Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-10-12
A CARD FROM SENATOR BROWNLOW
To the Public.

| The Rebel Governor of Tennessee deliV-
cred his inaugural address OH Tuesday
last, and in that extraordinary speech he
made this most extraordinary assertion:
''The public debt, in the short period of
| four years, SWelled from sixteen to forty
two millions of dollars
| Had some newspaper scribbler and parti-
zan reporter for a partizan sheet made the
! foregoing statement, | could have excused
! it, but in the Governor of a State, who
| is presumed to inform himself on the con-
dition Of the State whose Chief Magistrate
| he is, such recklessness of assertion is
! wholly ineXcusabIe.
1t is such mOnStrOuS perverSiOn Of truth
| that in charity [ attribute it to His Excel
! lency's ignorance, and in his zeal to curry
| favor with his new assOCiateS-thG Virtu
Gus ~ Democracy. [ propose briefly to
state the facts which | defy Gov. John c.
Brown or his bitterest rebel partzan CO.
adiutOTs to controvert.
The statement that since the war and
during my administration of the State
Government, "the public debt, in the
short period of four years. swelled from
sixteen to forty-twO millions of dollars" is
recklessly made in total ignorance of the
facts or with a view to serve the interests
of the lost cause" Not having before me
the official reports Of the Comptroller and
figures in dollars and cents, but will give
them in round numbers, which are sub
stantiaIly the official reports. The entire
State debt at the beginning of the war was
about eighteen millions instead of sixteen
as the Governor asserts. The interest
which accumulated during the war was
about four millions five hundred thou
sand, and the debt that matured during the
war was about half million, making the
State debt at the close of the war about
twenty-thTee millions.
Since then. over million dollars Of that
debt has matured and been funded by the
issuance of new bonds. 1t will beseen that
Gov. Brown attributes to the Republican
party an increase of the debt by five mil
lion that matured during the war and one
million since before there was q Republic
can party in Tennessee. And even upon
that assumption his statements are greatly
exaggerated. The actual amount of the
increase of the debt since the war, for all
purposes, does not exceed fourteen millions.
The Governor has it twenty-siX millions
an error Of twelve million.
When the much-abused Republican par
ty, which Gov. Brown, throughout his
inaugural, assails with such virulence, got
possession of the State, they found nearly
all the railroads in the State in a con-
dition of bankruptcy and ruin, caused
hV the same nefariOuS rebellion
which Gov. Brown materially aided. And
from all parts of the State the rebel officers,
stockholders and directors of these rail
roads focked to the Capital and implOred
the Republican party to lend them the
credit of the State by the issuance OF bonds,
for the rebuilding of bridges, depOts and
trestIe work The question, therefore, was,
"Shall we let the States property in these
roads be totally lost or shall we put them
on their feet and in a condition to be SER
viceable to the State and its citizens ~ |
used whatever Of influence [ had to loan
them the credit Of the State.
Gov. Brown, in his inaugural, says that,
when the sceptre passed from the hands
of the Republican party, peace again
reigned over a blighted country. The
facts are, that, when he was writ
ing his inaugural, his partisan friends,
known as the KukluX Khan, i'll three
hours ride of the State capital were shoot
ing and hanging no less than four Union
men and negroes in one night, taking the
negroes forcibly from the Jail. By the
way, the KukluX Khan, which General \.
B. Forrest bOated numbered forty thousand
in Tennessee, had their origin in Giles
county, the home of Governor Brown.
What relation, if any, he sustained to the
Order [ am not prepared to say,
Instead of Tennessee being quiet and
peaceable, as Governor Brown represents
it, l believe we ought to nave martial law
proclaimed and Federal troops enough sent
to the State to protect every citizen in his
rights and put stop to the murder of eitl-
zens by Governor Browns partisan ku-
kluX friends. and ! don't hesitate to say
that would support such proposition in
tho United States Senate.
In conclusion, I would express the hope
that Gov. Brown and his rebel Legislators,
who profess to have so much at heart the
financial condition Of the State, will not IN
crease its Indebtedness by ordering the re-
deplptiOn (as now seems probably of the
bogus issues. of the Bank of Tennessee,
which were printed and circulated for the
equiping and arming ofthOusands of rebels
to war upon the Federal Government.
w. G. BROWNLOW.
KNONvIIJE Oct 1Ith