684 



NEW YORK. 



I have also sworn to support another Constitution 

 the constitution of the State of New York with all its 

 powers and rights. I shall uphold it. 



I hare sworn faithfully to perform the duties of the 

 office of Governor of this State, and with your aid they 

 shall be faithfully performed. These Constitutions and 

 laws are meant for the guidance of official conduct and 

 for your protection and welfare. 



The first law I find recorded for my observance is 

 that which declares " it shall be the duty of the Gov- 

 ernor to maintain and defend the sovereignty and juris- 

 diction of this State," and the most marked injunction 

 of the Constitution to the Executive is, that he " shall 

 take care that the laws are faithfully executed." 



These Constitutions do not conflict ; the line of sep- 

 aration between the responsibilities and obligations 

 which each imposes is well defined. They do not em- 

 barrass us in the performance of our duties as citizens 

 or officials. 



After a brief allusion to the quiet transfer of 

 power from one political organization to an- 

 other, and the expression of the hope that, be- 

 fore the end of two years, the nation would be 

 again united and glorious, and thanks to the 

 assemblage, the governor withdrew. During 

 tie year which he had thus commenced, the 

 governor was called upon to encounter some 

 new questions in the administration of the af- 

 fairs of the State. The most exciting of these 

 arose out of the orders of the Federal Govern- 

 ment for a draft of men for the army. The 

 number of men to be taken by the draft was 

 ordered to be one fifth of the number enrolled 

 in each congressional district who belonged to 

 the first class, or were between the ages of 

 twenty and thirty-five, with the unmarried be- 

 tween thirty-five and forty-five. It was always 

 admitted as a fundamental principle in raising 

 troops, and so provided by the Enrolment Act 

 that the burden should be borne equally by all 

 parts of the country. The obligations of a 

 State should be in proportion to the number of 

 its citizens liable to military duty. It happen- 

 ed that, under the system of volunteering in 

 1861 and 1862, some States had contributed 

 proportionally more men than other States; 

 and parts of some States had contributed pro- 

 portionally more than the remainder. The 

 first question to be determined by the Federal 

 Government was the credit for volunteers 

 which each State was entitled to receive. Great 

 difficulties arose in solving this problem, from 

 the manner in which volunteers had been ob- 

 tained. (See ENROLMENT.) Other difficulties 

 arose from the unequal proportions of similar 

 ages in various States. Thus New England, 

 whose youth emigrate in large numbers, 

 would show a smaller number liable to mili- 

 tary duty, in proportion to her population, 

 than other portions of the Union. So New 

 York City, which is the headquarters of Euro- 

 pean emigration, would show a greater propor- 

 tion of the military age than was really sub- 

 ject to military duty. The commencement of 

 the draft in New York City, in July, was ac- 

 companied with a riot, and it was suspended 

 until August. (See RIOTS.) A correspondence 

 then ensued between the governor and Pres- 

 ident Lincoln. On the 8d of August the gov- 



ernor, in a letter to the President, referred to 

 the provision of the Enrolment Act, which re- 

 quires that the quotas should be so assigned as 

 to equalize the number among the districts of 

 the several States, allowing for those already 

 furnished, and for the time of service. New 

 York had hitherto furnished a surplus, and 

 was entitled to credit, said the governor, but 

 the statement of the provost-marshal did not 

 agree with the records of the State adjutant- 

 general's office. He therefore asked that the 

 records of the two offices might be compared. 

 He also asked that the draft might be suspend- 

 ed, as it had been elsewhere, until the results 

 of recruiting, then actively going on in the 

 State, should be apparent. He also stated that 

 " it was believed by at least one half of the 

 people of the loyal States that the Conscription 

 Act was in itself a violation of the Supreme 

 Constitutional Law," and therefore "earnestly 

 urged that the Government interpose no ob- 

 structions to the earliest practical decision up- 

 on this point." He said : " Our accustomed pro- 

 cedures give to our citizens the right to bring 

 all questions affecting personal liberty or com- 

 pulsory service in a direct and summary man- 

 ner, to the judges and courts of the State or 

 nation. The decisions which would thus nat- 

 urally be rendered within a brief period, and 

 after full and ample discussion, would make 

 such a current of judicial opinion as would sat- 

 isfy the public mind that the act is either valid 

 or void." 



On the 7th of August the President briefly 

 replied, as follows : 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, "WASHINGTON, ? 

 August 1th, 1S63. \ 



His Excellency Horatio Seymour, Gov. of New York: 



Your communication of the 3d instant has been re- 

 ceived and attentively considered. 



I cannot consent to suspend the draft in New York, 

 as you request, because, among other things, time is 

 too important. 



By the figures you send, which I presume are cor- 

 rect, the twelve districts represented fall into two 

 classes, of eight and four respectively. The disparity 

 of the quotas for the draft, in these two classes, is cer- 

 tainly very striking, being the difference between an 

 average 2,200 in one class and 4,864 in the other. 

 Assuming that the districts are equal one to another, 

 in entire population, as required by the plan on which 

 they were made, this disparity is such as to require 

 attention. 



Much of it, however, T suppose, will be accounted 

 for by the fact that so many more persons fit for sol- 

 diers are in the city than in the country, who have too 

 recently arrived from other parts of the United States, 

 and from Europe, to be included in the census of 1860, 

 or to have voted in 1862. Still, making due allowance 

 for this, I am yet unwilling to stand upon it, as an 

 entirely sufficient explanation of the great disparity. 



I shall direct the draft to proceed in all the districts, 

 drawing, however, at first, from each of the four 

 districts, to wit : second, fourth, sixth and eighth, 

 only 2,200, being the average quota of the other class. 



After this drawing, these four districts, and also the 

 seventeenth and twenty-ninth, shall be carefully re- 

 enrolled, and, if you please, agents of yours may wit- 

 ness every step of the process. Any deficiency which 

 may appear by the new enrolment, will be supplied by 

 a special draft for that object, allowing due credit for 

 volunteers who may be obtained from these districts, 



