Part 175

In the British service the king is constitutionally, and in his official right, captain-general. He has ten aids-de-camp; every one of whom enjoys the brevet rank of full colonel in the army. Next to the king is the commander in chief, whom he sometimes honors with the title of captain-general. During the expedition to Holland the Duke of York was entrusted with this important charge.

The natural qualities of a GENERAL, are a martial genius, a solid judgment, a healthy robust constitution, intrepidity and presence of mind on critical occasions, indefatigability in business, goodness of heart, liberality, a reasonable age; if too young, he may want experience and prudence; 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 should be secrecy, justice, sobriety, temperance, knowlege 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 good qualities, by creating respect, augment 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 choose out the most advantageous ground; to make the disposition of the corps; to post the artillery, and, where there is occasion, to send his orders by his aids-de-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 convoy 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 authority of cardinal Richelieu, when he went to command the French army in Italy.

GENERAL of the artillery. See ORDNANCE.

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 colonel in the line are so called.

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 bear the title of generals in chief; of which class there 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.

In the two imperial armies just mentioned, it is usual for generals, lieutenant generals, and major generals to take their routine of duty, and rise progressively in the infantry or cavalry corps, to which they were originally appointed, until they arrive at a chief command; whereas in France 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.

GENERAL chez les Turcs, Fr. Turkish generals.

The Turks have had brave generals. They possess experience, because from their earliest infancy they become inured to arms; because through the different stages of acknowleged service, they rise 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 Mahomedan laws, and never go to war in person.

The acknowleged valor of the Turkish generals may be attributed to the following causes. To a constitution which is naturally robust, to a practical knowlege of war, and to habitual military exercises.

To these may be added the confidence with which they are inspired by the recollection of former victories; but they are influenced above all, by the secret dictates of a religion, which holds out eternal happiness 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 uncontroled 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 the whole country into which he marches, is subject to his orders, and bound implicitly to obey them. Punishments and rewards are equally within his distribution. If an authority so absolute as this be considered in the light of executive effect, nothing most unquestionably can so readily produce it; for the tardiness of deliberation is superseded at once by a prompt decision, before which all sorts of objections, and every species of jealousy, subside. 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, GENERAL major, a particular 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 same manner that our major generals do, of all brigadier generals and colonels, and is subordinate to lieutenant generals. The rank of brigadier general is known in France, Russia, England, Holland, and the United States. It does not exist in Austria or Sweden.

GENERAL des galéres, 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 gallies, 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 he 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 only on board his own galley, but whenever he chose to hoist it in another.

During the reign of Louis XIV. in 1669, the Duke de Vivone, marshal of France, raised the reputation of the galley service, to a considerable degree of eminence, by gaining several hard fought engagements. His son the Duke de Mortemart succeeded him in the appointment; and the chevalier d’Orleans, grand prior of France, was general of the gallies at his decease.

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 centre, the fourth the right wing of the second line, the fifth the left wing, the sixth the centre, and so on. In sieges the lieutenant generals always command the right of the principal attack, and order what they judge proper for the advancement of the siege, during the 24 hours they are in the trenches, except the attacks, which they are not to make without an order from the general in chief. Lieutenant generals are entitled to two aids-de-camp.

Lieutenant GENERAL of the ordnance. See ORDNANCE.

Lieutenant GENERAL of artillery, is, or ought to be, a very able mathematician, and a skilful engineer, to know all the powers of artillery, to understand the attack and defence of fortified places, in all its different branches; how to dispose of the artillery in the day of battle to the best advantage; to conduct its march and retreat; as also to be well acquainted with all the numerous apparatus belonging to the train, laboratory, &c.

Major GENERAL, the next officer to the lieutenant general. His chief business is to receive orders from the general, or in his absence from the lieutenant general of the day; which he is to distribute to the brigade-majors, with whom he is to regulate the guards, convoys, detachments, &c. On him the whole fatigue and detail of duty of the army roll. It is the major general of the day who is charged with the encampment of the army, who places himself at the head of it when it marches, who marks out the ground of the camp to the quarter-master-general, and who places the new guards for the safety of the camp.

The day the army is to march, he dictates to the field officers the order of the march, which he has received from the general, and on other days gives them the parole.