since their first footing in Germany have had Swedish Train of Artillery the reputation to be the most exactly composed and conducted by the most experimented Artists of any in Christendom And no doubt but their Artillery helpt them much to take so deep a footing in Germany that they have not been since expell'd out of it though that hath been much endeavour'd When the late King of Sweden invaded Poland in the year 1655 the perfidy of the Polonians was such that they deliver'd almost that whole Kingdom into his hands But after they had returned to their Duties and that the Swede was at Zamoiskie in the year 1657. it was by the help of his Artillery whereof John Casimir was destitute that the Swedish King traversed much of the length of Poland in spite of eighty thousand Polonians crost the Weichsell and join'd with Ragoski and after he was forc'd to part with the Transylvanian being invited to come nearer home by the King of Denmarks unseasonable declaration of a War against him he came out of Poland and Prussia too with a very inconsiderable ill appointed and harass'd Army without any loss at all meerly by the advantage he had of his Train of Artillery Sweden furnisheth abundance of both Copper and Iron whereof great Guns Sweden abounds in all things necessary for a Train and Hand-guns are made and by art and industry that Country hath as much Saltpeter as any Kingdom can have and it being full of Woods it cannot want Coal for making Powder whereof they make such abundance as they are able not only to serve themselves but to help their neighbours and friends They also make within the Kingdom greater store of Arms both for offence and defence than they have use for I have seen some little Towns in Sweden wherein few other Artificers were to be found but Armourers and Gunsmiths These advantages encourage them to entertain full and well appointed Trains of Artillery He who commands in chief over the Artillery is called by the English General or Master of the Ordnance by the French Grand Maistre del Artillerie Great Master of the Artillery by the Germans General fetz Eugmeister which is General Overseer and Master of the Munitions for the Field a term very proper because he hath not only the inspection of the Ordnance but of the Munitions of War such are the Guns greater and lesser all manner of Arms A General of the Artillery and Weapons all Materials belonging to Smiths and Carpenters Powder Match Bullets Granado's for pot-Pot-pieces and to be cast by the hand store of Instruments and Utensils for Artificers Shops Bridges or Materials for them Boats or Materials for them to be made and join'd quickly for passing unfordable waters all kind of Instruments for working in Fortification or Approaches such as Spades Mattocks Pickaxes and Shovels In Scotland we call this great Officer the General of the Artillery The Ancients though they wanted Fire-guns yet they had their great Artillery those were their great Machines and Engines whereof I have formerly spoken and they had likewise a Master of their Artillery who had the inspection of it which I have also made appear in the fourth Chapter of the Roman Militia But since the Invention His Trust of Gunpowder the Charge of General of the Artillery hath been look'd on as most honourable as it indeed deserves to be and with none more than with us in Scotland and was always confer'd by our Kings on persons of eminent note and quality James the Fifth King of Scotland made the Gentleman who had married his Mother Margaret Daughter to Henry the Seventh King of England Lord of Meffen and General of the Artillery of Scotland As Lesly Bishop of Rosse that active and loyal servant to his Mistress Queen Mary tells us in the Ninth Book of his History in these words In hisce Comitiis Rex His Charge honourable in Scotland Henricum Stuartum Reginae Maritum confirmavit Dominum Meffensem ac eundem omnium bellicorum Tormentorum praefectum quod munus apud nos est longe honorificum munifice constituit The King saith he in this Parliament confirmed Henry Stuart the Queens Husband Lord Meffen and bountifully made him General of the Artillery which Charge with us is most honourable He who bears this Office in either Kingdom Republick or Army ought to His Qualifications be a person of good Endowments but if you take his description from some notional writers you may justly conclude there is not such a man below the Moon Indeed I shall tell you there are two qualifications absolutely necessary for him these are to be a good Mathematician and to be something if not right much experimented in all the points of the Gunners Art he must be of a good judgment and a very ready dispatch The rest of his parts and abilities which some require in him alone I think he may divide among those who are under his His great Command command and authority who truly are right many as the Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance two Colonels if not more Lieutenant-Colonels Captains and Gentlemen of the Ordnance Master Gunner and all inferior Gunners Conductors and Comptrollers Engineers the Clerk of the Fortification Master of the Mines and Mineers under him Master of the Artificial Fires and his Conductors and Petardeers those who have a care of the Tools for Fortification for intrenching and approaching the Master of the Pioneers in some Armies and all his Pioneers the Master of the Batteries and all under him for to the General of the Artilleries direction and inspection belongs the Entrenching the Camp the making the Approaches Redoubts Batteries Zaps Galleries and Mines and other works at Sieges of Towns and Castles He hath also his own Commissary Quarter-master Waggon-master Minister and Chyrurgeon If then you will consider that he and all those under him are to have pay and wages and what a â—ast sum of money is spent in maintenance of this Train and how much Powder match and Ball may be spent in an active War you may conclude that Achilles Terduzzi the Italian Engineer The vast expence of a Train whom I have often mention'd spoke within bounds and but modestly enough when he said he conceiv'd the fourth part of the Treasure of an Army was spent on the Train of Artillery I think it something strange to read in Bockler the German Architect that it is of late condescended on by the greatest Practitioners of Artillery in Germany that for an Army of forty thousand men whereof thirty two thousand should Thirty Pieces of Ordnance thought lately a sufficient Train for an Army of forty thousand men be foot and eight thousand Horse thirty Pieces of Ordnance are enough either to besiege a strong place or to attack an enemy though never so advantageously lodged For the last I shall be easily induced to believe it but for the first part of his affirmative I
to pass for Jus gentium or the Of Poyson'd Arrows Bullets Darts Waters or Wells Law of Nations to abstain from all such malefices as shooting poyson'd Darts Arrows or Bullets or from poysoning of Victuals Liquors Waters and Wells observ'd also in our Modern Wars We read it's true of some exceptions from that general custome and that Poyson hath been used in open just and declared Wars but for these perhaps Invincible necessity may plead an excuse The like we may say of Assassination of Princes Generals or Of Assassination eminent Commanders whom a declared Enemy may lawfully kill as Eâ—â—d kill'd Eglon or as Scaevolâ— intended to kill Pâ—rsâ—nna but it is not at all lawful but against the practice of a fair and declared War to suborn exhort or hire any other especially those who belong â—o or are under the jurisdiction of that Prince or General to kill any of them But for all this I do not deny but a Soveraign Prince or State may lawfully set a price on the head of a powerful Rebel against whom they cannot proceed by the ordinary way of Justice This much I have taken occasion to say on this subject that I may not trouble my Reader with it hereafter But to our present purpose I say that the Carrobalist the Onager and the Scorpio are but several species and sorts of the Catapult and Balist And now I come to speak of the Moving or Ambulatory Tower whereof Ambulatory Tower that which Vegetius writes is enough to astonish any Reader who hath not heard of it before but he who will read other Writers will easily believe all Vegetius says on that subject He tells us they were built after the form of Houses thirty forty or fifty foot broad and so high as to equal the height of Towers on the Wall The Tower which our Author describes is three stories high In the lowest he lodgeth a Ram with men to manage it and that when the Tower came within convenient distance batter'd the Wall In the third and highest stage he placed the Velites who afflicted the Defendants with Darts and Arrows and pelted them with Stones out of their Batton-Slings to necessitate them to quit the defence of the Parapets And in the middle Story he placeth a Bridge one end whereof being laid upon the Wall and the other remaining fix'd within the Tower Bands of armed men pass'd safely over and then saith our Author Illiâ—o capta est Vrbs Immediately the Town was taken But he is mistaken for Towns have been defended when Turris Vegetiana three stories high all these things were done This is the Moving Tower which is called Turris Vegetiana If this Tower of his be wonderful enough what shall we say of those Towers which were one hundred and twenty Cubits high that is one hundred and eighty foot and sixty or seventy foot broad in which might Towers twenty stories high be eighteen or twenty several stages or stories and every one of these capable to contain Balists and Catapults and men to manage them besides arm'd Souldiers to handle their Weapons Or what shall we think of that Tower whereof Livy speaks in his thirty second Book which one of the Roman Consuls made of several stories out of which you must suppose by Bridges he sent whole Cohorts of Legionaries one to