Your friends, CHARLES G. SMITH, JOHN MORRISON, F. M. BURTON, ROBT. S. NORTHCUTT, SAML. DAVIS.
NASHVILLE, Oct. 13th, 1855.
MESSRS. SMITH, MORRISON, AND OTHERS:
_Gentlemen_:--Your note requesting me to publish the substance of my remarks on the Square, last Tuesday night, has been received, and I would have replied sooner, but for my absence at Shelbyville. I have now made the same speech at Clarksville, Nashville, and Shelbyville; and my only regrets are, that my engagements prevent me from delivering the same speech at every point in this State, where Gov. Johnson held me up as the "High Priest of the Order," and argued therefrom the _want of respectability_ for the Order. In addition to your request, I have had verbal applications from many gentlemen to publish my remarks--gentlemen who have been mild and moderate throughout their political course. I shall, therefore, comply with your request and theirs, at my earliest convenience.
I hold that no man"s position in life should shield him from the rebukes he may merit by his bad conduct; and as for the present Governor of Tennessee, his wholesale abuse of the American party, towards whose members, without a single exception, he has indulged in language which ought not to be tolerated within the precincts of Billingsgate, no epithet is too low, too degrading, or disgraceful, to pay him back in.
Respectfully, &c.,
W. G. BROWNLOW.
FELLOW-CITIZENS:--The occasion which has called you together to-night, is the special appointment of our young friend, Mr. Crowe, to whose eloquence we have all listened with pleasure. I have made no appointment to speak here; nor have I prompted the loud and long calls made upon me, this evening, by this large Nashville audience. I shall speak to you; but not upon the _issues_ of the late canva.s.s, nor upon those of the approaching canva.s.s of 1856. I will discuss _Andrew Johnson_ and _E. G.
Eastman_; and if they are in the a.s.sembly, I hope they will come forward and take seats on this stand, that I may have the pleasure of looking them full in the face, as I denounce them in unmeasured terms: which is my purpose to-night, let the consequences be what they may!
On a memorable night in August, after it was understood that _Andrew Johnson_ was reelected to the office of Governor, a procession was formed in Knoxville, composed of the worst materials in that young and growing city--such as drunken, red-mouthed Irishmen, lousy Germans, and insolent negroes, with three or four men of respectable pretensions thrown in, to exercise a controlling influence over these bad materials.
This riotous mob halted in front of my dwelling, in East Knoxville, and _groaned_ and _sang_ for my especial benefit: all which was natural enough--as they had triumphed over me in the election of a Governor. I took no offence at their rejoicing over the election of Gov. Johnson, as I told them; and for the reason, that I knew them to be of that cla.s.s of men who would _actually need the exercise of the pardoning power_, at the hands of the present Governor, to release them from the penitentiary, before his present term of service would expire!
From my humble dwelling, this _beautiful_ procession marched to the Coleman House, on Gay street, yelling like devils, and insulting the inmates of every house they pa.s.sed. "Huzza for _Andy McJohnson_!"
exclaimed one. "Three cheers for _Andy O"Johnson_!" exclaimed another.
While, to cap the climax--"Well done, my _Johnsing_ and the _White b.a.s.t.a.r.d_," (meaning _Basis_,) exclaimed a drunken negro! Halting in front of the Coleman House, the Governor elect mounted a goods box, and under feelings of great excitement, hatred, and malice, delivered a speech abusive of the whole American party, excepting none, in coa.r.s.e, bitter language, in a style peculiarly his own--adapted alone to the foul precincts of Billingsgate--rounding his periods with a diabolical and infernal _grin_, alone suited to a display of oratory by a land pirate!
I reported this slanderous speech--not in as offensive style--as it was delivered; for his _looks_ and _grins_ no man can report on paper. I also wrote the substance of what he said to Major Donelson, in a letter, of which I shall have something more to say before I leave this stand.
Just here, I will repeat what the Governor did say, and what I reported him to have said in my paper. I wish this large audience to hear me distinctly, and to recollect the points I make; for I shall wind up on the Governor and his miserable tool, _Eastman_, with a degree of severity you have not been accustomed to, but which shall be warranted by the facts in each case.
