Failing to call an election of delegates to Nashville by the people, and failing to get a Convention sanctioned, the Governor called an extra session of the Legislature; and that body, in violation of the expressed will of the people, declared an ordinance of separation on the 6th of May, submitting the questions of separa tion from the Federal Government and of representation in the Richmond Congress to be voted on by the people on the 8th day of June. By rushing Rebel bayonets into East Tennessee from the Cotton States, and by intimidating thousands and running rough-shod over others, the State was forced out of the Union, when a majority of her people were utterly averse to any such separation. Frauds were perpetrated at the ballot-box, timid men were kept from the polls, and thousands were allowed to vote who had no right to do so under the laws and Constitution of the State. The vote of East Tennessee, on going out, was as follows: For separation and representation at Richmond, East Tennessee gave 14,700 votes; and half of that number were Rebel troops, having no authority under the Constitution to vote at any election. For no separation and no representation,—the straight-out Union vote,— East Tennessee gave 33,000, or 18,300 of a majority, with at least 5000 quiet citizens deterred from coming out by threats of violence, and by the presence of drunken troops at the polls to insult them. To aid in forcing the State out, the votes of pretended Tennesseeans were taken at the different military camps in and out of the State. Indeed, Governor Harris, in his proclamation on the 24th of June, records the following votes as official, and counts them on the side of Secession : By such fraud and villainy as this, the great State of Tennessee was carried out of the Union. The loyal people of East Tennessee, to their great honor, had no lot or part in the work. The Union men of the State are now in the majority, and will have the State back or die in the last ditch! CHAPTER XVI. Candidate for Governor. ON Saturday, the 23d of March, 1861, I issued thousands of copies of a circular declaring myself a candidate for the office of Governor of Tennessee. I give this document to the world, because it vindicates my consistency as a Union man, and because its doctrines. will do to stand by. I afterwards withdrew from the contest in favor of William H. Polk, a Middle-Tennesseean, who I supposed would have more strength in West Tennessee and be more likely to defeat Secession: To the People of Tennessee. FELLOW-CITIZENS:-As there seems to be a tardiness on the part of aspiring men in the State to declare themselves candidates for the office of Governor at the ensuing August election, and as the people seem a little slow in moving in that direction, I take this method of informing you that I am a candidate for the office. I come before you upon my own responsibility, without solicitations from, or consultations with, the POLITICIANS of the State. To them I do not look for |