he making alt they all take up their several distances behind him till he who is File-leader turn himself about on that same ground he stood on and then all turn likewise so that all the File faceth to the Rear in that same order that before the Counter-march it fac'd to the Van by this means the Body loseth ground in the Rear and therefore our Modern Drillers when they command the Macedonian counter-march they say By the Right or Left hand Countermarch and lose ground in the Rear or gain ground in the Van which is all one thing The Laconian is when the Batallion is commanded to take up as much ground in the Rear as it possess'd before and is done thus The File-leader Lacedemonian turns just where he stands and marcheth as many foot behind the Rear-man as the Body at its due distance should possess all who follow him turn not about till their Leaders go by them and so the Bringer up doth only turn himself without any further motion The Modern word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right and Left hand and gain ground in the Rear The Persian is when the Batallion keeps the same ground it had but with this difference that the Leader stands where the Bringer up was and the Persian Rear-man where the Leader stood It is done thus The Leader advanceth three steps and then turns and marcheth to the Rear and all who follow him turn not till they come to that place to which he advanced and then they face about and take up the same ground they formerly possest The word of Command for this is Counter-march to the Right or Left hand and keep your ground It is also called the Chorâ—an Counter-march because Oâ— Choraean as the Chorus useth to sing and dance all together so here all the Ranks move at once and keeping that same measure and distance in turning resembles a Dance But indeed all these Counter-marches as most of all evolutions are better and sooner illustrated nay demonstrated by a Body of Souldiers in the Field than they can be either by words or figures on Paper Philip King of Macedon Father of the Great Alexander put down the first of these Counter-marches which was his own Countrey one and with good reason for it hath a show of flying at least of retiring being a Body of sixteen deep as the Macedonian Phalanx was by that Counter-march lost in the Rear where the Enemy is suppos'd to be one hundred and twelve foot of ground one foot being allowed for every Rank to stand on and six All three of small use foot of distance between the Ranks at least it loseth one hundred and six foot And truly I think the hazard were small if all the three several Counter-marches were for ever banish'd out of all Armies except those of our Enemies It is true I never saw any of them used in sight of an Enemy for if they be practis'd then I am confident confusion would follow them which is but too ready to appear in any Army though never so well order'd when it is unexpectedly attack'd by an Enemy in the Rear If the Grecians had been acquainted with our great Guns nay even with our Muskets which kill at a greater distance by far than Darts or Arrows and against which their Defensive Arms would not have been proof they would have found that an Enemy a good way from their Rear would have render'd their best Counter-marches both unfeasible and dangerous All the good I suppose that is intended by a Counter-march is to place the very same men and Ranks with their faces to the Rear in that very same order they were with their faces to the Front And truly if Captains be careful to place their best men in the Front their next best in the Rear and make middle men of the third and rank every man according to his worth and dignity as they should do but too many of them are negligent in this it will be needless to hazard a Counter-march but with much ease and with one word of Command and that is By the Right or Left hand about an Enemy may be fac'd in the Rear without danger of any confusion or disorder I have seen some very punctual Officers and Drill-masters who have taken much pains to teach new beginners all these three sorts of Counter-marches and have made them practise their lessons very exactly yet for all that I could never in my own Judgement have a better opinion of Counter-marches than they say some Physicians have of Cucumbers which they first order to be well corrected and prepar'd with Vinegar Oyl Pepper and I know not what else and then advise to throw them out of doors or over the Windows In exercising Bodies the first care is to make Ranks and Files keep that distance that is allowed by the Prince or General who commands the Army for he may do in that according to his pleasure The Grecian Foot had a three-fold distance the first was of six foot and this Aelian will have to be in exercisings and marches between File and File as well as Rank and Rank but assuredly there was not so good reason for the one as there was for the other in regard all the heavy arm'd Foot cartying long Pikes required six foot in their march between Rank and Rank for the conveniency of their Pikes but there was no need of so much between File and File as Distances of the Foot any man at first view may easily comprehend The second distance was of three foot between Rank and Rank as also between File and File and this was when they were drawn up and stood in Battel with their Pikes order'd and their posture at this distance was called Densatio The third was of one foot and a half between both Files and Ranks and that was when they were either to give or receive a charge and it was call'd Constipatiâ— In that posture having presented their Pikes with their left foot formost their Targets touch'd one another and so their Phalange look'd like a Brazen Wall as Lucius Aemilius the Roman Consul spoke of that wherewith King Persâ—â—s fac'd him at the Battel of Pidna where they fought for the Soveraignty of the Kingdom of Macedon The Grecian Horse were marshall'd in several figures and of their distance I can say nothing nor doth Aelian help me in it at all Of these several figures of Horse Troops I shall speak in the next Chapter but one And Of the Horse then my Reader will perhaps believe with me that the Square Battels probably kept that distance that Troops have done since and that both the Rhombus and the Wedge required a greater distance when they were commanded by a motion either to the Right or Left hand to change the posture or the place wherein they stood and I conceive when either of them was to charge the Horse men were obliged to â—err
was marshal'd in one Division I know some are of opinion that the Majors Company should be in the Reer Objection against that way of marshalling of the Lieutenant-Colonels Division because the third place of honour in the Regiment belongs to him and the Colonel having the Van of the first Division and the Lieutenant-Colonel of the second the Major should have the Reer of the second Division because it is the Reer of the whole Regiment I should easily subscribe to this if it were not for two reasons First though it be but Answered one Regiment yet being divided it should be lookt on as two distinct Bodies and it is more honourable to have the Reer of the first than of the last Secondly when a Regiment is divided into two parts the Major ought to wait and lodg at the quarter of that Division of the Regiment where the Colonel is because from him he receives his Orders Directions and the Word which he is not oblig'd to carry to the Lieutenant-Colonel if the quarters of the two Divisions be divided as many times they are but the oldest Captain is obliged to come and receive them from the Major at the Colonels Quarter the first Captain in that case officiating as Major for the Lieutenant-Colonels Batallion Now if the Major ought to be where the Colonel is as I think he should then I think the Majors Company should be where himself is The Great Gustavus used another way of marshalling his Regiments and Brigades of Foot which taken altogether was not square of front yet all the four parts or Bodies which composed it were square The manner was this Regiment or Brigade marshal'd a third way Suppose one of his Brigades to be eighteen hundred men as I can assure you he had many weaker whereof twelve hundred were Musqueteers and six hundred were Pikemen the Pikes advanced twenty paces before the two Bodies of Musqueteers who immediately join'd to fill up the void place the Pikemen had possest Then were the Pikes divided into three equal Bodies two hundred to each Batallion the middle Body whereof advanced before the other two so far that its Reer might be about ten paces before the Van of the other two The two Bodies of Pikes that staid behind were order'd to open a little to both hands and then stand still all fronting one way to the Enemy by this means the place which the two hundred Pikes possest in the middle remaining void there were two passages like sally-ports between the Reer of the advanced Body of Pikes and the two Batallions that staid behind out of one whereof on the right hand issued constantly one or two or more hundreds of Musqueteers who before all the three Bodies of Pikes gave incessantly fire on the Enemy and when the word or sign for a Retreat was given they retir'd by the other passage on the left hand back to the great Body of Musqueteers where so many of them as came back unwounded were presently put in rank and file the fire continuing without intermission by Musqueteers who still sallied thorough the passage on the right hand and it is to be observed that the firemen fought thus in small Bodies each of them not above five files of Musqueteers and these for most part but three deep So you may consider that near the third part of the Musqueteers being on service the other two thirds were securely shelter'd behind the three Batallions of Pikemen who were to be compleatly arm'd for