Chapter V: Preface (4)

But, Sir, upon the subject of _oaths_, you are eloquent, apt in your quotations of Scripture, and evince great learning in the legal profession! You charge that "Know Nothingism is both unchristian and unlawful, because of its _oaths_, which have no Scripture warrant for their administration!" One of your quotations from the Bible is this: "Swear not at all: neither by heaven, for it is God's throne: nor by the earth, for it is his footstool." Your mind has undergone a great change upon the subject of _oaths_ and _hard swearing_, since the 21st of June, 1845, when you delivered your celebrated "Mount Pisgah" speech at Athens. You then advised the people of the State to administer "horrible oaths," and to swear by the "_heavens_," aye, "God's throne." But then you were a Know Nothing. Here is what you say in your _revised_ copy of that memorable speech:

"Go up with me in imagination and stand for awhile on some
lofty summit of the Rocky Mountains. Let us take one ravishing
view of this broad land of liberty. Turn your face toward the
Gulf of Mexico: what do you behold? Instead of one lone star
faintly shining in the far distant south, a whole galaxy of
stars of the first magnitude are bursting on your vision and
shining with a bright and glorious effulgence. Now turn with me
to the west--the mighty west--where the setting sun dips her
disk in the western ocean. Look away down through the misty
distance to the shores of the Pacific, with all its bays, and
harbors, and rivers. Cast your eyes as far as the Russian
Possessions, in latitude fifty-four degrees and forty minutes.
What a new world lies before you! How many magnificent States
to be the future homes of the sons and daughters of freedom!
But you have not gazed on half this glorious country. Turn now
your face to the east, where the morning sun first shines on
this land of liberty. Away yonder, you see the immortal old
thirteen, who achieved our independence; nearer to us lie the
twelve or fifteen States of the great valley of the
Mississippi, stretching and reposing like so many giants in
their slumbers. O! now I see your heart is full--it can take in
no more. Who now feels like he was a party man, or a southern
man, or a northern man? Who does not feel that he is an
American, and thankful to Heaven that his lot was cast in such
a goodly land? When did mental vision ever rest on such a
scene? Moses, when standing on the top of Mount Pisgah, looking
over on the promised land, gazed not on a scene half so lovely.
O! let us this day _vow_ that whatever else we may do, by
whatever name we may be called, we will never surrender one
square acre of this goodly heritage to the DICTATION of any
king or potentate on earth. SWEAR IT! SWEAR IT! my countrymen,
and let HEAVEN RECORD THE VOW FOR EVER!"

In conclusion, Governor, suffer a few words of advice, and I will bring this letter, already too long, to a close. You are advanced in years, nay, you have grown gray in the service of sin, and political intrigues; and at most you have not long to live. Cease your political aspirations, and turn your attention to future and eternal things! You have been a member of our State Legislature; subsequently, a member of Congress; and more recently the Governor of our State; honors and stations, to say the least of it, equal to your merits and talents!

As a true "son of a now sainted father," from whom you have been separated for many years, so demean yourself in future, that you may not be separated, world without end! Humble yourself before God; confess your numerous sins; and instead of lecturing God's ministers upon the subject of party politics, ask them, with tears in your eyes, to pray for you! Exercise a living faith in Christ, who came down from heaven, and made upon the cross a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world. Thus obtaining forgiveness, cease your Sunday discussions on political subjects; attend at the house of God, and set an example to other ungodly Sag Nichts, and lead a new and different life!

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

W. G. BROWNLOW,

_A Local Methodist Minister._

GOVERNOR JOHNSON AND EDITOR EASTMAN.

On the 9th of October, 1855, and while the Legislature was in session at Nashville, we delivered a speech to an immense crowd on the Public Square; which, after certain preliminary remarks, we will give to the public, just as it was spoken. The reason why the call was made on us to deliver the speech was, that we had, the previous weeks, delivered the same, in _substance_, at Shelbyville and Clarksville, and the American party at Nashville hearing of it, and approving what was said, desired us to repeat it; and, to be candid, we desired to repeat it there and then!

