WAR, SCIENCE OF. 



WAREHOUSING SYSTEM. 



708 



prevent the troops from dispersing for the purpose of plundering the 

 country. The advance of the whole army in pursuit should continue 

 so long only as it can be conducted with order, and in masses strong 

 enough to oppose the enemy if his troops should rally in a good 

 position. If disorder should take place among the pursuers, the latter 

 should be made to fall back on the reserves : the pursuit of a 

 retreating army can, indeed, be seldom continued beyond the first ele- 

 vated ground at which the latter may arrive ; since, however little 

 discipline it may preserve, it may there rally and return to the order of 

 battle. The consequences of the actions at Jena and Waterloo are 

 exceptions to this rule, because the vanquished armies were at those 

 places too completely disorganised to allow them to make any attempt 

 to rally. 



When the success of an action begins to be doubtful, and it is appre- 

 hended that the army must retreat, some of the heaviest artillery 

 should be drawn off to a good position on heights, or behind streams or 

 hollow ways, while the lighter artillery remains engaged. The first 

 line of the defeated troops is then made to pass through the intervals 

 of the second, or of the reserve, while the latter continues the action. 

 The first line should remain in order of battle in rear of the second, 

 till the latter is enabled to retire ; and this alternate retreat of the 

 lines should be continued till the army can be thrown into columns of 

 march, when the retreat may be protected by detachments of light 

 troops. In general the retreat should be made in one body, as thus it 

 can more easily protect itself against the enemy hi pursuit. If, how- 

 ever, the centre is broken, the army may be obliged to retire by differ- 

 ent and even by diverging routes ; and. provided there are in the rear 

 strong posts by which it may be protected, the risk of being cut off 

 during such a retreat is small. 



When there are narrow defiles in rear of the field of battle, the 

 retreat through them becomes extremely dangerous, for the army may 

 be overtaken before it can get through ; and if they are already occu- 

 pied by the enemy's detachments, the retiring army may be annihi- 

 lated or compelled to surrender. It has been observed that the situation 

 of the British army at Waterloo would have been very critical if it had 

 been compelled to retreat ; this criticism, however, is hardly just. 

 The British army had good roads to retire by, and the open forest in 

 rear would have been an admirable position for defending the rear of 

 the retreating columns. In order to pass a defile in safety, it ought to 

 be previously occupied by troops : artillery and a reserve corps should 

 also be stationed so as to defend the approaches on the advance of the 

 enemy towards them. 



If, when not in action, an army is to retreat from a position which 

 it occupies, the movement is usually concealed from the knowledge of 

 the enemy, and, for this purpose, it frequently takes place at night. 

 On puch occasions the outposts remain at their stations as long as 

 possible ; and fires are left burning on the ground, as if the army were 

 still in the position : after it is dark the main body moves off, and the 

 rest of the troops follow by degrees. 



The approach of winter, and the necessity of taking repose after the 

 fatigues of a campaign, render it necessary for armies, whether on the 

 defensive or otherwise, to take up positions where they may remain during 

 the season of inaction. These positions, called winter-quarters, should 

 be chosen by the commander of the army on the offensive, so that he 

 may be able to preserve the ground which he has gained ; and by him 

 who is on the defensive, so as to be secure against the attacks of the 

 enemy. The principles by which a choice of quarters is determined 

 are the same as those which regulate the occupation of ground for a 

 field of battle. The quarters should be covered in front and on the 

 flanks by rivers or other natural impediments to the approach of an 

 enemy, or by forts constructed for defence. 



A great extent of ground in front is therefore a disadvantage, as 

 some part may be ill-guarded, and liable to be surprised, and the troops 

 will be too much disseminated. If it is traversed by great roads per- 

 pendicular to its front, it is also disadvantageous, as the enemy may 

 then easily march into the quarters. 



Several battalions of infantry and squadrons of cavalry are quartered 

 in villages along the front of the position ; the whole or a division of a 

 company or of a squadron at each place : these posts may be strength- 

 ened by redoubts, palisades, or abatis ; retrenchments also should be 

 executed, to defend roads by which the enemy may approach, and 

 bridges over the streams should be destroyed. The troops in each 

 of these stations furnish the men necessary to constitute the advanced 

 post* of the chain. A stronger force should occupy villages and towns 

 within the first chain, and from these are sent such bodies of troops as 

 may be requisite to support those in their front The great body of 

 the troops ought to be near a central point of the position, in order 

 that succours sent from that body may easily reach any part that may 

 be threatened. 



Wheu an army is in quarters, there are established alarm-posts, at 

 which the troops should be appointed to assemble. These are 

 frequently in the vicinity of a fortress, that the corps may be protected 

 by the latter till all have assembled ; but they should be in command- 

 ing situations, that, in the event of the enemy attempting a surprise, 

 his movements may be easily seen. Each division, or corps of the 

 army, should have its own alarm-posts, and there should be, besides, 

 the general place of rendezvous for the whole army : the latter place 

 should be so situated that all the divisions may be drawn up there 



ARTS AMD 8CL WV. VOL. VIII. 



before the enemy could arrive at it, and it should be protected by a 

 fortress which may contain the provisions for the support o the 

 troops. 



