The southern enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1854-1870, 1867-08-22
fs proceeding TO oonsider your objections To

0enerni Orders No. IL, staying certain RENEE
dies for the collection Of debt, Il viii bepropef
frst, 10 notice your statement that the Legis-
laturo Of South Carolina passed q law for The
Same purpose, and which, as you observe, was
declared BY the Court Of Appeals, unconstitu-
( tionaL This circumstance has great weight
in the promulgation Of the order in question.--
The action Of the Legislature was regarded as
proof that in the belief Of the people at large,
the public safety demanded such . moasure.--
Tho Msjor- General Commanding was untram-
molled by provisions Of the so-called State Con-
stitution, adopted In contemplation Of events
quito different from the actual sitnation; he
could not fan TO sec that many thousands Of
families, In deep misfortune and destitution,
wero menaced with utter ruin by the inconsid.
erate and cruel pressure Of creditors, nor
could he, without being insensible to the gone
raj appeal Of q suffering people, refuse to af-
ford some measure Of adequate relief. q
At the time when the Orders No. 10 wore Is
sued, the people Of the Caro,inas, and more
especially Of South Carolina, were exposed TO
overwhelming disaster from the seizure and
sale, under judicial process, Of all tho means
they possessed. Their scanty stores Of prsvis.
ions, their worn-out household furniture, and
thsir few implements of busbxndry, saved
from the wreck Of tho industry Of tho country,
would have availed nothing to creditors, yet
wore Of incstimsble value TO tho population
Time and opportunity given, industry would
recover from paralysis, dependency would he
overcome by fortitude, tho creditor would be
ultimately paid, and the sad condition Of IN
impoverished people ameliorated. To arouse
and stimulate the energies of tho psople-to
inspire tho husbandmen with confidence that
he would reap the fruits Of his labor-to as
suro him that he might rescue himself and
family from want--and TO recall from haunts
Of dissipation and idlenoss those who had been
driven there by despair-would contribute
much 70 the public peace, security and order
tho Commanding General Is expected to main-
tain. In the success of those measures no in
forest is more concerned than the commerce Of
the county.
You have yourselves described tho condi.
tion Of affairs that existed. You observe that
ut the opening Of the Courts after the war
the people in the country commenced sucing
each other. Tho debts arc nearly all local !"
and you add that the Northern cities and
Charleston were scarcely represented, nor
have they since to any extent pushed their
claims at law;" and you add the remarkable
and significant statement that largo portion
Of the debts sued in this Military District are
for sums not over twenty dollars.
You maintain that had a few executions
boon pushed, the whole debt could have been
paid with very small sum of money, that A
owed twenty dollarsj B owed G twenty dol
lars; and SO on TO the end Of the alphabet; but
1t Is very evident that twenty dollars would
have paid the whole Of the indebtedness" A
better argument for the stay law could not
have been adduced for all that was required
to realize tho easy mode of liquidation you have
olucidated was time, so that these interchnn nges
might take place. It is precisely this the
stay law affords, leaving rs tho pleafing assu>
rance from so high an authority, that within
brief period the financial difficulties Of the
State may be resolved with n sum Of money
insigni6cently small.
Let as see; on the other hand, what would
have been the effect Of refusing this allowance
Of time. When General Order 10 was promul-
sa'ea, lhere were pending In the courts oil
the State forty thousand suits for debt. BY the
last census there were only forty thousand white
voters IN tho state. Allowing the sum Of hfty
g.. ..n.s" 20" 49, % 'no amount oi 0''',
vo,no. r. - u".,s-.,N ~, ,On , VI
milI,ons Of dollar, n, ,h0 Io.. - .r...,n. Nv w
litigation, a settlement capable. sooord;n. ~
your statement, of being effected with twenty
dollars---through some peculiar process known
to the Board of Trade in Charleston.
You proceed to observe that ",f every exe>
cution has been pressed, the aggregate wealth
Of each District or County would not have
been lessened, the property would merely have