300 



THE MILITIA. 



wealth and individual weight in the several 

 Termos, boundaries or districts ; but the in- 

 terest of family or of relations about the Court 

 have occasioned deviations from this rule ; and 

 persons very unfit for these situations, have been 

 sometimes nominated to them. The whole 

 aspect of the government in Brazil is military. 

 All men between the ages of sixteen and sixty 

 must be enrolled either as soldiers of the line, 

 as militia-men, or as belonging to the body of 

 Ordenanfas. Of the regular soldiers, I have 

 already spoken in another place. Of the second 

 class, each township has a regiment, of which 

 the individuals, with the exception of the major 

 and adjutant, and in some cases the colonel, do 

 not receive any pay. But they are considered 

 as embodied men, and as such are called out 

 upon some few occasions, in the course of the 

 year, to assemble in uniform, and otherwise ac- 

 coutred. The expense which must be incurred 

 in this respect, of necessity precludes the pos- 

 sibility of many persons becoming members of 

 this class, even if the Government was desirous 

 of increasing the number of militia regiments. 

 The soldiers of these are subject to their cap- 

 tains, to the colonel, and to the governor of the 

 province. The colonels are either rich planters, 

 or the major or lieutenant-colonel of a regiment 

 of the line is thus promoted to the command oi' 

 one of these j in this case, and in this case only, 



