23 



strength of each division so enrolled may be 

 computed about a thousand, it makes the ag- 

 gregate amount upwards of fifty-two thousand 

 men*. The incorporated militia, by an act 

 passed in the provincial parliament on the 19th 

 May 181£, is fixed, during the war, at two 

 thousand men ; but by virtue of authority 

 vested in the governor, it is at present in- 

 creased to five battalions, or nearly double the 

 number, which, on th^ re-establishment of peace 

 with the United States, will be again reduced 

 to the standard named in the act. This body 

 is chosen by ballot from the unmarried men 

 of the sedentary militia; its term of service is 

 two years. It is also provided that one-half 

 of each regiment may be discharged annually, 

 and the vacancies filled up by a fresh ballot ; 

 a plan that will have the good effect of ex- 

 tending gradually a certain degree of military 

 discipline over the greater part of the popula- 

 tion capable of bearing arms. The battalions 

 thus formed of single men, renders the military 

 service less obnoxious to the individual, and 

 less expensive to the state, by saving the pro- 

 vision otherwise necessary to be made for wives 

 and children of militiamen actually embodied. 

 By the same act, the sum of twelve thousand 

 pounds annually is raised for the maintenance 



* The adjutant-general's report gives 52,500. 



