Thus one of the French generals may be said to have gasconaded, when he officially announced to the Convention of France, that after a severe and bloody engagement against the Austrians, the whole amount of the loss in the French army, was a grenadier's little finger!!! GASTADOURS, Fr. pioneers; foot soldiers so called, because they dug up, destroyed, and cut down all that opposed the progress of an army. GATE, in a military sense, is made of strong planks with iron bars to oppose an enemy. Gates are generally axed in the middle of the curtain, from whence they are seen and defended by the two flanks of the bastions. They should be covered with a good ravelin, that they may not be seen or enfiladed by the enemy. The palisades and barriers before the gates within the town are often of great use. The fewer ports there are in a fortress, the more you are secured against the enemy. At the opening of a gate, a party of horse is sent out to patrole in the country round the place, to discover ambuscades or lurkmg parties of the enemy, and to see if the country be clear. GAUCHE, Fr. the left. A GAUCHE, Fr. to the left. GAUCHE d'une rivière, d'un ruisseau, Fr. The left of a river is ascertained by looking at its stream, or standing with your back to its source, and facing the quarter whence it disembogues itself. The bank on your left hand is called the left bank. GAZETTE, or newspaper, a printed account of the transactions of all the countries in the known world. This name with us, is confined to that paper of news which is published by authority. The word is derived from gazetta, a Venetian coin, which was the usual price of the first newspaper printed there, and which name was afterwards given to the paper itself. The first gazette in England was published at Oxford, the court being there, in a folio half sheet, November the 7th, 1665. On the removal of the court to London, the title was changed to the London Gazette. The Oxford Gazette was published on Tuesdays, the London on Saturdays. And these have continued to be the days of publication ever since that paper has been confined to London. All commissions in the regular army, militia, fencible and volunteer corps must be gazetted. The dates specified in the gazette generally agree in every point with those of the original commissions. So that by referring to the gazette, an officer may generally know the precise day on which he is entitled to receive subsistence from the agent, and to assume rank in the British army. Should an erroneous statement, however, get into the gazette, or a commis sion be wrong dated therein, a reference to the latter (i. e. commission) will always supersede any notification in the former. GAUCHE, Fr. This word is used among the French to signify the second post of honour in an army, or in regiments: thus the second battalion of a corps, which is brigaded, and is senior to another, takes the left of the line; and if two battalions of the first regiment || of guards were to be brigaded with the Coldstream, the second battalion of the former would be on the left, being the post of honour, and the latter would occupy the center, as being the young-grass, and cut in the form of a wedge, est regiment. GAUGE. See STANDARD. GAUGES, in gunnery, are brass rings with handles, to find the diameter of all kinds of shot with expedition. GAULS, the name given by the Romans to the inhabitants of the country that now forms the kingdom of France, The original inhabitants were descended GAZONNER, Fr. to revete or cover with sods. GAZONS, in fortification, pieces of fresh earth or sods, covered with about a foot long, and half a foot thick, to line the outsides of a work made of earth; as ramparts, parapets, banquettes, &c. The first bed of gazons is fixed with pegs of wood; and the second bed is so laid as to bind the former, by being placed over its joints; and so continued till the works are finished. Between those it is usual to sow all sorts Mm 2 of of binding weed or herbs, in order to strengthen the rampart. GEAR, furniture, equipage, or caparisons. GEAT, the hole through which the metal is conveyed to the mould in casting ordnance. GEBEGIS, armourers among the Turks are so called. The uniform of the gendarmerie, as well as of the light cavalry, under the old French government, was scarlet with facings of the same colour. The coat was formerly more or less laced with silver, according to the king's pleasure. A short period before the revolution, it was only laced on the cuff. The waistcoat of buff leather, and the GEBELUS. Every Timarist in Tur- bandouleer of the same, silver laced; key, during a campaign, is obliged to the hat was edged with broad silver take a certain number of horsemen, lace. The horse-cloths and holster-caps who are called gebelus, and to support were red, and the arms of the captain them at his own expence. He is direc-embroidered on the corners of the sadted to take as many with him as woulddle cloths, and on the front of the holannually cost three thousand aspres (each aspre being equal to two-pence farthing English) for subsistence. sters. In 1762, a considerable body of men was