his Master King Joram and slew him with his own hands and beheaded seventy of his Brethren Pekah a Captain conspir'd against King Pekaliah kill'd him and made himself King Prophane Story will furnish more examples of this kind than are necessary to be rehearsed The Emperour Mauritius was forc'd to see his Wife The Empire and Childrens heads struck off and then receive the same measure himself by his General Phocas who usurped the Empire How Pepin and Hugh Capet both France 〈…〉 Majors of the Palace and Generals of the forces used two Kings of France by disburdening their heads of their two Crowns and clapping them upon their own are stories well enough known to any who hath read the French History The Caliphs of Egypt and Babylon had their Estates and Dignities and some of them their lives taken from them by their Soldans who were their Captain Generals In our own time Ferdinand the Second Emperour of Germany Wallenstein was like to pay dear for making Wallenstein Generalissimo of all his armies for by that power that haughty Captain General went fair to have rooted out that branch of the House of Austria in Germany which hath chain'd the Roman Eagle in that family for some ages and to have made himself King of Bohemia to boot On the other hand a subject would be very wary and cautious to undergo a Subjects would be wary to undertake this great charge charge so burdensome and dangerous as that of the Supreme command of all armies belonging to either Prince or free State for though he hath not been wanting to his Duty yet if in the managing of his charge he have miscarried by chance or misfortune he may make account to pay dearly for it unless he have to do with both a just and a merciful Master And if he be so fortunate to do those exploits which extend the Dominions and add to the honour and benefit As very dangerous of the Prince and State whom he serves he hath done but his Duty and can crave no reward but ex beneplacito nor needs he expect any except from a Gracious Prince nay it is well if he come off without some dishonour or disgrace put upon him if not worse some Princes not loving to look on men who have done them extraordinary services because they may pretend to these extraordinary rewards which they intend not to bestow upon them In bad Some free States unjust to their Generals Requitals free Republicks have shown themselves most unjust to many of their best deserving Captains as Sparta to Agis and Cleomenes Athens to Themistocles Miltiades Cimon Phocion and Pericles Rome to Coriolanus Camillu◠and both the Scipio's Nor have some Princes forborn to stain their honours by being injurious to Captains who have done them the most signal services How basely dealt Tiberius with Germanicus How cruelly did Nero use Corbulo And with what inhumanity did Justinian use the famous Bellisarius who was the supporter Some Monarchs also of his Empire How ungratefully did Ferdinand of Arragon requite Gonsalvo di Corduba the great Captain to whose Valour Conduct and Indefatigable labours he ow'd the Kingdom of Naples So true is that observation of Philip of Comines the greatest services are often requited with the greatest ingratitude Boccalini in one of his Raguagli hath a shrewd hint at this He tells us Boccalini that on a time the news at Parnassus were that Doria was appointed with his Fleet to fall upon Hariaden Barbarossa at a place where he could hardly either fight or get away having made Shipwrack of some of his Fleet Doria sent privately to Barbarossa advertis'd him of his danger and advis'd him to get him out of his way One of Dorias's Captains who was his Kinsman not knowing of this came to him and desir'd him not to lose so fair an opportunity to ruine the Arch-Pyrate Doria perceiving his simplicity drew him aside and told him he was not well seen in the Affairs of the World for said he my fortune is so strictly joyn'd with that of Hariaden that if he be totally routed I perish because I shall be altogether useless for I would have you know said he and learn it of me since you are but a young Captain that Princes use Military men as they do broad Hats and thick hoods which in wet weather they wear to save them from the Rain but cast them away so soon as the Sun shines But if great Captains who have done Princes or States great service be rewarded Presumption of Captains or at least be not ill used they should be aware of another rock and that is presumption upon which they run when they think the glory of those Actions they have done intitles them to a liberty to do what they will For they should remember that good services are but Duties which they owe and which are not to be rewarded but according to the pleasure of the Prince but Crimes are punishable by the Laws of the Land where they live and upon Ruins many of them this shelf many brave Captains have split themselves and suffered Shipwrack So did Pausanias the Famous Spartan King and Alcibiades the Valiant Athenian and so did the Roman Manlius who saved the Capitol from the Gauls so did Biron Duke Paire and Marshal of France under Henry the Great Sir William Stanley under Henry the Seventh of England and the Earl of Essex under Queen Elizabeth The like did the great Captain Wallenstein Duke of Friedland whom I mention'd a little before who stained all his fair actions and eminent services with the black and infamous Crime of Treason Instances against one of those Emperors whom he had served so well and who had given him so great a trust This was likewise Joabs inexcusable fault who presuming on the greatness of his Office rather than that of his services was many times too saucy with his Prince And though Abner deserved a worse death than that he got yet he deserved it not from Joab Davids servant and no doubt it was intolerable presumption in Joab to revenge his Brothers Death on a man with whom his Master had but just now entred into League And though perhaps the same Joab had enough of reason of State on his side for killing Absolom yet it was his duty to have used him as the King bad him for Princes love to be served in their own way and obedience should be the Glory of Subjects This presumption of his moved David to leave him a bloody legacy on his Death bed which Solomon did not scruple by any pretence of devotion to cause to be executed even at the Horns of the Altar where he had taken Sanctuary Nor can Generals excuse their Revolts Treasons or Rebellions by any Affronts or Injuries they can pretend to have received from their Princes And of this Narses was guilty though wronged by the Emperor Justine so was the Duke of
