be sent out with the army, Dr. Guthrie, President of the College of Surgeons, devised a new form of A. cart; while Dr. Andrew Smith, Director-general of the Army and Ordnance Medical Department, invented a new A. wagon.

Annexed is a figure of Dr. Guthrie’s A. cart. The badly wounded were laid on it at full length, while those slightly hurt sat in front and rear, and on the sides. A stretcher is slung from the top for the accommodation of the former. The back-board is let down for cases requiring amputation. The hospital chests are lashed underneath. Many of Smith’s A. wagons and of Guthrie’s A. carts were at once made and sent out to the East; but they were not at the proper place when most wanted. After the battle of the Alma, the English were almost entirely destitute of means for conveying their wounded down to the beach; but the French had for this purpose a large number of camlets, suggested to them by their experience in Algeria. Each of these consists of two easy-chairs, slung in panniers across the back of a mule; and it is accordingly available along tracks where no wheel-carriage could pass. These cacolets have since been adopted in the English army, as well as improved, hand-litters, wheeled-litters or barrows, and ambulance wagons on a more modern model than those of Smith and Guthrie, but having the same general character. The American War, the wars of 1866 and 1870, and above all, the growth of volunteer aid societies under the influence of the Geneva Convention of 1866 (which gave to the wounded and their attendants the privileges of neutrality), have largely developed the ambulance equipments of every European army. Every international exhibition now contains an immense number of designs for the safe transport of the wounded. The most remarkable step taken in this direction has been the organization of railway ambulances. Trains of carriages either built for the purpose, or adapted from the ordinary rolling stock, can now be fitted up as moving hospitals, with their staff of surgeons and attendants; and by means of these railway ambulances the wounded can be safely and rapidly removed from the encumbered field hospitals to the permanent hospitals of the great cities of their own country. All the fittings for thus adapting railway trains to hospital purposes are now kept permanently m store in many of the countries of the continent.

ARTILLERY sometimes means large cannon or ordnance of every kind; sometimes it includes the shot and shell; sometimes it applies to the soldiers who manage the cannon. In the present work, the large pieces of ordnance, as a class, are described under cannon; specialties are noticed at CARRONADE, HOWITZER, GUN, MORTAR, &c.; and in some cases under the names of the inventors, as ARMSTRONG GUN, LANCASTER GUN, &c. See also FIREARMS, RIFLED ARMS, GUNNERY, SHELLS, SHOT. It may, however, be well here to explain that the term Equipment of A. is applied to a combination of men, material, and horses, suitable for coast-defences, sieges, or the arming of fortified posts. There are several kinds of equipments of light A., under the names of horse, field, rocket, mountain, and reserve; and others of heavy A., for the attack and defence of coasts and fortified places. These various equipments are generally divided into smaller collections called Batteries (q. v.), for more easy control and man�uvring. Paris of A. is a collective name given to the whole of the guns, carriages, ammunition, and other appurtenances essential to the working of field or siege A.

Artillery Corps.�Before the invention of gunpowder, the larger projectile weapons, sometimes called engines of war, sometimes artillery, were worked by rough soldiers, who needed no particular apprenticeship to that art. When, however, large balls of iron came to be propelled by the irresistible force of gunpowder, a great revolution gradually took place, though garrison-guns and siege-guns were improved more rapidly than field-guns. Nevertheless, field-guns changed the whole aspect of military tactics; for it became necessary that an army should form in order of battle at a much greater distance from the enemy than in older times. And when the cannon were made more rapidly movable, so did tactics vary. Gradually, a body of men were set apart to study the force and action of gunpowder, the flight and range of projectiles, the weight and strength of cannon, and the man�uvring of heavy masses. The French were the first to make these researches; after them, the English; and still later, the Germans. During the Thirty Years’ War, an important step was taken in Germany�that of including the artillerymen, who were till then a sort of guild, as a component in the regular army. Gustavus Adolphus’ in Sweden, Frederick II. in Prussia and Napoleon I in France, all attached a very high degree of importance to the A. as an arm of the service. After the great wars in the beginning of the present century, nearly all the states of Europe formally recognized the A. as the third great branch of military service (next after the infantry and cavalry); indeed, in almost all present armies, it takes practically the first place. A. corps, or artillerymen, are divided into land-A. and marine-A. The land-A. is divided into field, coast, garrison, and siege A. The field-A. is sub-divided into horse and foot. There are also the special appellation of reserve, light and heavy A. In most European states, the artillerymen are divided into regiments, battalions, brigades, arid companies; but in Britain the whole form one enormous regiment, which is expanded or contracted according to the exigencies of the service. See below.

