A'MBULANCE, a military term which is somewhat differently applied in different countries. In France, an A. is a portable hospital, one of which is attached to every division of an army in the field, and provided with all the requisites for the medical succor of sick or wounded troops. Such an A. is stationed at some spot removed from immediate danger; and soldiers are sedulously employed after a battle in seeking out those who have fallen, and conveying them to the A. Baron Larrey, during the great wars of the First Napoleon, brought this department of medical business to a high degree of efficiency, and set an example to the rest of Europe. When England engaged in war with Russia in 1854, the A. arrangements, like many others relating to the army, were in a very imperfect state. In the English army, A., strictly speaking, means a field hospital with all its wagons, litters, tents, cooking canteen, &c-; but sometimes the name is applied to a four-wheeled wagon or a two-wheeled cart fitted up for the reception of wounded men. When Lord Raglan was about to be sent out with the army, Dr. Guthrie, President of the College of Surgeons, devised a new form of A. cart; while Dr. Andrew Smith, Director-general of the Army and Ordnance Medical Department, invented a new A. wagon.

Annexed is a figure of Dr. Guthrie's A. cart. The badly wounded were laid on it at full length, while those slightly hurt sat in front and rear, and on the sides. A stretcher is slung from the top for the accommodation of the former. The back-board is let down for cases requiring amputation. The hospital chests are lashed underneath. Many of Smith's A. wagons and of Guthrie's A. carts were at once made and sent out to the East; but they were not at the proper place when most wanted. After the battle of the Alma, the English were almost entirely destitute of means for conveying their wounded down to the beach; but the French had for this purpose a large number of camlets, suggested to them by their experience in Algeria. Each of these consists of two easy-chairs, slung in panniers across the back of a mule; and it is accordingly available along tracks where no wheel-carriage could pass. These cacolets have since been adopted in the English army, as well as improved, hand-litters, wheeled-litters or barrows, and ambulance wagons on a more modern model than those of Smith and Guthrie, but having the same general character. The American War, the wars of 1866 and 1870, and above all, the growth of volunteer aid societies under the influence of the Geneva Convention of 1866 (which gave to the wounded and their attendants the privileges of neutrality), have largely developed the ambulance equipments of every European army. Every international exhibition now contains an immense number of designs for the safe transport of the wounded. The most remarkable step taken in this direction has been the organization of railway ambulances. Trains of carriages either built for the purpose, or adapted from the ordinary rolling stock, can now be fitted up as moving hospitals, with their staff of surgeons and attendants; and by means of these railway ambulances the wounded can be safely and rapidly removed from the encumbered field hospitals to the permanent hospitals of the great cities of their own country. All the fittings for thus adapting railway trains to hospital purposes are now kept permanently m store in many of the countries of the continent.

PRIVATEE'R, a ship owned by a private individual, which, under government permission expressed by a Letter of Marque (q. v.), makes war upon the shipping of a hostile power. To make war upon an enemy without this commission, or upon the shipping of a nation not specified in it, is piracy. Privateering was abolished by mutual agreement among European nations by the Treaty of Paris in 1856. It is doubtful, however, how far that abolition would stand in a general war, for privateering is the natural resource of a nation whose regular navy is too weak to make head against the maritime power of the enemy, especially when the latter offers the temptation of a wealthy commerce.

A'RTICLES OF WAR are regulations made for the government of the military and naval forces of the country. They are of three classes—1. Those relating to the army, including therein the forces in India, according to the provisions of the 21 and 22 Vict. c. 106; 2. Those relating to the marine forces; and 3. Those relating to the navy.

