TACTICS, NAVAL. 



TALAPOINS. 



admiral by Sir Charles I Xmgla* on perceiving an opening in t tic French 

 line between two of the liii* near ito centre. The French fleet was 

 formed in line on a larboard tack, and tended to gain the windward 

 aide of the British line, which from the leeward aide advanced obliquely 

 toward* the fifth ijiip from tiie van of the enemy. Signal* were then 

 made fur the llnti-h hi| to cloee up in their line, and the action com- 

 menced ai the two fleet* ranged in opposite direction* alongside of 

 cch other. When the centre of the British fleet came opposite the 

 third or fourth *hip -i the French line. Admiral Rodney's ship began a 

 close action within half a imuket-ahot against the ship* of the enemy 

 with which it came successively abreast ; and then the opening appear- 

 ing a* above mentioned, the opportunity waa seized of passing through 

 it : thin was done BO near the enemy, that the admiral's ship almost 

 touched the French ship on each side. The ships astern of the admiral 

 followed him closely, and these kept up a powerful raking fire ngainst 

 tin- ships in the rear divi-in <>i the enemy's fleet, which, being driven 

 to leeward as the van of the British fleet passed them, broke into two 

 divisions, and made sail before the wind to escape. As soon as the 

 ran of the French fleet was left beyond the rear of the still advancing 

 line of British ships, it also broke into two divisions, which retreated 

 in different directions ; and then the signal being made for the ships to 

 close up. the British fleet followed in pursuit of that division with 

 which the French admiral had retired. At the battle of Trafalgar 

 (1805). the combined French and Spanish fleet* were drawn up in one 

 line, of a crescent form, tin- convex part being to leeward of the wings, 

 while the fleet of Lord Nelson bore up against it in two lines, in the 

 order of sailing ; the loading ships of the lines broke through the fleet 

 of the enemy in two places, and were followed by those of their respec- 

 tive divisions. 



The manoeuvre of breaking the line of a fleet, like that of attacking 

 in column the line of an army, may not always succeed ; and in the 

 action, June 3, 1665, several squadrons passed through and through 

 the Dutch fleet without gaining any advantage. If the line of the 

 enemy is strong, the ships which would pierce it may be placed 

 between two fires, or may be cut off from the rest of their fleet ; and 

 perhaps the manoeuvre ought not to be attempted unless the line to be 

 broken is already disordered by the action, or unless a favourable 

 opportunity should present itself from negligence or want of skill in 

 the enemy. 



Should sufficient reasons exist for performing the manoeuvre by a 

 fleet which is to leeward of its enemy, the ships of that fleet 

 should close up as much as possible, and by a press of sail get 

 rapidly through the opening without attempting to engage the (ships 

 between which they pass ; or each should give the fire of a broadside 

 to one only, reserving the other broadside for the ship with which it is 

 to engage in the new position : this position the ships should of course 

 gain as soon as possible. On the other hand, an attempt to break the 

 line of battle may be counteracted by causing all the fleet, as soon as 

 some of the enemy's ships have got through, to put itself on the same 

 tack at these ; by which means some of them will be engaged between 

 two fires, and others will be cut off from all connection with the fleet 

 to which they belong. 



When the commander of a ship intend* with that ship to come to 

 action with one of the enemy to leeward, he should bear down 

 obliquely towards the latter till he gets nearly into iU woke ; ami v. Inn 

 at a proper distance, he may either run up alongside, or having shot 

 a-head, veer and run down on the weather bow : the ship attacked 

 should never be allowed to bring (her broadside to bear except when 

 both ships are in parallel positions. 



In chasing an enemy's ship which is to windward, the chaser being 

 presumed to sail better than the ship she pursues, it is recommended 

 that the former should stand on close-hauled till abreast of the chase ; 

 she should then tack, and stand on close-hauled till again abreast ; and 

 HO on. The ship chased, on the other hand, should, in order to avoid 

 loss of time, continue constantly, if possible, on one course ; but it is 

 evident, from the supposed inferiority of her sailing, that she must at 

 length be overtaken by her pursuer. 



Such have been, and such would continue to be, the basis of sys- 

 tematic naval warfare with sailing fleets. As regards the Koyal Navy, 

 an extended system of manoeuvres is called for, inasmuch as more pre- 

 ciaion in evolutions is attainable by steam-fleets such as will be our 

 future defence. 



To this subject both English and French writers have already given 

 their professional attention ; and the French admiral, De la Gravicre, 

 in his work called ' (iuerres Maritime*,' advocates the all-predominant 

 advantage* of ipted over an adversary. It is to Admiral Bowles, C.B., 

 that we owe even the prewnt position of the question of naval tactics ; 

 for in 1848 he called attention to the necessity of improved modes of 

 manoeuvring steam- vowels before an enemy, as may be seen in his ' Essay 

 on Naval Tactic*/ 1 846. He wa ably seconded by Capt. Dahlgren, U.S. 

 navy, in hi* work on ' Shells and Shell Gun*.' But it is to General Sir 

 Howard Douglas, Bart, that this country owes that development of a 

 i which has been very carefully illustrated by him in numerou* 

 diagrams in his Naval Warfare.' We refer, therefore, to that work 

 for further details, which would be unnecessary in this Cyclopedia a 

 work not only valuable to every naval commander, but also to merchant 

 captains, who may resolve to defcnd.the costly ships and (teamen com- 

 mitted to their charge. We merely, therefore remark in brief, a* a 



few main feature* of hi* moat recent opinion* the keeping of a fleet 

 of steamers in well concentrated columns on line* of bearing m ffiatfm ; 

 mi- an enemy's flank by an oblique movement, a* practiced on 

 l.tiid liy Frederick II., liy Na|le<in at Austerlit/. by Wellington at 

 , Ac. : and this by bringing an overwhelming force upon 

 the point attacked ; the steaming in line ahrmtt, in readiness by a 

 simple movement of each ship'* head to form (cMun of ships in line 

 ahead, either as offensive or defensive measures. This consist* of a 

 wedge-shaped double line formed on a central ship, in the form of two 

 sides of a right angle, the sides being right angled at such c< ntr.il i-hip, 

 each ship making with the other an angle of I..MI- |.intn. Sir Howard 

 Douglas entirely repudiate* the practice of fighting in parallel .T.I.-I . 



