The Plymouth weekly Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1860-1869, 1863-08-20
Another Letter from Gov. Sey.
mOur to the President.
EXECUTIVE CHAMBER, ALBANY,
Auo. 8 1S63

Aug s, 1863.
To the President of the United States:
/ received your communication of the
eth inst. this day While recognize the
concessions you make, | regret your re-
tusai to comply with my request to have
the draft III this State suspended until it
can be ascertasneu if the enroliments are
made IN accordance with the law Of Con-
gress or with principles of justice. l
know that our army needs recruits, and
for this among other reasons regre; de-
clslon which stands in the way of a prompt
and cheerful movement to ill up the
thinned ranks of our regiments New
York has never paused in its efforts to
send volunteers to the assistance of our
gallant soldiers in the field 1t has not
only met every call heretofore made, while
every other Atlantic and New England
State, save Rhode Island, was delinquent;
but it continued liberal bounties to volun-
teers when all efforts were suspended in
many other quarters. Active exertions
are now made to reorganize new and to fill
up old regiments. These exertions would
be more successful if the draft was suspen-
ded, and much better men than reluctant
conscripts would join our armies.
On III" 18th inst. advised You by let
ter, that [ would furnish the strongest
proof of injustice, if not of fraud. in the
enrolment in certain districts l now
send you full report made to me by
Judge Advocate General Waterbury i
am confident when you have read it You
will agree with me that the honor of the
nation and ofyour administration demands
that the abuses it points cut should be
corrected and punished. You say that
We are contending with an enemy who,
as you understand, drives every able 10 /
led man he can reach INTO the ranks, very
much as butcher drives bullocks into a
slaughter You will agree with me
that even this, impartally done to all
classes is more tolerable than any scheme
which shall fraudulently force portion CT
the community into the military service
by dishonest pcrversion of law. You
will see by this report of Mr.. Waterbury
that there is no theory which can explain
or justify the enrolment in this State
wish to call your attention to the
tables on pages 5, 6, and which show
that, in the nine Congressional districts in
Manhattan, Long, and Staten Islands, the
number of conscripts called for is 33. .729,
while in nineteen other districts the num-
ber Of conscripts called for is only SO, ,626.
This draft is to be made from the first
class-thosc between the ages of twenty
and thirty-iive. 1t appears by the census
of 1860 that in the first nine Congress-
ional districts there were l6i.797 males
between 20 and 50. They are called up
on for 1929 conscripts In the other
nineteen districts, with a population of
males between twenty and thirty-fve of
270,7S6 only 1926 arc demanded!
Again, to show the partisan character
of the enrolment, You will find on the
list page Of the military report that, in the
first nine Congressional districts, the total
vote of 1860 was Isl ,243. The number
of conscripts now demanded is 33, 729-
In the nineteen districts the total vote was
457 ,257; yet these districts are called up
on 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. You cannot and
will not fail to right these gross wrongs.
Truly yours,
HcRArIo SEYMOUR