1. A. of W. for the Army.—These regulations were formerly issued under the authority of the annual MUTINY ACT (q.v.). By the 68th sect. of the Army Discipline and Regulation Act, 1879, Articles of War can be made by the Queen for the better government of the forces, other than the marines, to whom that Act relates. The Admiralty enjoys like power in the case of marines. The Articles are to be judicially taken notice of by all judges and in all courts whatsoever; provided that no person shall by such A. of W. be subject to be kept in penal servitude, or to suffer any punishment extending to life or limb, except for crimes which the Act declares shall be so punishable. And for the enforcement of such A. of W., a power is given to the Crown to erect, or grant authority to convene, courts-martial to try and punish offences according to the Articles. In order, however, to limit the power conceded to the Crown in this matter, it is enacted that nothing therein contained shall be construed to exempt any officer or soldier from being proceeded against by the ordinary course of law; and that when he is accused of any offence against a subject of the realm, punishable by the laws of the land, he shall be delivered to the civil magistrate. The offences against which these A. of W. are directed, relate to the soldier's duties and obligations; to crimes and offences and their punishments; to courts-martial; and to rank. The crimes and offences referred to are those against divine worship, perjury, mutiny and insubordination, desertion and absence without leave; offences in the field, camp, garrison, or quarters; drunkenness, disgraceful conduct, false returns, billets and carriages, recruiting and miscellaneous offences. By the third Article it is ordered that every recruit shall, within ninety-six hours, have the 40th and 46th Articles read to him, and shall within ninety-six hours, but not sooner than twenty-four, make the following oath before some qualified authority: 'I do make oath, That I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty, her heirs arid successors, and that I will, as in duty bound, honestly and faithfully defend Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, in person, crown, and dignity, against all enemies, and will observe and obey all orders of Her Majesty, her heirs and successors, and of the and officers set over me. So help me God.' The 191st Article is to the effect, that whenever any forces shall have embarked on board ships of war or transports, the officers and soldiers shall, from the time of embarkation, strictly conform themselves to the laws and regulations established for the government and discipline of the ship; and shall consider themselves, for these purposes, under the command of the senior officer of the particular ship, as well as under the superior officer of the fleet (if any), to which such ship belongs. See A. of W. for the Marine Forces.

2. A. of W. for the Marine Forces, till 1879 made under the authority of another annual Mutiny Act, are now regulated by the Discipline Act. Unlike the A. of W. for the army, they do not issue directly from the Crown, but are made by the Lord High Admiral, or by the commissioners for executing that office, but they are authorized so to be made by the last-mentioned Mutiny Act. With this exception, they are much the same as the A. of W. for the army. They relate exclusively, however, to the marine forces while on shore, and this specialty is expressed in the preamble of the Act, which recites that ' the said forces may frequently be quartered, or be on shore, or sent to do duty, or be on board transport-ships, or merchant-ships, or vessels, or they may be under other circumstances in which they will not be subject to laws relating to the government of Her Majesty's forces by sea.’ While doing duty in any of Her Majesty's ships or vessels in commission, the marines, like other naval forces, are subject to the A. of W. for the government of the navy.

3. A. of W. for the Navy.—In regard to such regulations, the navy is differently situated. It is not governed by any annual Mutiny Act, but the A. of W. relating to it are contained in the Naval Discipline Act, 29 and 30 Vict. c. 109 (1866), which supplies the law of the sea-service. The Naval A. of W. were eminently Draconian, but by the Naval Courts vastly mitigated in practice. The first Naval A. of W. authorized by parliament were contained in the 13 Chas. II. c. 9, said to have been drawn up by Admiral Montague, afterwards Earl of Sandwich, with the approbation of Chancellor Clarendon and other members of the privy council. But the statute and subsequent supplementary Acts were repealed by the 22 Geo. II. c. 33, the forerunner of the later Naval Discipline Act. See Mr. Prendergast's Law of the Navy, 1852, Part I p. 15.

The Mutiny Act and the Marine Mutiny Act, both now supervised by the above Act of 1879, vested power to make Articles of War in the Crown and Admiralty respectively. These were very voluminous, and often merely a repetition of the clauses of the Mutiny Act, while including others relating to lesser crimes and punishments than there mentioned, as also more details as to the constitution and procedure of courts-martial. The Army Discipline and Regulation Act has so far incorporated the Mutiny Acts and the Articles published with them, that there seems but little necessity for further A. of W. to issue; while rules of procedure, issued by the Crown, under the authority of the Act, and concurred in by the Admiralty, are now published with the Act.