sustain and relieve another against a Macedonian Phalange that stood in Battel ready to receive them within the Walls and we are to believe that the Roman Cohorts at that time were about five hundred strong and yet the Macedonians made the place good against them all The same Author tells us of another Tower A stupendious Tower which Hannibal made at Saguntum in which he had numbers of armed men besider his great Machines Steuechius tells us that Vitruvius Master of the Machines or General of the Artillery writes of a Moving Tower which weighed three hundred and sixty thousand pounds not reckoning the Men Arms and Engines that were within it And that it could resist the force of Stones shot out of Balists of three hundred and fifty pound But that which is more admirable than all I have yet said is what the same Vitruvius writes of an Engineer who made a Counter-machine within a Besieged Town by which An Incredible Engine he drew one of the Besiegers Ambulatory Towers within the Walls of the beleaguer'd Town Let me say here with Ovid Si sit credenda vetustas These Moving Towers were composed of great Beams Joysts Rasters and Boards cover'd with Raw Hides and some of them were fac'd with Iron They mov'd on many Wheels which were push'd forward below with How the Tower mov'd the strength of many men assisted with Leavers the Tower was open behind that it might more conveniently be thrust forward by those numbers of men ordain'd for that purpose Before it went many Mantlets Vines and Moscles full of armed Souldiers who were both to make way for it and to defend it from those who might sally out to burn or destroy it It was sometimes drawn by Beasts of Carriage but these had Machines before and about them to defend them from the Darts and Arrows of the Besieged This last part being neglected by Vtiâ— King of the Goths when he besieged Rome the famous Bellisarius who was within the City suffer'd the Tower to come pretty near the Walls and then caused to be killed the Beasts with Darts and Arrows this made the Tower stand still and so render'd all its preparations which were very costly ineffectual and the Fabrick it self contemptible and ridiculous to the Besieged Several means were used to frustrate the effects of this dreadful Machine How it was opposed these were First A Desperate Sally by which the Besiegers guards being beaten from the Tower it self became a prey and was easily burnt Secondly They used to undermine the ground which the Tower was to traverse and that was soon seen and perceiv'd before it approach'd the Walls and that indeed was a sure way for the vast weight of it not having ground to support it would quickly make it sink and stick fast Thirdly They used to make such a Tower within the Walls and oppose it to that without This was no doubt a good help but a very costly one And Lastly They endeavoured to burn them with Wild Fire or Fiery Arrows Sometimes these Ambulatory Towers were made with that Artifice that when one of them approach'd the Wall whose height the Tower seem'd not Turriculâ— to surmount suddenly a smaller Tower which was hidden within the greater one of one or two stories high was elevated with Scrues to the great terrour and astonishment of the Besieged City I told you in the fourth Chapter of the Grecian Militia that Demetrius could not be the first Inventer of the Moving Tower though it be very The Moving Tower of an Ancient practice probable he hath added much to it for his
the Velites of the third and fourth Batallions since they were all light armed and if it be said the Slingers could cast their stones over the heads of the two Batallions of heavy armed I answer first their stones would do less hurt at that distance Secondly the Archers in the third and fourth rank could have done as much Thirdly the keeping their station and place in the fifth Batallion hinder'd the Triarii to advance Now if these of Vegetius his third and fourth Batallions were obliged to go to the Van and fight or skirmish there why did he not appoint the light armed of his fifth Batallion to do so too since they were all lyable to one Duty But I hinder him to Marshall his sixth Batallion The sixth order or body saith he consisted of and now welcome Triarii Warriors furnisht with all manner of Triarii Arms and Weapons whom the Ancients called Triarii These saith he used to sit then they kneeled not behind all the other Batallions that being whole and sound and in breath they might with more vigour attack the enemy for if any thing fell out otherwise than well with the Batallions that stood before them all hopes of recovery depended on them Now if our Author hath spoken well of the ancient Roman Legion I am sure he hath spoken enough of it He hath been at much pains to make up that Legion but that you may the better see the defects of it I shall be at the trouble to take it down in pieces in the ensuing Chapter CHAP. XII Vegetius his Legion reviewed and examined WHoever hath read or shall be pleased to read Vegetius his Treatise De re Militari will believe with me that he intended nothing less than to write the Military constitutions and customs of Levies Arms Exercising Marshalling Embattelling Marching or other Laws and Points of the Art of War used in his own days but in the contrary the Roman way and method of War of the ancient times And this he professeth all along not only in his Prologues to his Master the Emperour Valentinian but almost in every Book of his Treatise In the Prologue of his second Book he says the Emperour had commanded him to set down the Antiqua the ancient customs In the Prologue to Vegetius obligeth himself to write of the old Roman Militia his third Book he avers that the Emperour had commanded him to abbreviate in one Piece all the ancient Military Customs and Constitutions which were dispersed and scattered in several Books and Authors And in one word he Entitles his Epitome Institutions of Military matters out of the Commentaries of Cato Celsus Trajan Adrian and Frontinus Now none of these wrote or could write of any Military Customs practised in Vegetius his time as having liv'd several ages before him and he acknowledgeth himself that the Art of War of his days was but a shadow and scarce that of the ancient one But by the way I must tell you that Steuechius thinks Adrian wrote no Military Constitutions since at his desire Aelian had composed that Piece de Instruendiâ— Aciebus whereof we have spoken But his reason is exceedingly weak for Adrian might very well have written the Roman Military Art and yet have de-desired Aelian to write the Grecian one But to return Vegetius in the twentieth Chapter of his first Book having given us an account of the ancient Roman Not that of his own time Arms acknowledgeth that they were wholly worn out and that in comparison of them the Foot of his time were naked which had given so great an advantage to the Barbarous Nations of the Goths Huns and Allans To the Eighth Chapter of his second Book he gives this title Of those who were leaders of the ancient Centuries and Files And the Seventh Chapter of that Book he begins with these words Having expounded saith he the ancient ordering of a Legion And in many other places he witnesseth that it is the ancient Roman Militia that he is to open to us and no new one which had deviated from that old one This being premised by me to anticipate objections I make bold to charge Vegetius with seven gross Errours in the description of his Legion yet all seven Seven Errors in the Descrition of his Legion will not amount to one mortal sin which they say be likewise seven nay nor to one capital crime But if he be guilty of all these or any of these then I say he is not so good as his word in the fourth Chapter of his Second Book where he promiseth Ordinationem Legionis antiquae secundum norman Militaris Juris exponore To expound to us the right ordering of an ancient Legion according to the Rule of Military Law But I shall endeavour to justifie my charge in this following order First I question the number of his Legionary Foot which he makes to be First Error six thousand one hundred and all heavy armed mark that I read once of six thousand and once more of six thousand and two hundred and in that number were comprehended the Velites but never of six thousand and one hun-hundred The truth is Romulus made his Legion three thousand after him it was augmented and diminished according to the King Senate or peoples pleasure or the necessities of the State to 4000 to 4200 to 5000 to 5200 and sometimes but very seldom to 6000 or 6200 as Regiments are now made stronger and weaker in our modern Levies according to the pleasure of the Prince or State who makes them but for most part the ancient Roman Legion was 4000 or 4200. Livy in his Sixth Book says four Legions were levied against the Gauls each of 4000 Foot In his Seventh Book he says that in the Consulship of young Camillus four Legions were raised each of 4200 Foot In his Eighth Book he tells us that in the War against the Latins every Legion consisted of 5000 Foot In his Ninth Book he makes the Legion to be 4000 Foot in the War against the Samnites In his 21 Book he speaks of six Legions each of them 4000 Foot And not to spend more time in Instances the same Historian out of whom and Polybius I suppose Vegetius borrowed his greatest light of History says in his 22 Book that every Roman Legion was 5000 Foot in the time of their dangerous War with their redoubted enemy Hannibal but after that was ended they were reduced to 4000 till the Macedonian War except that some of them were made 6200 by Scipio Unless then once in Africk and once in Greece we never find a Legion 6000 strong but never at all to be 6100 as Vegetius would have it to be constantly He would have done himself much right and his Reader a great favour to have told who levied these Legions of 6100. if it was so in his own time or yet in the decadency of both the Roman Empire and Militia that makes nothing to his purpose it