Gov. Johnson said this new party of self-styled Americans professed to have organized with a view to purify and reform the old political parties. A beautiful set, said he, to reform! The Order of Know Nothings was composed of the worst men in the Whig and Democratic parties. As a _sample_ of these men, he pointed out _Andrew J. Donelson_, by name--exclaiming as often as twice, _Who is Andrew J. Donelson?_ He is a soured, office-seeking, disappointed politician, who has been kicked out of the Democratic party. To ill.u.s.trate his views more fully, he told the crowd to imagine a large gang of _counterfeiters_ out there! and an equally large gang of _horse-thieves_ out yonder! Take from these two companies the worst men in their ranks, form a third party of these, and you have a representation of this Know Nothing party. This was a beautiful party to propose reform, or to speak of other parties being corrupt! He was interrupted repeatedly; and I think I may safely say, among hands, they gave him the d----d lie fifty times! James M. Davis, a respectable mechanic, asked him if he would say that to Major Donelson"s face? He replied, that he heard the hissing of an adder, or a goose, and went through with certain stereotyped phrases you have all heard from his lips. This call upon him by Mr. Davis was not named in my newspaper report, nor in my letter to Major Donelson. Indeed, I did not antic.i.p.ate a denial of his abuse.
Now, fellow-citizens, it was in this connection, as well as in the most offensive language, that Gov. Johnson introduced the name of Andrew J.
Donelson, repeating it more than once, emphasizing upon it, and repeating it with scorn and bitterness. This is the report, _in substance_, I made of his speech through my paper, and in a letter I addressed to Major Donelson. And to the truth of my report, there are one hundred respectable gentlemen in Knoxville who will make oath upon the Holy Bible. There are now a half-dozen respectable gentlemen in this crowd who were in the street at Knoxville on that occasion, and heard every word the Governor said, and will sustain me in my account of it.
Among these I will name Messrs. White and Armstrong, members of the House, Senator Rogers, Col. James C. Luttrell, and Mr. Fleming, the editor of the Knoxville Register.
Well, gentlemen--and I am proud to have an opportunity of vindicating myself before so large a Nashville audience as this is--I say Major Donelson came to Nashville, after receiving intelligence of the abuse of the Governor, and was seen walking these streets with a _large and homely stick_ in his hand, looking _grum_, as any gentleman would do under the circ.u.mstances. The friends of Gov. Johnson seeing what would likely be the result of this affair, asked for, and very properly obtained that letter, with a view to laying it before their slanderous and abusive Executive officer, that he might _lie out of what he said_ about an honorable and brave man; and thereby avoid the disgrace of a cudgelling! Did he lie out of the sc.r.a.pe? He did: aye, he _ingloriously lied out_ of what he had said--leaving Major Donelson no ground for any difficulty with him: although the Major had a right to suppose that any man base enough to make such charges, would have no hesitancy in lying out of his disreputable and cowardly abuse. I therefore p.r.o.nounce your Governor, here upon his own dunghill, an UNMITIGATED LIAR AND CALUMNIATOR, and a VILLAINOUS COWARD, wanting the _nerve_ to stand up to his abuse of better men than himself!
But it will be said that the Governor _proves_ me a liar, by a citizen of Nashville, who was present at Knoxville and heard his speech. That is so, but I prove both him and his witness liars, by a mult.i.tude of witnesses who were also present, and who are gentlemen of the first standing. But who is it that testifies that I have lied? It is _E. G.
Eastman_, the editor of the Sag Nicht organ in this city. And who is _E.
G. Eastman_? He is a dirty, lying, and unscrupulous Abolitionist, from Ma.s.sachusetts, who once conducted an Abolitionist paper either in that State, or the State of New Hampshire. He was brought out to this State to lie for the unscrupulous leaders of his party. He is paid for _telling_ and _writing_ falsehoods, and would, if the interests of his party required it, and a consideration were paid him in hand, _swear lies_ as readily as he would write them down for publication. He is a poor devil, as void of truth and honor as he has shown himself to be of courage and resentment. He edits a low, dirty, scurrilous sheet; and, like his master, Gov. Johnson, never could elevate himself above the level of a common blackguard. No epithet is too low, too degrading, or disgraceful to be applied to the members of the American party, by either of these Billingsgate graduates. Decent men shun coming in contact with either of them, as they would avoid a night-cart, or other vehicle of filth. As some fish thrive only in dirty water, so the Nashville Union and American would not exist a week out of the atmosphere of slang and vituperation. A fit organ, this, for all who arrange themselves under the dark piratical flag of Andrew Johnson and his progressive Democracy. I am the more specific in reference to _Eastman_, because I understand he is in this a.s.sembly!
