Part 338

OGNON, Fr. literally means an onion. The word is sometimes used in a familiar manner by the French to express persons standing in a row. Ils etoient tous en rang d’ognon. They all stood, like a rope of onions, in a row.

OGEE, OGIVE, in pieces of ordnance, an ornamental moulding, in the shape of an S, taken from architecture, and used in guns, mortars, and howitzers. See CANNON.

OGIVE, (Ogive, Fr.) In Gothic vaults those arches are stiled ogives, or ogees, which cross one another diagonally. The French likewise call them croisés d’ogives.

OIL. Every soldier should be supplied with a given quantity of oil and emery, for the purpose of cleaning his arms, accoutrements, &c.

OLYMPIAD, in chronology, the space of four years, for on the 5th the Olympic games were celebrated in honor of Jupiter Olympius, near Olympia. The Greeks began to use this epocha a little before the building of Rome.

OLYMPIC Games, were instituted by Hercules, A. M. 2856, in honor of Jupiter Olympius, at Olympia, a city of Elis, in Peloponnesus. They were celebrated every four years, about the summer solstice. The design of them was to accustom the young military men to running, leaping, and every other military exercise.

OMBRE, (sécher à l’ombre, Fr.) This term is in use among the French founders of artillery, when they put the clay or putty, which serves to form the cannon moulds, out to dry, without making any fire for the purpose.

OMRA, or OMHRA, Ind. plural of ameer, a lord. They were persons of considerable consequence in the dominions of the great Mogul. Some of them had command of 1000 horse, others 2000, and so on to 20,000: their pay being regulated according to the number of their horses. The governors and great officers of state were generally chosen out of this body.

ON, a preposition frequently used in military exercise. It precedes those words of command which direct the change or formation of bodies of men upon points that are fixed, viz.

By companies on the left backwards wheel. The left pivot man of each company faces at this cautionary word, and remains a fixed point, on which the rest wheel back when they receive directions so to do. When the column of companies is to be wheeled into line, the word on is equally understood to direct the moveable parts of each company towards the given pivot which faces, and remains a fixed point. In the British drill instructions, they say, to the left wheel into line; but in the third part of the regulations to is wholly omitted, and the commanding officer uses the term left wheel into line, and vice versa; the preposition on is here understood: for it is evident, that in breaking into column the component parts of a line wheel as much from a given point, as they do to a given one, when the column returns into line. Whereas by using on, or understanding it to be used, when, for the sake of abbreviation, it is omitted, we preserve the true meaning of the preposition, keep the men in the recollection of the necessary adhesion, and shew, that whether you wheel backwards or forwards, from line into column, or from column into line, there is one invariable fixed point on which you move. It is more proper to say, on the right or left forwards wheel into line, in lieu of to.

ONAGRA, (Onagre, Fr.) a warlike machine, which was used by the ancients to throw stones of different sizes. It is mentioned by Vegetius.

ONDECAGON, a figure of eleven sides and angles.

ONSET, assault, storm, attack.

OPEN, in military movements and dispositions is frequently used, but it is seldom applicable to any operations in face of an enemy; the ranks, &c. on such occasions being generally compact and close. In formation, the word open is opposed to close, viz. open column, open distance, open order. It also constitutes part of a word of command; as rear ranks take open order; in opposition to rear ranks take close order.

OPEN distances in column. (Distances entieres en colonne, Fr.) The intervals in these cases are always equal in depth to the extent in front of the different component parts of the column.

OPEN flank, in fortification, that part of the flank, which is covered by the orillon. See FORTIFICATION.

OPENING of trenches, the first breaking of ground by the besiegers, in order to carry on their approaches towards the place.

OPERATIONS de guerre, Fr. See MILITARY OPERATIONS.

Military OPERATION. Military operations consist in the resolute application of preconcerted measures, in secrecy, dispatch, regular movements, occasional encampments, and desultory combats, or pitched battles.

Line of OPERATION. All the forward movements of an army for the purpose of attacking an enemy, penetrating into a country, &c. may be properly called a line of operation. There is so intimate and so necessary a connection between this line and the line of communication, that no army can be in security, let its temporary successes be what they may, without a strict and unremitting attention being given to their relative points of continuity and correspondence. The line of operation in a siege is partial and extremely limited, so is that of communication; but upon the large scale of war these two lines are of considerable extent and importance. No man, in fact, can be called a good general, or even an officer, who carries his views so far forward as to venture upon a long line of operation, without having previously secured his line of communication, by a perfect knowlege of the countries through which he moves, and having his flanks so thoroughly covered, that he may fall back or retreat according to circumstances. See Amer. Mil. Lib.

OPINION. In military proceedings that regard the interior government of an army, this word signifies decision, determination, judgment formed upon matters that have been laid before a court-martial, or court of enquiry. Hence, the court-martial having duly weighed the whole matter before them, are of opinion, that ---- is not guilty of any part of the charge preferred against him.

OPINION. Officers on courts-martial give their opinion by seniority, beginning with the youngest in rank.

OPINION, abstractedly considered, may be defined an assent of the understanding, with some doubt or distrust of the contrary. In a political sense, it is the acquiescence of the mind to certain principles. In some instances opinion and principle are synonymous terms. Hence French revolutionary opinions, or revolutionary principles.