(Traiti da Entlutioni ffat-alet, par P. Paul Hoste, 1690. A Trans- 

 lation of the same by Captain Boswall, R.N., 1834 ; Clerk's Kuay un 

 \aral Tactict, 1790 ; L'Art tie Guerre en Her, par M. le Viscomte de 

 Grenier, 1788 ; Steele, 1794, Admiral Sir Charles Ekins, Kami llatiia; 

 and Admiral Sir Howard Douglas's Naval War/are mtb Steam, Ib^ 

 and 1858.) 



T^ENIA. [MOULDING.] 



TAIL, ESTATE. [ESTATE.] 



TAII./.l I'., in the law of Scotland, is the technical term correspond- 

 ing with the English word Entail, which now generally supersede* 

 it in colloquial use, even in Scotland. The early history of Ent.nl 

 law in Scotland in some respect* resembles that of England, but 

 in later times they diverged from each other. In Scotland there 

 was no early effort, such as the statute of Westminster the Second 

 (13 Edw. I.) favouring deeds appointing a fixed series of heirs, nor does 

 there appear to have been on the part of the judges that inclination to 

 ]K>nnit perpetuities to be defeated by fictions which was shown in 

 England. Devices, however, of a very similar character to those of 

 the English statute were adopted to defeat attempts by holders under 

 entail to use their lands as if they were absolute proprietors. The 

 first and simplest restriction hud on the destined heirs of an entail was 

 in the form of a mere prohibition, against contracting debt which 

 might occasion the attachment of the estate by creditors, selling the 

 property, altering the order of succession, and the like. A pi 

 of this character, called the " Prohibitive clause," was, however, quite 

 insufficient to accomplish the end; because if a creditor had really 

 attached the estate for debt, or a person had bond fide purchased it, it 

 was no ground for wresting the title out of his hands, that the pro- 

 prietor was under a prohibition against permitting such occurrences. 

 A second provision was added, called an " Irritant clause," by which any 

 right acquired contrary to the provisions of the entail was declared to 

 be null. Still this did not effectually intimidate the holder under the 

 entail from making efforts to break it, and did not give the next in 

 succession a sufficient title to interfere. A third provision was added 

 called the " Resolutive clause," by which the right of the person who 

 contravenes the prohibition " resolves " or becomes forfeited. It was 

 then provided by statute (1685, c. 22) that all entails should be effective 

 which contained Irritant and Resolutive clauses, were duly recorded in 

 the Register of Entails, and were followed by recorded saisins con- 

 taining the Prohibitory, Irritant, and Resolutive clauses. Entails thus 

 became a permanent feature in the institutions of the country. A sort 

 of judicial war was for a time carried on against them, which produced 

 a vast amount of litigation and strife, and placed the titles of property 

 in a precarious and doubtful position. Quite recently, however, the 

 entail law of Scotland has been assimilated to that of England ; the 

 method of creating entails has been simplified, and means of barring 

 them provided, so that, except in matters of form, the law of Scotland 

 with respect to entails now closely resembles that of England. 



TALAPOINS is the name given by the Portuguese, and after them 

 by other European nations, to the Buddhist priests, or rather monks, 

 of Siam, and is supposed to be derived from the fan which they always 

 carry, usually made of a leaf of 'the palmyra-tree, and hence, says 

 Crawfurd (' Journal of Embassy to Siam '), denominated by the Sanskrit 

 word Talpal. Tal is the common Indian name for the palmyra ; and 

 the older travellers give Talapa as the Siamese word for a fan. By 

 the Burmese the Talapoins are said to be called Kalians, whence seems 

 to come the name Haulins, given to them by the Mohammedans ; aa 

 by the Chinese they are called Ho-changi; in Tibet, Lama-sen or 

 I Amos ; and in Japan, Bonzes. ( Provost, ' Histoire Generate de* 

 Voyages,' vi. ; and ' Christianisme en Chine, en Tartarie, et an Thiliet ,' 

 par M. Hue, 1857.) In Ceylon the name for the priests is stated by 

 Sir J. E. Tcnnent, in his Christianity in Ceylon,' 1850, to be Sama- 

 naros, the name also given to them in Siam ; apparently the same 

 word as the Samaneans, or Buddhists of Bahar, quoted by Pliny and 

 Strabo from Megasthencs, B.C. 300. 



They are, as has been stated, a species of monk* living in 

 munitie* of from ten to some hundreds, and employing their time in 

 devotion, religious study, and meditation, ami in begging, or r.nli.i 

 receiving alms, for they are not permitted actually to solicit charity. 

 Their dresses of yellow cotton or silk (which are essential to the 

 priesthood, and the quitting of which is an abandonment of the 

 order) are of the same fashion as those of the Buddhist priests in 

 Ava and Ceylon, and present a highly favourable contrast to the rags 

 and squalidity of the general population. On the other hand, a tola- 

 ["in i not only separated from society by being condemned to celibacy, 

 and is prohibited from possessing property, but is expected to observe 