But, fellow-citizens, I am not yet through with this Knoxville speech of the Governor. Maj. Donelson visited Knoxville, one month after this slanderous speech was made against him; he visited there upon the invitation of the American party, to address a Ma.s.s Meeting. I waited upon Maj. Donelson, upon his arrival, and found him at the house of Doct. Curry. I told the Major that I was tired of having questions of veracity between me and Governors and Ex-Governors of Tennessee, and that I desired that others should state to him what had been said by the Governor. Accordingly, different gentlemen, citizens of character, informed him that they were in the crowd and heard Johnson, and that he did say all that was attributed to him, both in the letter he had received from me, and in the two Knoxville papers. Consequently, when Maj. Donelson made his speech next day, he denounced the Governor as a miserable calumniator, and refuted his villainous charges, in a manner becoming the occasion, and with a frankness which carried with it a conviction of its truth, and gave satisfaction to his numerous friends.
And now, gentlemen, I take occasion to state, that there is no longer an adjourned question of veracity between me and Johnson and Eastman. The issue is between Johnson and Eastman, on the one hand, and various respectable gentlemen of Knoxville, on the other hand. Either the Governor and his man Friday have basely lied, or a number of the citizens of Knoxville and vicinity, have testified to what is false. I a.s.sert, once more, that the Governor and his dirty Editor have lied out of the villainous abuse the former heaped upon better men than himself.
And if their friends are willing to see them remain under the charge, the American party are satisfied with the settlement of the question.
Fellow-citizens, while I am on the stand, I will notice some other points personal to myself. And before I enter upon these, I will call your attention to the wholesale abuse of the Governor, of some thirty-five or forty thousand voters in Tennessee. In his Murfreesboro"
speech, he a.s.serted that "_the Devil, his Satanic Majesty, presides over all the secret conclaves_" held by the Know Nothings, and that "_they are the allies of the Prince of Darkness_." I quote from his printed speeches from memory, but it will be found that I quote correctly. In that same speech, he a.s.serts that all Know Nothings are "_bound by terrible oaths to fix and carry a lie in their mouths_!" In his Manchester speech, I believe it was, he called all members of the new party "_Hyenas_," and "_huge reptiles, upon whose neck the feet of all honest men ought to be placed_." And in this same speech he says he "WOULD AS SOON BE FOUND IN A CLAN OF JOHN A. MURRELL"S MEN, AS IN A KNOW NOTHING COUNCIL!"
What an imputation upon nearly one half of the legal voters of Tennessee! He has used the most odious terms his _limited_ knowledge of the English language would enable him to employ, to deride, defame, insult, and blackguard every man who has joined the new party, or dares to act with them in politics. In the plenitude of his bitter and supercilious arrogance, Andrew Johnson has indulged in language against the entire American party, which would not be tolerated within the precincts of Billingsgate, or the lowest fish-market in London. And from Johnson to Shelby counties, during the entire summer, this low-flung and ill-bred scoundrel, pursued this same strain of vulgar and disgusting abuse. And whether speaking of the most enlightened statesman, the purest patriot, or the most pious clergyman, he pursued the same strain of abuse. With him, a vile demagogue, whose daily employment is to administer to the very worst appet.i.tes of mankind, no virtue, no honor, no truth, exists anywhere, but in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of such as are either corrupt enough or fool enough to follow him, and a few malignant falsifiers who worship at his shrine. He is a wretched and vile caterer to the morbid foreign and Catholic appet.i.te of this country. "It is a dirty bird that fouls its own nest," says the proverb; and it applies to this man Johnson with as much force as to the dirtiest of the feathered tribe.
"Where is the wretch, so lost, so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my _own_, MY NATIVE LAND!"
He now disgraces the Executive Chair of this gallant State. Most of G.o.d"s creatures, human and brute, have an attachment to "HOME, SWEET HOME;" but here is a contemptible and selfish demagogue who discards all such feelings, and would transfer his country and home to strangers and outlaws, to European paupers and criminals, if he could thereby receive a temporary election, or receive a pocket-full of money. For such a wretch I have no sympathy, and no feelings but those of scorn and contempt, and hence it is that I speak of him in such terms.