injury done whether it be to Princes Subjects or Embassadours and that no satisfaction after it is required can be got And indeed this War should be formally denounc'd otherwise it derogates from the Justice of the cause This to me seems clear from the definition the Civilians give of an Enemy Hostes say they sunt qui nobis aut quibus nos bellum decernimus caeteri Indictio Belli latrones aut praedones sunt Those are enemies who either have denounc'd the War against us or we against them others are Thieves or Robbers And Cicero in his Offices Nullum Bellum est justum nisi quod aâ—t rebus repetitis geratur aut denunciatum ante sit indictum No War is just but what is made for restitution or denounced or indicted before Neither will the War that Joshua made against the seven Nations of the Canaanites impugn what I have said of the just cause of a War for though these Nations had perhaps done no wrong to the Israelites yet Joshua had a particular Warrant from God for what he Joshua his Wars did which few or none but he can pretend to It is true neither he nor Moses were commanded to fight with the Amalekites yet the Lord approved of it afterward The Grecians denounc'd their War by a Caducâ—us The Romans by their Feciales whose custome was to stand on the Roman Territory and throw a Spear or Javelin against the Land of those whom they declared Enemies In these later times besides the denunciation of the War a Declaration ordinarily called a Manifesto is emitted by the Aggressor whereby he either doth make the Justice of his War appear to the world or at least endeavours it And though the persons of Embassadours were wronged and violated against the Law of Nations yet the War should be denounc'd by a Letter or some such way saith Grotius yet we read not that David used any such previous civility to Hanun King of Ammon after he had affronted his Embassadours A Civil War may be likewise two-fold the one sort is of the great men of Civil War twofold a Free State one against another as that of Sylla against Marius Father and Son and Caesar against Pompey Father and Son among the Romans or in a Monarchy of those who are competitors for the Crown as the War was between the Houses of York and Lancaster The other is of Subjects against their Soveraigns which can never be lawful let the pretext be never so specious I mean on the Subjects part for I make no doubt but a Soveraign whether Prince or State not only may but ought by the power of the Sword to reduce their Rebellious Subjects to their Duty when by no other means they can prevail with them Both these kinds of Intestinâ— Wars are called Civil because they are inter Cives unius Reipublicâ— Among the Citizens of one Common-wealth It is the worst of all Wars and that wherein there is not so much as the least shadow of Civility This War arms Brother against Brother for which we need not search History for Examples In this War the Son thinks he doth a meritorious work if he betrays his own Father and the Father conceives he super-erogates if he sheaths his Sword in his Sons Bowels because saith he he did not rise to fight the Lords Battels even It is the worst of Wars perhaps against the Lords anointed for this War extinguisheth all natural affection among the nearest in Blood This sort of War sends Coblers and other Mechanicks to the Pulpits to torture their Audience with Non-sence This converts Souldiers into Preachers who by vertue of their double callings belch out Blasphemies against the great God of Heaven and rebellious and opprobrious Speeches against his Vice-gerents on Earth And on the other hand this War metamorphoseth Preachers into Souldiers and tells them that a Corslet becomes them better than a Canonical Coat and a broad Sword better than a long Gown It whispers them in the ear that Christ would not have bid those of his Disciples who had two Coats sell one of them and buy a Sword if he had not intended to leave War as a Legacy to his followers as well as Peace It tells them they ought in their Sermons to summon Subjects under the pain of eternal damnation to rise in Arms against the Soveraign Power because they are bidden Curse Meroz who would not come out to help the Lord against the Mighty Yet very few of them can tell you whether Meroz was a Prince a City or a Countrey But I dwell too long here Not long after the Flood we find numerous Armies raised by Nimrod and his ambitious Successors to subject others of Noah's race to their lawless dominion And indeed if the Stories of these very ancient times be true as they are very much to be doubted we read not of so great Armies except some in Holy Writ as those which Ninus and the famous Semiramis and the Kings of India whom she invaded brought together It is pity we should not know how they were armed and in what order they fought I suppose there were Wars in the World before there was any to record them The Egyptians wrote in Hieroglyphicks and therefore I believe next to Moses we are obliged to the Grecians for giving us a glimpse of Antiquity And truly even they wrote the occasions the causes the beginnings the progress and issues of Wars so confusedly and fabulously that we can Ancient Histories fabulous build but little on their relations till themselves became renown'd by the stout resistance they made against the Persian Monarchy and yet even then they give us but little light how other Nations besides themselves manag'd the War what Art or Order they used in their Battels or how their Combatants were Armed The Sacred Story mentions no Battel fought after the Flood or before it till that of Chaderlaomer and other three Kings against the five Kings of the Plain But we may presume there were many bloody bickerings before that when Nimrod Belus Ninus and Semiramis if Ninus was not Amraphel one of the four Kings whereof I much doubt impos'd the yoke of Slavery on so many Nations In this Battel fought in the plain of Sodom and Gomorrha the five Kings were beaten but how either they or their Adversaries fought with The Battel of Sodom what Arms or in what Order the History tells us nothing The Conquerours carry away a great booty and many Prisoners and among them Lot and the endeavouring his rescue made the War just on his Uncle Abrahams side He follows and overthrows the four Kings and brings back all the Goods and Prisoners Abraham had no particular Warrant for this War but it was approved for thereafter Melchizedec the Priest of the most High God blessed him nor was it needful for the Father of the Faithful to denounce the War because he look'd upon himself there as an Ally if not
First strict Laws are made for the observance of Religious Duties a submission For Religion to Church-Discipline and a due respect to be given to all Ecclesiastical persons against Atheism Blasphemy Perjury and the prophanation of the name of God Secondly for the maintenance of the Majesty and Authority For Loyalty of the Prince or State in whose service the Army is that nothing be done or spoke to the disparagement of himself his Government his Undertakings or the Justice of any of his actions under all highest pains Thirdly for honour respect and obedience to be given to all superior Commanders from the highest For Obedience to the lowest of them and none of their Commands are to be disputed much less are they themselves to be affronted either by gestures words or actions But this is to be understood that the command be not diametrically contrary and prejudicial to the Prince his service but indeed such commands would be so clear that they need no canvasing otherwise any disobedience opens a door to resistance that ushereth in sedition which often is supported by open rebellion To clear which suppose what frequently falls out that the Governour of a well fortified and a well provided place offers to deliver Disobedience to unlawful Commands lawful it up to an enemy without opposition those under him may resist so unjust and so base a command and they not only may but ought to resist him for the disobedience in such a case of the subaltern Officers and Soldiers is a piece of excellent service done to their Master and if they do it not they are lyable to those Laws of War which for giving over a Fort in that fashion sentences the