MILITIA. 



the lunU-licutciiant hare bad the charge, under the sovereign, of 



riing the militia in their respective counties. 



Charles 1. bavin*;, by the ' Petitiou of Right,' been deprived of the 

 power of maintaining a disposable body of troop* in the country, found 

 binwrlf, in 1641, unable to suppress the rebellion then raging in 

 Ireland ; and was in oooMqueaee induced to commit the charge of 

 Featuring peace to the care of the parliament. The latter immediately 

 availed iUelf of the circumstance to get into ita own handi all the 

 military force of the nation; and in the following year the two house* 

 paaied a bill in which it waa decreed that the power over the militia, 

 and also the command of all forte, castles, and garrison*, should be 

 vested in certain commissioners in whom they could confide. The 

 Una; baring refused his assent to the bill, the parliament made a 

 declaration that it was necessary to put the nation in a posture of 

 defence, and immediately issued orders to muster the militia ; on the 

 other hand, the king issued ~nnTn i *'P- of array for a like purpose 

 to some of the nobility, and thus commenced that war which desolated 

 the country for several years. 



When Charles II. ascended the throne, the national militia was 

 re-established on its former footing, and the chief command was vested 

 in the king. The lords-lieutenants of counties were immediately sub- 

 ordinate to the sovereign, and granted commissions (subject, however, 

 to the king's approbation) to the field and regimental officers who com- 

 manded under them. New regulations respecting the amount of pro- 

 perty which rendered persons liable to the charge of providing men 

 and arms were then established ; and at that time no one who had less 

 than 200/. yearly income or less than 24002. in goods or money could 

 be compelled to furnish a foot soldier ; nor could one who did not 

 possess 500A per annum, or on estate worth 60002. be made to provide 

 a man for the cavalry. Persons having less property were required, 

 according to their means, to contribute towards finding a foot or a 

 horse soldier. The militia waa then mustered and trained, by 

 regiment*, once a year and during four days; but the men were 

 mustered and trained, by companies, four times in the year, and 

 during two days each time. At the periods of mustering, every man 

 was obliged to provide himself with his own ammunition. 



These regulations, being found to be expensive, at length ceased to 

 be observed, and the trainings of the militia were discontinued in 

 every part of the realm except the city of London. In 1756, under an 

 apprehension that the country was about to be invaded by a I 

 army, considerable bodies of Hanoverian and Hessian troops were 

 brought over for its defence : the spirit of the nation revolted however 

 at the disgrace of being indebted to foreign mercenaries for protection ; 

 and these troops being sent back to the Continent, a national militia 

 was again raised and organised under the sanction of an act of parlia- 

 ment in the 30th year of George II. The measure was generally 

 popular, though it did not meet witty universal approbation ; and there 

 were many persons who maintained the opinion that, for want of mili- 

 tary knowledge and habits, this species of force could not be relied on 

 in the event of ita being called into active service. Experience has 

 however shown that such an opinion is quite destitute of foundation ; 

 and it was soon afterwards admitted that, when well disciplined, these 

 constitutional battalions rivalled those of the regular troops in the 

 performance of all military evolutions. It may be observed here, that 

 the greater part of the 16,000 British troops who gained the battle of 

 Talavera were men drafted from the militia regiments at home ; and 

 so recently had they joined the army in Spain, that in the action 

 many of them bore on their accoutrements the numbers of their former 

 corps. (Napier, vol. ii.) 



The militia laws were repealed in the 2nd year of George III., when 

 a new act regulating the sen-ice of this force was passed ; and in the 

 26th George III. all the previously existing statutes relating to the 

 force were formed into one law. New regulations however were made 

 by acts psnscid in the 42nd, 40th, 51st, and 52nd years of the name 

 reign, and these with the acts paaied in the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 

 llth Viet., contain the law applicable to the militia at present. The 

 militia of the kingdom is now placed under the lords-lieutenants of 

 counties, appointed by the sovereign, who have power to call them out 

 and train thriii annually, and is subject to the provisions of the mutiny 

 act, or articles of war. The sovereign until lately was only empowered 

 to employ it in any put of the United Kingdom, but not out of it. 

 In 1818, an act was pissed allowing the militia, when volunteering, to 

 be formed into provisional regiment* to co-operate with the regulars ; 

 and in 1856, by special act, her Majesty was enabled " to accept the 

 service* of the militia out of the United Kingdom for the vigorous 

 prosecution of the war." The militia of Great Britain may serve in 

 Ireland, and that of Ireland in Great Britain : the period of service for 

 each, out of the island to which it belongs, being at most two years. 

 When called into active service the officers rank with those of an equal 

 grade in the regular army, but as the juniors of each grade, ami th< y 

 may receive promotion for meritorious services during a rebellion or 

 an invasion ; but no officer of militia can serve on a court martial at 

 the trial of an officer or soldier of the regular troops. 



All persons not labouring under bodily infirmity and not specially 

 ezcepted. are liable to be chosen for private militia men, by ballot, in 

 each parish, and are compelled under a penalty of Kit. to serve either 

 personally or by lubstHute. Volunteers paid, by consent of the 

 inhabitants, by pariah lamHiinU, may however be substituted for 



M 1 1.ITIA. 



