Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1867-06-19

bayonets. md it has been maintained ana
,cih be maintained for the protection of oui
loyal people, whether Its enemies be led By
o1tspoken rebels OF Union deserters L
the majority could have had their way in
the formation of a government, you who
rallied to the flag of your country would
to-day be outlaws, and your property would
have been confseated to pay the rebel waI
debtof the State. The books of my Office
show that in 1861 five millions Of dollars ID
State bonds were issued by Isham O. Harris
to support his own army Of City i've thou
sand men then making war upon the Union
men by robbing them Of their property,
burning their houses and hanging them, OF
casting them into prisons. These bonds
would have fallen due last year, and are
| held by rebel officers and army contractors
Think you that if the Wanted majority could
have acted, they would not have provided
for the payment of these bonds And how,
sirs? By the confiscation of the property Of
Union men. Such was the declared inten-
ton of the rebel leaders during the war
Ask an honest, truthful rebel privately to-
day what they intended to do with the
Union men if they had secured their Con-
federacy, and he will answer you promptly,
like Henry a. Wise, "We would have driven
them out Of the State, and have eonfscated
their property to pay the war debt" And
yet such mesi as Etheridge and Baxter de-
clare the State Government void because q
majority did not establish it OH but we
are told that the war is over now and rebels
could do the Union men no harm By simply
having control of the State of Tennessee
But the same men tell you that the States
are sovereign in the management of their
internal affairs, az that the General Gov
eminent has no right to interfere with a
State, and they have a powerful party at
the North, who preach the same doctrine.
This party lately carried the State Of Con-
necticut and came very near carrying the
great State of New York Give them all
the Southern States and few doubtful
States North and, sure enough, the General
Government would not interfere in your
behalf, and the scenes of 1861 would soon
recur; the Confederate war debt would be
revived the negroes again reduced to
slavery or to a condition worse than slavery
and Union men would again be hunted
down and driven from the State.
THE DIFFICULTIES AT THE ORGANIZATION.
But to recur to the origin Of the State
A0c uIdbiOH WdS ~ dCS
Of idle ceremony. It was performed un-
der the protection Of the guns of Maj. Gem
eral Thomas On the day its Legislature
assembled, the gallant Sheridan was "pushI
ing matters" on Lees partially beaten
columns and on the day the Governor was
inaugurated, Grant was issuing paroles TO
the officers and soldiers of Lees army,
while the columns of Joe Johnston, Kirby
Smith and Dick Taylor were still unbroken.
| The loyal citizens of the State had, for the
most part, been driven out Of it, and were
then either in the Federal army, or wan
dering as exiles in other States. The State
itself was a disputed field of war the con-
testing forces alternating in the occupancy
Of large districts, SC that women and chill
dren and non CONTESTANTS knew notone day
what flag would wave over them the next.
When the rebel armies were forced to sur
render, and the smoke of the contest cleared
away, the great State of Tennessee was
politically, socially, financially and morally
Il wrUck-a rum / need not describe IN
detail now ,what you all saw and felt. It
was not the fortune of Governor Brownlow
IN his message to return thanks for peace
and plenty, and to congratulate the people
upon the continued prosperity of the State
His was q widely different task. To in
woke protection for the lives and property
Of Union people; to revive the tribunals of
justice; to point the Legislature to an empty
Treasury heavy debt aud bankrupt
people; to call attention to the wreck of our
railroads and turnpikes, ard above all to
the empty school houses from one end Of
the State to the other, and to devise ways
and means to supply and support them
the entire fund which had endowed them
having been stolen and carried away by the
rebels, in their first fight from the State,
in February 1S62--this was the gloomy
and appalling task supposed upon an old
man Of feeble health, but of a stout heart
and resolute will He did not falter neither
did majority of the Legislature. The
difficulty of the great work of restoration
was increased by the constant opposition
and abuse Of that blessed majority Of which
we hear so much, who east every possible
obstacle in the way. The embarrassment
was further heightened by the fact that the
relations OF the State to the Union had
been severed, ard the new government had
not been recognized, and that blessed ma
iority were determined it should not be.
Though sustained by only minority OF
the people, the Governor and his friends,
and majority of the Legislature did not
falter, but addressed themselves to the task
% task sufficient to dishearten the boldest
and most experienced statesmen. AT hrst
/ they relied greatly upon the fact that one
/ of their own number had become President
ofthe United States, but in the darkest hour
of their struggle he deserted them, and the
I fact became apparent that he had only been
Union man from policy. Others followed
! him for similar reasons. They believed tRt
/ kandfuI Of Union men, rs they termed them
must be overwhelmed in Tennessee. Some
deserted us for one reason and some tor an
other. In the Legislature, Cooper, hooo,
/ Steele, Garrett, Bowen, and many others
! followed johnson with the hope. and PROB
ably with the promise, Of official reward
Such men as the Gauts, Baxter, and men OF
smaller caliber in your own town-never OF
fixed pEinciplss--adhered TO the enemy be-
cause there was where the money was TO be
made Nelson, Heisbell, Campbell, and
other fossils stood still on the doctrines %
| Calhoun-honest, perhaps, but wholly inca
pable Of change or progress The President
though he was the militgry agent who had
set the government on foot, and elaimtd its
paternity. undertook the unnatural task o.
destroying it. He was actuated by inordi'
nate ambition. Like the coarser class O
brutes, he attempted to devour his own on
spring, and was only prevented by the IN
terposition of the Thirty-ninth Congress
that greatest body Of men who ever as
sembied in. a legislative capacity on this con
tinent
| MEASURES ADoPTED-EAiASciPATI
Let us now briefly notice the praetlea
measures these resolute men have adopted
to protect the loyal people and to redeem
the State from chaos and anarchy. Regard
: | ing me institution OF slavery as the Gauss
: u az their snfierings in conformity TO th'