Governour to an Ignominious death the inferiour Commanders to be shamefully casheer'd and the common Soldiers to be disarm'd and made serve as Pioneers to the Army which were acts of great injustice if Inferiors were bound to give a blind obedience to all the Commands of their Superiors whatever they be without exception And such a case it is when an Officer commands those under him to desert their Post whether that be in Town Camp Leaguer or Field and go over with him to the Enemy If they do so and are ever retaken he is punisht for his treachery and they for their obedience to so illegal a command Fourthly Articles of War are made for due and strict keeping of Guards For keeping strict Guards and Watches and Watches and here as in many other points observe the severity of Military Law for he who after tap-too dischargeth any Hand gun be it Pistol Musket Fusee or Carrabine unless against an enemy or he who sleeps on his Centinel or deserts it or he who is drunk on his Watch are all to die these be crimes which the Municipal Laws of most Nations do not punish with death yet in the Laws of War this severity is thought no more than necessary Fifthly Laws are made against those who stay behind or straggle in ordinary Against straglers or extraordinary Marches Sixthly Against Fugitives and Runnaways either such as leave their Colours Against Runnaways when they are in Garrisons or Quarters and desert the Service under any pretence without a Pass or such as run away from their Colours or their Officers in the field in time of Skirmish or Battel or such who in storms and assaults desert their Posts till either they are wounded or have made use of their Swords all these are lyable to death and those who wound or kill any of them in their flight in their going or running away are not to be accountable for it Seventhly Against those who make any Treaty or agreement in the field Against Treaties with an Enemy with an enemy without the command or consent of him who commands in chief And here again observe another case wherein Inferiors are to refuse obedience the Military Law condemns a Colonel for such a Treaty and every tenth Soldier of his Regiment to die with him for giving obedience to so unjust a command Eighthly Against those who surrender fortified places unless extream necessity Against needless Surrender of Forts and several other crimes require it of which I shall speak in a more proper place Ninthly Against those who mutiny burn houses without the Generals command commit robbery murther theft or violence to those who have the Generals safeguards and against those who keep private correspondence unless order'd to do it by the General all these crimes by most Military Laws are punisht with death Tenthly Against private Combats or Duels the Combatants and Against Duels their Seconds are to die and if superior Officers knew of the Combat and did not hinder it they are to be casheer'd with Ignominy a necessary Law enough yet seldom put in execution Eleventhly Against those who sell play or pawn or change their Arms Against sellers or pawners of Arms. either defensive or offensive whether he be a Horseman or a Foot-Soldier he who doth any of these is not only punishable but likewise he who bought won or took them in pawn Twelfthly Against false Musters whether it be of Men Horses Arms Against false Musters Saddles or other Furniture by these Articles not only those who make the false Muster but all those who help to make it are punishable Thirteenthly Against those who detain the pay of either Horsemen or Against those who detain the Princes Pay Foot-Soldiers any Officer guilty of this deserves to die Neither if an Officer have lent money to a Soldier may he pay himself or retain in his hand what he pleaseth but must give him as much of his pay as can entertain him to do his Masters service Fourteenthly Against those Officers whatsoever they be except the General Against those who give Passes who give Passes The Swedish Articles order a Colonel who presumes to give a Pass to lose his life and to lose his charge if he permit any under his command to go home without the Felt-marshals knowledg Other abominable crimes such as Adultery Incest Sodomy Beastiality Greater Crimes Parricide are examin'd try'd and punisht according to the Municipal Laws of the Prince or State who is Master of the Army And many smaller Smaller faults faults are left to the cognizance discretion and arbitrament of a Court of War A Council of War and a Court of War are commonly by ordinary A Council of War Soldiers confounded as if they were one thing whereas they are very different the first being composed of those persons whom the Prince or his General calls to consult with concerning the managing the War and these are indeed but Counsellors and have in most Armies their President who is nominated by the Prince or State they do but advise for the Prince or his Captain-General have a negative voice and retain a power to themselves to do what they please A Court of War consists of
the Velites of the third and fourth Batallions since they were all light armed and if it be said the Slingers could cast their stones over the heads of the two Batallions of heavy armed I answer first their stones would do less hurt at that distance Secondly the Archers in the third and fourth rank could have done as much Thirdly the keeping their station and place in the fifth Batallion hinder'd the Triarii to advance Now if these of Vegetius his third and fourth Batallions were obliged to go to the Van and fight or skirmish there why did he not appoint the light armed of his fifth Batallion to do so too since they were all lyable to one Duty But I hinder him to Marshall his sixth Batallion The sixth order or body saith he consisted of and now welcome Triarii Warriors furnisht with all manner of Triarii Arms and Weapons whom the Ancients called Triarii These saith he used to sit then they kneeled not behind all the other Batallions that being whole and sound and in breath they might with more vigour attack the enemy for if any thing fell out otherwise than well with the Batallions that stood before them all hopes of recovery depended on them Now if our Author hath spoken well of the ancient Roman Legion I am sure he hath spoken enough of it He hath been at much pains to make up that Legion but that you may the better see the defects of it I shall be at the trouble to take it down in pieces in the ensuing Chapter CHAP. XII Vegetius his Legion reviewed and examined WHoever hath read or shall be pleased to read Vegetius his Treatise De re Militari will believe with me that he intended nothing less than to write the Military constitutions and customs of Levies Arms Exercising Marshalling Embattelling Marching or other Laws and Points of the Art of War used in his own days but in the contrary the Roman way and method of War of the ancient times And this he professeth all along not only in his Prologues to his Master the Emperour Valentinian but almost in every Book of his Treatise In the Prologue of his second Book he says the Emperour had commanded him to set down the Antiqua the ancient customs In the Prologue to Vegetius obligeth himself to write of the old Roman Militia his third Book he avers that the Emperour had commanded him to abbreviate in one Piece all the ancient Military Customs and Constitutions which were dispersed and scattered in several Books