I I 



balloted men. The persons excepted are peers of the realm ; com- 

 missioned and non-commissioned officers and private* serving in the 

 regular forces ; half-pay officers of the navy, army, and marines, and 

 eommiaaioned officers who have nerved four years in the militia : mem- 

 bers of corps of yeomanry and volunteers, and privates sen-ing in the 

 local militia; seamen and persons doing duty in the royal docks, at 

 the gun wharfs, and powder magazine* ; also persons employed under 

 the direction of the Board of Ordnance; resident members of 1 

 universities; clergymen of the Established church; also Protestant 

 dissenting preachers, provided they take the oaths of allegiance and 

 supremacy, and exercise no other occupation, or only that of school- 

 master ; constables or other peace-officers ; articled clerks ; apprentices ; 

 free watermen on the Thames; poor men having more than 

 legitimate children, and persons above 45 years of age. To alleviate 

 the distress of a poor man, when drawn for the militia, and who has 

 provided a substitute, the churchwardens of the parish are bound to 

 return to him a sum not exceeding 5/., or half the current price of a 

 substitute. No one having served personally, or by substitute, during 

 three years in the militia, can be obliged to serve again till it comes 

 to his turn by rotation ; but if a man ha* served as a substitute for 

 another, this does not exonerate him from serving again if chosen by 

 the ballot. 



The militia is trained and exercised by battalions or regiments twice 

 in a year, and during fourteen days each time, or once in a year for 

 twenty-eight days, at the discretion of the lords-lieutenants or their 

 deputies. 



The supplementary militia is on additional body of men which was 

 first raised in 1793, for the defence of the country at that juncture. 

 It is still continued to be raised when the necessities of the t-t.iU- 

 require it, and it is subject to the same regulations as the ordinary 

 militia. The local militia was a body raised in 1809, for the purpose 

 of replacing, in certain districts, the corps of volunteers. By tli> 

 George III., this force may be marched to any part of Great Britain in 

 the event of a rebellion or an invasion, and it may be kept embodied 

 till six months after the former is terminated or the latter repelled. 

 Persons enrolled in the local militia cannot be compelled to M- 

 the regular militia till one year after their period of sen-ice in the 

 former has expired. 



The whole amount of the regular militia forces in Great Britain 

 alone in 1806 exceeded 200,000 men, and with the local milit. 

 volunteers the force which might have been assembled in arms 

 amounted to more than twice that number, or nearly 500,000 men. 



When the militia were called out during the late war with 'Hut-ma, 

 the numbers, according to a parliamentary return of the 14th y 

 1855, were in England, 44,198 ; Scotland, 4461 ; Ireland, 1 

 total, 61,754. These numbers fluctuated very much, owing to the 

 numbers who volunteered into the line. 



In France a militia was first raised from the provinces during the 

 reign of Louis XIV. ; but the several corps were disbanded after the 

 peace of Ryswick. In 1726 was organised a force of the like kind, con- 

 sisting of men chosen by lot from the towns and villages, and held in 

 rfiadinflm to be assembled when required ; and in 1778 these provinci:il 

 troops were formed into 106 battalions. Since the Revolution of 1792, 

 the National Guard may be said to constitute the militia of France. 



In the United States of America, by an Act passed in 1792, the 

 principal provisions of which are still in force, all able-bodied white 

 male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45, with certain exo : 

 are enrolled in the militia; and when drafts are to be mode for active 

 service, the individuals are selected by ballot, as in this country. The 

 persons excepted are the executive, judicial, and representative officers 

 of the union, those who are employed in the post-office depart 

 &c. ; and, in some of the states, persons are exempted who 1,,.\ . 

 scruples of conscience against bearing arms. The president has the 

 power of railing put the militia of the states ; and, when on active 

 service, it is subject to the same rules and articles of war as the 

 regular troops, but courts-martial for the trial of militia offenders are 

 composed of militia officers only. 



A national militia, whei. property .Mii.-dtuUtl, is an institution of the 

 highest utility to a state, the men being engaged in military occupations 

 only *o long as may be necessary for becoming qualified to serve as 

 soldiers when called upon to take the field, and being at all other times 

 employed in labours subservient to the practice of the useful arts. 

 They thus possess the united characters of defenders of their country 

 and of contributors to its prosperity, while they remain connected iii 

 social union with their fellow-citizens, and are interested, like them, in 

 the support of the laws and in the preservation of good government. 

 It is in some respects otherwise with the soldiers of a regular 

 army, devoted exclusively to the profession of arms, and, though 

 their service* are indispensable in the prosecution of foreign wars, 

 have few feelings in common with the civil portion of the community; 

 and who, except in a nation like Oreat Britain, where the military 

 power is duly subordinated to the civil magistrate, might, under the 

 influence of an ambitious chief, become dangerous to the liberty of 

 their country. The system of embodying militia regiments for long 

 periods, which has prevailed since the Crimean war, cannot be 

 defended, except on the ground of urgent necessity, as they can then 

 no longer be formed of the same class of men ; while, from the con- 

 stant volunteering into the line, the discipline is impaired. 