the defensive These Pikes had Field pieces with them which fir'd as oft as they could as well as the Musqueteers this continued till the Pikemen came to push of Pike with the Enemy if both parties staid so long as seldom they did and then the Musqueteers were to do what they were order'd to do and the order did depend on emergencies and accidents which as they could not be then seen so no certain rules could be given for them In this order did I see all the Swedish Brigades drawn up for one year after the Kings death but after that time I saw it wear out when Defensive Arms first and then Pikes came Worn out to be neglected and by some vilipended For the March of a Regiment if it can all march in one breast it should The March of a Regiment do so but if not and if the ground permit it let the right hand of Musqueteers march in breast next it the Body of Pikes and after it the left wing of Musqueteers But if none of these can be then as many should march in one petty Division as the way can permit as suppose twelve eight or ten and so soon as you come to open ground you are to march presently in Squadrons or as they are now called Squads or in full Battel that is the Regiment all in one front for by that means your Soldiers are readiest to receive an Enemy they march in a more comely order and straggle far less than when they march few in breast and in a long row The Major appoints Captains Lieutenants and Ensigns to lead Divisions and Serjeants to attend the flanks every one according to their dignities but for my own part I never thought it convenient much less necessary that every small Division of a Regiment should have a Bringer up since he must be as some will have it a Commission'd Officer as well as the Leader of a Division should be For first consider that in a Regiment of one thousand strong there are an hundred sixty and six files and admit that the way will permit eight files to march in breast as that falls not always out by that account you shall have one and twenty Divisions consisting of eight Files apiece multiply twenty one by eight the Product is a hundred and Reasons why every petty Division cannot have a Bringer up sixty eight Files which consists of a thousand and eight men eight more than the number Reckon again how many Commission'd Officers you have in ten Companies besides the three Field-Officers you shall have but twenty nine now of these twenty one must be allow'd to lead the Divisions and by that account you have but nine Officers to bring up so you want thirteen Commission'd Officers for that imployment for Serjeants should neither be permitted to lead or bring up but in case of necessity their duty being to attend the flanks Besides all Commission'd Officers are not always present some frequently being either sick wounded or absent on furloff It will be enough therefore if all these petty Divisions be led by Commission'd Officers which yet cannot be unless you allow some Ensign-bearers to stay from their 〈…〉 ours and by this means you may spare six foot of ground between two Divisions for those who will allow Bringers up allow eighteen foot between two Divisions to wit six foot between the Reer of the first Division and him that brings it up secondly six foot between
A Regiment marshal'd in one Division orders the Colonels Company to draw up on the right hand next to that the Majors thirdly the second Captains fourthly the fourth Captains fifthly the sixth Captains sixthly the seventh Captains seventhly the fifth Captains eighthly the third Captains ninthly the oldest Captain and lastly the Lieutenant-Colonels Company I know some would have the Majors Company to be where I have plac'd the youngest Captains because they think next to the Van and the Reer the middle is the most honourable place But if they take heed they will find it is not so with a middle Company as with a middle man in a file who upon doubling the front by half files becomes a Leader Besides no Company can properly be said to be in the middle of a Regiment unless the Regiment consist of odd Companies which seldom or never is practised for draw up a Regiment of ten Companies in one front the sixth Company which is accounted the middle one or the Company in the middle of the Regiment is not so for it hath five Companies on its right hand and but four on its left Now my reason for Reasons for the manner of it drawing up the Companies in that order whereof I have spoken is this The right hand or the Van is the most honourable place and next to it the left hand or reer Now the honour comes from danger which is for most part expected from the Van or the Reer and hence it will follow that the nearer a Captain and his Company are the danger the more honourable place they have and therefore the nearer they are to the Van and the Reer the more honourable place they have If then the Regiment be attackâ— in the Van where most danger is expected the Majors Company is by much nearer the danger when it is marshal'd next to the Colonels than if it were drawn up about the middle of the Regiment and consequently is in the more honourable place by this same reason the oldest Captain is to be nearest the Lieutenant-Colonel who hath the second place of honour for if the Reer be attackt the Lieutenant Colonel is nearest the danger and next him the first Captain by this same rule of proportion the second Captain is next to the Major it being fit since the first Captain hath the second place of dignity in the Reer that the second Captain have the third place in the Van. And if this rule hold as I hope it will the third Captains Company must be drawn up on the oldest Captains right hand that so he may have the third place from the Reer as the second Captain had the third place from the Van. And to make short I place the fourth Captain in the fourth place from the Van and the fifth Captain in the fourth place from the Reer the sixth Captain in the fifth place from the Van and the seventh and last Captain in the fifth place from the Reer Now because an Enemy is sooner expected in the Van than in the Reer the Van is more honourable than the Reer and therefore I marshal the last Captain in or near the middle of the Regiment where being furthest from danger either in Van or Reer he obtains the place of least dignity for though all places are honourable yet some are more honourable than others I marshal then a Regiment of ten Companies drawn up in one Division thus Order of a Regiment in one Batallion Colonel Major Second Captain Fourth Captain Sixth Captain Seventh Captain Fifth Captain Third Captain First Captain Lieutenant-Colonel The Companies standing in this order the Major will have but little trouble How to put them in one Body to Body them one of two ways First he may command all the Pikes to advance twenty or twenty four paces and there join them then let him cause the Musqueteers of the five Companies on the right to advance to the right hand of the Pikes and the Musqueteers of the five Companies on the left hand to march up to the left hand of the Pikes and so his work is done Secondly if he have no other ground than that he stands on he is to command the Pikemen to march thorough the files of the Musqueteers by the right and left hand till they meet in one Body in the middle the Musqueteers being likewise order'd to march by both hands to their due distances so that this motion is a Chorean Countermarch of files This may be done with much ease and a few words if the Major please but some have the vanity to make themselves and their Soldiers more business than they need by crying this and that riding here and there making work to themselves and sometimes sport to the Beholders If the Major be order'd to marshal the Regiment in two Divisions he may do To marshal a Regiment of ten Companies in two Batallions it thus The Colonels Company being to have the right hand of the first division and the Lieutenant-Colonels of the second Division he ought to place the other Companies according to their Dignities and these are the Majors Company in the Reer of the first Division and the first Captains in the Reer of the second Division the second Captain next to the Colonel in the first Division the third Captain next to the Lieutenant-Colonel in the second Division the fourth Captain on the right hand of the Major in the first Division and the fifth Captain on the right hand of the oldest Captain in the second Division the sixth Captain next to the second Captain in the first Division and the seventh and last Captain next to the third Captain in the second Division The ten Companies of a Regiment then drawn up in two distinct Batallions are in this order Order of ten Companies in two Divisions First Division Second Division Colonel Lieutenant-Colonel Second Captain Third Captain Sixth Captain Seventh Captain Fourth Captain Fifth Captain Major First Captain My reason for this is because the Regiment being now divided into two Bodies or Batallions the two Reers are next in dignity to the two Vans and those that are nearest to the two Reers are next in honour to those who are nearest to the two Vans for this reason I place the sixth Captain just in the middle of the Reasons for that order first Division as furthest from danger of either Van or Reer of that Division having two Companies before him and two behind him or two on each hand of him And I place the last Captains Company in the middle of the second Division as the place of least dignity and that belongs to him all other Captains having the Precedency of him The Pikes of the first and second Divisions are in the middle of their several Batallions and the Musqueteers of the five Companies of each Body equally divided on both hands of the several Bodies of the Pikes which is done in that same way as when the Regiment
