Part 447

Capitaine en SECOND ou reformé en pied, or Lieutenant en SECOND, ditto, Fr. are officers whose companies have been reduced, but who do duty in others, and are destined to fill up the first vacancies. We have borrowed the expression and say, to be seconded. When an officer is seconded, he remains upon full pay, in the British service, his rank goes on, and he may purchase the next vacant step, without being obliged to memorial in the manner that a half-pay officer must. Should the latter have taken a difference, he will find much difficulty in getting upon full pay, and he can only avail himself of his standing in the army when the last object is accomplished. So that a seconded officer stands in a more favorable light. He is besides likely to be appointed to the vacant commission of the regiment in which he is seconded.

Prendre pour son SECOND, Fr. To take for a second.

Les SECONDS de côté et d’autre se sont tués, Fr. Both the seconds were killed; or the seconds on each side killed one another. It was very usual among the French for the seconds to make common cause with their principals, and to fight upon the decease of the former. The practice is reprobated and out of date.

To SECOND, (seconder, Fr.) To aid or assist, to support.

SECOND covert way, that beyond the second ditch. See FORTIFICATION.

SECOND ditch, that made on the outside of the glacis, when the ground is low, and there is plenty of water. See FORTIFICATION.

SECOND Flanc, Fr. See Flank oblique in FORTIFICATION.

SECOURIR une place, Fr. To throw succours into a besieged town or place. It sometimes signifies to force an investing or attacking army to raise the siege.

SECRECY. In a military economy this quality is peculiarly requisite. It signifies fidelity to a secret; taciturnity inviolate; close silence. Officers, in particular, should be well aware of the importance of it, as the divulging of what has been confidentially entrusted to them, especially on expeditions, might render the whole project abortive. The slightest deviation from it is very justly considered as a breach of honor, as scandalous conduct, unbecoming an officer and a gentleman. In official matters the person so offending is liable to the severest punishment and penalty.

SECRET, (Secret, Fr.) Under this word may be considered the caution and circumspection which every good general should observe during a campaign; the feints he may think proper to make for the purpose of covering a projected attack; and the various stratagems to which he may resort to keep his own intentions concealed, and to get at those of others.

SECRET. Kept hidden, not revealed. Hence secret expedition, secret enterprise, &c. Secret articles of a treaty, being the correlative words to public articles.

SECRET, Fr. The spot chosen by the captain of a fire-ship to apply the saucisson of communication.

SECRET expedition. Those are often called such, which in fact are known to the enemy before they are put in execution; they should never be communicated to any other than the commander of the troops, and the first naval officer, until they are in absolute readiness to act, and but a few hours before the enterprize is put in execution: no officer being allowed to open his instructions until he is either at his destination, or at sea. See EXPEDITION.

SECRETAIRE, Fr. The clerk belonging to the Swiss regiments in the old French service, was so called. He acted likewise as quarter master serjeant, and was styled Musterschreiber.

SECRETAIRE général d’artillerie, Fr. A place of trust, which, during the French monarchy, was in the nomination of the grand master.

SECRETARY at war, (Secrétaire de guerre, Fr.) The first officer of the war department.

SECRETARY of state. (Secrétaire d’etat, Fr.) The secretary who has charge of the foreign relations.

To SECRETE, to hide; to keep private; to harbor; to conceal, &c. By the articles of war it is provided, that if any person shall harbor, conceal, or assist any deserter from his majesty’s service, knowing him to be such, the person so offending shall forfeit, for every such offence, the sum of five pounds.

SECTION. (Section, Fr.) from the Latin word sectio, which is derived from seco, to cut, a part of a thing divided, or the division itself. Such particularly are the subdivisions of a chapter, called also paragraphs and articles. Sometimes we find the term section divided into articles; as in the articles of war.

SECTION. (Section, Fr.) A certain proportion of a battalion or company, when it is told off for military movements and evolutions. A section may consist of four or any other number of files. This relates to the infantry; the cavalry into ranks by three’s, and after that in any number of files or sections. The French use the word section for the same purpose; and form their companies into platoons, and divide their platoons into any number of sections.

SECTOR, (Secteur, Fr.) A mathematical instrument of great use in finding the proportion between quantities of the same kind, as between lines and lines, surfaces and surfaces, &c. for which reason the French call it the compass of proportion.

The great advantage of the sector, above common scales, &c. is, that it is adapted to all radii, and all scales. The sector is founded on the fourth proposition of the sixth book of Euclid. The sector consists of two equal legs, or rules of brass, &c. riveted together, but so as to move easily on the rivet; on the faces of the instrument are placed several lines; the principal of which are: the line of equal parts, line of chords, line of sines, line of tangents, line of secants, and line of polygons.

To SECURE, in a military sense, to preserve, to keep, to make certain. As to secure a place, to secure a conquest. In the management of the firelock, it signifies to bring it to a certain position, by which the locks are secured against rain. Hence

SECURE arms! a word of command which is given to troops who are under arms in wet weather. To bring your firelock to the secure; 1st, throw your right hand briskly up, and place it under the cock, keeping the piece steady in the same position.

2d. Quit the butt with the left hand, and seize the firelock with it at the swell, bringing the elbow close down upon the lock: the right hand kept fast in this motion, and the piece still upright.

3d. Quit the right hand, and bring it down to your right side, throwing the firelock nimbly down to the secure; the left hand in a line with the waist-belt. In order to shoulder from the secure, you must 1st, bring the firelock up to a perpendicular line, seizing it with the right hand under the cock.

2d. Quit the left hand, and place it strong upon the butt.

3d. Quit the right hand, and bring it smartly down the right side.