Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-03-15


the other; and finally terminated his repast with
this monologue: s.I have heard much of the power
of imagination and faith I've tried hard to fam
cy this bread and that meat; but, By the po,oers,
hungry stomach spurns the trick"
The New York Times in an article upon the re-
lations of the President to political parties thus
discourseth
The Tribune has thrown off the mask under
which it has for some time assalled the resident
and openly arraigns him on charge OF d1sloyal-
ty to the Union Party, by whom he was elected
It would be an amusing though perhaps an un-
profitable task to trace the stealthy steps which
have led the Tribune to its present position. So
long as hope remained that the radicals might
use President Johnson for their own purposes, SO
long the Tribune played the fawning apologist and
the sycophantic defender. At times it assumed
the role of the patron, applauding the course OF
the President, and patting him encouragingly.-
Gradually as events seemed to indicate the weak
ness of the faith on which it had depended, itput
on the broad phylactery of the Pharisee, implored
the President with genuine nasal snitfie, prayed
for him at street corners, and, with upturned eyes,
trusted that all would yet be well. When the Veto
Message upset the last of the radical calculations
would be ferocious But it was not 1t was sim
ply for the moment paralyzed. With the return
of consciousness came the cowardly manoeuver1ng
to which we have adverted-the lie by implica-
n,
least possible responsibility. Now, after days of
effort and nights IL cogitation, our contemporary
Jumps on the ground which manly adversary
would have occupied at once, and fatty charges
the President with cultivatlng rebel sympathy,
and acting dishonesty toward the Union Party.
The ebtllition of spleen to which the Tribune
treated its friends yesterday, has not taken out
siders by surprise. Everybody has seen that to
this complexion the affair would come at last, and
there is general feeling of relief now that the
Dho,s &c To hn an m
san, and the virtuOus reviler and unmlstakable
enemy.
There are some, probably, who will be content
in the present aspect of the controversy to exhibit
in iuxtaposition the respective political characters
of the accuser and the accused. AS between the
Tribune, the complainant, and Andrew johnson,
the individual complained against, the popular
Judgment will not be difficult of Interpretation,
when the issue to be decided is of patriotic
consistency and party integrity. What has Andrew
johnson done, it will be asked that he should be
raigned for listening to REASONABLE inculcations
without rebuke, and dealing dlslngenuously with
his Union friends Is not his record during the
wal an answer to all such accusations Is he to
be abused as an ally of traitors who deed treason
when it was powerful, and periled life and prop
erty by resistance to their Vaccinations Is he
to be assailed as false to the cause and party of
the Union who stood by both in the most trying
hour, and worked for both with energy that
yielded to no difficulty and resolution that never
succumbed to despair? Above all, is he to be con
victed on indictment of this nature preferred by
journal which before the war began counseled
that the Southern States should be allowed to Sc
cede in peace-which, under the shadow of defeat,
urged peace on the basis of a dismembered Union
which intrigued with notorious rebels for the set
Element on terms that would have been alike dis
astrous and dishonorable to the Union cause? Is
Andrew johnson to be suspected of casting. Gin
his lot with the Copperheads," and disguise and
equivocation" toward the Union Party, on the tes-
timony of a journal which a few months ago dl-
vided and by the faithlessness defeated the Union
candidate for the Mayoralty, and on that occasion
became the avowed and confidential ally of no less
a ''Copperhead' than Mr.. Fernando Wood?