Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-11-15


measure now was sheer folly and nonsense.
! IF the negroes of the South wanted land,
| let them work for it. MACK
From the new York World.
| ,&,Int the Elections have EccfsEed
/ .1-any Democrats jump to the conclusion
| that the elections of this year insure our
success in the Presidential canvass many
| Republicans Jump to the conclusion that
| General Grant will be the candidate OF
| their party. It would be difficult, in the
| present state Of our knowledge, to contest
| the s0undness CT either inference although
| some persons may deem them inconsistent
| with each other. This at last is certain
| that the Republican inference comedies the
soundness OF the Democratic, on every
| other hypothesis than that General Grant
will consent to be the cand date of the Re
| publican party. But if General Grant is
| their candidate he must endorse their
policy, which is the very thing which has
| been condemned and repudiated by these
| elections. The horse General Grant is ex-
pected to ride having received a death
wound, we do not consider 1t clear that SO
shrewd horseman will mount him.
The Republican party is so committed to
it's mOribund reconstruction scheme that it
cannot retreat from it without universal
gufflW Of derisiOn. It is the maturest effort
OF their wisdom, proclaimed as such with
every form OF solemn emphasis The slow
and painful deliberatiUn with which it was
consuInmated, the tumultuous indignation
with which President johnson has been as
sailed for doubling its wisdom, the extra
session Of Congress to enforce its rigor in
opposition to the liberal Interpretation of
tue Attorney General, have committed the
Republicans to it so irretrleVably that its
abandonment would be fatal to the party.
'You take my house, said bafiied Shylock
III the agony of lost wealth and disappointed
revenge, 'EWhen you do take the prop that
doth sustain my house you take my life
when you do take the means whereby l
"live." The Republican party without its
reconstruction policy would be IN similar
condition OF deploring despair. It has no
other principle to stand upon than negro
suffrage reconstruction Ii this be aban-
ioned, it is party without principles
Even the Times, which has the least heart
il this abOrtiye business Of any of the Re-
publican Journals, sees the lmpOSslbll1ty OF
abandoning it without the total ruin of the
party. Its article yesterday reminds us Of
the ridiculous attempt Of the blg-jOlnted
sisters Of Cinderella who ''pared their
heels and pared their toes" in the vain
hope of wearing the slippers which would
make one of them the kings bride. Sup
posing Grant to be the prince, the Repub-
hcan party will hardly succeed Ill getting
it's long-heeIed negro feet into the coveted
slippers. But ii it cuts them off outright,
what VIII 1t have 10 stand on
II the Republican party adheres as it
needs must, to the negrO-sutfrage recon
structiou scheme, its defeat in the Presi-
Dental election, no matter who may be its
candidate is as certain as it Is that Il Presi-
Dental election will take place. It would
be the very ins0Iencc OF tyranny to force
negro suffrage upon the South when it is
| cmpbutical!y rejected by the North. 1t
would be such an impudcnt Inconsistency
! that 40 flir-minded man would for q mo-
ment Justify it. Negro suffrage having
! been overwhelmingly repudiated in these
! elections IL every State where the question
! has been presented, the logic Of the situa-
| ton farbi3s any further attempt to force it
upon the South. If persisted Ill, it must
rlcoiI with crushing effect on the Repuh-
Iiuau party. Negro suffrage may be right
! il Itself when the negroes shall be better
prepared; the progress OF opinion may
| compel its adoption five, or ten, or twenty
years hence but these elections have
| demonstrated that the public opinion OF
| tho country has not yet npened to that
| stage; nor IS there any possibility OF It's
! reaching it, after this great setback, tOl
| several years to comc.+ Ii you harness your
colt to the plough when he is too young,
YOU put a strain upon his constitution
! which will prevent his ever acquiring the
strength Of Il horse. Certain it is that the
public sentiment of tho country will not
| grow to negro suffrage within the next year
and if it shall be the pivot Of the Preslden'
tial election, the Republican party will be
far more disastrOusly beaten than 1t has
| J -, H.. 70 70 WI H0vp
| closed. Bat if negro suffrage be presented
aud beaten then, what hope will there be
for it afterwards 1t is The very essence
! of the reconstruction scheme--all there Il
of it, in fact, except props and scatloldlng
l When this falls the whole edifice tumble
| with it.
The imnossibility of ripening the publ
opinion of the country to accept neGr'
, suffrage within the ensuing year thus loom
! inc up before the Republicans like an oh
structing Andes, what can they expect t.
DO? VIII they be hardy enough to pro
claim that they mean to keep the Unlo
discovered and the country unsettled, unit
Years of agitatiou shall bring the countr
uD to their mark? But with this platforr
they viii be ousted from every departmen
: of the government as fast as successiv
elections shall open the way. No time
: left them foraagitation tosbring the publ
> mind up to their standard. They are clos
,, upon Presidential election which the
I must carry or their party is undone. III
country is already impatient and as bt
: tween further postponement of restoratlo
= and the indefinite pOstponement Of neg1
suffrage it will not hesitate an instant. L
= the recent elections the people have d
. cded that they 10 not want negro sut1rae
:. and 10 want restoration; have decided thu
negro suffrage is too great price to pa
even forimmediate restoration. They WI
y be incensed if, after this decision, the Il
- publicans continue to insist on wholly IN
3 practicable scheme.
y The fact that negro governments are
process OF organization, and that Congre
. may admit their representatives, does NJ
', vary the case, except to render degr
L ding farce more contemplate. Certain
is that the Southern people will never +
cognize these bastard governments
If having the slightest validity. Within fol
Il months after the Presidential election
1t heavy batteringram will tumble them In
t. shapeless rubbish. The Southern pc
10 pie will Immediately re-organize, no
J. new elections GUST the negroes, SCI