North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1865-08-02
Letter from Emmerson Elheredge.

under arrest in Tennessee by the military
authorities for making some Objectionable
speeches, has written long and rambling
letter to the President. We subjoin few
extracts to show the character of the docu.
ment.
nave been here five days; end, though I
have Lot yet b5en able to obtain the names
of my accusers, or copy of the charge, if
any, upon which was arrested, have OBJ
tanned from other sources information upon
which rely of the causes and motives of my
arrest, | am charged With using reasonable
language against the Government of Tenn
essee, and with spsaking disrespectfully of
your Excellency, and of the Right Rev. VIM.
6. Brownlow, who, unmindiul that the Con-
stituton of Tennessee excludes all ministers
from civil Office, is now claiming to have sue
cesslully seized the Office of government of
said State. Furthur and truly, that have
given professional opinion, declaring that
the slaves in Tennessee have not been made
free by law, As will, no doubt, be held a
prisoner until after The pending election farce
in Tennessee is over, Propose to indulge a
portion ef my leisure in giving you concise
statement of some things did, sir, and the
circumstances under W hich have provoked
the military disdeasure Of that grand army
of which you are the Commander-in-C
| f,,l6 ha hot ho first I
saw you, you were harangung the multitude
to prove me an Aboitionst that it was a
somewhat "raw and gusty day." and that
your vehemence in the open air caused you
fortunately for the Country, you profess not
to have recovered. | alluded 10 your early
speeches in Congress in which you rQsorted
to the bitterest personal abuse of John
Quincy Adams, because of his religious, anti
slavery opinions ; to your reverential con
fesson that God bad killed off General Har
rison because he was an Abolitionist. | also
| told the people that you, in 1856, in the
State OF Tennessee, proposed that every
| Southern man should 'join in one fraterna
hug" and plunge into rebellion, if Fremont
and Dayton were elected. In addition to
this, | informed the audience that | heard
| you, in the Senate, in December, 1859, de
| nOunce Mr.. Seward and the Republican party
as wholly responsible for the numerous raid
OF this old man Brown" whom you then
stigmatlzed as nothing more than mur-
| derer, robber, thief and traitor"
| l said, also, that you not only supported
Breckenridge, the candidate of the :svowed
| disunonisls, but that after the election of
Lincoln, after the meeting of Congress in
December, 1860, and only one day before the
assembling of the convention which declared
| South Carolina cut OF the Union, you had,
| in the Senate Of the United Ssales, made a
labored speech. embracing part of two days,
in which you positively pledged yourself, IN
contingency which has long since happened
to join these same rebels, "to perish IN the
last breach, - 10 burn every blade of grass
and make your grave in THE last intrench-
nents" Of rebel f. eedom. | told the people
|
Of which Jefferson Davis offered you a most
unprovoled insult, the effect Of which will
not now attempt TO statc,) and that every
word Of it was designed 10 convince the peo
pie of Tennessee that they were an Oppressed
people and you their champion that their
| constitutional rights We're in imminent dan
ger. and that they ought ''to demand addi.
tinnaI securities; that you then and there
submitted the following written basis" up.
on which you declared an una.terable pur
pose ITO fight the great battle for our rights y
Resolved, That we deeply sympathlze with
our sister Southern States, aud freely admit
that there is good cause for dissatisfaction
and complaint on their part, on account OF
the recent election of sectional candidates tc
the Presidency and Vice Presidency Of the
United Statss; yet we, as prrtlon of a
sIaveholding community, are not for seeding
or breaking up the Union OF these States un.
til every fair and honorable means has been
exhausted in trying to obtain on the part o
the -slaveholding States, a compliance
with the spirit and letter Of the Constitution
and all its guarantees and when this shall
have been done, and the States now in re
bellion against the laws Of the United States
in refusing TO execute the fugitive slave law
shall persist in their present unconstitutional
course, and the Federal Government shall
fail to execute the laws in good faith, it (the
government) will not have accomplished the
great design of its creation, and will, there
fore, in fact. be a practical dissolution, and all
the States, as parties, be released from the
compact which formed The Union.
In commenting on The foregoing "basis, u
said it proved that you did then "deeply
Sympathize with our sister Southern States :
that You particularly alluded to South Caro-.
lima, whose treasonahe representatives were