and Authors And in one word he Entitles his Epitome Institutions of Military matters out of the Commentaries of Cato Celsus Trajan Adrian and Frontinus Now none of these wrote or could write of any Military Customs practised in Vegetius his time as having liv'd several ages before him and he acknowledgeth himself that the Art of War of his days was but a shadow and scarce that of the ancient one But by the way I must tell you that Steuechius thinks Adrian wrote no Military Constitutions since at his desire Aelian had composed that Piece de Instruendiâ— Aciebus whereof we have spoken But his reason is exceedingly weak for Adrian might very well have written the Roman Military Art and yet have de-desired Aelian to write the Grecian one But to return Vegetius in the twentieth Chapter of his first Book having given us an account of the ancient Roman Not that of his own time Arms acknowledgeth that they were wholly worn out and that in comparison of them the Foot of his time were naked which had given so great an advantage to the Barbarous Nations of the Goths Huns and Allans To the Eighth Chapter of his second Book he gives this title Of those who were leaders of the ancient Centuries and Files And the Seventh Chapter of that Book he begins with these words Having expounded saith he the ancient ordering of a Legion And in many other places he witnesseth that it is the ancient Roman Militia that he is to open to us and no new one which had deviated from that old one This being premised by me to anticipate objections I make bold to charge Vegetius with seven gross Errours in the description of his Legion yet all seven Seven Errors in the Descrition of his Legion will not amount to one mortal sin which they say be likewise seven nay nor to one capital crime But if he be guilty of all these or any of these then I say he is not so good as his word in the fourth Chapter of his Second Book where he promiseth Ordinationem Legionis antiquae secundum norman Militaris Juris exponore To expound to us the right ordering of an ancient Legion according to the Rule of Military Law But I shall endeavour to justifie my charge in this following order First I question the number of his Legionary Foot which he makes to be First Error six thousand one hundred and all heavy armed mark that I read once of six thousand and once more of six thousand and two hundred and in that number were comprehended the Velites but never of six thousand and one hun-hundred The truth is Romulus made his Legion three thousand after him it was augmented and diminished according to the King Senate or peoples pleasure or the necessities of the State to 4000 to 4200 to 5000 to 5200 and sometimes but very seldom to 6000 or 6200 as Regiments are now made stronger and weaker in our modern Levies according to the pleasure of the Prince or State who makes them but for most part the ancient Roman Legion was 4000 or 4200. Livy in his Sixth Book says four Legions were levied against the Gauls each of 4000 Foot In his Seventh Book he says that in the Consulship of young Camillus four Legions were raised each of 4200 Foot In his Eighth Book he tells us that in the War against the Latins every Legion consisted of 5000 Foot In his Ninth Book he makes the Legion to be 4000 Foot in the War against the Samnites In his 21 Book he speaks of six Legions each of them 4000 Foot And not to spend more time in Instances the same Historian out of whom and Polybius I suppose Vegetius borrowed his greatest light of History says in his 22 Book that every Roman Legion was 5000 Foot in the time of their dangerous War with their redoubted enemy Hannibal but after that was ended they were reduced to 4000 till the Macedonian War except that some of them were made 6200 by Scipio Unless then once in Africk and once in Greece we never find a Legion 6000 strong but never at all to be 6100 as Vegetius would have it to be constantly He would have done himself much right and his Reader a great favour to have told who levied these Legions of 6100. if it was so in his own time or yet in the decadency of both the Roman Empire and Militia that makes nothing to his purpose it
how to do it First saith he let the front of your Army be Marshal'd equal with that of your Second enemy then says he let your front retire by little and little and your flanks standing still shall environ your enemy I doubt not but Machiavel thought this a squint device but it is a fancy only beseeming a Gentleman of the long robe If he had said let your Battel stand and your wings extend themselves he had spoke some sense but a front to retire is an improper speech and unintelligible in the Art of War for in strict and proper language a Front and a Reer consists but each of them of one rank whether that be of ten a hundred a thousand ten thousand or twenry thousand Men or Horse so the first rank which is the Front cannot retire further than six or three foot allowed to be between it and the second rank unless all the ranks and consequently the whole Batallion retire I grant there be some who will have the half of the ranks to be the Front and the other half the Reer as in our Foot Batallions which are six deep the three first ranks make the Front the other three the Reer but this as I think is not proper language neither will it help Machiavel for his Front of the three first ranks cannot retire till the three last ranks that are behind them retire first Besides all this I doubt if in Machiavels time Captains might well hazard more Third than now to command a Batallion of men to retire for fear they could not get them to advance again at least not so readily Justus Lipsius had reason to accuse Machiavel of gross ignorance for denying the right ordering of a Militia to be an Art and certainly his conceit to do so Fourth was very extravagant â—esides he contradicts himself for he calls his Treatise of War I sette libri del'arte della guerra di Nicolo Machiavelli Seven Books of the Art of War of Nicol Machiavell Indeed Soldiers are very little bound to him for he says neither Prince nor State should suffer any of those who profess to live by the Art of War to dwell under them nor doth saith he any vertuous or good man use it as an art and adds that those who do so must of necessity be false fraudulent treacherous and violent for they must saith this Doctor either obstruct all peace that the War continuing they may thereby be maintained or they must pill plunder and make spoil of other mens goods in the time of War that thereby they may maintain themselves in the time of peace This is bad enough if it be all true These are his goodly arguments which are but his own idle dreams for it is Fifth Observation no difficil matter to keep men who make profession of Arms within the bounds of their duty even when they but seldom receive their wages and this in this age is visible to the whole world Nor can many Instances be given where men of War obstructed that peace which their Masters desir'd or which both parties were contented to make And if after the conclusion of a peace and disbanding of Armies any exorbitancies chance to be committed by the Soldiers as seldom any such thing falls out they have been occasion'd by too great a defalcation of their pay with the half or moity whereof all Modern Soldiers will be heartily well contented so perfectly have they learn'd the Baptists Lesson in the Gospel to be content with their wages