Commissaire

“ Great as my difficulty was, I did not suffer it to appear so to the commissary, but calmly said that I 'd return to my hotel, and run my eye over a list of the merchants for one to be my bail.
The packet was to sail that evening with the tide; and as the office of the commissaire closed at four o'clock, there was little time to lose. I wandered on “from street to street; I walked into cafés; I sat down in the most public places, scanning with eagerness every face that passed me, and straining my eyes to try and detect the features of an acquaintance. ”

“ Le —— du commissaire, police magistrate’s secretary. The commissaire is a police functionary and petty magistrate. He examines privately cases brought before him, sends prisoners for trial, or dismisses them at once, settles then and there disputes between coachmen and their fares, sometimes between husbands and wives, makes perquisitions. He possesses to a certain extent discretionary powers. Avoir du ——, to possess dash, go, “gameness.” Il faut avoir du —— dans le ventre pour résister, one must have wonderful staying powers to resist. Avoir un —— pour un homme, to be infatuated with a man. ”

“ We give shelter to any one who—"
Commissary. "Ah, you should beware, for the law is very severe in this particular. It is a subject on which there is no joking! You would subject yourselves to very severe punishment; for a man condemned to capital punishment, it would be nothing less than——"
Husband (quickly) . "We are not afraid of that, monsieur commissaire."
Commissary. "I believe you, and rely on you. However, that I may have nothing to reproach myself with, you will permit me to make a slight search, just a simple formality. ”

“ When a see is vacant the jurisdiction is exercised by a “special commissary” of the metropolitan. Commissary is also a general military term for an official charged with the duties of supply, transport and finance of an army. In the 17th and 18th centuries the commissaire des guerres, or Kriegskommissär was an important official in continental armies, by whose agency the troops, in their relation to the civil inhabitants, were placed upon semi-political control. ”

“ Hanaud returned gently. "No advantage will be taken of you. I am going to break no seals. That, as I have told you, is the right of the Commissaire, who is a magistrate, and he will not move until the medical analysis is ready. No, what I was going to propose was that Mademoiselle here," and he pointed to Ann, "should show me the outside of those reception-rooms and the rest of the house."
"Of course," said Betty, and she sat down again in the window-seat.
"Thank you," said Hanaud. He turned back to Ann Upcott. "Shall we go? And as we go, will you tell me what you think of Boris Waberski?" ”

“ Prosper, with the fearful resignation of a man who abandons himself, replied, in a stifled voice:
“Do as you will.”
The banker was near the door, which he opened, and, after giving the cashier a last searching look, said to an office-boy:
“Anselme, ask the commissary of police to step down.”
III
If there is one man in the world whom no event can move or surprise, who is always on his guard against deceptive appearances, and is capable of admitting everything and explaining everything, it certainly is a Parisian commissary of police. ”

“ The Commissioner may, at any time, discharge a police officer below the rank of inspector with at least 10 years’ service if, in the opinion of the Commissioner, it is desirable in the public interest to do so. ”

“ The man in the mustache was inexorable. The commissary closed his office at eight, and we must go instantly to certify to our passports, and get new ones for the interior. Cloaks and umbrellas were brought, and, bon gre, mal gre, we walked half a mile in the mud and rain to a dirty commissary, who kept us waiting in the dark fifteen minutes, and then, making out a description of the person of each, demanded half a dollar for the new passport, and permitted us to wade back to our dinner. ”

“ The commissary shall issue orders entrusting the matter, as is customary, to some one of the familiars whom he has to keep in the city. Until he has familiars, for lack of them he shall entrust it to the person on whom he has most reliance, and in whose integrity he most confides. When it is necessary, but only then, he may ask for the aid of the royal officials of justice. Whenever this shall be necessary, the royal officials may seize only the person pointed out to them by the Holy Office; and they must assist him, giving their favor and aid only for such person. ”

“ The men have better opportunities to advance themselves by making meritorious arrests, and the Commissioner knows that, as citizens see the police on duty, night after night, and crime decreases, there will be a growing good will for the department. ”

“ The Commissioner of Police may hold an inquiry into the conduct of any member of the force or of any officer or employee under his control and upon such inquiry shall have and may exercise the like powers and authority as are conferred upon the Inspector of Legal Offices by section 16 with respect to high constables. ”

“ On the institution of the metropolitan police force in 1829, he was appointed the chief commissioner, an office which he filled with great credit and ability. To his skilful guidance were mainly owing the speedy removal of the initial prejudices against the new police and the lasting success of the measure. ”

“ This joyousness and dispersion of thought before a task of some importance seems to prove that this world of ours is not such a very serious affair after all. For the Assistant Commissioner was not constitutionally inclined to levity.
The policeman on the beat projected his sombre and moving form against the luminous glory of oranges and lemons, and entered Brett Street without haste. The Assistant Commissioner, as though he were a member of the criminal classes, lingered out of sight, awaiting his return. But this constable seemed to be lost for ever to the force. ”

“ Commissary of Muster. See Muster.
Commissary Sergeants. In the U. S. service, are sergeants who are selected from the line of the army, by the Secretary of War; they must be steady and reliable men, and their duties are to assist the commissary officer in receiving, storing, preserving, issuing, selling, and accounting for the subsistence supplies at their posts, according to the regulations for the subsistence departments.
Commission. A writing, generally in the form of a warrant or letters-patent, authorizing the performance of duties, or exercise of powers belonging to another. ”

