Part 118

ECLAIREURS, Fr. a corps of grenadiers raised by Bonaparte, in France, who from their celerity of movement were compared to lightning.

ECLOPES, a French military term, to express those soldiers who, though invalids, are yet well enough to follow the army. Among these may be classed dragoons or horsemen, whose horses get suddenly lame, and cannot keep up with the troop or squadron. They always march in the rear of a column.

ECLUSES, Fr. See SLUICES.

ECONOMY, in a military sense, implies the minutiæ, or interior regulations of a regiment, troop, or company. Hence regimental economy.

ECORE, Fr. steep shore. Côte en ecore, signifies a very steep descent.

ECOUPE, Fr. An instrument used by the pioneers. See OUTILS.

ECOUVILLON, Fr. a maulkin or drag. The spunge made use of to clean and to cool the inside of a cannon, when it has been discharged.

ECOUVILLONER, Fr. To clean a piece of ordnance before it has been fired, or to cool it after.

ECRETER, Fr. To batter or fire at the top of a wall, redoubt, epaulement, &c. so as to dislodge or drive away the men that may be stationed behind it, in order to render the approach more easy. Ecreter les pointes des palissades, is to blunt the sharp ends of the palisades. This ought always to be done before you attack the covert way, which is generally fenced by them.

ECU, Fr. A large shield which was used by the ancients, and carried on their left arms, to ward off the blows of a sword or sabre. This instrument of defence was originally invented by the Samnites. The Moors had ecus or shields, sufficiently large to cover the whole of their bodies. The clipei of the Romans, only differed from the ecu in shape; the former being entirely round, and the latter oval.

EDGE. The thin or cutting part of a sword or sabre.

EDICT. See PROCLAMATION.

EDUCATION, in a military sense, implies the training up of youth to the art of war; the first object to be considered is, whether nature has given the young man the talents necessary for the profession or not; for here sense, parts, courage, and judgment, are required in a very eminent degree. The natural qualities of an officer are, a robust constitution, a noble open countenance, a martial genius, fire to produce activity, phlegm to moderate his transports, and patience to support the toils and fatigues of war, almost without seeming to feel them. Acquired qualities in an officer consist in moral virtues and sciences; by the first is meant, a regular good conduct, economy, prudence, and a serious application to what regards the service. Military sciences indispensibly demand the reading of ancient and modern historians; a good knowlege of military mathematics; and the study of the chief languages of Europe.

It is in ancient authors we find all that is excellent, either in politics or war: the make and form of arms are changed since the invention of gunpowder; but the science of war is always the same. On one hand, history instructs us by examples, and furnishes us with proofs, of the beautiful maxims of virtue and wisdom, which morality has taught us: it gives us a kind of experience, beforehand, of what we are to do in the world; it teaches us to regulate our life, and to conduct ourselves with wisdom, to understand mankind; ever to carry ourselves with integrity and probity, never to do a mean action; and to measure grandeur with the level of reason, that we may despise it when dangerous or ridiculous.

On the other hand, history serves to give us a knowlege of the universe, and the different nations which inhabit it; their prejudices, their governments, their interests, their commerce, their politics, and the law of nations. It shews us the origin of the illustrious men who have reigned in the world, and given birth to their successors.

The knowlege of military mathematics, regards the operations of war in general; every thing there consists in proportion, measure, and motion: it treats of marches, encampments, battles, artillery, fortification, lines, sieges, mines, ammunition, provisions, fleets, and every thing which relates to war; but no perfect notion can be acquired without geometry, natural philosophy, mechanics, military architecture, and the art of drawing.

The study of languages is most useful to an officer, and he feels the necessity of it, in proportion as he rises to higher employments. Thus the Latin, German, and French languages, are very necessary for an English officer; as the English, French, and Italian, are for a German.

French MILITARY EDUCATION. He who undertakes to investigate the causes of the military superiority of the modern French, will, perhaps, be inclined to attach some importance to the facts contained in the following anecdote:

In the course of the winter of 1806, part of the pupils of the Prytaneum, at Paris, left that city to receive appointments as officers in the grand army in Poland. The route of these youths, of whom many had not obtained their full stature, and others had a weakly appearance, though they were neither so small nor so weak as were formerly many subalterns in the Prussian army--led them through Berlin. An officer accompanied them in quality of inspector. They passed one night in that capital.

A well-informed inhabitant of the city, who had formerly been in the army, and possessing considerable military attainments, had occasion to be in the neighborhood of their quarters. Their juvenile appearance induced him to ask the officer who accompanied them, whether these youths would be capable of enduring the fatigues and dangers of field encampments in a northern climate, at so inclement a season, and in such a country as Poland. The officer, a polite and sensible man, made this reply:--

“These young men, sir, can scarcely be subjected to any contingency for which they are not perfectly prepared by education and practice. You are mistaken if you imagine that the Emperor Napoleon considers theoretical instruction sufficient for a soldier; our institution goes farther, a great deal farther. All these youths whom you here see, have had much more experience than many officers in actual service in other armies. Their constitution is early inured to all the prejudicial influences which menace the practical soldier. Among these young men there is not one but what has worked with his own hands at the construction of real forts; not one but what has stood centinel whole nights together. All of them have slept many cold and tempestuous nights in the open air, and next day performed a march of 16 or 18 miles; have climbed lofty mountains, beneath the scorching rays of a meridian sun; have swam, sometimes in their clothes, sometimes without, through impetuous rivers and chilling streams; have even been obliged to abstain for whole days from food, and during the hottest weather from drink, that they might learn to endure all possible inconveniences incident to a soldier’s life, and that they might be intimately acquainted with them before they were involved in them by necessity. Nothing would terrify them in an uncommon degree: for in the sham fights in our Institution, the rapier is thrown away after the first few hours, and a sharp sword is put into the hands of the pupils. If any of them receive a wound, he has nothing but his own aukwardness to blame for it. It is his business to protect himself by his superiority. Would you now repeat your question?”

It is easy to conceive what an effect such a practical education must have upon the soldier in the higher ranks! What may be expected of an officer thus prepared for every event? That the conduct of their leader operates with a powerful impulse on all those who are under his command, is not to be denied. Exercise begets courage and energy, and at a period when war is a trade, those who possess these two qualities in the highest degree, must predominate.

EFFECTIVE men, in a military sense, are soldiers fit for service; as an army of 30,000 effective (fighting) men.

EFFORT du Cannon, Fr. The effect or impression made by a piece of ordnance, which wholly depends upon the manner it is loaded and fired.

EGUILLETTES. Shoulder knots.

To ELANCE, to throw darts, &c.

ELDER battalion. A battalion is counted elder than another, by the time since it was raised. See SENIORITY.

ELDER officer, is he whose commission bears the oldest date. See SENIORITY.