But to conclude I know not whether I shall more cry up the lowliness of spirit of those great Statesmen who are pleased to descend from their high Corollary Spheres to learn their Politicks from Machiavell or commend the generosity of those Captains who disdain to stoop so low as to receive their Lessons of the Military Art from the Town Clerk of Florence I suppose all that can be expected from me in the following Discourses is in some places to set down wherein the ordinances and customs of War in all or What the Author promiseth to do most of the several points or parts of it in divers Countries agree or disagree with the practice of the present times and when I give my own opinion it shall be sparingly and with submission neither shall I decline to go as far back in the â—nvestigation of the Customs and Constitutions of War in former times as I have either probable grounds for conjecture or any glimpse of light to conduct me Since I wrote this Chapter I have seen some Frenchmen who having been Soldiers themselves have given us an account of the present French art and order of War as De la Valiere Monsieur Louis de la Saya and some others CHAP. II. Of Levies the manner of several Nations in making them Duties of Soldiers when they are levied their age and how long they are bound to serve ARmies are properly the members of the great Body of War and men are the sinews of Armies The best choice election or levy of men is of Voluntary Levy the subjects of that Prince or State who maketh the War where the Law of the Land imposeth a necessity on men â—it for service to enroll themselves according to their several ranks and qualities And this Levy alters its nature according to the nature of the War for if that be a Defensive one the Levy is Voluntary for ordinarily men rise willingly in arms for the defence of their Country Lives Wives and Children But if the War be an Offensive one intended to invade a stranger and such as leads Natives from their Countries and Homes and carries them to foreign lands it is not universally voluntary and very oft gets the name of a Press In this kind of Levy most Nations followed the custom of Press the Grecians and Romans and chose most of their Cavalry out of the Gentlemen or the better sort and the Infantry out of the Commons but the substance of that custom is now vanished and we have scarce the shadow of it left with us The Emperours of the High Dutch Nation the German Princes and Imperial Towns by the old Constitutions of the Empire made an Election or Levy of their Subjects according to their Laws sometimes the tenth sometimes the sixth or fifth man or according to their Estates in all their Wars both since Manner of the ancient Levy in Germany the Turk became their unwelcome neighbour and before he had footing in Europe It is not above fourscore and ten years since in the raign of Maximilian the Second all that were Enrolled in the German Cavalry were by birth Gentlemen it is true they brought some of them one some two and some three with them who waited on them well horsed and armed for whom they receiv'd wages and were subject to articles of War but these were called in their language Einspanneers to distinguish them from the Masters who
those Officers who are call'd together to be a Jury in the examining processing and sentencing Delinquents and it is twofold a General or high Court of War and a Regiment or a low Court of War The Causes belonging to the General Court of Wars cognizance are A General Court of War matters of Treason against the Prince or State injuries and affronts done or offer'd to the person or honour of their General differences between the Cavalry and Infantry between one Regiment and another between Officers of one Regiment or between Officers and Soldiers of one Regiment To the decision of a General Court of War belong all Civil affairs and business though they have been determined in the lower Courts for in Cases to be determined by it these cases Appeals are permitted to the higher Court neither can the sentence of the lower Court be executed till the process be fully heard in the superior if the parties concerned have appealed to it When the business concerns the Prince or State or that any General person or Colonel is criminally accused the General or Commander in chief of the Army is obliged to preside himself But in those other cases which I have mention'd The President of it He may appoint a Lieutenant-General or a Major-General to preside I know the Swedes give the Presidency in General Courts of War constantly to the Auditor-General or Judg-Marshal in the General or Felt-Marshals absence But truly I think this is not done without some derogation to those General Officers who assist for though upon the matter the Auditor-General orders the proceedings of the Martial Court yet in point of honour he should not preside in a high Court of War no more than a Regiment-Auditor in the Discipline of these same Swedes presides in a lower Court. The Assessors should be twelve in number at least for they The Assessors may be and ordinarily are more besides the President and in some places fourteen besides the President These be the General of the Artillery the Lieutenant-General of the Army the Generals of the Cavalry and Infantry the Lieutenant-Generals and Major-Generals of Horse and Foot the Quarter-master General and such Colonels as the General or Auditor-General thinks fit to appoint After they are conven'd they take their places thus At the head of the Table the President sits alone upon his right hand at the side of the Table sits the General of the Artillery and under him the General of the Cavalry Upon the Presidents left hand at the side of the Table sits the Lieutenant-General of the Army and under him the General of the Foot Under the General of the Cavalry sits the Lieutenant-General Their Precedency of the Cavalry and under the General of the Foot sits the Lieutenant-General of the Foot and in that same order the Major-Generals and next them the General Commissary and General Quarter-master Next them all the Colonels who are called there take their places according to the time they have served as Colonels in that Prince or States service the right side of the Table which is that on the Presidents right hand being more honourable than the other After they have all taken their seats they rise again and hear an Oath read wherein they swear with hands up to be free Their Oath from all malice envy hatred revenge fear and affection and that they shall judg righteously and impartially according to the Laws Constitutions and Articles of War and their own best judgment and conscience So help them God in the great day The Provost-Marshal General is to be the Accuser The Accuser with the help of the Princes Prolocutor-fiscal and to him belongs also the execution of the sentence The lower Court of War is that which is kept in the several Regiments whether Horse or Foot which the Colonels and in their absence the Lieutenant-Colonels may call when ever they think the necessity of their affairs A Regiment Court of War require it A Regiment Court-Marshal may judg and determine in all causes both Civil and Criminal and of all persons except the three Field-Officers within that Regiment The Colonel presides in his absence the Lieutenant-Colonel The President and in his the Major or if none of these be present the oldest Captain but the Regiment-Auditor