“ He is not an enlisted man, whose duty is largely that of blind and prompt obedience, but a citizen temporarily bearing arms for a specific and limited purpose.
The method of discovering and applying correct principles applicable to all bodies of men acting under authority to the police force; to do away with improper conditions; to reconcile discrepancies, and to establish the administration of the department upon a stable foundation, ought to be the work of a suitably constituted commission. ”

“ This commission ought to be composed in part of graduates of West Point, in part of captains of police in sympathy with the work, the police commissioner, and one or two civilians, of whom one at least should be a lawyer thoroughly versed in municipal affairs. There is an old adage that, "A commission is a noun of multitude which may signify many, but seldom signifying much;" but we have equally good authority that, "In a multitude of counselors is safety." ”

“ To a Police Committee consisting of some eighty members selected by the Common Council is delegated everything that concerns the pay, allowances, and financial business of the force; whilst all questions touching the discipline and disposal of the men under his command are referred to the Commissioner, who is thus supreme in his own department. ”

“ A stiff commissariat officer of sixty, famous as a martinet, had then become enamoured of the gravity with which she drove the proprieties four-in-hand through the cathedral town society, and had solicited to be taken beside her on the box of the cool coach of ceremony to which that team was harnessed. His proposal of marriage being accepted by the lady, the commissary took his seat behind the proprieties with great decorum, and Mrs General drove until the commissary died. In the course of their united journey, they ran over several people who came in the way of the proprieties ”

“ Commissioner " (he was very short with him) , "is an expedition against the pirates. It is a secret expedition, so please to keep it a secret."
"Sir," says Commissioner Pordage, "I trust there is going to be no unnecessary cruelty committed?"
"Sir," returns the officer, " I trust not."
"That is not enough, sir," cries Commissioner Pordage, getting wroth. "Captain Carton, I give you notice. Government requires you to treat the enemy with great delicacy, consideration, clemency, and forbearance." ”

“ The directing mind in this case was that of Commissioner George Dougherty, executive head of the detectives of the New York Police Department. Thousands of clean, ambitious young fellows are constantly putting on the policeman’s uniform all over the country, and rising to places as detectives and officials. The manufacturer or merchant may find himself in the police commissioner’s chair. ”

“ Captains Twentyman, Warren, and Hodges, and Lieutenant Daniels, are beginning to forget what a bed is like, for they are at work and about for more than twenty hours out of the twenty-four. Indeed, I must say that I never saw a greater devotion to duty than is shown by the officers of the various departments. The quartermaster’s department, the commissariat, and others, vie with each other in the energy which they exhibit, and the only thing to be wished is that there were a little more unanimity in their efforts. Each works for himself. ”

“ The Commissioner of the General Land Office exercises a general superintendence over the subordinate officers of his department, and is clothed with liberal powers of control, to be exercised for the purposes of justice, and to prevent the consequences of inadvertence, irregularity, mistake, and fraud, in the important and extensive operations of that officer for the disposal of the public domain. ”

“ Any commissary of musters or other officer, who shall be convicted of having taken money or other thing, by way of gratification, on the mustering any regiment, troop or company, or on the signing muster-rolls, shall be displaced from his office, and shall be thereby utterly disabled to have or hold any office or employment in the service of the United States. ”

“ Give them an average of each five children, and we have, to begin with, a little population of about two thousand five hundred. Take next the commissariat branch: one begins already to realize the stupendous task of feeding so many, and the order and system which must have grown up to meet these wants with certainty and regularity. Thus we find that every branch of the commissariat had its officers: clerks, ushers, and serjeants—a responsible service, with individual and clearly defined duties—for pantry, buttery, spicery, bakehouse, chandlery, brewery, cellars, and kitchen. ”

“ That a personal obligation should interfere with an official duty was inconceivable.
Hardly a week elapsed, however, before the inconceivable confronted him. It arrived in the mail from Paris. Every employee in the prefecture observed that morning that the commissary, always so methodical, so impassive, appeared agitated. At ten o'clock he closed his desk and left the prefecture without explanation—an unheard-of proceeding. The bonne of the Abbé d'Arlot was no less surprised, on answering the bell at the garden gate, to see the commissary before her. ”

“ Not only in every regiment, but in every detachment of the United States’ Army, officers are detailed for these special purposes, with a staff of subordinates selected from the ranks, and directly responsible to the head-quarters of their respective departments. The commissary receives from thence and issues to the troops clothing and subsistence stores. ”

“ On 12 April 1843 he resigned his appointment as commissioner of police. He maintained the force in a high state of efficiency, and, though a rigid disciplinarian, was much liked and respected by the officers and men. ”

“ Commissary,' said I, 'one of your frigates captured the English cutter Nelson some time ago, but the capture was not complete.'
"'How so?' inquired the commissary.
"'Because, Mr. Commissary,' said I, 'you did not capture the boatswain, and a British ship without a boatswain is no good; it is like a body without a soul.'
"'Is that all you have to tell me?' said the commissary, looking glum. ”

“ The chief quartermaster and the chief commissary were graduates. The chief commissary, now the Commissary-General of the Army, begged off, however, saying that there was nothing in engineering that he was good for unless he would do for a sap-roller. As soldiers require rations while working in the ditches as well as when marching and fighting, and as we would be sure to lose him if he was used as a sap-roller, I let him off. The general is a large man; weighs two hundred and twenty pounds, and is not tall. ”

“ But the commissariat ought to be under the immediate superintendance of an officer of considerable abilities; possessing a mind capable of comprehending, and performing with accuracy his extensive part in all military combinations, for almost every thing in war depends upon the troops being regularly supplied with food. ”