. Sketches of the rise, progress, and decline of secession, with a narrative of personal adventures among the rebels . to one small sheet, whose errors could becombated by the entire Southern press! It is notenough that my paper has been denied a circulationthrough the ordinary channels of conveyance in thecountry, but it must be discontinued altogether, or itseditor must write and select only such articles as meetthe approval of a pack of scoundrels in Knoxville, whentheir superiors in all the qualities that adorn humannature are in the penitentiary of our State! And thisis the boasted libert
. Sketches of the rise, progress, and decline of secession, with a narrative of personal adventures among the rebels . to one small sheet, whose errors could becombated by the entire Southern press! It is notenough that my paper has been denied a circulationthrough the ordinary channels of conveyance in thecountry, but it must be discontinued altogether, or itseditor must write and select only such articles as meetthe approval of a pack of scoundrels in Knoxville, whentheir superiors in all the qualities that adorn humannature are in the penitentiary of our State! And thisis the boasted liberty of the press in the Southern Con-federacy ! I shall in no degree feel humbled by being cast intoprison, whenever it is the will and pleasure of thisaugust Government to put me there; but, on the con-trary, I shall feel proud of my confinement. I shall goto jail—as John Rodgers went to the stake—for myprinciples. I shall go, because I have failed to recog-nize the hand of God in the work of breaking up theAmerican Government, and the inauguration of themost wicked, cruel, unnatural, and uncalled-for war fife. AMONG THE EEBELS. 253 ever recorded in history. I go, because I have refusedto laud to the skies the acts of tyranny, usurpation,and oppression inflicted upon the people of East Ten-nessee for their devotion to the Constitution and lawsof the Government handed down to them by theirfathers, and the liberties secured to them by a war ofseven long years of gloom, poverty, and trial! I repeat,I am proud of my position and of my principles, andshall leave them to my children as a legacy far morevaluable than a princely fortune, had I the latter tobestow! With me life has lost some of its energy: havingpassed six annual posts on the western slope of half acentury, something of the fire of youth is exhausted;but I stand forth with the eloquence and energy of rightto sustain and stimulate me in the maintenance of myprinciples. I am encouraged to firmness when I lookback to th
Size: 1322px × 1890px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectunitedstateshistoryc
