JAMES L. ORR,

OF SOUTH CAROLINA.

AMONG the most prominent Southern men in public life, and especially prominent as a national Southern man, is the gentleman who presided as Speaker over the House of Representatives during the Thirty-Fifth Congress. While essentially a popular man, from the genial dignity of his presence, the affability of his manner, and his ready talents, he is entitled to much higher acknowledgment for the knowledge and power that support his more showy acquirements. His career has been a singularly successful one, and but another evidence that while ability, without directness of purpose, may startle with fitful brilliancy, with industry and force of character it will certainly succeed in commanding the heads as well as the hearts of men.

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James L. Orr was born at Craytonville, Anderson District, South Carolina, on the 12th of May, 1822. His father, Christopher Orr, acquired, through mercantile pursuits, a competency, and gave a thorough education to his three sons and two daughHis grandfather, Jehn Orr, was a native of Wake County, North Carolina, and, as a gallant Whig soldier, participated in the Revolutionary War. His feeling against British domination on this continent was not probably diminished from his having Irish blood in his veins. The paternal ancestor of the Orrs emigrated from Ireland and settled originally in Pennsylvania, about the year 1730. On his mother's side the subject of this sketch is also of Irish descent,-her ancestor having arrived in this country from Ireland in 1786.

Having, at an early age, acquired the rudiments of an English education in a country school, James L. Orr commenced the study of Latin and Greek at an academy in Anderson, and occupied his leisure time by acting as salesman and book-keeper for his father. In his seventeenth year, he was transferred to the University of

Virginia, and diligently applied himself to complete his studies and prepare himself for the profession of the law. So assiduous was his application during the first year that, we are told, "he made himself proficient in mental and moral philosophy, political economy, logic, rhetoric, belles-lettres, medical jurisprudence, and also all the elements of international and constitutional law." He followed up these branches with an almost complete devotion to the study of the law, and left the university in 1840. Young Orr's favorite author was Coke upon Littleton; and he has, often declared that his knowledge of the principles of English common law, especially those governing real estate, was derived from this quaint but profound jurist. During the year 1841, he mingled more than heretofore in society, "improving his knowledge of human nature;" still, the greater portion of his time was devoted to books, adding to his legal resources the expansive views which the study of ancient and modern history opens to a philosophic mind.

In January, 1842, Mr. Orr, thus prepared by theories, entered the office of Judge Whitner, then Solicitor of the Western Circuit, to learn the practice of the profession. He perfected himself in the course prescribed by the Court of Appeals of South Carolina; and, passing a strict examination before all the judges, was admitted May, 1843, having then just arrived at his majority.

Having his head pretty well stored with literature as well as law, and law naturally leading all American youth to politics, Mr. Orr almost simultaneously opened an office for the reception of clients at law, and established a newspaper for the direction of the town in politics. He succeeded with both enterprises. They kept him tolerably busy; but it is evidence of his success that as a lawyer he got a very respectable practice very soon, and as a politician he entered the State Legislature before he was twenty-three years old. His industry and talent in the "Anderson Gazette," as well as his personal blandishments out of it, recommended him to the people in such an unmistakable manner, that, in 1844, he was elected from Pendleton District, having received a higher vote than any other man in the State, and in a district which in 1840 had given a decided Whig majority. Robust in body as in brain, Orr made a most arduous campaign, discussing the leading topics at issue between the

Whig and Democratic parties. He overcame the distrust of old politicians, and, naturally enough, inspired confidence in men of his own age; and the result was a very strong evidence of the spirit with which he conducted the canvass, and of his dawning capacity as a popular speaker. At the next election he was again returned. It is remarked that Mr. Orr's career in the Legislature was distinguished not so much by brilliant elocution as by sound sense and discriminating judgment. He participated frequently in the debates; but, as there were no reporters of the proceedings at that time, none of his speeches have been preserved. His first effort was in 1844, in opposition to what was known as the Bluffton Movement, which was to have again committed South Carolina to a nullification of the Tariff of 1842.

This speech at once gave Mr. Orr reputation and position in the Legislature. It was generally well received, and one of the principal journals characterized it as "one of the boldest, plainest, and most sensible speeches of the whole discussion." He was an earnest and energetic advocate of the measure giving the election of Presidential Electors to the people, (South Carolina elects her Electors by the Legislature,) and delivered an able speech in favor of it. The bill was carried in the House, but defeated in the Senate. Among other measures which enlisted his sympathies and advocacy were a liberal and enlarged system of internal improvements, and a general reform of the free-school policy. Thus, at the outset of his career, Mr. Orr became the forward champion of popular rights, despite the deep-rooted prejudices growing out of usage.

