which became The Royal Canadian Regiment, were both formed on 21 December 1883. The militia stagnated after the early 1870s when the fear of the Fenian Brotherhood ended. The major task of the militia was as aid to civil power with the militia frequently been called out to put down riots between the Catholics and Orangemen; within a five-year period in the 1870s the militia had to called to end riots in Charlottetown, Saint John, Montreal and Toronto, all of which involved the Orangemen vs. Roman Catholics. Both Conservative and Liberal governments used the officer corps of the militia for patronage, leading to a grotesquely bloated officer corps full of men who given commissions for political reasons. The Canadian historian Desmond Morton described the militia officers in Quebec as being almost all "political hacks". At any given moment, between a quarter to sixth of the MPs held officer's commissions in the militia, and who used their commissions to reward supporters in their ridings. In 19th century Canada, an officer's commission in the militia was a keenly sought badge of respectability. Most militiamen served only for 12 days every year, and reports by British officers seconded to the Canadian militia in the late 19th century are full of scathing commentary about an ill-trained militia being commanded by political officers. Between 1875 and 1896, about 20, 000 men served in the militia, with the annual 12 days of service every June being seen as one of the major social events of the year. The North-West Field Force was a body of militia and regular troops created for quelling the North-West Rebellion of 1885, which constituted Canada's first military action without British troop support, although British officers such as Frederick Middleton were in command of the Canadian forces. Middeleton's successor as the commander of the militia, Colonel Ivor Herbert, proved to be a reformer who first revealed to the Canadian press that the ratio of officers in the militia to the privates was 1:2.24 in 1894. Herbert also created the post of quartermaster general to tend to the supply notes and appointed another British officer, Percy Lake as the quartermaster general. Herbert increased spending on the Permanent Force, and founded two new regiments, the Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry, the Royal Canadian Dragoons and several artillery battalions. Herbert's reforms threatened the entrenched vested interests of the militia and after much lobbying by militia