ed.

chase or use of such clothing, arms, and accoutrements, and direct the lieutenant colonel or officer commanding the battalions accordingly, who is to take Where postcare that such necessaries, especially the arms, are in proper order and kind, and fit for the service. The said battalions to be posted or garrisoned on the frontiers of this state, at such places as shall, from time to time, appear most convenient; the said battalions shall not be compelled to march out of the commonwealth, unless in case of an expedition against the enemy Indians, or in pursuit of any enemy who shall have invaded the frontier.

of service.

And as it is uncertain how long the dangers which Their term at present threaten the western frontier may continue, Be it enacted, That the said battalions shall be continued in the service for the space of nine months, from the tenth day of June next, unless sooner discharged by the governour, with advice of the council; and if the time of their enlistment shall expire, or the battalions be discharged at any considerable distance from the counties where the same were raised, the officers and soldiers shall be allowed pay and provisions for so many days as may be deemed necessary for their return. These battalions to be subject to the rules and discipline as aforesaid.

Pensions; &

And be it farther enacted, That all volunteers raised. under this act, who may be disabled in the service, provision for shall be entitled to receive full pay during life, to com- wives and mence at the time of their discharge; and if any of indigent pathem lose their lives in the service, either by sickness rents: or in the field, the same provision shall be made for their wives and indigent parents, as has heretofore been made for others in similar situations.

CHAP. V.

[From Revi

1779, chap

sed Bills of An act prescribing the oath of fideli ty, and the oaths of certain publick officers.

XCVIII.p.68;

Chan. Rev. p. 89.]

BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That every Oath of fidel. Person by law required to give assurance of fidelity, shall, for that purpose, take an oath in this form.

ity.

vernor.

go

"I

do declare myself a citizen of the commonwealth of Virginia; I relinquish and renounce the character of subject or citizen of any Prince or other state whatsoever, and abjure all allegiance which may be claimed by such Prince or other state: And I do swear to be faithful and true to the said commonwealth of Virginia, so long as I continue a citizen thereof. So help me God." And no person shall have power to act in any office, legislative, executive, or judiciary, before he shall have given such assurance, and shall moreover have taken such of the following oaths, if another be not specially prescribed, as is adapted to his case. The oath of the governour. "I Dath of 50 elected governour of Virginia, by the representatives thereof, do solemnly promise and swear, that I will to the best of my skill and judgment, execute the said office, diligently and faithfully, according to law, without favour, affection, or partiality; that I will to the utmost of my power, protect the citizens of the commonwealth in the secure enjoyment of all their rights, franchises, and privileges; and will constantly endeavour that the laws and ordinances of the commonwealth be duly observed; and that law and justice, în mercy, be executed in all judgments, and lastly, that I will peaceably and quietly resign the government to which I have been elected, at the several periods to which my continuance in the said office is or shall be limited by law and the constitution. So help me God." "I elected Oath of Pri- The oath of a privy councillor. vy Council one of the privy council of Virginia by the representatives thereof, do solemnly promise and swear, that I will, to the best of my skill and judgment, execute the said office diligently and faithfully, according to law, without favour, affection, or partiality; and that I will keep secret such proceedings and orders of the privy

council, as the board shall direct to be concealed, unless the same be called for by either house of general assembly. So help me God." The oath of one not specially directed to take any other. "I

do solemnly promise and swear, that I will faithfully, impartially, and justly perform the duty of my office of

Oath of any

other.

By whom

according to the best of my skill and judgment. So help me God." The said oaths to be taken by a member or officer of either house of general as- administer sembly, shall be administered by any member of the ed. privy council, and the taking thereof shall be certified to the clerk of such house; and the said oaths to be taken by any other person if it be not otherwise directed, shall be administered in some court of record or by any judge or justice thereof, and the taking thereof shall be recorded in the said court.

CHAP. VI.

[See Revised

An Act concerning officers, soldiers, Bills of 1779, sailors, and marines.

chap. XV. p.

12.1

soldiers, sai

lors and ma· rines.

BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That every Additional able bodied freeman who will enlist, and who having bounties to enlisted to serve a particular period of time unexpired, will re-enlist to serve during the continuance of the present war, among the troops of this commonwealth, either at home or in the continental army, as he shall be directed, or as a sailor or marine on board the armed vessels in this commonwealth, shall receive so much money as with the continental bounty if he be put on that service, shall make up seven hundred and fifty dollars, taking into account in the case of re-enlistment the bounty before paid the soldier, sailor, or marine re-enlisting, and the pay and rations allowed to the like soldiers, sailors, or marines in the continental service, to begin from the day of his enlistment; he shall also be furnished at the publick expense, with a coat, waistcoat, pair of overhalls, two shirts, a pair of shoes, and a hat, to be delivered at the place of rendezvous, and with the like articles every year after

Pensions.

during his service, to be delivered at his station; in lieu of such of those articles as are allowed by congress, which articles so allowed by congress, shall be received by proper officers to be appointed by the governour with advice of council, and applied to the dischrage of the engagements of this act, or otherwise to the use of this commonwealth as the governour with advice of council shall direct. At the end of the war Land bounty every of the said soldiers, sailors, and marines, shall be entitled to a grant of one hundred acres of any unappropriated land within this commonwealth, and every of the officers commanding the said soldiers, sailors, or marines, shall be entitled to a grant of the like quantity of lands as is allowed to officers of the same rank in the Virginia regiments on continental establishment, which they shall locate according to the directions of the laws, for which no purchase money shall be required on behalf of the commonwealth: Such of the said soldiers, sailors, or marines, as shall be disabled in the service, and the widows of those slain or dying therein, shall be entitled to immediate relief, and also to annual pensions as provided in one act of general assembly, passed at the last session, entitled “An act for establishing a board of auditors for publick accounts." Officers, soldiers, sailors, and mafrom person- rines, during their continuance in the service, shall be exempted from all taxation in their persons. Officers, soldiers, sailors, and marines, raised under the laws of this commonwealth, shall, during their continuance in the service be furnished by the agent or commissary of stores on behalf of this commonwealth, at the principal encampments, with the following articles, at the rates herein stated, to wit: osnaburgs at one shilling Goods, at and six pence by the yard, coarse hats at seven shilstipulated lings and six pence each, coarse shoes at eight shillings by the pair, coarse yarn hose at five shillings by the pair, rum or brandy at ten shillings by the gallon, whisky at five shillings by the gallon, brown sugar at one shilling by the pound, coffee at two shillings and sixpence by the pound, and such other imported articles as may be necessary for them, at one hundred and twenty per centum advance on their costs at the European port where they shall have been imported: And if they shall have been purchased on behalf of the publick, after their exportation from any European port,

Exemption

al taxes.

prices.

Half, pay,

terns, chap

surgeons'

mates, who

so that their costs at such port shall not be known, their costs there shall be estimated by such agent or commissary as nearly as he shall be able, and they shall be vended at the same advance on that estimation, provided that every of the said officers shall, in any one year, be entitled to receive of such agent or commissary, the following articles of imported dry goods, to wit: Six yards of cloth, seven quarters of a yard wide, with trimmings for a suit of clothes, stuff for six summer vests and breeches, linen for six shirts, cambrick for ruffles to them, and buttons, six stocks, three pair of silk, and three pair of thread hose, six handkerchiefs, two pair of good shoes, and one hat, and no more. All general officers of the army being citizens of this commonwealth, and all field officers, captains, and subalterns, commanding, or who shall for life, promised to ge. command in the battalions of this commonwealth on nerals, field continental establishment, or serving in the battalions officers, capraised for the immediate defence of this state, or for tains, subalthe defence of the United States: And all chaplains, lans physi physicians, surgeons, and surgeon's mates, appointed cians, surto the said battalions, or any of them, being citizens of geons, and this commonwealth, and not being in the service of Georgia, or of any other state, provided congress do continue to not make some tantamount provision for them, who the end of shall serve henceforward, or from the time of their being commissioned, until the end of the war. And all such officers who have, or shall become supernumerary on the reduction of any of the said battalions, and shall again enter into the said service if required so to do, in the same or any bigher rank, and continue therein until the end of the war, shall be entitled to half pay during life, to commence from the determination of their command of service, The field officers of every Recruiting county shall, from time to time, during the continu- officers, how ance of the present war, appoint one or more persons, appointed, such as in their judgment are best fitted to the purpose of recruiting soldiers, sailors, and marines, under this act, who shall be removeable at their will. Every recruiting officer shall, from time to time, give notice ers, duty, & of the men enlisted by him to the governour, who, with compensa advice of council, shall appoint such time and place tion. within this commonwealth for their rendezvous as shall bè convenient, and arr officer then and there to review and receive them, to which place of rendezvous the VOL. X.

D

the war

Their pow