Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-03-01
The Political Situation.

| We desired to communicate with the readers OF
the Journal freely in this mornings issue, upon
the condition of affairs and the temper and dlspo-
sition of men and parties at Washington but our
purpose has been thwarted by untoward circum-
stances and we are forced to be brief and pointed
| in the few remarks we are allowed to make.
| The political eauldron at the capital of the ma
ton bois unanimously and threatens to over
flow. Mems passions are greatly exacerbated,
and ANYTHING but an era of good feeling rules
the hour The Richmond Wing of the 18th,
which has just fallen under our eye, characteristics
it as an era of bad feeing-of bitterness passion
elimination, defamation and revenge.
| ssThe President is to be hunted down by the
| disappointed Radicals because they lind hlm a
stumbling block in their path. He stands between
them and the Constitution, which they would
abuse with violence; between them and the South,
which they are seeking to ruin. He is all obstruc-
ton and hindrance to them, and they are resolv-
ed, if they cannot remove him by1mpeachment' TO
destroy him by vituperatiOn. Wendell Philips,
that maker of phrases and fOmenter of strles thus
sounded the keynote at the Brooklyn Academy
on the 18th February This campaign has to be
fought against Andrew johnson the last had to
fought against Lee Again. said he, on a prevl-
GUS occasion Unless an outside pressure, such
as has neper been kn0Un, can be brought to bear
upon Congress- the President will beat.
Knowing Wendell Phillips, and knowing the
character of the Radicals we all know what this
means ; it means war TO the knlfe-the knife to
the hilt.' It means of pitiless denunciation
and INSCRIPTIONS defamation That war has al
ready commenced the hunt is up; the hounds
are let loose, and the noble game. instead of fly
ing, has assumed the attitude of antagOnism and
defiance. With the Constitution in one hand and
the Union in the other, he stands calm, collected
and self poised.
1t is painful to think that after so much of strife
and when the country so much needs repose, there
should be renewal of fierce agitation. 1t is pain
full to the head of the nation, who is devoting
himself with all his energies, experience and great
abilities to the establishment of the constitutional
status of the country it existed before the war;
treated by domineering party though he were
miscreant and the cut-purse of the empire
With moderation worthy of the primitive days
of the Republic, he denies himself powers that
would make him an autocrat, because those pow
ers are not conferred by the constitution. In the
same spirit he denies the powers to the egis-
lative branch of the Government. Hereafter, when
fanaticism and passion shall subside, and reason
shall once more assert its sway, the whole country
will honor him as he deserves to be honored for
so doing. In the present unhealthy state of the
Northern mind, when the frantic passions of war
have survived that itself, the Radical party,
demoralized by the habitual exercise of power and
impatient of all restraints upon its will, views Pre-
sident Johnson, who is called by the perverse and
vindictive leader of the House of Representatives
that man at the other end of the avenue, with
jealousy distrust and aversion But there he stands
and will continue to stand, lion in their path"
We have collected and publish elsewhere in this
issue, the criticisms of the press upon the Presi-
dents veto of the freedmens bureau bill It will
be gratifying to the reader to perceive he is sus-
tanned by all with the single exception of Massa
Greeey
Daily JOn17adl, 24M uh