Officer'd Marshall'd Encamped and Disciplin'd according to the Roman custom only with this difference that those who commanded Roman Legions were called Tribunes but those who commanded the Legions of the Allies were called Prafecti I conceive the reason of the difference of the title was this the Tribune was elected for most part by the Tribes whence he had his name Tribunus but those of the Roman Consuls power over the Allies Allies were nominated by the Roman Consuls for the Allies had no power to appoint or Commissionate their own Praefecti that had intrencht too much upon the Lordly power the Romans still kept in their own hands and were bound most strongly to obey that Consul with whom they join'd So we see how little difference the haughty Romans made between their Confederated friends and their vassals which I hinted in the beginning of this Chapter and in this point the Consuls had more power over the Allies than over the Romans themselves for the Roman people for most part chose the Roman Tribunes and not the Consuls CHAP. XVI Of a Roman Consular army and some Mistakes concerning it I Know not from whence this denomination of a Consular Army is come unless it be that Polybius in his Sixth Book saith that ordinarily every year four Legions were levied for the States service two for every Consul and this Livy doth witness to have been done often But neither the one nor the other hath asserted that a Consul never had more or fewer Legions in his Army than two Polybius means that a Consular Army consisted for most part of two Roman Legions six hundred Horse with two Legions of Allies and twelve hundred Horse But he never said that it was constantly so for then he had contradicted his own History in many places But I rather conceive Authors call that a Consular Army which had in it the above specified number of Horse and Foot by the authority and upon the word of Vegetius who describes both a Pretorian and a Consular Army in the first Chapter of his Third Book I shall Vegetius describes a Pretorian and a Consular army faithfully English his words thus The Ancients saith he having by exrerience learned to obviate difficulties chused rather to have skilful than numerous Armies â— therefore they thought in Wars of lesser moment one Legion with the Auxiliaries that is ten thousand Foot and two thousand Horse might suffice which the Praetors as lesser Chieftans often led in Expeditions But if the enemy was reported to be strong then a Consular power with twenty thousand Foot and four thousand Horse was sent with a greater Captain But if an infinite multitude of the fiercest Nations did rebell then too great necessity forcing them two Chieftans with two Armies were sent with this command that either the one Consul or both should look to it that the Commonwealth should receive no damage In fine saith he since the Roman people was to make War almost And contradicts himself every year in several Countries against divers enemies they thought these forces might suffice because they judged it was not so profitable to entertain great Armies as those that were well exercised and trained in Armes Thus far Vegetius let us take his Discourse in pieces and examine it according to his own writings and no mans else First In the sixth Chapter of his second Book he avers there should be no First in the Pretorian army fewer in a Legion than six thousand one hundred Foot and seven hundred twenty six Horse in this place he saith a Praetorian Army wherein there should be a Legion of Romans and another of Allies should have ten thousand Foot and two thousand Horse the Foot two thousand two hundred fewer than in his own account there should be in two Legions and the Horse five hundred forty eight more than himself allows to the Cavalry of two Legions And to let us see that he will keep a proportionable way in contradicting Secondly in a Consular army himself he says against a strong Enemy a Consul was sent with twenty thousand Foot and four thousand Horse and that is as he explains himself in the fourth Chapter of his second Book two Legions of Romans with the help of the Allies now I beseech you hear him speak for himself and first in the sixth Chapter of his second Book he says that the Legion must consist of six thousand one hundred Foot and seven hundred twenty six Horse Secondly In this first Chapter of his third Book he makes four Legions of the Roman and Allies Foot to be but twenty thousand which by his own rule should have been twenty four thousand four hundred for his words formerly were that no Legion should be under six thousand one hundred and those heavy armed too and whereas by his own appointment in the sixth Chapter of his second Book every Legion should have had seven hundred twenty six Horse more than any other Author allow'd In this Chapter he increased their number to one thousand for he orders the Horse of four Legions to be full four thousand the Foot of a Consular Army four thousand four hundred below and the Horse one thousand ninety six above his own allowance You see how Vegetius clasheth with Vegetius it is not I that quarrel with him In the second place he saith if an infinite multitude of fierce Nations rebelled Rebelled against whom Certainly he means against the Romans but how could they rebel before they profest to be subject Assuredly these fierce Nations he speaks of swore neither fealty nor homage to Romulus nor Rome when His inadvertency he first founded it If they defended themselves so long as they could from the dominion of strangers they did what nature commanded them and were no Rebels He will find Spain it self after long and bloody Wars never reduced to a Province till Augustus's time You see what words his Inadvertency prompts him to utter In this case of a great Rebellion he says two Consuls with the Armies were joyn'd together with a command to look to it that the Common-wealth suffer'd no damage But this command was given many times when two Consuls did not nor needed not bring their forces together Thirdly You have heard him aver that in the great wars which the Roman State manag'd their greatest Army consisted of twenty thousand Foot and four thousand Horse twenty four thousand in all and that two of those Armies joyn'd together making of both forty eight thousand Combatants did suffice in the greatest danger Truly Vegetius if Hannibal had been alive His contradiction of Roman story when you wrote this he could have inform'd you that he forc'd your Masters the Romans to joyn two such Armies and more before ever they had to do with those fierce Nations you speak of except a few Spaniards and the Cisalpine or Italian Gauls unless you take the Sicilians and Carthaginians to be those fierce Nations with the
trees and the Stakes the shrubs Gustavus Adolphus was the first Swedish King that used them and it is said he invented them in his Wars in Liefland against the Polonians who far overpowered him in Horse I believe he used them first there but the invention of them is of a far older date than the Swedes would have them to be for Henry the Fifth King of England the night before the Battel of Agencourt fearing to be born down by the French Kings numerous Used by Henry the Fifth at Agen-court Cavalry caused each of his Bowmen to provide one of these Stakes whereof the Vines there afforded him plenty and being made sharp at both ends though they were not pointed with Iron they did his business well enough and contributed not a little to the gaining of that Victory which gave him so great footing in France To this kind of defensive Arms may be reduced that invention of Rangon in Rangons frame of Defence the French Army in the Reign of Francis the first which was a great frame of Timber that could be taken in pieces and carried on Carts and easily join'd together whereby Batallions were barricado'd and serv'd but to little purpose As also that frame which as I have heard from some Commanders the Great Duke of Muscovia useth with which the Russians are so well acquainted Muscovian Barricado that they can very suddenly piece it together and shroud themselves within it from the charge of Horse and as nimbly take it down and march away with it In my last Chapter of the Grecian Militia I spoke of the French defensive French Defensive Arms. Arms both for their Horse and Foot in the Reign of Henry the Second far different from those that are used now The Turk useth defensive Arms but neither so good or so many as other Turks Nations do The Persian Curiassiers are arm'd all over their Bodies men and horse and Persian this perhaps helps them to over-master the Turk in Cavalry Their Head-pieces are deckt with fair and large Plumes of Feathers and their Targets which they likewise use are gilded they have likewise light Horsemen who carry Head pieces and Corslets When the Mamalucks had the Soveraignty of Egypt Syria and Palestine the Mamalucks better sort of them for all were Horsemen were arm'd for the Defensive from head to foot man and horse the second sort carried large Targets wherewith they defended their Bodies in the shock but before they came to it they threw these Targets over their backs till they made use of their Bows and Arrows The Abyssens or Aethiopians one hundred and forty years ago arm'd their Abyssens Horsemen with Coats of Male which cover'd their whole bodies to their knees Morâ—ions for their heads and in their hands round Targets In the days of Charles the Fifth the Bohemians had great Targets or Shields Bohemians wherewith they cover'd their whole bodies Before that time and since too the Hungarians Walachians and Transylvanians used Head pieces Corslets and Hungarians Targets Since Gunpowder the Englishmen at Arms or Curiassiers were armed at all English pieces their light Horsemen with Morrions Jacks and Sleeves of Male. So were our Scots who used also Steel-caps or Bonnets Scottish John