Weekly national intelligencer., 1863-08-13
TIE PRESIDENTS REPLY.
EXECUTIVE MANSION

Washington august Z, 1863.
His Excellency HoRATIo SEYMOUR, Governor of N. Y.
Your communication Of the Sd instant has been received
and attentively considered.
cannot to suspend the draft in New York
you request because among other things time is too i'm
pOrtant.
BY the figures you send, which presume correct
the twelve districts represented fall into clases OF
eight and four respectively The disparity of the quotas
for the draft in these two classes certainly very striking
being the difference between average of 1920 in class
and 1854 in the other Assuming that the districts
equal one to another in entire population required by
the plan on which they made this disparity such
as to require attention. Much of it, however, suppose
will be accounted for by the fact that many per-
sons t for soldiers in the city than ia the country
who have too recently arrived from other parts of the
United States and from Europe to be included in the
sus of 1860, to have voted in 1862 Still making due
allowance for this yet unwilling to stand upon it
entirely sufficient explanation of the great disparity
shall direct the draft to proceed in all the districts
drawing however, at first from each of the four districts
to wit: the Second Fourth Sixth and Eighth only 200
being the average quota Of the other class After this
drawing these four DISTRICTS and also the Seventeenth and
Twenty yninth shall be carefully re-enroled and if you
please agents OF yours may witness every step of the
cess ANY defciency which may appear by the new en-
roment will be supplied by special DRAFT for that object
allowing due credit for volunteers who msy be obtained
from these districts respectively during the interval And
at all points, far consistent with prac ca convenience
due credit will be given for volunteers and your Excel
lency shall be notified of the time fixed for commencing
the draft in each district
do object to abide decision of the United States
supreme Court or OF the Judges thereof the c0nstu
tionay of the draft law. In fact, shall be willing to
facilitate the obtaining of but cannot consent to lose
the time while it is being obtained We are oontendng
with enemy, who as understand, drives every able
bodied man he reach into his ranks, very much
butcher drives buocks into slaughter pen. No time is
wasted, no argument is used. This produces army
which will soon turn upon victorious soldiers,
already in the field, if they shall not be sustained
by recruits they should be. 1t produces army
with rapdty not to be matched side, if first
waste time to reexperiment with the volunteer SYSTEM
already deemed by Congress- and gapahy in fact far
exhausted as TO be inadequate and then time to
obtain court decision to whether law is constitu
tona which requires part of those not now in the
vice TO 60 to the aid of those who are already in it, and
still more time TO determine with absolute certainty that
we get those who to 60 the precisely legal proper
tion to those who not to 90.
My purpose is to be In my action just and constitutional
and yet practical n performing the important duty with
which am charged, of maintaining the unity aud the free
principles OF our common country.
Your obedient servant, A. LINCOLN