The weekly Butte record., 1863-09-19
Governor Seymours Rejoinder to Presi-
dent Lincoln.
ALBANY August :. 1868


To the President of the United States
received yeur communication of the
Ith instant this day. While reeog-
nize the concessions You make, regret
your refusal to comply with my request
to have the draft in this State suspend
ed until it can be ascertaincd /: the en-
rollmentS are made In accordance with
the law Of Congress or the principles of
justice. know that our army needs
recruits: and for this and other reasons
| regret decision which stands in the
way of prompt and cheerful move
ment to fill up the thinned ranks Of or
regiments. New York has never paus-
ed in efforts to send volunteers TO the
assistance Of our gallant soldiers in the
field. 1t has not only met every cali
heretofore made, while every other At
lantic and the New England States,
except Rhode Island, were delinquent,
but it continued liberal bountieS for
volunteers when all efforts were suspen-
ded in many other quarters. Active
eNertlons are now made to organize new
and fill up old regiments. These exer'
tions would be more successful if the
draft were suspended, and much better
men than reluctant conscripts would
JOIN our armies.
On the 18th inst advised You by
letter that | would furnish the strongest
proof of injustice, if not fraud, ia the
enrolment in certain districts. Row
send a full eport made to me by Judge
Advocate Waterbury. lam confident
when you have read it, that You will
agree with me, that the honor Of the
nation and Of your administration de-
mands that the abuses it points out
should be corrected and punished.
You say that we are coDtending with
an enemy who, as You understand,
"drives every able bodied man he can
reach into the ranks, very much as a
butcher drives bullocks into slaughter
pen" You will agree with me that
even this, if impartially done to all
classes, is more tolerable than any
scheme which shall fraudulcntly force
portion of the community into military
service by a dishonest perversion Of the
law.
You will see, by the report of Mr..
Waterbury, that there is no theory
which can explain or justify the enroll
ment in this State. | wish to call Your
attention to the tables on pages 5, 6, 7
and s, which show that in nine congress
sional districts in Manhattan, Long and
Staten Islands, the member of conscripts
called for is 33,72S; 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 20 and 30. 1t ap-
pears by the CENSUS of 1860, that in the
first nine Congressional districts there
were 164, ,797 males between 20 ard 35;
they are called upon for 33,729 con-
scridts. In the other nineteen districts
with population of males between 20
and 30 of 270,7S6, only 81 ,626 are de-
mandcd.
Again, to show the partisan charac-
ter Of the enrolment, you will find in
the 21st page of the military report
thatln the first nine congressional dis
tricts, the total vote of 1860 was 161-
143; the number of conscripts now de-
manded is 33,72S. In the nineteen
other districts, the total vote was 49,
257, yet these districts are called upon
to furnish only 39.626 drafted men
Each of the nine districts gave major
tiles in favor of one political party, and
each of the nineteen districts gave ma
jorities in favor of the other party.
You cannot and will not fail to right
these gross wrongs. Yours, truly,
HORATIO SEYMOUR.
The Presidents reply to this is in
the impatient language Of one who feels
that he has got the power and is deter
mined.to use it. He refuses to correct
the wrongs and will abide the enroll
ment except in four Of the districts, in
which he will draw but half the quota,
and then make new enrolment. He
is making an example of the Democrat
ic districts of New York.