THE

MILITARY FORCES AND INSTITUTIONS

OF

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

THE

MILITARY FORCES & INSTITUTIONS

OF

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND:

THEIR

Constitution, Administration, and Government,
Military and Civil.

AUTHOR OF

BY

H. BYERLEY THOMSON, Esq.,

OF THE INNER TEMPLE,

"THE LAWS OF WAR AFFECTING COMMERCE AND SHIPPING."

LONDON:

SMITH, ELDER, & CO., 65, CORNHILL.

1855.

631. a. 22.

PREFACE.

In the present work, the Author has made it his object to present a comprehensive and accurate, though necessarily general, account of all matters relating to the Military and Civil Constitution, Administration and Government of the Military Services of Great Britain; and also of the Laws relating to the Army, the Marines, the Militia, and the various corps of Volunteers. His aim has been, also, to perform this task in such a manner as to render the book interesting to the general reader, as well as useful to the military officer.

More than thirty years ago, an intelligent officer of the Artillery of France produced the first work, and up to the present time the only one, descriptive of the Military Forces of Great Britain; then holding, by right of their recent victories in the