RECRUITING. 



77 



panions, that he might give notice to the captain 

 of the place of their concealment. 



For some weeks the whole country appeared 

 to be afflicted with a civil war ; parties of armed 

 men were to be seen in all directions, in search 

 of those who had concealed themselves. An 

 individual who was not well known could not 

 stir from his home without a pass from the cap- 

 tain of the district in which he resided, stating 

 him to be a married man, or naming some other 

 cause of exemption. Nor is a man who is liable 

 to be pressed, safe in his own house, for the 

 tropa, or troop, would surround the cottage in 

 which any of these persons were suspected to 

 have taken refuge, and they would demand ad- 

 mittance ; and if this was denied, no scruple 

 would be entertained of breaking down the door, 

 and entering by force : this occurred to my 

 knowledge in many cases, in several parts of the 

 country. Married men ought to be exclusively 

 employed in the apprehension of those who are 

 liable to be pressed. Militia-men are free from 

 acting as oppressors and from being hunted 

 down ; unless the Governor applies to the colo- 

 nels of the regiment to which they belong. It 

 is among the Ordenangas that the recruiting of 

 which I am treating is carried on. Negroes and 

 Indians are excluded from the regiments of the 

 line ; the former on the score of colour, and the 

 latter from their cast j white men and mulattos 