raised by order of Louis XIV. The soldiers who composed it were called gendarmes. And in 1792 the numtri-ber was considerably augmented, con GELD, in the English old customs, a Saxon word signifying money, or bute. It also denoted fine or a compensation for some crime committed. Hence wer-geld, in the old Saxon laws, was used for the value of a man slain; and orf-geld for that of a beast. GELIBACH, a sort of superintendant or chief of the gebegis, or armourers among the Turks. He is only subordinate to the toppi bachi, or the grand master of the Turkish artillery. GENDARME, Fr. in the original signification of the term, a man in complete armour. His horse was also shielded by a breast-plate, head-piece, and covers for his sides. The Gendarmes were at first called Hommes d'armes (men at arms), and were esquires. GENDARMERIE, Fr. the gendarmerie was a select body of cavalry that took precedence of every regiment of horse in the French service, and ranked immediately after the king's household, The reputation of the gendarmerie was so great, and its services so well estimated by the king of France, that when the Emperor Charles V. in 1552, sent a formal embassy to the Court of Versailles to request a loan of money, and the assistance of the gendarmerie to enable him to repulse the Turks; Francis I. returned the following answer: "With respect to the first object of your mission, (addressing himself to the ambassador) I am not a banker; and with regard to the other, as my gendarmerie is the arm which supports my sceptre, I never expose it to danger, without personally sharing its fatigue and glory." sisting of horse and foot, and being indiscriminately called gendarmes; but their clothing was altered to deep blue. Their pay was greater than what the rest of the army enjoyed; and while others were paid in paper currency, they received their subsistence in hard cash (en argent sonnant). They possessed these privileges on account of the proofs they were obliged to bring of superior claims to military honour, before they could be enlisted as gendarmes. It was necessary, in fact, that every individual amongst them should produce a certificate of six or eight years service. GENDARMES de la garde, Fr. a select body of men so called during the old government of France, and still preserved in that country; but their services are applied to different purposes. They consisted originally of a single company which was formed by Henry IV. when he ascended the throne. He distinguished them from his other troops, by stiling them hommes d'armes de ses ordonnances; men at arms under his own immediate orders. They were persons best qualified for every species of military duty, and were to constitute a royal squadron, at whose head the king himself might personally engage the enemy, as necessity should require. He gave this squadron to his son the Dauphin, who was afterwards king of France, under the name and title of Louis XIII. According to Dupain de Montesson, the gendarmes de la garde garde were a body of horse, which formed part of the household guard during the French monarchy. This body consisted of two hundred men, and was divided into two squadrons. GENDARMES Anglois, Fr. In the establishment of the old French army, the English gendarmes formed the second troop or company of the corps. GENDARMES d'Anjou, Fr. the eleventh troop belonging to the old French gendarmerie. GENDARMES de Berry, Fr. the thirteenth troop belonging to the old French gendarmerie. GENDARMES Bourguignons, Fr. the third troop belonging to the old French gendarmerie. GENDARMES de Bretagne, Fr. the ninth troop belonging to the old French gendarmerie. GENDARMES Dauphin. Fr. the seventh troop belonging to the old French gendarmerie. GENDARMES Ecossois, Fr. the first troop belonging to the old French gen‐ darmerie. GENDARMES de Flandre, Fr. the fourth troop belonging to the old French gendarmerie. GENDARMES d'Orleans, Fr. the fifteenth troop belonging to the old French gendarmerie. GENDARMES de la Reine, Fr. the fifth troop belonging to the old French gendarmerie. GENERAL, in a military sense, is an officer in chief, to whom the prince or senate of a country have judged proper to intrust the command of their troops. He holds this important trust under various titles, as captain-general in England and Spain, feldt mareschal in Germany, or mareschal in France. In the British service the king is constitutionally, and in his own proper right, captain-general. He has ten aidsde-camp; each enjoying the brevet rank of full colonel in the army. Next to his majesty is the commander in chief, whom he sometimes honours with the title of captain general. During the expedition to Holland, his Royal Highness the Duke of York was entrusted with this important charge. The natural qualities of a GENERAL. These should be a martial genius, à solid judgment, a healthy robust constitu tion, intrepidity and presence of mind on critical occasions, indefatigability in business, goodness of heart, liberality, and a reasonable age; for if too young he may want experience and prudence; and if too old, he may not have vivacity enough. His