The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1865-04-09

my making And IN snncnncing such
as my position, I was only Occapying
tho ground os eTeryicysh nlanih- the
State, infefe7enoe the then late Presl,
dential campaign. 2us sii, 4 confess
that I fesl myself humiiis.led IN being
called, at his day, BY a Tennessesn, 81
East Tennesssan st that, % make an
argument, TO Teunesseans, % Yindieaie
ay lsyultg Why, sir, the very genie
men that parades these charges so gra-
tuitouslys against me-prefaces his in
dietment with an avowal Of friendship
which he cannot but feel toward me
and he winds up the bill with a sol
emn acknowledgment of his conviction
that an heartily with the Govern
ment"
L do not claim 70 be any more loyal
than ] ought to be, but DO claim to be
as devoted to my country as Governor
BfoWnioF o. any other man living, and
] believe my pelitical record Is as spot
less andas unimpeschsble As that Of
his Excellency or anybody else.
What have suffered and sacri-
feed in and for tho cause, so
dear to Us ALP Did I not,
like thousands of others, en-
dure the horrors of purgatory for two
and a half years, rather than renounce
my love Of coantry-remaining within
the rebel lines, because it was impossi-
BILE to eseape2 Was not waylaid by
rebel soldiers who were sent to arrest
me, that l might be hung, or, worse,
executed BY the hand of slow starvs>
tion, like poor Pielens and Thornburgs
Was I not compelled for months, at
different times, to save my life by
hiding, like an outlawed fslon, in the
most obscure recessed OF our mountains9
Had not such a retreat concealed me
for more than three weeks, when Burn
side, momentarily embraced my home
in bis lines, and enabled me to retreat
within the Union lines9 Why am
and my family fugitiyes and exiles
from home at this moment2 Where
are my herds and focks-my horses
and mules, and personal effects2 Ask
the rebel freebooters, who drove the
last milk COW from my seven little chill
dren, and hoped they would perish, |
beeause their father had fed to his |
friends from their hateful rule. dis
loyal eyeFt For what then have been
a penniless wanderer for nearly eigh-
teen months, toiling and struggling
night and day among strangers to send
bread to the hungry and clothing to
the naked, destitute, suffering, loyal
thousands Of East Tennessee, whom in
carnate rebel devils have reduced to
abject poverty and wantP Sir, hest
tate not, most sOlemnly to avow that
my heart has never beat a single throb,
in ali my life, that has not been true to !
the United States of America; and
venture to believe that my friend,
Governor BrownlOW, Is the only
man, in all the State, that has
any knowledge Of me, who, on this
point, entertains a single doubt, and
he believes ] am true at this time
Whas little club. he has Is very rs
cent. for to him am indebted for let
ters Of introduction and commendation
to several distinguished gentlemen at
the North as late as December, 1868.
Among the rest was one to President
Lincoln, immediately upon the perussl
Of which Che Presidents gave me most
flattering and unqualified endorsement,
wherein he said that I came to him %
kigllv recommended, that he took great
pleasure in commencing me to the fapora-
BE regards Of epery5oay. So that if my re-
cord is such an one that the Legislature
Of Tsaaesscs cannot eASlorsS, It has at all
events, been fully approved by the
President of the United States, A. Lin
coin by reason of my recommendation te
him By my friend W. g BrOuCnlo'O.
t Fm
Yours, sincerely, @
n G. TAYLoR
Hons Jos Wagner, E Simmerly, and