When military men speak of the field-A., they usually include cannon, carriages, horses, ammunition, and stores of every description, as well as the artillerymen. The distinction between heavy and light A. depends on the size of the cannon, and the weight of the shot and shell propelled from them. For obvious reasons the construction of very large field-guns is avoided. Military men are not quite agreed as to the precise figures; but there was in the time of Napoleon I. a general concurrence in opinion that a well-appointed field-force should have two or three A. guns to every 1000 infantry, and five or six horse A.-guns to every 1000 cavalry. The proportion is necessarily affected by the kind of country and the amount of available transport. During the Peninsular War, Wellington had seldom more than 1 gun to every 1000 soldiers; when he entered France, he had 3 to the 1000. Napoleon preferred 2 per thousand, with a larger supply of ammunition than had before been deemed necessary; and many foreign governments followed his example. Since the Franco-German war, it is held that there should be always with the army 3 guns per 1000 infantry.

The Royal Regiment of Artillery is the collective name for the whole of the A. belonging to the British army. Under Artillery Corps, the origin of similar bodies on the continent of Europe is briefly noticed. There was no regular regiment or corps of A. soldiers in the English army till the time of Queen Anne, when the present Royal Regiment was formed. Since that period, from some anomaly difficult to explain, all the additions have been made to the same regiment, instead of forming new regiments, to be combined into a division or corps. The regiment is now almost an army in itself; and to increase the anomaly, it comprises horse as well as foot. The foot-A., with medium guns, attend infantry in the battle-field; and with heavier guns, besiege and defend fortified places; while the horse-A., with lighter guns, accompany the cavalry. The mounted artillerymen were organized long after those who man�uvre on foot. Though both corps form one regiment, they have distinct designations�the Royal A., and the Royal Horse-A. Besides these two corps, the regiment is considered to include the Master Gunners and the Coast Brigade.

The regiment has varied from 18,000 to 36,000 strong (including those placed upon the East India establishment), during the last 20 years. Formerly, the foot were divided into battalions, and the horse into troops. Each company, with its quota of guns and stores, constituted a field-battery; and each troop, with its quota, constituted a horse-battery. The terms ‘ company’ and ‘ troop’ are now altogether abandoned as being properly applicable to infantry and cavalry, and both foot and horse are divided into brigades and batteries. Under the old organization, there was no major among the working officers, the designations being captain, second-captain, and lieutenants. The grades now are major, captain, and three lieutenants per battery. A battalion in former times usually comprised eight companies. When the number of the regiment was 18,000,’it comprised 119 companies and troops, averaging somewhat over 150 men each; at other times, the companies varied from 130 to 200 men each. At present, a brigade usually comprises 8 batteries of horse, or 10 of field, or 7 of garrison A. A horse-battery has 5 officers and 151 men; a field-battery (at home), 5 officers and 152 men; and a garrison-battery, 4 officers and from 100 to 150 men, according to the guns of position in its charge. The brigades of foot-A. are designated by ordinal numbers; the brigades of horse-A. are designated by letters, from A to F (omitting E). In the old nomenclature, the companies and battalions of foot-A. had numbers�i.e., 6th company, 12th battalion; and the troops of horse-A. were designated by letters.

The following table, from the Army Estimates of 1832�1883, shows the numbers of the force:

Of this number of men 12,065 are placed at the disposal of the East Indies, to be paid for out of Indian revenues. A general order was issued in April, 1882, giving details of the new organization of the Royal A. The former divisions of this regiment which is the largest in the world, numbering some 21,000 men) were 3 brigades of horse, 6 of field, and 5 of garrison A. The new organization provides for 2 horse brigades, 4 field brigades, and 11 divisions of garrison A., in each of which the first brigade consists of regulars, while the Militia Artillery regiments in each district are formed into the junior brigades of their divisions, to each of which a territorial designation is given. The first, or Northern Division, lias its headquarters at Newcastle, arid the Durham, Northumberland, and Yorkshire Artillery are attached to it. The second, or Lancashire Division, includes the Lancashire Militia, and is domiciled at Liverpool. The third, or Eastern Division, hails from Yarmouth, and its second and third brigade are furnished by the Norfolk and Suffolk Artillery Militia. The fourth is the Cinque Ports Division, stationed at Dover, and embracing the Kent and Sussex Militia. The fifth, or Woodwick Division, is formed entirely of regulars, and contains only our brigade. The Southern Division has its depot at Portsmouth, and takes in the Hants and Isle of Wight regiments; and the Western Division at Plymouth takes charge of the Devon and Cornwall regiments. A Scottish and a Welsh Division absorb the militia regiments at each of their districts, their headquarters being at Leith and Pembroke Dock respectively; and the North and South Irish Divisions, with depots at Carrickfergus and Cork, account for the militia of the sister isle. Recruiting for the Royal A. will be carried on by the infantry regimental district officers. See also the articles BATTERY, ARMY ORGANIZATION, and MARINES.

The Honorable Company of Artillery is the oldest volunteer corps in Britain. Four military bodies�the Artillery Company, the Sergeants-at-Arms, the Yeomen of the Guard, and the Gentlemen Pensioners, were established as far back as the time of the Tudors; they all still exist, but under greatly altered circumstances. In 1537, Henry VIII granted a patent creating a guild ultimately known as ‘ The Masters, Rulers, and Commonalty of the Fraternity or Guild of Artillery of Long-bows Cross-bows, and Handguns.’ Its members were empowered to keep arms and to exercise themselves in shooting. In 1638 the corporation of the city of London presented to the Company the plot of ground ever since called the Artillery Grounds, near Moorfields, as a field for military exercise. Royal princes frequently enrolled themselves as members of the Company, usually as ‘ captain-general.’