then that Captain-General commissionates Lieutenant-Generals to command petty Armies under him but when he joins his forces the Command of the Lieutenant-General seems to cease because he is but the Deputy of him that sent him and a Representative is no more a Representative when he whom he represented is present The Roman Consuls had their Lieutenant Generals who were called Legates who commanded Armies apart Roman Legates when the Consuls thought fit but had no command when the Consul was present Nor doth Caesar give those Legates even in the Consuls absence an absolute power for speaking of one of his own Legates in the French War I believe it was Labienus he commends him for not hazarding a Battel with the Gauls though he seem'd to have the advantage because saith he a Legate hath not that power which he hath who is Imperator or Commander in chief One of the Dukes of Aumale commanded an Army in France against the Protestants with the Title of Lieutenant-General but so soon as he join'd forces with Henry Duke of Anjou who was Captain-General for his Brother Charles the Ninth the Duke resign'd both his Title and Office But notwithstanding all this Lieutenant-Generals continue both in their Title and Office in their Generals presence and I have known Felt-marshals have Lieutenant-Generals under them who have commanded both the Horse and Foot of their Armies even when the Felt-marshals were present as the Earl of Bramford who was Lieutenant-General to Felt-marshal Barrier and King who was Lieutenant-General to Felt-marshal Leslie I think the great Dukes of Muscovia have a very commendable custom to chuse any of their Colonels who they fancy are qualified for it to be Generals or Lieutenant-Generals of a competent number of forces fit for the expedition they are to be imployed in and so soon as that piece of service is A good custom done the Colonel lays down his Commission and returns to his former Charge without the least thought or imagination that he is disparag'd thereby the frequent practice of this custom banishing such thoughts out of all mens heads Neither would such a practice be fancyed to be a degrading of men from former honours in other places of the world if they were but a little habituated to it The French gives now the Title of Lieutenant-Generals very frequently I suppose they are independent one of another and are the Kings Lieutenant-Generals which is very proper and obey none but such as he commands to give Orders to them A General of the Cavalry commands it under him who is Commander in General of the Cavalry chief of the Army whatever title he bear whether General Felt-marshal Lieutenant Felt-marshal or Lieutenant-General He is to see the Troops and Regiments of Horse kept at that strength that they are appointed to be of and if by Battel long marches great fatigue or other accidents of War the numbers of men be diminisht Horses lost or made unserviceable it is his duty when they come to Quarter to see the Troops made strong the Horses put in good case and the Riders well cloth'd and arm'd In Musters he is obliged to see that no Colonel or Ritmaster wrong the Muster-masters by His Duties making a show of borrow'd men Horses or Arms whereby the Prince may be cheated in his Purse or disappointed in his service He is to take care that the Cavalry be paid and provided with Proviant and Fodderage and good Quarter He should also be a person who understands something of the Foot-service in regard that when the greatest part of the Horse is sent in any Expedition ordinarily some Foot are sent with them and then it is the General of the Cavalries office to command both But it is a pity that all General persons should not make it their study and their work to understand both the Foot and Horse-service for I have seen considerable parties of Foot more harass'd and spoil'd in a-short time under the command of an Officer of Horse than if they had been routed by an enemy so little discretion some have to know the difference between a man and a Horse It seems in the Low-Country service the General of the Horse commanded next the General and in his absence over the Army even when they had Felt-marshals but that custom is not now in other places where Felt-marshals and Lieutenant-Felt-marshals command the Generals of the Horse and it would seem that the Estates of the Vnited Provinces have now voided the difference otherwise since they qualified the two Commanders in chief of their Armies with the Titles of Felt-marshals Prince Maurice and Wurz A Lieutenant-General of the Horse being in his Generals absence to do the Lieutenant General of the Cavalry same duties he should have the same qualifications If the Cavalry be marshal'd in one Body the General is to stand on the right hand of it and the Lieutenant-General on the left But if the Horse be drawn up in two wings the General commands the right and the Lieutenant-General commands the left wing A Major-General of the Cavalry is to receive the word and all other Orders Major General of the Horse from the Commander in chief of the Army he is to impart them to the General and the Lieutenant-General of the Cavalry and after he hath received their commands he is to give all to the Regiment Quarter-masters of Horse which they carry to the several Regiments All complaints and differences between Officers and Horsemen or among themselves are first brought to him which he should endeavour to compose in an amicable way but if he cannot Major-General of Horse he is to proceed according to the Articles and Constitutions of War He hath the inspection of all the Guards of Horse and orders them and keeps lists of Convoys and Parties that the several Officers and Troopers may have their turns in which a Major-General should show himself very impartial for very few or none there be who will not think themselves wrong'd in their reputation His Duties if others be prefer'd to them where either danger may probably be look'd for or profit expected unless it can be made clear to them that it is not their turn to go on that party or with that Convoy It is the Major-General who marshals the Cavalry in Battel having first advised about the manner with the General of the Horse or in his absence with the Lieutenant-General If he be an understanding active stirring and vigilant person a General and Lieutenant-General may be laid aside as in many Armies over Christendom they are though not in all This Officer the English qualifie with the Title of Commissary General of the Horse The Duties of a Lieutenant-General and Major-General of the Foot are the General Officers of the Foot same which I have told you belongs to those of the Horse mutatis mutandis Generals of the Foot are but rare Banier was under Gustavus Adolphus and Lind
How guards march to the Parade Companies one two or three sometimes out of a Regiment as the duty seems to require these meet at the several Captains Tents or Huts and after the Drums have done beating the Gathering the Captains march with their several Companies in good order to the Parading place of the Regiment or of the whole Army more ordinarily to the last which is either a place appointed peculiarly for it or is the Forum or Market-place near the Generals Lodging or Pavilion Here they are drawn up according to the antiquity or precedency of the Regiments to whom they belong by either the Major General or Adjutant General of the Foot At this Parade should all the Majors of the Foot be as also one Sergeant out of every Company and most of the Captains of the whole Army The Companies being marshall'd in breast the Major or Adjutant General calls the Majors together to whom he imparts the several orders and directions of the General which may and very oft doth vary every night because they depend on emergencies The Majors stand in a ring on How the Orders and Word are given to the Majors both hands of him according to their dignity the first standing on his left hand in whose ear he whispers the Word and he whispers it to him who standeth on his left hand and so successively till the youngest Major deliver it to the Major General If it be returned right to him there is no necessity to send it about the other way as some would have but if the Word be not deliver'd right to him then he gives it to the Major who stands on his right hand and so it is re-deliver'd to him by the Major who stands on his left hand not without a check to him or them by whose inadvertency it was mistaken This word for most part is the name of a Town a Country or a Castle sometimes it is the proper name of a Man and sometimes it is a Sentence as it pleaseth him who gives it who is still he who commands in chief Men may pass any Sentinel without it in the night time but none should pass the Corps de guards that An abuse i◠making it common are on the Fortification unless they give the Word And from the misunderstanding of this many gross abuses are committed as when Servants or other mean persons are sent in the night time either into Camps or Towns concerning affairs very lawful in themselves and have the Word given them that they may pass the Guards which should not be suffer'd for if the business is necessary and will admit of no delay as the sending for a Physician Apothecary Chyrurgion or Minister for sick or wounded persons in such cases addresses should be made to him who commands over the whole Guards who is obliged to send a Caporal or a Gentleman of a Company along with the person that is sent who should see him pass and re-pass without interruption When the Major General imparts his orders to the Majors the Sergeants of the Parade should make a ring at a good distance about them standing with their Halberts order'd and this both to shew with what respect orders should be given and receiv'd as also to hinder any to come near and hearken to what is said or spoken either to the Majors or among themselves After the Majors have done