Mr. Wise, of Virginia, gained great notoriety, in the spring of 1855, by his abuse and blackguardism, heaped upon the American party. He was successful; and Johnson, of Tennessee, whose ambition was to gain a more infamous notoriety, profiting by the example of Wise, plunged into the lowest depths of Billingsgate, and piled his vulgar epithets upon the party _indiscriminately_. Wise, then, like all inventors and originators, has had numerous _imitators_, and among the most successful of these are Johnson, of Tennessee; Stephens, of Georgia; and Clingman, of North Carolina. But as an adept in low Billingsgate slang, coarse blackguardism, and as a slanderer and maligner of better men than himself, Johnson has excelled his patron, Wise, and left far in the shades of the distant caverns of abuse, both Stephens and Clingman!

To prepare the public mind for the degree of severity we used in reference to the Governor of the State, we will introduce as many as _five_ different extracts from his speeches, in his late canvass for Governor, at Murfreesboro' and Manchester; as reported by his partisan organ, the _Nashville Union_, and his _pliant tool_, its Abolition editor, _E. G. Eastman_:

"THE DEVIL, HIS SATANIC MAJESTY, THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS, WHO
PRESIDES OVER THE SECRET CONCLAVE HELD IN PANDEMONIUM, MAKES
WAR UPON ALL BRANCHES OF CHRIST'S CHURCH. THE KNOW NOTHINGS
ADVOCATE AND DEFEND NONE, BUT MAKE WAR UPON ONE OF THE
CHURCHES, AND THUS FAR BECOME THE ALLIES OF THE PRINCE OF
DARKNESS."--[Speech of ANDREW JOHNSON, at Murfreesboro'.

"A DENOMINATION LIKE THIS, TO SET UP AS THE GUARDIANS OF THE
RELIGION AND MORALS OF THE COUNTRY! A DENOMINATION BOUND
TOGETHER BY SECRET AND TERRIBLE OATHS: THE FIRST OF WHICH, ON
THE VERY INITIATION, FIXES AND REQUIRES THEM TO CARRY A LIE IN
THEIR MOUTHS."--[Speech of ANDREW JOHNSON, at Murfreesboro'.

"SHOW ME THE DIMENSIONS OF A KNOW NOTHING, AND I WILL SHOW YOU
A HUGE REPTILE, UPON WHOSE NECK THE FOOT OF EVERY HONEST MAN
OUGHT TO BE PLACED."--[Speech of ANDREW JOHNSON, at Manchester.

"THEY ARE LIKE THE HYENA, AND COME FROM THEIR LAIR AFTER
MIDNIGHT TO PREY UPON HUMAN CARCASSES."--[Speech of ANDREW
JOHNSON, at Manchester.

"I WOULD AS SOON BE FOUND IN THE CLAN OF JOHN A. MURRELL AS IN
A KNOW NOTHING COUNCIL."--[Speech of ANDREW JOHNSON, at
Manchester.

The _blackguard_ and _calumniator_ using this language, was elected by a majority of two thousand votes: that majority being cast by _Foreigners and illegal voters_; and consequently, his competitor, COL. GENTRY--than whom there is not a more talented, patriotic, and honorable gentleman in Tennessee--was fairly and justly elected. This, then, is the language used by the Governor of Tennessee, _towards a majority of the legal voters of the State_! Under these circumstances, we made the speech that follows, to an immense crowd on the Square: the correspondence preceding which, will explain itself:

NASHVILLE, Oct. 10th, 1855.

W. G. BROWNLOW, ESQ.:

_Dear Sir_:--The undersigned, having heard your speech on the
Square, last night, respectfully request that you embody the
substance of the same, and publish it in the Knoxville Whig.
The desire to see it in print is very general; and those who
heard it approved its severity, without it were such as were
bitter against the American party.

