THE CONVENTION'S ADDRESS то THE PEOPLE.

al Federal regiments, whose retention, though | on the 3d Monday in Deit weakened Lyon, was deemed of vital neces-cember. Before adjournsity for the safety of the Government.

organization of a military
Address to the People.
force, which was to be sus-
tained by extraordinary taxation, and to be abso-
lutely subject to the orders of the Governor, to act
against all opposers, including the United States.
By these acts schools are closed, and the demands
of humanity for the support of lunatics are denied,
that the money raised for the purpose of education
and benevolence may swell the fund to be expended
in war.

the peace of the State. The Address to the People. event which produced exasperation through the State, the capture of camp Jackson, did not take place until the 10th of May. Yet the evidence is conclusive that there was at the time of this correspondence a secret plan for taking Missouri out of the Union without any assent of the people through their Convention. An address to the people of Missouri was issued by Thomas C. Reynolds, the Lieutenant Governor, in which he declares that in Arkansas, Tennessee and Virginia his efforts "Without referring more particularly to the prohave been directed unceasingly, to the best of his visions of these several acts, which are most extraor limited ability, to the promotion of our interests, in- dinary and extremely dangerous as precedents, it is dissolubly connected with the vindication of our lib-sufficient to say that they display the same purpose erties and our speedy union with the Confederate to engage in a conflict with the General GovStates. Here is the second executive officer of Mis- ernment and to break the connection of Missouri souri avowedly engaged in travelling through States with the United States, which had before been mani. which he must regard, while Missouri continues in fested by Governor Jackson. The conduct of these the Union, as foreign States, and those States en- officers of the Legislative and Executive Departdeavoring, as he says, to promote the interest of ments has produced evil and dangers of vast magour State. nitude, and your delegates in Convention have addressed themselves to the important and delicate duty of attempting to free the State from these evils.

"The mode of promoting our interests is disclosed in another passage of the address, in which he gives the people assurance that the people of the Confederate States, though engaged in a war with a powerful foe, would not hesitate still further to tax their energies and resources at the proper time and on a proper occasion in aid of Missouri. The mode of promoting our interests, then, was by obtaining military aid, and this while Missouri continued in the Union. The result of the joint action of the first and second executive officers of the State has been that a body of the military forces of Arkansas has actually invaded Missouri, to carry out the schemes of our own officer, who ought to have conformed to your will, as you had made it known at elections, and had expressed it by your delegates in Convention.

"Still further to execute the purpose of severing the connection of Missouri with the United States, the General Assembly was called, and when assembled sat in secret session and enacted laws which had

for their object the placing in the hands of the Governor large sums of money, to be expended in his discretion for military purposes, and a law for the

The high executive officers have fled from the State, leaving us without the officers to discharge the ordinary necessary executive functions. But, more than this, they are actually engaged in carrying on a war within the State, supported by troops from States in the Southern Confederacy, so that the State, while earnestly desirous to keep out of the war, has become the scene of conflict without any action of the people assuming such hostility. Any remedy for our present evil, to be adequate, must be one which shall vacate the offices held by the officers who have thus brought our troubles upon us."

This is a dark record for the honesty and good faith of those in authority, during April and May; but is it not in perfect keeping with the dishonor and treachery successfully practiced upon the people of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, and Arkansas by a few base spirits?

CHAPTER V.

THE SOUTH AGAINST SECESSION.

TEN

THE LAST STRUGGLE IN
NESSEE'S VOTE, JUNE 8TH. THE GREENVILLE CONVENTION.
THE ADDRESS, PRO-

UNCOMPROMISING

ITS

TEST AND

UNION ACTION.

The Vote of June 8th.

TENNESSEE, though press- a Union sentiment; in

The vote of June 8th.

ed into the Southern Con- Middle Tennessee it subfederacy by the hand of treason and the bay-jected the person to such persecutions as onets of the insurrectionists, still struggled few cared to challenge; in East Tennessee for a hearing. The vote of June 8th, as pro- the loyal sentiment was so immensely in the claimed by Governor Harris in his proclama- ascendant, through the labors of such men as tion of June 24th, was: Andrew Johnson, Judge Nelson, Parson Brownlow, Emerson Etheridge, Horace Maynard, and their fellow-laborers, that the vote polled on the 8th, was over eighteen thousand majority against separation.* Finding themselves powerless before the tyranny

Separation.

