236 Public Establishment for 



Besides this permission to work for hire in the gar- 

 rison towns and upon detached working parties, which 

 was readily granted to all those who desired it, or at 

 least to as many as could possibly be spared from the 

 necessary service of the garrison, every facility and 

 encouragement was given to the soldier who was a 

 native of the country, and who had a family or friends 

 to go to, or private concerns to take care of, to go 

 home on furlough, and to remain absent from his regi- 

 ment from one annual exercise to the other; that is to 

 say, ten months and a half each year. This arrange- 

 ment was very advantageous to the agriculture and 

 manufactures, and even to the population of the coun- 

 try (for the soldiers were allowed to marry), and served 

 not a little to the establishment of harmony and a 

 friendly intercourse between the soldiers and the peas- 

 antry, and to facilitate recruiting. 



Another measure which tended much to render the 

 situation of the soldier pleasant and agreeable, and to 

 facilitate the recruiting service, was the rendering the 

 garrisons of the regiments permanent. This measure 

 might not be advisable in a despotic or odious gov- 

 ernment, for where the authority of the sovereign 

 must be supported by the terror of arms all habits of 

 social intercourse and friendship between the soldiers 

 and the subjects must be dangerous ; but in all well- 

 regulated governments such friendly intercourse is 

 attended with many advantages. 



A peasant would more readily consent to his son's 

 engaging himself to serve as a soldier in a regiment 

 permanently stationed in his neighbourhood than in 

 one at a great distance, or whose destination was un- 

 certain; and when the station of a regiment is per- 



