the hands of hostile arms. For this patriotic service they have already received your thanks and the gratitude of the Nation. However much we may denounce and deplore the violence of bad or misguided men, it would be alike unjust and ungrateful to urge the execution of the draft in any spirit of resentment, or to show any unwillingness to see that the most exact justice is observed in the execution of the measure and in fixing the amount of the quotas. I am sure that you will unite with me in repelling any counsels suggested by excited passions or partisan prejudices; for you have on more than one occasion warmly acknowledged the generous and patriotic promptitude with which the city of New York has responded to calls made upon it by you in moments of sudden peril.

The act of Congress providing for the conscription directs that in determining the quotas of men to be furnished by each State regard shall be had to the number of volunteers and militia furnished by them, respectively, since the commencement of the present rebellion; and that they shall be so assigned as to equalize the number among the districts of the several States, allowing for those already furnished and for the time of their service. I believe that New York is the only Atlantic State, save Rhode Island, which has furnished her full quota credit upon the present draft. But the statement made at the office of the Provost-Marshal-General at Washington of the amount of this credit does not agree with that claimed at the office of the adjutant-general of this State. I do not doubt the impartiality of Colonel Fry, and I believe that the difference of these statements can be reconciled if an opportunity is given to compare the records of the two offices. I ask that this may be done. After a careful examination I am satisfied that the quotas now demanded from the Congressional districts in New York and Kings County are glaringly uncut. Either the names enrolled in those districts greatly exceed the true numbers or the enrollments in other parts of the State are grossly deficient. The practical injustice will be the same in either case. If regard is had to the numbers heretofore sent from the several districts, the records of our State show that New York and Brooklyn have furnished more than their proportion. These records were carefully kept, under the administration of Governor Morgan. If the quotas now fixed upon these cities are proportioned to the numbers enrolled, they suffer double wrong; for they do not get a due credit for the past, and the enrollments are excessive as compared with other sections of the State.

I send you tables which show these results; and I will also state here a few facts. The quota for the Fourth Congressional District, with a population of 131,854, is 5,881. That fixed upon the Fifteenth Congressional District, with a population of 132,232, is only 2,260. The quota upon the last-named district should exceed that of the city district, for the census return shows that there is a larger population of females and of aliens in the city of New York than in the country. If the comparison is made by the number of voters instead of the population, taking the last election, when the vote was very full, it will be seen that the call upon the city district is 5,881 upon a vote of 12,363, while upon the country district it is only 2,260 upon a vote of 23,165. In two adjoining districts in the city of Brooklyn the discrepancies are equally striking. In that represented by Mr. Odell, with a population of 132,242, the quota is 2,697; in the adjoining district, represented by Mr. Kalbfleish, with a population of 151,951, it is 4,146, yet the voters are in Mr. Odell's district 16,421 and in that