OFF ( 564 ) OFF

State. AH military commissions aremade out in the Home Department, andare countersigned by the Secretary ofState who is the head thereof.

In cases where the public tranquillityis disturbed, the Secretary of State forthe Home Department is in the habit ofsignifying the King’s pleasure to the Com-mander in Chief for sending troops toact in support of the civil power. Theoffice is at Whitehall.

Office for the Entry and Distributionof Commissions in the Line, signed byHis Majesty, and for the Receipt ofFees thereon. This office is at theHorse Guards, and holds a communi-cation with the War-office, and theCommander in Chief’s office, in all mat-ters relating to coWnissions and warrantssigned by the King. An Annual OfficialArmy List, containing the names of allofficers belonging to the British army,marines, and militia, is also issued fromthis office and published by authority.For the convenience of the army, aMonthly List is likewise given under thesame sanction.

Office of Secretary of State, Colonyand War Department . —The office ofsecretary of state for the war departmentwas first established on the 11th of July,1794, the whole business of the war de-partment having, from the commence-ment of the war in 1793, down to thatperiod, been transacted by the late LordMelville, in addition to the ordinary busi-ness of the home department.

The accumulation of affairs, occa-sioned by the war, had, however, as itis stated, rendered it necessary to addfour clerks to the ordinary establishment,and to employ two others, belonging toparticular branches, almost constantlyand exclusively, and had in such manneroverloaded every individual then existingin the office, that the necessity of a sepa-rate establishment, for managing the af-fairs of war exclusively, was soon felt,and produced the additional office ofsecretary of state for the colony and wardepartment. The office is in Downing- Street .

Delays of Office. The disappoint-ments and embarrassments to whichmany individuals, but most especiallymilitary men, are exposed, through thetardy progress of official business, andwhich have obtained a sort of proverbialcurse under this term, shew the necessityof regulations being made out in the

clearest manner; and when made out,of their being speedily and faithfullycomplied with. If procrastination bethe thief of time, delays of office aresecret abettors of it.

Insolence of Office, a self-assumedimportance, against which little mindsare never proof, and of which great mindsare almost always the unfortunate vic-tims.

Casual Offices are such as are givenfor life by patent, commission, See. andwhich become vacant by the death of theincumbent: as that of the constable ofthe Tower, &c.

The names of the persons belonging tothe several appointments are annuallyprinted in the Royal Calendar, com-monly called the Red Book.

Offic f.s (with architects.) All the lodge*and apartments which serve for the ne-cessary occasions of a palace or greathouse are generally so called.

Offices, in a figurative sense, kindacts, services rendered, and voluntarilyoffered; also unkind acts, and disservicesdone in the same manner.

OFFICER, (qfficier, Fr.) This wordhas a double signification: it is appliedto a person acting in a civil or militarysituation under government.

Board Officer, a person belonging toa Board, either in a civil or military ca-pacity, as in the Ordnance, &c.

Officer. Amongst the ancients, th»profession of arms was not a distinct andseparate avocation, to which men devo-ted the whole of their application andtheir lives: the great generals ot theGreeks and Romans were the ministersof the state, and the leaders of popularassemblies. Pericles was the most dis-tinguished orator of his time: Xenophon was excellent as an historian, and inevery branch of prose composition. Allthe great generals of the diff erent Grecianstates appear to have been men highlyendowed; strangers to no branch of lite-rature or learning then known. Thefirst Scipio was the protector of genius,the patron of the arts, the friend oftalents. Pompey was distinguished asa public speaker; Quintilian says ofCaesar, that he was the only man whocould have rivalled Cicero in eloquence,and that Tanta in eo vis est, id acumen,ea concitatiOfUt appareat ilium eodem animodixisse quo bellavit. It, therefore, doesnot appear to have been the opinion ofthose two, the greatest nations that hav*