In 1719, George I. issued an order that all the commission and staff officers of the City Train-bands (a metropolitan militia) should become members of the Company, and exercise with the other members at all convenient times. The word ‘ artillery’ had heretofore been considered as applying to bows and arrows as well as to firearms; but the members of the Company, like oilier marksmen, had almost abandoned archery, without, however, making any change in their designation. The Company, like many other city guilds, has nearly outlived its original purpose, In 1780, when the ‘ Lord George Gordon riots’ afflicted the metropolis, the members of the Company effectually protected the Bank of England; in 1848 and again in 1859, the Company was on the alert to render good service if needed; but it lias never been engaged in actual ‘warfare with an enemy.

The Company consists of members elected by the ballot of a Court of Assistance, consisting of officers and others ex officio, and twenty-four annually elected. The members pay two guineas annual subscription, and �5 entrance fee, and supply themselves with uniforms, but not with arms and accoutrements. These payments, together with the rental received from some real property, constitute the fund out of which the expenses are defrayed. The members learn rifle-shooting as well as artillery practice; there are meetings twice a week at Moorfields; and every summer there are certain days of camping at some country place. The corps comprises six infantry companies, a troop of light cavalry, win furnish their own horses; and a battery of A., as well as a company of veterans. Until 1849, the members elected their own officers; but since that year the crown has appointed them. The lieu ten ant-colonel appoints the non-commissioned officers. The total number of all arms, is about 600. The regiment has of late years taken a. very good position in shooting at Wimbledon. Martini-Henry rifles were lately served out to them, instead of Sniders, a privilege not accorded to the same extent, as yet, other volunteer regiments. The Company is also the only volunteer body allowed to march through the streets with bayou fixed. Compare G. H. Raikes History of the Hon. Artillery Company, 2 vols.

Artillery Schools.�The first school for A. instruction was established by the Venetians in the beginning of the 16th century. Soon afterwards, Charles V. established similar schools at Burgos and in Sicily. The French founded a school of practical A. in 1675; and in 1679, they added to it a theoretical school at Douai. At present, France has no fewer than seven such establishments. Saxony had an A. school in 1766- but the other German state were more tardy in this work. In Prussia, the A. and engineer schools are combined; but in others of the European states, a separation between these two arms of the science is made. Inmost schools of A., the officers’ studies comprise mathematics, as much of physics and chemistry as is necessary to the duties of an artillerist, field and permanent fortification, garrison-warfare, field-tactics, military history and topography, military surveying and sketching, drawing from the model, &c. The practical exercises include the serving and firing of guns and mortars, the laying out and constructing of field-batteries, and the operations of the laboratory and A. workshop.

The headquarters for A. instruction in England are at Woolwich. A Royal Military Academy was established there in 1741, to impart professional instruction to the artillerists and engineers belonging to the royal army. The East India Company sent their A. cadets to this Academy from the year 1798 to 1810; but afterwards, until 1861, they maintained a separate establishment at Addiscombe (which, however, was not wholly for artillery). At the present day, the students in the Academy are recruited by fair open competition. They enter between the ages of seventeen and twenty; and they remain two years, or such longer time as may fit them to pass an examination for the Royal A. or Engineers. The sons of military officers are admitted on lower terms than those of other persons. The financial control is under the Secretary of State for War; but the Commander-in-chief regulates the discipline and internal arrangements. There are 22 professors and instructors of various kinds. Besides this Royal Military Academy, there is at Woolwich a Department of A. Studies, for the instruction of junior officers of A., and for facilitating their visits to the fortifications and public works of foreign countries. There is also a Select Committee, whose duties are not so much educational as experimental; it is a small establishment for examining and reporting on the numerous inventions relating to artillery, brought before the War Office. The School of Gunnery at Shoebury Ness, subordinate to the headquarters of the A. at Woolwich, is for experiments upon ordnance, gunpowder, and projectiles, and to exercise young A. officers in the practical and mechanical duties of their profession. See ARTILLERY in AM. SUPP.

PRIVATEE’R, a ship owned by a private individual, which, under government permission expressed by a Letter of Marque (q. v.), makes war upon the shipping of a hostile power. To make war upon an enemy without this commission, or upon the shipping of a nation not specified in it, is piracy. Privateering was abolished by mutual agreement among European nations by the Treaty of Paris in 1856. It is doubtful, however, how far that abolition would stand in a general war, for privateering is the natural resource of a nation whose regular navy is too weak to make head against the maritime power of the enemy, especially when the latter offers the temptation of a wealthy commerce.

A’RTICLES OF WAR are regulations made for the government of the military and naval forces of the country. They are of three classes�1. Those relating to the army, including therein the forces in India, according to the provisions of the 21 and 22 Vict. c. 106; 2. Those relating to the marine forces; and 3. Those relating to the navy.