their business with their Major General they Where Orders should be given by the M 〈…〉 in Fo 〈…〉 fied Camps should give both the orders they have received from their superiours and their own to the several Regiments and many think they should do this at their own quarters beside the Colours which I think is formal enough and may well enough be done but my humble opinion is they should do it at the great Parade and therefore I said before that at it there should be a Serjeant of every Company there and the reason I give for my opinion is this that the several Companies that are to be sent from that Parade to divers places of the Fortification there to keep Watch may carry the Word along with them and so not need to wait so long as for the Major first to go home to the quarter of the Regiment and then give out his Orders and send them to the Companies that are on duty in several Posts And to anticipate that objection which I suppose will be made against my opinion that Majors are to give to the Companies All Commissioned Officers should be present at a Parade the orders of the Colonels as well as of the Major Generals I say that at Parades all Colonels all Field and Commissionated Officers should be present for a Parade is the Exchange of Officers neither should any thing excuse their absence but indisposition or being on present duty and this is incumbent for Officers to do where-ever the Parade be whether in Camp or Garrison when the Major gives orders to his Sergeants he doth it in the same manner as the Major General doth to the Majors and should have a ring of Musketeers about him to hinder any to approach or hearken unless they be Commissionated Officers of that Regiment who may be within the ring and may hear but ought not to speak while the Major is discoursing to the Sergeants After Orders and the Watch-word are given every Captain marcheth How the Posts are divided to that Post that is appointed him and that appointment is made two ways either as the Major General pleaseth in sending Companies several nights to several Posts and not constantly to one or it is done by billets the way thus The names of the several Posts being writ in several Papers they are cast into a Hat and are drawn by the Majors who according to the billets they draw send their Captains to their Posts And this indeed is the best way for it saves the Major General from suspicion of partiality and doth a more general good than that for it prevents Treachery whether it be in Camp Garrison Town or Castle After the Watch is set it should not be permitted to any whether he be No Officer or Common Souldier should go from his Guard Officer or Common Souldier from the highest to the lowest to leave his Post unless sickness occasion it neither indeed should an Officer of what quality soever he be by absenting himself give example for Souldiers to desert their Posts those Officers who do it should be exemplarily censur'd yet for most part this piece of Discipline is neglected which too often encourageth an Enemy to make attempts which perhaps otherwise he would forbear Truly it is a shame to hear what excuses I have heard in more places of the World than one and none more ordinary than for an Officer to say I was no longer from my Guard than I was taking my Dinner and Supper at my Lodging If Officers would dine or sup in their Corps de
the Captain and others already spoken of five other Officers whom Aelian calls supernumerary or extraordinary These were the Ensign-bearer for every Company or Syntagmatarchy had a Colours a Servant or Assister or if you please you may call him an Adjutant who carried the Captains Orders The third was a Extraordinary or supernumerary Officers Praeco or a Cryer who proclaim'd the Captains directions even in the time of Battel Men of strong voices were chosen for that office The Romans used them as it appears by Hannibal's causing them to be counterfeited when he storm'd and enter'd the Roman Camp at Capua They are out of fashion now the loud noise of Gun-powder having render'd them useless The fourth was a Trumpeter whose office is known And the last was a Tergidux or Lieutenant whose office was to stay constantly in the Rear These five were superordinary the rest were Ordinarii and this word the Church hath borrowed from the Militia and reason for it since on earth she is a Militant Body in giving the name of Ordinaries to her reverend Bishops But in this place Aelian is obscure for I know not how he disposeth of the Serjeant or of the Captain of the Company nor how he disposeth of the Tribunes lesser or greater Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels Brigadiers and Major Generals where he appoints them to march or where to stand or officiate in time of action or whether he reckons them in the number of the Phalange which consisted of sixteen thousand three hundred A Question not answer'd eighty four men or not His Decurions Dimarites Enomotarchs Dilochites and Tetrarchs are all of them no doubt of that number neither can I allow them any other place to march or fight in but Rank and File for they were no other but File-leaders Middle-men Lance-spesats and Caporals all of whom carry Arms. But that all who commanded above them were in Rank and File is a thing I cannot fansie And if the Captain was constantly in the Van or Front of his Company why was the Lieutenant whose station was constantly in the Rear of it call'd a superordinary Officer more than the Captain And being all these five were constantly Officers in the Syntagmatarchy or Company why should they not be call'd ordinary Officers as well as the Taxiarch or Serjeant or as the Syntagmatarch or Captain The light armed Grecian Foot according to Aelian were half the number of the heavy armed and by this account they were eight thousand one hundred ninety two This he speaks of the Macedonian Foot for the other Grecian Phalanges were not so strong These light armed Foot were drawn Grecian Velites up saith Aelian eight deep By this account they took up as much ground in Longitude Rank or Front as the heavy armed Phalange did and but half as much in File or depth CHAP. VI. Aelian's marshalling the Grecian Infantry examined TO hazard all at one cast hath ever been thought a piece of madness except in very desperate cases for in them necessity hath no Law It is upon that ground that Leaders of Armies appoint Reserves some one some two to sustain and second the first Batallions in case they be worsted But this great Body or Phalange of Aelian admitted of no reserve at all and therefore the men that compos'd it had need to have fought well because first there were none to second them and next their heavy Armour render'd them uncapable to fly either fast or far That the Phalange might have had Reserves is unquestionable if those who compos'd it had not made it so deep as sixteen But we shall the better know Sixteen deep examin'd whether it might not conveniently have been of a less altitude when we examine the Reasons that are given for so great a depth For take it along with you the more a Batallion is extended in length or Front the more hands are brought to fight and the less it is subject to be out-wing'd or surrounded and therefore the deepness of this Phalange brings both those inconveniencies with it Let us now hear the advantages it hath First Aelian saith if it be needful that the Files be doubled the Phalange may be made two and thirty deep and if the Ranks must be doubled then the Files are made eight deep I wonder to hear such language from so First reason for 16 deep great a Master for all this may be done in any Body of men of what depth soever provided it be not of an odd number If Aelian had made his Phalange but twelve deep might he not when he pleas'd by doubling the Files have made it twenty four deep and by doubling the Ranks have made it but six deep and by the bargain he had made the Front of his Phalange a fourth part longer that where at six foot distance between Files it took up in longitude but six thousand one hundred forty four foot it would have taken up eight thousand one hundred ninety foot But the mystery of the matter if I understand Aelian right is shortly this Such an altitude or deepness of the File is most exact whereby the Commander in chief may with few words bring his whole numbers by equal proportions to one man As sixteen to eight eight to four four to two and two to one But this you cannot do with twelve for twelve divided makes two sixes six divided makes two threes three men you cannot divide unless you cut one man in two pieces Now by sixteen deep you may bring your whole Batallion of sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four men into one File or into one Rank and here I suppose lyes the knack of the business These sixteen thousand three hundred eighty four men at sixteen in File make one thousand twenty four Files which you can bring to one File thus Command your half Ranks to double their Files and then you have but five hundred and twelve Files the same word of Command being obeyed you have but two hundred fifty six give it once more you have but one hundred twenty eight let it be done over again you shall see but sixty four Files continue the same word of Command your Files come to thirty two next to sixteen after that to eight from that to four then to two and lastly to one And so you have your whole Phalange in one File If you will have your Phalange all in one Rank command the Middle-men or half Files to double their Ranks and then sixteen become eight command the same thing they shall be but four then two and lastly one But is it not very strange that Aelian would not know that all this might have Answered been done with a Body of men four deep or eight deep which last many of the Grecians did not exceed And certainly till we hear some more solid reason than this aiery one eight deep is for many considerations to be preferr'd to sixteen Nor should this pretended reason