In 1848, Mr. Orr became a candidate for Congress. His opponent was a lawyer of extensive reputation, like himself a Democrat, and had the advantage of having taken the field some months in advance. The campaign was quite exciting, and the result the election of Mr. Orr by seven hundred majority-a most flattering tribute from the people to his youthful legislative From that time to the present, Mr. Orr has retained the esteem and confidence of his constituents, and has been re-elected to Congress without opposition.

career.

On Mr. Orr's entrance to the National Councils there were men of great power in the Senate, and in the House men destined to become so. Upon the .immediate field of action into which

he was thrown were men like Alexander H. Stephens and Robert Toombs, of Georgia, the one with an intellectual keenness of incisive power, the other with a blunt frenzy almost as effective; Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, with phraseology complete and elegant; James McDowell, of Virginia, with a stirring eloquence; Henry W. Hilliard, of Alabama, decking the war of politics with the flowers of literature; William B. Maclay, whose love of quiet has since proved stronger than even his great cultivation; Thomas L. Clingman, of North Carolina, ready and anxious to prove that the wide world is but an extensive illustration of his own State, or that it is an epitome of the world. These and many other notable and prominent men were in the House when the young lawyer-editor of the "Anderson Gazette" made his appearance. During his first term his ears were much more open than was his mouth. He listened much and lectured little. His principal speech was upon the agitation of the Slavery question, and its dangerous consequences against the perpetuity of the Union, and embracing his views against the admission of California as a State before she had passed "the usual Territorial pupilage." He strongly enforced the doctrine of non-intervention, and insisted that whether slavery be a sin or not, Congress has nothing whatever to do with it. It was recognised by the Constitution-protected by it; and it was his opinion that any one who felt a moral duty devolving on himself to further its extirpation should candidly avow himself a disunionist. If, on the contrary, he is ready to abide by the Constitution in letter and spirit, he must cease to agitate. Of the Nashville Convention, Mr. Orr said its ends were high and holy. "It was called to protect the Constitution-to save the Union-by taking such steps as might prevent, if possible, the consummation of measures which would probably lead to the destruction of both. Had the purpose been disunion, those who called that convention would have waited until the irretrievable step had been taken, and nothing left to the South but submission or secession." Mr. Orr opposed and voted against most of the Compromise He believed that the arrangement did not do justice to his section; that Congress had no constitutional right to purchase part of a sovereign State-Texas-and place the population thereof under a Territorial Government. He argued that if the

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land was the property of Texas, the Federal Government had no right to purchase; if it belonged to the United States, then it was wrong to take ten millions of dollars from the public treasury to pay for that which was already their property; and, lastly, that California was admitted with excessive territory, without an enumeration of her inhabitants, having framed her Constitution without authority from Congress, and against all the precedents of our political existence.

On his return home, in March, 1851, Mr. Orr found a formidable party organized for the secession of South Carolina alone from the Union. The Compromise was generally condemned. The Legislature called a Constitutional Convention. Delegates were elected who, with few exceptions, were pledged to secession. Orr had originally advised against holding the convention, on the ground that if a wrong had been done the South, it was as oppressive upon all the Southern States as upon South Carolina, and that neither patriotism nor sound policy required one State to redress that wrong. His own Congressional district had elected two delegates to one in favor of secession. Notwithstanding that he was in a great minority, Mr. Orr fearlessly opposed the secession policy. In a public speech to his constituents at Pickens, a few days after his return home, he earnestly and eloquently warned them of the disasters which would follow the proposed project. He admitted the right of a State to secede, but did not deem the policy wise. The Southern Rights Associations—which had been organized in the preceding winter-held a general convention at Charleston in May, 1851. The body, numbering some four hundred and fifty members, was distinguished for its intelligence and integrity, and represented the extreme party of the State, which was believed to be largely, if not overwhelmingly, in the ascendant. Mr. Orr attended as a delegate from Anderson, and introduced the resolution upon which the minority based their report, as a counter-proposition to the address of the majority of the committee. About thirty members sustained Orr. His repudiation by the convention, however, was more than overbalanced by the support given him when the same question came before the people. His speech in the convention was fully equal to the trying and important occasion. It was bold and manly, and indicated a moral courage worthy of the patriotic purpose it