BATTA, in relation to the British army in India, is an allowance in addition to the ordinary pay of officers. The pay is fixed; but the B. varies according to the part of the country in which the troops are placed, and also depends on the circumstance of their being in the field or in cantonments. If in the field, or more than 200 m. from the presidential government cities, the officers receive full B.; if in the garrison, or in cantonment within that distance, half batta. During the troubles of 1857 and 1858, the government was frequently embarrassed in determining whether particular officers were entitled to full or half B., owing to the confusion into which the whole military system was temporarily thrown. BATTALION is the unit of command in infantry. It comprises the largest number of men who, when drawn up in array, can conveniently hear the word of command from an officer. In whatever ways the armies of Europe differ in other particulars, they seldom depart very far from a mean war-strength of 1000 men per battalion. Two or more of those units combine to form a regiment (with exceptions presently to be noticed); and those regiments are further aggregated into brigades, divisions, and corps d'armée, or other large groupings. The unit, or B., is divided into wings, and these into companies and squads. The continental regiments are for the most part so large as to comprise several battalions each; but the British infantry regiments, in time of peace, have mostly only one B. each. The usual way of increasing the British infantry in war-time is, not by creating new regiments, but by increasing the number of battalions per regiment, and of companies per battalion. In 1878, there were 110 regiments of line-infantry; of these, 83 had only 1 battalion each, 25 had 2 battalions, and 2 had as many as 4. The full complement of a B. is usually 12 companies; and when these are drawn up on parade, two ranks in depth, the two choice companies, called the 'grenadier" and the "light-infantry" companies, are placed at the right and left extremities of the whole line; the other eight companies, each designated by a number or letter, being between them. In this form, the front of a B. of 1000 men is about 390 yards in length. An English B. of 900 private soldiers approaches near 1100 strong when the officers, etc., are included. The following may be taken as the component elements, under the average war arrangements of the British service: 10 regimental staff-officers (lieut.col., 2 majors, adjutant, instructor in musketry, surgeon, paymaster, and quartermaster); 36 company officers (capt., lieut., and sub-lieut.); I warrant officer (regimental school-master); 10 non-commissioned staff officers (staff and chief sergeants); 50 non-commissioned company officers (color-sergeants and sergeants); 900 rank and file (50 corporals, 850 privates, and 24 drummers). The relation which the B. bears to the regiment, in various details of discipline and service, will be better noticed under REGIMENT; while a few related matters of a more general nature will be found treated under BRITISH ARMY. In the regular army of the United States, infantry regiments have one battalion ; cavalry and artillery have two. Detachments of more than a company and less than a regiment are frequently called battalions. The number in a battalion is quite arbitrary varying between one hundred and one thousand. A battalion detached from the regi ment is usually commanded by a lieutenant-colonel. See INFANTRY. BAT TAS, a people inhabiting that part of Sumatra between 0° 20′ and 2° 30′ n. lat. They claim to be the first settlers of Sumatra, and cling to the customs of their ancestors. The B. are light-brown, of middle stature, have somewhat prominent features, and long hair. They believe in a supreme Creator, and the influence of good and evil spirits. The men are lazy, and engage in hunting, while the women grow rice, collect pepper for trade, weave and dye cloth. They make white earthenware, iron implements, and ornaments of gold, copper, iron, and shells. Their houses are of wood, and the villages have earthen walls. The B. are partly independent and partly governed by the Dutch. The language is a Malay dialect, written on bamboos, in a peculiar alphabet and has some prose literature containing riddles, stories of witchcraft, etc. A man may have many wives, paying a dowry of ten buffaloes for a chief's daughter. and five for one of lower rank. Cannibalism formerly prevailed, the victims being only murderers, prisoners of war, and adulterers. Women were never eaten. See Nature (vol. 46, 1892). BATTASZEK', a market-t. of Hungary, co. Tolna, on the w. of the Danube. Pop. 8200. BAT'TEL, TRIAL BY, or WAGER OF BATTEL. This relic of legalized barbarism is happily of the things of the past, having been abolished by act of parliament, the 59 Geo. III. c. 46, and might have been passed over with a brief notice, had it not been for a circumstance which we shall presently mention, and which affords a curious and striking illustration of a principle peculiar to the character of English law, as distinguished from the legal systems of other countries. The trial by B. was a proceeding by way of appeal, and it obtained in civil and crimi nal cases, and also in military matters, to which, indeed, it was more appropriate. It consisted of a personal combat between the parties in presence of the court itself; and it was grounded on the impious idea of an appeal to Providence, the expectation being, that Heaven would give the victory to the innocent or injured party. In civil cases, the B was waged by champions, and not by the parties themselves; but in criminal cases, Battery. 