Watering PARTY. See Watering.
Firing PARTY, those who are selected to fire over the grave of any one interred with military honors, if below the rank of brigadier-general; for the specific number of which the party is to consist, &c.—See [Burials].
Working Parties. These consist of small detachments of men under the immediate command and superintendance of officers who are employed on fatigues which are not purely of a military nature. They are generally called fatigue duties, being different from those of parade, or of exercise in the field. They principally consist in digging canals, repairing roads, working on fortifications, except such as may be constructed in the field, or upon actual service. An addition is made to their pay, as a reward for their labor, and a compensation for their extraordinary wear of necessaries: half of which should always be paid into the hands of the captains, and commanding officers of companies, for this latter purpose. It has been judiciously observed in a note to the treatise on Military Finance, that British troops might in time of peace, be employed much oftener than they are on works of this nature, with equal advantage to the public and to themselves. This remark becomes more forcibly apposite since the adoption of canals through the country.
PAS, Fr. Pace. A measure in fortification. The French divide their pas, or pace, into two kinds—pas commun, or ordinary pace, and pas geometrique, or geometrical pace. The ordinary pace consists of two feet; and the geometrical pace contains five royal feet, or five pieds du roi. The itinerary distance which the Italians call a mile, consists of one thousand geometrical paces; and three miles make a French league.
Pas oblique, Fr. Oblique step, now exploded.
Pas ordinaire, Fr. Ordinary time.
Pas ordinaire direct, Fr. Front step in ordinary time.
Pas precipite, Fr. Double quick time.
Pas de charge, Fr. Charging time.
Pas cadencé, Fr. Cadenced step.