Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1866-04-04
THE KNOXVILLE WING
Knoxville, Tenn, April q, 1866.
SPEECH OF GOV. BROWNL0W,

SPEECH OF GOV. BROWNL0W,
DeliUered in KnorcWe, before the German
Union Leaque. March oath, 1866, and be-
fore q large audience Of ladies and gentle
nan and published By request oftbe League
Mr. President AND GESTLEMEE OF THE GER
NAN UNION LEAGUE: / meet you this evening un-
der circumst ances that fill my heart with the deep
est emotion and the profoundest awe, and am I'M
able TO call TO my aid language with which L can
express the feelings which this occasion inspires IN
my bosom. Invited by you TO address the League
/ regard il as q most signal and emphatic manltes-
tation of your favor and confidence. There are
other considerations of weight which crowd upon
my mind and not the least of these are the uses we
made of this Hall five years ago. Here l made
speeches in opposition 10 the rebellion and council
ed resistance as did others and in the lot fronting
this Hall we held grand East Tennessee Union
Convention, which adjourned to Greenevllle. Al
most in view Of this Hall some Of our gallant COM
rades forfeited their lives under rebel gallows Tor
their devotion to the very principles you here To-
night TO swear allegiance to. l should, therefore,
be wanting in the great characteristics Of
mon nature, if were not deeply affected
Profoundly sensible Of and grateful for so distin-
yuished an evidence of your esteem and con-
dence / have listened with more than ordina-
~ interest TO the reading Of your Platform
and it affords me pleasure to say that endorse
it throughout and would not seek to improve II
were solicited. / am pleased with the great prlncl-
ples of equal Justice which underlie your Platform
and give it my hearty endorsement. | expected
such demonstration Of loyalty from an organlza-
ton of Germans and would have been disappointed
70 have found you otherwise. No class of foreign
ers in this country were so universally loyal TO the
Government of the United States as the Germans
They furnished Regiments and Brigades Colonies
and Generals and whether in the Artillery Caval-
nv or Infantry service they were ever IN the thick
est of the fight. And whether they died upon the
battlefield or starved to death in rebel prisons they
proudly fell with their faces to the foe or died game
10 the last battling to uphold Union that native
American traitors sought to destroy. Peace to the
ashes of the gallant Germans who fell IN the gor-
Gus Union army!
RECoNsTRUCTING THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
If if be the purpose of the President, as alleged
by those oudest in his praise TO resurrect and re-
organize the Democratic party, | am not with him
and his admirers. Every Southern State had
Democratic Governor and Democratic Legisla-
ture. when the war was brought on. The hundreds
of millions of the national debt the vast slaughter
Of men and destruction of property by the war,
and the taxes it has entailed, the returns the
people have received for their confidence in the
Democtatc party. From its first conception to Its
attempted execute n Secession was purely Demo
cratic The members of Democratic Admins
ration entered into the conspiracy that brought
the rebellion 4 Democratic Administration dis
armed the Government before Secession, and gave
il power by the declaration that the Government
had no constitutional power to defend itself cor
rupt Democratic Administration transferred the
public arms to the control of the rebels and left the
national forts defenseless, and at their mercy The
leaders of the Democratic party were the leaders Of
the rebellion, and they still continue the leaders of
the whole party, North and South. The rebellion
made no division in the party. The same leaders
continue TO exercise the same control. All over the
South they are thrustng themselves forward in pub
lie meetings and meddling in elections, with Pres
ident's pardon in hand. The Democrats in the
North maintained that the Government had no
constitutional power to put down rebellion. They
opposed every measure to raise men and means to
carry on the war; and they labored to magnify and
protrsct the war with the hope Of making its bur-
dens break down the war, and establish the Confed-
oracy They met in q Convention at Chicago nom
mated ticket IN opposition TO the Lincoln and
johnson ticket resolved that the war to put down
the rebellion was failure. And the men in Ten
nessee who served in the Chicago Convention, or
advocated the McCellen ticket, now the leaders
IF the party waring upon Congress and extolling
the Presidents plan of reconstruction They have
gone over 10 the Democracy, and now seek to revive
The old issues and renew the conflict. They demand
for rebels who fought through the war, seats in
Congress. They now swear that no power shall
keep men out of Congress, who took up their hats
and canes five years ago, walked out of Congress,
and swore that no earthly power should keep them
in the Union! l. for one, will never aid in restor-
ing these bad men to Office, or placing Democracy
in power under the lead Of any man.
Let Democratic journals and orators howl over
The debt and taxes their war has brought upon the
country. They but magnify their own crimes
Every dollar of the war debt is a Democratic lega-
CIV. Every tax imposed by Congress is Democrat
ic gift Every Government stamp we have to pay
for, is a Democratic sticking plaster. Every addi-
tional dollar paid out for salt coffee tea, iron sugar
leather, and dry goods is contribution to Democ-
rscy The smoker of cigars and the drinker of
whisky, at high prices, inhales and drinks down
Democracy. The sick man. paying large medical
bills, is paying for Democracy. The laboring man
gives one-tenth Of his wages TO pay for Democracy
The capitalist pays one-tenth of his income towards
the liabilities of the Democratic party. Every
transfer of real estate is saddled with Domo-
cratic burden. This Democratic tax is 10 annoy US
all for years and our children after US. We are all
TO feel the burden from the cradle 10 the grave
The funeral mourning, the cost of the coffin, and
graye-digglng must pay the penalty OF Democratic
rule, and portion of what the dying man wills to
his widow and children, must gointo the Democrat
ic vortex. For myself have to say, thatthe Pres
ident backed up by the whole South, and by the
Democracy of the North, can never transfer me 70
that party. have taken my stand on the side of
Congress and the party who elected the President,
and put down the rebellion, and propose 10 fight
il out on that line, If l am left in gang by my
self
ENDORSING THE PRESIDENT.
The question put TO every man now, is, Do you
endorse the policy OF the President? am especial
w expected to respond TO this question. Will some
one tell me what his policy is, and is TO be, when
fully mstured? As far as it has been developed
and as far as understand it. do not endorse it
do endorse his policy and teachings while he wa:
Military Governor of this State. His entire creed
then was comprehended in this brief declaration =
Intelligent traitors must be punished and impov
erished-treason must be made odious, and traitor
should be made to occupy the back seats. and /
there be but 5000 loyal men in Tennessee, they
should govern the State. If do not disfranchist
rebels they win disfranchise US"
This was the Presidents Platform while Military
Governor, and when elected to the Vice Presidency
have been on that Platform all the time-I an
on il yet. The President having abandoned thai
Platform, we are of course not in harmony He
says that Southern rebels must be trusted with
the Governments of their States and that rebe
Congressman, rebel Generals and others, who Tough;
four years to destroy the Government must be I'D
mitted to seats in Congress. am opposed to al
this and why Because have no confidence IN
such men, and believe them still TO be hostile TO tn,
Government seeking TO destroy it through the bal
lot-boI and BY Legislation. / am opposed TO mer
taking their seats in Congress and making laws 4
govern loyal men, who four years ago, indignant,
took mn the hats and and canes, walked out snt
swore lhHt no earthly power Should keep them il
the Union.
I regard the Presidents reconstruction policy a