pointed by the Queen,* and if an officer of the regular forces preserves his army rank, when he has served five years, the Lord-Lieutenant of his county, (or in Ireland his Colonel) may appoint him to the rank of Captain, without any qualification; but he is always junior to the other Captains of his corps, and receives only his Adjutant's pay.† To corps, if not less than two companies of sixty men, the Queen may appoint a Surgeon, who receives an allowance during the exercise of the Militia and his own attendance on enrolments, and is paid for medicines, &c. With respect to the other officers of the regiment; to corps of not less than 360 privates, the Queen may appoint Quarter-Masters, whom the Colonel may recommend to the Lord-Lieutenant for the rank of Ensign, though not entitled to any pay but that of Quarter-Master. In a similar manner the Queen appoints proper persons to be pay-masters, and it would seem also in certain cases battalion clerks. When the regiment is disembodied, the serjeant-major and serjeants are appointed by the crown; but when drawn out, the colonel is allowed to supply the vacancies. In actual service there is one serjeant and one corporal to every twenty privates, and two drummers to every company; being one additional to every company for active service. But in order to form a band, a number of extra drummers may be kept, at the private expense of the colonel or officers of the regiment, as musicians, and the commandant of every regiment may appoint a drum-major to them. * In Ireland, by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. † In Scotland, no Captain of a company can be appointed Adjutant, PayMaster, or Quarter-Master of Militia. No battalion in Ireland was originally under six companies of sixty-five privates each, and therefore this limitation does not appear in the statutes of 49 Geo. III. ment of the Long previous to the year 1802 a respectable Militia force Disembodiunder the command of officers possessing landed property Militia. within Great Britain, had been found essential to the constitution; and the Militia then established by law, through its constant readiness on short notice for effectual service, had been found of the utmost importance to the internal defence of the realm. In that year, being the year that the country was threatened with invasion by Napoleon, it was thought expedient that the numbers to be raised and kept in constant readiness in Great Britain should be augmented. For that purpose all former statutes relating to the Militia were repealed, and the whole law was consolidated into one act (42 Geo. III. c. 90.) That act (which has since been amended by other statutes) was perpetual, and provided for the whole machinery of a Militia on an active footing; and under that statute the Militia was subjected to be annually ballotted for and called out for training and exercise. Sometime after the close of the last war, however, it was found that these annual proceedings were productive of very much cost and inconvenience, without any apparent equivalent advantage; hence the legislature have annually, or in some cases bi-annually, passed an act to suspend those parts of the General Militia Act that related to making lists and ballots of the Militia.t The machinery of the Lord-Lieutenancy, however, remained, and the commissions of the officers were still in force; and thus there were for many years of the peace, skeleton regiments of Militia officers, without any rank or file. Fresh commissions were given from time to time as a kind of honorary distinction, without their being intended to have any other present operation. The ballot lists still remain A similar course was taken in Ireland and Scotland by the general Militia (Irish and Scotch) Acts, now amended by 17 and 18 Vic. c. 107 and 106, respectively. † Preface to Saunders' Militia Acts. Embodiment of the Militia. suspended by the usual annual suspension; but the present Militia has been called into operation by a system of voluntary enlistment, which has entirely, for the present at least, superseded the necessity of the ballot. The Militia was, until lately, said to be disembodied; that is, liable only to be called out for periodical training and exercise, but not into active service; some regiments are, however, in active service, the whole regiment having offered to serve. The regiments in active service on garrison duty were regiments that had volunteered en masse. The Militia of the United Kingdom can only be drawn out, or embodied for service, in England and Scotland respectively, in cases of actual invasion or upon imminent danger thereof, or in cases of rebellion or insurrection; and in Ireland, in cases of actual invasion, rebellion, or insurrection, or upon immediate danger thereof; or in the whole United Kingdom whenever a state of war exists between Her Majesty and any foreign power.* Before embodying the Militia, the occasion must first be communicated to Parliament, if Parliament is then sitting; or declared in Council, and notified by proclamation, if no Parliament is sitting at the time, or in being. Further, whenever the Queen causes the Militia to be drawn out and embodied, if Parliament is then separated by an adjournment or prorogation that will not expire within fourteen days, the Queen may and shall issue a proclamation for the meeting of Parliament within fourteen days; and Parliament must accordingly meet and sit upon the day appointed by the proclamation, and continue to sit and act in like manner, to all intents and purposes, as if it had stood prorogued or adjourned to the same day.† Before the late act for the improvement of the Militia, *17 Vic. c. 13, sec. 1. † 42 Geo. III. c. 90, secs. 111 and 113. the Militia, when called out for training or embodiment, was organised and divided into regiments, battalions, or corps, under a very complicated statutary system; but as that was found very inconvenient, the Crown now has the entire discretion as to forming the Militia into regiments, and the numbers of officers appointed to them.* In Ireland this power rests with the Lord Lieutenant. † When, however, it was thought necessary, under the Militia raised circumstances of continental policy, again to call out the Enlistment. by Voluntary Militia, it was deemed expedient, in order to fulfil the purposes of the Militia with as little disturbance as possible to the ordinary occupations of the people, to raise the Militia to active operation by voluntary enlistment. * Her Majesty, by order signified by one of Her principal Secretaries of State, from time to time directs the Lord Lieutenants to form the Militia of their several counties into such companies, regiments, battalions, or corps, as to Her Majesty may seem fit, and to direct what number of officers, and of what respective ranks, shall be appointed thereto, and what shall constitute the staff thereof; and, where the number of militia men required to be raised for any county appears to Her Majesty insufficient to be conveniently formed into a separate regiment, battalion, or corps, to direct the Militia of such county to be united with the Militia of any county adjoining; but, save where Her Majesty otherwise directs, the Militia of the several counties shall be formed into such companies, regiments, battalions, or corps, with such officers and staff, as directed by the General Militia Acts.* As, however, the Militia forces have been divided by royal order upon the full quotas, and in all probability the old system will not again be resorted to, it is not necessary to detail it here. It is proposed that in future no regiment shall have more than three Field Officers. But as several of the old regiments have a Colonel, a LieutenantColonel, and two Majors—one of the latter will be considered supernumerary; and when a vacancy occurs in the rank of Colonel, if filled up after the 29th March, 1853, the appointment will be honorary only, and the second Major will become effective. In the same manner, if one of the majorities should become vacant before the Coloneley, that majority will not be filled up The Non-Commissioned Officers include the permanent Staff. The following Table exhibits the full quotas of the several counties, as directed by the Militia Acts. † 17 and 18 Vic. c. 107, sec. 3. 43 Geo III. c. 90; 10 Geo. IV. c. 10, sec. 3; 17 and 18 Vic. c. 106, sec. 28. For the purpose of raising the number of men required, the Lord-Lieutenants of the counties in England, in the ESTABLISHMENT OF REGIMENTS OF MILITIA IN ENGLAND AND WALES, Regiments marked thus (*) are Rifle Corps. |