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 canvass, nor upon those of the approaching canvass of 1856. I will discuss _Andrew Johnson_ and _E. G. Eastman_; and if they are in the assembly, 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 reëlected 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 class 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 passed. "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 Bastard_," (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 coarse, 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 illustrate 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 anticipate 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 circumstances. 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 scrape? 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 pronounce 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 multitude 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 Massachusetts, 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 assembly!

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 Mass 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 assert, 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 asserted 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 asserts 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 appetites of mankind, no virtue, no honor, no truth, exists anywhere, but in the breasts 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 appetite 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 God'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 God'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 assembly 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 petitioned 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 canvass, 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 "illustrious 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 assured 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 _petit 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 assured 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 canvass 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 asserted 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_ Coon 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 Coon
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 Coon 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.

[EXECUTIVE OFFICE.]

"DEAR SIR--I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yours
of the 14th inst., requesting me to inform you what was the
name of the man hung in Raleigh in the spring of 1841.

"His name was MADISON JOHNSON. His case was taken to the
Supreme Court, and you will find it reported, December Term,
1840, vol. 1st, page 354, Iredell's Reports.

"He was hung for the murder of Henry Beasley. A strong effort
was made to procure a pardon for him; but believing his case a
clear murder, I refused to grant it.

"The only man named Scott that was ever convicted of murder at
this place, was Mason Scott, in 1820.

"You will find his case reported in the reports of the Supreme
Court, January Term, 1820, 1st Stark's Reports, page 24.

"I am not aware that any other man named Scott was ever
convicted of a capital offence in this county.

"I have the honor to be

"Your most ob't serv't,

"J. M. MOREHEAD."

"Rev. W. G. BROWNLOW."

In conclusion, after this letter appeared, and Johnson was elected, he sent an appointment to Raleigh, for a speech--attended there, and blackguarded and vilified "Morehead and Brownlow" for two hours. He made the _letter_ of Morehead the pretext for his abuse, but the real cause was the Governor's refusal to _pardon his cousin_. Johnson was there to procure his pardon, and brought every appliance to bear within his power, but the North Carolina Governor was inflexible in the discharge of his sworn duty! We do not make the point against Johnson that he has _mean kin_, only so far as it may _offset_ his abuse of others, for who of us are without mean kinsfolks? But our point is, his _deliberate lying_ before a Jonesboro' audience!

From the Knoxville Whig of Dec. 1, 1855.]

GOVERNOR JOHNSON'S THANKSGIVING DAY.

As the sixth of the present month has been set apart by our Governor, to be observed as a day of prayer and thanksgiving to Almighty God for his numerous and unmerited mercies conferred upon the people of our State and nation; and as it is desirable that the different sects shall act in concert on the occasion, and at least pray "with the understanding," that is to say, _appropriately_, we have been at the trouble to prepare a form of prayer for the occasion. This we do in no irreverend spirit, but in all candor and sincerity, after this wise:

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, in whom we live, and move, and have our being: we, thy needy creatures, render thee our humble praises, for thy preservation of us from the beginning of our lives to this day of public thanksgiving, and especially for having delivered us from all the dangers and afflictions of the year about to close. By thy knowledge, most gracious God, the depths were broken up during the past seed-time and harvest, and the rains descended: while by night the clouds distilled the gentle dew, filling our barns with plenty: thus crowning the year with thy goodness, in the increase of the ground, and the gathering in of the fruits thereof. And we beseech thee, O most merciful Father, give us a just sense of this great mercy: such as may appear in our lives, by an humble, holy, and obedient walking before thee all our days!

To thy watchful providence, O most merciful God, we are indebted for all our mercies, and not any works or merit of ours; for many of us entered into the scramble to elevate to the Executive Chair of the State the present incumbent, with a perfect knowledge that he had abused thy Son, JESUS CHRIST, our Lord, on the floor of our State Senate, as a swindler, advocating unlawful interest: we knew that he had voted in Congress against offering prayers to thee: we knew that he had opposed the temperance cause, which is the cause of God and of all mankind: we knew that he had vilified the Protestant religion, and slandered the Protestant clergy, defending and eulogizing the corruptions of the Roman Catholic Church, throughout the length and breadth of our State; yet such was the force of party ties, O most mighty God, that we went into the support of our INFIDEL GOVERNOR blind, and, by our zeal in his behalf, gave the lie to our professions of piety, rendered ourselves hateful in the eyes of all honest and consistent men, meriting a degree of punishment we have never received! We do most heartily repent, O merciful God, for these shameful sins: we humble ourselves in lowest depths of humility, and ask forgiveness of a God whom we have justly provoked to anger, and the forgiveness of our insulted brethren, whom we have wickedly blackguarded, to the great injury of the cause of Christ!

O most merciful God, who art of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, turn not a deaf ear to our supplications on this day, because the day has been set apart by a Governor who really does not subscribe to the Christian religion; does not attend Divine service; who swears profanely; and has insulted Heaven and outraged the feelings of all pious Christians, by teaching the blasphemous sentiment that Christianity is of no higher or holier origin than his Democracy! Have mercy, our Father and God, upon that portion of this congregation who have endeavored to find peace to their souls by travelling along the "converging lines" of a spurious Democracy, in search of the foot of "Jacob's Ladder," and give them repentance and better minds! And do thou, O God of pity, show all such, that instead of ascending to heaven on an imaginary "Ladder," they are chained fast to the Locomotive of Hell, with the Devil for their Chief Engineer, the Pope of Rome as Conductor, and an ungodly Governor as Breakman; and that, at more than railroad speed, they are driving on to where they are to be eternally punished by Him whom thou hast appointed the Judge of quick and dead, thy Son JESUS CHRIST, our Lord. Amen!

[From the Knoxville Whig of May 24, 1856.]

THE FOREIGN SPIRIT ILLUSTRATED.

The following correspondence will explain itself, whilst it will serve to show the spirit which governs this Bogus Foreign Catholic Democracy:

RICHMOND, April 21, 1856.

REV. AND DEAR SIR:--It cannot be unkind in me, though
personally unknown to you, to address you on a subject in which
our peace as citizens is alike concerned. I see in the
Fincastle Democrat of 18th inst. what purports to be a review
of an article of yours in the Knoxville Whig of 5th inst., in
which I suppose, from the remarks contained in the Democrat, I
have been very, _very_ severely handled by you, for an offence
I never committed. You will allow me to say, sir, that I have
no recollection of ever writing or speaking a disrespectful
word of you in all my life, but, on the contrary, have
frequently spoken approvingly of much you have written. Such
being the fact, you will not be surprised to learn how deeply I
regret that the purest innocence on my part has failed to be a
protection against personal abuse. That you have been misled by
some person, is to my mind very plain, and if, through the
influence of another, you have inflicted a wound upon one that
never harmed you, nor ever designed to harm you, is it not
within the range of a generous nature--of an honest man--to
repair the injury by at once giving up to the injured party the
name of the deceiver, or publish him to the world as authority
for the assault, and let him assume its responsibilities?

In a change of circumstances, I should feel bound, by the honor
of a man, to do that much, and in my present relation to the
case I ask nothing more. It is perhaps due to you to be
informed, that I have not seen your article, nor do I know a
word it contains, and it is due to myself to say that I knew
nothing of the article in the Democrat assailing you, till I
saw it in print some hundred of miles from home, where I have
not yet arrived after an absence of nearly two months. On the
subject of dues, I may add that it is due to the public that
the name of the deceiver be given them. I of course suppose him
to be a man of great personal courage, ready to assume all his
own responsibilities. In conclusion, permit me to say, that any
effort on your part to aid in concealing the hand that uses the
dagger in the dark, will detract largely from the estimate I
have placed upon your character, as a man without hesitation or
fear, when the claims of justice are presented. My address is
Fincastle, Botetourt Co., Va., and I am very respectfully,

S. D. HOPKINS.

* * * * *

KNOXVILLE, May 21st, 1856.

