Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1864-12-12

place that State, before many years, in the
list Of free States. Among the latest
developments are the call for Union
State Convention, just published, TO organ
ize the Union party on stronger, anti
slavery basis, and an article in the Louis
vile Journal, of December sth. It repre-
Eents the labor system of the State as
entirely disorganized and broken up, and
says thst the farmers and planters have
great difficulty in securing workmen for
the ensuing spring. All the able-bodied
negroes leave the Stale or enlist in the
army. The disOrganizstion already exist
ing it thus describes;
In tho meantime "while the grass
grows--.he proverb is somewhat misty ~
| kentucky will suffer in the severest man
ner by the escape Of great part of her
mature laborers and of those growing up
! frCm year to year, and the helpless women
and children and the aged negroes will be
| left upon our hands. We feel now the
uncertainty Of procuring household ser
wants for the next year upon the eve Of
/ the hiring time, and the difficulties and
embsrrsss nsnts must be still greater TO
those who arS engaged in industrial pur-
suits. In the present utter disorganiza-
tion of our slave System no control can be
retained even over these that remain. We
shall be compelled by the instincts Of hu-
mRnity to feed and clothe them at our own
expense, or be forced, from sheer inability
TO provide for them, to turn them adrift.
There is no small danger that in q short
| time hundreds and thousands Of women
and children viii be sent out to take care
| of themselves. This is the case now to
| come extent. A man has a slave woman
and three, four or Ave children, whose
husband has left him, OF, if he was owned
by another person, all or most Of his own
men are gone. and he is obliged TO send
this woman out with her children to try
and find home Hior her and her vieluals
and cIothesn This is no imaginary case
! Perhaps every one of our readers has al
ready sueh condition of things under his
eyes. These women and children will be
virtually free. In no long time the coun-
try will swarUI with thsm. The present
laws will be impotent TO control them, for
legally they will be slaves, but in effect
they will be free. The laws will be impo-
tent to compel the master to keep them at
home and to take care of them. Every
body will be more or less il the same con-
dition, and the laws cannot under such
circumstance, be enforced. Necessity has
no laws. These sWRrms of virtually but
Illegally free negroes will become an intol-
cradle nuisance; they are so now, They
must live and will support themselves
largely by piifering. They cannot be
treated as free by law; the children can
not be bound out to labor. Nothing can
be done with them or for them by the laws
ss matters now stand. And thus, while
the negroes become demoralized, the per-
/ nicious influences of breaking and eVading
laws Will Vitiste the whole fabric Of
society.
Il then turns to the question How best
can this State of things be remedied7 The
Constitution of Kentucky provides that
the slaves cannot be freed without their
owners consent or payment of the full
, value of all the slaves. The Journal
therefore, urges the Shareholders Of Ken
lucky to signify to the incoming Kentucky
Legislature their desire for the emsncipa-
tion of the blacks. Itsays the Legislature
can not and will not pay for the slaves,
and that the only plan left is for the slave
holders to signify their consent.
The people have been far in advance Of
our General Assemblies ever since the re-
bellion broke out, and the present one
would probably summon sufficient courage
> 10 refer the question back TO the people,
1t might also pass an act freeing the slaves
? Of such persons as are willing to record
: their consent in a specified manner. Thi!
would not infringe on the property right
of any one. None could complain, and i
q would be strictly constitutional.
n The clause in the Constitution requiring
sIe ae,yorso.sii9.1 Of the slaves from the state
e it regards IS not applying to the mode o
d emancipation by the consent of slave
: holders. It hopes, therefore, for an eman
t cipstion, leaving the freed men in tn
d State IS laborers for time.
@ It still labors under the delusion, how
d ever, shat provision should be made fo
II the ultimate deportation of the black rae
: to Africa. This is all nonsense. We nee
e every black lsboEer in this country. Mel
might SIS well talk about the deportation c
horses and mules. Freed negroes mui
; largely till the soil of the Southern Stste
It Our loss at Franklin was greater than q
It first represented.
y The official figures of the battle c
y Franklin show an aggregate loss of IL
l. officers, and 2,O56 enlisted Ten. Wse
g ner's Division lost l,14I; Rager's e2'
E Cox's 3OS.
d The rebels are believed, by our leadin
Il officials in Nashville, to have lost at iess
8 from 5000 TO 10000.
Grant sent staff officer to Port Roy
: with dispatches for General Sherman
Sherman is but three days sail fro
!. Grants army. Put these two facts Il
:. gether and-smoke them. Officers fro
Sherman's army that hsd been on fu
l0ugh North are going South. Quarte
masters and eommisssries are forwsrdin
f. supplies and munitions of war.