Petyâ— in his History of the Netherlands tells us that in the year 1599 when the Estates of the Vnited Provinces were making vast preparations for the prosecution Hollanders of the War against Spain and to that purpose were levying both Foot and Horse they made an Ordnance for the Arms that both their Horsemen and Footmen should carry of the Defensive he gives us this account The Reuters or Horsemen suppose Curiassiers were to have a head-Head-piece a Gorget a Breast and a Back two Poldrons a Gantlet for his left hand belly and thigh and Knee-pieces and Culots which saith he were pieces of Armour to defend the reins The Carabiners were to have a Head-piece a Gorget a Back and a Breast The Pikemen Head-pieces Gorgets Backs and Breasts The Musketeers Head-pieces What Offensive Arms or Weapons all these Nations used I am to tell you just now CHAP. IV. Of Offensive Arms or Weapons used by the Cavalry of several Nations THat there is no new thing under the Sun and that what is hath been may admit of a favourable Interpretation for time was when neither Pistol nor Carrabine were known in the world neither did Antiquity know Gunpowder which is the Mother of them both and many other Engines of fire The Sword is a weapon that is never out of fashion used in all ages and by The Sword all Nations of the world though the difference be that some Horsemen use long and some short Swords But this should not be left to the choice of the Horsemen for the length of their Swords should be limited to them by the Prince or State they serve Few tell us whether the Swords of the Horsemen they write of were for cutting or for thrusting or for both as the Roman Swords were The Persians Turks Russians Polonians and Hungarians for most part wear Scimiters and Shables which being crooked serve only for shearing and not at all for stabbing Monluc in the first Book of his first Tome says that in the Reign of Francis the first about a hundred and forty years ago the French Gens d'Arms carried broad Swords which were so well edged that they could cut through Sleeves and Caps of Male. The Scots and English used constantly broad Swords for if we believe some of the English Histories a Rapier is so new a Weapon in England that it is not yet above one hundred years old In the time of the late Troubles in England long Rapiers were used for a while and then laid aside The German Horsemen use Swords fit both to slash and thrust John Petyâ— in that place mention'd in the last Chapter says The Estates of Holland order'd their Horsemen to carry short Swords according to such a length appointed for that purpose It were to be wish'd that if Horsemen be obliged by their capitulation to furnish themselves with Swords that their Officers would see them provided of better than ordinarily most of them carry which are such as may be well enough resisted by either a good Felt or a Buff-coat A Mace is an ancient weapon for a Horseman neither was it out of use long The Mace after the invention of Hand-guns for we read of them frequently used by most Nations an hundred years ago And certainly in a Medley they may be more serviceable than Swords for when they were guided by a strong arm we find the party struck with them was either fell'd from his horse or having his Head-piece beat close to his head was made reel in his Saddle with his blood running plentifully out of his nose The Lance was the Horsemans weapon wherewith he charged neither do I The Lance. find that any Nation wanted
of Brimstone and one pound of Coal for six pounds of Saltpeter this they say is for Musquets The third is the finest and hath seven or eight pounds of Niter for one pound of Sulphur and one pound of Charcoal this is for birding for fowling-pieces or if you will for Pistols Powder for fear of its mischief must be kept in upper rooms but in dry and warm places for age and moisture corrupts it and renders it improper for any use but it may be again renewed by an addition of Saltpeter The Gunners Art is a necessary Appendix of the Modern Art of War but not necessary for every Soldier to learn yet the more he knoweth of it the perfecter Soldier he is I shall speak but of a few things of Artillery which I think are convenient for necessary I say they are not for most Officers and Commanders in the War to know leaving the Art in its intire compass to the taught by those ingenious persons who profess it wherein I have no skill and profess as little Pieces of Ordnance that shoot in a direct line for I speak not of Pot-pieces Three sorts of Guns or Mortars which cast their shots in crooked and oblique lines are either of Leather of Iron or of Copper These Guns which are called Leather-Cannon Leather have Copper under the Leather and are made with great art and are light to carry which is the greatest advantage they have Iron-Guns are accounted better than the Leather ones but experience hath taught us that they Iron are not so good for many uses as those of Copper It is true they are not so costly by far neither do they burst so readily and some think the firing them makes them firmer and faster In the casting Copper-Guns the Founders differ in the quantity of Bell-metal Copper with it some allowing more some less and Bockler the Engineer informs us that now the Germans allow no Bell-metal at all but for every eight pound of Copper one pound of rough Tin their reason for this is they have found by experience that Bell-metal makes the Piece brittle and subject to breaking Bell-metal and Tin makes it hard The English and French allow both Bell-metal and Tin And some allow also a mixture of Latten and Lead Time and Art hath brought Powder to have a greater force than it had in its Infancy The Saltpeter being more artificially refined the Sulphur better purged Powder better now than a 150 or 200 years ago and the Coals of more proper wood and better burnt the Powder now being corned which then it was not This change of Powder hath occasion'd a very great alteration in the fortification of Ordnance for Powder having now a double or a treble force more than when it was first found out a Piece requires a proportionable fortification of her metal to resist the violence of the Powder As by example an hundred and fifty years ago and upward or rather two hundred Founders allowed for a Cannon or Demi-Cannon 80 pound Therefore the Fortification of Ordnance must be the stronger of metal for every pound of their shot by which account a Piece that shot a Bullet of 48 pound weight did but weigh in mettal 3840 pound whereas now and sixty years ago too she weighs with the Germans 9000 pound which will be above 187 pound of metal for every pound of the Bullet But in all the sorts of Culverines there is a stronger fortification required than in Cannon in regard they being of a greater length they are able proportionably to receive in their Chambers more Powder than the Cannon and therefore must be better fortified After the first practice of Guns a Culverine that shot 16 pound of Iron had but a 100 pound of metal allow'd for every pound of her shot and so she weighed but then 1600 pound but now and long before this she weighs 4300 pound and consequently hath the allowance of near 270 pound of metal for every pound of her shot for smaller Ordnance in times of old 150 pound of metal was allowed for every pound of their shot now above 300 or near 400. How the Moulds for founding Cannon should be made of what earth what Gunners to look carefully to the defects of Guns defects a Gun may receive from a faulty Mould or from the melting the metal and running it in the Moulds what overplus of metal is allowed which the German Founders call the Wolf how a Gun in founding comes to be weaker of one side than the other how she gets chinks flaws and honeycombs and how Gunners ought to be careful to try their Guns if they have either these or any other defects and how they shall mend them belongs properly to Gunners to discourse of from whom the Courteous Reader may easily learn them There are three Fortifications of Ordnance the ordinary fortified the lessened Several Fortifications of Ordnance that is less than the ordinary and the re-inforced which is the double fortified All Pieces are to be more strongly fortified at the Touch-hole and Musle and Trunions than in the other parts of them The Trunions equiballance the Piece and on them she is mounted and imbased The Bore which goeth from the Musle to the Touch-hole is called the Cylinder or Concave it is also called the Soul of the Piece And hence when a Piece is equally bored and hath no more metal on one side than another Gunners use to say her Soul lyeth right in her Body So much of the Concave as containeth Powder Bullet and Wad is called the Charged Cylinder or Chamber the Rest the vacant Cylinder or guide of the shot The Touch-hole at Sallies is often nail'd and The names of the several parts of a Piece therefore Gunners ought to be skilful to know how to unnall them and there be several ways for it yet often none of them prevails and therefore they are forc'd to bore a new Touch-hole which will cost them some hours labour The rest of the parts of a Piece not yet nam'd are the Pommel call'd also the Cascabel the Breech the Visier or Base-ring the Trunion-ring the re-inforced ring the Coronice ring which is also call'd the Astragal the Neck and the Musle-ring which is also called the Freeze These denominations a Piece hath from a Column or Pillar which a Piece resembles as Mr. Norton tells us in his practice of Artillery and can be more easily demonstrated by the Finger to the Reader than intelligibly describ'd Great Guns or pieces of Ordnance take frequently their denominations from the Inventers or from Beasts and Birds whom for their swiftness rapacity and cruelty they seem to represent And though the word Cannon Cannon properly so called be generally now taken for all manner of Ordnance yet properly it is that Piece which is ordain'd for battering of Walls Towers and Castles and Ships the French call them Battemurs and the Germans Maurbrechern
