History of the New York Census. 



123 



lightened philanthropist, the legislator and the officers 

 interested in the care and treatment of these unfortunate 

 classes. This supplementary schedule, occupying less 

 than three inches in breadth, will, in the importance and 

 variety of information resulting, be certainly inferior to 

 none that have preceded it, and as a basis of future his- 

 tory, it will afford data of great interest. 



We have been nearly four years engaged in an active 

 and vigorous war, calling forth the best energies of the 

 loyal states, of which we claim 2s"ew York to be one of 

 the foremost, in men, means and patriotism. We have 

 sent cheerfully to the battle fields of the south, our hun- 

 dreds of thousands of men. Of these, many sleep in un- 

 recorded graves, or their initials are cut by the hands of 

 loving comrades, on the little headboards of the sacred 

 graves around the camp hospitals at the seat of war, or in 

 the cemeteries of our larger receptacles of sick and 

 wounded in our northern cities. Great numbers have 

 returned home, disqualified from further military service, 

 — and very many are now employed in the armies and 

 navies of the republic. 



But the day star of peace is rising, and thanks to the 

 valor of our troops, the bravery and skill of their officers, 

 the firmness and wisdom of our rulers, and above all to 

 the patriotism and sacrificing determination of the people, 

 we may reasonably hope, that the census in June next 

 will be taken at the end of the war. 



Shall we then lose the golden opportunity which this 

 census affords, of learning exactly what has been the 

 influence of this war upon our state, in its resources of 

 men and wealth ? What have been its casualties ? What 

 its influence upon society ? — what upon the condition of 

 our people ? 



The casualties of war have been greatly over estimated 

 by the public mind. In the Mexican war of 1846-7, 



