The Tupelo journal., 1910-05-27

Confederate Congress-, In that coneres
he was an important member OF th'
. Committee on Foreign Affairs, and OF
. February 28, 1865, while officiating a
chairman of the committee, he made
the report which led to the celebrated
Hampton Roads conference between
President Lincoln, Secretary Seward,
| Vice President Stephens, Senator Hun
ter and Judge ]. A. Campbell.
/ In the summer of 1865, he person
ally participated in an important con-
ference at the New York Hotel, in New
York City, between Gov. Andrews Of
4 Massachusetts,, Horace Greeley, his
brother, Senator Orr of South Carolina,
and John W. Forney, in which the re-
storation of the Southern States to
their former status was discussed. Mr..
Greeley and Gov. Andrews were in
favor of this policy.
| On his return to his home State,
Judge Orr was indefatisable in urging
upon his people the acceptance OF
timely compromises with the new order
of things. His statesmanlike gift of
foresight never keener than at this
juncture, clearly apprehended the hor-
rors which must inevitably have fol-
lowed the refusal of the populace of
the conquered States to participate in
and control the elections of the re-
spective States, notwithstanding the
grant of the negro suffrage.
Judge Orr vas one of the very few
Southern statesman at the time who
perceived the fearful dangers that
loomed in the pathway of the South
ern States if the whites did not at once
grasp the reins of power, and while
submitting to the irresistible potency
of events which compelled the South
ern people to vote at the polls with
their former slaves, assert at once the
political and social supremacy and do
minion of the whites. Judge Orr made
some brilliant speeches urging upon
the people of his State participation in
the elections after the war.
Apprehending the avalanche which
must fall upon his helpless people and
seeing that the whites would. in the
end, have to snatch the government of
the States away from the mad license
of the blacks, encouraged by the scum
of the North which had never stood in
the ranks of battle, Judge Orr retired
temporarily from public life rather
than be carried along in current he
could not stem.
From 1869 to 1876 he served as
Judge of the Sixth Judicial District OF
Mississippi His greatest service to his
State as a member of the Legislature,
has been performed in the cause OF
education. Firm in his conviction that
the education of the masses is one OF
the bulwarks of progress and the
| State, he has been the foremost cham
pion of education in the State of Mis-
sissippi Thousands of dollars have
been saved to the children of the State
through the ministry of Judge Orr in
the Legislature, where he fought many
strenuous fight against the land
thieves who had selected the public
school lands for their prey.
Judge Orr. at the advanced age oi
81, is still in active practice Of law
His magnificent physical and mental
. powers are still manifested in the ript
: vieor of an intellect that has earneree
the wisdom of the years. He is one o.
r the most remarkable personalities il
: all the South, even apart from tn
singular distinction of being the SOL
| survivor Of that brilliant concourse 0
t men that goes down in the pages G
d history as the Congress Of the Confed
J, eracy.
+ In passing. it is Of interest to no.
i, the singular fact that in Mississippi
a there still lives one other survivor {
d the Provisional Congress, namely, Juds
5. Campbell, but Of the real Confederat
Government Of the Bonnie Blue Fla
i Judge Orr is now all that remains