Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-06-28

accepting the dishonoring and degrading
terms offered us others are deferred by
vague, undefnable, but ever present fear
that those who proposed and their agents
who conduct the reconstruction measures.
intend the Southern people no good, but
are ever setting traps to catch ansuspect
! ing victims-in fact, that the whole scheme
is merely s'springes to catch woodcocks. >
Whether the one or the other of these rea.
SONS. or indeed any cause, shall prevent our
people from registering, the effect will be
equally fatal to the welfare of the State.
There can certainly be nothing dishon-
oring and degrading in accepting the terms
offered us by Congress. If choice is left
to us, it is the deliver or die" option,
which the highwaymen gives to the I'M
wary travellers who fall into his power; and
in purchasing life at the expense of the
pocket-book, we could hardly be charged
with compromising our honor or approving
his conduct, nor ar I'VE estopped from
bringing him ultimately to justice
Nor on the other hand, when the District
Commander has specified definitely and dis
tinctly who can register, whether he acts
under instructions from Washington or
upon his own opinion, can there possibly
be any danger in following the direction
laid down. In such course there cannot
be unknown troubles or masked batteries.
There cannot be one good reason urged
against registration, and many. nay, the
most vital, reasons exist why all should do
SO. By registering the right to vote will
be secured whether it is exercised or not,
and the power to control events will be re-
tanned, for as we have often endeavored to
impress upon our readers that after all pro-
bable or possible Acknowledgement under
the Reconstruction acts are made, the
whites il the State will command very
large majority. which the Radicals cannot
overcome, except in a few localities. And
then, if it is not desired or thought polite
to exercise the right of suffrage at pres
ent, the weightiest moral obligations to
the State and posterity may hereafter de-
mand its exercise, and the neglect to regis
ter now will prevent the right to vote in
the future.
Those who have the right to register and
vote owe a duty to those who are denied
the privileges of free citizen, merely for
having been true to North Carolina in the
pasta duty they must perform with zeal
and jealous care, or the injustice of the
acts of Congress will also disgrace the stat
utes of our State-and those whose only
shortcomings have been IL virtuouS and
worthy defence of their State will become
malicious government.
By prompt action, also, will the de-
sign to place the political power of the
State-th power to tax and dispose of the
revenue and to disfranchise-in the hands
of the few Radicals and their misguided
tools, the negroes, be prevented. The
fate of West Virginia, where a profigate
by aid of test-oaths and punish
ments, is driving from its borders the worth
and intelligence of its population and of
Tennessee, where a wicked and tyrannical
Governor places the lives and property of
its citizens at the mercy of twenty thousand
armed and organized troops, will be saved
to North Carolina, if the people will come
forward and promptly discharge the duty
imposed upon them. All minor consider:
atoms must be cast aside, and when the
time arrives our people must address them
selves with one accord to the great work
of saving the State from the destructive
grasp of the desperate Jacobins who are
to secure her.
Collector Foster, of Wilmington. N. G.
WILMINGTON, N. c., June 21.-Colonel J. P.
Foster, Collector OF Customs, has resigned. The
investigation of the affairs Of his Office, by spe-
cial agent of the Treasury Department., resulted
favorably, and the charges preferred before the
United States commissioner were withdrawn.
While we will not Intentionally do injus-
tice to any one, or even pursue with vindic
tive retaliation those who have sought to
injure our people, We are nevertheless I'M
willing that the heinous charges brought
against the Collector of Customs at this
Post shall be so nicely whitewashed by the
Associated Press, as is done in the above
telegram to the Northern papers. Colonel
FOSTER may be entirely innocent of the
charges preferred, but we are hardly pre-
pared to admit that the investigation of
the affairs of his Office, by special agent
of the Treasury Department, resulted fa009-
ubly If they did, he did himself great in
Justice in resigning his position before pro-
perly indicating his character, by bring
ing an action against those who hal so vio-
ently slandered and prosecuted him.
Again, IL is not true that the charges pre-
ferred before the United States Commits
sioner were withdrawn, but on the other
hand, the Investigation was waived by
Colonel FOSTER, and he was required to en-
er into bond in the penal sum of FIVE
thousand dollars for his appearance at the
next term of the United States District |
Court.
Coming amongusas aprofessed Conserva-
i've and an ardent supporter of President |
Johnson, Colonel FOSTER has found time, |
midst the discharge of the arduous duties |
# his Office, to take part in most of the |
M loo i,,n p,ooci