REV. S. D. HOPKINS:

SIR--Through the weakness, mismanagement, and culpable
remissness of the contemptible Jesuit now at the head of the
Post Office Department, and his numerous lackeys--all of whom
you sustain in their politics--a letter written by you one month
ago was received a few days since, while I was absent at a Know
Nothing Convention, aiding my political brethren in placing
before the people of this Congressional District an electoral
candidate, to aid in the great Christian and patriotic work of
overthrowing the corrupt, profligate, unprincipled, Foreign
Catholic Bogus Democratic party, of which _you_ are a member,
and in the service of which you are an editor! But my delay in
replying to your letter shall be atoned for in the _length_ and
_plainness_ of my reply.

It is true, sir, that I published an editorial in my paper, of
some severity against you; but the article was in _reply_ to a
low, cowardly, and abusive editorial against me in the
"Fincastle Democrat," of which you are the editor. And "you will
allow me to say, sir," that at the time this attack was made
upon me in _your_ paper, I never had said a word about you or
your paper in my life, either "good, bad, or indifferent;" and
"if through the influence of another you have inflicted a wound
upon one that never harmed you, is it not within the range of a
generous nature--of an honest man"--to repair the injury by
taking back the article, and apologizing through the same medium
for the injury? If, however, you believe you have not "been
misled by some person," and have done me no more than justice in
that abusive article, hold on to it. Having made oath that the
horse is _fifteen feet high_, allow of no correction!

In all frankness, you must permit me to say, that I believe you
expected to find in the office on your return to Fincastle, a
letter from me demanding your authority for admitting into your
paper such an article against me, who, as you very well knew, up
to that hour had never said one word, publicly or privately,
against you or your paper. I think you concluded to _take the
start of me_, and thus to _forestall_ me, by writing from
Richmond some twenty-four hours before you would arrive at home!

In your paper of the 18th of April, issued only three days
before this letter was written at Richmond, an editorial of half
a column appears, in which _your_ paper styles me a "notorious
blackguard"--a "bullying blackguard"--an "unwanted and lying
man"--who "is mean enough to lie, cheat, or even steal"--a man
"wearing the garb of righteousness to serve the Devil in;" and
in the same article, the case of a Locofoco editor, who was
involved in a shooting scrape on account of his attack upon a
lady, is actually attributed to ME! Although you are a Reverend
Methodist Preacher, and a grave and dignified Steam Doctor,
conducting one of the organs of the Foreign and Anti-American
party in Virginia, you must pardon me for saying, as I now do,
that in calling upon me for my authority for what I had said in
reply to the unmitigated abuse of _your_ paper, you have proven
to my mind, that if you do not possess the cool and collected
impudence of the _Devil_, you are at least possessed of the
lion-headed impudence of an unprincipled Sag Nicht partisan,
hired to do the dirty work of an equally unprincipled and dirty
organization!

But it is due to the history of this controversy that I should
say, this second attack upon me sets forth that you are from
home, and that "the _Junior_ is responsible for the article."
This might be credited, if, on your return home, you had
protested against such abuse, but it seems from your silence to
have met with your heart's approval, and gave "general
satisfaction," at least to _you_! It is true that you were
absent at the time of both these publications, but it does not
follow, as a matter of course, that you were not the veritable
author, and that they did not find their way to the "Democrat"
office at the same time and in the same way that your "Baltimore
Correspondence" got there. The "Junior," as he styles himself,
claims the fraternity; and were it not that he is too well known
in Fincastle for any sane man to believe that _he_ wrote the
articles, he might have the credit (if credit there be attached
to it) of so low, malicious, and lying articles. But he is known
in Fincastle to be a brainless man, and to be incapable of
writing a paragraph on any subject. He is known to have no use
of language, and to be incapable of applying epithets to any
one. So that, if _you_ did not write these articles, they were
manufactured at "Irish Corner," in Fincastle, your "Junior" not
being able to do it, for the reason that he is wholly incapable.
My opinion is, that the articles were manufactured by the "Great
Mogul" of the Anti-American party in your town, and if he will
only avow himself the author, I will make some disclosures upon
him that will make him wish himself back in "Swate Ireland,"
where he "lives, and moves, and has his being;" no disclosures
are necessary--his books, and his person, damn him to
everlasting infamy. He has the filthiest-looking mouth, and the
most offensive breath, of any man in the Valley of Virginia. No
man who knows him will meet him square on the pavement, or place
himself in a position, if it can be avoided, of meeting a breeze
from that great reservoir of all nastiness, his mouth! It is
really a wonder how any human being can LIVE, and emit all the
time a stream of such overwhelming and uninterrupted STENCH! You
must permit me to christen this man as the But-Cut of Original
Sin, and the Upper-crust of all Nastiness!

