Alexandria daily gazette, commercial & political. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1808-1812, 1809-07-13

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fy them. These two lists are then returned
to the projects, who are responsible for their
accuracy, and who Immediately transmit
them to the minister of war. s
When all these preparatory steps have
been taken, the persons liable to conscrip-
.tion assemble in each canton, and lets are
made out of those who are capable of per-
forming military service,f whether present
or absent. Tickets are then deposited in an
urn, to the amountsof the lists made out
And as the uninterrupted from each can
ton is before hand specified, every one who
draws ticket on which is inscribed num-
Der less than that of the quota demanded, is
Immediately considered at the disposal of
the government. To the tickets Of those
who are fortunate enough to obtain present
exemption,the names Of the respective draw
ers are affixed, thar they may on any emer-
gency be called into service, in the order in
which fortune has placed them. They who
absent themselves from these meetings are
considered refractory, and If, after being en-
rolled among the dstenseurs de la batrie, they
do not imme diately join their respective
corps, they are punished with ten years con-
fnement to hard labor, < with fine of 500
francs, (amoun,ing to about Eve hundred
and thirty three dollars together with
the expences of pursuit, levied on the real
and personal property of themselves or their
parents. They who muti!ate themselves to
avoid CONSUMPTION, are placed atthe dispo-
sal of the government for FIVE years. Health
officers making false returns, are punished
with FIVE years confinement in irons. In one
case an aged father, attempting by artiace
to exempt from military service son, who
was the only stay of his age,was condemned
to an exposition Tors tx hours, to be branded
with hot iron, to pay the expences of the
prosecution sc. and to labor tor eight years
in chains
Dese:tion from this compulsory service
is punished with death, and with fine of
fifteen hundred francs, beside the expences
of pursuit and capture, levied On the pro-
perry of the conscript or his parents. Those
refractory conscripts who have undergone
the punishment prescribed are prohibited
from approaching within twenty leagues of
the capital. When taken they are, as
mark of disgrace, tied together with a rope
attached to a horses tail, and thus dragged
nnder an escort Of gendarmelie to the towns
set apart for their confinement. Persons
within the age of CONSUMPTION, who are ex-
empted from military services on account of
a physical inability to perform them, are
compelled TO pay to the government an IN
demnity proportlored to the taxes paid by
themselves or their parents. All the Off
GERS engaged in the business ofthe conscrip-
ton, are bound TO the exact and rigid exc.
cution Of the laws in the penalty Of their
whole estates zealand personal. No French
nan under the age of thirty is permitted to
leave his place of residence, or to hold any
Office whatever under the government, un-
less he can prove, by authentic documents,
that he has discharged his liability to the
CONSUMPTION.
The law of CONSUMPTION, as at first enact
ed, permitted no substitution. The impe-
rial constitutions permit the minister of war
10 gram special exemptions in certain cases,
provided the person exempted pays to
The government one hundred francs (about
500 2o) to equip substitute provided by
himself, who must be of robust constitu-
ton, of proper size, above the age OF IS
and less than 40. The fact that more than
two hundred pounds sterling is frequently
paid tor a substitute, viii convey some idea
of the scarcity of men possessing the requi,-
site qualifications, and of the aversion which
is generally entertained against the military
service HUT exemption even on these
terms is IN no case matter of right, but is
entirely Discretionary with the minister OF
war. II is in practice extended to the ia
vorites and supporters Of the present 60