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For the defence of the two Canadas a re- 

 gular miUtary estabhshment is maintained by 

 the British government^ which, in time of 

 peace, may amount to about six or seven 

 thousand men, including artillery, engineers, 

 commissariat, &c. ; but when we are at war 

 with the United States, this force is in- 

 creased as the pressure of circumstances de- 

 mands; and at this period (1815) I may ven- 

 ture to compute it, although without official 

 documents to fix the precise numerical strength, 

 at from twenty-seven to thirty thousand men 

 in both provinces. In aid of the regular troops, 

 and in order that^ under any exigency, the go- 

 vernment may be enabled to bring an efficient 

 force into the field, the lower province is ap- 

 portioned into fifty-two divisions, wherein all 

 males from sixteen to sixty years of age are 

 bound by law to enrol their names every year 

 with the captains of companies appointed for 

 their parish, within the ngionth of April. After 

 the enrolment is completed, they are mustered 

 four times in a year, either on Sundays or 

 holidays, when they are instructed in as much 

 of the rudiments of miUtary exercise as the 

 occasion will allow ; beside these four muster 

 days, they are, once in each year, reviewed by 

 the commander in chief, or the officer com- 

 manding the division. This is denominated 

 the sedentary mihtia; and as the average 