never nay not in the Swedish Armies In the Regiments of Horse the Colonels Assessors are his Lieutenant-Colonel His Assessors and Major three Rit-masters as many Lieutenants as many Cornets and as many Corporals or more if the Colonel pleaseth In a Regiment of Foot two Captains two Lieutenants two Ensigns two Serjeants two Furers and two Fouriers where such Officers are allowed where not more of the Serjeants and two Corporals They may be in all more than thirteen Their Number but fewer they may not be The Regiments Provost-Marshal presents the accused party with a Guard to the Court of War after the members have sworn as the General Court of Wat useth to do and formally delivers The Accuser his accusation from this Court there may be as I told you before appellation The sentence to be approved by the General in Civil affairs but not in Criminals yet no sentence of death past by a lower Court of War can be executed till the General approves of it and sometimes he remits the examination of it to a superior Court especially when he hath ground to believe that the Regiment-Court hath past either too rigorous or too mild and favourable a sentence And this superior Court call'd in such cases is commonly call'd a Court of Error because it cognosceth Court of Error of the Errors of the inferior ones The Prince or State still retains power to moderate and mitigate the sentence of either of the Courts or graciously to remit and pardon the offence and in their absence their Generals may do the like except in the cases of Les Majesty But after the sentence of either the one Court or the other is prohounced no man that bears charge or office in the Army is permitted to speak for pardon or mitigation unless it be Ensigns to whom something of that nature by custom is indulged and in some places Officers who transgress in this point are punisht with the loss of their places and such as have done so may be sure none will be so kind as to plead for their restoration These Laws Ordinances and Courts of War the sentences of these Courts and execution of these sentences makes up that part of a Militia which ordinarily Discipline of War is called the Discipline of War for the right ordering and regulating whereof an Auditor-General Inferior Auditors a Marshal-General Inferior Provosts Marshals and their Lieutenants with Executioners or Hangmen are absolutely necessary members in all Armies The Auditor-General is he whom we call Judg Marshal and whom some Judg Marshal call Judg-Advocate He ought to be a grave and judicious person
wrong hand for one Martio Colonna bought him from him who had taken him purposely to kill him and poor Amico was killed and by Martio's own hand a very unmartial act and all because Amico had fairly killed a Cousin of Marcio one Stephano Colonna nor had Lex Talionis place here neither The Italions then need not to expostulate with the Turks either for cruelty or inobservance of Quarter given to Prisoners But let us in the next place see how a a Spaniard behaved himself and he was a person of no mean qualility in keeping the Quarter that was given to Prisoners of War When Philip the Second King of Spain had taken Possession of the Kingdom of Portugal his Admiral the Marquess of Santa Crux at a Sea Battle near the Terceras defeated a French Fleet Here was taken Philip Strozzi a Florentine Santa Crux his inhumanity to French Prisoners who was sent as General of the forces ordain'd by Catherine de Medici Queen Mother of France to assist the Prior of Crato with Strozzi were three hundred more taken and had fair quarter promis'd them Strozzi was pitifully wounded and laid down before Santa Crux but neither the quarter promis'd him nor the sad condition of a brave Gentleman nor the consideration of the instability of humane affairs could move Santa Crux to pity him but gave a barbarous order to throw him immediately over-board Nor did his cruelty stop there for by a formal Sentence he beheaded fourscore Gentlemen of the Prisoners all the rest of three hundred that were above seventeen years of age he hang'd those that were under that age he condemn'd to the Galleys An unparallel'd act of Justice I have said before that quarter unless promis'd by Articles should not be given to Fugitives But here a question ariseth If an Officer or a common A question Souldier be taken and be not able to maintain himself in Prison and no care is had by his Superiours either to exchange ransome or maintain him if he be forc'd to take service under the Enemy and be re-taken whether he should be used as a Fugitive or not Here I suppose a distinction will be Answered necessary If he be the natural subject of the Prince or State that makes the War he may not serve their Enemy on any pretence and if he do it he is liable to punishment as a Traytor but if he serve him only as a mercenary it seems disputable for the Grecians and Romans punish'd such of their own as serv'd the Enemy with death but not their Auxiliaries unless they had run over from them to the Enemy but that is not the question for all Run-aways deserve death but these I speak of are not such Yet there was a valiant Knight Capuz Muden who had done Charles the Fifth great services but Severity was none of his Subjects he was taken by the French in Piedmont and having often and in vain sollicited for his exchange or ransome he took service under the French King and after that was taken by the Imperialists in Artois and notwithstanding all his defences had his Head cut off by the Emperours command When that Major General Kniphausen whom I mention'd in the last Chapter was Prisoner with Count Tili he wrote to the King of Sueden whose subject he was not and desir'd to know since he could neither maintain nor ransome himself if he might take imployment under the Emperour the King told all those who were with him That the Major General ask'd him the question Whether he might lawfully be a Knave or not Intimating thereby that he might not for all his Imprisonment break his Military Oath But for all that I have known thousands take service in that manner and never challeng'd for it when they have been re-taken Inexorable necessity dispensing oft with transgressions of that kind To make those Prisoners who have not taken Arms but live in amity with Injustice in making some Prisoners both parties only because they are suspected to favour one party more than the other hath little of the Law of Arms in it and less of that of Conscience Herein the famous Count of Mansfeld is inexcusable for putting Guards on the Earl of East-Friezeland when he had quarter'd his Army in his County So was the Suedish Felt-Marshal Banier for sending one of the Dukes of Saxon-Lauenburg and the Lord Arnheim Prisoners to Sueden Neither can the late King of Sueden be well excused for seizing on the persons of the Duke and Dutchess of Courland The securing of the Dutchess as well as her Husband the Duke minds me of a question Whether Women should be made Prisoners of War it is certain Whether Women should be Prisoners of War if taken in ancient and later times too they were taken and ransom'd or exchang'd or made slaves yet it would seem since Nature hath generally exempted that Sex from making War they cannot properly be made Prisoners of War The Mahometans notwithstanding make Slaves of them And I suppose in our late Wars they were not ordinarily made Prisoners rather because the custome of