God has given the American people a goodly heritage—the fairest the world has ever seen. There is not a nation under all the heaven where the pulse does not beat quicker, and the hopes rise higher, and the thoughts grow larger, at the very mention of the American Republic. Never have the hopes of humanity so centered in any nation. Our country had come to be regarded as the cradle of liberty, the home of plenty, and the asylum for the poor and oppressed of other lands.
Shall these high hopes perish? Shall this light of the Nations go out in everlasting darkness? Shall a few desperate men—desperate by their lust of power—desperate by disappointed ambition—desperate by their dark and damning apostacy from the faith of our fathers—shall these be allowed to destroy our glorious heritage?
Shall the son strike with rude hands the mother that bore him? Nay, more, shall he tear her limb from limb, and give her flesh to dogs? Shall the fair fruits of the tree of liberty perish, the branches torn off, and the roots burned with fire? God forbid! Such a calamity to the present and coming generations of mankind must be prevented, cost what it will. It must be prevented, though it be necessary to send every leading traitor after Judas Iscariot; and if they will not, like Judas, wait on themselves, others must have the politeness to wait on them.
Again I welcome you to our homes and hearts. Our prayer is that your health may be restored; that your family may be preserved in your absence, and that you may be permitted to see a good old age in the midst of a prosperous, happy and united people.
And when your earthly pilgrimage shall approach its termination, and you retrospect the past, may you be able to say, in the language of one who has gone before you, and who preferred a prison to a guilty conscience, "I have fought a good fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith." And then, as you look to the future, may your eye of faith, like his, see for you laid up "a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give you in that day."
Parson Brownlow replied as follows:
I thank you, Brother, and through you the Preachers' Association, for your had expression of sympathy and regard. I claim, as a Union man, to have done nothing but my duty. I have always been a Union man, and have edited a Union paper for the last twenty-five years. I was traveling a circuit in South Carolina in 1832, when I was elected to the General Conference, and there met with Rev. L. F. Wright and L. Swormsted. I was also traveling the Anderson District of the Holston conference in the same State, and living near Calhoun during the nullification troubles which were so soon throttled by Old Hickory. This thing called Secession originated in falsehood, theft and perjury. Floyd did the stealing, the masses of the people did the lying, and fourteen U. S. Senators from the Cotton States the perjury. While in the Senate, in the day time, they made a show of keeping their oaths, but at night they held their secret caucuses, planning Secession, and advising their leaders to seize the prominent forts of the South, and arms of importance wherever they could [find] them. I have no doubt there are better men in hell, or in the Penitentiaries of this or any other State, than the prominent leaders in this Secession movement. And I am sorry to say that the worst class of men now in the Southern Confederacy are the Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian preachers. High functionaries in the Episcopalian church are now drinking and swearing. Men who have met in our General Conferences with some of these aged brethren whom I now see around me, preach as chaplains on Sabbath, but swear and get drunk through the week. A Presbyterian minister in Knoxville invited all denominations to hold a union prayer meeting, to pray to the Lord to sink Burnside's fleet, and raise Lincoln's blockade. And at it they went, composed of many old clerical rips, who besieged a throne of grace, raising their hands, heaving and setting like an old Tennessee ram at a gate-post, that God would send lightning and storm and raise the blockade. And the Lord did give them a raise—at Roanoke Island, and with that kind of lightning and storm which they did not expect in answer to prayer. I also heard a Presbyterian minister in Knoxville make use of the following words on the Lord's day, which he would give to show the degradation of the pulpit. In the course of his remarks he stated that Jesus Christ was a Southern man, and all of his Apostles were Southern men, save Judas, who was from the North. And that he would rather read a text from a Bible bound in hell than front one printed and bound North of Mason and Dixon's line. I regard the churches in the South ruined; and financially they are in a bad fix. I came across Dr. McFarren about seventy miles from Nashville, trying to run away; but his horse wouldn't work. He traded the horse for a mule, but the mule wouldn't work. When I left him he was standing on the street, in company with his wife and children, looking for another trade. Huston, Sehon and Baldwin were still in Nashville adhering to Secession. The citizens of Nashville could but note the contrast, and expressed their opinions in regard to the superiority of the officers and soldiers of the Federal army over those of the Confederate. The former were well-dressed and well-behaved, and did not insult citizens nor ladies upon the streets. While, on the contrary, the vagabonds of the Confederate army stole everything upon which they could lay their hands, and drove peaceable citizens from their homes. While there were some honorable exceptions in the Confederate army, strange to say it seemed to be mostly composed of the off-scouring of the land; swearing, lewd fellows, of the most degraded possible character. I had a hard time among them, and was satisfied that they intended to execute me. I owe my escape to the fact that for so long a time I had been an editor, and, to a great extent, had gained the confidence of the people. The Union sentiment prevails in East Tennessee five to one. Among them my friends notified the leaders that, if Brownlow was hurt, twelve of their prominent men would be sacrificed for his life, and I think they were afraid to hang me. So they wrote to Davis and Benjamin that they had better release me; that I had many friends, and that my presence would continue to stir up the rebellion; and that, if they could send me out of their lines, they would get rid of me and my influence. Therefore Benjamin thought that, as I was a very wicked fellow and a great traitor, he would release me on conditions that I would leave the Southern Confederacy, and, if I would do so, they would give me a safe passport out of their lines. So I opened a correspondence with that little, contemptible Jew—Judas Benjamin, and consented to do for the Southern Confederacy what the devil had never done—leave the country. They still hold my wife and children as hostages for my good behavior. I don't think they will hurt them. I hope not.
But I told my wife, before I left, to prepare for execution, for, as certain as I got North, I would not behave myself, according to Jeff. Davis' understanding. I am now feeble, having been preaching and discoursing for thirty-five years. I have seen the day when I could have spoken five hours at a time; but my late imprisonment, in connection with my typhoid fever, has broken down my constitution. When feeblest, they doubled the guard, and pretended to think that my sickness was all a sham, in order that more liberty would be given me, and then I could escape. I told them that it was unnecessary, for if there was no guard I could not run away. For I had written to Benjamin, and, if he would not send me away in the proper manner, I would not go. I had made up my mind to hang. I had seen my friends taken from the same prison—one or two at a time—and hung. Sometimes the father and son on the same day. While this was going on, they would say tauntingly, "Your turn will be next, for you are the ringleader and cause of all this trouble." I told them if they would give me the privilege of making a speech, one hour long, under the gallows, that I might speak to the people and pronounce a eulogy on the Southern Confederacy, that I would be willing to die. And I really think I could have swung in peace. It is my intention to go back to Knoxville and start my paper. I want to go with the army, and once more raise the flag of the stars and stripes, and then blaze away. They have been doing all of the hanging on one side, and I wish to superintend it on the other. My motto is, "Grape for the masses, but hemp for the leaders." They deserve hanging, for this is the most wicked rebellion ever known to the world. If you had given them a President and all the offices, there would have been no rebellion—for the "nigger" is a mere pretext.
After thanking the brethren, he was introduced to the Ministers and friends present, and then took his leave. During the day he visited the Book Concern, and expressed himself highly pleased with its evident prosperity.