SPI'THEAD FORTS. The troubled state of European politics which gave rise in 1859 to the Volunteer movement, led also to the recommendation of an extensive plan of defence for the arsenals and coast. A Board of Commissioners drew up a scheme for these defences, to cost about £5,000.000, of which a sum of £2,000,000 was for Portsmouth, Spithead, and the neighboring coast. At present, the entrance to the important arsenal and dockyard at Portsmouth is defended by Fort Moncktou on the Gosport side, Southsea Castle on the opposite side, Cumberland Fort at the entrance to Langston Harbor, Lumps and Eastney Forts between the two last named, and some defensive lines between the island of Portsea and the mainland. £580.000 was voted in 1860 as a beginning, to increase the number and strength of these forts, to build detached forts on shoals in the sea between the mainland and the Isle of Wight, and to raise fortified lines on Portsdown Hill (the principal work being Fort South-wick), wholly northward of Portsmouth Harbor. The works were commenced; but the often-conflicting lessons furnished by the American war led to much delay and endless variations of plan.

The National Defence Commissioners had proposed five advanced forts on the shoals known as Horse Sand, Noman or No Man's Land Shoal, Sturbridge Shoal, Spit Point, and a point intervening between Horse Sand and Portsea Island. But after much discussion and numerous alterations of plan, it was only in 1864 that it was determined to proceed with the foundations at least of two—the Horse and the Noman forts. The foundation of eacli fort consists of rings of stone-work, laid on the leveled bed of the shoal, tapering a little upwards from a width of 54feet to one of 43 feet; the outer diameter of the ring gradually lessening from 231 to 213 feet. From 20 to 15 feet of sub-marine masonry is required. Outside the rings of stone are layers of rubble, to protect the stone-work from the action of tidal rush. Two years later, similar forts were begun on SpitBank and St. Helens shoal. In 1865 a mortar batterjr had been erected at Puckpool in the Isle of Wight, commanding at long range the approach to Spithead-In 1868, after it had been found impossible to secure a foundation for a fifth fort on the Sturbridge shoal. Puckpool Battery was strengthened and armed with 30 mortars and four 25-ton guns.

All this time the government had not determined which of three modes to adopt for constructing the forts—whether to form them entirely of iron; or of granite faced with iron; or simply of granite, leaving the facing for after-consideration. The plan most in favor with the government in 1866 was to erect on each of the foundations at Spithead a revolving iron fort or tower of enormous magnitude.

Circumstances in 1867 induced the government again to pause. Experiments on the Hodman 15-inch and 20-inch guns led some engineers to believe that no iron casing for forts could resist shot of 500 Ibs. to 1100 Ibs. from such ordnance; while the rolling of an armor plate 15 inches thick (see ARMOR-PLATES) revived the hopes of those who believe that armor will eventually vanquish guns. Finally, the forts are nearly finished, of a granite core, surrounded by a great thickness of iron plates. Above each fort are revolving turrets carrying 35-ton guns, which throw shells of 700 Ibs. The inner line of defence has been strengthened by new works at Gilkicker, Southsea Castle, &c., and by the increase in the size of the guns, and the additon of iron shields in the embrasures.

LEGION,THE THUNDERING-(Lat. Legio Fulminatrix), a legion of the Roman army which is the subject of a well-known miracu­lous legend. During Marcus Aurelius's war with the Marcomanni (174A.D.),his army, according to this narrative, being shut up in a mountainous defile, was reduced to great straits by want of water; when, a body of Christian soldiers having prayed to the God of the Christians, not only was rain sent seasonably to relieve their thirst, but this rain was turned upon the enemy in the shape of a fearful thunder-shower, under cover of which the Romans attacked and utterly routed them. The legion to which these soldiers belonged was thence, according to one of the nar­rators, called the Thundering Legion. This legend has been the subject of much controversy; and it is certain that the last told circumstance at least is false, as the name ' thundering legion ' existed long before the date of this story. There would appear, nevertheless, to have been some foundation for the story, however it may have been embellished by the pious zeal of the Chris­tians. The scene is represented on the column of Antonius. The event is recorded by the pagan historian Dion Cassius (lxxi. 8), who attributes it to Egyptian sorcerers; and by Capitolinus and Themistius, the latter of whom ascribes it to the prayers of Aurelius himself. It is appealed to by the nearly contemporary Tertullian, in his Apology (c. 5), and is circumstantially related by Eusebius, by Jerome, and Orosius. It may not improbably be conjectured, supposing the substantial truth of the narrative, that the fact of one of the legions being called by the name ' Thundering ' may have led to the localizing of the story, and that it may have, in consequence, been ascribed to this particular legion, which was supposed to have received its name from the circum­stance.