place of the depth that every Prince appoints for his Foot Before the Reign of the Great Gustavus Adolphus for any thing I could ever learn Foot-Companies were marshal'd ten deep almost universally but he marshal'd Ten deep all his Infantry in six ranks And after he had invaded Germany the Emperour with most of the European Kings and Princes kept their Foot still at ten deep but before the end of that War which he began all of them follow'd his way and made the file of their Foot to consist of six men except the Prince of Six deep Orange who still kept ten in file I should except likewise the Earl of Strafford who in his Instructions for the better Discipline of his Army order'd every Eight deep Captain of Foot to draw up his Company eight deep In a business of this nature where there is difference a man may tell his opinion without affectation of singularity and therefore I suppose it will be granted me that the more hands a Captain can bring to fight the more shrewdly Reasons for six deep he will put his enemy to it provided still his Batallions be of that strength as to receive the shock of a resolute Impression and in case of the worst that he have Reserves to come to his rescue Of Reserves I shall speak hereafter Now I am hopeful it will not be deny'd me but that more hands are brought to fight by eight men in a file than by ten and more by six men in a file than by eight Take a second argument The more able you are to save your self from being surrounded or out-wing'd by an enemy or the more able you make your self to surround and out-wing that enemy of yours the greater advantage you have over him Both these are done by a large front now it is undeniable that eight in file enlarge the front more than ten and six more than eight and consequently eight deep contributes more than ten and six more than eight for gaining the victory That more hands are brought to fight is very soon instanced first by a Body The great advantages 1500 Musqueteers six deep have of 1500 Musqueteers ten deep of Musqueteers and next by a Body of Pikemen Let us suppose a Body of fifteen hundred Musqueteers marshal'd ten deep is to fight with a Body of Musqueteers of equal number that is fifteen hundred six deep and that they are equally stout and experienced and equally good Firemen The fifteen hundred ten deep must give fire by ranks as the fifteen hundred six deep must likewise do now the fifteen hundred ten deep can make no more but a hundred and fifty in rank for a hundred and fifty multiplied by ten produceth fifteen hundred but the fifteen hundred six deep make two hundred and fifty in rank for two hundred and fifty multiplied by six produceth fifteen hundred so that the fifteen hundred six deep at every Volley pours one hundred Leaden Bullets more in the Enemies bosom than the fifteen hundred ten deep and consequently when six ranks of both parties have fired the fifteen hundred ten deep have received six hundred Ball more than the fifteen hundred six deep which without all doubt hath made a great many men fall more of the one side than the other Next one hundred and fifty files of the fifteen hundred six deep take just as much ground up in front as the whole Body of the fifteen hundred ten deep and therefore the other hundred files of the fifteen hundred six deep may fall on the sides of the fifteen hundred ten deep if they be not flanked either with Pikes or with Horsemen It is the like case mutatis mutandis between fifteen hundred eight deep and fifteen hundred six deep for fifteen hundred eight deep will make but a hundred and eighty eight in rank for a hundred eighty eight multiplied by eight produceth fifteen hundred and four now the fifteen hundred six deep make two hundred and fifty ranks and so shoots at every Volley sixty two Bullets more than the fifteen hundred eight deep Make the like trial of two Batallions of Pikes each of them fifteen hundred The same advantages Pikemen also have strong equally arm'd for the defensive and their Pikes of equal length the hundred files wherewith the fifteen hundred six deep out-wings the fifteen hundred ten deep will likewise enter on their sides and very soon ruin them if they be not flanked by their friends and though they be yet these hundred files of the fifteen hundred Pikemen six deep being otherwise idle may happily give their flanks some work to do Nor hath the fifteen hundred Pikemen ten deep any advantage of the fifteen hundred six deep in the force of the impression for I have demonstrated in one of my Discourses of the Grecian Militia that six ranks of Pikemen may either give or receive the charge abundantly and therefore where Pikemen are ten deep at their charge the last four ranks should keep their Pikes ported because the presenting the points of them is altogether useless Neither was it the apprehension of the weakness of his Body of Musqueteers drawn up six deep that made the King of Sweden make use of his Feathers to defend his Musqueteers against the Polonian Horse for these Feathers may serve a Body of Firemen drawn up ten deep as well as a Body of Firemen drawn up six deep neither indeed is it the deepness of a Body of Musqueteers that can resist a resolute charge of Horse it must be Pikes Halberts or these Feathers or something like them Nor do I think after the Invention of Gunpowder that ten deep was thought fit for Foot in imitation of the Romans as some fancy for I have shewn in another Reasons for ten deep place that Vegetius who is lookt on by many as the Oracle of the old Roman Militia doth make the Roman file to consist of eleven men but I think it was out of this consideration that after the first rank had fired their Guns they could not be ready to fire again till the other nine ranks had all fired and withal a Musquet rest was taken to help with so much wariness did our Ancestors walk when first they made use of the new found Engines of fire We read of a Count of Vaâ—dâ—mont who within thirty years after the Invention of Gunpowder made use of two Culverines in his Wars with the Duke of Bar and by their help defeated his enemy but at every time the Pieces were discharged the Count himself fell to the ground for fear But as Great Câ—sar says Vsus est rerum Magister Use and Custom over-master things and therefore the Cannon is not now so dreadful as it was nor is the Musquet so unmanageable as it was thought daily experience lets us see that the first rank of six can fire make For fine deep ready and stay for the word of Command before the other five
our first Parents had not rebell'd against their Creator their posterity had enjoy'd an everlasting peace and so such a person as we now speak of had been very unnecessary But I assure my self never man except Adam when he was in the state of perfection was endued with these gifts wherewith some Notional Authors wil have a Captain General to be qualified He must say A Notional description of a Captain General they be pious towards God just towards man and loyal to his Master He must be very affable very wise of a sudden and quick apprehension of a solid judgment and happy memory He must be very severe in his command and yet very merciful He must be liberal and free from all manner of Avarice painful magnanimous and couragious and in one word endued with all the Moral Vertues He ought to be an old Practitioner in the Military Art and well experimented in all its parts and duties Perhaps you may think this enough but Polybius in his Ninth Book requires more for he will have his General to be both an Astrologer and a Geometer If you will tell me where or in what region of the habitable world all these qualifications shall be found in one person Eris mihi magnus Apollo That he who is intrusted with the supreme Command of Royal Armies one or more and with the whole Militia of a State should be an accomplisht person The charge of a Generalissimo is of the highest nature and if it be possible such a one as we have describ'd will not be readily denied since it is a Command of the highest nature the greatest honour and deepest consequence that can be confer'd on any single person of what quality â—r degree soever for he is intrusted not only with the lives of those that are in Arms under his Command but with the defence of the whole Country Towns Forts and Castles with the honour welfare and standing of the Prince and State and with the lives and properties of all their Subjects The loss of his Army or Armies by his negligence inadvertency rashness or cowardice may occasion the loss of all these or make them run a very great hazard by his indiscretion much more by his treachery he may in one moment of time lose the lives and liberties of many thousands make numbers of women widows children fatherless and fathers childless he may lose the honour and beauty of a whole Province yea of a whole Kingdom all which he was bound by his office and charge to preserve The consideration of these things mov'd most of the ancient Kings and Emperours A Prince to manage his Wars in person and those of latter times likewise to manage their Wars and lead their Armies in person Those who laid the foundation of the first four Monarchies did so as in the Assâ—rian Nimrod Belus Ninus and Semiramis and when their posterity did it not their Empire was in the wain and ended with Sardanapalus who hid himself from the sight of men among his women Cyrus led his Armies himself so did some of his Successors but when others of them staid at home and sent their Lieutenants abroad the Persian Monarchy decay'd and became a prey to the Great Alexander who manag'd his Wars in person and so did those great Captains of his who cut out Kingdoms to themselves out of their Masters Conquests but their Successors lost them by sitting idle at home and employing their Generals abroad Many Roman Emperours after Augustus