Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-05-11
rhe nirisIon on Tennessee.

The project for the division Of Tennes-
see is rapidly taking shape, and it now
looks as though & would be successful
East Tennessee. among the mountains, is
uncoDquerably Union and loyal Middle
and West Tennessee are Indignantly and
bitterly secesh. During the war the
Union men, though in q minority, have
been protected by Federal bayonets since
Shiloh and Stone River gave Tennessee
back to US; and since its close the State
government organized by Andrew John
son and now managed by Governor
Brownlow, has been in the hands of the
= Union men. These men, by rigorous
franchise laws, have thus far managed to
control the State, but now, though they
have succeeded in passing a law disfran-
chising all rebels, they find that, with An
drew johnson srrsyed against them, and
a large majority of the white population
of the state opposed TO them and to all
Unienists, they are in danger of losing
the control of the estate. The prospect is
that at the next election rebel sympathi-
zers will sweep everything; choose a Sc
cesh successor to Governor Brownlow;
and elect q Legislature who will repeal
the present disfranchising law, and rein
state the rebels in full power. The Pres
idents plan Of reconstruction, or, indeed,
any other plan which does not enfran-
chise the Southern freedmen, will thus
ultimately place the Union men, not only
of Tennessee but of the entire South, COM
pletsly at the mercy of reconstructed
rebels. Treason, instead of being made
odious, will be rewarded by Office and
power, to the utter and eternal exclusion
of all men who have suffered or sacrificed
anything for the Union cause. The East
Tennesseeans, foreseeing that this will be
the inevitable result, sre in favor of i'm
mediate separation from the other portion
Of the state and the erection Of a new
state government. The people of East
Tennessee are almost unanimously in ia
yor of such q movement, while those Of
West and Middle Tennessee, owing to the
wide difference in the character Of the
two populations, do not oppose it. A con-
7ention, numbering three hundred dele
gates, to take preliminary steps for separ-
alton, was held in Knoxville last week,
and unanimously adopted an address set
ting forth the reasons for a division ofthe
state. There is considerable probability
that the impetus thus given the move
ment will be sufficient to carry it through.
It's proposed to separate the thirty
one counties of East Tennessee, from Ma
rion county on the South to Fentress on
the North, from the remainder Of Tonnes
see This would give to the Few state a
population of $4,000 according to the
census of 1860, and a~n:srea of about l6, 600
square miles. The capital of the new
state would probably be located at Knox
vile.
Should any other plan of reconstrue-
ton be adopted than that of universal
suffags,the division of Tennessee will be-
come an act of self-defense on the part of
the gallant Unionists who inhabit its
eastern counties. We would wish, how
ever, to postpone the whole matter until
it can be seen in what way the problem
of reconstruction Is 10 be solved If We
arrive at the proper solution all viii be
well; II not let the Unionists Of East