Part 96

Consul chief, or premier Consul, Fr. The first or chief magistrate of three persons, each bearing the title of consul, according to the constitution of France, in 1799, the chief consul commanded, directed, and superintended all the military establishments of the country, and whenever it was judged expedient led the armies into battle. Bonaparte, was appointed chief consul; but soon after emperor.

CONSULAR, relating, or appertaining to the consul.

CONSULATE, a civil and military power which was originally instituted by the Romans, on the extinction of their kings in Tarquin the Proud. It has been revived in France, and was the principal feature of the last constitution.

CONSULSHIP. The office of consul.

CONTACT, a touching, or the point or points where one body touches another.

CONTINGENT, something casual or uncertain, that may or may not happen.

The CONTINGENT bill of a regiment, is an account of extra charges, which depend on the accidental situation or circumstances, which may attend any regiment in its due course of service. See RECRUITING.

CONTRABAND, this term is applicable to various foreign commodities which are either totally prohibited by the laws, or are subject to severe penalties and heavy duties.

CONTRAMURE, in fortification, is a wall built before another partition wall to strengthen it, so that it may receive no damage from the adjacent buildings.

CONTRAVALLATION, in military art, implies a line formed in the same manner as the line of circumvallation, to defend the besiegers against the enterprises of the garrison: so that the army, forming a siege, lies between the lines of circumvallation and contravallation. The trench of this is towards the town, at the foot of the parapet, and is never made but when the garrison is numerous enough to harrass and interrupt the besiegers by sallies. This line is constructed in the rear of the camp, and by the same rule as the line of circumvallation, with this difference, that as it is only intended to resist a body of troops much inferior to a force which might attack the circumvallation, so its parapet is not made so thick, nor the ditch so wide and deep; 6 feet is sufficient for the 1st, and the ditch 8 feet broad, and 5 feet deep.

Amongst the ancients this line was very common, but their garrisons were much stronger than ours; for, as the inhabitants of towns were then almost the only soldiers, there were commonly as many troops to defend a place, as there were inhabitants in it. The lines of circumvallation and contravallation are very ancient, examples of them being found in histories of the remotest antiquity. The author of the military history of Louis le Grand pretends however, that Cæsar was the first inventor of them; but it appears from the chevalier de Folard’s treatise on the method of attack and defence of places, used by the ancients, how little foundation there is for this opinion. This author asserts with great probability on his side, that these lines are as ancient as the time in which towns were first surrounded with walls, or, in other words, were fortified.

CONTREBANDE, Fr. See CONTRABAND.

Faire la CONTREBANDE, Fr. to smuggle.

CONTREBANDIER, Fr. a smuggler.

CONTRE-Forts, Fr. Brick-work which is added to the revetement of a rampart on the side of the terre-pleine, and which is equal to its height. Contre-forts are used to support the body of earth with which the rampart is formed. They are likewise practised in the revetements of counterscarps, in gorges and demi-gorges, &c. The latter are constructed upon a less scale than the former. It has been suggested by an able engineer in the French service, to unite contre-forts, and consequently to strengthen them, by means of arches.

Contre-forts likewise form a part of the construction of powder magazines, which are bomb proof.

CONTRE-queue d’hironde, Fr. denotes the figure or shape which is made by the oblique direction of the wings, or long sides of a horned or crowned work, whose branches widen as they approach any place.

CONTRIBUTION, in military history, is an imposition or tax paid by countries who suffer the afflictions of war, to redeem themselves from being plundered and totally destroyed by the enemy; or when a belligerent prince, wanting money, raises it by contribution on the enemy’s country, and is either paid in provisions or in money, and sometimes in both.

CONTROL, comptrol, or controle, is properly a double register kept of acts, issues of the officers or commissioners in the revenues, army, &c. in order to ascertain the true state thereof.

CONTROLER, an officer appointed to control or oversee the accounts of other officers, and on occasions to certify whether or no things have been controled or examined.

CONTROLES, Fr. See MUSTER-ROLLS.

CONTROLEURS des guerres, Fr. Muster-masters. This term was likewise applied to signify various other appointments belonging to the interior arrangement of the French army, viz. controlleurs general d’artillerie, controleurs des hopiteaux militaires. See SUPERINTENDANT of military hospitals.

CONTROLEUR general des vivres. See COMMISSARY general of stores.

CONVALESCENT, recovering, returning to a state of health.

List of CONVALESCENTS, is a return made out by the surgeon belonging to a battalion, hospital, &c. to ascertain the specific number of men who may shortly be expected to do duty.

CONVENTION, a treaty, contract, or agreement between two, or more parties.

CONVERSION, is a military motion or manœvre, which turns the front of a battalion where the flank was, when the flank is attacked. The old method of conversion is now exploded, and the new method which has superceded it, has received the name of counter-march, or changing front by counter-march; this is best effected in column; and is never attempted in line in the face of an enemy. For the manner of performing it and the bad effects of attempting it in the face of an enemy, see Am. Mil. Lib.

CONVOY, in military affairs, a detachment of troops employed to guard any supply of men, money, ammunition, provisions, stores, &c. conveyed in time of war, by land or sea, to a town, or army. A body of men that marches to secure any thing from falling into the enemy’s hand, is also called a convoy. An officer having the command of a convoy, must take all possible precautions for its security; and endeavor, before its march, to procure some good intelligence concerning the enemy’s out-parties. And as the commanding officer of the place from which the convoy is to march, and those of such other places as he is to pass by, are the most proper persons to apply to for assistance; he must therefore take such measures as will enable him to keep up a constant intercourse with them. The conducting a convoy is one of the most important and most difficult of all military operations.