Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-04-26
The Radical Campaign in the south.


The yisest of us are doomed to error at
times, and the success of any one darling
measure or scheme is not always an evil
dence of the wisdom which prompted the
movement. None are exempt from the
fallaoies of human Judgment, nor can any
see the after consequences which may re-
suit from the attainment of cherished
object.
The evident excitement and alarm which
exists in the Radical camps at the North, is
the best commentary, possible, upon this
fact. Had any doubt ever existed IN the
minds of the intelligent people of the South
relative to the character of the jealous and
philanthropic efforts of Northern Repubh-
cans in behalf of the poor negro, that doubt
should be removed now it should become
a certainty. The same sublime considera-
tion of self that dictated the slave trade to
the Puritans of Massachusetts,, Is still the
sarae with their descendants III their pre-
tended desire for the amelioratiOn of the
African race. The important powers which
their Congress has delegated to the rude
and untutored freedmen Of the South, are
about to be exercised in way and Tor a
purpose which those august dictators do
not approve. The franchise privilege, from
which SO much was hoped, and for the be-
stowal of which SO many principles ofcarthly
honor and hopes of after peace were sacri-
feed, it is feared will be exercised in q way
not beneficial to the growth and dissemina-
ton of the upright Radical theory of self
ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
In view of this dismal prospect the New
York papers of the Tribune persuasion are
raising dismal howl. They are fearful
that the good of the Northern fanatics is
not the only motive that will carry the
freedmen to the polls, and that they will
dare to vote for their own benefit in pre-
ference to that Of others In favor of his
own side of the question, Mr. Greeley has
brought forwards powerful argument to bear
upon the approaching campaign. He ap-
peals to the feelings Of gratitude which the
negroes should entertain for those who have
freed them and who have bestowed upon
them the electoral privilege. This argument
of Mr.. Greeley sisa good one, and doubtless
he has calculated greatly upon the general
ignorance of those to whom it is addressed,
to bear him out in his appeal. But Mr..
Greeley, like a great many very good men
of his way of thinking, has thought fit to
speak only of the present and of the imme-
diate past. The more distant events of
that past, he perhaps thinks should be
turned over to the mercies of that dead
past which buries its own dead in other
words, that all of the old history of the coun-
try which relates to other than the glorious
deeds of Puritans dead and Puritans living,
is unworthy of remembrance, and would
hardly justify the research necessary to IN
earth it. But the memories Of other
persons are not so radical on such subjects,
and wonderful fact has just been diyulged.
A "poor African" has just discovered
that which Mr.. Greeley would rather have
had remain undiscovered, and has remem-
bered something which that gentleman
would prefer forgotten. For instance, a
colored speaker the other day enunciated
to his radical audience the fact that the
chains of slavery were first riyeted upon
them by their godly Puritan ancestors, and
that the profits of this slave trade found its
way into the pockets of the witch burners
of the "good old Commonwealth of Mas
sachusetts."
Another speaker (also colored) has cleo
trifed his hearers by the bold assertion
that the emancipation of the negro was not
the result of love for the Southern black,
but of hatred for the Southern white, and
that the prosecution of the war for enamel
patton, was most emphaticlly denied in the
beginning, and was only employed in the
end as desperate resort to conquer the
Confederacy.
Oh white man, and white brother of the
North, you who. would sell your soul thai
your body might live in sensual corruption,
see how the poor, but honest black man
throws the contemplate lie back into YOU
teeth.
The political campaign for Radical o.
Conservative supremacy in the South i
about to open. Of the importance of it
terest of the States, the national agitator
seem fully aware, and in spite of the grea
apathy of both conservative leaders ant
conservative masses, the whole radical ele
ment at the North is in state of trepida
ton and alarm. They begin now to fea
the wholesome effect of those very laws b,
which they hoped to attain their ends, anC
theelective franchise, having been bestowed
by them, Internationally, upon a peopl
totally unused to the prerogative, they fea
may not be exercised in the way whicI
Congress would dictate, had it now IL
power to re-legislate upon the matter.
It is at least evident that there is a screN
loose somewhere in the complex radica
machinery, and that both the engineers an
pilots of that party are fearful that tn
management of "the good old ship O
State may ere long be placed in othe
hands, Notwithstanding the boast which ha
Iaap Gu frao1u indp1ro5 -, IL, 4booo ,oa,4.