656 Assembly Proceedings, Mar. 28-May 13, 1758.

L.H.J.
Liber No. 50
May 5

to the Frontiers, lest the People that were settled there, being left
without any Hopes of Assistance or Protection, should desert their
Habitations or fall an easy Prey to the Enemy; to this you Answer,
that as a Bill was sent up from your House last Session, making
Provision for supporting Three Companies of the Soldiers, which
had been raised for his Majesty's Service, and the more immediate
Defence of our Frontier Inhabitants, it would seem that these Soldiers
thought they had sufficient Reason to depend, that the several
Branches of the Legislature would soon agree upon some Bill for
that Purpose, though they had broke up without doing any Thing
at that Time, and that you presume it is this reasonable Dependance
which has prevented the Soldiers disbanding themselves, even to this
Time : That the Soldiers on our Frontiers, or their Officers at least,
hope they shall ere long receive their Arrears of Pay, is very prob-
able; how reasonable such their Dependance is, the Event of this
Session will determine. The Declarations you have now made, give
me Room to hope, that neither they, nor the Person that hath Vic-
tualled them since the Money granted for their Support has been

p.173

expended, will be disappointed in their Expectations; but it surely
must be acknowledged, that Men in this State of Dependance and
Uncertainty are in a very different Situation from that of Troops
which are actually in Pay, and I doubt not but your Constituents,
notwithstanding your Endeavours to represent them as one and the
same, will readily perceive the Difference.
The Power of the Governor, and of such Officers as might be
Commissioned by the Commander in Chief of this Province, to com-
pel the Militia of one County to march into another, and the Obliga-
tion the Militia are under to obey the Commands of such Governor,
or their respective Officers, having been already stated, I pass on to
your Dissertation on the Word Invasion, which it seems by your
Account is something different from an Incursion: I could wish
you had before you proceeded to argue so much about this Word,
thought proper to define it, and to tell us what, in your Opinion, an
Invasion is as well as what it is not.

According to Bailey, an Invasion is an inroad or Descent upon a
Country; he does not say by what Number of the Enemy, how long
they must Stay, whether they may be all Light-Armed, or whether it
is absolutely necessary that they should bring with them any Artillery
or heavy Baggage. If you recur to the Laws that were made here at
different Times before the Militia Act at present in Question, you will
find that they often speak of the Danger the Inhabitants of this Prov-
ince were exposed to by the frequent Incursions and Invasions of
their common Enemy the Indians; and the Records will shew you,
that your Ancestors thought themselves invaded when any Party of
Indians came into or even approached the Province with a hostile
Intent : In this Sense, the Party of the Enemy that did the Mischief