Part 385

PRESENTER la baïonette, Fr. To charge bayonet.

PRESIDENCY. The seat of government, so distinguished in India. There are four presidencies, viz. Bombay, Calcutta, Fort St. David, and Madras.

PRESIDENT of the United States.

PRESIDENT of the old congress.

PRESIDENT of a general or regimental court martial. The officer, oldest in rank, who sits in conjunction with other officers, for the trial of military offences is so called. The court, consisting of an odd number of members, when their opinions are equal, the president has the casting vote.

PRESIDIAL, relating to a garrison or fortress.

PRESS-money, money given to the soldier when taken or pressed into the service: but as the entrance into the American army is a voluntary act, it is more properly called bounty or enlisting money.

PRESTATION de serment, Fr. The taking an oath.

PRET, Fr. The subsistence or daily pay which is given to soldiers. The French say,

Payer le PRET. To pay subsistence.

Recevoir le PRET. To receive subsistence.

Toucher le PRET. To touch subsistence or daily pay.

PRETENDER, one who pretends to any thing whether it be his own or the property of another.

PRETER, Fr. In military tactics, to expose, as

PRETER son flanc à l’ennemi. To expose one’s flank to the enemy; to march in so unguarded a manner, or to take up one’s ground so disadvantageously as to stand in continual danger of being outflanked.

The French likewise say, figuratively,

PRETER le flanc. To put one’s self in the power of another.

PRETOR, (Préteur, Fr.) Among the Romans, the governor of a province, who had served the office of pretor, or chief minister of justice in ancient Rome. The provinces so governed were called pretorian.

PRETORIAN, (Pretorien, ne, Fr.) appertaining to pretor; as Pretorian Band, the general’s guard among the ancient Romans.

PRETORIUM, (Prétoire, Fr.) The hall or court wherein the pretor lived and administered justice. It also denoted the tent of the Roman general, in which councils of war were held. The place where the pretorian guards were quartered or lodged, was likewise called pretorium.

PREVARICATION. According to the laws of England is, where a lawyer pleads booty, or acts by collusion, &c. It also denotes a secret abuse committed in the exercise of a public office, or of a commission given by a private person. The word is unknown in military phraseology, and is only explained in this place to stand as a land mark to the open ingenuous character of a soldier.

PREVOST, Fr. Provost.

PREVOST d’une armée, Fr. Provost-marshal belonging to an army.

PRICES of commissions. See REGULATIONS.

PRICKER. A light horseman was formerly so called.

To PRICK out. An expression used among engineers, &c. signifying to mark out the ground where a camp, &c. is to be formed.

To PRICK out the line of circumvallation. This is done by the chief engineer and chief of the staff, whenever an army entrenches itself before a town, or takes possession of any given lot of ground, and begins to hut.

PRICKING. Among marines, to make a point on the plan or chart, near about where the ship then is, or is to be at such a time, in order to find the course they are to steer.