All clothing must be viewed, and certificates be signed by both inspectors, except in cases where the absence of one of them shall be unavoidable; in all which cases the cause of such absence is to be stated by the other inspector, in his certificate of the view of the clothing.
Inspectors of clothing are to follow all instructions which may be transmitted to them from the commander in chief, or the secretary at war.
Inspector of hospitals, the next on the staff to the surgeon general.
INSTALLATION, the act of investing any one with a military order.
INSTRUCTION des procés criminel, Fr. A military form or process in criminal matters. In the old French service when troops were in garrison, it was the duty of the town-major to issue out the regular form of proceeding against all officers, serjeants, and soldiers who were accused of crimes or misdemeanors. The majors of corps exercised this function when troops were encamped. There was a specific form, subject only to a few alterations with respect to terms and expressions, by which all sorts of military crimes were investigated. Desertion was the chief and most prevalent crime among French soldiers. It became the peculiar business of the major, whether in garrison or in the field, to explain and bring forward every thing that might establish the truth of the accusation; and he acted on this occasion, as an attorney general does in civil matters; only with this difference, that the latter explained the grounds of his indictment before a judge, whereas the former not only exposed the nature of the case, but drew his own conclusions, and bounded his verdict.
Those officers who may be disposed to enter more largely into the subject of French military process, as conducted before the revolution, may be satisfied by perusing Le Code Militaire, ou deuxieme volume du service de l’Infanterie, page 123; and we refer all British officers in general to M. Tytler’s late publication on English military law.
Major Macomb of the United States engineers has published a very judicious and concise tract adapted to the military service of the Union; and it is adopted by the war office.
Military INSTRUMENTS (instrumens militaires.) Fr. By the sound of military instruments the troops belonging to the several armies in Europe, &c. are directed in their various movements.
The instruments which are peculiar to the cavalry of most nations are the trumpet and the cymbal. In France, dragoon regiments in general formerly adopted the drum in common with the infantry, they now use the trumpet for garrison, and the bugle for the field service. A certain number of fifers are likewise allowed in foot regiments. Hautboys and clarinets do not form any part of the music which is sanctioned and paid for by the public. Colonels of corps, however, frequently entertain a band either at their own expence, or out of what is called the stock-purse.
The principal military instruments which were used among the ancients, whether for cavalry or infantry, consisted of the trumpet, the cornet, and the buccina or French horn.