The New York herald., 1865-02-06

Provost MarshN General Fry has at las>
spoken, nc$ in DslpNc oraclss a. heretofore,
but in tones easily understood, making state
ments, however, which will be found TO do
little credit to one holding the high and i'm
portant position he does. In his letter 70
General Kinks, pubIlshed by US on Satur-
day, in reference to tue quotas under the
late call for three hundred thousand men, he
very clearly shows by whom all the trouble
has been created, and how all matters IN reier-
ence to the quotas Of this State aud city have
been thrown into so great state OF CONFUSION.
On call for q certain number Of men (three
hundred thousand) from the various States,
boy who has reached the rule Of three in arith-
metic could calculate the number for each Con-
gressional district having q certain population,
and if any district could show that 1t had fur
nished surplus on aprevious quota, 1t is clear;
and 1t was the rule of the War Department
until ignored by General Fry-to credit or de-
duct the said surplus from the present demand
or quota. This is 80 clearly just that 1t Ia unne-
cessary to make further reference to It But
General Fry seems to have been in quagmire
for the last three months, and the more he
founders about the deeper he sinks in the mud.
The people are loyal and patriotic, and are not
only willing, but anxious, to furnish all the men
demanded, when fair, just and equitable call
is made and every right conceded. But no one
likes to be imposed upon. On the late call for
three hundred thousand, Provost Marshal Cen
eral Fry, according to his letter to General
Gxc oCff hic toto ar
six thousand eight hundred and twenty-one
men. In less than one month he has changed
this to sixty-one thousand and seventy-six 1t
can be readily seen what state Of irritation and
confusion such blunder az this would throw
every town and school district into, some OF
which had spent their last dollar to fill their re-
spective quotas according to the first demand
made.
But, leaving State matters and coming back
to the city, we find that this letter to General
Kinks shows plainly enough how the difficulty
and confusion in this city in reference to our
quota was created and by whom. The Gene
raj makes an attempt to throw the blame from
his own shoulders and cast it upon Supervisor
Blunt; but let us see how this will stand exami-
nation?
First in reference to revision Of the enroll
ment, without waiting for Its completion by the
Supervisory committee, he assumes that there
will be no material reduction Of the enrolment
made by the assistant provost marshals, and
adopts theirs a. the proper one to govern his
action, when 1t Is asserted by the committee
that their revision will reduce the old enrol
ment at least thirty-three and one-third per
cent Why not have waited few days and
received the benefit of the acts Of the commit
tees Why presume to "guess" there would be no
reduction, and thus ignore altogether the action
Of the committee, which has been at very
heavy expense to the county to effect this re-
vision, authorized 80 to do by the Provost Mar
shall himselfi He says the committee should
have commenced its labors earlier, that 1t was
fully authorized to do this work at much
earlier day, and that reductions had been made
in other districts, &c., &c. The committee
knew well that through individual efforts this
revision and reduction might long since have
been perfected, but individuals Of themselves
did nothing, though constantly urged by the
committee and the press Of the city. In Interior
districts every man knows his neighbor, and
when wrong entry Of q name is made 1t y
easy to have II stricken Off and the enrolment
thus corrected. But this city Of million Of In
habitants Is an entirely different affair. No One
knows who his neighbor is, or what he is about
What Is everybody's business is nobody's; 80,
Notwithstanding the appeals constantly made
to our citizens to correct for themselves the en-
rolment and thus reduce our quota, next to
nothing was done, and then It was that the Su-
pervisors' committee felt forced to take up the
matter and carry 1t on to completion. This is
one Of the reasons why the committee did not
move earlier in revising the enrolment; but
why General Fry should have been in such
haste to overlook or ignore its action, and con-
sequently swell our quota to an undue proper
ton, we will not attempt to explain.
But the principle cause for running up our
| quota from four thousand four hundred to
twenty-one thousand and nineteen men b the
arbitrary redistribution Of the naval enlist
| ments made since 1861, and to whom no bounty
had been paid. These naval enlistments, and also
for the marine corps made In this city, either
belonged to US, and were liable to be attached
to our quota, or they did not If they did 20
belong to rs, General Fry had no right or pow
er, except an arbitrary one, to take them away;
II they did not, then our Supervisory COM
mittee were deceived by his department
in allowing credit for them. But It
will be seen that they did belong here,
just where they were credited and allowed by
General Fry; and Mr.. Blunt, in his action in
ferreting them out, was governed solely and
entirely by the law Of Congress authorizing the
crediting of them to our quota. If Mr.. Fry is
superior to the laws Of Congress then he can
be justified In taking these credits from us; II
not, not The law Is as follows, passed at the