MILITIA. 



815 



of general militia. The army consisted of twenty-one 

 regiments, of which each owner of landed property 

 was bound to maintain one man. They assembled 

 every year for three weeks, and, during this time as 

 well as in war, received full pay (as is now the case 

 in Prussia). The Danish army was formed on a 

 somewhat similar plan, about a third of each regi- 

 ment consisting of enlisted foreigners, while two 

 thirds were Danish subjects, who, like those in Swed- 

 en, were supported by the owners of landed property, 

 but, in return, were obliged to assist the latter in the 

 cultivation of their estates. In Germany, similar 

 plans were adopted. The privates and non-commis- 

 sioned officers of the militia followed their agricul- 

 tural or mechanical pursuits, and were generally 

 under the command of officers out of active service. 

 They were only obliged to serve within the country. 

 Frederic the Great used them to garrison the for- 

 tresses : the same was the case with the Austrian 

 militia during the war of succession. The bad 

 organization and unmilitary spirit of these troops 

 rendered them the butt of the troops of the line. In 

 some cases, it was even considered allowable, by the 

 laws of war, not to give them any quarter, when they 

 were employed out of the limits of their country, and 

 were taken prisoners. They became extinct almost 

 everywhere on the European continent. 



Similar, but better organized, was the English 

 militia. The origin of this national force is generally 

 traced back to Alfred. The feudal military tenures 

 succeeded, and although the personal service which 

 this system required degenerated by degrees into 

 pecuniary commutations, or aids, the defence of the 

 kingdom was provided for by laws requiring the 

 general arming of the citizens. Under Edward III., 

 it was provided that no man should be compelled to 

 go out of the kingdom at any rate, nor out of his 

 shire, but in cases of urgent necessity, nor should 

 provide soldiers, unless by consent of parliament. 

 We first find lord-lieutenants of counties, whose duty 

 was to keep the counties in military order, men- 

 tioned as known officers in the fifth year of Philip 

 and Mary. When Charles I. had, during his north- 

 ern expeditions, issued commissions of lieutenancy, 

 and exerted certain military powers, which, having 

 been long exercised, were thought, by one party, to 

 belong to the crown, it became a question, in the 

 long parliament, how far the power over the militia 

 did inherently reside in the king, which, after long 

 agitation, ended by the two houses denying the 

 crown this prerogative, ^nd taking into their own 

 hands the entire power of the militia. After the 

 restoration, when the military tenures were abolished, 

 the sole right of the crown to govern and command 

 the militia was recognised. The most characteristic 

 features of the English and Scottish militia at present 

 are, that a number of persons in each county is 

 drawn by lot, for five years (liable to be prolonged 

 by the circumstance of the militia being called out 

 and embodied), and officered by the lord-lieutenants 

 and other principal land owners, under a commission 

 of the crown. They are not compellable to leave 

 their county, unless in case of invasion or actual 

 rebellion within the realm, nor, in any case, to 

 march out of the kingdom. When drawn out, they 

 are subject to military law. In aU cases of actual 

 invasion, or imminent danger thereof, and in all cases 

 of rebellion or insurrection, the king may imbody 

 the militia, and direct them to be led into any part 

 of the kingdom, having communicated the occasion 

 to parliament, if sitting, or, if not sitting, having 

 declared it in council, and notified it by proclamation. 



In Tyrol, a general arming against the French 

 was effected in 1799. When, in 1808, the archduke 

 Charles was placed at the head of military affairs, a 



general Landwehr was organized throughout the 

 Austrian provinces. In 1809, these troops fought 

 well, and amounted, at that time, to 300,000 men ; 

 after 1811, only to 71,500; but, after 1813, the 

 Landwehr was again placed on its old footing, and, 

 quite lately, parts of it have been called out to in- 

 crease the army, which stands ready to overrun 

 Italy. In Hungary, the common law obliges every 

 nobleman to serve himself and to bring his vassals 

 into the field, if called upon. This levee is called an 

 " insurrection of the nobility." In 1809, this insur- 

 rection consisted of- 17,000 horse, and 21,000 foot. In 

 1807, a general militia was organized in Russia, which, 

 in 1812, was of considerable service against the French. 



Prussia has carried the Landwehr to greater per- 

 fection than any other country : in that country, the 

 militia forms the main body of the army. In 1813, 

 every male person under forty-eight years was 

 obliged to serve against the French in the militia. 

 The national militia, at that time, included both 

 infantry and cavalry. The lower commissioned 

 officers were elected by the militia-men, and the 

 higher by the estates of each circle. When Napol- 

 eon returned from Elba, Prussia had 150,000 infantry 

 and 20,000 cavalry of the militia under arms. After 

 the peace of 1815, the Landwehr was established on 

 its present footing. Every Prussian, with the single 

 exception of mediatized princes, is obliged to serve 

 for three years in the standing army, between his 

 seventeenth and twenty-third year. Part of this 

 time, however, he is generally on furlough. If a 

 person equips himself and undergoes an examination, 

 by which he pr ves that he has received a certain 

 education, he has to serve one year only in the stand- 

 ing army. After this time, every Prussian belongs, 

 until his thirtieth year, to the first class of the Land- 

 wehr, attends frequent drills on Sunday afternoons, 

 and has to serve for three weeks every year, when 

 the Landwehr is called together for great manoeu- 

 vres. Every man is in the Landwehr what he was 

 in t&e standing army foot-soldier, horseman, or 

 artillerist. Government hires horses for the time of 

 manoeuvring, and, as they are well fed and ridden 

 by experienced men, the owners generally like to let 

 out their horses for the occasion. Every Prussian, 

 from his thirtieth year until his fortieth, belongs to 

 the second class of militia. This is not called toge- 

 ther in time of peace, and, in war, only in time of 

 the greatest emergency, and then only for local or 

 provincial service. Thus Prussia is enabled to 

 assemble a very large army in proportion to its popu- 

 lation, whether to the injury of the nation is a 

 question not to be discussed here. 



In regard to the militia of the United States of 

 America, it is provided, by act of congress of 1792, 

 that all able-bodied, white male citizens, between 

 the ages of eighteen and forty-five, with certain 

 exceptions (officers of government, members of con- 

 gress, mariners in service, &c. &c.) shall be enrolled 

 in the militia. The persons so enrolled are to 

 provide themselves with the common arms of 

 infantry, and with ball cartridges, &c., at their 

 own expense. These are arranged into brigades, 

 regiments, companies, &c., as the legislatures of 

 the several states may direct. Each battalion is to 

 have at least one company of grenadiers, light- 

 infantry or riflemen, and each division at least one 

 company of artillery and one troop of horse. Propei 

 ordnance and field artillery is to be provided by the 

 government of the United States. The cavalry and 

 artillery troops are to consist of volunteers from the 

 militia at large, not exceeding one company to each 

 regiment, and are to equip themselves, with the 

 exception of the ordnance above mentioned. When- 

 ever the United States shall be invaded, or in imini- 



