It differs from the preceding way chiefly by its having the
co-operation of the local authorities. The supply in this case must not
be carried off forcibly just from the spot where it is found, but be
regularly delivered according to an equitable division of the burden.
This division can only be made by the recognised official authorities
of the country.
In this all depends on time. The more time there is, the more general
can the division be made, the less will it press on individuals, and
the more regular will be the result. Even purchases may be made with
ready money to assist, in which way it will approach the mode which
follows next in order (Magazines). In all assemblages of troops in
their own country there is no difficulty in subsisting by regular
requisitions; neither, as a rule, is there any in retrograde movements.
On the other hand, in all movements into a country of which we are not
in possession, there is very little time for such arrangements, seldom
more than the one day which the advanced guard is in the habit of
preceding the army. With the advanced guard the requisitions are sent
to the local officials, specifying how many rations they are to have
ready at such and such places. As these can only be furnished from the
immediate neighbourhood, that is, within a circuit of a couple of miles
round each point, the collections so made in haste will never be nearly
sufficient for an army of considerable strength, and consequently, if
the troops do not carry with them enough for several days, they will
run short. It is therefore the duty of the commissariat to economise
what is received, and only to issue to those troops who have nothing.
With each succeeding day, however, the embarrassment diminishes; that
is to say, if the distances from which provisions can be procured
increase in proportion to the number of days, then the superficial area
over which the contributions can be levied increases as the squares of
the distances gained. If on the first day only four square miles have
been drawn upon, on the next day we shall have sixteen, on the third,
thirty-six; therefore on the second day twelve more than on the first,
and on the third day twenty more than on the second.
Of course this is a mere rough estimate of what may take place, subject
to many modifying circumstances which may intervene, of which the
principal is, that one district may not be capable of contributing like
another. But on the other hand, we must also remember that the radius
within which we can levy may increase more than two miles a day in
width, perhaps three or four, or in many places still more.
The due execution of these requisitions is enforced by detachments
placed under the orders of the official functionaries, but still more
by the fear of responsibility, punishment, and ill-treatment which, in
such cases, like a general weight, presses on the whole population.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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