14
the blood, transmitted from sire to son, imbibed with mother's
milk; stereotyped upon the heart, and rivetted in the soul.
[Applause.] Witness the sad history of the past three years!
The first test of the Union sentiment of East Tennessee,
upon the existing difficulties, was applied in February, 1861.
The form of the question then was, " Convention or No Con¬
vention," and the electetion of representatives or delegates by
the people to that Convention, in case it should receive a
majority in its favor at the pending election ? The true test in
this election was the aggregate majority of those who vindicated
the Union cause during the contest. The questions before the
people were amply discussed from the rostrum, and when the
day for election came, the State of Tennessee, casting a vote of
130 or 140,000, gave a solid majority of 64,000 opposed to
going out of the Union, and of that number, East Tennessee
gave 34,000 in favor of the Union, and 7,000 against it. [Ap¬
plause.] In June, when the question was put in a different
form, " Eepresentation or No Eepresentation" East Tennessee
again recorded her vote, by overwhelming majorities, against
the great treason. Then came persuasions, soft and sweet;
syren eloquence, dropped like the dews of Hermon into the
ears of our people of the mountains, and our boys were promised
exemption from the battle-field if they would only acquiesce
and let the storm roll on. Well, fellow-citizens, the August
election came, for a Governor, members of Congress, and rep¬
resentatives to the State Legislature. By this time, the bayo¬
nets of the Southern Confederacy bristled all over the State of
Tennessee. Our great men in the middle and western portions
of the State had felt the force of the storm—among them, the
man whom I was proud to serve in 1860, as the representative
of the Union sentiment of our State in conjunction with my
illustrious friend Mr. Everett—I mean John Bell. He, and
the Ewings, Cave Johnson, Neal Brown, and a host of men
whose hearts had been true to the Union until the storm rose,
now felt their knees smite together and their hearts fail
them, and the fury of the tempest swept them all off into the
Southern Confederacy. Our boys in the mountains saw that
storm. Efforts were made to keep us from the ballot-box. We
were told—" The State having now gone out of the Union, if
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