A system of signals, for day or night, is determined on, by which 

 intelligence may be conveyed to all the different posts, of the approach 

 of the enemy. Should an alarm be given by any outpost of the chain, 

 the bodies of troops which are appointed to support that post take 

 arms, attach the horses to the artillery, and prepare to march imme- 

 diately to the point of danger ; but the judgment of the commander, 

 and the information which he may receive from spies or deserters, 

 must enable him to form an opinion whether a demonstration made by 

 the enemy is true or false. 



(Bulow, Esprit du Systime de Guerre Moderne, 1801 ; Guibert, 

 (Em-res Militaires, 1803 ; Jomini, Precis de VArt de la, Guerre on, 

 Nouveau Tableau Anah/tique ; Rogniat, Considerations sur I' Art de la 

 Guerre, 1817 ; Lallemand, Traiti des Operations Secondaires de la 

 Guerre, 1825 ; Yates. Elementary Treatises on Tactics and Strategy.) 



WARD, WARDEN, that is, "guard" and "guardian." Ward is 

 the name used in the counties of Durham, Westmoreland, and Cum- 

 berland, instead of the hundred of the midland counties or the wapen- 

 take of Yorkshire, to denote a subdivision of those shires. The 

 neighbourhood of those border counties to the Scots rendered it 

 essential that the military preparation of the inhabitants should be 

 constant ; and hence the subdivision of the county took the warlike 

 appellation of ward, rather than the more peaceful one of hundred. 

 The great officers whose duty it was to defend the northern borders 

 from the Scots, and the north-western from the Welsh, were called 

 lord-wardens of the marches [MARCHES] ; and we still have the lord- 

 warden of the Cinque Ports, the lord-warden of the Stannaries. To 

 descend to a lower class of functionaries, a castle or tower was hereto- 

 fore often called a ward ; and it served as a place not only of defence, 

 but also for the safe keeping of malefactors : hence the keepers of some 

 jails are called wardens ; for example, the keeper of the Fleet prison, 

 until it was abolished, was called warden. 



Forests were divided into wards. By the Municipal Reform Act 

 (5 & 6 Will. IV., c. 76,) cities and boroughs are divided into wards, 

 each of which has the right of electing an alderman and a certain 

 number of council-men. [MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS.] 



WARDS, COURT OF. The Court of Wards and Liveries was 

 established by the statute 32 Henry VIII., c. 46, to superintend the 

 inquests which were held after the death of any of the king's tenants 

 by knight's service, for the purpose of ascertaining what lands the 

 tenant died seised of, who was his heir, whether the heir was an infant; 

 and thus what rights accrued to the king in the shape of relief, primer 

 seisin, wardship, or marriage. 



By the famous statute passed in the first Parliament of Charles II. 

 (12 Charles II., c. 24), the Court of Wards was abolished, together 

 with the feudal rights out of which that court arose. '1 he preamble of 

 the statute states that it had been intermitted since Feb. 24, 1645. 

 [GUARDIAN ] 



WAREHOUSING SYSTEM is a customs' regulation, by which 

 articles of import may be lodged in public warehouses at a moderate 

 rent, not being chargeable with duty until they are taken out for home 

 consumption, and being exempt from duty if re-exported. It affords 

 valuable facilities to trade, is beneficial to the consumer, and ultimately 

 to the public revenue. Where no such system exists, the merchant 

 must either pay the duty on every article immediately it is landed, or 

 must enter into a bond with sureties for payment at a future time. If 

 he pays at once, he is obliged to advance a large capital, on which 

 interest must be charged to the consumer until the goods be sold ; or 

 he must effect an immediate sale, perhaps at an inadequate profit, or 

 even at a loss, in order to raise the funds necessary to pay the duty. 

 If he wishes to defer the payment until the market shall offer an 

 advantageous sale, he may find it difficult to induce persons to become 

 his sureties, and, when he has succeeded, he may involve them iu ruin. 

 The natural result of these difficulties is, that none but wealthy 

 capitalists can import articles on which heavy duties are charged, and a 

 monopoly is thus established, to the great injury of the consumer. 

 The immediate payment of customs' duties also obstructs the carrying 

 trade of a country, by making the re-exportation of articles more 

 troublesome as well as expensive. 



The first British statesman who proposed a remedy for these evils 

 was Sir Robert Walpole, in his celebrated Excise scheme, in 1733. 

 His object was to unite the Excise laws with those of the customs as 

 regarded wines and tobacco, and to charge a small duty immediately 

 on importation, and the remainder on being removed from the Excise 

 warehouses for home consumption. Speaking of tobacco, he thus 

 explained his proposal : " If the merchant's market be for exportation, 

 he may apply to his warehouse-keeper, and take out as much for that 

 purpose as he has occasion for, which, when weighed at the custom- 

 house, shall be discharged of the three farthings per pound with which 

 it was charged upon importation ; so that the merchant may then 

 export it without any further trouble. But if his market be for home 

 consumption, that he shall then pay the three farthings charged upon it 

 at the custom-house upon importation ; and that then, upon calling 

 his warehouse-keeper, he may deliver it to the buyer, on paying an 

 inland duty of 4rf. per pound to the proper officer appointed to receive 

 the same." Walpole clearly foresaw the advantages of his scheme to 