It may not set well upon your stomach, that being a "Minister of
the Gospel, and having the care of souls," I should seem not to
place implicit confidence in your denial of any participation in
this unprovoked war upon me. I will be candid with you, and
though it is possible for me to be mistaken in my views, still,
if I am, I am honestly deceived. I have no confidence in the
moral honesty and Christian integrity of any Protestant
Preacher, of any denomination, in this country, who openly
arrays himself against the American party, and takes the side of
the Catholics, Foreigners, and self-styled Democrats associated
with them. Nor will I hear one such preach or pray, if I know
him to be such, and can get out of his hearing. The growing
light and improvements of this age forbid that an intelligent
and pious man and minister should identify himself with that
party. And the fiery genius, corrupting tendencies, and
uncompromising intolerance of that party, are rapidly driving
good and true men out of the party.

There never was a time since the division of parties in this
country, when I had so little confidence in what is called the
Democratic party as at present; and as at present organized and
constituted, I believe it to be the most corrupt organization.
It is made up of the odds and ends of all factions and parties
on the continent, and is one of the most anomalous combinations
of fanaticism, idolatry, prostitution, crime, and absurdities
conceivable! The _isms_ composing the party of which you are a
member, are: Abolitionism; Free-soilism; Agrarianism;
Fourieritism; Millerism; Radicalism; Woman's Rightsism; Mobism;
Mormonism; Spiritualism; Locofocoism; Higher-Lawism; Foreign
Pauperism; Anti-Americanism; Roman Catholicism; Deism, and
modern Sag Nichtism! All this tide of fanaticism and error,
originating North of Mason and Dixon's Line, went for Pierce in
the last Presidential contest: they are with that party now,
against the American party; and it is bad company in which to
find a Protestant minister! Yet, miserable Protestants hesitate
not to commend these enemies of the natural rights of man, and
of the Christian religion, as being just as good Christians as
their neighbors!

"Oh! judgment, thou hast fled to brutish beasts; And men have
not their reason!"

But, Doctor, why were you at Baltimore? Why, sir, during the
past year, you and other conscientious Methodists took it into
your heads to arraign a young man who was travelling your
circuit, Mr. Hall, and, for the Church's good, to have him
expelled, whose great sin was that he was a _Know-Nothing_, or
sympathized with the Order! The authorities of the Church, after
a patient hearing of the whole case, pro and con, acquitted the
young man. You followed him up to the Annual Conference, as the
representative of and attorney for Sag Nichtism. The Conference
acquitted the young preacher again, and sent him to an
enlightened circuit in Maryland. This so offended you, and your
patriotic, not to say _pious_ associates, that, for the Church's
good, they resigned their stewardship in the Church, and were
so offended at the course of the Presiding Elder, _Rev. M.
Goheen_, than whom there is not a more modest, unassuming,
conservative Christian gentleman in the Valley of Virginia,
that, at a recent Quarterly Meeting there, they refused to
attend church, or to hear him preach. This is just the spirit
that actuates your party, everywhere.