All hail! all hail! the here unflinching!
The pure patriot we sing, unwavering and bold,
Who foul treason denounced, and with deeds was still clinching
His strong speech, when vile traitors in numbers untold
Howled hatred demoniac, and madly were clamoring,
His life should be forfeit! triumphantly sing,
And utter the welcome with the tongue's feeble stammering,
The welcome, the warm welcome, our hearts to him bring!
Safe! safe in our midst, we shall hear the man's voice,
That had cowed all his foes, and made us rejoice;
Then hail him again, and forever and aye!
His country he loves, and for it he would die!
Rejoice! rejoice! for freedom is marching
With her power resistless, to punish and crush;
And the Iris of Union will soon be o'erarching
Again our loved country, when its brave children rush
To rescue its life from the demons now seeking
To blot out its name from the nations of earth.
But rather than this, let their black blood be reeking,
Unpitied by earth, so disgraced by their birth.
Thus speaks he, the hero! Then sing with one voice:
We love and revere him, in his presence rejoice!
Then hail him again, and forever and aye!
His country he loves, and for it he would die!
Shortly after eight o'clock Parson Brownlow came upon the stage, leaning
upon the arm of Joseph C. Butler, Esq., the President of the Chamber of
Commerce.
Mr. Butler, in introducing Mr. Brownlow, said:
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--I have been honored with the pleasing duty of
inaugurating the ceremonies of this occasion, in introducing a renowned
and loyal citizen of our sister State of Tennessee. A State forced by
usurpation, fraud and violence into rebellion against a Government that
her sons in bygone times have done so much to maintain and establish,
and now suffers in being the field of conflict in a desolating civil
war. A State recently baptized again into the fold of the Union by the
martyr patriots' blood shed upon her soil, and will be confirmed in that
fold by continued deeds of heroic daring; within whose limits has been
exhibited by her loyal sons as unfaltering devotion and love of country
as has ever been displayed in the history of any people. Surrounded by
the armed band of desperate and cruel military despots, given up to the
mercy of ignorant and vicious mobs, cut off from all communication with
and support from a Government they were sacrificing themselves to
maintain, these patriots of Tennessee were driven from their homes,
suffered in jails, and sealed, when called on, with their lives on the
scaffold their devotion to the Union and Constitution established by
their fathers. Through a long and weary summer, through the dreary fall
and winter, with hearts sickened by many disappointed hopes, they
suffered and faithfully endured. And now that the armies of the Union
have entered their State, and the flag of freedom once more floats over
its capital, may we not hope that the hour of their deliverance is at
hand. God grant it may be speedy.
One of this noble band of patriots is with us to-night. He will recount
to you some of the scenes he has witnessed, and give you in brief the
history of the rebellion in his once prosperous and noble State. He has
sacrificed on the altar of his country all that man holds most dear,
jeopardizing not only his own life, but the lives of his family and
kindred in vindicating the sacred cause of his country. If we honor the
bravery displayed on the battle-field, how much more should we honor
him, who almost alone, sick and in prison, tempted by seducing offers of
power and place, and with an ignominious death daily threatened,
maintains for weeks and months with unfaltering trust, his faith and
virtue. The instinctive homage of the human heart to genuine courage we
pay to an endurance like this. The historian who will record for the
perusal of our children the list of heroes that this wicked rebellion
has brought forth, will name none whose matchless courage is surpassed,
or the bold outline of whose character for outspoken patriotism, so
overshadows all cavil and criticism, as the hero of the pulpit and the
press. I have now the honor of introducing Mr. W. G. Brownlow, of
Knoxville, Tennessee.