Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-09-20
From the New York Herald.
Let the President Resign!

| The political war has at length reached
that point where a strong, bold movement
on the part of President johnson is the
only thing that will restore the country to
peace and prosperity. The radicals have
struck blow after blow at all the intelligence
of the country, until they threaten to level
it with the vilest standard that the land can
produce. To obtain political victory it
matters not how many cherished principles
they trample under foot how many safe
guards of our republicaniSm they tear
down how thoroughly they obliterate
every element of stability in the country
how near to the verge of a military deS-
potism they drive the car of state They
are bent on winning the race for party,
and they have sunk country far in the
background, as q consideration of little i'm
portance in comparison. To defeat them,
to restore our republican institutions, now
becomes with us the mighty problem. TO
do this we must dive down below the radical
froth, and in deeper current seek safety
in the almost buried common sense of the
people. To make the people feel The full
import of that which rests SO heavily upon
them, Andrew Johnson should resign and
appeal to them. Let him resign and de-
mand that q convention of all the States be
called to take measures against this politi-
cal ruin that Congress Is hurting against
the republic. Let him tell the people that
he finds it mpossible to resist entirely this
attempt of Congress to assume dictatorial
power and inaugurate new revolution. Let
him show to them the political picture as it
eXists--commerce wrecked, the Treasury
Department in ruins, the revenue admins
tered for the benefit of those who hold the
offices, the wealth of the nation squan-
dered, an exhaustive Indian war on hand
70 honoft Of
half the States under military dictatorship,
the other half threatened with similar
government, corruption everywhere, vice
making throne of virtue, and the country
driving madly through the same political
phases that preceded the French Revolu-
ton.
Are the people prepared for all this p
Are they prepared to see the negro element
set up at auction as the instrument through
which the unprincipled politicians may
ride into power .? Do they taste the bit
terness in advance of what such future
has in store for them ? If they do not
then is the country already dead, and
naught but long night of anarchy and re-
volution can awaken it from its lethargy.
The negro to shape our political future to
drive great republic to its destiny =
Are we so lost to all respect of race and
brain power that we can settle down be-
fore this radical idol and see in its black
ness the glory of the land, instead of its
ruin ? Let Mr.. johnson look to this, and
let him rise to the demands of the time by
throwing himself into the arms of the peo-
pie, who, nauseated with this radical rule,
are ready for change and q reaction which
will restore health and vigor to the land
The President, leading in the movement,
may form a new party, and, through the
overwhelming votes of the intelligence of
the country, be restored to the executive
power. The country wants in such party
no narrow platform of faction, but the
great and broad elements of action that
will restore the nation to its former vigor.
Finances and progress must be the moving
forces. The rebellion must be forgotten,
and universal amnesty must cut the South
aloof from the proconsulships that threaten
to advance northward. The radicals must
be taught that there is something besides
party ambition for the spoils to give mo-
tive power to political faction. They
must learn, too, that the nation, in terri
BILE reaction, will hold them to account for
the desolation which for two years has
marked their political track. The negro,
too, filed with false ideas of the role he is
to play in the future must be placed on the
level of his intellectual ability and, with
every guarantee of freedom, let him work
his way upwards to the full extent Of his
powers. Now is the moment of Mr.. John
son to seize fortune at the flood. The re-
action is coming Let him resign and lead
it.