it is worn out than that it is abrogated by any Law It is not yet 130 years since some French Captains under Francis the First took some Spanish Ladies Prisoners at Perpignan and would have put them to ransome but that generous King gave a summ of money to those who had taken them and sent them home to their Husbands without ransome Now it is not like he would have bought them from his own Officers if he had not thought they had some right to them by the Law of War The great Cyrus did well in preserving the honour and chastity of the fair Panthea taken Prisoner in the War but Some instances of it he had done better to have sent her home to her Husband Abradates Alexander did well to use Darius his Mother Wife and Daughters honourably but he had done better to have sent them home to the Persian King either for or without ransome Selimus the First as barbarous and cruel a Tyrant as he was known to be shew'd more generosity in this point than both of them for the noise of the Turks Cannon having rather frighted the Persian Horses than chac'd the Sophi Isaâ—ael out of the Calderan Plains his Horse-men took a number of noble Persian Ladies Prisoners whom the Great Turk sent home to their Husbands without ransome and without any violence done to their persons or honours But Prisoners of War having got fair quarter promis'd them and honestly Slavery remitted by Christians kept What shall be done with them Assuredly they must be either enslaved exchang'd or ransom'd As to the first we are to know that after the great Constantine suffer'd the Christian Faith to be preach'd without interruption over most of the then known World men remitted much of the severity of the Law of War and Nâ—tions to Prisoners And Slavery which makes men differ but
another place of the Military Punishments and Rewards of the Ancients I have likewise spoke of our Modern Military Laws where observe that most of them threaten Punishment few or none promise Reward the first is due to Transgressors the second is ex beneplacito because all men are bound to do their duty yet Princes and States have rewarded Vertue of late times as well as the Ancients did I shall speak of Punishments and then of Rewards Though Princes and States have their several Laws of War yet all agree Punishment of Capital crimes Treason that Treason against the Prince in betraying either his Forts Forces or Munitions should be punish'd with an ignominious Death but the crime should be throughly examin'd by the Judge Marshal and Court of War whereof I have formerly spoke Mutiny against Command or Superiour Mutiny Officers is punishable by Death If it cannot be compesc'd without force either all or most of the Army are to be call'd together to cut the Mutineers in pieces But if a Mutiny be quieted without blood in doing whereof both Courage and Prudence are requisite then ordinarily the ring-leaders are to dye and the rest are eitheir all pardon'd or all to run the Gatloupe or the tenth man of them is to suffer death which custome is borrow'd from the Ancient Romans If Officers run away from the Mutineers and leave them mutinying the Law of War orders them to dye unless they can make it appear that either they had kill'd some of the Mutineers or had been wounded themselves by them But it is not to be denied that too many of them are more ready to give a rise and beginning to a Mutiny than to put an end to it The Death of a Mutineer should be ignominious and therefore it should be hanging or breaking on a Wheel All crimes that are Capital by the Civil Law Many more are so also by Martial Law as Wilful Murther Robbery Theft Incest Sodomy and others needless to be rehears'd But Martial Law makes many crimes Capital which the Civil and Municipal Law doth not Such are to desert the Colours to Sleep on Sentinel to be drunk on a Watch to draw a Sword or strike at a Superiour many times these are pardon'd and very oft they are punish'd with Death when a General thinks Justice more convenient than Mercy To be absent from a Watch by some Military Laws is Capital but seldome put in execution Yet I find in the Reign of Henry the Second of France that one Granvillâ—n a German Severe Justice Colonel in a Court of War condemn'd an Ensign bearer to be hang'd for playing at Dice in his Lodging when the Company was on Watch and he put the Sentence in execution The crime of Cowardize is by the Law of â—aâ— Cowardise Capital but should be well examin'd by the Auditor and the matter made clear in a Court of War before Sentence be past because it and Treason taints the Blood of the parties To run away in time of service either in the Field or from the Assaults of Towns Forts and Out-works brings Death upon the guilty or that which to generous Spirits is worse than death that is to have their Swords broke over their Heads by the hand of the Hangman and so turn'd out of the Army and this I have known more frequently practis'd than death inflicted but the Instances I could give are too fresh and therefore I shall tell you only of one about a hundred years ago At the Siege of Dinan Gaspar Coligni that famous Admiral of France commanded some Ensign-bearers to run with their Colours to the Assault of the breach they did not go pretending the place was too dangerous for the Kings Colours for they might chance to be taken by the Enemy for which the Admiral caus'd all their Swords to be broke over their Heads by a Hang-man in view An ignominious punishment of his whole Army It will be about two or three and thirty years since Leopold Arch-Duke of Austria and his Lieutenant General Piccolomini caused a Regiment of Horse to be cut in pieces and all the Officers to be hanged in the place where-ever they could be apprehended without any Process or Sentence of a Court of War because it was well known that the whole Regiment had run An exemplary and deserved punishment away in a full body without fighting at the second Battel of Leipsick where the Suedish Felt-marshal Torstenson gain'd the Victory over the Imperialists I have spoke in the last Chapter of the punishment due to those Governours who give over Forts sooner than they need and gave you some instances but now I shall tell you that by some Articles of War the whole Garrison is lyable to punishment which is to be Pioneers to the rest of the Army I dare say A severe Law nothing against the Justice of this Law but I think if the Garrison disobey the Governour and do not march out at his command he pretending the Prince or Generals order for what he does all of it may undergo the censure and punishment of Mutiny But many Laws are made ad terrorem which do but little good I think the Turkish Punishments not imitable by those who profess the name Inhumane punishments of Christ such as are roasting at slow fires flaying quick and gaunching the manner of this last is to throw the condemned person from the top of a Tower or a high Wall the place where he is to fall being all beset with Iron pricks and the wretch is happy if his Head Breast or Belly fall on one of them for thereby he may be soon dispatched but if a Leg Arm or Thigh catch hold he must hang till extremity of pain hunger thirst and the fowls of the air put an end to his miserable life The Muscovites for a Military Punishment can whip to death and that is cruel enough They and other Christians can impale condemned persons on wooden Stakes and Spits which in some extraordinary cases is also practised in Germany and I have heard that Hang-men can so artificially do it that the woful Delinquent will sometimes live three days in unspeakable torture When Mahomet the Great saw a Valley in Valachia beset with these Stakes and Wheels on which some thousands of Men and Women lay executed it is said that he much commended the Vayvod or Prince of that Countrey for a good Justitiary so near did the one of their tempers both barbarous and cruel resemble the other The fairest and justest way of Punishment is by Courts of War if the case do not require a present animadversion And that Court is to judge and give Sentence according to the Military Laws of the Prince or State in whose service the Army is When the Sentence is pronounced the General may either Generals may pardon pardon the offender or delay the execution or alter the manner of his death The most honourable
