It is to be observed that these marches took place in a time of profound peace, and that they were necessarily regulated to some extent by the distances of towns capable of billeting the troops. There are instances in this volume of very extraordinary marches in the field. What the Adjutant-General was to the General commanding the Army, the BRIGADE-MAJOR was to the Brigadeer and sometimes to the General commanding a Division. There were no "Majors of Brigade" 1808 in our army prior to the Revolution; and in 1690 there were but two in the army in Ireland although there were many brigades; there were however acting BrigadeMajors 1809 besides the two on the Establishment, and it was customary at that time for the appointment to be held by the senior major, that is to say the major of the senior regiment. A post in garrison corresponding to that of the BrigadeMajor in the field was that of TOWN-MAJOR; and because ours was a country of garrisons rather than of mobile forces, the latter office is of considerably older standing than the former. There was a Town-Major 1810 nominated to Berwick-on-Tweed in 1663, and other appointments to Town-major-ships were made during the century. A sort of lesser Town-Major, or else an assistant to him, was the Town Aide-Major since styled the FORT-ADJUTANT. There was one at Tangier 1811 when that place was evacuated. 1808 Est. lists, 1680 to 1687/90. Est. list, Ireland, 1690. 1809 Petitions, 15 Mar., 1694/5, and 20 Apr., 1696, by Lt. Col. Billing (2nd Foot), who acted in Ireland as Major of Brigade; Try. State papers. Certificate, Dublin, 12 May, 1691. "I do hereby certify that Major Billinge was "ordered by His Grace the Duke of Schonberg to be Major of the Brigade, he being "Major to the eldest regiment, and has done that duty ever since. (Sd.) R. Kirke"; Clarke MSS. 1810 Royal Warrt., Whitehall, 7 Novr., 1663; Dom. state papers. Court-Martial, Tangier, 24 Mar., 1664, Col. Alsop, "Major of the Town," being president. Royal Warrt. for addition to the Est. from 1 Septr., 1688; a " Fort-Major" added to the garrison of Sheerness; Harl. MSS. 7,436. Letter, Galway, 29 July, 1691, Bellasyse to Clarke, respecting the "commission "for a Town-Major to this place"; Clarke MSS. 1811 Guy's schedule of Secret-service money, Octr., 1686. There is perhaps no staff appointment, the duties of which are so little appreciated, and which is therefore so perverted in our Army, as that of Aide-de-camp. Instead of being selected for his promising talents, instead of being an officer of such education, experience, or tact, that he can not only carry a message of importance correctly in the excitement of battle, but also observe as he flies along and report on his arrival every circumstance tending to nullify or to modify the message he bears; instead of this, he is chosen at the whim of a General usually on account of family connexion or personal friendship. No special acquirements are demanded of him; indeed as often as not he is notoriously unfit for any post of importance. In garrison he is too frequently a sort of upper-butler of his General, to see to his wines, the ordering of his entertainments, and the airings of his wife and daughters; and in the field he is expected to do no more than an intelligent commissionaire or telegraph-boy could do equally well. Yet upon the coolness, the discretion, or the reconnoitring talent, of such officers the lives of thousands and the fate of an empire may often depend! Whether such a disregard of common-sense prevailed in the earlier days of our Army, or whether a careful selection was made of officers for the position of Aides-de-camp, I cannot say; but in our Service Aides-de-camp are not coeval with Generals, for there were General Officers long before 1689, whereas it is in that year that Aides-de-camp first appear on the Establishment.1812 In 1689 the "Commander-in-Chief” in Flanders had two aides,1813 and in Ireland in 1690 the General Commanding had six aides-de-camp,1814 the two Generals of Horse and Foot had each three, the Lieutenants-General two, and the Majors-General one. Another office of equal importance, that of Military Secretary, is in these days treated in the same way. And I have seen no records to render it certain whether this appointment was held in the seventeenth century by military officers or by civilians : but in 1689 there was borne on the Establishment a "Secretary "to the Commander-in-Chief" 1813 in Flanders, and in the following year there appears on the strength of the Irish army a "Secretary to the General" 1814 with one clerk.1815 I am inclined to think that he was a civilian. 1812 Est. lists. 1813 Est., I May, 1689, to 31 May, 1690. Est., Flanders, I May, 1689. 1814 Est., Ireland, 1690; Harl. MSS. 7,441. 1815 See Chap. XXXII, on the origin of the appointment of Secretary for War. There was one Staff-Officer 1816 instituted by King James, but dropped in the next reign, whose duties were such as are now supposed to be fulfilled by the Adjutant-General, although it is a very debatable point whether it would not be advisable to revive his office in these days of universal armament. He is described in the official lists 1817 as "a person appointed to "exercise the forces and visit the garrisons," in fact an InspectorGeneral of the Forces. There remains but one Staff-Officer (not being an Administrative Staff-Officer such as those spoken of in the succeeding chapters) to be mentioned, namely the Marshal of the Horse. This office was an ancient one, but did not survive the Revolution. There were Marshals of the Horse on the Establishment 1818 from 1660 to 1687, but after that period they do not appear on the lists. It is especially observable that a Marshal of the Horse only is mentioned. Maréchal in French as well as mariscal in Spanish signify a farrier, one who tends horses: and these words are supposed to be derived from the Saxon mar 1819 or marach, or else from mare old French for a horse, and scale a servant. And it would seem as though the ancient Marshal of the Horse in our Army was rather what would now be called a Master of the Horse. In James the Second's reign promotion on the Staff did not go by seniority,1820 although whether it went by favouritism or by force of money is not so clearly shewn. 