Person Brownlow's Speech

e.l hi front ol Iho t.tliiu , Nash-IIle, op tl;e e en Dg nf tli" 1" t'.i uil ] Gentlemen - I am in a sad plight to say anything of interest - too thoroughlj iucapacitated to do justico to you or myïelf, My tlumt has boen disordaredjfor the past ihruu years, aud I havo luien lied to abandon public gpeaking. - Last December 1 was tlirust iuto ati un oomfor tabla and disgracelul jail - for what ? Trcason! Treason to the bogus Confederacy ; and the proofa cf that treuson werfl articles whieh appeared in the Kuoxviilo Whig in .Muy last, when Tennessee was a mcn.bcr of the imperishable üniun. At tho expiration of four weeks, I bceunio a victitn of the typlioid fevor, and 1 was removed to a room in a decent dwülliug, and a gaard of seven men kept me coinpany I subsequeutly became so wcak that I could not turn oveï in my bed, and tbc guard was iucreased to twelve men, for tear I should suddenly recover and run aw:iy to Kentucky. Becomiüg convalescent, iu a ioeaiure, I was removed to my former place of cunfincment. One day I was visited by saine Confedérate Qffieers. who reimtiked, 'SroWülÓW, you should not be bere. ïake the oath of allegianco to the Confedérate government, which wül uot only entitle you to a speedy release, but insure your protection," ':Sir I" paid I, before I would takc the oath to support sueh a hell-forsaken inatitution, I would suiï'er ïuysolf to rot or die with old age. Why, my friends, these demagoaues actually boast that the Lord is upon thoir sido, and declare that God Almighty is assisting thein in the furtheranco of their nefarious project. In Knoxville and eurrounding localitie!, a short time since, daily prayer meetings wcre held, whercin the Almighty was beseeehed to ruige the Lincoln blockade, and to hurl do structioii agaiust the Uurnsido expedition. Their prayers wcre part'y answered - the bloekade at Roanoke Island was most effeetually raised ; a reciprocal of their sacrilego divinely tendered. Gentlemen, I am no abolitionist ; 1 applaud no sectional doctrines; I am a southern man, and al! my relativos and intcrests are thoroughly idcutified with the South and southern institirtions. I was boru in tho Old Dominion, my parents were boni in Virginia, and they and their antceedeuts were all slaveholders. Let me assure you that the South bas suffered no infringement upon hor in Btitutiotis; the slavery question was ac tually no pretext for this uuholy, unrighteous conflict, Twelve Senators from the cotlon States, who had sworn to preserve inviolate the constitution framed by our forefathers, plotted treason at uight - a fit time for such a crime - and telegraphed to their State dispatches advising them to pass ordiuances of secession. Yes, gentlemen, twelve Senators swore allegiance in the day time, and unswore it at uight. A short time sinee I w:;s called upon by a little Jew, who, I believe, is the Secretary of War of the bogus Oonfederaey. He thrcatened to hang me, and I oxpeeted no mora merey from him than was shown by his illustrious predeces-ors toward Jesus Chfist. I enttircd in! o a long corresjiondence with this specimen of expiring humanity, but from mercy or forgetfuluees, on their part, I was permitted to depart with all my documents in my little valise. Gentlemen, when I started oj my perilous journev, I was sore, distresed in mind, and exceedingly so iu body. Kut the moment my eyes eneouutered the pickets of the Eederal army my depression deercased aud re turning health seemed suddenly to invigoraje my physical constitution. Gentlemen, secossion is played out- tlie dog is dead - the cliild is bom, aud his naai'; is Jeff. Davis, Jr. My throat distressos me to such an extent that I must declir.o further ro marks this evenhig, but shall make myself hoard upon tho next eonvenient occasion, whieh wül probably bo ere tho termination of the pregent week.