These regulations, being found to be expensive, at length ceased to be observed, and the trainings of the militia were discontinued in every part of the realm except the city of London. In 1756, under an apprehension that the country was about to be invaded by a French army, considerable bodies of Hanoverian and Hessian troops were brought over for its defence : the spirit of the nation revolted however at the disgrace of being indebted to foreign mercenaries for protection ; and these troops being sent back to the Continent, a national militia was again raised and organised under the sanction of anaset of parlia ment in the 30th year of George II. The measure was generally popular, though it did not meet mid; universal approbation ; and there were many persons who maintained the opinion that, for want of mili tary knowledge and habits, this species of force could not be relied on in the event of its being called into active service. Experieuce has however shown that such an opinion is quite destitute of foundation ; and it was soon afterwards admitted that, when well disciplined, these constitutional battalions rivalled those of the regular troops in the performance of all military evolutions. It may be observed here, that the greater part of the 16,000 British troops who gained the battle of Talavera were men drafted from the militia regiments at home ; and so recently had they joined the army in Spain, that in the action many of them bore on their accoutrements the numbers of their former corps. (Napier, vol. ii.) The militia laws were repealed in the 2nd year of George 111., when a new act regulating the service of this force was passed ; and in the 26th George Ili. all the previously existing statutes relating to the force were formed Into one law. New regulations however were made by acts passed in the 42nd, 49th, 51st, and 52nd years of the bailie reign, and these with the acts passed in the 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, and 19th Viet., contain the law applicable to the militia at present. The militia of the kingdom is now placed under the lords-lieutenants of counties, appointed by the sovereign, who have power to call them out and train them annually, and is subject to the provisions of the mutiny act, or articles of war. The sovereign until Lately was only empowered to employ It In any part of the United Kingdom, but not out of it. In 1813, an act was passed allowing the militia, when volunteering, to be formed into provisional regiments to co-operate with the regulars ; and in 1855, by special act, her Majesty was enabled " to accept the services of the militia out of the United Kingdom for the vigorous prosecution of the war." The militia of Great Britain may serve In Ireland, and that of Ireland in Great Britain : the period of service for each, out of the island to which It belongs, being at most two years. When called into active service the officers rank with them of an equal grade in the regular army, but as the juniors of each grade, and they may receive promotion for meritorious service. during a rebellion or an invasion ; but no officer of militia can servo on a court-martial at the trial of .n officer or soldier of the regular troops.
All persona not labouring under bodily infirmity and not specially excepted, are liable to be chosen for private militia men, by ballot. In each pariah, and are compelled under a penalty of /0/. to serve either personally or by substitute. Volunteers paid, by consent of the inhabitants, by parish aaeosunents, may however be substituted for balloted men. The persons excepted are—peers of the realm ; coin. missioned and non-commissioned officers and privates serving in the regular forces; half-pay officers of the navy, army, and marines, and commissioned officers who have served four years in the militia mem bers of corps of yeomanry and volunteers, and privates aerving in the local militia ; seamen and persona doing duty in the royal docks, at the gun-wharfs, and powder magazines ; also persons employed under the direction of the Board of Ordnance; • resident members of the two universities ; clergymen of the Established church; also Protestant dissenting preachers, provided they take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy, and exercise no other occupation, or only that of school master ; constables or other peace-officers ; articled clerks; apprentices ; free watermen on the Thames; poor men having more than three legitimate children, and persona above 45 years of age. To alleviate
the distress of a poor inan, when drawn for the militia, and who has provided a substitute, the churchwardens of the parish are bound to return to hint a suns not exceeding Li., or half the current price of a substitute. No one having served personally, or by substitute, during three years in the militia, can be obliged to serve again till it comes to his turn by rotation ; but if a man has served as a substitute for another, this does not exonerate bins from serving again if chosen by the ballot.
The militia is trained and exercised by battalions or regiments twice in a year, and during fourteen days each time, or once in a year for twenty-eight days, at the discretion of the lords-lieutenants or their deputies.
The supplementary militia is an additional body of men which was first raised in 1793, for the defence of the country at that juncture. It is still continued to be raised when the necessities of the state require it, and it is subject to the same regulations as the ordinary militia. The local militia was a body raised in 1809, for the purpose of replacing, in certain districts, the corps of voluuteers. By the 52nd George I11., this force may be marched to any part of Great Britain in the event of a rebellion or an invasion, and it may he kept embodied till six months after the former is terminated or the latter repelled. l'ersons enrolled in the local militia cannot be compelled to serve in the regular militia till one year after their period of service in the former has expired.
The whole amount of the regular militia forces in Great Britain alone io 1806 exceeded 200,000 men, and with the local militia and volunteers the force which might have been assembled in arms amounted to more than twice that number, or nearly 500,000 men.
When the militia were called out during the Late war with•Risssia, the numbers, according to a parliamentary return of the 14th March, 1855, were—in England, 44,198 ; Scotland, 4461 ; Ireland, 13,095 : total, 61,754. These numbers fluctuated very much, owing to the numbers who volunteered into the line.
In France a militia was first raised from the provinces during the reign of Louis XIV. • but the several corps were disbanded after the peace of Ryswick. In 1726 was organised a force of the like kind, con sisting of men chosen by lot from the towns and villages, and held in readiness to be assembled when required; and in 1778 these provincial troops were formed into 106 battalions. Since the Revolution of 1792, the National Guard may be said to constitute the militia of Franco.
In the United States of America, by an Act 'awed in 1792, the principal provisions of which are still in force, all able-bodied white male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45, with certain exceptions, are enrolled in the militia ; and when drafts are to be made for active service, the individuals are selected by ballot, as in this country. The persons excepted are the executive, judicial, and representative officers of the union, those who are employed in the post-office department, &c.; and, in some of the states, persons are exempted who have scruples of conscience against beariug arms. The president has the power of calling out the militia of the states ; and, when on active service, it is subject to the same rules and articles of war as the regular troops, but courts-martial for the trial of militia offenders are composed of militia officers only.