Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-01-24
Our Situation.

The people of the Southern States occu-
DIV the singular attitude of organized polit-
Iical communities. exercising all the func-
tions of States through their Legislative,
Executive and Judicial departments, peace
fully and quietly, and yet with almost
moral certainty staring them III the face OF
being stripped of all these attributes OF
sovereignty by their conntryme and of
being reduced to the condition of newly
settled, unorganized territories. This, too,
in the face of the proclamations of the tx
ecutive Of the General Government, that
they are, and ought TO continue to remain,
reconstructed States. They are legls-
latins, collecting taxes, issuing bonds, hold
ing courts, &c, With the consciousness
meanwhile, that everything they are doing
in this way, may at any time be declared
nuIlity by the ruling power. What IL farce
on government! What an anomaly in re-
publican institutions
In the situation is presented Il confused
Representation of the sword of Damoc!e?,
q id the stone of Sysiphus-with a very fail
perspective of tue Temple of Liberty and a
cornucopia in the distance. If the sword
does not fall and the stone reaches the top
of the hill, the perspective brightens into
a beautiful picture otherwise it fades en-
tirely out Of view, and is succeeded by
chaos. A contemplation of the scene strains
the nervous system and wearies the eye and
sickens the heart. We turn from it and
strive to forget it in the struggle for bread
but it will occasionally force itself upon u.s.
We do not purpose violating the rule
which should govern all Southern newspa-
pers, viz to refrain from the discussion of
political questions. We are only rejecting
upon the condition of the country. In the
} shaping Of its destinies We have no part,
: though our all is involved in the manner
in which they are shaped. We will be
} swept with the current whichever course
} it may take. On the ship of State We are
but passengers, vitality interested i'll the
safety of The voyage, but with Eo control
over the helm or sails. Sometimes despair
will prompt feeling of Indifference to the
result, and suggest as a consolation, the re-
collection that if ruin comes, it will be com
mon to all-but this is very poor consola-
ton at best. We cannot help remember
4 ing what has been, and the apprehension
! of what may be only intensities the bitter
} ness of our recollection. We have lived
long enough to see one of the coordinate
I branches of the United States Government
, gradually absorbing the other two, and IA
pidly assuming to itself the entire control
of all questions affecting the public wei
5 fare overriding all constitutional obstacles
to their progress, and saying i'll effect, If
5 not in words, s. if the law and the constitu-
ton be in the way, SO much the worse for
the law and the constitution" The dorli-
nant party, like all revolntionists, seem to
glory in the maxim that revolutions never go
backward but they do not seem to remem-
Der that they do 60 forward and that those
who are on the crest of the wave to-day,
may, and generally will, be engulphed in
it to morrow. The speech of Judge Black,
: which we publish to-day, is full of
eloquent prophecy as we'll as bitter denun-
| citation, and, coming from the source from
which it does, gives cheering indications
of the fact that there is still courage enough
among the public men Of the North to us
tify the hope that constitutional liberty IS
| still loved, and will not be surrendered
- without Il murmur. No better common
tary on the insanity of the hour could be
found than in the Wild denunciations of
the Supreme Court for unanimously decid-
ing contrary to the wishes of Congress a
question so plain that nothing but perjury
or idiocv could possibly pronounce diff
ferent decision, and i'll the attempt by Con-
gress at the same time to pass law forcing
that Court hereafter to decide unanimously
: any constitutional question which may come
before it. Time has heretofore had the eff
feet of cooling the passions of revolution
lists, but in this instance they seem to grow
) hotter with each succeeding day. God
grant they may not reach combnstible
heat and set fire to the magazine.
New Publication.
ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS, i'll Public and Private, -
with letters and speeches bttoie, during and
since the war. BY HENRY CLEVELAND.
We are indebted to the National Pub
fishing Company of Richmond, Va, for