The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-09-25
GOV. ORR AND GEN. sICKLEs.
CORRESPONDENCE.

CORRESPONDENTS.
WASHINGTON, September 22-Tbe following cor
respondence has passed between Governor Orr n
South Carolina, and General Siekles. relative t.
the removal of the latter:
ExECUTryEiD DEPARTMENT OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
COLUMBIA, September 7th, 1867
Major Gen. d. E. SIoKLEs, Charleston s C.
| SIR: have learned from the public press. al
though have received no official notice of the
| fact, that you have been relieved from the com
mand of the Second Military District embraeina
this State and North Carolina, and that by order
of the President Major-Gen. Candy has succeeded
| to the same.
I desire to express to you tho great regrot which
feel personally and officially, at the course taken
by the President and his advisers in this matter,
There are many Of the orders which have been
issued by you since the passage of tho rocoustruc-
tion bills in March last which did not meet NV ap-
proval; but it is due to you and your official action
that should bear voluntary testimony to the wis
] dom and success OF your administration. and to
express the opinion that the almost unlimited now
ers with. which you were invested by the acts of
Congress have been exercised with moderation
and forbearance. Your general orders, No. TO- 30
far as this State is concerned, were last spring in
my opinion, absolutely necessary, looking to the
impoverished condition OF the country the short
ness of the provision and staple crops Of last year
to the general pecunlary distress pervading the
country, and to the necessity Of protecting the
small means of farmers and planters at that time
from the process OF courts. They were thereby
enabled to subslst their families and grow the
presentscrop.
This crop promises to be in many RESPECTS and
ii many sections of the State the most importan
and largest that has been grown for several years
and when harvested you cond, without hazard or
apprehension, have executed your purpose, as de-
cared to me, OF moalfying general orders No. 10,
80 that creditors could have enforced their de-
mands without producing general distress, if
nothing worse.
It is also due TO you to say, that in nv iudg-
ment, if general orders No. 10 had not been issued
last spring very considerable increase in the
number of troops in this State would have been
necessary to have been stationed at many of the
court houses &C Lave preserved the public records
from destruction, and insure the safety of sherffs
in executing civil process in their hands, which
they had been ordered to levy by thouehtless and
hesrtless creditors. In my opinion, general orders
No. 10 received the approval Of a very large ma
jority of the citizens OF South Carolina and your
general administration as commandant of the
district is approved by majority nearly great.
In all the official intercourse which We have had
beg to tender you my thanks for the uniform
kindness and courtesy with which have been
treated personally, and for the disposition YOU
have always manifested to make the burdens of
the military government as light upon the people
whom l represent as it were possible under the
circumstances have not the pleasure of per-
sona acquaintance with your successor, General
Candy, but hope that my official relations with
him may be marked with the same harmony and
kind feeling which have characterized our official
intercourse for nearly two years past have the
honor to be, General very truly aud respectfully,
Your friend and obedient servant,
JAMES L. ORR,
Governor of South Carolina.
The following is the reply of General Sckles to
Governor Orr:
WASHINGTON, September q, 1867.
SIR: Your Excellency's letter of the 9TH inst was
forwarded to me at New York, and received on the
14th. The cordial terms in which you are pleased
to refer to our official and personal relations
during my service in the Carolinas are gratefully
appreciated. In my successor, Brevet Major-Gen-
eral Candy, you will meet an officer whose ample
experience and distinguished services have Justly
commended him to the confidence Of the Govern
ment.
In view of the announcement already made by
General Candy, adopting and confirming the or
ders heretofore in force in the Second Military
District, it is not probable that any material
change in the conduct of affairs will result from
the change in command. In my retirement it is
q source of much qualification to compare the
present condition OF South Carolina with that
which found in assuming command in the autumn
of 1865.
" The system of free labor has been successfully
inaugurated. The emancipated blacks have been
invested with civil rights by the voluntary act Of
your legislature. The tranquility and order which
have been maintained attest the general desire Of
all classes of the people to observe the obligations
Of good citizens. An abundant harvest has re-
warded industry. Grain is now exported from
Charleston. Registration has proceeded almost to
completion without commotion or tumult or any
serious interruption of the ordinary avocations OF
the people. Since October, 1866 the courts of the
United States and of the State have exercised
nearly oil their powers without hindrance.
The jurisdiction Of the courts, although per-
manent Jurisdiction, has never been restricted ex-
cept in particular cases imperatively demanded by
the exigencies OF tho situation, and the civil au
thorities in general have been upheld, and civil
law has been administered, with only such limita-
tions as became necessary in the execution'of the
several acts Of Congress. The particular measure
OF my administration which you are pleased to men,
ton with special dommendation- General Orders
No. 10-<was it is said, the occasion OF my dismi s.
sal from command. You have justly described tho
order in question as intended to enable tho people
to make a good crop tn year, and thereby obtain
the means to support themselves ald Pay their
debts
II my removal had been provoked by some act
OF oppression, spoliaion or cruelty, it would have
been q matter OF more regret to myself. AS 1t IL
find no reason to rcproach myself for endeay0r-
ing to restore in degree tho natural prospcri
ty OF an impoverished population, and to avert the
serious disturbances that would baYo followed the
prosecution of more than thirty thousand suits for
debts pending in South Carolina when General
Order No. 10 was issued in April last. Although
nv Official relations to tho department of the Caro-
linas has ceased, | cannot bo indifferent to the
welfare of communities whose interests were so
long conided to my charge, nor is their prosperity
4attcr of indifference to the people OF tine United
States or their representatives i'll Congress.
The population OF the Carolinas have not tried
to prevent the organization Of legal civil Govern
ments in the rebel States, and il is only just for
me to state that your own prompt and patriotic
acuuiescence in the requirements OF the govern
ment relieved the people you represent OF many
of the burdens OF military government, and at the
same time removed some OF the most serious i'm
pediments to the execution Of the reconstruction
acts in South Carolina. trust your people will
not suffer any detriment by reason of complica-
tion, for which they are not responsible. 1t only
remains for them to comply with the conditions
prescribed by Congress. and South Carolina will
soon be restored to the Union with all he ancient
rights and dignity as sovereign State unim-
paired.
These conditions have no other object than to
make our institutions truly lyrspubcan in substance
and fo1m, that justice may be done, and that no
occasion or pretext for conflict may hereafter be
found. There is not, in my Judgment, any sutti-
will not make good citizens. Freedom and educa-
ton are rapidly developing this long dormant,
helpless caste With advantages far inferior to the
other RACES which have found their way TO this
country, the African has proved himself loyal in
dnstroris. and obedent to the laws.
Generously fostered and Justly treated, the
freedmen will become the bone and sinew of South
ern population and power With the solution of
this problem and the disappearance of the asperi
ties incident to long war the Carolinas will enter
upon new career of prosperity, alike attractive
to the phanthropst who seeks The happiness OF
his fellows and gratifying 10 the statesman whose
ambition is gratifed in the progress of the COM
monwealth.
Remembering with pleasure the courteous con-
sidcration always shown to me by your excellencv
IN all our intercourse official and personal and with
tho liveliest interest i'll the happy Termination o {
the sad Years OF strife which have already too one
afflicted our country
remain truly Yours,
d. E. SICK LES
Major General.
70 his Eycellency James l.. Or, Governor Vi
South Carolina, Columbia. s. G.