few gray hairs in my head, and, although rather hardfavored than otherwise, I will pass for a man of forty years. I have had as strong a voice as any man in East Tennessee, where I have resided for the last thirty years, and have a family of seven children. I have been speaking all that time; and for the last twenty-five years I have edited and published a WHIG newspaper having a larger circulation than any political paper in the State, and even larger than all the papers in East Tennessee put together. I have taken a part in all the religious and political controversies of my day and time.

I have written several books; but the one which has had the largest run is the one entitled, "The Iron Wheel Examined, and its False Spokes Extracted,"-being a vindication of the Methodist Church against the attacks of Rev. J. R. GRAVES, of Nashville. My reply was published by the Southern Methodist Publishing House, and at the earnest solicitation of the book-agents and other leading members of the Church. It is a work of great severity, but was written in reply to one of still greater severity.

In September, 1858, I was engaged in a debate upon the Slavery question, in Philadelphia, with Rev. ABRAM PRYNE, of New York, in which I defended the institution of Slavery as it exists in the South. The debate was published in Philadelphia, and exhibits my sentiments upon that great question, which have undergone no change since then.

I am known throughout the length and breadth of the land as the "Fighting Parson ;" while I may say, without incurring the charge of egotism, that no man is more peaceable, as my neighbors will testify. Always poor, and always oppressed with security debts, few men in my section and of my limited means have given away more in the course of each year to charitable objects. I have never been arraigned in the Church for any immorality. I never played a card. I never was a profane swearer. I never drank a dram

in

of liquor, until within a few years,—when it was taken as a medicine. I never had a cigar or chew of tobacco my mouth. I never was in attendance at a theatre. I never attended a horse-race, and never witnessed their running, save on the fair-grounds of my own county. I never courted but one woman; and her I married.

I may be allowed to say that I have ever been, as I still am, quite a politician, though I have never been an office-seeker nor an office-holder. I began my political career in Tennessee in 1828, by espousing the cause of JOHN QUINCY ADAMS as against Andrew JACKSON. The latter I regard as having been a true patriot and a sincere lover of his country. The former I admired because he was a learned statesman, of pure moral and private character, and because I regarded him as a FEDERALIST, representing my political opinions. I have all my life long been a FEDERAL

WHIG of the WASHINGTON AND ALEXANDER HAMILTON school. I am the advocate of a concentrated Federal Government, or of a strong central Government, able to maintain its dignity, to assert its authority, and to crush out any rebellion that may be inaugurated. I have never been a Sectional, but at all times a National man, supporting men for the Presidency and Vice-Presidency without any regard on which side of Mason & Dixon's Line they were born, or resided at the time of their nomination. In a word, I am, as I ever have been, an ardent WHIG, and CLAY and Webster have ever been my standards of political orthodoxy. With the breaking up of old parties, I have merged every thing into the great question of the "Union, the Constitution, and the Enforcement of the Laws." Hence, I am an unconditional Union man, and advocate the preservation of the Union at the expense of all other considerations.

In 1832, I was chosen by the Holston Annual Conference as a member of the General Conference of the Methodist Church, which was held in Philadelphia. That year I travelled a circuit in South Carolina, having appointments in the districts or counties of Pickens and Anderson, and also in Franklin county, Georgia, south of the Tugaloo River. Nullification raged in South Carolina to a fearful extert, and men of all professions took sides, either in favor of the General Government or of the South Carolina

Ordinance of Disunion. Mr. CALHOUN, who was an able statesman and a man of most excellent private character, resided in Anderson, and was almost an object of worship among the Nullifiers. At least, when he took snuff, they all sneezed! The Union sentiment was very strong, but Union men were in the minority. I took a firm stand in favor of the Federal Government, and whatever influence I had was thrown into the scale against this wicked attempt of South Carolina to destroy the Government. So fierce was the opposition to me in consequence of the stand I took, that in the fall of that year I published a pamphlet vindicating myself. This was thirty years ago; and it will be refreshing to my Union friends to reproduce a few paragraphs from that defence:

"It is urged against me that I have meddled in the politics of South Carolina and acted with the Union party. Nay, it has been said that I was the tool of Colonel SLOANE and Major PERRY. I plead guilty to the charge of having opposed the heresy of Nullification, but I deny having been the tool of any man, or set of men. Deeply as I have regretted the state of things existing here, and of the breaking up of the Churches, as well as the social intercourse of families. and neighbors, I do not regret having taken sides in favor of the Tariff Acts complained of, of General JACKSON'S proclamation against Nullifiers, and in favor

of enforcing the laws of Congress. If the Tariff Acts complained of were unconstitutional,-which I do not allow,—they afford no plea for dissolving this Union. South Carolina's remedy is at the ballot-box of the country, or in the Supreme Court of the United States, whose judges are able and, as I believe, impartiai.

"South Carolina is looking to the formation of an independent Province, but will not be allowed any such privilege, as her leading men will infer from the proclamation of Old Hickory. I am threatened with proscription and starvation, because I have dared to assert that no law has been passed by Congress, touching the Tariff, at variance with the guarantees of the Constitution and the rights and liberties of the slaveholding States. So far as I am concerned, I ask no favors of the enemies of my Government, either in South Carolina or elsewhere. I can live without you, and live among a people who are loyal, and, having the fear of God before their eyes, they will be more likely to receive and appreciate the teachings of the gospel. That there are thousands of patriotic people in South Carolina, is true; but it is likewise true that there were more Tories here during the Revolutionary War than in all the other States put together. And that the descendants of these old Tories are now in the lead of this Nullification Rebellion, needs no proof whatever to make the charge good. I talk plainly, for one

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