GENERAL REGULATIONS

FOR THE

MARINE CORPS OF THE UNITED STATES.

CHAPTER I.

MARINE CORPS.

ARTICLE 1.

The marine corps will be under the direction and control of the Secretary of the Navy, excepting only such part of the same as may be detached by order of the President of the United States, to act with the army of the United States, or otherwise, under the immediate direction of the Secretary of War.

ARTICLE 2.

The head quarters and the staff of the marine corps, shall continue at the city of Washington until otherwise specially directed by the President of the United States, or Secretary of the Navy.

ARTICLE 3.

The colonel commandant or commanding officer of the marine corps shall, under the general control of the Secretary of the Navy, have the direct and immediate superintendence and command of all officers and others belonging to the corps who may not be detached to act with the army, or for duty on board vessels of war, or in navy yards, or in other situations specially provided for in these regulations.

ARTICLE 4.

The direction or sanction of the Secretary of the Navy is to be previously obtained by the commandant of the corps, for all appoint

ments or orders for transfers or removals of commissioned officers to, or from stations, post, duty in navy yards, vessels in commission, recruiting, courts of inquiry, or courts martial, or any special service; for furlough or leave of absence for a longer time than one week in two successive months; for the appointment of sutlers; for the discharge of any non-commissioned officer or private whose term of service shall not have expired; for the erection, or any alteration whatever, of barracks or other buildings, and for all extra expenditures not provided for by law or regulation.

ARTICLE 5.

No person shall be appointed an officer in the marine corps who shall not have arrived to the age of twenty-one, or shall have passed the age of twenty-five, and until he shall have passed a satisfactory examination by a board of three or more marine officers.

No second lieutenant shall be promoted to a first lieutenant until he shall have passed a satisfactory examination by a board of three or more marine officers, as to his general good conduct, and his acquaintance with the "schools of the soldier and company." Neither shall any first lieutenant be promoted to a captain until he shall have passed the same ordeal, and given satisfactory evidence of his knowledge of the school of the batallion," provided it be made manifest that the officer thus examined, has been placed in situations where he could have made himself acquainted with the "school of the batallion," in addition to the "schools of the soldier and company."

When any part of the marine corps shall be detached for duty in a navy yard or on board a vessel of war, the commanding officer of such detachment shall report to the commanding officer of the navy yard or vessel, and the detachment shall be subject to the general regulations and to the orders of the commanding officer of the navy yard or vessel, which may not be inconsistent with law, with the general regulations of the navy, or with these regulations for the marine corps.

ARTICLE 8.

The ascending course of all official reports or communications from marine officers or others, belonging to companies or detachments, is to be to the captain or commanding officer, from thence to their immediate commanding officer, whether belonging to the navy or marine corps, and by them through the usual channel to the head quarters of the corps, or to the Navy Department, as the case may require. All such official communications are to be open for the perusal of the respective commanding officers, who may transmit with them any remarks in relation to them, which they may deem essential for the information of those to whom they may be addressed.

ARTICLE 9.

No person whatever belonging to the marine corps shall be appointed or act as sutler in said corps, or be directly or indirectly concerned in furnishing marines stationed at head quarters, or at any post or garrison in or near navy yards.

ARTICLE 10.

Orders or other official communications to marine officers or others belonging to the marine corps, who may be under the orders or command of a navy officer, are to be transmitted unsealed to the commanding navy officer of the squadron, station, or navy yard, under whose orders the person addressed may be acting, who will cause the same to be forwarded or delivered as the case may require. In other cases, the orders or official communications will be sent unsealed to the commanding marine officer of the station or post to which the person addressed may belong, and be transmitted by him through the proper channel to its address.

ARTICLE 11.

All official correspondence, emanating from the commandant or senior officer of the marine corps, addressed to any officer under the orders of any navy officer, shall have the word "approved" appended thereto for the signature of the Secretary of the Navy..

ARTICLE 12.

It shall be the duty of the commandant of the corps to transmit monthly statements, in such form as may be prescribed, to the Secretary of the Navy, showing the strength and distribution of the corps, made up from the latest returns which may have been received.

ARTICLE 13.

Whenever, in the opinion of the commandant of the corps, it shall be advisable to increase or diminish the number of marines at any station, post, or navy yard, by transfers to or from other places, he shall report the same to the Secretary of the Navy for his decision.

ARTICLE 14.

The officers of the marine corps shall have equal rank with officers of corresponding grades in the army; and upon courts martial, courts of inquiry, boards of officers, and upon all occasions of ceremony, the relative rank of the officers of the navy and of the marine corps shall be the same as is or may be established for the army and navy by law, or by regulations with the approbation of the President of the United States.

ARTICLE 15.

Whenever seamen and marines, under charge of navy and marine officers, shall be specially detached from vessels to perform any military duties on shore, the officer of highest rank, or the senior officer if of the same relative rank, of either service shall command upon such service.

1.

ARTICLE 16.

Marine officers, who may be attached or ordered to any navy yard or station, which shall have been placed under the command of a navy officer by the Secretary of the Navy, or his direct authority, shall be subject to the lawful orders of the navy officer, who may have been appointed to, or shall succeed to such command by the same authority; in no case, however, shall an order be given to a marine officer for the services of either officers or marines unless the relative rank of the marine officer be inferior to that of the navy officer; if otherwise, it shall be the duty of the navy officer to issue