ARMY CORPS,

ARMY CORPS, a miniature army composed of all arms of the service, under the command of a general, and complete with every requisite appliance for war. In the British army, the German model is very closely followed, and an army corps at war strength consists of 36,987 officers and men, 12,846 horses, 90 guns, and 1573 carts and wagons.

The details are given in the following table :

ARMY DISCIPLINE is maintained by the administration of military law as consolidated in the Army Act of 1881, which incorporates the main provisions of the Mutiny Act (q.v.) and the Articles of War (q.v.), and is brought into force, and amended if necessary, each year by the Army Annual Act. This last act also specifies the number of men to be maintained, and the prices to be paid in billets during the ensuing year; it must be passed before the 30th April, on which date the previous act lapses. Military law is regulated by the Rules of Procedure and Queen's Regulations, and by it the soldier is governed in peace and in war, at all times and in all places. It provides for minor breaches of discipline by the power of summary punishment (up to twenty-eight days' imprisonment with hard labour) vested in every commanding officer, and for graver offences by the constitution of courts-martial with powers of sentence varying, according to the rank and number of the officers composing them, from forty-two days' imprisonment to penal servitude and death. At the same time every soldier has a right of appeal from his commanding officer's award to a court-martial, and no sentence of any court-martial can be inflicted without first being confirmed by an officer authorised to do so.

In the United States, army discipline is enforced under the provisions of a code of rules, entitled Army Regulations and General Orders, which indicate with great minuteness the duties and privileges of those in the service; giving particularly, under the title Articles of War, specific instructions for procedure in cases of infraction of discipline.

ARMY ESTIMATES.—Early each year the War Office sends to the Treasury a series of accounts, setting forth the probable cost of everything required for the period from April 1 to March 31 following. These accounts are called the army estimates. In preparing them, the Secretary of State for War applies to the heads of all the departments under him for detailed accounts of their probable requirements (the actual number of men being fixed each year by the Army Annual Act—see above); submits them to the Treasury; and, if approved, to the House of Commons. The various items are more or less sifted by the House; and any of them can be refused altogether, or cut down. For the military expenditure of Great Britain, see above, p. 436; GREAT BRITAIN, Vol. V. p. 376; and NATIONAL DEBT, Vol. VII. p. 405.

In the United States, annual reports are forwarded by heads of departments to the Secretary of War, and are referred by the president to congress, whose duty it is to examine the details of the estimate, and appropriate from the public funds the sum voted. The average annual cost of the United States army is about $50,000,000.

ARMY LIST, a list issued monthly by authority of the War Office, of all commissioned and warrant officers of the British army, including the Royal Marines, the Indian army, the Yeomanry, Militia, and Volunteers, whether on full or half pay; together with a list of the headquarters staff at the War Office, and of the staff of each general officer's command at home, in India, and in the colonies, and of the various educational, manufacturing, and other establishments, with other information. A full index, an obituary, a list of the changes gazetted during the past month, and of the last issue of royal warrants, army circulars, and general orders, complete the work. A similar but larger volume is issued quarterly by the War Office, in which, besides the lists of each regiment, the officers of the army are also arranged on a seniority list, with the dates of their commissions and birth.

In the United States, a similar annual publication, the Official Army Register, is issued by order of the Secretary of War, and includes a list of the officers, with notices of their services.

ARMY MEDICAL DEPARTMENT.—In the British army, surgeon-lieutenant is the grade in which an officer enters the medical staff on probation, with daily pay at the rate of 8s. He then becomes a surgeon-captain, and draws £200 a year. After five years' service, £250. After twelve years' service, three abroad, he becomes a surgeon-major on £1 a day, and then surgeon-lieutenant-colonel, with increased pay. After twenty-five years' service, eight abroad, if selected, he becomes a brigade-surgeon-lieutenant-colonel on £1, 10s. a day; then in succession surgeon-colonel and surgeon-major-general, with £2 and £2, 15s. as daily pay. A surgeon-captain or surgeon-lieutenant would be attached to every regiment or battalion on active service, and surgeon-majors would have charge of the field hospitals and bearer companies. In peace time officers of the medical staff are not as a rule attached to corps, but have medical charge of several regiments or of the district hospital.

On active service, every battalion, battery, cavalry regiment, or other unit would have a medical officer from the army medical department attached to it, who would be assisted by the 16 battalion stretcher-bearers. Thus 47 medical officers would accompany every army corps, and, in addition, 4 complete Bearer-companies (q.v.), and 25 field hospitals, each for 200 patients; 9 provided with transport, so as to follow the army, and the others stationary at the base and on the lines of communication. Hospital ships would also form part of this department. Each movable field hospital has 7 medical officers, 1 quartermaster, 37 trained orderlies, 10 wagons for stores and equipment, 2 water-carts, 52 horses, and 22 drivers.

The Indian army has a separate medical department of its own, and its field hospitals have a larger establishment of trained orderlies—namely, 122.

