Part 232

Regimental INSPECTION is made once a month by the commanding officer. The clothing, the necessaries, arms, and accoutrements belonging to the different companies are examined by the lieutenant colonel or major of the corps. Specific returns are made by the officers commanding troops or companies, by whom the debts and credits of the men, which have been made up and accounted for on the 24th day in each month, in infantry regiments, and on the 24th day in each second month in cavalry corps, are exhibited for examination at head quarters. This forms the groundwork or basis of the general inspection, at which the troop or company book should always be produced.

Private INSPECTION of companies is the first step towards the other two, and ought to be made every Monday morning, by each officer commanding a troop or company, or by his subaltern.

INSPECTION of necessaries is an examination of the different articles which every soldier is directed to have in good repair. The regular or established proportion of necessaries that each soldier of cavalry and infantry is to be in possession of on the 24th day of each month, to entitle him to receive the balance that may be then due to him, consists of the following articles.

Cavalry.--3 shirts, 2 pair of shoes, 3 pair of stockings, one pair of gaiters, 1 forage cap, 1 saddle-bag, one pair of canvas, or woollen over-hose, 1 canvas, or woollen frock or jacket, 1 stock, 1 black-ball, 2 brushes, 1 curry-comb and brush, 1 mane comb and spunge, 1 horse-pricker.

Infantry.--3 shirts, 2 pair of shoes, 2 pair of stockings, or 2 pair of socks, 1 pair of gaiters, 1 forage cap, 1 pack, 1 stock, 1 black-ball, 2 brushes.

Private INSPECTION of arms. Twenty minutes or more before the general parade, every troop or company should be drawn up on its troop or private parade, and each man be narrowly inspected by an officer. When the dress and accoutrements have been looked at, the troop or company standing at open ranks, and with shouldered arms will receive the following words of command from the senior officer.

Open-pans--slope, or port arms--The pans and locks will be narrowly inspected. Carry arms--shut pans--order arms--draw ramrods--at which word the men draw and put them in the pieces, springing them successively as the officer comes up to them, but not returning them until the whole troop or company has been examined. The officer will carefully examine the nob of each ramrod, and determine from its appearance whether the inside of the barrel be clean. On some particular occasions, especially when a party is ordered upon immediate duty with ball cartridges, a more minute examination of the musquet should take place. The pricker is not always sufficient to ascertain the state of the interior part of the touch-hole, as it can only enter in one direction; it is therefore recommended to order the men Buts to the front, after which they are to blow down the barrels. By applying his hand to the touch-hole, the officer will be able to know the real state of the vent. When the arms have been examined, the men will be ordered to handle arms--fix bayonets.--When the bayonets and slings will be inspected--unfix bayonets--ease arms--stand at ease.

INSPECTOR of cavalry, an officer whose particular duty is to inspect all cavalry regiments, to report the state of the horses, and to receive specific accounts from the different corps of their actual state; he communicates with the commander in chief, and whenever a cavalry regiment is ordered to be disbanded, it must be looked at by the inspector general, before it is finally broken.

INSPECTOR of the recruiting service, an officer of rank through whom the field officers of districts, and colonels of regiments (when they personally manage the recruiting service of their own corps) transmit their several returns to the adjutant general’s office.

INSPECTOR of clothing. These inspectors, or the inspectors for the time being, are directed to view and compare with the sealed patterns, the clothing of the several regiments, as soon as the same shall have been prepared, and if the said clothing appear to be conformable to the sealed patterns, they are authorized to grant two certificates of their view and approval thereof; one of which certificates is to be delivered to the clothier, to be sent with the clothing to the head quarters of the corps, and the other to be lodged with the general clothing board, as the necessary voucher for passing the assignment of the allowance for the said clothing.

All clothing must be viewed, and certificates be signed by both inspectors, except in cases where the absence of one of them shall be unavoidable; in all which cases the cause of such absence is to be stated by the other inspector, in his certificate of the view of the clothing.

Inspectors of clothing are to follow all instructions which may be transmitted to them from the commander in chief, or the secretary at war.

INSPECTOR of hospitals, the next on the staff to the surgeon general.

