Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-09-13
The Future.

The Future.
! We do not belong to that class of des
pondentpeople who delight iii looking al
ways upon the dark side of every picture.
We much prefer to take hopeful view OF
affairs, to push as far as possible from us,
not only the ills of life, but the contempla-
! ton of them also. Sufficient unto the day
is the evil thereof" is as true as it is frll OF
philosophical wisdom. There is no need,
as there is no wisdom, in borrowing from
the morrow trouble to render the present
hour unhappy. Notwithstanding this, how
ever, we cannot at times prevent the en-
trance of gloomy forebodings and rncom-
Portable presages Of impending trouble -
Our people. we fear, are laboring under &
serious misapprehension. They have Sui
fered so much, endured SO much Gin mind,
body and estate, that they very naturally
have concluded that vengeance has been
satisfied, and that the future must therefore
be pregnant with hope for them, or at the
worst, that it cannot possibly be blacker or
more bitter than the past. We say. we fear
this may be delusion, that there may be
in store for us evils and degradations and
horrors, that have scarcely been conceived
OF even i'll the track of Sherman's army.
The tour of President Johnson, from
Washington City to Chicago, has developed
state of feeling which, but for such posi-
tive testimony, we could scarcely conceive
it possible to exist But, to them, one short
year ago. the wholeNorthern people weretho-
roughly and enthusiastically united i'll feel
ing, sentimentand expression. They thought
and declared that the directing and over
ruling finger Of Providence WAS plainly seen
in the substitution Of the iron hand OF An
drew johnson for that of the weak and kind
though patriotic Lincoln-now on his way
to pay tribute of respect to the memory
of one of their most beloved idols-thcir
great Douglas. Neither his sacred mission,
nor his high office, nor the great men by
whom he is surrounded and by whom he is
supported, among them the illustrious
Grant himself, can prevent constant and
repeated insult At Philadelphia the city
authorities positively refused toreceive him.
At Cleveland he was grossly insulted. And
even at Chicago, in the very land itself Of
Douglas, it was very doubtful whether he
would be officially received.
This is indeed very significant. 1t un-
doubtedly shows great change in the SEN
timents of the Northern people towards Mr..
johnson that his enemies have attained
degree of malignity and bitterness unusual
in the history OF human passions. and We
very much fear it shows that the adherents
of the President are q weak and diSheart-
ened minority. If they be not SO, how does
it happen that the crowd is allowed to in
terrupt him in some cases almost to p!e-
vent his speaking-is allowed to insult him
with such epithets as ''traitor and The hike !?
! IF this be true and the Conservative men OF
the North are Il minority, if the next Con
gress meets, with the same Radical strength
will and purpose, what shall we expect from
the future The Ex-Provisionai Governor
of this State has declared, we believe, that
in his opinion, in less than six months
North Carolina Will again be under Fro
visional rule The developments of the
Radical purpose, made by the Mulatto Con-
vention recently in session at Philadelphia,
if indeed any were needed, are sufficient
| to show ps that the most complete suojnga-
ton and utter destruction, tilat human in
gcnuity Can devise, will inevitably be our
portion, unless the coming elections result
in favor of the Administration. Nj par
dons will be i8nored-property will be con-
fscated, and victim after victim will be
slaughtered In d word Judge Underwood
will be permitted to roam at large with full
power to pack iuries, to hang and destroy.
We think we do not exaggerate the evils
consequent upon Radical success. It is a
terrible picture. We pray to God it may
never become reality to us.