Hon. Edward Everett stepped forward upon the platform and spoke. He requested the respectful attention of the assembly to Mr. Taylor on his own account, and also that they should “hear him for his cause”--the cause, not simply of the Union, but of faithful Union men who from the beginning of hostilities “had stood at the post of danger; on whom the storm of war first broke, and on whom from that day to this, it has beat with its wildest fury.” “At this distance from the scene of war,” he said, “we hear only the far-off roar of the tempest; but all its waves and billows have gone over the devoted region for which our honored guest comes to plead.” Mr. Everett then gave the true and beautiful description of East Tennessee, which has been repeated in the Introduction to these chapters. He said of that region: “Overrun it may be by the armed forces of the rebellion, but all its sympathies and attachments are with the loyal States. While the aristocracy of the southeastern counties of Maryland, were shouting ‘My Maryland,’ the farmers in the western counties in Cumberland Valley shouted back, ‘No, it’s our Maryland.’ Western Virginia, a portion of the same grand chain of mountain and valley, is as loyal as Massachusetts. Then comes Western North Carolina, and still more, Eastern Tennessee, the home of our honored guest, and of as true-hearted, loyal, Union-loving a population as there is on the continent. As far down as Northern Alabama, the mountain district is filled with Union sentiment. It was with the greatest difficulty it was engineered into secession.” In continuation the eloquent orator spoke of the large majority at the polls in East Tennessee, February, 1861, against a convention for the purpose of seceding and of the subsequent “outrages and cruelties, of which the Union-loving inhabitants were made the victims.” He told how, that “thrown upon their own resources, they naturally sought to save themselves from being overrun by destroying the bridges on the chief lines of communication,” and that in consequence, the great majority of the people of the region were subjected by the Richmond Government to great severities. In that connection he read and sharply censured the letter of Mr. Benjamin, Secretary (C. S.) of War, heretofore repeated. In concluding, he said to his fellow-citizens that their brethren of East Tennessee, fighting battles and suffering persecution, represented a common cause, and he feared the promptest relief extended would be too late to save some from starvation. “This,” he added, “must not be. If the Union means anything, it means not merely political connection and commercial intercourse, but to bear each other’s burdens and to share each other’s sacrifices; it means active sympathy and efficient aid.” [Illustration: REV. N. G. TAYLOR.]