went to their Wars in person whereby they preserv'd their Imperial Dignity but when others imployed their Lieutenants though many of these were excellent men and often victorious the Empire was torn in pieces The Kings of Leon Navarr Castile Portugal and Arragon after the destruction of the Gothish Monarchy in Spain went to the field in person and recover'd Many Instances to prove it those Kingdoms out of the hands of the Saracens When the Kings of France of the Merovingian and Carolomannian race kept within their Palaces and suffer'd the Majors thereof to govern their Armies they lost their Kingdoms and Crowns Our Kings of Scotland and England used mostly to manage their Wars themselves the Emperour Charles the Fifth led his greatest Armies himself and for most part was always victorious for his loss at Algiers occasion'd by the visible hand of Heaven and his forced Retreats from Inspruck and the Siege of Metz were but small blemishes in the beautiful and fair Map of his victorious raign But since his time his Successors the Kings of Spain have sate at home and entrusted their Armies to their Generals and we see that their wide and far stretcht Monarchy has been since that Emperours time in a constant decadency All the Kings and Emperours of the Ottoman race went in person to the Wars till Selimus the second changed that custom and since that time none of them have done actions by their Bashas comparable to those of their Ancestors In our own days the Emperour Ferdinand the Second intrusted the managing his War against Gustavus Adolphus to his Generals Wallenstein Tily and Pappenheim all brave and great Captains yet that Martial King being in person on the head of his Armies prevailed over them all We may perceive the great odds of managing a War by a Prince in his own person and by his Captain General by taking a view of the actions of two Brothers both of them excellent Princes these were the Emperour Charles the Actions of two Brothers compar'd Fifth of whom I but just now spoke and Ferdinand the First King of the Romans Hungaria and Bohemia The first as I have already said led his most considerable Armies himself the second staid constantly at home and sent his Captain Generals to manage his Wars of greatest importance mark the issue Ferdinand lost three Royal Armies each of them composed of a well appointed Cavalry Infantry and Train of Artillery one of them at Esâ—câ—hiâ— under Cazzianer another at Buda under Rocandolf and the third at Pesth under Joachiâ—â— Marquess of Brandenburg all three were wofully and shamefully lost without fighting And if any think that the misfortune of all the three or any one of them could not have been prevented by the Princes own presence I shall answer that undoubtedly it had and my reason is this because that which lost them all was the irresolution of the Generals who durst neither fight nor retire in time as being shie and wary to hazard that which was not their owâ—â— whereas Ferdinand if he had been present would quickly have resolv'd either on the one or the other and consequently would have either retir'd in time and sav'd all his three Armies or have fought and by that means been victorious or would have been beaten with more glory to himself and mischief to his insolent enemy And this is more particularly clear in that Army commanded by Rocandolf who after multitudes of Infidels were already arrived
forces or in a Retreat to give a stop to an Enemies furious pursuit and this Ratio Belli in such cases hath Ratio Physica in the belly of it for it is nothing else but Amputation by cutting one member off to save the whole Body On the other hand to give over a fortified place without a Noble and To give over with small or no resistance punishable with death Souldier-like resistance is a crime which comes near to that of Treason for it is indeed Tradere urbem in potestatem Hostis To betray the Town into the power of the Enemy And as it was with the Ancients so it is yet punishable with shameful death Monluc tells us in his Commentaries that Don Arbre a Spanish Colonel caus'd a Captain to be hang'd at the Bridge Instances of Asturia a Town in Piedmont without Process or hearing him for giving over a Castle without an Assault and he says he knew the like severity used to others for crimes of that nature In the year 1632. Gustavus Adolphus took a Town in Bavaria called Reene in two days time and left a Colonel to be Governour there who was besieg'd shortly after and kept out the Town eight days But because the King his Master thought he had given it over too soon he caus'd his head to be struck from his Shoulders In the year 1636. Jane Deverth and some other Imperial and Spanish Generals destroyed a great deal of Picardy and burnt many Villages at that time the Governour of Chastelet having abundance of all things requisite to hold out a Siege basely gave it over and though he sav'd himself by flight yet was he by the French Kings command hang'd in essigiâ— Corvey a very strong place was also cowardly given over to the Spaniards who put a Garrison into it the Governour whereof deliver'd it back to the French sooner than he needed for which so soon as he came to the first Town of Artois where there was a Garrison he was commanded to alight from his Horse kneel at the Port and without other Process had his Head struck off by the hand of a Hangman I remember that in the year 1637. the Suedish Felt-Marshal Banier garrison'd the strong Castle of Luneburg which Castle they called Kalkberg and appointed one Colonel Stammer to be Governour of it who not long after yielded it to the Duke of Luneburg without resistance pretending for his vindication to a Court of War that his Conscience would not permit him to occasion so much blood to be shed as he knew would be spilt if he offer'd to defend the Castle But the Court made no scruple of Conscience to pass a sentence of Death upon him which by Banier's command was executed at Stâ—tin by cutting off his Head as finding the Colonels Conscience dangerously and ridiculously misled by an erroneous Judgement Having discours'd thus far of the Defence of Towns and Forts I shall tell my Reader that some are pleas'd upon this subject to start a question which is this Whether all places which Princes and States intend to maintain with A Question started Garrisons should be fortified a-la-Modern that is according to the Modern Art of Fortification with Curtains Gorges Faces and Flanks of Bulwarks Fausse brays Ditches Counterscarps and Out-works Or if a place fortified a l'antique or the ancient manner may without prejudice be kept and defended as it is There be reasons pro and con But some judicious persons who have observ'd the practice of our Modern Wars in Europe these sixty years by-past especially in the long German War where many Forts were taken and re-taken where many places only fortified in the ancient way remain'd inexpugnable notwithstanding obstinate Sieges form'd against them having in them but small Garrisons of Souldiers assisted by stout and resolute Inhabitants whereas other places of great importance fortified with all the new inventions of Art have either suddenly been taken by force or soon brought to surrender on Articles I say they doubt not Answered to averr That a Town which hath a strong Stone Wall observe here that the hardest Stone is soonest breach'd with Towers at a convenient distance one from another with dry and deep Ditches a good and firm Counterscarp without any Out-works wherein men are irrecoverably lost to the great prejudice of the Fort this Town defended by a resolute and indifferently well experienced Governour seconded by stout and valiant Souldiers and Burgesses though not very numerous may make as good and as long if not a stouter and longer resistance than a Town fortified a-la-modern câ—teris paribus that is the one being provided as well as the other with Meat Money Munition Arms and Artillery It is true those Round Towers built on the Wall in the ancient manner cannot be well Flanked but to that it is answer'd that they do much hurt in Approaches and are not batter'd down but with a vast expence of Powder and Bullet as also that the Faces of the Modern Bulwarks which take up much more than the third part of the whole Fortification have no other Defences but from the second Flanks and those are not very considerable CHAP. XXVI Of Prisoners Parleys Treaties and of Articles in our Modern Wars IN those Battels Retreats Sieges and Defence of Towns whereof we have spoken in the four preceding Chapters there have been no doubt many Prisoners many Parleys and Treaties made and many Articles sign'd and therefore it is fit to speak something of them In the twenty third Chapter of my Discourses of the Roman Art of War I have shewn you the manner of them among the Ancients between which and that used in the Modern War we shall not find very essential differences And first we shall speak of Prisoners Imprisonment is one of those seven external afflictions which learned men Imprisonment say follow the humane nature and may befal every particular man how great soever he be Emperours and Kings yea our Blessed Saviour as he was Man was not exempted from it Men are made Prisoners for crimes for debts and by chance of War and it is of these I nam'd last whereof I now discourse How those should demean or comfort themselves I leave to the directions of the Divine or Moral Philosopher only I shall say this and perhaps may averr it to be true That if Souldiers would accustome themselves to be sometimes alone and learn to enjoy themselves without other company and have those meditations they ought to have of their own mortal and uncertain condition they would endure Imprisonment with greater patience than those can who when they are at liberty cannot live without society and company for he who can live pleasantly and contentedly alone will find a Prison easie enough if no other affliction be added to it We may divide all Prisoners of War into two Classes of those who are taken Prisoners of War Divided into two Classes without any previous Treaty and
