Part 302

METTRE les armes à la main de quelqu’un, Fr. To teach a person the first rudiments of war, or lead him for the first time into action. C’est lui qui m’a mis les armes à la main. He first taught me how to fight, or I fought the first campaign under his orders.

METTRE aux arrêts, Fr. To put under arrest.

METTRE sur pied, Fr. To arm, to equip, to put troops upon an established footing.

MEURTRIERES, Fr. Small loop holes, sufficiently large to admit the barrel of a rifle gun or musquet, through which soldiers may fire, under cover, against an enemy. They likewise mean the cavities that are made in the walls of a fortified town or place. See MURDRESSES.

MICHE. See MALINGERER.

MICROMETER, (Micromêtre, Fr.) an instrument contrived to measure small spaces, as in the divisions of the worm of a screw.

MIDI, Fr. the South.

MILE, in geography, a long measure, whereby the English, &c. express the distance between places: it is of different extent in different countries. The geometrical mile contains 1000 geometrical paces, or mille passus, from whence miles are denominated.

We shall here give a table of the miles in use among the principal nations of Europe, in geometrical paces, 60,000 of which, according to the English Military Dictionary, make a degree of the equator.

Geometrical paces. Mile of Russia 750 Italy 1000 England 1200 Scotland and Ireland 1500 The old league of France 1500 The small ditto 2000 The great ditto 3000 Mile of Poland 3000 Spain and Portugal 3428 Germany 4000 Sweden 5000 Denmark 5010 Hungary 6000 Holland 3500

MILE. Comparison of the different miles, in geometric paces, each of which is equal to 5 feet French royal, 5·6719 feet Rhinland, or 6·1012 English feet.

Geometric paces. The mile of Sweden 5761 Switzerland 4512 Denmark 4071 Common, of Germany 4000 Holland 3158 League of France 2400 Spain 2286 Scotland 1500 Mile of Italy 1000 England 868 Werste of Russia 575

MILICE, Fr. soldiery, but more particularly the militia or trained bands.

MILICES gardes-côtes, Fr. A militia, somewhat similar to our sea fencibles, which existed during the old French government, and whose services were confined to the coast. Every province, contiguous to the sea, was obliged to furnish a certain proportion of its male inhabitants, from 16 to 60 years old. This militia was exempted from the regulations which governed the land militia. It was under the admiralty.

MILITANT, the state of warfare, or business of war.

MILITAR, MILITARY, something belonging to the soldiery or militia, &c.

MILITARY architecture, the same with fortification. See FORTIFICATION.

MILITARY ways, the large Roman roads which Agrippa procured to be made through the empire in the reign of Augustus for the marching of troops and conveying of carriages. They were paved from the gates of Rome to the utmost limits of the empire. The British have constructed a military road throughout India; with wells and other accommodations at certain distances.

MILITARY discipline. Next to the forming of troops, military discipline is the first object that presents itself to our notice: it is the soul of all armies; and unless it be established amongst them with great prudence, and supported with unshaken resolution, soldiers become a contemptible rabble, and are more dangerous to the very state that maintains them, than even its declared enemies. See DISCIPLINE.

MILITARY execution, the ravaging or destroying of a country or town that refuses to pay the contribution inflicted upon them. Also the punishment inflicted by the sentence of a court-martial.

MILITARY first principles, is the bodily training for a soldier, to make him hardy, robust, and capable of preserving health amidst fatigue, bad weather, and change of climate; to march at such possible pace, and for such length of time, and with such burden, as, without training, he would not be able to do.

MILITARY REGULATIONS. The rules and regulations, by which the discipline, formations, field exercise, and movements of the whole army, are directed to be observed in one uniform system. The American military system is scarcely entitled to the name of a system; and as to regulation that requires yet to be established, the worst of all is that there does not appear to be a suspicion in congress that any regulation is required. See REGULATIONS.

MILITIA. A force whose services, in general, do not exceed the boundaries of the nation, but which may volunteer beyond them. The American militia has no coherent system, every state has power to regulate its own, and the effect is, that there is either no regulation at all, or what is worst, an imbecile mockery, the only use of which is the preservation on the statute book that there is a power though there is not a will to regulate the militia. The militia among the Romans was frequently called Agrarian soldiers. The system of our revolution though it was not complete in general was the most effectual ever established; the French system of conscription was borrowed from America, who borrowed it from the Romans.

MILL, properly denotes a machine for grinding corn, &c. but more generally all such machines whose action depends upon a circular motion. There are various kinds, though foreign to this work.

Gunpowder MILL, is that used for pounding and beating together the ingredients of which gunpowder is composed.

These ingredients being duly proportioned, and put into the mortars of the mills, which are hollow pieces of wood, each capable of holding 20 pounds of paste, are incorporated by means of the pestle and spindle. There are 24 mortars in each mill, where are made each day 480 pounds of gunpowder, care being taken to sprinkle the ingredients in the mortars with water, from time to time, lest they should take fire. The pestle is a piece of wood 10 feet high, and 4¹⁄₂ inches broad, armed at bottom with a round piece of metal. It weighs about 60 pounds.

MIM BASHY, Ind. A commander of one thousand horse.

MINE, in a military sense, implies a subterraneous passage dug under the wall or rampart of a fortification, for the purpose of blowing it up by gunpowder.