SOON after the reftoration of king Charles the fecond, when the military tenures were abolifhed, it was thought proper to afcertain the power of the militia, to recognize the fole right of the crown to govern and command them, and to put the whole into a more regular method of military fubordinationm : and the order, in which the militia now ftands by law, is principally built upon the ftatutes which were then enacted. It is true the two laft of them are apparently repealed; but many of their provifions are re-enacted, with the addition of fome new regulations, by the prefent militia laws: the general fcheme of which is to difcipline a certain number of the inhabitants of every county, chofen by lot for three years, and offcered by the lord lieutenant, the deputy lieutenants, and other principal landholders, under a commiffion from the crown. They are not compellable to march out of their counties, unlefs in cafe of invafion or actual rebellion, nor in any cafe compellable to march out of the kingdom. They are to be exercifed at ftated times: and their difcipline in general is liberal