On every stump in Tennessee, he held me up as "the High Priest of the Order," representing Col. Gentry as _my_ candidate. Since I came to Middle Tennessee, I have been informed that he pointed to the fancied fact that I was the head of the Order, as an evidence of _its utter want of respectability_. Turning up his nose, and grinning significantly, he would inquire, _Who is William G. Brownlow?_
Now, gentlemen, since he makes this issue of _respectability_ with me, I will accept it. Since he throws down the glove, I will take it up, and I will show you that he is the last man on G.o.d"s green earth to call in question the respectability of other men, or their families! It would be both cruel and unbecoming in me to speak of what the dishonest and villainous relatives of Gov. Johnson have done, if he conducted himself prudently, and did not abuse others with such great profusion. I am not aware of any relative of mine ever having been hung, sent to the penitentiary, or being placed in the stocks. I have no doubt that persons related to me, directly or remotely, have deserved such a fate long since. There is not a man in this vast a.s.sembly who can say, and tell the truth, that he has no mean kin. Can Gov. Johnson say so?
Rather, can he say he has any other kind? He is a member of a numerous family of Johnsons, in North Carolina, who are generally THIEVES and LIARS; and though he is the best one of the family I have ever met with, I unhesitatingly affirm, to-night, that there are better men than Andrew Johnson in our Penitentiary! His relatives in the Old North State, have stood in the Stocks for crimes they have committed. And his _own born cousin_, Madison Johnson, was hung in Raleigh, for murder and robbery! I told him of this years ago, in Jonesboro", and he denied it, and put me to the trouble of procuring the testimony of Gov. John M. Morehead to prove it! The Governor was pet.i.tioned to pardon Madison Johnson, and declined, as he knew he suffered justly. This explains why this _scape-gallows_ has been so bitter against Whig and Know Nothing Governors. They have been so unfeeling, as to suffer his dear relatives to _pull hemp without foothold_, when a jury of twelve honest men have said that they deserved death! Is he not one of the last men living to talk about a want of respectability on the part of any one? Certainly he is!
Well, gentlemen, Johnson is again the Governor of Tennessee; but if he could be mortified, he would have the mortification to know that he is the Governor with a majority of the _legal native votes of the State_ cast in opposition to him. We all committed one capital blunder in the late canva.s.s, and that alone defeated Gentry, and elected Johnson. We copied from the Book of Pardons a list of FORTY-SEVEN names of culprits pardoned out of our State Prison by Johnson--some for negro-stealing, some for counterfeiting, house-breaking, rape, and other _Democratic_ measures--more pardons than all his "ill.u.s.trious predecessors" ever granted. In copying this list, we said to the voters of the State that Johnson had spoken his honest sentiments when he said he preferred being among a clan of Murrell men, to being found in a Know Nothing Council; and in the same breath we a.s.sured them that if Gentry was elected, he would let all such rascals stay in prison as long as the courts of the country decreed they should. And while thousands of honorable, high-minded men voted for Johnson, under the lash of party, or because they were blinded by his glaring demerits, it is not to be disguised that all the _pet.i.t larceny_ and _Penitentiary men_ in the State voted for him. There never was a time in Tennessee when there were not five thousand voters who either _had been stealing_, or _intended to steal_! These would naturally look to where they would find a friend, in the event of their being overtaken by justice. In the person of Andrew Johnson, they felt a.s.sured of "a friend indeed, because a friend in _need_." He had publicly told them that he preferred the company of Murrell men to the society of the most respectable lawyers, doctors, preachers, farmers, and mechanics in the State, who met in certain councils. The fact of his turning so many Murrell men out of the State Prison, and of his having been _raised up in such society_, left no doubt of the sincerity of his profession!
In conclusion, fellow-citizens, if Gov. Johnson cannot lawfully canva.s.s the State a _third_ time for the office he now fills, I hope the Legislature will legalize such a race by a special act, and I propose to be the candidate against him. I will show the people of the State in his presence, from the same stand, who are Murrell men, and who are not able to look honest men in the face!
If I have said any thing to-night offensive to your Governor, or any of his friends or understrappers in this city, they know where to find me.
