The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-10-16
GOVERNOR ORR's LETTER.

Governor ORR ia not one of our political fa-
yorites. As man he is kind, genial and So
cial; pleasant to meet, good humored and re-
liable He loves his friends and is in return
beloved by them. AS politician, however,
his course does not meet with our approval.
He went to the Philadelphia Convention, and
there he did all he could to reorganize the
Democratic party He came home, and the
elections went against the Democrats. At the
Roard of Trade dinner he turned upon the
marty which had elevated him to place and
power, and threw himself outside of the ranks
of those whom he had courted up Ia that tims,
and TO whom he was indebted for all that he
had ever received from the country
His course, while General SIcKLEs was in
command of this State, was also other than we
would have wished to see from the Governor
of South CarolRa. Aar peasple poAld not for
get that when General SIoKLEs was in prison,
in Washington, on a charge Of murder, from
which charge he was acquitted by jury Of
,phite men, Governor ORR was Speaker of the
House of Representatives, and as Speaker, as
one Of the leading men in America, he offered
to the prisoner the hand of friendship. Re
membering this, and knowing that the whole
country knew the fact, they could not but feel
regret at seeing the same man offer no protest
against the assumptions Of tyranno power by
the commander of the ''so-caled'' Second Mill
tary District. !
When Governor Orr undertook TO speak for
the Slate, and to write q letter to General
SIcKLRs, endorsing his course, we bushed al
the thought that the Chief Executive offlcer OF
this State should praise tyranny, praise open
violations of the Constitution and Laws of this
State and Of the United States, should ap-
plaud contempt for our lays, contempt for
our courts, and the insulter Of our people,
our bench and our institutions. Had Cow
ernor ORR been q private citizen, we
should have felt that he had right 10
express any opinion that might ha Vf
been pleasant to himself; but as Governor Of
the State, his words would seem to come with
authority, and but few people could know that
they were the opinions not of the State Of
South Carolina.
Governor Oar has, however, recently done an
act which we can partly endorse. He has
written a letter to the President protesting
against the jury order Of General CASBY We
would have preferred it thus 10 have seen
nothing but manly protest, asking no favor,
but simply placing on the record the fact that
South Carolina believed the act to be uncon-
stitutional, and that she also believes that the
day will come, when the Courts of the United
States will declare, that action outside of the
Constitution is in direct opposition to the
fundamental principles on which American
liberty is based
There is one portion of the letter to which
we would call the attention of all believers in
manhood suffrage" Governor 0RR ably
shows that the order prostitutes the jury box
and makes the palladium Of our Liberties, cess
pool of ignorance. He says:
There are white majorities in but six districts.
In two districts the numbers are about equal, In
each of the remaing twenty-three districts Of
the State-there being altogether thirty y-one-the
registration shows colored majority. In Charles
ton the colored majority is 1872, the registered
whites being 1885, and the blacks 5098. or the
whites lib were unable to sign their names OF
the colored 1856. In Charleston and Columbia
larger number OF the latter class OF persons can
read and write than in any other portion OF the
State very much larger number, because they
have had facilities before and since emancipation
of obtaining B5me education not enjoyed by their
class in all the rural region of the State to which
shall advert more particularly hereafter. In the
organizing q jury in Charleston, therefore,
assuming that oil have paid their taxes, thus pro-
portion would give nearly eight colored Jurors to
four whites, and fveof these eight would not be
able to sign their names. In Beaufort, George
town, Colleton, Berkeley and other districts, the
showing is even worse. Partial returns from
Beaufort indicate that there are $50 colored and
but sixty-fve white votes registered. This pro-
portion would furnish but one white man to every
fourth iury OF the colored voters registered in
the rural districts / estimate that not more than
five per cent. of the whole number are able to
read land write, and very many of them have
not intelligence enough to count one hundred.
In Georgetown District there are 418 whites and
3,419 colored voters registered. One white man
might psrchance be drawn upon each jury, and
in all probability not one Of the remaining eleven
colored men would be able to read and write.
We thank Governor ORR for this statement,
and we would be glad if We could always give
the same approval to his political acts, as we
do to portions of his letter to the President