Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-11-09
LEADER.
wEDNEsDAY. NovEnBER 8
Ths new York News Defending the
Rebel ArmfnT q. Slaves.

HEWN ElNNANa AON Hs
Ths new York News Defending the
Rebel ArminE or- Slaves.
The New York NssOs, with devotion
10 the rebel cause as unexceptionable as it
possibly could be- has undertaken the
defence of the recent movement in the
South in favor of arming the sls, es- With
hypoeriticsl anxiety for the welfare of our
armies, it asks in feigned horror: "Un-
able now TO do much more than hold our
own against the white troops of the South,
hoWcan we expect to do so when the7
shall be reinforced by four or five hundred
thousand abIe-bodied negroes p
It then paints the picture of 200, coo
semi-civilizsd Africans" led by masters
to @whom they have rendered a life long
obedience pooring over the North and
wreakings savage vengeance upon the
enemies of jeff Davis. The tender sym
pathies of the poor Nsros are shocked in
the contemplation of this sad spectacle. 1t
is very confident that the slaves will rush
with frantic Joy to the defence Of the insti-
tuition which brutalizes and degrades their
wives and their children and robs them of
fruits which are justly theirs. The Rich
mond Sentinel itself thinks that the
sLaUes desire freedom, but srgues that they
will prove so docile and gentle that they
can be mado efficient soldiers. We are
quite anxious to see the experiment tried,
and trust that the very first efforts of the
rebel Congress which met on Monday
last, viii be given to arming the slaves.
The Nes0s remarks that the election Of
Abraham Lincoln will convince the South
that the further continuance of the war
is inevitable aud will break down all op-
position il the South to srming their blsck
reserves. As that mas very fortunately ta-
ken place, we trust tho rebel Congress will
be stimulated to work Immediately. We
are anxious to enroll JEFF among the chief
abolitionists of the age although he is
compelled to do it with the idea Of enabling
him to maintain his hold upon the power
he has usurped.
But as line upon line of these " blaekre-
serves of the rebellion " file before the hea-
ted imagination of thes;NsDs, it sees nothing
but new drafts in the North, every able
bodied citizen swept into the maelstrom of
the draft, blood-money no longer being
able to buy of life from military neeessi-
tv." Indeed, the dove-Ilke Nes0s, the great
organ OF peace, is horrifed beyend all
measure at the prosp ect before the peace
brethren when they shall be called upon 10
grappIe IN mortal combat with these dus-
ky sons of Ham.
But the Nes0s is also anxious to show
that that this movement viii not be the
death of Slavery. 1t says the status of a
black in the South depeads on the oondi-
tion of the mother, and therefore, though
, che men are freed to fight for the rebellion,
yet their children will continue to be
slaves. We wonder if it never
occurred to this sage journal that the
negroes themselves might think of
these things. The ides that men who
have fed by the ten thousand to our lines
for freedom, and have never deserted back
again to their old masters, fighting to ep-
slave their children and out of inordinate
affection for their masters, IS the isheerest
fiction. It is not in the nature of things
that this should be- The slaves of the
South are identified in interest and sym
pathy with the Union armies and they
will ask no greater boon than to be drilled
and armed, to serve in the Union ranks
The truth is, there has not been louder
wall of despair than this new movement
to arm the slaves, recently recommended
by the rebel Governors in council, and now
generally advocated by the rebel press. 1t
is an admission that having exhausted all
the able bodied white population, there Is
no hope for them unless they can manage
to compel the slave into their support
Let this last movement in the hideous cat
alogue of crimes perpetrsted by the rebel
lion only, be carried out slavery will cease
and the strength and motive of the rebel
lion be gone.