¹ The laws of the XT. S. exempt from military service the Vice
President, the Judicial and Executive officers of the Govern¬
ment of the U. S., members and officers of both Houses of Con¬
gress, customhouse officers and clerks, post officers and stage
drivers in charge of mails, ferrymen on post roads, inspectors
of exports, pilots and mariners in actual sea service. The State
exempts, besides the above, persons in the army and navy and
those honorably discharged therefrom, preachers of every sect,
commissioned officers and privates of uniformed companies who
have resigned after seven years’ service, and certain firemen.
All others may commute by paying 50 cts. annually, except in
Kings and New' York cos. and the cities of Albany and Buffalo,
where the commutation is fixed at 75 cts.

These moneys are paid to the collectors of taxes and applied
to the military fund,—from which the officers and men of regi¬
ments are paid, from $1.25 to $4, according to rank, for every
day’s military service. Persons going to, remaining at, or re¬
turning from military duty are exempt from arrest upon civil
process. Previous to the act of 1846, the State contained 33
divisions, 66 brigades, 272 regiments, and 1836 companies, and
numbered 141,436 officers and men. Tlie number of enrolled
militia had been as follows, at different periods:—

⁴ The instructors, with the rank of colonel, are attached to
the headquarters of the division, and hold by the same tenure
as commissioned officers of the line. Instructors and division
engineers must pass an examination as to special qualification
before a board of not less than five officers, convened by the
Commander-in-Chief. Appointments to this office have hitherto
been made entirely from among the graduates of West Point.

⁸ The Constitution of 1777 ordained that a proper magazine
of w'arlike stores, proportionate to the number of inhabitants,
should be established in every county of the State; but this pro¬
vision was never fully carried out. An arsenal was built at
New York at an early period, and another at Albany soon after,
the latter on the site purchased for a State prison. Under an
act of Feb. 12,1808, entitled “An Act for the defense of the
northern and western frontiers,” and by subsequent acts, arse¬
nals were erected at Canandaigua, Batavia, Onondaga Hollow,
Borne, Watertown, Bussell, Malone, Plattsburgh, and Elizabeth¬
town.

The arsenal at Plattsburgh was burned in 1813 or ’14, and the
one at Borne, which occupied the present site of St. Peter’s
Church, was burned with its contents a few years since. Neither
has been rebuilt. In 1844 the State leased of the city of Buffalo
a market building on Batavia St. for an arsenal. Magazines
were also located at New York, at Albany, and on Staten Island.
In 1850 these arsenals were mostly ordered to be sold, together
with such arms and other property as had become unserviceable
for military purposes. An arsenal occupying the site of an old
pow'der magazine of the Dutch, between Center, Elm, Franklin,
and White Streets, New York, was authorized to be sold in 1844,
and a new one was directed to be built. The site was purchased
by the city for $30,000, and a new city armory was built, on the
corner of White and Elm Streets. In 1808 the city of New
York conveyed to the State a tract of ground upon Fifth Ave¬
nue, between Sixty-Third and Sixty-Fifth Sts., upon which a
magazine was erected. In 1844 the Legislature authorized a
new arsenal to be erected on these premises with such moneys
as might be paid by the U. S. for the military works upon Staten
Island.. The sale was completed in April, 1847, for $37,284.87,
of which $33,284.87 was applicable to the arsenal. The work
was commenced, but in March, 1848, was suspended by the
Commissioners of the Land Office, to whose charge and that of
the Commissary General the w^rork had been intrusted. . It was
alleged that the latter officer had expended moneys most un¬
warrantably; and subsequent observation has proved that the
structure was unfit for this or, in fact, for any other purpose.—
Assembly Doc. 1856, No. 141. Senate Doc. 1848, No. 54.

In laying out the Central Park, the premises consisting of 152
building lots, valued in 1856 at $266,000, were included in the
proposed improvement, and an act was passed, April 15, 1857,
under which this property, which the State purchased in 1808
for $700, was conveyed back to the city for $275,000. Of this
sum $100,000 Was made applicable to the erection of an ar¬
senal at New York; $45,000 for an arsenal at Buffalo; $40,000
for an arsenal in Brooklyn; $25,000 for the improvement of the
arsenal at Albany and the erection of an armory; $17,000 for the
purchase of the U. S. arsenal at Bcme; $14,000 for an arsenal at
Corning, and for armories; $5,000 at Bochester, $5,000 at-Troy,
$4,000 at Auburn, $4,000 at Syracuse, $4,000 at Utica, $3,000 at
Ballston Spa, $3,000 at Dunkirk, $3,000 at Ogdensburgh, $3,000 at
Oswego, and $3,000 for the purchase of a stone fort in Schoharie
for an armory. The arsenal in Albany, by act of April 17,1858,
was exchanged with the city for a site on Hudson and Eagle
Streets, and $5,000 toward an arsenal and armory buildings,
which were erected in 1858-59. During the summer of 1858,
buildings at Albany, Auburn, Ballston Spa, Brooklyn, Corning,
Dunkirk, New York, Ogdensburgh, and Syracuse were put under
contract and finished, or far advanced, the same year. The stone
fort or church at Schoharie was purchased, but no steps were
taken for the erections authorized at Troy, Bochester, Oswego,
and Utica. The new arsenal built at New York in 1858 was
located on Seventh Avenue, corner of Thirty-Fifth St., and was
nearly completed, when the roof fell, on the morning of Nov,
13, 1858, greatly injuring the building.

Most of the structures erected under this act are c f substantial
workmanship and elegant architectural style. They were built
under the direction of commissioners appointed by law. When
completed, they will be placed in charge of the Commissary
General, whs also attends to the safe keeping of arms and