Litchfield enquirer., 1868-07-23
slI.et us have Peace"

these memorable words, than is to be found
 the extract from Gov. .Orrs Valedictory
 Message to the South Carolina Legislature
 to be found on our first page. This gen.
 tlemen, one of the most prominent and
 able Southern Members of Congress, elect
 ed governor by the whites of that state, { under the Johnson Constitution, has shown an amount of sense, discrimination
 seldom found in the old-school Southern
 politician. He naturally enough dislikes l universal suffrage, for it overthrows the political power fthe South Carolina De-
 mocracy. He has that honest distrust of
 the people, which we should expect from an aristocrat Nevertheless, he states
 facts which show how groundless the
 fears of impending ruin, from negro ma- jority larger than that in any other State, are likely to prove in South Carolina.
 In the first place he shows that the South ern whites refused to grant impartial suf- frage. even when it was evident that the Presidential plan of reconstruction was to be overthrown, and when their obstlnacy was fast convincing Congress of the neces- sity of universal negro suffrage Not satis- fled with rejecting the Fourteenth Amend ment, the Johnson Legislature of North Carolina rejected, also, the draft of anoth-
 CT amendment urged on them by Gov. Orr and other Southern gentlemen and ap- proved by '.many Republicans, determined apparently to stand or fall with the Presi- dential plan of reconstruction and to make no terms with Congress.
 After the passage of the Reconstruction Acts Gov. Orr, advised the whites of South Carolina to register and vote under them and to get the best cons titution practicable His advice was refused; the election was allowed to go by default; and they can scarcely complain if the result is unsat- isfactory.
 By far the most important portion of Gov. Orr's message, however, is tho test1- mony he bears to the necessity of i'm mediate Reconstruction in some form. 'I was satisfied" says he, s'that our ma- terial prosperity, the developement of our resources and the restoration of confidence and credit, could not be secured uutU hhe political issues inrolred fa tue question of re- construction acere settled" That this is no mere speculation is shown by the following conclusive evidence:
 1~- IL were selling at twenty-two and twenty-five cents on the dollar, Now with restoration assured they are worth from 62 to 66 cts. the dollar. In the Spring and Summer of 1867, money readily com manded from two and half to three per cent. per month In the same market it is now readily bor- rowed at from three quarters to one per cent per month.
 The result, therefore, of that Congress- ional legislation, which Conservatives have assured us would destroy the last vestiges of prosperity in the South, has been to treble the value of public stocks and lower the rate of interest on private loans to one quarter what it was 0 year since-in State where near two thirds the voters arc ne- groes
 In view of snnh state of facts, do not tho declarations of the respective candid ates-of Grant for peace, of Blair for war become of the greatest significance? The success of the Republican party ensures a just, permanent, peaceable settlement, the only chance left the South for return of prosperity; the success of the Democratic party ensures four years of doubt, of tur- moil, of revolution, reverting in the end to that basis of settlement demanded by the party which carried through the war. Can the South really desire repetition of what Gov. Orr styles, "the long, angry, and unfortunate controversy between the President and Congress-a quarrel in wAicA ace haue been Me suferers.