East Tennessee,

14,780

Middle 66

58,265

West

29,127

104,913

inaugurated, the Unionists
of East Tennessee resolved, as a last resort, to
hold a Convention at Greenville, to consult
as to the best course to pursue. This Con-
vention met June 17th. The attendance was
very large-thirty-one counties having dele-
gates present on the first day. Judge Nelson
presided. After a four days' session it adopt-
ed a Declaration of Grievances and Resolu-

tions which, emanating from a body com-
posed of enlightened and substantial South-
ern men, deserve particular consideration.
Occupying a position in the physical centre

Giving a majority for "separation" of fiftyseven thousand six hundred and seventy-five. How this vote was obtained we are well informed. The election in February had resulted in a majority of about sixty thousand [see page 24] against calling a Convention to consider an ordinance of secession-showing the Union sentiment to overwhelmingly predominate. Without any further action whatever, with no indication from the people of a change of sentiment, the loyal voters of the State were astounded, on the morning of May 8th, to learn that, on the 6th, their Commonwealth had been transferred to the keeping of the guns of Davis, but that they (the vot*Brownlow, in his " Experiences among the ers) were to be permitted the unusual privi- Rebels," says: "For Separation and Representalege of voting upon the Ordinance of Seces- tion at Richmond, East Tennessee gave fourteen thousand and seven hundred votes. One half of that sion-which was proclaimed on the morning number were rebel troops, having no authority under the of said May 8th [see pages 152, 153]. That Constitution to vote at any election. For No Separation vote having been ordered for June 8th, time and No Representation, East Tennessee gave thirtywas thus allowed for the State to pass under three thousand straight-out Union votes, with at Confederate military rule. When that day least five thousand quiet citizens deterred from comcame it was equivalent to immediate military ing out by threats of violence and by the presence arrest in West Tennessee for a man to express of drunken troops at the polls to insult them."

provision is made by law for
an examination of the vote by
disinterested persons, or even

Declaration of Griev

ances.

causes, we do not regard the result of the election as

Tennessee. * *The Union men of East Tennessee,

of the Union's area; originally settled almost exclusively by citizens of the Slave States adjoining, (Virginia and North Carolina); allied to the Southern States by sympathy for contesting the election. For these and other with "Southern Institutions" as well as by commercial relations; intelligent, law-abid-expressive of the will of a majority of the freemen of ing and conservative, East Tennessee, it may be presumed, represented the voice of an arbiter, whose decision and views history will sustain. We quote from the Declaration such sentences and sentiments as seem to demand repetition :

Declaration of Griev

ances.

We, the people of East Tennessee, again assembled in a Convention of our delegates, make the following declaration in addition to that heretofore promulgated by us at Knoxville, on the 30th and 31st days of May last: So far as we can learn, the election held in this State on the 8th day of the present month was free, with but few exceptions, in no part of the State, other than in East Tennessee. In the larger parts of Middle and West Tennessee no speeches or discussions in favor of the Union were permitted. Union papers were not allowed to circulate. Measures were taken in some

parts of West Tennessee, in defiance of the Constitution and laws, which allow folded tickets, to have

the ballot numbered in such manner as to mark and

expose the Union votes. A disunion paper, the
Nashville Gazette, in urging the people to vote an
open ticket, declared that a thief takes a pocket-
book or effects an entrance into forbidden places by
stealthy means--a tory, in voting, usually adopts
pretty much the same course of procedure.' Dis-
unionists, in many places, had charge of the polls,
and Union men, when voting, were denounced as
Lincolnites and Abolitionists. The unanimity of the
votes in many large counties, where, but a few
weeks ago, the Union sentiment was so strong,
proves beyond doubt that Union men were over-
awed by the tyranny of the military power and the
still greater tyranny of a corrupt and subsidized
press.
Volunteers were allowed to vote
in and out of the State, in flagrant violation of the
Constitution. From the moment the election was
over, and before any detailed statement of the vote

*

*

in the different counties had been published, and before it was possible to ascertain the result, it was exultingly proclaimed that separation had been carried by from fifty to seventy thousand votes. This was to prepare the public mind to enable the Secessionists to hold possession of the State though they should be in a minority.' The final result is to be announced by a disunion Governor, whose existence depends upon the success of secession, and no

anxious to be neutral in the contest, were content

to enjoy their own opinions and to allow the utmost latitude of opinion and action to those who differed from them. Had the same toleration prevailed in other parts of the State, we have no doubt that a majority of our people would have voted to remain in the Union. But, if this view is erroneous, we have the same-and, as we think, a much betterright to remain in the Government of the United States than the other divisions of Tennessee have to secede from it."

