The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1864-02-05
Vermont and General Order No. 8.


which calls for $50 more men from Vermont,
and after quoting what We then said he re-
plies:
81 am at loss to understand how any
one could have received such an impression
as this from my dispatch to to the Journal,
which was as follows: vermont has raised
her quota under the last call of the President
and nearly three hundred to spare, and this
without taking into account the re-enlist-
ments in the field, of which there are already
reported, unot1icially, several hundreds
We stand corrected. We quoted from
memory, and We distinctly recollect that
some of the state papers published state
ments nearly as we printed, but doubtless
without authority.
What surprised US, and melted the article
in last weeks paper, was this: Tswns in this
county that were reported clean on the rec
ord, and whose selectmen had refused or
turned over volunteers-to other towns, stand
charged with greater or less deficit in gener-
al order No. s. This at least was unexpect-
ed yet perhaps no blame should be attached
to the state officials.
We print below the opinion of Hon. VIM.
Whiting, solicitor Of the war department, in
which this matter of debt and credit, and
the equalization of the quotas throughout
the loyal states is more distinctly and clearly
stated than in any other paper We have seen:
DECISION CONCERNING THE ENROLMENT ACT.
War Department. Provost Marshal Generals }
Office, WASHINGTON, jan. 7, 1864.
CIRCULAR No. 3.-The following opinion
Of Hon. William Whiting, solicitor of the
War Department, is published for the infor-
nation and guidance of all concerned:
1.-The chief objects of the act of 1868.
and calling out the forces of the United
States. and for other purposes, were to pro-
vide for enrolling the forces of the United
States in order to ascertain the number of
able-bodied soldiers between 20 and 45 years,
who might be called upon for military duty,
TO divide them into classes, and to call out
from time TO time such proportion of these
troops as the emergencies of the service
should require. The design of Congress, as
espresso in the clause to which you have
directed my attention (the last clause in the
18th section). was to equaize the burden of
furnishing soldiers, as far as possible, among
the several loyal States, and among the dis
tricts of each State.
To attain this result, the statute directs
the President to take into consideration the
number Of volunteers and militia furnished
~ and from the several States, and the pc
Rod Of their service since the commencement
Of the present rebellion
1t is obvious that the humber of men, and
the periods of their respective service, must
both be taken as elements of calculation in
order to ascertain the total amount of ser
vice performed by the soldiers of given
State and that the total amount of service
thus ascertalned in each State would give
the total amount in the aggregate of all the
service performed in all the States.
10 ascertain the amount of service which
either one OF the States would have rendered
if it had borne its just share; or, in other
words, what part of the aggregate service
was justly due from each State, it became
necessary to compare the population by the
late census of each State with the aggregate
population of all the States enrolled. TWAS
obvious that each State should contribute in
proportion to the number of its inhabitants.
lnasmuch as there was no other safe basis for
estimating the respective numbers of then
citizens capable of performing military duty.
This was the plan prescribed by the statute
OF July %, 1861, chapter 9, section /, for the
apportlonment of volunteers among the sew
eral States.
The proportion of troops due from each
State was to that obtained from all the State
as the number of inhabitants of that State was
to the aggregate number of inha bitants of all
the States The solution of this formulary
gave for each State the number of troops
required to make up its equal and Just share.
If the number of troops fell short of this re-
CURED proportion, that deficit should be
charged; if the number exceeded it should
be credited to the State in question on the
account of the draft under the enrolment
act.
When the enrolment has been completed,
a new and more satisfactory basis is estab-
llshed for distributing the burden of the
draft. Having ascertained the number of
persons actually enrolled in the several
States, the number of troops to be drawn
from each State will be calculated as follows :
AS the total number enrolled in all the
States is to the number enrolled in partic-
ular State, so the total number to be drafted
is to the number t. be drafted in aparticular
State.
The number to be drafted, thus ascertain
ed, should be charged to the particular State.
and then the amount he to, or due from.
that State on account of former service,
should be added to or subtracted from that
number. The balance is that which is due
from the State in question, and when balan-
ces are thus made up for all the States, the
amount of service will be equally distributed
according to law.
/ The statute also requires that the Enrol
ment District into which the States are to be
divided should be equalized among them
selves. This may be effected upon the same
/ principles as above stated. The number of
men to be furnished by any one District bears
the same proportion to the number to be fur
nished BY the State, as the number of men
enrolled in that District bears to the whole
number enrolled in the State
The only means provided by the statute to
enable the President to equalize the draft
among the several Districts is by reference
TO &c, the number therein respectively enrolled.
There being no census Of Federal population
Tor either OF these Districts or Sub-districts,
ana no authority given to the President to
TAKE census thereof, it is obviously the in
tent OF congress that the enrolment itself
should be the basis for equaliz;ng the num-
Der OF troops among the seyeral Stataa and