ARMY PAY DEPARTMENT.—The financial secretary is the representative of the army pay department at the War Office, and under his supervision the accountant-general prepares the army estimates. The pay of all officers is sent to the army agent of their regiments, but that of the men to the regimental paymasters, together with the money required to meet other expenses authorised by the finance regulations. There is one paymaster (captain or major) attached to each regiment of cavalry, battalion of infantry, or brigade of artillery; another, of higher rank, to each regimental district; and a 'district paymaster' at the headquarters of each divisional command—the last dealing with the payment of contractors for supplies, engineers' work, &c. The regimental paymaster distributes the money required for the weekly pay of the men to the majors of batteries or captains of companies, by cheque on the local bank, and accounts to the War Office monthly by a pay list containing a muster roll of the regiment, and vouchers for every other expenditure. The paymaster-sergeant is clerk to the paymaster.

The daily pay of staff-officers in the British army, in addition to allowances for horses, servants, and lodgings, which are not granted to regimental officers, is, for a lieutenant-general, £5, 10s.; major-general, £3; brigadier-general, £2; deputy-adjutant and quartermaster-general, £2 (assistant do., £1, 5s.); colonel on the staff, £1, 15s.; deputy assistant deputy-adjutant and quartermaster-general, assistant military secretaries, brigade-majors, and aides-de-camp, £1, 1s. The adjutant-general (£2700), quartermaster-general (£2100), military secretary (£2100), and any of the above serving on the headquarters staff in London, receive 'consolidated pay,' instead of daily pay and allowances. The regimental daily pay is as follows: Colonel, £1, 6s. to £1, 10s.; lieutenant-colonel, 18s. to £1, 4s. 9d.; major, 13s. 7d. to 18s. 6d.; captain, 11s. 7d. to 15s.; lieutenant, 5s. 3d. to 7s. 8d.; adjutant, in addition to pay as captain or lieutenant, 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d.; quartermaster, 9s. to 10s. 6d.; regimental sergeant-major, 5s. to 6s.; master-gunner, 4s. 6d. to 6s.; company sergeant-major, 3s. 9d. to 5s. 4½d.; sergeant, 2s. 4d. to 3s. 4d.; corporal, 1s. 8d. to 2s. 8d.; private, 1s. to 1s. 9d., the higher rates in each case being for the mounted troops. These are the principal ranks and rates of pay; it should be added that an addition is made to the pay of certain officers after 3 and 10 years' service, and that privates receive 1d. a day for every good-conduct badge earned. 'Field-service allowance,' to supply field-kit, &c., according to rank, can be drawn in advance when ordered on active service.

ARMY SCHOOLS comprise only those for the school-tuition of soldiers and their children. Under MILITARY SCHOOLS will be found the Staff College, the School of Military Engineering at Chatham, the School of Musketry at Hythe, Garrison Classes, and the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. Under ARTILLERY, the Royal Military Academy, the Artillery College, and the Department of Artillery Studies, all at Woolwich, with the School of Gunnery at Shoeburyness, are alluded to. Chelsea Hospital is an asylum for veterans, not a school of instruction. The Royal Military Asylum (better known as the Duke of York's School) at Chelsea, and the Royal Hibernian School at Dublin, are orphanages for soldiers' children, not involving a military career for them. Under the supervision of the Director-general of Military Education, army schools are established in every regiment and garrison for soldiers and their children. Every recruit, after having learned his drill, must attend, at least five hours a week, for six months, or until he has obtained a fourth-class certificate for reading, writing from dictation, and sufficient arithmetic to enable him to keep and understand his accounts. Military subjects form no part of this education, except that the dictation generally takes the form of writing orders and military correspondence. Before being promoted to corporal, a third-class certificate must be gained, and a second-class before promotion to sergeant's rank; while a first-class certificate is required before a soldier can be recommended for a commission. Voluntary attendance is encouraged as much as possible. Soldiers' children, if the parents are married with leave, are required to attend the regimental or garrison school without payment. Should the parents desire it, they may, however, attend any certified denominational school, but must then pay the school fees. An army schoolmaster (see WARRANT OFFICER) has charge of each regimental or garrison school, assisted by well-educated non-commissioned officers or soldiers, and, for the Infant School, by trained army schoolmistresses, with monitresses under them. District inspectors and sub-inspectors, ranking as captains and lieutenants respectively, conduct the examinations for certificates every half-year, and otherwise supervise these schools.

ARMY WORKS CORPS.—This is a collection of skilled artisans and civilian labourers temporarily enrolled for manual labour during military operations, under contract terminating with the exigency of the occasion. During the winter of 1854–55, the British army besieging Sebastopol found it impossible to get heavy guns, shot and shell, provisions, and general stores, up to the front along the only road, 8 miles long and in very bad condition, which connected their camps with Balaklava harbour. Horses and men from the fighting troops could not be spared to assist the transport troops, and therefore an army works corps, 3500 strong, was formed and sent out. The men were strong and efficient railway excavators, miners, and skilled artisans, and were chiefly employed in the construction of a railway from Balaklava to the heights outside Sebastopol. The projected railway from Suakim to Berber was commenced in 1855 by a similar body of men, but they did not bear the name of army works corps, nor have the same organisation.

Amongst the numerous articles on military subjects in this work will be found: