Lpectively, during the interval. And at all points, 

 far as consistent with practical convenience, due 

 credit will be given for volunteers, and your excel- 

 lency shall be notified of the time fixed for commenc- 

 ing the draft in each district. 



I do not object to abide a decision of the United 

 States Supreme Court, or of the judges thereof, on the 

 constitutionality of the draft law. In fact, I shall be 

 willing to facilitate the obtaining of it, but I cannot 

 consent to lose the time while it is being obtained. 

 We are contending with an enemy, who, as I under- 

 stand, drives every able-bodied man he can reach into 

 his ranks, very much as a butcher drives bullocks into 

 a slaughter pen. No time is wasted, no argument is 

 used. 



This produces an army which will soon turn upon 

 our now victorious soldiers, already in the field, if they 

 shall not be sustained by recruits as they should be. It 

 produces an army with a rapidity not to be matched 

 on our side, if we first waste time to reexp'eriment 

 with the volunteer system, already deemed by Con- 

 gress, and palpably, in fact, so far exhausted as to be 

 inadequate ; and then more time to obtain a court de- 

 cision as to whether a law is constitutional which re- 

 quires a part of those not now in the service to go to 

 the aid of those who are already in it; and still more 

 time to determine with absolute certainty that we get 

 those who are to go in the precisely legal proportion 

 to those who are not to go. 



My purpose is to be in my action just and constitu- 

 tional, and yet practical, in performing the important 

 duty with which I am charged, of maintaining the 

 unity and the free principles of our common country. 

 Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN. 



On the 8th, the governor replied, expressing 

 regret that the draft could not be suspended 

 until a judicial decision could be had, and for- 

 warding a report of the judge-advocate-gen- 

 eral. The governor said : 



I wish to call your attention to the tables on pages 

 5, 6, 7, and 8, which show that in the nine congres- 

 sional districts in Manhattan, Long, and Staten Islands, 

 the number of conscripts called for is 33,729, while in 

 nineteen other districts the number of conscripts called 

 for is only 39,626. This draft is to be made from the 

 first class ; those between the ages of twenty and thir- 

 ty-five. It appears by the census of 1 860, that in the 

 first nine congressional districts there were 164,797 

 males between 20 and 35. They are called upon for 

 33,729 conscripts. In the other nineteen districts, 

 with a population of males between 20 and 35 of 270,- 

 786, dnfy 39,626 are demanded. 



Again, to show the partisan character of the enrol- 

 ment, you will find in the 21st page of the military re- 

 port, that in the first nine congressional districts, the 

 total vote of 1860 was 151,243. The number of con- 

 scripts now demanded is 33,729. In the nineteen dis- 

 tricts, the total vote was 457,257 ; yet these districts 

 are called upon to furnish only 39,626 drafted men. 

 Each of the nine districts gave majorities in favor of 

 one political party, and each of the nineteen districts 

 gave majorities in favor of the other party. 



On the llth, the President briefly replied as 

 follows: 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, ) 

 August llth, 1802. J 



Sis Excellency Horatio Seymour, Gov. of New York : 

 Yours of the 8th inst., with Judge Advocate-Gen. 

 Waterbury's report, was received to-day. Asking % you 

 to remember that I consider the time as being very im- 

 portant, both to the general cause of the country and 

 to the soldiers in the fieUi^I beg to remind you that I 

 waited at your request from the 1st until the 6th inst., 

 to receive your communication dated the 8d. .In view 

 of its great length and the known time and apparent 

 care taken in its preparation, I did not doubt that it 

 contained your full case as you desired to present it. 

 It contained the figures for twelve districts, omitting 



NEW YORK. 



685 



the other nineteen, as I supposed, because you found 

 nothing to complain of as to them. I answered ac- 

 cordingly. In doing so, I laid down the principle to 

 which I propose adhering, which is to proceed with 

 the draft, at the same time employing infallible means 

 to avoid any great wrong. 



With the communication received to-day, you send 

 figures for twenty-eight districts, including the same 

 sent before, and still omitting three, for which I sup- 

 pose the enrolments are not yet received. In looking 

 over the fuller lists of twenty-eight districts, I find 

 that the quotas for sixteen of them are above 2,000 and 

 below 2,700, while of the rest, six are above 2,700, and 

 six are below 2,000. 



Applying the principle to these new facts, the 5th 

 and 7th districts must be added to the four in which 

 the quotas have already been reduced to 2,200 for the 

 first draft, and with these four others must be added 

 to those to be reenrolled. The correct case will then 

 stand : the quotas of the 2d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th 

 districts, fixed at 2,200 for the first draft. 



The provost-marshal-general informs me that the 

 drawing is already completed in the 16th, 17th, 18th, 

 22d, 24th, 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th districts. In 

 the others, except the three outstanding, the drawing 

 will be made upon the quotas as now fixed. After the 

 first draft, the 2d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7tb, 8th, 16th, 17th, 

 21st, 25th, 29th, and 31st, will be reenrolled, for the 

 purpose and in the manner stated in my letter of the 

 7th inst. The same principle will be applied to the 

 now outstanding districts when they shall come in. 

 No part of my former letter is repudiated by reason of 

 not being restated in this, or for any other cause. 



Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN. 



The governor insisted also that the enrolment 

 presented great inequality, and laid the follow- 

 ing statement before the War Department : 

 The average ratio of enrolment to the male 



population in the Western States, is 19 per ct. 



In New Jersey : 20 



In Pennsylvania 18J ' 



In the Ne'w England States, it is 17 " 



In the State of New York, it is 22 " 



Massachusetts, with ten congressmen and a 

 population of 1,231,066, has to furnish, un- 

 der the recent call for 300,000 men 15,126 



The first nine congressional districts of the 

 State of New York, with a population of 



1,218,949, are called upon for 25,166 



Excess in the nine congressional districts in 

 New York over ten congressional, dis- 

 tricts in Massachusetts 10,040 



The quota of Vermont and New Hampshire, 

 with a united population of 641,171, and 

 six representatives in Congress, and four 



senators, is .. 7,099 



The quota of two congressional districts in 

 New York, the 4th and 6th, with a popu- 

 lation of 283,229, is 7,623 



The wrong was partially corrected by reduc- 

 ing the numbers called in those districts of 

 New York where they were excessive, to the 

 average number in the other districts of the 

 State. At the same time, the Secretary ap- 

 pointed "Wm. F. Allen, of New York, John 

 Love, of Indiana, and Chauncey Smith, of Mas- 

 sachusetts, as a commission, to determine upon 

 some fair mode of correcting these inequalities. 



Meantime the draft was carried forward in 

 the western districts of the State nearly to 

 completion, although in the city of New York 

 and Brooklyn it had been suspended at the 

 time of the riots, July 13th. In preparation 

 for resuming it the following correspondence 

 took place : 