Thus far in regard to the character of that "election"-the second instance, in all the Seceded States, in which an Ordinance of Secession was submitted to the people for their acceptance or rejection! The Declaration then proceeds to give the Convention's views of National obligations and relations, and to express its opinion of the secession movement. We may quote:

"We prefer to remain attached to the Govern ment of our fathers. The Constitution of the United States has done us no wrong. The Congress of the United States has passed no law to oppress us. The President of the United States has made no threat

against the law-abiding people of Tennessee. Under

the Government of the United States we have enjoy

ed, as a nation, more of civil and religions freedom

than any other people under the whole heaven. We believe there is no cause for rebellion or secession on the part of the people of Tennessee. None was

assigned by the Legislature in their miscalled Declaration of Independence. No adequate cause can be assigned. The Select Committee of that body asserted a gross and inexcusable falsehood in their address to the people of Tennessee when they de clared that the Government of the United States has made war upon them.

"The secession cause has thus far been sustained

by deception and falsehood: by falsehood as to the action of Congress; by false dispatches as to battles

*The Virginia vote of May 23d, 1861, was taken under like círcumstances; the hordes of the Confederacy being everywhere in Eastern Virginia, to prick with the bayonet any man presumptuous enough to entertain Union sentiments. We do not name the vote allowed in Texas: it was a mockery too base to be called a vote.

DECLARATION

OF

GRIEVANCES.

297

that were never fought and victories that were never won by false accounts as to the purposes of the President; by false representations as to the views of Union men, and by false pretenses as to the facility with which the secession troops would take possession of the Capital and capture the highest officers of the Government. The cause of secession or rebellion has no charms for us, and its progress has been marked by the most alarming and dangerous attacks upon the public liberty. In other States, as well as our own, its whole course threatens to annihilate the last vestige of freedom. While peace and prosperity have blessed us in the Government of the United States, the following may be enumerated as some of the fruits of secession :

Declaration of
Grievances.

"It was urged forward by members of Congress who were sworn to support the Constitution of the United States, and were themselves supported by the Government.

"It was effected without consultation with all the States interested in the slavery question, and without exhausting peaceable remedies.

"It has plunged the country into civil war, paralyzed our commerce, interfered with the whole trade and business of our country, lessened the value of our property, destroyed many of the pursuits of life, and bids fair to involve the whole nation in irretrievable bankruptcy and ruin.

"It has changed the entire relations of States, and adopted Constitutions without submitting them to a vote of the people, and where such a vote has been authorized, it has been upon the condition prescribed by Senator Mason, of Virginia, that those who voted the Union ticket must leave the State.' "It has advocated a constitutional monarchy, a king and a dictator, and is, through the Richmond press, at this moment recommending to the Convention in Virginia a restriction of the right of suffrage, and in severing connection with the Yankees, to abolish every vestige of resemblance to the institutions of that detested race.'

'It has attempted to destroy, and we fear will soon utterly prostrate the freedom of speech and of the press.

"It has involved the Southern States in a war whose success is hopeless, and which must ultimately lead to the ruin of the people.

"Its bigoted, overbearing and intolerant spirit has already subjected the people of East Tennessee to many petty grievances: our people have been insulted; our flags have been fired upon and torn down; our houses have been rudely entered; our families subjected to insult; our peaceable meetings interrupted; our women and children shot at by a merciless soldiery; our towns pillaged; our citizens robbed, and some of them assassinated and murdered.

No effort has been spared to deter the Union men of East Tennessee from the expression of their free thoughts. The penalties of treason have been threatened against them, and murder and assassination have been openly encouraged by leading secession journals.

"As secession has been thus overbearing and intolerant while in the minority in East Tennessee, nothing better can be expected of the pretended majority than wild, unconstitutional and oppressive legislation; an utter contempt and disregard of law; a determination to force every Union man in the State to swear to the support of a Constitution he abhors; to yield his money and property to aid a cause he detests, and to become the object of scorn and derision as well as the victim of intolera

"It has formed military leagues, passed military bills, and opened the door for oppressive taxation, without consulting the people; and then, in mockery of a free election, has required them by their votes to sanction its usurpations, under the penalties of moral proscription or at the point of the bayonet.ble and relentless oppression." "It has offered a premium for crime in directing the discharge of volunteers from criminal prosecutions, and in recommending the Judges not to hold

their courts.

"It has stained our statute book with the repudiation of Northern debts, and has greatly violated the Constitution by attempting, through its unlawful extension, to destroy the right of suffrage.

In view of these considerations, and of the fact that the people of East Tennessee had declared their fidelity to the Union by a majority of nearly twenty thousand votes, the Convention resolved and declared their wishes and purposes as follows:

"1. That we do earnestly desire the restoration of peace to our whole country, and most especially