CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



defences are cannonaded, and if possible breached. 

 Three successive parallels are usually constructed, 

 the last very near the covered-way. From the 

 third the final assault is made. Mines are often 

 run from it under the ditch and ramparts, in the 

 endeavour to blow them up ; the besieged also 

 countermine, to destroy the hostile mines and 

 approaches. Terrible battles thus take place 

 underground. The siege of a strong work is a 

 very formidable undertaking ; many miles of 

 trenches and mines having frequently to be dug 

 out, and thousands of lives sacrificed during the 

 process. 



RESERVE FORCES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



Army of Reserve is a small force including men 

 discharged from the army for other cause than 

 misconduct before having earned a pension, and 

 the ' short-service ' men who have served six years 

 in the line, and who serve other six in the reserve, 

 and enrolled pensioners, who, as long as they arc 

 in receipt of pension and able-bodied, are all liable 

 to serve in this force, and undergo annual training. 

 The number of this force in 1882-83 was 47,000 ; 

 23,000 men being in the first class, and 24,000 in 

 the second. Over the pensioners there are, in the 

 various districts, staff-officers, who drill them and 

 pav them. 



Militia. The militia is the old constitutional 

 force of the country. The acts under which it is 

 actually constituted are of late date, the principal 

 being 15 and 16 Viet. cap. 50. It is wholly a 

 territorial force, each county being called upon to 

 contribute a certain power under the command of 

 its lord-lieutenant, as vicegerent of the crown, 

 which by the constitution is vested with the com- 

 mand-in-chief. The total number provided for in 

 the Estimates for 1883 is 143,459. This number 

 is apportioned by Order in Council among the 

 counties. In each county the quota is raised by 

 volunteering ; but should this resource fail, the 

 requisite number would be taken by ballot from 

 the whole civil population, aged between eighteen 

 and thirty-five, excepting certain professions and 

 classes which are held exempt. The militia in 

 time of peace are trained for twenty-one days each 

 year, and in time of war may be called out for per- 

 manent duty. When thus embodied, or out for 

 training, the pay is the same as in the regular 

 army, as is also the uniform, except that silver is 

 substituted for gold in all the accoutrements. 



Yeomanry is a domestic force of cavalry, com- 

 posed principally of farmers and country gentle- 

 men, all mounted on their own horses. They are 

 armed and partially clothed by government, and 

 paid at a high rate during the annual training, 

 which must not exceed fourteen days. The num- 

 bers provided for in the Estimates for 1883 were a 

 permanent staff of 328, and 14,458 yeomen. They 

 are at all times liable to be called out in aid of the 

 civil power, on occasions of riot or disturbance, 

 and to be embodied in the event of invasion. 



Volunteers. When Napoleon threatened Eng- 

 land with invasion in 1803, the nation ran to arms, 

 and not less than 463,000 effective men appeared 

 in the ranks. This force diminished when the 

 danger vanished, and disappeared after the peace. 

 In 1859 it was revived ; government took the 

 direction of the movement, and appointed an in- 

 specting staff. The result has been, that the 



201 



institution has taken firm root in the land, and 

 that about 200,000 men of admirable physique and 

 intelligence are fair soldiers and expert marks- 

 men. Parliament grants a capitation rate in aid 

 for every man who proves himself ' efficient.' The 

 bulk of the volunteers is infantry ; but there is a 

 large force of artillery, well served ; and there are 

 also small numbers of light horse, mounted in- 

 fantry, and engineers. They select their own 

 officers and uniforms, subject to the approval of 

 the crown. They are not available for preserving 

 internal peace. 



CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION. 



The headquarters of the army (but not of the 

 reserved forces) is at the Horse-Guards, where is 

 the office of the Commander-in-chief, with his 

 staff of high officers round him. He is respon- 

 sible for the discipline of all troops and for their 

 movements. In all other respects the entire mili- 

 tary strength of the country is subject to the 

 Secretary of State for War, who administers its 

 finances, and is ultimately responsible to parlia- 

 ment for everything in connection with it. This 

 great officer of state is a member of the Cabinet, 

 and sits at the War Office, where his immediate 

 assistants are two under-secretaries of state, and 

 an assistant under-secretary. Besides these, the 

 heads of the following departments form part of 

 his office : Fortification and Works, Barracks, 

 Divine Service, Commissariat, Medical, Purveyors, 

 Stores, Ordnance, Surveys, Clothing, Contracts, 

 Militia, Volunteers, Account, and Audit. Such 

 multifarious duties, with the charge of the four- 

 teen millions which the army, c. annually costs, 

 involve of necessity a large department. The 

 total net charge for the British army for the 

 year ending March 31, 1883, was calculated at 

 ^15,458,100. 



ACTIVE OPERATIONS OF AN ARMY. 



The science of command is divisible into three 

 sections Evolutions, Strategy, Tactics ; although 

 genius for supreme command must be innate. 



Evolutions are the rules that govern those move- 

 ments which strategy and tactics have ordered. A 

 regiment may march in line, in file, in columns, in 

 close order, in open order, in half or quarter dis- 

 tance, in Echelon, and in other ways ; and the 

 mode of changing from one of these movements 

 to another, or of forming square on the field of 

 battle, belongs to evolutions. If a general, in the 

 heat of battle, suddenly orders a large part of his 

 army to make a new attack in a new spot, he 

 depends on his officers to master the several 

 evolutions that will bring the troops to the right 

 place at the right moment. Strategy is a name 

 given to the whole series of considerations that 

 determine a military commander in his manage- 

 ment of a war such as the selection of strong 

 posts for the depots or bases of his army, the 

 establishment of magazines and hospitals, the 

 decision whether to take the offensive by attack- 

 ing fortresses and commanding roads, or the 

 defensive by insuring a good line of retreat. To 

 excel in strategy is to possess the highest qualities 

 of a commander. 7'actics denote the manage- 

 ment of troops in actual conflict with the enemy. 

 Strategy lays down the plan of a campaign; tactics 



