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GEORGII II,

Regis Magnæ Britanniæ, Franciæ, et
Hiberniæ, tricesimo.

governor.

At a General Assembly, begun and held at Robert Dinthe Capitol, in Williamsburg, on Thurs- widdie, esq. day the twenty-fifth day of March, in the twenty-ninth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George II. by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, king, defender of the faith, &c. and in the year of our Lord, 1756, and from thence continued by several prorogations to Thursday the fourteenth of April, in the thirtieth year of his majeɛty's reign, and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and fiftyseven; being the third session of this Assembly.

CHAP. I.

An Act for granting an aid to his majesty for the better protection of this colony, and for other purposes therein mentioned.

I. WHEREAS it is necessary, in this time of dan- Method of ger, that the forces now in the pay of this colony should drafting. be augmented, Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the author

ity of the same, That the forces now in this colony shall be augmented to one thousand two hundred and seventy, including non-commissioned officers: And for the more speedy raising the men that shall be wanted to complete that number, the sheriff of every county within this colony, and the serjeants of the city of Williamsburg and borough of Norfolk, shall cause to be summoned the several justices, and field-officers, and captains of their respective counties, city and borough, to meet at the court-houses of the said counties, city and borough, respectively, within fifteen days after the passing of this act; which said justices, field-officers, and captains, or any number of them not less than seven, shall then and there hold a court, and examine and enquire into the occupation and employment of the several inhabitants of the said counties, city and borough, between the age of eighteen and fifty years, which examination shall be taken by the several muster-rolls (which the county-lieutenant or chief commanding officer is hereby required to lay before such court) and by such other methods of enquiry as to the said court shall seem expedient: And the said courts are hereby impowered and required to prick down all such able-bodied persons, within their respective jurisdictions, as shall be found loitering and neglecting to labor for reasonable wages; all who run from their habitations, leaving wives or children without suitable means for their subsistance, and all other idle, vagrant, or dissolute persons, wandering abroad without betaking themselves to some lawful employment; and all such who, in pursuance of the act of Assembly, made in the twenty-ninth year of his present majesty's reign, intituled, An act for raising the sum of twenty-five thousand pounds for the better protection of the inhabitants on the frontiers of this colony, aud for other purposes therein mentioned, did receive the reward of ten pounds to enter into his majesty's service, and deserted the same before the expiration of the time directed by the said act. And in case a sufficient number of such persons, as are before described, cannot be found in any county, city or borough, to make up their respective quotas, according to the directions of this act, then the said courts are hereby impowered to prick down such able-bodied men, not being freeholders or house-keepers qualified to vote at an election of burgesses, as they shall think proper to

make up the same. And such courts, to be held as aforesaid, are hereby impowered and required to order the sheriffs of the said counties, and serjeants of the said city and borough, respectively, and such officers of the militia, not being members of the said courts, as they shall think proper, to bring before them the several persons so pricked down as aforesaid, at a succeeding court to be held as aforesaid, within ten days. of the former; and such court shall then proceed to draft out such, and so many of them, as shall be deemed proper for the service aforesaid, in the following proportion, that is to say, one man for every forty effective soldiers in the militia of each county, city and borough. And where it shall so happen that the militia of any county, city or borough shall amount to any number, so as to leave or afford twenty men over and above the forties for which one man is to be drafted, then such court shall draft one more for the said twenty men as aforesaid.

the court.

II. And be it further enacted, by the authority afore- The oath to said, That the several courts, to be held as aforesaid, be taken by before they proceed to prick down and draft the soldiers, as is before directed, shall take the following oath, which shall be first administred to the first justice in the commission of the peace, present at such court, by any two of the members then present, and then by the said justice to the other members of the court, that is to say:

You shall swear that you will do equal right and justice to all men, according to the act of Assembly, intituled, An act for granting an aid to his majesty for the better protection of this colony, and for other purposes therein mentioned, without favor, affection, or partiality, so help you God.

III. And it is hereby further enacted, That every such Court to ap court shall appoint some person to act as clerk, who point a clerk: shall enter the proceedings of such court, and shall transmit the same to the clerk of the county, city or borough, to be by him recorded. And every justice, militia officer, sheriff, or serjeant that shall neglect or fail to do the duty by this act required of them respectively, shall forfeit and pay for every such failure or neglect the sum of twenty pounds, one moiety to our sovereign lord the king for the public use, and to be Penalty on paid to John Robinson, esquire, treasurer of this colo- court, &c. ny, or to the treasurer for the time being, appointed

The reward

inlist.

by or pursuant to an act of Assembly, and disposed of as the General Assembly shall direct, and the other moiety to the informer, and shall and may be recovered with costs, by action of debt or information, in any court of record within this colony.

IV. And for the encouragement of persons who may to those who be inclined to inlist voluntarily into the said service, voluntarily Be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That every able-bodied person, willing to inlist into such service, that shall appear before either of the said courts, hereby appointed to be held as aforesaid, and there inlist himself as a soldier, provided the same be done before the drafting as aforesaid shall be compleated, shall be entitled to five pounds: And if any person present shall be willing to, and shall advance the said reward to the person so inlisting, the person paying the same shall, upon producing a receipt, be repaid the money so advanced, by the treasurer, out of the money herein after appropriated for raising and maintaining the forces hereby intended to be raised; and if no person present will advance the said reward, then the person so inlisting shall be paid the same within three days after his arrival at the place of general rendezvous, by the commanding officer of the forces in the service of this colony. And the court before whom such person shall inlist shall order the clerk to give such person a certificate of his inlisting, to entitle him to the reward aforesaid: And every person so inlisting shall be deemed and taken as one of the number herein before directed to be drafted for each county, city or borough.

Reward to

those who are drafted.

Where the party is pricked down at the

first court.

V. And for the encouragement of persons, so as aforesaid pricked down, to appear at the second court to be held as aforesaid, Be it further enacted, That every person so pricked down, who shall appear at such second court, and be drafted into the service, shall be entitled to the sum of three pounds, to be paid in manner aforesaid.

VI. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That every person pricked down as aforesaid shall give to the sheriff, serjeant, or militia officer, appointed to bring such person before the succeeding court, sufficient security in the sum of fifty pounds for his appearance at such court, and in default thereof it shall and may be lawful for such sheriff, serjeant, or militia officer, to commit such person to the goal of the

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