conduct must be uniform, his temper affable, but inflexible in maintaining the police and discipline of an army. Acquired qualities of a GENERAL. These should be secrecy, justice, sobriety, temperance, knowledge of the art of war from theory and practice, the art of commanding, and speaking with precision and exactness; great attention to preserve the lives and supply the wants of the soldiers, and a constant study of the characters of the officers of his army, that he may employ them according to their talents. His conduct appears in establishing his magazines in the most convenient places; in examining the country, that he may not engage his troops too far, while he is ignorant of the means of bringing them off; in subsisting them, and in knowing how to take the most advantageous posts, either for fighting, retreating, or shunning a battle. His experience inspires his army with confidence, and an assurance of victory; and his quality, by creating respect augments his authority. By his liberality he gets intelligence of the strength and designs of the enemy, and by this means is enabled to take the most successful measures. He ought to be fond of glory, to have an aversion to flattery, to render himself beloved, and to keep a strict discipline and regular subordination. The office of a GENERAL is to regulate the march and encampment of the army, in the day of battle to chuse out the most advantageous ground; to make the disposition of the army, to post the artillery, and, where there is occasion, to send his orders by his aidsde-camp. At a siege he is to cause the place to be invested, to regulate the approaches and attacks, to visit the works, and to send out detachments to secure the convoys, and foraging parties. GENERALISSIMO, a supreme and absolute commander in the field. This word is generally used in most foreign languages. It was first invented by the absolute absolute authority of Cardinal Richlieu, || Jean d'Acre, which was preserved by a when he went to command the French GENERALS of horse are officers next under the general of the army. They have an absolute command over the horse belonging to an army, above the lieutenant-generals. GENERALS of foot are officers next under the general of the army, having an absolute command over the foot of the army. GENERAL officers. All officers above the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the line are so called. The Board, (which subject to his majesty and the commander in chief) determines every regulation respecting the clothing of the army, is composed of general officers. GENERAL. In the German armies, and among the sovereigns of the North, there are certain generals of cavalry, and others of infantry, who take rank of all lieutenant generals. Those belonging to the infantry in the imperial service, and who are of this description, are called general field zeugmeisters. In Russia they hear the titles of generals in chief; of which class their are four belonging to the armies of that empire, two for the infantry, and two for the cavalry. They are only subordinate to field marshals; which title or dignity is the same in Russia as was formerly that of marshal of France. || || handful of British seamen and marines) we shall wave our own private sentiments on the subject, and give the following curious account of their gene rals, as faithfully extracted out of a French work. The Turks, observes that author, have likewise good generals. They possess experience, because from their earliest infancy they become inured to arms; because through the different stages of acknowledged service, they risc by degrees; and because their empire being very extensive, it is necessary that they should over-run several provinces for its protection, and be almost constantly engaged in skirmishes or battles. These, at least, were the original principles upon which the military code of that country was established. But abuses, the natural consequences of corruption, have since crept in amongst them; for there have been persons suddenly raised from subordinate employments under the Porte to the supreme command of armies. The primary cause of this abuse is to be found in the luxury and effeminacy of the grand signors; who are become heedless of the Mahometan laws, and never go to war in person. The acknowledged valour of the Turkish generals may be attributed to the following causes. To a constitution which is naturally robust, to a practical knowledge of war, and to habitual In the two imperial armies just men- military exercises. To these may be tioned, it is usual for generals, lieute- added the confidence with which they nant generals, and major generals to are inspired by the recollection of fortake their routine of duty, and rise pro- mer victories; but they are influenced gressively in the infantry or cavalry above all, by the secret dictates of relicorps, to which they were originally ap-gion, which holds out eternal happiness pointed, until they arrive at a chief command; whereas in France (according to the old military system of that country, and according to our own in England) a major general might be employed to