It is safe to say that no act of any military commander in the South ever gave greater offense than this order of General Sickles did to every reputable citizen of South Carolina who was informed of the proceeding. The attorneys whom the military commander aspersed were of the highest character personally and professionally-William D. Porter, James Conner, Charles H. Simonton, Theodore G. Barker. These gentlemen set forth the facts of the case in statements in the press, whereby they pointed out the infamous character of Sickles's performance and showed that neither they nor the Chancellor could be open to suspicion or even to criticism. The aspersion upon the good name of the Chancellor was especially an outrage-for no life had been purer, no career had been more honorable, no man's character was higher, than that of Henry D. Lesesne. So great was the public disgust at this order of General Sickles that it was freely intimated that he himself had been corrupted or, at the best, influenced by unworthy persons actuated by corrupt motives.

By order of General Sickles the captain of a steamer plying between Charleston and Beaufort was tried by military commission on the charge of refusing a first-class passage to a mulatto woman of the name of Rollin-who, by the way, afterwards figured as a recipient of fraudulent pay certificates issued by F. J. Moses, Jr., Speaker of the House. Conviction followed as a matter of course and the captain was sentenced to a fine of $250.

On the occasion of the Union Republican Convention in Columbia there were in the city William J. Armstrong, already mentioned as the promoter sent by the National Republican Committee, and J. Q. Thompson, a correspondent of one or more newspapers of the Radical type. By their offensive behavior these men became involved in a personal difficulty with two citizens and were considerably worsted. Upon the warrant of a magistrate they were arrested and then released upon amply sufficient surety. By the advice of friends the accused expressed to the post commander at Columbia, and through him to the parties claiming to be aggrieved, their regrets at the occurrence. On the unsworn complaint of Thompson, General Sickles had the two citizens arrested, taken to Charleston and sentenced to six months' imprisonment in Fort Macon, N. C., where they were detained for the greater part of the term. The magistrate who had taken the gentlemen's recognizances was summarily

removed, without opportunity for defense or explanation, on the alleged ground of having taken insufficient bail.

Early in his administration General Sickles took occasion to notify Governor Orr that all public officers, in whatever department of the State, district or municipal governments, held their places at the will of the district commander, who only was authorized to appoint a successor. Governor Orr made no sign of dissent from this determination, to which, of course, neither objection nor resistance would have availed anything. All appointees of the district commander were required to take the test oath.

Among the appointments made by General Sickles was that of Mr. William S. Hastie to be sheriff of Charleston, in the place of Col. John E. Carew, the incumbent. To test the military commander's right to make this appointment, proceedings were had before Judge Franklin J. Moses, Sr., of the circuit court, who sustained the act of the military authority. An appeal was taken from this decision but was not perfected—so that the questions made were never taken to the court of last resort. Various other appointments were made by General Sickles, simply carrying out his ideas of his powers under the Reconstruction acts.

By an order of the President, dated August 31, 1867, General Sickles was relieved of his command in the military district embracing the Carolinas-this because, by the enforcement of his General Order No. 10, he had unduly interfered with the process of the United States court in North Carolina. It was publicly stated at this time that General Sickles had in this State avoided a conflict with the Federal court (whose authority and mandates Judge Bryan had shown a decided purpose to enforce) by allowing the process and mandates of that tribunal to be enforced in disregard of General Order No. IO.

Upon the removal of General Sickles, Governor Orr wrote him a letter, expressing regret at the President's action, and also declaring that the General's administration in South Carolina had been marked by "wisdom and success-moderation and forbearance." Governor Orr especially commended the issuance and enforcement of the "relief" provisions of General Order No. 10. He further declared that but for the "wisdom, moderation and forbearance" of General Sickles a considerable number of troops would have been necessary to "preserve public records and insure the safety of sheriffs and

other officials"-Governor Orr's reference here being to the really distressful condition of many of the debtor class, who had in fact sought relief at the hands of the Legislature, but who really had no purpose to resist process, to destroy public records, or in any way to interfere with the due execution of the laws.

The Legislature had indeed passed a stay law embodying provisions similar to those in General Order No. 10, but the court of errors-composed of all the appeal court justices, the law judges and the chancellors-had declared the exemption in favor of debtors to be contrary to certain provisions of the State and the Federal Constitution a fact strongly suggestive of the extraordinary character of General Sickles's legislation.

THE CANBY ADMINISTRATION.

On September 5, 1867, Brevet Maj.-Gen. E. R. S. Canby, U. S. A., assumed command of the second military district.

Among the first of General Canby's orders was a modification of General Order No. 10-the new order directing that where sales of property should be made under decree or execution the sale should be postponed for three months unless the highest bid therefor should be a sum equal to two-thirds of the actual value. In other respects the Order No. 10 stood unchanged.