Polybius What Polybius was was a Souldier in Greece and as himself witnesseth in his eleventh Book was a Commander in the Achaean Army under Philopamon at the Battel of Mantinea against Machanidas the Tyrant of Lacedaemâ—n who was there overthrown and kill'd He was long after that a great favourite yea a Counsellour of that Scipio who was sometimes called Africanus Minor and sometimes Numantinus because he ended the Carthaginian and Numantine War with the destruction of both Cities There were some reasons why Scipio should be kind to Polybius because his Natural Father Lucius Aemilius for this Scipio was but the adopted Grand-child of the great Africanus was the Author of carrying many hundred Achaeans Prisoners to Rome for no reason but suspicion among whom Polybius was one who lay full seventeen years Prisoner there where he had leisure enough to learn both the Roman language and customes Scipio was a very great Captain a strict reformer of the old Roman Militia and a severe Disciplinarian from whom Polybius could not but know all the mysteries of the Roman Art of War being a person of so great abilities as those parcels of his History yet extant speak him ta have been and truly we have reason to be sorry that we are robb'd of those Books of his of which all-devouring time hath deprived us Let us hear how he marshals a Roman Legion A Legion in that Scipio Minor's time consisted of four thousand two hundred men as many times it did both before and after him whereof six hundred were Triarii and made the third Batallion obliged to kneel on their Right knee till either the other two Classes retir'd to them or that the General commanded them to rise and advance These he saith were never more than six hundred though the Legion chanc'd to be four thousand two hundred as many times it did And for this we must take his word Before the Triarii stood the Principes men in the flower of their age and before them the Hastati in the Van they were the youngest and rawest of all the heavy armed each of these two Batallions consisted of twelve hundred and all the three were alike arm'd except that the Triarii instead of Pila carry'd short Spears of all which I have spoken sufficiently already So you see all Polybius The Polybâ—â—â— Legion his heavy armed amounted to three thousand The rest which were twelve hundred were saith he Velites and these he says were levied of the poorest and most inconsiderable sort of the people Nor do I find that he divides these twelve hundred Velites into three Squadrons one whereof should stand behind every one of the Classes of the heavy armed of all which I have already spoke in my discourse of the Infantry and yet Terduzzi and the Sieur de Preissack would father this upon Polybius But indeed in my judgement he leaves the light armed to be disposed of in the Flanks Van or Rear as the General conceiv'd they might be most useful He appoints his Legion to be divided into thirty Maniples suppose still the heavy armed each Maniple to consist of two Centuriates to every Century he allows an Ensign and a Centurion whom he permits to chuse his Sub-Centurion of all which I have already spoke The numbers of the Hastati Principes and Velites might alter according to the strength of the Legion but not the Triarii He tells us that three hundred Horse were levied with every Legion but says not that they made a part of every Legion These three hundred Horse he divides into ten Turms or Troops and Officers them as I have shown you in my Discourse of the Cavalry He leaves them to be marshall'd where the Commander in chief thought they might do best service And now we have the Polybian Legion No word here for all this how deep that is how many in File either of Horse or Foot or what or how much ground was allowed for distance between Files or Ranks or yet how great the Intervals were between the several Maniples of every one of the Classes or what between the Classes themselves or between the several Troops of Horse A great over-sight for of all these we are forc'd to hear other mens conjectures and make use of our own as we shall offer to do in the following Chapter CHAP. XIV Of Distances and Intervals of the several Bodies and Batallions of the Foot and Horse BEfore we proceed to our conjectures it will be fit first to know what this word Interval properly signifies and how it is taken In both Ancient and Modern Fortifications Towns Castles and Camps were defended not only with Ramparts of Earth and Walls of Stone but also with great Logs or Stakes of Timber which we call Palliâ—adoes these the Romans in their language called Valli and I suppose thereafter the Rampart it self got the Vallus and Vallum name of Vallus and Vallum hence perhaps our Wall These Stakes were and are of two kinds longer and shorter the first stood straight up from the ground the second had the one end of them fixed in the Rampart and the other lying on it to hinder an approach to it distinguished by the Germans by several names for they call the long Stakes Palliâ—adoes and the short ones Stockadoes both the one and the other sharp-pointed at both ends The Ground Earth or part of the Rampart between two Pallisadoes or Stockadoes is properly called an Interval but it is borrow'd and appropriated to Interval what any distance between Bodies greater and smaller yea to the space that is between one time and another an Interval of time is now language proper enough and Physicians borrow it and call an Intermitting Ague Febris Intervallata an Intervalled Feavor What distance or Intervals there were between Roman Ranks and between Deepness of the File not told Files between several Bodies of either their Horse or Foot no ancient Author hath clear'd to us but left us to grope in the dark Nor can we well guess at them till we condescend how many in File both Horse and Foot were marshall'd I told you before that Vegetius in the twenty fifth Chapter By Vegetius of his second Book seems to make the Foot eleven deep because as I told you he orders a Contubernium of Souldiers to manage a Carrobalist and that he saith consisted of eleven men But this doth not prove that Vegetius his File was precisely eleven no more than what he saith in the fifteenth Chapter of his third Book that ten thousand men drawn up in six Ranks will take up so much ground in Front will prove that the Roman Foot were drawn up six deep And so for Vegetius we know not the deepness of either the Roman Foot or Horse Nor will we be one jot the wiser for Polybius for the discourse he hath in his twelfth Book where he speaks of Horse Nor by Polybius eight in File doth not concern the Roman Militia for
ill that these sixteen hundred sixty six Files took no more ground up in Front but one thousand paces that is five thousand foot A thing purely impossible for three foot of Distance is allowed by himself between File and File and next sixteen hundred sixty six Files require sixteen hundred sixty five distances multiply sixteen hundred sixty five by three the product is four thousand nine hundred ninety five these want but 5 foot of Vegetius his one thousand paces Where shall then the sixteen hundred sixty six Combatants stand certainly they had sixteen hundred sixty six foot of ground to stand on add sixteen hundred sixty six to four thousand nine hundred ninety five the aggregate is six thousand six hundred sixty one foot a third more than Vegetius allow'd to sixteen hundred sixty six Files In imitation of him Terduzzi commits the very same errour in his fifth and sixth Chapters In the next place Vegetius allows six foot of distance between The second of Ranks Ranks because men must run when they throw their Darts and Javelines for so they cast them with greater â—orce Vehementius saith he I think he speaks reason but not at all sense when he avers that six Ranks of men having one foot of ground allow'd for every Rank to stand on and six foot between one Rank and another took up forty two foot of ground from the Van to the Rear that is as I think from the toes of the Leaders to the heels of the Bringers up for by his own account and allowance six Ranks can take up no more from Van to the Rear than thirty six foot as thus six foot for the six Ranks to stand on and thirty foot for the five distances The error seems to have proceeded from a fancy he hath had that six Ranks must have six Intervals which is not only false but ridiculously childish In regard in six Ranks there is one distance between the first and second Rank the second between the second Rank and the third the third between the third and fourth Rank the fourth between the fourth and fifth rank and the fifth distance between the fifth and sixth Rank And for his first error that sixteen hundred sixty six Files take no more ground in Front than five thousand foot it will be a folly to defend him by â—aying three Foot were but allowed both for Files to stand on and distance between them for a distance as Lieutenant-Colonel Eltâ—n Definition of a Distance in his compleat Body of the Military Art discribes it well is a place or Interval of ground between every particular File and File and Rank and Rank and therefore no part of that ground on which the Files oâ— Ranks stand When I look'd upon these places of Vegetius and consider'd them I could not but approve of Lipsâ—â—s for qualifying him but on another account with the Titles of Solutus negligens The same Lipsius in the fourth Book of his Commentary quarrels with Polybius for not informing us what distances the several Maniples kept one from another nor what Intervals were kept between the three great Classes and if that piece of Polybius be not lost with others of his works assuredly it was an inexcusable oversight I dare not accuse Vegetius of this neglect though