Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-11-29
THE WILMINGTON JOURNAL.
WILMINGTON. N. c.,
r.,uRsDAY, NOVEMBER 80, 1866.
The Situation of the south.

iShment at one event., pe1oie iAuobAeI' d
astounding arrests our attention. 1t is ma
tural. under such circumstances, that w
should pause to reflect on the probable con
sequences of these startling changes;-mel
ALWAYS stand still and are silent in the pres
ence of great events, but we are not per
mitted to do either we cannot stand still
for the rushing current of change carries
us on in spite of ourselves, and silence l!
not permitted to us of the South 1t IS call
ed sullen obstinacy, F" which deserves pun
;sbnant and we are threatened with the
sIeeping vengeance of the North If we re-
main silent. This state of things can alone
account for the strange and otherwise un-
accountable obliviousness of the past by
the Northern mind. How otherwise can
we explain the course taken in regard to
the South, or the estimate formed IN re-
spect to us, as is daily exhibited IN the
Northern journals? Can they have forgot
ten that the Southern States for sixty out
of the eighty years of our national existence
controlled the policy of the Government
that in their attempt to sever themselves
from the North, they displayed herolsm, a
manhood and an endurance which have
challenged the admiration of the world p
If thew have not, how is it that they have
failed to impress on the Northern mind
their real character ? Can it be supposed
that such a race, who have been as ascen-
dant in the Cabinet as i'll the field, (where
numbers approximately have suddenly
shrunk into q state of mental lmbeclhty ?
Do the North believe that the spirit which
animated this race is gone and forever p
Is it extinct and If so, where is the evil
dence of it? Perhaps they may yet lind
q it is not dead, but sleepeth." 1t is true,
there are men in this, as in every country,
who yield to the dependency which Is the
shadow of defeat, who we're wanting by
nature in the manliness and energy neces-
sarv to the achievement of great enterpri-
ses, and who, in going into the war, were
half conquered before Il blow was struck.
Upon such men, defeat in an engagement
or two, produced the natural effect on such
minds,-despair of final success and reluc-
tant aid in continuing the struggle and
IuCSS uCu are SILL no, ttiANd I1thf
been sustained in their prognostics by the
results of the war, have no little credit Civ
en- them for having been more sagaclous
than their neighbors. These men are an1-
ious to accept any terms, however dcgra-
ding in themselves, SO they can once again
see the Southern Representatives re-seated
in the halls of Congress. But we are graf
flied to know that such men constitute
small minority in the South.
If we have ecdeavored to impress on
our readers one line of policy rather than
another in regard to this subject, it has
been to yield whatever is Just and proper,
irrespective of small or unimportant issues,
but we have not failed to insist that there
were points which could not be yielded,
which involved an abandonment of all SELF
respect, all pride Of character as q people,
and to concede which would be to infiict
with our own hands fatal wound on ''the
land we love-"
It would seem, from the course of these
submissionists, that they were not wel-ad-
vised of the true situation of the South,
and in consequence of this ignorance, are
ready to take the alarm at every fresh threat
uttered by Northern journals of other and
more terrible consequences which await us
in the event of our obstinate rejection"
las it is called of the liberal, generous,
nay magnanimous terms heretofore offered
us. Now let us know the worst-frm and
brave men are best dealt with in this man
4lo Cor41, hoe
these terms as applicable to their states
men no less than their soldiers, our adver-
saries themselves being the judges. What
are these naOnStra hOrreadG which are held
up in the dark to brighten us from our
prophecies, which shall produce such de-
spair on our part, that nothing, save abJect
submission on our Bonded knees, remains
to us? We think, as in most other cases
of threatened penalties, the reality will be
found less terrible than the anticipation
This will appear from hasty glance at
the powers of Congress. The present
Congress, like all Legislative bodies, are
Judges of the qualifications of the respec-
tive members of each House. If they
choose tol disregard the Constitution, they
can require las they have done tests OF
membership never exacted before, and
may exclude any members to whom such
tests apply-this being done, their power
in this respect is exhausted BY sufficient
majorities they can pass acts over and IN
defiance of the Executive veto, as they
have done in the "Civil Rights Bill'' and
others. But where an amendment OF the
Constitution is 10 be made, fortunately for
the South, it requires a majority of three
fourths of all the States through their LIE
gislatures or Conventions expressly called
for the purpose. Happily for those most
interested, this majority of three-fourths
cannot at present be obtained, nor can it
be until the Union shall number 50 States
So far, then, as the power of Congress is
concerned, we see no cause for such terror
and dismay as seem to have seized
upon many of our Southern men, and
which the Radical presses of the North