another place of the Military Punishments and Rewards of the Ancients I have likewise spoke of our Modern Military Laws where observe that most of them threaten Punishment few or none promise Reward the first is due to Transgressors the second is ex beneplacito because all men are bound to do their duty yet Princes and States have rewarded Vertue of late times as well as the Ancients did I shall speak of Punishments and then of Rewards Though Princes and States have their several Laws of War yet all agree Punishment of Capital crimes Treason that Treason against the Prince in betraying either his Forts Forces or Munitions should be punish'd with an ignominious Death but the crime should be throughly examin'd by the Judge Marshal and Court of War whereof I have formerly spoke Mutiny against Command or Superiour Mutiny Officers is punishable by Death If it cannot be compesc'd without force either all or most of the Army are to be call'd together to cut the Mutineers in pieces But if a Mutiny be quieted without blood in doing whereof both Courage and Prudence are requisite then ordinarily the ring-leaders are to dye and the rest are eitheir all pardon'd or all to run the Gatloupe or the tenth man of them is to suffer death which custome is borrow'd from the Ancient Romans If Officers run away from the Mutineers and leave them mutinying the Law of War orders them to dye unless they can make it appear that either they had kill'd some of the Mutineers or had been wounded themselves by them But it is not to be denied that too many of them are more ready to give a rise and beginning to a Mutiny than to put an end to it The Death of a Mutineer should be ignominious and therefore it should be hanging or breaking on a Wheel All crimes that are Capital by the Civil Law Many more are so also by Martial Law as Wilful Murther Robbery Theft Incest Sodomy and others needless to be rehears'd But Martial Law makes many crimes Capital which the Civil and Municipal Law doth not Such are to desert the Colours to Sleep on Sentinel to be drunk on a Watch to draw a Sword or strike at a Superiour many times these are pardon'd and very oft they are punish'd with Death when a General thinks Justice more convenient than Mercy To be absent from a Watch by some Military Laws is Capital but seldome put in execution Yet I find in the Reign of Henry the Second of France that one Granvillâ—n a German Severe Justice Colonel in a Court of War condemn'd an Ensign bearer to be hang'd for playing at Dice in his Lodging when the Company was on Watch and he put the Sentence in execution The crime of Cowardize is by the Law of â—aâ— Cowardise Capital but should be well examin'd by the Auditor and the matter made clear in a Court of War before Sentence be past because it and Treason taints the Blood of the parties To run away in time of service either in the Field or from the Assaults of Towns Forts and Out-works brings Death upon the guilty or that which to generous Spirits is worse than death that is to have their Swords broke over their Heads by the hand of the Hangman and so turn'd out of the Army and this I have known more frequently practis'd than death inflicted but the Instances I could give are too fresh and therefore I shall tell you only of one about a hundred years ago At the Siege of Dinan Gaspar Coligni that famous Admiral of France commanded some Ensign-bearers to run with their Colours to the Assault of the breach they did not go pretending the place was too dangerous for the Kings Colours for they might chance to be taken by the Enemy for which the Admiral caus'd all their Swords to be broke over their Heads by a Hang-man in view An ignominious punishment of his whole Army It will be about two or three and thirty years since Leopold Arch-Duke of Austria and his Lieutenant General Piccolomini caused a Regiment of Horse to be cut in pieces and all the Officers to be hanged in the place where-ever they could be apprehended without any Process or Sentence of a Court of War because it was well known that the whole Regiment had run An exemplary and deserved punishment away in a full body without fighting at the second Battel of Leipsick where the Suedish Felt-marshal Torstenson gain'd the Victory over the Imperialists I have spoke in the last Chapter of the punishment due to those Governours who give over Forts sooner than they need and gave you some instances but now I shall tell you that by some Articles of War the whole Garrison is lyable to punishment which is to be Pioneers to the rest of the Army I dare say A severe Law nothing against the Justice of this Law but I think if the Garrison disobey the Governour and do not march out at his command he pretending the Prince or Generals order for what he does all of it may undergo the censure and punishment of Mutiny But many Laws are made ad terrorem which do but little good I think the Turkish Punishments not imitable by those who profess the name Inhumane punishments of Christ such as are roasting at slow fires flaying quick and gaunching the manner of this last is to throw the condemned person from the top of a Tower or a high Wall the place where he is to fall being all beset with Iron pricks and the wretch is happy if his Head Breast or Belly fall on one of them for thereby he may be soon dispatched but if a Leg Arm or Thigh catch hold he must hang till extremity of pain hunger thirst and the fowls of the air put an end to his miserable life The Muscovites for a Military Punishment can whip to death and that is cruel enough They and other Christians can impale condemned persons on wooden Stakes and Spits which in some extraordinary cases is also practised in Germany and I have heard that Hang-men can so artificially do it that the woful Delinquent will sometimes live three days in unspeakable torture When Mahomet the Great saw a Valley in Valachia beset with these Stakes and Wheels on which some thousands of Men and Women lay executed it is said that he much commended the Vayvod or Prince of that Countrey for a good Justitiary so near did the one of their tempers both barbarous and cruel resemble the other The fairest and justest way of Punishment is by Courts of War if the case do not require a present animadversion And that Court is to judge and give Sentence according to the Military Laws of the Prince or State in whose service the Army is When the Sentence is pronounced the General may either Generals may pardon pardon the offender or delay the execution or alter the manner of his death The most honourable
wrong hand for one Martio Colonna bought him from him who had taken him purposely to kill him and poor Amico was killed and by Martio's own hand a very unmartial act and all because Amico had fairly killed a Cousin of Marcio one Stephano Colonna nor had Lex Talionis place here neither The Italions then need not to expostulate with the Turks either for cruelty or inobservance of Quarter given to Prisoners But let us in the next place see how a a Spaniard behaved himself and he was a person of no mean qualility in keeping the Quarter that was given to Prisoners of War When Philip the Second King of Spain had taken Possession of the Kingdom of Portugal his Admiral the Marquess of Santa Crux at a Sea Battle near the Terceras defeated a French Fleet Here was taken Philip Strozzi a Florentine Santa Crux his inhumanity to French Prisoners who was sent as General of the forces ordain'd by Catherine de Medici Queen Mother of France to assist the Prior of Crato with Strozzi were three hundred more taken and had fair quarter promis'd them Strozzi was pitifully wounded and laid down before Santa Crux but neither the quarter promis'd him nor the sad condition of a brave Gentleman nor the consideration of the instability of humane affairs could move Santa Crux to pity him but gave a barbarous order to throw him immediately over-board Nor did his cruelty stop there for by a formal Sentence he beheaded fourscore Gentlemen of the Prisoners all the rest of three hundred that were above seventeen years of age he hang'd those that were under that age he condemn'd to the Galleys An unparallel'd act of Justice I have said before that quarter unless promis'd by Articles should not be given to Fugitives But here a question ariseth If an Officer or a common A question Souldier be taken and be not able to maintain himself in Prison and no care is had by his Superiours either to exchange ransome or maintain him if he be forc'd to take service under the Enemy and be re-taken whether he should be used as a Fugitive or not Here I suppose a distinction will be Answered necessary If he be the natural subject of the Prince or State that makes the War he may not serve their Enemy on any pretence and if he do it he is liable to punishment as a Traytor but if he serve him only as a mercenary it seems disputable for the Grecians and Romans punish'd such of their own as serv'd the Enemy with death but not their Auxiliaries unless they had run over from them to the Enemy but that is not the question for all Run-aways deserve death but these I speak of are not such Yet there was a valiant Knight Capuz Muden who had done Charles the Fifth great services but Severity was none of his Subjects he was taken by the French in Piedmont and having often and in vain sollicited for his exchange or ransome he took service under the French King and after that was taken by the Imperialists in Artois and notwithstanding all his defences had his Head cut off by the Emperours command When that Major General Kniphausen whom I mention'd in the last Chapter was Prisoner with Count Tili he wrote to the King of Sueden whose subject he was not and desir'd to know since he could neither maintain nor ransome himself if he might take imployment under the