Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1872-07-25
James l.. Orr and the "Hayne
Family"
From, The Charleston News.

that all he uttered was intended for
publicationlhas seen fit to single out the
"Hayne family" and represent it as,
par excellence, family Of office hol-
ders. If. there was no malice in this
selection Of Judge Orr (and cannot
conceive why there should be) he is
singularly unfortunate in his choice
of the solitary example put for
ward to give point to his apologetic
argument in favor Of Grant s nepotism
Judge Orr says: "The Hayne fam
lily, for instance, I think seldom had
less than twelve or fifteen Of its
branches in positions of power and
trust. Why, the fat knight, i'm
mortalized by: Shakespeare, did not
more egregiously multiply the "men
in buckram" than does Judge Orr the
Hayne family inethis astounding.an-
nouncement. q
There were but two branches" Of
tie Hayne family under the old re-,
gime. One " branch were descen;
dants iofimy grandfather, Colonel
Isaac Hayne, hung by the. British in
l791 as a rebel and secessionist the.
other, the descendants of Abram
Hayne, who died about the same time
in a British prison ship. He, too,
like his kinsman, being charged with
disloyalty and treason by those who
were then in power. These two were
the only male adult Haynes of their,
day. For more than aiquarter of q
century after their death, there was
no Hayne in Office in South Carolina;
and during the ninety odd years which
have elapsed since the death Of these
two, the Haynes who have held Of.
fee, Sta.e and Federal, all told, do
not number fifteen. Instead oftwelve.
or fifteen at all times in Office, we
have, all told, less than that number
in period OF ninety years,
The Hayne family" have, at all
events, left room enough for, Judge
Orr. That gentleman, though con
siderably my junior, has himself been
member Of the State Legislature, a
member of the United States Con-
gress, speaker of the House Of Rep
resentatives of that body, member of
the Secession Convention, commits
sioner from seeded South Carolina
to the government at Washington,
Confederate Colonel Of the finest reg
iment l ever saw, (Which, however,
he never led into battle, J Senator from
South Carolina to the Congress of the
Confederate States, delegate to. the
National Democratic Convention at
Philadelphia, head centre of Andy
Johnson's Reconstruction Convention,
first Governor under the Constitution
then adopted, holding on by toler-
ance Of General Sickles after the
anti--Johnson Reconstruction Act,
helping in the formation Of the Con-
sttitiution llow 81 force, and now
Judge under it.
am surprised that a gentleman
so various and so versatile-as the
Germans say, so many sided"-and
successful in every change-a man SO
eminently a lvc man as Judge Orr
should be raking among fossils and
dead mems bones. II the "Hayne
family" alluded to by Judge Orr were
ever power in the State, they Ger
tainly are not so now, and it would
have been kinder Of Judge Orr to
nave. let them alone. Though he
may have cut loose from all memo
ries of the past, it affords no good ex-
cnse for needlessly and unprovokedly
pitching into those who have only
these memories left to cherish. At
all events, he should have been sure
he wasright". before he wentahead "
Judge Orr says that he is surfeited
Nth office, and will never more sub
nit to the inAiction of holding. one.
I heard him say the same thing eleven
years ago to the interesting regiment
he then commanded, and whose fate
was soon after SO melancholy. de
told them that he was more than sat
isGed with public honors, and had
outlired ambition. His only care, he
said, was to do his datty to them and
to his country Within six months
after this speech his regiment was
turned over to his brother-in-law
Colonel Marshall, who, with all the
field officers, andhalfthe regimentwere
killed in Virginia, and the next cam
paign ex-Colonel Orr l:ved to be Con-
federate States Senator, Governor,
Judge, &C., and John Browns soul
goes marching on" His last cue is,
With the aid Of Corbin, Bowen and
President Grant, to scourge the mon-
ey-changers from the Temple, and to
send packing the thieves whom he
Corbin, Bowen and Grant helped to
put in Office. In this work may God
speed him. I would help good
work though the devil bid, and there
is no telling whom the Lord may
choose as His instruments.
I. w. HAyNE.