The rebel leaders knew that they had very little sympathy in East Tennessee, and took measures to crush out all Union sentiment with the iron heel of military despotism. Any expression of sympathy with the Union cause, any co-operation of its inhabitants with the loyalists, either for their own protection or for the aid of the Government, was punished as a crime. The presses of that part of the State had all been silenced or converted to their own use by the Secessionists, with one exception. _The Knoxville Whig_ remained true to the Union. Its vigorous defence of the Government, its exposures and denunciations of the rebel leaders, its unsparing invective against the rebellion, and its bold, defiant appeals to the people, rang like a clarion through the hills and valleys of East Tennessee, and as the echo gathered from thousands of loyal voices, it made itself heard through all the valleys and mountain passes of that noble border State. The heroic editor of this paper was not to be silenced either in his voice or his press without a vigorous struggle. The Rev. Wm. G. Brownlow had learned how to denounce and how to endure, for that is a lesson most Methodist clergymen are called upon to learn; and being brave in deeds as well as words, he stood forth in defence of the country he loved, when she greatly needed the power of his eloquence and the strength of his arm. The popularity which this man had won by his uprightness, his courage, and firm adherence to the Constitution, gave his opinions a force that made him an object of peculiar importance to the enemy—yet they hesitated to lay violent hands upon a man whose words were more potent than their bayonets. He was frequently threatened by soldiers passing through Knoxville from other States, yet none dared to execute their threats. His family were inspired with the same lofty heroism, and on one occasion when a company of rebels came to his house to haul down the Stars and Stripes, which was kept floating over his domicil, one of his daughters stepped out to meet them, and by her courage and decision protected the flag. The suppression of this undaunted advocate of the Union, and faithful and fearless witness against secession, became an inevitable necessity; and at last, in the hope that he would at least become silent on political affairs, it was resolved to offer him the alternative of the oath of allegiance or the cell of a prison. He chose the latter, and in a valedictory to his readers, published October 26, which must ever be memorable for its heroic defence of the Union, its bold denunciation of the rebels and their course, he announced to his readers the suspension of his paper. This remarkable address, which, under the circumstances, rises to the sublime in its moral courage, closed with these words: “Exchanging, with proud satisfaction, the editorial chair and the sweet endearments of home for a cell in the prison, or the lot of an exile, I have the honor to be, &c.