When I am not on the streets, I can be found at No. 43, on the lower floor of Sam Scott"s City Hotel, opposite the ladies" parlor. I shall remain here for the next ten days only, and whatever punishment any one may wish to inflict upon me, it must be done in that time. I say this, not because I seek a difficulty, but because I don"t intend it shall be said that I made this speech and took to flight!
I thank you, gentlemen, for the patience with which you have heard me in a matter personal to myself, and I hope you are prepared to acquit me of lying in the Donelson case, although Gov. Johnson and Editor Eastman bear testimony against me. I thank you, and now bid you good night!
We beg leave to add, that in March, 1842, Andrew Johnson laid hold of us in a speech in Blountville, when we were in Jonesborough, distant twenty miles. He held up a picture or drawing of us, and accompanied it with many abusive remarks. In turn, we held him up in the Whig of the 29th of the same month, and gave his _pedigree_ in full, and with it a _representation of his cousin Madison Johnson, under the gallows_ in Raleigh!
The first Monday in April following, Johnson spoke in Jonesborough, and denied _most solemnly that he ever had a relative by the name of Madison Johnson--denied that a man of that name had ever been hung in Raleigh--and a.s.serted that the man hung there in 1841 was by the name of Scott--a nephew, he said, of General Winfield Scott!_ This bold denial, made in the presence of a large and anxious crowd, overwhelmed us _for the time being_, as Johnson was raised in the vicinity of Raleigh, and had learned his trade there. He was supposed to know, and for the moment we were branded with falsehood. To aid him in his war upon us, the "_Jonesborough Sentinel_," Johnson"s organ, came out upon us, and noticed his denial of our charge and his speech, in an article of which the following is an extract:
"Brownlow said, some time back, that Col. Johnson had a cousin hung in North Carolina. The Colonel developed the fact the day he used up or skinned Brownlow alive in Jonesborough, _that instead of its being his cousin, it was the nephew of Gen.
Winfield Scott_, now a _quasi_ c.o.o.n candidate for the Presidency. Brownlow _is so silent_!"
After this, the Sentinel noticed us again, and this notice drew out WESTON R. GALES, the then editor of the Raleigh Register, in the following:
EDITORIAL COMPLIMENTS.
"We find the following editorial in the "Jonesboro" (Tenn.) Sentinel," a Locofoco print, in relation to the editor of the "Jonesboro Whig:"
"BROWNLOW made an awkward attempt last week to caricature a person who was hung some years ago in North Carolina, whom he termed the cousin of Col. JOHNSON. But it turns out to have been the nephew of Gen. WINFIELD SCOTT, a distinguished c.o.o.n leader. Poor BROWNLOW!--it ought to be his time next. Wonder how many hen-roosts he robbed last summer?"
"We have nothing to do with whose time it is to be hung next, nor with the number of hen-roosts robbed, nor by whom robbed, but we will take occasion to correct the "Sentinel" as to the person hung here "some years ago."
"In the spring of 1841, a man named MADISON JOHNSON was hung in this place for the murder of HENRY BEASLEY, but we were not aware that he was any relation of Col. JOHNSON, if it be meant thereby Col. R. M. JOHNSON, of Kentucky. He was, however, connected with A. JOHNSON, the candidate for Congress in the Jonesboro" District, MADISON and he being first cousins.
"The last man hung in this place by the name of SCOTT, was MASON SCOTT, in 1820, and if the "Sentinel" means to reflect upon the Whig party by saying he was a nephew of Gen. WINFIELD SCOTT, a "distinguished c.o.o.n leader," we are willing for him to indulge in such misstatements.
"IF THE "SENTINEL" HAD TAKEN THE TROUBLE TO CONSULT MR. A.
JOHNSON ON THE SUBJECT, HE WOULD HAVE SATISFIED HIM OF THE FACTS, AS HE WAS IN THIS CITY ABOUT THE TIME MADISON WAS EXECUTED."
It will be seen, that while Johnson was uttering his _solemn but false denial_ at Jonesborough, he _knew he was lying_, for he was in Raleigh "_about the time Madison was executed!_"
But we told our friends to hold on, to have patience, and to give us time, and we would make good our charge. Accordingly, in the same issue in which we brought out this extract from the Raleigh Register, we published the following letter from Gov. MOREHEAD, in answer to one we had written him:
RALEIGH, 24th April, 1843.