Part 312

MONTER un Vaisseau, Fr. To embark on board a ship.

MONTER, Fr. This word likewise means to rise from one rank to another, in the way of promotion, as from cornet or ensign to become lieutenant, from lieutenant to become captain, or from having the command of the youngest company to be promoted to that of the oldest.

MONTH, considered as a military period, in the British service, consists alternately of 30 and 31 days, commencing on the 24th, and ending on the 25th day (inclusive) of each month, properly so called.

MONTHLY Abstract. See PAY.

MONTHLY Return. See RETURN.

MONTHLY Report. See REPORT.

MONTHLY Inspection. See REGIMENTAL INSPECTION.

MONT-joie, Saint Denis, Fr. a national exclamation, adopted by the French in the reign of Louis, sirnamed Le Gros. See CRI DES ARMES.

MONT-Pagnote ou Poste des invulnérables, Fr. an expression which is derived from Pagnote, a coward, a poltroon; and signifies any eminence or place from whence the operations of a siege, or the actual conflict of two armies, may be seen without personal danger to the curious observer. It is a term of reproach, C’est un Général qui voit le combat du Mont-Pagnote; he is one of those generals that look on whilst others fight. During the American war a particular body of refugees or tories who seemed to side with the British, were called invulnerables.

MONT-Pagnote, in fortification, an eminence where persons post themselves out of the reach of cannon, to see a camp, siege, battle, &c. without being exposed to danger. It is also called the post of the invulnerables.

MONTRE, Fr. The review, or muster of the men. Le régiment a fait montre devant le commissaire. The regiment has passed muster before the commissary. Les officiers mirent leur valets dans les rangs, et les firent passer à la montre. The officers put their servants in the ranks, and made them pass muster.

MONTRE likewise signified, in the old French service, the money which was paid to soldiers every month, when they passed muster. Il a reçu sa montre; he has received his monthly pay.

MONTURE, Fr. The complement of men, and number of cannon, on board a French ship of war.

MONTURE d’un fusil, d’un pistolet, Fr. the stock of a gun or pistol.

MONUMENT, (Monument, Fr.) In a military sense, any public edifice, pillar, or mark of distinction, which is exhibited to perpetuate the memory of some illustrious character.

MOOTIANA, Ind. Soldiers employed to collect the revenue.

MOQUA, MUCK, a frenzical riot of some mahomedans, who have returned from Mecca, against those who have not professed mahomedanism. This horrid custom has been lately practised by the Malays, both at the island of Ceylon, and at the Cape of Good Hope. In the latter place indeed, the fanaticism of one of these blind enthusiasts went so far, that he stabbed a soldier who stood centinel at the governor’s gate. His intention was to have destroyed the governor. He that runs the moqua, or muck, gets intoxicated with bang, or opium, loosens his hair, (which is generally bound up under a handkerchief) then takes a dagger (called a kreese) in his hand, whose blade is usually half poisoned, and in the handle of which there is some of his mother’s or father’s hair preserved, and running about the streets kills all those he meets, who are not mahomedans, till he is killed himself; pretending to believe, that he serves God and Mahomed by destroying their enemies. When one of these madmen is slain, all the mahomedan rabble run to him, and bury him like a saint, every one contributing his mite towards making a noble burial.

MORAILLE, Fr. Barnacles. An instrument made commonly of iron for the use of farriers, to hold a horse by the nose, to hinder him from struggling when an incision is made.

Le MORAL, Fr. This word is frequently used among the French, as a substantive of the masculine gender, to express the moral condition of man. It likewise means the prepossession or assurance which we feel in conscious superiority, viz. Quand les Anglois se battent sur mer, ils ont le moral pour eux, les Francois l’ont sur terre.

MORASS, in military drawings, denotes moor, marshy, or fenny low grounds, on which waters are lodged.

MORATTOES, Mahrattahs, a considerable Hindoo tribe in Hindustan. Their army is chiefly composed of cavalry and they excel in the management of their horses. The weapon principally used by them in war is a sabre, extremely well tempered, and carefully chosen. Their dress, when accoutred for action, consists of a quilted jacket of cotton cloth, which descends half way down their thighs, and of a thin linen vest, which is fitted close to the body, and is always worn under the jacket. They wear upon their head a broad turban, which is made to reach the shoulders, for the double purpose of covering the neck from the heat of the sun, and of shielding it against the enemy’s sabre. Their thighs and legs are covered with a loose kind of trowsers, or cotton overhose. They are extremely temperate, and pay the most minute attention to their horses.

It is now more than a century that the Mahrattahs first made a figure, as the most enterprising soldiers of Hindustan; as the only nation of Indians, which seems to make war an occupation by choice; for the Rajpouts are Hindus, soldiers by birth. The strength of their armies consist in their numerous cavalry, which is more capable of resisting fatigue than any in India; large bodies of them having been known to march fifty miles in a day. They avoid general engagements, and seem to have no other idea in making war, but that of doing as much mischief as possible to the enemy’s country.

MOREAU, Fr. A species of bag which the drivers of mules use to carry their hay. It is likewise the name of a celebrated French general, who by his able retreat out of Germany, during the most disastrous period of the French revolution, acquired a reputation, as a general, superior to Xenophon.

MORGLAY, a deadly weapon.

MORTIER, Fr. See MORTAR.

MORION, Fr. Donner sur le morion. This was a species of punishment which was formerly inflicted upon French soldiers for crimes that were not capital. They were shut up in a guard-house, and received a certain number of strokes with a halbert. The gantelope was substituted in its stead; but neither one or the other are practised in the present French army.

MORISON. See HELMET, CASQUE, &c.

MORT d’Eau, Fr. Low water.