INSTALLATION, the act of investing any one with a military order.

INSTRUCTION des procés criminel, Fr. A military form or process in criminal matters. In the old French service when troops were in garrison, it was the duty of the town-major to issue out the regular form of proceeding against all officers, serjeants, and soldiers who were accused of crimes or misdemeanors. The majors of corps exercised this function when troops were encamped. There was a specific form, subject only to a few alterations with respect to terms and expressions, by which all sorts of military crimes were investigated. Desertion was the chief and most prevalent crime among French soldiers. It became the peculiar business of the major, whether in garrison or in the field, to explain and bring forward every thing that might establish the truth of the accusation; and he acted on this occasion, as an attorney general does in civil matters; only with this difference, that the latter explained the grounds of his indictment before a judge, whereas the former not only exposed the nature of the case, but drew his own conclusions, and bounded his verdict.

Those officers who may be disposed to enter more largely into the subject of French military process, as conducted before the revolution, may be satisfied by perusing Le Code Militaire, ou deuxieme volume du service de l’Infanterie, page 123; and we refer all British officers in general to M. Tytler’s late publication on English military law.

Major Macomb of the United States engineers has published a very judicious and concise tract adapted to the military service of the Union; and it is adopted by the war office.

Military INSTRUMENTS (instrumens militaires.) Fr. By the sound of military instruments the troops belonging to the several armies in Europe, &c. are directed in their various movements.

The instruments which are peculiar to the cavalry of most nations are the trumpet and the cymbal. In France, dragoon regiments in general formerly adopted the drum in common with the infantry, they now use the trumpet for garrison, and the bugle for the field service. A certain number of fifers are likewise allowed in foot regiments. Hautboys and clarinets do not form any part of the music which is sanctioned and paid for by the public. Colonels of corps, however, frequently entertain a band either at their own expence, or out of what is called the stock-purse.

The principal military instruments which were used among the ancients, whether for cavalry or infantry, consisted of the trumpet, the cornet, and the buccina or French horn.

Warlike INSTRUMENTS used by the Turks. The Turks make use of wind and clashing instruments of different shapes and sizes; all, except one wind instrument, are better calculated for pomp and ceremony, than adapted to military service.

The clashing instruments, which the French call instrumens à choc, consist of two sorts of drums, and an instrument which is made of two plates of metal, such as the cymbals we have adopted from the Asiatics.

Their wind-instruments consist of a winding or crooked trumpet, and of a wooden fife.

The big drum which they call daul, stands three feet high. It is carried by a mounted drummer, who makes use of a thick stick with which he strikes the upper part, and a small one, with which he plays upon the under one; these he applies alternately with much ingenuity of hand, and great gravity of countenance. This is the only instrument which the Turks use in military exercises or manœuvres. The big drums are constantly beat when the enemy is near, and round all the out-posts, in order to keep the sentinels upon the alert. On these occasions the drummers exclaim with a loud voice: Jegda Allah! that is, God is good! or as the French interpret it--Dieu Bon.

The two small drums, or the kettle drums serve as marks of distinction for the bacha’s family, and likewise as signals when the troops are to march. They contribute greatly to the general harmony of a concert. The Turkish name for them is Sudar Nagara. The bachas, or bashaws with three tails are entitled to three kettle drums, which are fixed on each side of the saddle, and are beat in the same manner that those in other services are.

There is likewise another sort of Turkish instrument called zill, which consists of two hollow brass plates, on whose convex side is fixed a ring sufficiently large to contain the grasp of three fingers. By clashing them seasonably together, an agreeable silvery sound is extracted. The bashaws with three tails are each intitled to two sets of these instruments.

There are two sorts of wind-instruments used among the Turks, they differ very much both with regard to the manner in which they are played, and to the materials with which they are made. The first is the trumpet, which is made of the same metal that ours are, but are somewhat longer; they are called bori. The man who blows this trumpet is always mounted on horse back, and every bashaw with three tails is intitled to have seven.

The second instrument is made of wood; it is a sort of pipe or flute with five holes; the Turks call it zurnader. The person who plays this instrument is on horseback, and every bashaw with three tails is intitled to five.