Lipsius seems to do it for I am apt to believe that what he speaks of Vegetius 〈…〉 to be understood the distances between Ranks as I have understood him it is in the fourteenth and fifteenth Chapters of his third Book he may have meant Intervals between the greater Bodies for in these places he useth the words Ordâ— and Acies indifferently and though Ordo be sometimes taken for a Rank sometimes for a Band or Company yet Acies is ever taken for a Battel or Batallion And to me it is clear enough that in the mentâ—â—n'd places he takes Ordo for Batallion and makes six of them the first of Principes the second of Hastati the third â—ourth and fifth of light armed the sixth of Triarii Now it is palpable these great Bodies were not Ranks for every one of them if I mistake not consisted of ten Ranks but were all several Batallions whereof as I told you before he composed his Legion But whether he meant Ranks or Batallions the error I mention'd was still the same in making six several Bodies be they Ranks Files Squadrons or Batallions to have six distances for they cannot possibly have more than five But if in these places he allow'd but six foot of Interval between these Classes and great Bodies it speaks him to have been almost out of his wits when he wrote it as the Reader may collect from the insuing Discourse But being neither Polybius nor Vegetius help us much in the matter of Intervals Lipsius in his fourth Book comforts us and tells us he will not suffer so profitable Lipsius undertakes much a business as is the knowledge of Intervals to remain in darkness In finibus noctis are his words In the Borders of Night and therefore promiseth out of the plentiful Magazine of his own reading to clear the whole matter to us But I am afraid he will not be a man of his word for the greatest undertakers are seldome the best performers However it is fit we hear him for he deserves it First He tells us that he conceives that the Interval between the Hastati But performâ—â—â—ttle and the Principes was fifty foot and between the Principes and the Triarii one hundred Next concerning the Intervals between the Maniples of any of the three Classes which the Romans call'd Via Directa he saith if the Velites were to stand in them the Interval might be of twenty or thirty foot if not ten foot was enough This is briefly all he says on the matter But assuredly if this learned man could convenlently have left the University of Louvaine and followed the Spanish Armies but one Summer or as we call it one Campagne he would have seen under the conduct of the famous Dukes of Alva and Parma the greatest Captains of that age who liv'd at the time that he was writing his Books how pitifully simple that School-speculation of his was I must confirm my opinion with Reason for authority of Writers I have no more than he and that is none at all Each of the two Classes of the Hastati and Principes consisted of twelve hundred men which being marshall'd ten deep made one hundred and twenty Files Vegetius allows three foot distance between Files these make three hundred and sixty foot in Front add one hundred and twenty foot for the Files to stand on the ground that either of these Batallions stood on was four hundred and eighty foot in Longitude but to shun debate I shall be content to allow but one foot for every File to stand on and two foot of Interval between Files and so the Front of the Hastati though they had been all marshall'd
have discharged their shot even in the hottest Piece of service and without the help of Musquet-rests And I suppose it needs be thought no Paradox in me to say that five ranks of Musqueteers can fire one after another without intermission and Five deep the first of the five be ready to fire again before the last have discharged let any Commander try it with expert Firemen he will find it will be done easily enough And that you may see that this is no new conceit of mine I shall tell you that Giovio informs us that at Vienna the twenty thousand Harquebusiers that were in the Christian Army were all marshal'd five deep and so made four thousand files It is without all peradventure that the best Commanders then in Europe were there who would not have permitted this if they had not known that the first rank could have fired and made ready again before all the other four had discharged neither must you impute this to the ignorance of the Historian as being a Churchman for he is so punctual as to write nothing of any Military action but what he had from the relation of the greatest Captains that were upon the place And truly if you will consider all I have said or all that may be said on this subject Reasons for it you may perhaps think with me that both Musqueteers and Pikemen may be marshal'd five deep with no inconvenience at all to the service I think I hear some speculative persons cry out that this is against the rules of all Tacticks who reject odd numbers as unfit for doubling But stay do you exercise for shew only or for use If only for shew I grant you should neither have odd ranks Objections against it nor files but if for use I say that five deep is better than six deep for those very reasons that made six deep better than eight deep and eight better than ten You say you cannot double your ranks at five deep what then I say you need not for I would have your ranks no fewer than five when you are ten Answered deep why double you your ranks is it not to make them five and thereby to enlarge your front and why then may you not be five ranks at first and thereby save your self the labour of doubling And as it is not at all necessary to double your ranks when your Batallion consists of no more but five ranks so I conceive the doubling of ranks not necessary when your Battel is but six deep for three ranks of Pikes is not strong enough either to give or receive a Charge nor are they numerous enough for Musqueteers to fire one rank after another without interruption it not being feasible for the first rank to fire and be ready before the third rank have discharged so that when six ranks are made three it is only for a parting blow for the Musqueteers to fire kneeling stooping and standing Now you may order the first three ranks of five to fire in the same fashion kneeling stooping and standing and you have by the bargain two ranks in reserve till the first three recover and those two ranks may afterward fire the first rank kneeling and the second standing and then all the five ranks have fired and are as ready either with Buts of Musquets or Swords to receive the enemy if he advance as the six ranks doubled in three and in far better order Either then your doubling of ranks is unnecessary in service or five deep at first is as good if not better as ten ranks to be doubled in five or six ranks doubled in three And though five ranks cannot be doubled the inconvenience of that is not so great as the advantages it hath of a large front and bringing many hands to fight and if upon any emergency which will fall out very seldom you conceive your front too large you may quickly help it The Authors private opinion by causing your files to double and then you are ten deep But I shall quickly part with this opinion when I hear a stronger argument against it than that which says that thereby ranks cannot be doubled for the truth is it is my private opinion that there be many superfluous words in Exercise and though I think doubling of ranks and files too sometimes convenient before the near approach of an enemy yet I hope none will deny that both of them are very improper in the time of service But Loquendum cum vulgo is a Golden sentence Well we have our Foot-Company no stronger than one hundred men and Seventeen Files in a Company of one hundred men divided into three parts whereof two are Musqueteers and Pikemen are glad to be admitted to make the third These must be marshal'd six in one file now seventeen times six is more than one hundred and sixteen times six is less than one hundred Add therefore three Corporals to the hundred Soldiers you shall have seventeen compleat files and one man over whom you may appoint to help the Ensign to carry his Colours for a Furer is not allow'd him in all establishments A Company being thus marshal'd in seventeen files eleven must be Musqueteers and six Pikemen to wit on the right hand of the Pikemen six files of Musqueteers and on the left hand five files The Captain is to teach his Soldiers to keep their just distances between file The several kinds of Distances and file end between rank and rank Distances are ordinarily threefold Order open Order and close Order The first of three foot the second of six the third of one foot and a half to which in some case is added open open order which is of twelve foot At Exercisings both ranks and files should stand at open order in Marches the files at order but the ranks at open order because of the Pikes which must have more ground than Musqueteers require and in service both the files and ranks of Musqueteers must be at order that is three foot distance but the Pikemen both in file and rank at close order that is at the distance of one foot and a half I must tell you in this place of a general mistake Mistakes in reckoning Distances and is the very same I accused Vegetius of in the Roman Militia and it is this All say that the files when they stand in Battel should be at order that is at the distance of three foot as indeed they should But if you ask how many foot of ground seventeen files whereof our Company consists possess in front they will immediately answer you fifty and one And here there is a double Distance of Files error first no ground is allowed for the Combatants to stand on for the distance of three foot between files takes up that one and fifty foot or very near it Secondly they make seventeen files to have seventeen distances whereas they have but sixteen This oversight I
