, 1865-02-22
THE DRAFT AND STATE
QUOTAS.
Interesting Staternen Of the Views Of
President L1ncOlns

In common With nearly all the other atates,
Rhode Island has been making complaints as
Washington Of the assignment OF her quota
iature vent to the capital to rcmonstfate, and
Try to have the State quota reduced, anu Inc
time fs'r the draft extended. They say tnas
they bad au interview with the President,
who told them. after stating she3r case, mat
so many complaints had reached hila from
various quarters OF the assignment OF quotas,
that he had personally taken the nafns to ex.
anime the formula adopted By ths Provost
Marshal General ior The calculation nnd dts
tritullcn of the quotas for the several States,
at had arrived at the conclusion tn 1t no can
did mind could doubt it's fairness and eqnlty.
1he President also gave them . copy Of INC
following letter on the same subject, which
EXECUTIVE MANSION.
WAsuIEsros, February 3, 1855.
His Excelicpcy Cor. Smith, Vermont:
of her 2qe qaot. t. oF hs dra On he psn
Ing call is intrinsically unjust, end al-o IN bad
faith Of tie Governments promise to fa1T!y allow
.1F sa st9te9 oows
Vermont and New Hampshire must, between
them, furnish 5000 men On the, pending call, and
otuef In the long run. But the Government fnds
TINT on former calls Vermont furnished a surplus
q co., aad New Hampshire surplus q l,5D:
the doio making s,9c0 to 10 furnished by he Two
subtract vef@onss Emo Surplus ta ot so fron hez 4ooo
essss sasae aef Es@ aa@p.dre
1,5co from her 4t0o, leaSes soa a. hsr quota on
the pending call. lAeee $50 and :, 500 make pre-.
fom the M tWo States and Il Is Just cqnal ior Ver-
mont to furnish 1,t9Q more nog than New aanp-
shire, oecause New Hampshire has hsrttofore fur
the hurdcps of fhe tyyo in the LONG run. And this
result So far ron being bad faith to Vermont, Ia
indispensable to keeping good faith W1ta New
be obtsined from tho two States, and at ~ =
time deal justly and keep faith With both; ~ -
do but confuse dnrsclrcs In questioning ~ -.
supposed use Is pe4isst as a. Illustration.
ihe pending call is not for aD, ,oW men suAtf
70 ls.r credits, but Is for 700 COG zemainlns afsA
bic to eoncedc what Vermont asks, without COM
ing out short Of the 500 tN men, or making other
LOCALITIES pay FOR The partiality shown her.
reasons for ma.ing IN allowance to Vermont, let
them he pretented and considered.
The ea5s eomnttss as give Tho following iase1s;
ing account Of further remarks, on the SANG
subject, By the President and officers Of the
War Department:
The E1esident further stated that although
tie policy which l,ad been adopted BY the
Provost Marshal General, for tho assignment Of
the respective quotas, met his entire approval,
and appeared to him the only way by which
rxact Justice could be secured, In view Of the
fact that the aggregate Of the credits due to
all the States exceeded very considerably the
number OF men called for. and that snes', aud
not an adjustment Of balances, was the oh
ject of The ca1l-he had, for the purpose of
tatist ing the sntnds Of all, parties, designated
T. a board Of officers to erant1e into the System
and y4pori Mtir cnulusions.
In reply to requests tor 9 postponement OF
the draft, the President replied that he was
ready TO admit that Rhode Island had inva-
| riably been among the very foremost States
| in the performance Of her duty, and that sho
| was still actuatcd By tho same patriotic I'M
| pulses, but the country contd better. afford,
in consideration Of her merit to relinquish
her quota altogether than to grant post
onement Of the draft for single day. The
moral effect, said he, Of furnishing the men
called for promptly and without hesitation,
will b. rs great q power as the men them
| selves, and 6tlie,e, he added, that the opinion
.rhich Gen. Hancock expressed to me ye<terday, is
entirfiy 1nu founded, hsa& i. The army eoWd
BE- presently Increased 6y four hundred thouxand
MEN, not one Of them tcotd b. required to fire q
n.utkxf as n: ensay.,
| I'll should allow, he continued, postpone
| mcpt 10 Rhode Island, should BE- dung in.
| Justice to other States, unless the same favor
| was shown to oil: and Us soon as it was rc~
ported through the newspapers that your
l
other State, whether Influenced by the same
lirh motives or not, TINT Rhode Island In
preierr}ng this request claims to be, would
demand he same partiality.
Your Committee were compelled to admit
the force Of the argument, but nevertheless
c!aimed that this State had spcc:at equities
which entitled her to urge this request, and
which consisted in the fact that his Excellen-
CT, the Governor, had by his proclamation Of
Junrary 23d, officially Informed the people OF
the State that their quota was fully supplied,
In consequence Of which no exerttons were
put forth by the Genera! Assembly to recruit
inen, until the lapse Of upward OF forty days
ton the President replied that the case as
presented fairly called for consideration; but
| while he would not depart from the policy
which he had just expressed in respect to d
postpouemcnt of the draft, p1an occurred
10 him which would relieve the State from
her present embarrassment, and at the same
time be not unjust to any other State.
It will take some time he said. for the Pro
vost Marshal In your State to effect draft.
Therefore, without granting any postpone
ment Of the time when 1t Ia Liable to begin,
you are authorized to state to thu General
diligently engaged in furnishing men BY vol
untaTy en1istmeuts, 50 THAT the Government
can see that it is being as we'll served as II
could be In any othe: why, no orders shall be
issu<d d Eor draft in. the 8ate.
The Interview here. concluded. upon the
President requesting Jdur committee to sec
the Secretary Of War and tho Provost Mar
stal Gent raj, and communicate to them biz
wishes upon the subject.
The conference with the Secretary Of War
before whom your committee wcie without
delay admitted, WAS in every respect entirely
Lad suggested Was deemed to be desirable
one in tic case Of this State. The committee
were informed that before draft could TAXI
place In any district, an order to that effect
must first issue from the Secretary through
the Provost Marshal General and that u
pursued with zeaults satisfactory t., the de
pariment no order for "a draft would tssus
for tlis Stute. The Secretary was equsl11
firm with the President in the declaration
that no particular extension OF time could b.
allowed, and that while a full assurance wonlt
be given that no draf: shoutd be 'had Will
recruiting WIS actively progressing, that thi
must be understood as the condition upo1
which the liability to have one was. suspend
ed. The Secretary directed us to confer will
Gen. Fry upon the subject, and also engage'
to state the arrangement which had bee!
made for the benefit Of the State to that oil
Ger himself
From Gen. Fry-thc Provost Marshal Ger
craI-5our committee were again nssure
that the practice In bis department was t
issue special order to the Assistant Proves
a1urehals before the draft In any. district wa
to be commenced aud That while It Wonl
be most p1ejudicial to the public interest t
| have 1t understood that the day for CONNER
cling the draft was to be postponed In an
| particular district, get that the plan wh1c
had been proposed Of filing the quota By CT
! listmcnis received his hearty approval an
: that, ifle saw as many men were being 81
cured to the Government fiom this soure
. | Jotf1 "a FngnTk