Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-05-12
Mniun and Smrrieau.
sATURDAY. MAY IL. 1866.
THE TERRIBLE "SUFFERINGS'' OF
THE LOYAL.


The public mind at the North has been
greatly abused, and its hostility 10 the South
much intensified, by the gross falsehoods
that have been circulated by that class of
individuals in our midst, who, 10 advance
their unworthy private ends, have paraded
themselves a. the victims Of unparalleled
prosecutions at the hands of "rebeP citizens
and officials during the war. Among the
foremost Of those who have thus stopped to
procure advancement or TO turn penny ls
thespresent Governor Of Tennessee. He has
permitted no one TO remain ignorant Of his
"suferings" lie has blasphemed upon it,
preached upon il, lectured upon it and writ
ten upon it. One Of the chief counts in
his Indictment against the people OF the
South is his Imprisonment at Knoxville by
the Confederate authorities in the early part
of the war. Upon this subject Mr.. +. 5.
Heiskell, Of Knoxville, consistent Union
man throughout the war, makes the follow
ing expose in recent publication, which
We copy simply for the benefit Of Northern
readers who may have been honestly mis-
led:
Many persons Of the North have been i'm
pressed with the idea that BrOwnlOw suffer
cd most terribly, in the Knoxville Jail, by
the hands Of the rebels, for his adhesion to
the Union. This notion was assiduOusly in
culcated by him, in the catch-penuy lectures
with which he RECALLED the ears of the peo-
pie of the North during his sojourn among
thsm. They paid him price for which he
could chccrfullv undergo all those terrible
uHerings again, annually, during the period
of his natural life The fact is, that there
were very few men in this part Of the coun-
try at that time, and far better Union men
than BrownlOw was ever susceptible OF be
ing made, who did not suffer more out Of
iail than lac did in. His bed and bedding
were all that was necessary for perfect com
fort-his meals were furnished him by his
family and friends in the city, and, in this
respect hc Jared a. well rs anybody in East
Tennessee. lie was not in irons he was not
Gagged" he was not confined IN any paruc-
ular room. When hc complained of being
sick. he was allowed to return to his own
residence under guard, and was soon es-
cortcd safely into the Federal lines. These
are facts. known to all his fellow prisoners,
and by all the community.
lie has scarcely, on a solitary occasion,
told the truth, when speaking Of his treat
mcnt bv the rebel authorities. He was worth
nothing, comparatively, before the war, and
he made his arrest by the rebels the occasion
of an unmanly and beggarly appeal to the
sympathies Of the Northern people whom
hc had previously blackguarded and abused,
aud this he did up 10 the hour Of his leaving
Tennessee and like a poltroon, accepted
their gratutics as long as they would give.
lie played the mgndicant, clutched hiS
charities, and got rich. Since his return
b. Knoxville, like all low-aung men, who,
without personal merit, have suddenly been
elevated in fortune, he iIaunts it in the face
Of the community that he is sworth thirty
thousand dollars, and that through the
columns of his venal sheet. His sWts Jor
duaoqcs, every decent man, in every decent
community, will regard only as knavish
attempt at further personal emolument by
facilc but disrespectablc, dlshonorable and
knavish means.