A war of OPINION, (Guerre d’opinion, Fr.) This expression has grown into familiar use since the commencement of the French revolution, and was never, perhaps, so strongly illustrated as by the perseverance of the French people. Hence also the war commenced against France, as fomented by Burke and the emigrants, was a war against the opinion, which overturned the corrupt abuses of the old French monarchy, to color its atrocity it was called a war against jacobinism--a war in support of religion and order--a war in support of regular government--at length a war of extermination; but experience has shewn, that the influence of opinion is paramount to every consideration in life. Friend, parent, and relation, have given way to the superior calls of public duty, growing out of and sanctioned by public opinion.

OPINION, Fr. This word is variously used among the French, and as we have already observed, is now generally attached to the contest in which they have been engaged for the maintenance of certain principles that seem to have altered their character. The nation at large, in fact, has taken up an opinion, grounded upon certain principles, which are diametrically opposite to those their forefathers had implicitly followed for 1400 years. When Great Britain formed a part of the well known coalition, the preservation of the balance of Europe was the ostensible cause for entering into hostilities against France; so that the war in 1792, &c. might not improperly be called a war of policy or political necessity, as far as it regarded the coalesced powers; but it has unquestionably been, all along, a war of opinion on the other side. The French familiarly say, Il faut respecter l’opinion publique; le pouvoir, l’empire, l’influence de l’opinion. Public opinion must be respected or attended to; the power, the dominion, the influence of opinion. L’opinion est la reine du monde. Opinion governs all the world. When the allied armies under the command of the duke of Brunswick, in 1792, were within a few days march of Paris, it was observed by a firm adherent to the royal cause: Que malgré l’air imposant d’une telle force, ou combinaison, on avoit tout a craindre pendant qu’il existoit un ennemi a combattre, aussi terrible qu’etoit l’opinion. That notwithstanding so formidable a force or combination, every thing was to be apprehended so long as that terrible enemy, opinion, remained to be combated against.

OPIUM, a juice, partly of the resinous, partly of the gummy kind. It is brought from Natolia, Egypt, and the East Indies, produced from the white garden poppy, with which the fields of Asia are in many places sown. The first effect of opium is making the person who takes it cheerful; it removes melancholy, and dissipates the dread of danger. The Turks always take it when they are going to battle: it afterwards quiets the spirits, eases pain, and disposes to sleep. A remarkable instance of the powerful influence of opium over the natives of the East is related by Mr. Orme, in his history of the Carnatic, page 270. His words are: the enemy remained quietly until noon, when having sufficiently intoxicated themselves with opium, they began to swarm out in great numbers; but the field pieces (which were served by Europeans) kept them for some time at a distance, every shot doing execution. During the cannonade a party of the nabob’s sepoys crossed the river, and taking possession of a small choultry, (an open house for the accommodation of travellers, so called in India) at a little distance to the right of the other, began to fire from this untenable post, upon which a body of 300 marattah horse galloped up to attack them; but before they arrived the sepoys took flight; several of them were cut to pieces, and the rest re-crossing the river ran into the city: the marattahs encouraged by this success, (and still flushed with the opium) now galloped up towards the entrenchment of the great choultry, where they were suffered to come so near, that several of them made use of their sabres across the parapet before the troops within gave fire, which then began, and seconded by that of the four pieces of cannon on the other side of the river, killed and wounded a great number of men and horses, and obliged the enemy to retire in confusion; in this instant an officer unadvisedly took the resolution of quitting his post, and passed the river, in order to give captain Dalton, (who commanded the detachment) some information concerning the artillery; some of the soldiers seeing this, imagined that he went away through fear, and concluding, that things were worse than appeared to them, followed his example and ran out of the entrenchment; which the rest perceiving, a panic seized the whole, and they left the post with the greatest precipitation, notwithstanding they had the minute before given three huzzas, on the retreat of the marattahs: a body of 3000 mysore horse, who were drawn up on the bank, immediately galloped into the bed of the river, and charging the fugitives with fury, cut down the whole party excepting 15 men: flushed with this success, they made a push at captain Dalton’s division on the other side. All these motions succeeded one another so rapidly, that he had hardly time to put his men on their guard; more especially as many of them had caught the panic, from having been spectators of the massacre of their comrades; however, some of the bravest hearkening to his exhortations, stood firm by the artillery: their behaviour encouraged the sepoys, who made a strong fire from behind the low wall in their front, which accompanied by the grape shot of the four field pieces, soon abated the ardor of the enemy, and obliged them to retreat, leaving some horses, whose riders fell within 20 yards of the muzzles of the guns: captain Dalton then advanced a little way into the bed of the river, where he remained until he had collected the dead and the wounded. Not a man who escaped could give any reason why he quitted his post, all of them acknowleging that at the time when they took flight, only one man in the intrenchment was wounded, and that they had nine barrels of ammunition.

OPPORTUNITY. In addition to what has been said respecting occasion, which is nearly similar to opportunity in its import, we shall extract the following account of the latter, which was also honored as a goddess among the pagans. Opportunity was represented by them as a naked woman, with a long lock of hair before, but bald behind, to intimate, that opportunity if not laid hold on when it offers, soon slips away; also standing with one foot on a wheel, and the other in the air, holding a sail in one hand, and a razor in the other; her feet also being winged, and the wheel in continual motion, to intimate that opportunity is always inconstant and in motion.

To OPPOSE, to act as an adversary against another, to resist, &c. It likewise signifies to place as an obstacle.