take charge of either infantry or cavalry, without any regard being paid to the particular line of service in which he was bred. GÉNÉRAL chez les Turcs, Fr. Turkish generals. Whatever opinion we may be disposed to entertain of the troops of the Ottoman Empire, (and we have recently had some experience of their manner of fighting, especially at St. to those who shall die in battle, and which teaches them to believe, that every Turk bears written on the forehead, not only the hour of his departure from this earth, but the manner of his removal. A Turkish general possesses a power as absolute and uncontrouled as that which was entrusted to the dictators of the Roman republic. He has no competitor, or equal in the charge he holds, no assistants or colleagues with whom he is directed to consult, and to whose assent or dissent, in matters of consultation, he is to pay the least regard. Not only the army under his command, but whenever he chose to hoist it in another. but the whole country into which he marches, is subject to his orders, and bound implicitly to obey them. Punish- During the reign of Louis XIV. in ments and rewards are equally within 1669, the Duke de Vivone, marshal of his distribution. If an authority so ab- France, raised the reputation of the solute as this be considered in the light galley service to a considerable degree of of executive effect, nothing most un- eminence, by gaining several hard fought questionably can so readily produce it; engagements. His son, the Duke de for the tardiness of deliberation is su- Mortomart succeeded him in the apperseded at once by a prompt decision; ||pointment; and the chevalier d'Orleans, before which all sorts of objections, grand prior of France, was general of and every species of jealousy, subside. || the gallies at his decease. When a project is to be fulfilled, secrecy is the natural consequence of this arbitrary system, and rational plans are not interrupted by a difference of opinion, by prejudice or cabal. GENERAL de bataille, or a particuGENERAL major, Slar rank or appointment, whose functions correspond with those of a ci-devant marshal of France. This situation is entrusted to a general officer, and is only known among the armies of Russia, and some other northern powers. He takes precedence in the saine manner that our major generals do, of all brigadier generals and colonels, and is subordinate to lieutenant generals. The rank of brigadier general is only known in Russia, England, and Holland. It does not exist in Austria or Sweden. GENERAL des galères, Fr. Superintendant officer or general of the gallies. This was one of the most important appointments belonging to the old government of France. The officer to whom It was entrusted commanded all the galhes, and vessels which bore what the French call voiles latines (a triangle rectangular sail) in the Mediterranean. He had a jurisdiction, a marine police, and an arsenal for constructing ships under his own immediate command, without being in the least subordinate to the French admiralty board. When he went on board he was only inferior in rank to the admiral. The privileges which were attached to his situation, and the authority be possessed with regard to every other marine or sea-officer, were specifically mentioned in the king's regulations, and were distinguished by the respect and compliments that were paid to the royal standard, which this general bore, not not only on board his own galley, but GENERAL des vivres, Fr. a sort of chief commissary, or superintendant general of stores, whose particular functions were to provide ammunition bread and biscuit for the army. There were several subordinate commissaries who watched the distribution of these stores, and saw that the bakers gave bread of the quality they contracted for. It was likewise within the department of the superintendant general to attend to the collection of grain and flour, and to see that proper carriages and horses were always at hand to convey them to the several depots or magazines. The different camps were also supplied from the same source. See MUNITIONNAIRE. GENERAL and staff officers are all officers as above described, whose authority extends beyond the immediate command of a particular regiment or company, and who have either separate districts at home, or commands on foreign service. Lieutenant GENERAL. This office is the first military dignity after that of a general. One part of the functions belonging to lieutenant generals, is to assist the general with counsel: they ought therefore, if possible, to possess the same qualities with the general himself; and the more, as they often command armies in chief, or succeed thereto on the death of the general. The number of lieutenant generals have been multiplied of late in Europe, in proportion as the armies have become numerous. They serve either in the field, or in sieges, according to the dates of their commissions. In battle the oldest commands the right wing of the army, the second the left wing, the third the center, the fourth the right wing of the second line, the fifth the left wing, the sixth the center, and so |