death for a Delinquent Souldier is accounted Beheading the next to that is Shooting which commonly is called Harquebusiering if he be a Horse-man with Pistols if a Foot Souldier with Muskets But the Punishments of several Crimes are left by Martial Law to the arbitrement of a Court of War and some of these aggravated by circumstances are made Capital though in themselves they be not such of which demurring to give present obedience if an Enemy be conceiv'd to be near is one and this falls frequently out Military Punishments which reach not to Death are the Strappado hanging Ordinary punishments up by the Thumbs so that only the Delinquents Toes can touch the ground laying Muskets on their Shoulders more or fewer for a longer or shorter time according to the quality of the fault to be kept in Prison so many days or weeks with Irons on them and sometimes to be fed only with Bread and Water in Prison Observe here that without a Sentence of a Court A necessary observation of War no Superiour Commander be who he will can keep an Inferiour Officer or Common Souldier longer in Prison than the imprisoned party calls for a hearing There is also riding the Wooden Horse on which sometimes the Offender hath his hands tyed behind his back and sometimes Muskets or other weights tyed to his feet As likewise to be turned out of the Army by the Hang-man to have their Ears cut off by the Hang-man to be whipp'd by the Hang-man to have their Swords broke by the Hang-man I have known some who thought that Souldiers who are whipp'd at Gatloupe should be turned out of the Army which is a gross mistake for they are appointed to be whipped by their Comerades that they may be kept in the Army for after an Officer or Souldier is put in a Hang-mans hand he should serve no longer in any Army Gustavus Adolphus King of Sweden first began it in imitation The original and derivation of Gatloup belike of the custome the Roman Centurions had to whip their Souldiers It is a German word Gaslauf and comes from Gas or Gat which signifieth a Street and Lauffen or Louppen which is to run because he who is to be whipp'd is to run through a Street between two rows of Souldiers The Provost Marshal is to furnish Rods and to give the Delinquent the first lash but if there be neither Provost nor Lieutenant nor Servant of his who is called Stokknecht then the Drummers give the Rods. But there are several cases which require present Punishments to be inflicted In what cases Officers may strike wound or kill by Officers and Commanders without committing the Delinquents to Prison or calling them before a Court of War as in point of obstinacy either in not doing the thing that is commanded or not doing it in that manner that the Officer would have it done the giving undutiful language in presence of a Superiour speaking after silence is commanded standing still after one is commanded to march or go In any of these and many other cases a Sergeant may make use of his Halbert and a Commissionated Officer of his Battoon if the party offending be either an Inferiour Officer or a Common Souldier Nay there be some cases wherein Officers may cut wound yea kill as in a Mutiny whereof I have spoke already In case Souldiers be Plundering and will not forbear when commanded in case two be brawling and fighting together and will not leave off But killing should be used by no Officer but where the service of the Prince or the Vindication of Just Authority make it necessary And therefore to kill Souldiers when they straggle on a march unless they refuse to obey and return to their Companies I think is a crime in any Commander or Officer except in a Marshal or Rumour-master And here I must acquaint my Reader with some nice distinctions that some make of Superiours beating their Inferiours As first that none under a Colonel may kill nay nor thrust with the point Some nice Questions First or strike with the edge of a Sword only they may strike with the broad side of it but in some of these cases which I have mention'd especially Mutiny both Commission'd and Uncommission'd Officers may strike with the edge thrust with the point yea kill with their Swords and if they do it not they may be quostion'd upon their lives Secondly say some A Sergeant should Second beat with nothing but his Halbert and so say I too if he have it by him which he is not always bound to have but if not he both may and ought to do it with his Sword when emergencies require it Thirdly they will tell you a Corporal Third must only beat with a Musket-rest if he serve to foot for Corporals of Horse they grant may beat with their Swords but Musket-rests are now out of fashion and when they were used if a Corporal broke one of them in beating a Souldier who should pay for it the Corporal or the Souldier is a hard question He may therefore beat with his Sword for none under an Ensign-bearer should be permitted to carry a Battoon an abuse too much suffer'd But fourthly many Intelligent Commanders have averr'd that none Fourth but a Major may strike with a Battoon as also that he may beat with it any Officer under a Captain that is both Lieutenants and Ensigns which they say is no affront to them provided the Major immediately throw away his Battoon and draw his Sword Truly there is no new custome but appears strange and bizarre at first till it become common and then it doth not seem strange at all I find by my Lord Carbousen's testimony that this was the ordinary Military custome in France in the latter end of the Reign of Henry the Great not much more than threescore years ago But that whereat I wonder is that a Battoon at that time and yet was not more odious to any people under the Sun than to the French Nation But mark the reason that is given for this custome Because a Major says Louis de Montgomery carried always a Staff three foot and a half or four foot long to measure the length of the Souldiers huts and with that he might strike and with no other A strange reason I know no precedent for this custome except that perhaps Drapers and Taylors may beat their Journey-men and Apprentices with those Ells or Yards wherewith they measure their Cloath But now those whom the French call Marshals of Quarters and we Quarter-masters measure out to the Souldiers their proportion of ground for their huts and ought to have a measure for it may they therefore beat with it I trow not And why a Major should be permitted to strike with a Battoon more than a Lieutenant-Colonel or a Colonel or in France more than a Captain who often commands the Major is more than I can divine The Custome
nos species But he adds Credo tamen aliqua meliora ac tutiora olim fuisse But I believe says he that of old some things in Watches were better and surer yet I am not obliged to make his belief the ground of my faith to believe any such thing And though he tells us not wherein our Modern Guards are defective yet he seems to hint at the Tessera or Word at the stations before Ports at the Rounds and at the division of the Vigils To all which I answer thus The Modern Words or Signs when it is needful are given and received with as much secrecy and caution and with a great deal of less trouble than the Ancient Tessera was Our Rounds in the Rounds night and visiting the Guards in the day time are as frequent and as orderly and the neglect of either them or the Guards as severely punish'd as among either the Romans or the Grecians But he says one man standing now at a Port is thought a sufficient Guard for it truly I say he who thinks so is a very insufficient Souldier nor can I imagine that ever our Author saw in his own Countrey which in his time was the Stage of Mars a Port guarded only with a Sentinel It hath been his gross mistake for that Sentinel which he took to A gross mistake of Lipsius be the Guard stood there to challenge Strangers and upon occasion to call out the Corporal or whole Watch who were within a House builded and appointed for them commonly called a Court of Guard As to the Vigils we have sometimes Double Sentinels none whereof sleeps none whereof sits and if there is but one Sentinel yet he being visited not only by the Rounds but frequently by the Corporal or other Officers will keep as good if not better Watch than four Romans on one Post whereof only one stood and watch'd the other three lay and slept and were visited only by the Circitors and not at all by their own Commanders I know not what he means by the Division of the Vigils for certainly a Clock a Passelunt or a Sand-glass can divide the hours and measure the night as well as a Roman Water-glass The third kind of Duties which Souldiers are bound to pay are Publick Publick works Works and here you may be sure he will prefer the Roman Souldiers for their wonderful fatigue to all our Modern Souldiery And so he may but I will not suffer him to calumniate us and charge us with more idleness and sloth than we are guilty of For first he avers That all publick works are altogether omitted he says Souldiers will not lay their hands to a Spade or to a Mattock They cry out says he It is a shame for a Souldier to meddle with these let others be imployed for such services It is true such words have been heard but very soon compesced And I verily believe Lipsius had such an animosity against the Modern Militia that he never either convers'd with Modern Armies or endeavour'd to learn their customes otherwise he might have seen the contrary of those things he wrote even at that time when he wrote them It is a generally receiv'd Maxime for any thing I know in all our Modern Armies That a Souldier is bound to work any thing that can make for A Souldier is oblig'd to work for his own safety his own Defence and under that notion he must not refuse to work in Approaches before Towns to make up Breaches Retrenchments and