Part 290

Death is the absolute punishment for cowardice, or misbehaviour before an enemy, or speaking words inducing others to do the like.

For mutiny, or concealing a mutiny, desertion, sleeping on a post, or quitting it before relieved, plundering after victory, quitting a post in battle, compelling an officer to abandon or give up his post, or persuading others to do the like, corresponding with an enemy, and striking or refusing to obey any superior officer in the execution of his duty, a court-martial may inflict death, or any other punishment it may judge adequate to the offence.

The crimes of persuading others to desert, of concealing, assisting, or relieving an enemy; of being absent from the troop or company a soldier belongs to, absence from duty, drunkenness, and false alarms, are punishable at the discretion of a general or regimental court-martial.

All officers in the command of guards or detachments are enjoined to give assistance to the provost-marshal in the execution of his duty; and any officer or soldier impeding him in the same, or offering him any insult, will receive the most exemplary punishment.

MARSHY ground, les marais, Fr. As it may be frequently necessary to convey heavy ordnance, &c. over marshy ground, and sometimes indeed to erect batteries upon it, the following method has been recommended for those purposes:--

In the first place, a firm and solid road must be made, in order to convey, with safety, the different materials which may be wanted for the construction of the battery, and along which the men may securely drag the various pieces of ordnance. This road must be ten feet high at least.

If the marsh or bog should not be very deep, let a bed or platform, consisting of fascines, and disposed according to the direction of the road, be constructed between two rows of thick saucissons, that are secured and fixed in the earth with strong stakes. This platform must be two thirds as thick as the bog is deep, and contain 12 feet in breadth. Spread hurdles over the level surface of this platform, and then make another bed or covering with fascines, ten feet long, and disposed according to the breadth of the road, taking care to bind their ends, &c. well together by means of stakes, which must be driven through the hurdles and the lower bed. Let this second surface be sufficiently covered with earth and straw, to secure the fascines, and to render the road solid and compact.

If the road should appear unsafe after these precautions, it must be made wider and deeper.

If the marsh or bog be very deep, you must construct several beds or surfaces of fascines, in the manner already mentioned, taking care to make the top equal to the breadth of the road, and capable of supporting the weight of a waggon or carriage. The ground for the epaulement belonging to the platforms, their recoil backwards, and the path to the magazines, must be rendered firm and solid after the same manner. On each side of this epaulement you must throw up a berm or path, measuring three feet in front, and as much on the sides.

You will collect the earth, &c. in the usual way for the construction of batteries on rocks, and mask your artificers in like manner.

MARTEAU d’armes, Fr. an offensive weapon, so called from its resemblance to a hammer.

MARTIAL-Law, is the law of war, which entirely depends on the arbitrary power of the commander of the army when martial law is declared; and then the law of war is greatly influenced by the situation where war is carried on; by the conduct of the people in whose country the war exists: there are certain principles of humanity and honor, which all nations observe in time of war, which have the force of law; as the law of truces, the sacred character of ambassadors, &c. The laws that relate to the army are also branches of martial law.

MARTINET. A word frequently used to signify a strict disciplinarian, who sometimes gives officers and soldiers unnecessary trouble. It is supposed to have taken its origin from an adjutant of that name, who was in high repute, as a drill officer, during the reign of Louis the XIVth.

MARTINET, Fr. A small discipline, or cat o’ nine tails, fixed to the end of a wooden handle, which schoolmasters use to punish refractory or idle boys. This affords us another path, and perhaps a surer one, than the surname already quoted, to find out the real origin of Martinet in a military sense, more especially as it is particularly indicative of the severity that is sometimes practised by what is, ridiculously enough, called a tip-top adjutant.

MARTINGAL, (Martingale, Fr.) a thong of leather, which is fastened to one end of the girths under the belly of a horse, and at the other end to the mussroll, to keep him from rearing.

MASHKAWAR, Ind. Monthly accounts.

A MASK, Fr. in field fortification, (une masque.) It sometimes happens, that a ditch or fossé must be dug in an exposed situation; in this case it will be absolutely necessary for the artificers and workmen to get under cover by means of masking themselves in such a manner as to answer the double purpose of executing their immediate object, and of deceiving the enemy with respect to the real spot they occupy.

To effect the latter purpose, several masks must be hastily thrown up, whilst the men are employed behind one; by which means the enemy will either mistake the real point, or be induced to pour his fire in several directions, and thus weaken its effect.

A mask is generally six feet high. Bags made of wad or wool are too expensive on these occasions; nor are gabions, stuffed with fascines, seven or eight feet high to be preferred; for if the fascines be tied together they will leave spaces between them in the gabions; and if they are not bound together, they will be so open at top as to admit shot, &c.

In order to obviate these inconveniences, the following method has been proposed:--place two chandeliers, each seven feet high, and two broad, between the uprights, after which fill up the vacant spaces with fascines nine feet high, upon six inches diameter. One toise and a half of epaulement will require two chandeliers, and 60 fascines, to mask it.

The engineer, or artillery officer places himself behind this mask, and draws his plan.

As you must necessarily have earth, &c. to complete your work, these articles may be brought in shovels, sacks, or baskets; and if the quarter from whence you draw them should be exposed to the enemy’s fire, cover that line, as well as the line of communication, between the trenches, or the parallels, with a mask.

If you cannot procure earth and fascines, make use of sacks stuffed with wool, &c. and let their diameters be three feet, and their length likewise three, and let the outside be frequently wetted to prevent them from catching fire. See pages 828, 829, 830, Vol. ii. of the Aide-Memoire a l’Usage des Officiers d’Artillerie de France.

To MASK, (Masquer, Fr.) To cover any particular post or situation, for the purposes of attack or defence. In ambuscade, a battery is said to be masked, when its outward appearance is such as not to create any suspicion or mistrust in a reconnoitring or approaching enemy. A town or fortress, a battery, or the head of a bridge, may likewise be said to be masked, when a superior force sits down before them, and keeps the garrison in awe. This is frequently done, in order to render the advantages of such a place or hold ineffectual, while an army acts in its neighborhood, or marches by.

MASQUER un passage, Fr. To block up any road or avenue through which an army might attempt to march.

MASSALGIES, Ind. Persons employed in India as porters or messengers. Massalgies, coolies, and palankeen bearers, are allowed a certain batta when they travel. Mussal is a torch; and mussalgee a torch bearer, a person who carries a flambeau to give light.

MASSE, Fr. A species of stock-purse, which during the French monarchy was lodged in the hands of the regimental treasurer or paymaster, for every serjeant, corporal anspessade, drummer, and soldier. The sum retained for each serjeant was vingt deniers per day; and ten deniers for each of the other ranks, according to the establishment, not the effective number of each battalion. Out of these stoppages a settled and regular masse, or stock-purse, was made up, and at the end of every month it was paid into the hands of the major or officer entrusted with the interior management of the corps, and was then appropriated to defray the expence of clothing the different regiments, and lodged in the hands of the directors or inspector-general of clothing.

That part of the masse, or stock-purse, which remained in the major’s hands, and which was destined for the dress of the recruits, as well as for repairs of the regimental clothing, &c. could never be disposed of, or appropriated, without the knowlege and concurrence of the colonels commandant of regiments, the lieutenant-colonels, and other superior officers of the corps.