Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1868-01-31
RADICAL policy, the President arose, and

Radical policy, the President arose, and
stood towering.
'What a pitiful condition is this If
there had been a generous, iberal-minded.
law-abiding predominant sentiment in the
North why by this time the South would
have been almost upon its legs again. /
do not say that the negroes would all have
been at work-that all the plantations there
would have got to prospecting as they once
did. But there would have been none OF
this hurry to thrust negro suffrage down the
threats, as it were, of u people whose re-
pugnance to the mOrsel can only be grad
ually overcome. The vanity of the negroes
would not have been so fed to bursting that
labor, free labor for their old masters
should be neglected, shirked and lost
There would have been no military
usurpations, but civil governments organ
lied in each State by the citizens most ia
miliar with the character and requirements
of the several populations and interests
Finding their old social and business in
terests thus concerned, with the single ex-
merchants and industrial classes would
have had incentives to give the war the 60
by and return to their enterprises. Then
the negroes or at least the majority of
them, would have worked, because the
Freedmens Bureau could have been dis
pensed with, and they would have been
obliged to work, and have had work to do.
It is highly improbable, too, that there
would have been at this period any such
talk about ID war of races or any such
distrust and disgust betwixt the whites and
negroes III several districts as now prevail.
els it your opinion that the military
governments, as they now exists could be
prudently removed from the Southern
States at this time %
Perhaps not, Just at this moment: fam
inc and anarchy have been too long Guilt
waited there. But of this l am convinced,
that if every district commander in the
Southern States should be changed to-mor-
row from a district commander to de-
partment commander, with duties similar to
those of the military commander In your
own State, for instance-that of assisting
the civil authorities to preserve order in
case OF necessity, civil governments would
be rapidly and peacefully restored. There
might be, to be sure, few outbreaks, and
the military might be called upon to put
them down. But, in my Judgment, the
speedy result would be the reorganization
of the entire country
"But we come back at last, Mr.. Presi-
dent, to the first thought-that Congress
is determined not to allow this happy con-
$50" remarked the President, leaning
in his chair, with another grim smile, $50
it would appear"
(Which naturally leads US to the pros
pect of continued and, perhaps, worse an
archy.'
GA revolution, such as these headlong
spirits seem determined to precipitate,
may have if it is suffered to go on, an eff
feet more damaging than that of the last
civil war;
"The President-pardon me--has been
understood to express his intention to ex-
ercise all the authority vested in him by
the Constitution to repel these revolution
airy measures"
1.-The President" said Mr.. Johnson,
with resolute gesture, "has already ex-
pressed his intention to perform his duty.
As to what that duty may involve" Qaying
his hand lightly on the table, and drum
ming with his fingers during the pause)
it would be rather premature, just now,
even to suggest. We will leave special
measures for special occasions, when they
arise. have confidence in the good sense
of the army, and certainly [ believe in the
people. I believe in the young men they
will not permit revolution to be accom-
plished, even though, added the Presi-
dent, i'll a serious, but not at all threaten
ing tone, it might be necessary for the
people to take the matter into their own
hands. j. B. S.