Their inspection did not extend to the troops of the household, the French, or Swiss guards, nor to the regiment du Roi infanterie. The artillery were also out of their superintendance.
Previous to the French revolution, there were eleven inspectors of infantry, and eleven of cavalry attached to the French army. There was likewise one inspector general of infantry, and one inspector general of cavalry.
Inspecteur de construction, Fr. an officer in the French army, in whose presence all plans and profiles for fortification, &c. were drawn, before any work could be undertaken. An accurate estimate was made of the wood which would be required to complete it. It was likewise a part of his duty to point out to the carpenters the precise method by which ground, plans, and elevations, forts, batteries, and bridges, &c. were to be conducted. It was his business, in a word, to attend to the construction and repair of every part of a fortification.
INSPECTING officer of a district, a responsible character, selected from the line, who is nominated by the war-office, to superintend the troops, stations, and recruiting parties, within the limits of his station.
Field officers of districts may order detachment courts-martial, to be composed of the recruiting officers in their districts, in the usual number and ranks, and they may approve of every such court martial, and to direct the punishment awarded thereby to be executed, mitigated or remitted, as they shall think expedient. They are to receive orders from the adjutant general respecting the nature of their returns; and all returns and reports are to come to the inspector general through them. Each district field officer in the British service has an allowance of ten shillings a day, in addition to the full pay of his respective regimental rank, and he is to be reimbursed for the actual expence he incurs for stationary and postage of letters; which charge must be accompanied by a certificate upon honor.
Each district field officer is allowed to appoint a subaltern officer (not employed upon the recruiting service) to act as adjutant in the district. The pay or allowance of such subaltern is three shillings a day in addition to his full regimental pay; he is also authorised to nominate two serjeants, with the additional pay of sixpence each, one to act as serjeant major, and the other as clerk to the district.
Each field officer may moreover give directions to the hospital mate, who is placed under his orders, to examine the recruits when brought for inspection, and to give such medical assistance as may be in his power, to the several recruiting parties in the district he belongs to.
When colonels of regiments take upon themselves the whole direction of the recruiting service for their own corps, they must conform to the regulations which require returns to be made to the inspector general of the recruiting service; and they must instruct their officers to send weekly returns to the regulating field officer, in whose district they are stationed, of all the casualties that have occurred.
INSPECTION, a strict examination, a close survey. It likewise signifies superintendance. In a military sense it admits of both interpretations, and may be considered under two specific heads, each of which branches out into a variety of general, regimental, and company duties.
A general Inspection is made annually by the reviewing generals of districts. Every regiment, on this occasion, is minutely looked into, and a faithful account must be delivered by each commanding officer of the actual state of his regiment, together with all the casualties that have occurred during the current year. The interior economy of the corps is not only investigated to the bottom, but the discipline of the men is likewise examined. For a more particular explanation of the latter, see [Review].