Counter-mures within Towns and to make Sconces Redouts and Bastions for the Fortification of Camps and Leaguers If our Author had gone to Holland with the Duke of Alva he had seen his Souldiers work all these at the Sieges of Harlem and Leyden or nearer to his own Town of Louvaine he might have seen the Prince of Parma's men work laboriously at the Sieges of Gant Antwerp and many other places or if he had made a step with that Prince over to France in his two marches thither he would have seen his Souldiers refuse none of those works I have spoke of Nay I will tell him that which will make him inexcusable either for Ignorance or Malice when he wrote this The Spanish Souldiers and Lipsius was the King of Spain's Subject thought it a disgrace for them to suffer Pioneers to work in the Approaches they would Custome of Spanish Souldiers 80 year ago do it themselves nor would they take Money for their work for they said they receiv'd the Kings pay for that as well as for fighting their custome was to dig in the Approaches with a Helmet and Back-piece but nothing on their Breasts and Bellies because when they bow'd their Bodies to work only their Heads and Backs were in danger But if a Prince or a General can ease his Souldiers by the assistance of Countrey people and Pioneers will it not be well done Will they not be the more fit and the more ready to fight I suppose they will Did not Caesar's Legate at the Siege of Marseilles make the Country Clowns cut down Trees bring them to his Camp and help him in many other Drudgeries let him read Caesar's Commentaries and he will find he did so Among those Publick Works he reckons Encamping and so he may justly Encamping do And here he fiercely chargeth the men of the Modern Militia with the neglect of both the parts of Encamping those are Castrametation and Fortification and he doth it in a very few words Aperte considemus sine certo ordine we sit down says he in our Camps open and without any regular order I should think that he who wrote this either was never in a Modern Camp or did not at all take heed to it The several quarters are as orderly divided Castrametation as ever they were with his Romans for proving which I refer you to my Discourse of Modern Castrametation neither will you find so many defects in it as I have observed to be in the Roman even as it is describ'd by Polybius Terduzzi Preissac Steuechius and by Lipsius himself As to the Fortification of the Camp he says we use none except it be a Waggonburg or Sconce of Waggons whereof I spoke formerly and which he in barbarous Latin calls Carrago I shall here repeat something for clearing this matter of what I spoke in another place Our Modern Generals hold it to be exceeding troublesome Of the Fortification of thâ— Camp and not at all necessary to fortifie their Camps every night when no Enemy is near them And when one is near if they resolve to fight they stand all night in a fighting posture if they do not resolve to fight they either retire or they fortifie If an Army be to stay for one night or two Generals chuse some high or close piece of ground for Encamping after the Grecian custome and where it is deficient they help it by some artificial works or
case But De Grot in the same place formerly cited takes a liberty to himself to Grotius impertinent render the Profession the Trade or the Art of a Souldier not only impious but most contemptible detestable and despicable Let us hear him in his own language Parum quod suam vendunt necem says Grotius nisi aliâ—râ—m sâ—pe Innocentium vendâ—rent â—anto Carnifice detestabiliores quanto pâ—jus est sinâ— causâ quà m ex causa occidere Sicut Antisthâ—nes dicebat Carnificâ—s Tyrannis â—ssâ— Sanctiores quod illi Nocentes hi Innocentes interficerent It were no matter said he if Souldiers sold only their own lives or rather their own deaths but they sell also the lives of others and often of Innocents as much are they more detestable than a Hangman as it is worse to kill without a cause than with a cause Antisthenes said Hangmen were more religious than Tyrants because the first puts to death those who are guilty the last those who are innocent This language Monsieur de Grot is indeed severe enough but multa dicis pauca probaâ— Indeed I think few men would have fancied that such impertinencies could have dropp'd from the Pen of so learn'd and so wise a man as Grotius was esteem'd to be For first I shall answer That it belongs not to the profession of a Souldier either to sell his own life or the life of another much less to sell the life of an Innocent It is a Souldiers profession to hazzard his life not sell it in the Prince or States service with whom he has stipulated for wages and when he is commanded by his Superiours to fight he is oblig'd to do it as well as he can against all that are in Arms against him and if he kill any of them it is so far from being his fault that it is his duty it is their own fault that are kill'd who would by fighting defend an unjust cause for it must be observed that both parties think they have Justice on their side and yet but one of the parties hath it nor does a Souldier in heat of fight kill any innocent man because all his Enemies and all in Arms against him are represented to him as guilty and as such are seeking to take his life and Nature teacheth all men That it is better to kill than to be kill'd because of two evils the least evil it to be chosen It were to be wish'd that War might be ended and an Enemy overcome without killing for a bloodless Victory is the most honourable But if that cannot be done it is folly nay madness to say that Souldiers should not kill their Enemies I confess too many Souldiers are cruel in putting to death those whom they might spare as such who yield themselves Prisoners and yet this many times in the heat and ardour of Battel cannot be done without danger or old people Women Children in assaults and storms this is the Souldiers excess this is their fault this is their crime unless they be commanded to do it which seldome falls out but this should not reflect on the profession of Souldiery as Grotius makes it to do since by the Law of Arms such peoples lives should be spared the faults of some should not be imputed to all as Grotius does here and therein he is most unjust I ask If some Lawyers by collusion with the contrary party betray the cause of their Clients If some Physicians poyson their Patients and some Pastors of Churches by preaching Heresie and Schism kill their Flocks Must all Lawyers be called Knaves and Cheats all Physicians Poysoners and all Ministers of the Gospel Soul Murderers God forbid I confess when Souldiers kill without cause they are more detestable than Hangmen and deserve to be punish'd by the hands of Hangmen but Grotius was bound in reason to have limited his expression and not have extended it to all Souldiers as his words bear and herein he is not only malicious but ridiculous in supposing that Souldiers always kill without cause and never with cause for if this be true all War is unlawful which Grotius durst never mutter far less speak out for in a lawful War Souldiers kill with cause and when they do it without cause they are liable to punishment and censure This unlimited and general expression of Grotius renders Moses Joshuah and all those famous Israelites who destroy'd the Canaanites Saul Samuel and others who put the Amalekites to the Sword David and his Worthies who killed thousands and ten thousands of the uncircumcised and Joab who killed so many Isrrelites in Absalom's Rebellion and all those of the eleven Tribes who had well near extinguish'd the Tribe of Benjamin Grotius I say makes them all more detesâ—able than Hangmen And what is it to the purpose to tell us Antisthenes said That Tyrants are not so pious as Hangmen because the last puts only the guilty the first the innocent to death What hath that to do with the profession of a Souldier of which De Grot was speaking As sure as all Tyrants are not Souldiers as certain it is that all Souldiers are not Tyrants Besides this great man supposeth in his comparison that which is a manifest untruth That Hangmen put none to death but those who are guilty certainly Grotius did know that most if not all those Innocents against whom Tyrants have pronounced the Sentence of Death especially in the ten first Persecutions were executed by the hands of bloody and cruel Hang-men whom De Grot with a strange and odd kind of Charity prefers before Souldiers I doubt Grotius did not believe that the Hang-man that beheaded Oldenbernevelt at the Hague with whom Grotius was Socius Criminis struck off the Head of a guilty man for assuredly he thought him an Innocent I am afraid De Grot wrote this though it came not to light till six years after when he was Prisoner at Lovenstein beside Gorcum where he had conceiv'd a mortal hatred against Souldiers perhaps because they guarded him too severely His comparing Souldiers to Hangmen may have proceeded from the restless agitations of his troubled thoughts which may have continually represented to his fancy the Idaea or Image of one of those Officers of Justice who had cut off the Head of his Complice John Oldenbernevelt Advocate of Holland and would have done as much to another of his Complices Giles Leidenberg if he had not usurp'd the Hangmans Office and cut his own Throat it being most certain that Grotius himself might have run such a hazzard if his kind Wife had not got him carried away in a Coffer pretending it was full of Books and at that time sure he was oblig'd to Souldiers for neglecting to search the Coffer The same great man Grotius in the before-cited place goes further and Grotius uncharitable says Non est inter Artificia bellum imo res est tam horrenda ut eam nisi summa necessitas aut vera charitas honestam
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