By an order dated September 13, 1867, General Canby directed that "all citizens assessed for taxes, and who shall have paid taxes for the current year and who are qualified and have been or may be duly registered as voters, are hereby declared qualified to serve as jurors," and that "any requirement of a property qualification for jurors, in addition to the qualification herein prescribed, as hereby abrogated." The judges were directed to revise the jury lists in conformity with the order-the effect of which was to make negroes eligible as jurors.

In charging the grand jury of Edgefield at the fall term, 1867, Judge Aldrich called attention to this order in relation to jurors and declared that he could not and would not obey it. The jury law of 1831, which Judge Aldrich held himself bound to obey, required that the juror in the circuit court must be a white male citizen, or an emigrant from Europe, who should have given notice of his intention to become a naturalized citizen, a resident of the State for one

year and also a taxpayer on property held in his own right. General Canby's order, already noticed, explicitly abrogated certain of these qualifications.

At Barnwell, some days afterwards, Judge Aldrich, ready to open court as directed by the statute, received an order from General Canby, purporting to suspend him from the office to which he had been elected by the Legislature acting under the express authority of the State Constitution. After reading the order in open court, the judge announced that in forced obedience to the command of General Canby he would "lay down his office for the present." Then, laying aside his robe, he spoke as follows:

Gentlemen of the juries, for the present, farewell; but if God spares my life I will yet preside in this court, a South Carolina judge whose ermine is unstained. My brethren of the bar, be patient-be loyal to the Constitution-be true to yourselves. Mr. Clerk, as I am not permitted to perform any judicial act, you and the sheriff will issue to the jurors their pay certificates as if the judge had not attended. Mr. Sheriff, let the court stand adjourned while the voice of justice is stifled.

(Judge Aldrich's defiant prediction was verified by his election in 1878 to the circuit bench, where for twelve years he served as honorably as he had done before he was removed at the point of the bayonet.)

Judge Aldrich afterwards called General Canby's attention to his order directing the State Treasurer not to pay the salary provided by law. General Canby justified his order by referring to the Judge's retirement, caused by his refusal to comply with the order in relation to juries, and declined to recede. Judge Aldrich responded in a spirited letter, denouncing General Canby's course as an act of "monstrous tyranny." A few weeks later the Judge was formally removed and in his place General Canby appointed Mr. Zephaniah Platt, of New York, a well-meaning old gentleman of small abilities and moderate attainments, then wintering at Aiken.

By an order dated October 19, 1867, General Canby forbade the holding of the regular municipal election in Charleston. The incumbent council continued in the exercise of its functions until January 1, 1868, when the district commander, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of an alderman, appointed Niles G. Parker, who was afterwards conspicuous as chief among the robbers who, controlling the State government, defrauded the State in various ways.

Shortly afterward Mayor Peter C. Gaillard was removed and Col. W. W. Burns, U. S. A., was assigned to fill the place. Later Col. Milton Cogswell, U. S. A., was appointed, and finally Mr. George W. Clark, a Northern man, who held on until the election under an act of the Legislature of 1868. Constant changes were made in the board of aldermen, so that finally out of eighteen there remained but four who had been chosen by the people. General Canby's appointees included seven white men and seven negroes. No cause was assigned for any of the removals.

In some of the towns General Canby appointed the entire municipal force intendant, wardens, clerk and marshal.

In a few districts, as occasion arose, sheriffs and magistrates were appointed. In Columbia, to succeed Magistrate J. T. Zealy, whose summary removal by General Sickles has been mentioned, General Canby appointed W. Beverly Nash, a black negro who was grossly incompetent, whose incendiary talks had caused friction between the races, and who a few years later was active among the minor Republican thieves who helped to rob the people of South Carolina.

By the order of General Canby taxes were levied and appropriations were made for the support of the different departments of the State Government-the collections and disbursements being comImitted to the several State and district officers holding under the Constitution of 1865 and the acts of "so-called" Legislatures.

It has already been stated that the session of 1866 was the last one of the General Assembly elected under the Constitution of 1865. The election of a new body should, by the mandate of the Constitution, have been held on the third Wednesday in October, and by the statute it was made the duty of the Governor to make the necessary appointment of managers and otherwise arrange for the election. Governor Orr having given no sign of a purpose to obey the Constitution and laws in this regard, the Hon. I. W. Hayne, AttorneyGeneral of South Carolina, on September 10, 1867, addressed to his Excellency a letter calling his attention to the fact that, unless steps should be taken and instructions be given to the managers to hold an election at the proper time for members of the House of Representatives and for a portion of the Senate, the State would be left without any legislative authority. To that letter Governor Orr made no answer. It must be regarded as certain that had the Governor