312 the parties fought in person, unless the appellor were a woman, a pricst, an infant, or a man of the age of 60, or lame, or blind, all of whom might refuse the wager of B., and compel a trial by jury. Peers of the realm also could not be challenged to wage B., on account of their personal dignity, nor, by special charter, could the citizens of London, fighting being considered foreign to their education and employment. Whether by champions or in person, the mode of proceeding was the same. The appellee, or defendant, as he might be called, threw down his glove, and declared that he would prove his right, or defend himself with his body. The appellor, or prosecutor, in accepting the challenge, took up the glove, and replied that he was ready to make good his appeal, body for body; and thereupon the parties, holding each other's hands, joined issue before the court in a very formal and solemn manner. The weapons used were batons or staves an ell long, and a four-cornered leathern target, and the combatants were obliged to swear that neither of them would resort to sorcery or witchcraft! The B. lasted till the stars appeared in the evening, and the party who by that time had either killed or got the better of his opponent, was considered the successful suitor of justice. In a charge of murder, if the accused was slain, it was taken as proof of his guilt, and his blood was attainted; and if so far vanquished as not to be able or willing to fight any longer, he was adjudged guilty, and sentenced to be hanged immediately! So late as the year 1818, this barbarous procedure was solemnly decided by the court of king's bench to be a valid and legal mode of trial, which the king's subjects were free to adopt! Of course, the principle was, that all laws, no matter how unsuitable to the times, could be enforced, unless expressly repealed by act of parliament. As a matter of curiosity, we may give the names of the parties (they were of the laboring-class) who seriously submitted their contention in the above form before lord chief-justice Ellenborough and his brother-judges of the period. The case is that of Ashford v. Thornton, and is reported in the first volume of Barnewall & Alderson's Reports, p. 405. have stated, the court decided in favor of the validity of the trial, one of the judges remarking that sufficient had not been stated to induce their lordships to refuse the B., As we and another more plainly and unequivocally observed that the defendant was to this his lawful mode of trial." But Lord Ellenborough put the matter more clearly by stating, that entitled "the general law of the land is in favor of the wager of B., and it is our duty to pronounce the law as it is, and not as we may wish it to be; whatever prejudices, therefore, may justly exist against this mode of trial, still, as it is the law of the land, the court must pronounce judgment for it." Happily, the pugnacious litigant who obtained this judgment was induced to go no further, and the above statute, the 59 Geo. III. c. 46, was passed, by which the shocking ordeal was wholly abolished. In Scotland, we believe the matter would have been differently disposed of; for the judges there. following the doctrine of the Roman law, would have held the proceeding to have been in desuetude and obsolete, and there the matter would have ended. Mr. Rush, the then American envoy to the British court, thus justly remarks on this case in his Residence at the Court of London (published 1833). To repeal laws belongs to the legislature. Courts expound and apply them. Free government is complex, and works slowly; tyranny is simple, and does its work at once. free code, because overlooked; but whilst there it is the law. It is so, I suppose, that we An absurd law may sleep in a must reason; and generally the reason would be right." See ORDEAL. BATTELS (perhaps from Anglo-Saxon bat, to increase, and dal, a deal or portion), a term in use at Oxford University to denote provisions obtained from the buttery (q.v.) by the undergraduates, as well as the charges therefor. One who stands indebted or the college books for such provisions is said to battel, which has come to be equivalent to residing at the university. A battler is a student who stands indebted for battels; also one who resides at the university. BATTENBERG: anc. Mons priscus Batava gentis, founded 134, by Batton, King of the Catti. The town belongs to Wiesbaden; before 1866 it belonged to Hesse; on the Eder, 15 miles n.n.w. of Marburg. Pop. about 2000. BATTEN, or LAY, or LATHE. See WEAVING. BAT'TENS, a species of sawn fir timber, of smaller dimensions than the kind called planks. B. are usually from 12 to 14 ft. long, 7 in. broad, and 2 in. thick. Cut into two boards (14 in. thick), they are used for flooring; cut into three boards, they are put on roofs below slates; in narrower pieces, they are put upright on walls for fixing the laths for plastering. BATTER, in architecture, used as a verb to express the manner in which the walls of towers, which are smaller at the top than at the bottom, slope inwards. The walls of wharfs, and those built to support embankments and the like, usually batter. BATTERING-RAM, an engine of war used in ancient times, and in the middle ages. It consisted of a beam of wood, with a mass of bronze or iron on one end, resembling the head of a ram (in Lat. aries). In its simplest form, it was borne and impelled by the hands of the soldiers; afterwards, it was suspended in a frame, and made to swing. Another form moved on rollers. The alternating motion was communicated by ropes. To protect those working it, a wooden roof (testudo, was constructed over it, and the whole was mounted on wheels. The beam of the ram varied from 60 to 120 ft. in length, the head sometimes weighed above a ton, and as many as 100 men were employed |