left an Honourable employment in which he had gain'd much reputation and went to his own Countrey to commence a War against his Prince for being illiterate he was not able to discern that he was fighting against Gods Ordinances when he suffer'd himself to be perswaded by some skilful and learned men that he was to fight for the cause of God That Souldier who serves or fights for any Prince or State for wages in a cause he knows to be unjust sins damnably and stands in need of both a sudden and serious repentance But alas how few of them can discern and again alas how few of them study to discern and inform themselves of the Justice or Unjustice of a cause Besides it is the sad fate of many of them that being engaged in a foreign Prince's service even in a just cause when that War is at an end the Prince begins a new War and an unjust one but will not permit his Souldiers to leave his service as being tyed to him by their Military Sacrament yet I think if foreign Souldiers knew the War to be unjust in such a case they should desert their employments and suffer any thing that can be done to them before they draw their Swords against their own Consciences and Judgements in an unjust quarrel Grotius tells us that St. Austin says Militare non est delictum propter praedam St. Austinâ— defended militare est peccatum To be a Souldier says the Father is no crime but to serve in the Wars for booty is a sin and I shall say so too Yet neither St. Austin nor Grotius dare aver but a Souldier after the Victory may take a share of the booty It was a common practice of Gods people the Israelites and it is no where forbidden in Gods word Austine's meaning then must be to fight meerly for Booty without any other motive is a sin and so I say too But observe that the Father says not Militare propter mercedem est peccatum To fight for wages is a sin for indeed iâ— is no sin for a meer Souldier to serve for wages unless his Conscience tells him he fights in an unjust cause but Grotius adds Imo propter stipendium militare peccaâ—um est si id unice praecipâ—e spectâ—â—ur Yea to fight for wages says he is a sin if wages be chiefly and only look'd to What if I grant him all this it will not follow that the profession of pure and only Souldiery without any other trade is unlawful If some Souldiers serve only for wages without any consideration of the cause all do not â—o But what if the Souldier cannot know whether the cause for which he fights be just or unjust nay what if he conceive the cause to be most just whâ—n it is truly in it self most unjust shall we not presume that in such a case invincible Ignorance may plead an excuse with a merciful God assuredly it should prevail much with the charity Christ hath commanded men to bear one to another I am of the opinion if De Grot had writ thus when his Masters the Estates of the Sâ—vâ—n Vnited Provinces commenc'd their War against the King of Spain they would have given him but very sorry thanks for such doctrine for they stood then in great need of men as perhaps they do this very day and whether their quarrel with Philip the Second who undoubtedly was their Soveraign one way or other was just or unjust was strongly debated among the wiâ—est States-men Politicians Divines and Lawyers in all Europe and therefore could not be discerned by every dull and block-headed Souldier it was enough for them to believe what their Masters said That the cause was just and therefore very lawful for them to serve for wages And if those Estates had not begun the War till all those who serv'd them whose only trade was Souldiery had been satisfied in their Judgements and Consciences concerning the justice of the War I dare affirm they had never been either Free or Soveraign Estates What Judgement shall we make of all the Civil Wars of Germany France and Great Britain certainly the cause of both parties could not be just and yet no doubt all or most of each party thought their own cause the most just and the only just cause shall we therefore cast all whose quarrel was most unjust into the ever-burning flames of Hell God forbid Ignorance was the greatest sin of most of them though it may be feared many of the Leaders of the faction sinn'd against Conscience and Judgement The late King of Sueden Charles Gustavus invaded Poland in the year 1655. examine the matter rightly it was a most perfect breach of the twenty six years Truce concluded and sworn in the year 1635. there being yet six years to run but the poverty of the Suedish Court of the Grandees and General persons concurring with the unlimited Ambition of that Martial King trod upon all bonds of Equity Law and Justice and carried on that Invasion and that Kings Manifesto though the poorest that ever was published was so gilded over with seeming reasons for the justification of his Arms that thousands not piercing further than the external pretences were fool'd into a belief that the cause was just and were content to serve him for pay What Court of Justice can condemn those Innocents for sin yet if De Grot presided in it they would be condemn'd to the Gallows and perhaps worse as fedifragous and perjur'd Breakers of the Laws of Nations Robbers and Thieves It is question Whether those Souldiers who made their address to John the John the Baptist Baptist serv'd in a just and lawful War or not For my part I think they did not yet they serv'd their Master the Roman Emperour for pay and thought the cause just which I am confident justified their service in an ill cause otherwise the Baptist was oblig'd to tell them their quarrel was unjust and if they continued in that service they sinn'd damnably but he rather encourag'd them to serve still and be content with their pay and wrong no man Grotius would have handled them more roughly That the cause wherein they serv'd was unjust and unlawful I demonstrate thus Whether Pompey and Crâ—ssus made War in the name of the Roman Senate against the Jews justly and lawfully shall not be the debate though I think they did not but whether that War was just or not Julius Câ—sar usurping the State alter'd the case for as he had no just right to the Soveraignty of Rome so he had as little to Judea After his death the Senate and People of Rome resumes the Soveraignty but kept it not long for it was soon taken from them by Octavius Antony and Lepidus and so reduc'd to a Triumvirate Antony and Octavius quickly robb'd Lepidus of his third and so divided the Empire into two parts each of them usurping the Soveraignty of his own share to which neither of them