itizen and peasant, as taxpayers, as well as for the cultivation of
the now waste ground, were indispensable. The old imperfect
constitution of this civic army was, therefore, maintained. The only
difference made in the militia at this period was that the men were
chosen by the officers of the Sovereign and that the term of service
was limited for the young men; the community fell into the back-ground,
and the Sovereign became more powerful. In this manner were the militia
brought together in companies and regiments, according to their
circles, and exercised once or twice a year. Before the war the
districts had provided them with weapons and equipments; now this also
was done by the Sovereign; but in the cities the officers were
appointed by the citizens; only the commanding officer was selected by
the General The men were usually chosen by lot, and it is an
interesting circumstance that, as early as 1711, the inscription on the
Saxon ticket was "_For Fatherland_." But the military education was
imperfect, exemptions were frequent, and the mode of filling up the
vacancies inadequate.

And yet this militia more than once did good service; for instance, in
Prussia. The armed country people, as they were called in the
description of the battle of Fehrbelliner, were not a mere crowd that
had flocked together, but the old organised country militia; they took
an essential share in the first glorious deed of arms, in which the
Brandenburgers beat a superior enemy by their own unaided efforts. In
1704, these militia were still much esteemed in Prussia, and those who
were enrolled in it were exempt from all other military service.[2] It
is true this was cancelled by Frederic William I., but in the Seven
Years' War again established, and this militia did then good service
against Sweden and Russia. In the Empire, also, and in Saxony, they
were maintained, though weak, unwarlike and despised, till an altered
state of civilisation made a new organisation of the national militia
possible. Even now is this new constitution not fully completed.

Entirely distinct from these militia were the soldiery, which the
Sovereign maintained himself, and paid out of his revenue. It might be
only a body of guards, for the protection and adornment of his court,
or it might be many companies whom he levied in order to secure his own
state, and by gaining influence and power among his equals, to obtain
money. It was his own private affair, and if