X HE number and condition of the militia and regular troops, and their pay ?
The following is a ftate of the militia, taken from returns of 1780 and 1 781, except in thofe counties marked with an afterifk, the returns from which are fome- what older.
Every able bodied freeman, between the ages of 16 and 50 is enrolled in the mi- litia. Thofe of every county are formed into companies, and thefe again into one or more battalions, according to the num- bers in the county. They are commanded by colonels, and other fubordinate offi- cers, as in the regular fervice. In every county is a county-lieutenant, who commands the whole militia of his county, but ranks only as a colonel in the field. We have no general officers always exifting.
Thefe are appointed occafionally, when an invafton or infurredion happens, and their commiflion determines with the occafion. The governor is head of the mihtary, as well as civil power. The law requires every militia-man to provide himfelf with the arms ufual in the regular fervice. But this injunftion was always indifferently com- plied with, and the arms they had, have been fo frequently called for to arm the regulars, that in the lower parts of the country they are entirely difarmed. In the middle country a fourth or fifth part of them may have fuch firelocks as they had provided to deftroy the noxious animals which infefl: their farms; and on the weft- ern fide of the Blue ridge they are gene- rally armed with rifles. The pay of our miUtia, as well as of our regulars, is that of the continental regulars. The conditi- on of our regulars, of whom we have none but continentals, and part of a battalion of ftate troops, is fo conftantly on the change, that a ftate of it at this day would not be its