1816 Est. lists. 1817 Est. list, I Janry., 1687, to 30 Apr., 1689. 1818 Est. lists. Nathan Brooks. 1819 There are traces of doubts about the confusion between the words Martial and Marshal (which are of quite distinct derivation) to be observed in the Commission of Monck, 3 Aug., 1660; App. I, as well as in other documents between 1660 and 1700. 1820 Letter, I Aug., 1685, E. of Rochester to E. of Clarendon. "The Duke of "Albemarle is dissatisfied that there are so many General Officers put over him, and "hath given up his Commission." CHAPTER XXIX. THE FIELD ADMINISTRATION OF THE ARMY DURING THE PERIOD FROM 1660 TO 1700. Introductory.-The High Treasurer.-Status of Officers of the administrative corps. I.-FINANCE. The Army Estimates.-The Paymaster-General.-Origin of Army Agents.-Rates of pay.-Working-pay.-Comparison with modern rates of pay.-Subsistence.— System of stoppages.-Abuses and Mal-practices.-Allowances. -Half-pay.— Special service pay.-Administration of effects of deceased soldiers.-Leaves or Furloughs. II. PROVISIONS AND FORAGE. The introduction of rations.-Cost of baking.-Sutlers.-Fuel and light.-Forage. III.-TRANSPort. Organised trains.-Artillery transport.-Contract transport.-Impressed transport.— Army sea-transport.-Cavalry remounts. IV.-QUARTERS. Antiquity of billeting on victualling-houses.—Its illegality.-Legalisation of billeting. -Crying-down credit.-Institution of barracks.-General lack of system. [For Illustrations, see Note on p. xiii.] IN writing of the Administration of the British Army it has to be recollected that the mass of Englishmen, and even a very large number of English officers, have the most vague and uninstructed notions of the functions of the military administrative corps which represents the Government of the country to the army in the field. It therefore becomes imperative, at the risk of offending the larger experience or better sense of the few, to offer for the benefit of the many some introductory explanation of the nature and importance of the duties of those military departments which used until lately to be comprised under the names of the Commissariat, and the Ordnance. And the term Ordnance, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, did not signify that fraction of it now styled the Ordnance Store Department, but had a very much wider significance, as will be seen in the next chapter. The administration of an army is twofold; that is to say, it consists of two branches, distinct in themselves, and from their very nature distinct in their organisation as well as in their functions. The one branch is the Civil or Bureaucratic administration, stationary and centralised, composed of civilians and with us termed the War Office. The other is the Military or Executive administration, moveable and diffused and always accompanying the rest of the army whether in quarters or in the field. It is with this military or executive administration alone that we have now to do. There can be little hesitation in affirming that there is no more important branch or corps of an army than its Commissariat; that is to say, all branches being at a fair average of efficiency, there is no other whose perfection is of as vital importance to the general system. The functions of the COMMISSARIAT were to pay, move, feed, and forage the army; to raise, maintain, and issue all supplies of whatever description, whether money, provisions or transport; and in the field munitions as well. The Commissariat had the sole control of military expenditure, and was the only practical and immediate check upon waste in the Service, and the only medium of subsequent account for current expenditure. Those alone who have witnessed the difficulties of a rapid and extended campaign with a large army;—the army here to-day and thirty miles away to-morrow;-the detachment of large bodies of troops at the shortest notice ;-the sudden deaths or removals. of accounting officers;-the frequently bad state of the roads and internal communications of the country;-the difficulty of collecting supplies in a district already devoured by war ;-the obstacles thrown in the way of prompt action by the bureaucracy at home, or possibly sometimes by the inexperience or whims of officers of other branches of the Service on the spot;-and lastly the futility of any expedition not furnished with an efficient Commissariat ;-those alone who have experience of all this, and of much more of the same sort too tedious to recapitulate, will be able to form any approximate notion of the supreme importance of the Commissariat, and of the burdensome responsibility entailed upon its officers. An army may be equipped and armed after the most approved patterns, may be disciplined and drilled to admiration, may be faultless in its regimental organisation; the ablest of tacticians may direct it, the smartest manœuvrers may command its divisions, the Artillery may be skilful, and the |