Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/318

Rh 300 MILITIA Men who illegally absent themselves are liable, in addition to punishment for the offence, to make up for the time of their absence by a corresponding extension of their service. The officers are appointed and promoted by the crown, but first appointments are given to persons recommended by the lord lieutenant of the county who may be approved as fulfilling the prescribed conditions in respect of age, physical fitness, and educational qualifications. Since 1877 the officers have been permanently subject to military law. The general body of the non-commissioned officers and men are so subject only when called out for training or embodi ment. At other periods they have simply the legal status of civilians, except as regards a liability to trial and punishment for offences in connexion with enlistment or for military offences committed while called out. Each militia regiment has a permanent staff, consisting of an adjutant and a small body of non-commissioned officers and drummers, to conduct the recruiting drills and ordinary business of the corps; and the members of this permanent staff are always subject to military law. They mostly consist of non-commissioned officers who belong to or have served in the regular portion of the territorial regiment. Many of the militia corps have their head quarters at the brigade depot or local establishment of the territorial regiment, and all are under the general supervision of the (regular) colonel commanding the brigade depot. The area of service does not extend beyond the United Kingdom; but those who voluntarily offer to serve in the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, Malta, or Gibraltar may be employed therein. The uniform of the officers and men of the militia is precisely the same as that of the regular corps with which they are associated, or rather of which they form part, except that in addition to the regimental distinguishing mark they bear the letter &quot; M &quot; upon their appointments, to denote that they belong to the militia portion of the corps. As above stated, the ranks of the militia are usually filled by voluntary enlistment; but by a statute which, though temporarily suspended, can be put in force provi sions are made for filling up any deficiency in the allotted quota in any county, city, or riding by ballot of the male inhabitants if within certain limits of age. The enactment provides as follows : The secretary of state is to declare the number of militiamen re quired, whereupon the lord lieutenant is to cause meetings to be held of the lieutenancy for each subdivision. To these meetings the householders of each parish are to send in lists of all male persons between the ages of eighteen and thirty dwelling in their respective houses. Before the ballot, however, the parish may supply volun teers to fill up the quota, every volunteer so provided and approved counting as if he were a balloted person. If a deficiency still exists, the persons on the lists shall be balloted for, and double the number of those required to supply the deficiency shall be drawn out. Any person whose name is so drawn may claim exemption or object; and the deputy lieutenants settle the question of his liability to serve. From the corrected list those who are of the requisite physique (the height is 5 feet 2) are enrolled in the order in which their names are numbered until the quota is completed. If the list is not sufficient to fill the quota, another ballot in the same manner is to be taken. Any balloted man becoming liable to serve may, however, provide a substitute who has the requisite physical qualifi cations, and is not himself liable to serve. Within the general body of the militia is contained another having an additional and important obligation in the matter of service. It is called the &quot;militia reserve,&quot; and is formed of men who voluntarily undertake a liability to join the regular forces and serve in any place to which they may be ordered in case of the proclamation of a state of imminent national danger or great emergency. In this respect they are in fact upon the same footing as the army reserve, and on the occasion of the mobilization of 1878 more than 20,000 of these men became part of the regular army. The present strength of the militia reserve is a little under 29,000 men, and judging by past experience it may be computed that about 25,000 could be at once added to the ranks of an army in the field in the event of national danger or emergency. It is to be observed, how ever, that every man thus added to the regulars would be taken away from the effective strength of the militia. There is no statutory provision for the number of men to be maintained, that number being what from time to time may be voted by parliament. The latest information available respecting the actual condition of the militia of Great Britain relates to the year 1881, and that of Ireland to 1880, the militia of the latter country for obvious political reasons not having been called out for training in 1881 or 1882. Taking the militia of the United Kingdom in 1881, we find that the establishment provided for was 139,501, of whom 18,618 were artillery, 1317 engineers, and 119,566 infantry. Divided into ranks, this establish ment was made up of 3534 sergeants and 1260 drummers of the permanent staff, and of the general body 3909 officers, 2520 sergeants, 5040 corporals, and 123,238 privates. The number actually enrolled was 127,868 of all ranks, leaving 11,633 wanting to complete. Of the number enrolled 84,864 belonged to English, 14,138 to Scotch, and 28,866 to Irish regiments, the numbers wanting to complete being for England 7420, for Scotland 162, and for Ireland 4051. As the Irish regiments were not called out, our information regarding the actual effective condition of the force as shown at the annual training does not include Ireland. With regard to the English regiments, 74,945 were present out of an enrolled strength of 84,864. Of the absentees 3144 were with and 6775 without leave. In the Scotch regiments, 12,401 appeared at the training, and of the absentees 616 were with leave and 1121 with out. Of the total establishment (106,584) for Great Britain, 99,002 were enrolled, and of those enrolled 87,346 presented themselves and 3760 were absent with leave and 7896 actual defaulters. Of tlie English regiments five- sixths and of the Scotch regiments two-thirds were born in the county to which their regiments respectively belonged. Of 92,677 men (for Great Britain) whose occupations are disclosed, 17,665 were artisans, 22,221 mechanical labourers, 26,227 agricultural labourers, and 26,564 other trades. Speaking approximately, more than one-half of the men were between twenty and thirty years of age, about 4 per cent, between seventeen and eighteen, about 9 per cent, between eighteen and nineteen, and about 12 per cent, between nineteen and twenty, while some 20 per cent, were over thirty years of age. More than one-half those inspected in 1881 were between 5 feet 5 inches and 5 feet 7 inches in height, about 20 per cent, were under 5 feet 5 inches, while only 585 out of a total of 92,677 were 6 feet and upwards. At the date of inspection there were 296 men in military confinement and 465 in the custody of the civil power. On the last occasion (1880) on which the Irish militia were called out, upon an establishment of 32,813 and an enrolled strength of 30,515 the number present at the training was 26,399, leaving 706 absent with and 2264 without leave. Regiments numbering in the aggregate 1146 men were not trained. As distinguished from the regular forces or standing army, the militia has been described as the constitutional military force of the country ; and its history justifies the description, at least up to a recent period when it lost its distinctive character and became to a great extent merged in the regular army. It is the oldest force Britain possesses, and in fact represents the train bands of early English history. Its origin is to be found in the obligation of all freemen between certain ages to arm themselves for the preservation of the peace within their respective counties, and generally for the protection of the kingdom from invasion. This obligation, imposed in the first instance upon the individuals themselves, became shifted to the owners of land, who were compelled to keep up their propor tion of horses and armour for the national defence. The forces were