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artillery, will meet at the Courthouse in said Topsham on Monday the 16. of April next at 2 o'clock P.M. to elect a captain & two lieutenants for said company. Major Alexander Rogers will please to preside, & make return of the officers elect. H: Sewall, M. Gen.

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Commonwealth of Massachusetts. General Orders, Headquarters, March 8. 1804.

The military establishment on which the American governments seem principally to rely, is the militia; they therefore confide to the free citizens of the United States the honourable charge of the national defence. Though all military institutions have an ultimate reference to a state of war; yet it is the policy of every good government to aim at removing to the greatest possible distance, that scourge of human happiness; & no system appears more likely to avert the evil than that of assuming the military position of an armed nation.

The militia of this Commonwealth constituting a considerable portion of the public force claims much of the attention of the officers entrusted with the government of it, as well as some sacrifices from those who constitute & form its ranks; but when it is considered as a shield of the nation & an important bulwark of its rights, when it is regarded as the school of heroism & the road to public honours; who will regret at serving in the militia of Massachusetts.

The details of this important institution require constant inspection & vigilance - & the most minute parts often call for the adjustment & regulation of its directors to enable it to perform its evolution