Emperour the King told all those who were with him That the Major General ask'd him the question Whether he might lawfully be a Knave or not Intimating thereby that he might not for all his Imprisonment break his Military Oath But for all that I have known thousands take service in that manner and never challeng'd for it when they have been re-taken Inexorable necessity dispensing oft with transgressions of that kind To make those Prisoners who have not taken Arms but live in amity with Injustice in making some Prisoners both parties only because they are suspected to favour one party more than the other hath little of the Law of Arms in it and less of that of Conscience Herein the famous Count of Mansfeld is inexcusable for putting Guards on the Earl of East-Friezeland when he had quarter'd his Army in his County So was the Suedish Felt-Marshal Banier for sending one of the Dukes of Saxon-Lauenburg and the Lord Arnheim Prisoners to Sueden Neither can the late King of Sueden be well excused for seizing on the persons of the Duke and Dutchess of Courland The securing of the Dutchess as well as her Husband the Duke minds me of a question Whether Women should be made Prisoners of War it is certain Whether Women should be Prisoners of War if taken in ancient and later times too they were taken and ransom'd or exchang'd or made slaves yet it would seem since Nature hath generally exempted that Sex from making War they cannot properly be made Prisoners of War The Mahometans notwithstanding make Slaves of them And I suppose in our late Wars they were not ordinarily made Prisoners rather because the custome of it is worn out than that it is abrogated by any Law It is not yet 130 years since some French Captains under Francis the First took some Spanish Ladies Prisoners at Perpignan and would have put them to ransome but that generous King gave a summ of money to those who had taken them and sent them home to their Husbands without ransome Now it is not like he would have bought them from his own Officers if he had not thought they had some right to them by the Law of War The great Cyrus did well in preserving the honour and chastity of the fair Panthea taken Prisoner in the War but Some instances of it he had done better to have sent her home to her Husband Abradates Alexander did well to use Darius his Mother Wife and Daughters honourably but he had done better to have sent them home to the Persian King either for or without ransome Selimus the First as barbarous and cruel a Tyrant as he was known to be shew'd more generosity in this point than both of them for the noise of the Turks Cannon having rather frighted the Persian Horses than chac'd the Sophi Isaâ—ael out of the Calderan Plains his Horse-men took a number of noble Persian Ladies Prisoners whom the Great Turk sent home to their Husbands without ransome and without any violence done to their persons or honours But Prisoners of War having got fair quarter promis'd them and honestly Slavery remitted by Christians kept What shall be done with them Assuredly they must be either enslaved exchang'd or ransom'd As to the first we are to know that after the great Constantine suffer'd the Christian Faith to be preach'd without interruption over most of the then known World men remitted much of the severity of the Law of War and Nâ—tions to Prisoners And Slavery which makes men differ but
little from beasts woâ—â— piece and piece out of fashion yet long after Christianity shone over the World â—â— Prisoners of War were made Slaves for there be some Canons of the Church extant that forbid men to counsel Slaves to desert their Masters But by tract of time all Nations as it had been by an universal consent left off to make their Prisoners Slaves or to sell them as such because they were then better instructed in the Laws of Charity than to abstain from killing miserable Captives only out of respect of gain to themselves or at least to seem to be less cruel But three hundred years after the Great Constantine's death when Mahometanism had spread its darkness over the East slavery was Brought back by Mahomet brought back to the World and yet if you will consider right you will find this slavery and bondage of Christians is not confin'd to those Countreys only where Mahomet is adored for there are thousands of Christian Slaves to be found in the Galleys belonging to the most Christian and Catholick Kings the Great Duke of Tuscany the Venetians the Genoways the Pope and the Great Retain'd yet by some Christians Master of Malta And may we not say That many thousands of his Majesties Subjects after quarter given were made perfect Slaves and upon that account sold and sent to remote Plantations The Great Gustavus Adolphus did I think something very like this when he sent three thousand Croatians commonly called Carabats who had quarter given them for life at several places in Germany by Sea to Sueden there to work at his Iron and Copper Mines Among Christians then Prisoners of War being exempted from Slavery they are to be kept till they be either exchang'd or ransom'd or set at liberty by the Victor gratis this sometimes falls out but seldome Sometimes they are set at liberty conditionally as If you do such a thing enjoy your liberty if not Liberty granted to Prisoners conditionally return to Prison and the Prisoner is oblig'd to do either the one or the other It was the case of some Scottish Lords whom Henry the Eighth of England detain'd Prisoners He permitted them to return to Scotland and if they could procure the Marriage of his Son Prince Edward with the Infant Queen of Scots then they were to have their liberty if not they were to return they failing in the first some of them honestly perform'd the second He that takes a Prisoner may search him and all he lays hold on is his own but if the Prisoner hath reserv'd something hidden that his Taker knows not of he may make use of it to maintain himself or to help to pay his ransome for he who took him hath no right to it for Lawyers say Qui nescit nequit possidere The exchange of Prisoners of equal quality is ordinary over all the World if there By Exchange be some but no considerable disparity some Money ballanceth the matter The Ransome of a Prisoner belongs to him who took him unless he be a person of very eminent quality and then the Prince the State or their General seizeth on him giving some gratuity to those who took him The price of the Ransome useth to be estimated according to his pleasure who keeps the Prisoner By Ransome but because many times they are extravagant in their demands an agreement is frequently made between the two parties who make the War of a certain price to be paid by Officers and Common Souldiers for their Ransomes A general agreement for Ransomes ordinary according to their quality and this seldom exceeds one Months pay for any under the degree of a Colonel and this is exceeding comfortable to Prisoners when they know how much themselves or their Friends have to pay for their liberty But here is a question When a Prisoner agrees for his ransome and dyes A Question concerning ransome before it be paid whether the Heir be obliged to pay it If he dye out of Prison there is no doubt but the Heir is bound to pay it but if he dye in Prison Grotius says his Heir is not obliged to pay it because the Prisoner had not that for which he contracted and that was his liberty But if the bargain be made that the Prisoner ows the ransome immediately after the contract is made the same Grotius sayes His Heir ought to pay it because the Captive Answered was not to be looked on after the finishing of the agreement as a Prisoner but as a Pledge for his Ransome But I can tell Grotius that the Corps of many dead Prisoners are Ransomed There is another question If a Prisoner Parol Another and ingage to get such a person of the adverse party set at liberty and on that condition is set free himself if the Prisoner agreed on dye before the other can procure his liberty whether in that case the Prisoner contracting be obliged to return to Prison Grotius sayes no unless it have been particularly so agreed Answered on yet he saith he is bound to do something like the equivalent and that is to pay his own Ransome I should now speak of those Prisoners who have Articles for life it may be Cloths and Monys or any thing else they carry about with them and sometimes as much of their goods as they can carry on their backs but before I enter on it it will be fit to know what poor inferior Officers and Commanders have to Parley Treat and to Grant Sign and Seal Articles First it will be granted that none have power to Treat or Sign Articles Of the power inferior Commanders have to grant Articles but those who command in chief on the place whether it be in Town or Field Princes or their Generals cannot be every where and therefore must recommend the leading of Wings or Parts of their Armies to subordinate Commanders what ever title they may have be it Lieutenant or Major General Colonel or Brigadeer Generals they Treat and Grant Conditions and Articles to Enemies in the Field or to Enemies within Towns because the emergency or necessity of dispatch will not suffer them to advise with the Prince or State whom they serve and therefore Articles granted by them are to be as inviolably observed as if they had been Signed by the Prince himself But if either a General or any under him make a transaction with an Enemy against the known Constitutions and publick Laws of the Prince or State whom they serve then they deserve Punishment and the Prince and State are not obliged to performance and if so they ought not nor can they in justice retain what they have gained by that Capitulation whether it be Towns Forts Lands Mony or Prisoners but are obliged if they disapprove the Agreement to put all in statu quo prius Grotius maintains that a General What a General may do hath not power to dispose of Lands Territories