The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-04-15
CHI A RI r ON.
MONDAY MORNING. APRIL Is, 1867.

CHI A RI e ST ON.
MONDAY MORNING, APRIL Is, 1867.
ORDER NO. 1o-RELIEF TO DEBTORS.
We publish to-day, an order, upon the I'M
portance of which comment is unnecessary.
Using the authority with which the re-construc-
tion act invests him, Gen. Sickles /. - taken
action which will meet with very general
Eapproval.
We attach no blame to the Legislature Tor
what was really their inability to act They
were bound by the provisions of Constitution,
the obligations of which could neither be rejected
or evaded, and the Supreme Court of the State,
when compelled to review their action, was
bound in its decision by the same positive
law
4 Gen. Sickles occupies very different posi-
tion. He has been entrusted with power
| which the Constitution Of the State does not
limit and which it is his duty to use in the in
terests of the people over whom his authority
extends, guided by the principles of justice and
equity. The condition in which he finds that
people, is without parallel in their history.
Not only is the amount of indebtedness be-
yond what has ever occurred but it is utterly
beyond their present power Of payment. And
it is being generally pressed to immediate set
Element. In many districts, the nuI,ber Of
suits is larger than the voting population, and
| disproportionate share of this number con-
sist of summary processes, indicating. that the
| majority of the debtors are unable to pay debts
under one hundred dollars, and thus compell-
ing the sale of personal effects as well as Of
real property: And this ,question Of debt is
further complicated by the fuctuating and un-
certain character of the currency existing at
the date of the contracts upon which these
suits are founded, thus making il almost i'm
possible to determine their real value and their
equitable obligation. Nor should itbe forgot
ten that this inability to pay is not the resnlt
of the want of good faith or industry, nor Of
the financial embarrassment consequent upon
| injudicious trading, but is the direct conse-
quence.ofsa great political convulsion.
Following upon.the close Of the war and the
re-opening of the Courts for the purposes of
suit, there has been a loss of the provision
! crep of the State which in universally of dis
tress has never been equalled. It is no exag-
geration to say that in many sections of the
State there is imminent danger Of starvation.
In the whole State there is nothing like an ade-
quate supply Of corn for seed anc. provision,
and it will require all the energy and endur-
| ance of which the planting and farming COM
| munity is capable to work through the difficult
ties of the summer to the harvest Of another
crop.
We are not stating an imaginary case. when
| we say, that the working stock Of the. farmer
has been seized under legal process when en-
gagged in the very act Of preparing the soil to
yield food for another year. Nor is it..much to
be wondered at Universal suing has confused
the value Of liens. A. creditor inclined to be
generous does not know what advantage o har-
deHcreditor may take Of his generosity. Every
thing is uncertain Nobody knows what the
coming Convention will be or what it will do.
Worse even than this, the debtor who resents
the harshness of the first suing creditor, strives
in spirit that is certainly unjust, but not un-
natural, to defeat his claim BY prior confess
sion, or to protect his properly by dubious
| conveyance Men are learning in that spirit Of
false and sophistical subterfuge which misery
| always teaches to attempt to discriminate be-
tween the legal and the moral obligation of
debt. AS an eminent member of the Bar said
not very long ago in open court, "May it please
your Honor, if it be fraudulent in A. to settle
this property on his wife .s against his credit
ors, then l, and my brethren of the Bar, have
been very badly employed, for during the last
| months much Of: our practice has consisted in
making just such settlements. - 's'- -.
And in the midst of such distress, the State
isi called to go,through the most critical Of tri-
als-a complete and radical political revolution.
Is a. population distempered and irritated by
such suffering in that frame of mind which is
fit to legislate? 1t may, in the opinion of some
be decorous and dignifed not to recognise dis
| agreeable truths, but no one who knows the
! condition of this State will deny that in many
| sections, the distress consequent upon the col
lection of debts is working most dangerously.
| When respectable paper can deliberately de-
clare that if property is to be sacrificed, it
would prefer confscation by the government to
execution in behalf of the creditors, good men
may condemn, but wise men will reflect.
Under these circumstances, the military COM
mander says, what we consider eHlinently wise
while you are in this transition state, while
your laws are uncertain, because they are sub
ject to modification or abrogation; while your
civil authorities are temporary, because they are
subject to removal, while political questions of
vital INTEREST," to your existence and which require
all your wisdom and temper and concert for their
solution, are pressing for decision; while you
are harrassed and distressed by your struggle
for the necessities Of daily life, it is best that
oil other subjects Of disturbance should be
avoided When your Convention meets, as it
will do in a few months, and you enter upon
the work Of reorganization, then you can set
tie these questions calmly and carefully. In
the mean time, regard it my duty in the in
terests of order and society to suppress, as far
as possible, these causes which make your work
more difficult and more dangerous.
Wedo not deem it necessary to make any
comment upon the details of this order. Its
provisions are so clear and precise that they
will be readily understood, and commencing
them to the attention Of Ill classes of the COM
munity, we will only express our participation
in s'the earnest desire and the confident belief
| Of tho Com1na nlinr Ganeral ,, ssthat The oh