The Clerk read as follows: STATE of TENNESSEE, Executive DEPT, KNoxville, December31, 1865. HoN. H. MAYNARD: I notice in a Washington paz per a report of your remarks, relative to the case of Captain Nelson. You gave the casesubstantially as the captain and I gave it to you. He was notified of the finding of a true bill against him in NCarolina and of the intention of Governor Worth to make a requisition ome. I told, the captain to himself easy, that make I was familiar with all the facts, that I knew him to have actedunder military ordersw as a member of General Gillem's staff, and that I would not surrender him to a rebel mob in NCarolina. Governor Worth never made such requisition, and I attributed his not doing so to the noise made in the rebel papers, about the same time, of my prompt refusaf to give up the gallant Colonel Smith. upon an application by Governor Jenkins, of. Georgia, for an for stealing 4 bales of cotton, which cotton he had seizedas an officer of the Government. Had I given him up he would have gone to the pen Kentiary for 21 years, not really for stealing cotton, but for having fought through the war on the Federal side. Previous to these occurrences Governor Peirnoint, of Virginia, addressedme a owing communication foreshad his o to make a Hon. R. R. Butler, for demand upon me for a time in the Federal Army, but now one of our superior court judges. I gave the Governor such an answer that no further correspondence took place between us on the subject. I now have before me a demand made upon Major General Thomas by the sheriff of Gordon county for " Captain Duff, of East Tennessee, a gallant officer, who served in the Union Army during the war. Captain Duff was with a party who followed a gang of Geor gia horse thieves into Gordon county, found the Tennesseehorse and a Georgia thief on him; and in the scuffle a Georgian got killed. Although Captain Duff was not in the fight, a commanding general demand was made upon the for him, the sheriff expressin his want of confidence in the civil authorities o Tennessee. The Georgiasheriff properly understandsme. I will not surrender Union officersand soldiers to the horse thieves and bushwhackers of the rebel States to be imprisoned and hung because of their Union sentiments. They werepersecuted during the rebellion and dfurlilvyenabfurosmedt;haenirdhnoomwes, and their families shame it is proposed to keep it up through the courts of reside on the benchthaenrdebteral iStotarstess, ewrvheeraestrjuaritoorrss. There is too much of this thing going on in the rebel States. It ought to be met by Congresswith prompt and vigorous legislation, and a stop put to persecution. all such The o party in Congressowe it to the brave officersof the Union Army and the gallant soldiers who fought under their comman I have the honor to be, &c. W. G. BROWNLOW, Governor of Tennessee. Mr.MAYNARD. I do not propose at this time to go into the general subject broached in that letter. I sought the floor in order to present that statement to the House and to the country. I will remark, however, that there is no tyranny known to mankind so inexorable and terrible as judicial tyranny. The most fearful persecutions that ever the race has been subjected to have been committed under the form of legal proceedings. 2 propositions, as law, at this time are very much pressed in all that region of country where the rebellion has prevailed. The 1st is, that the southern confederacy was the government defacto of that country until it was overthrown, and that consequently its edicts and decrees furnish a legal defense for all trespasses that were committed under it by the conspirators and their followers, whether arraigned for civil or criminal redress. The other proposition is, that everything done by the Federal Government for the purpose of suppressing the rebellion from the time President Lincoln called out 75,000 militia until the closing act of the war, was done in contravention of the national Constitution, and was therefore void and a usurpation, furnishing no protection at all to the agents of the co by whom the war was carried on, whether military or civil. It is not strange that with these 2 propositions declared to be law rebel confiscation should be held to be valid, while confiscation by the authority of the U.S. Government should be held to be void and utterly disregarded. The subject is one that Congress must sooner or later address itself to. It will not do to leave I will not say Union men of the southern country; the men that stood by the Government during the war but it will not do to leave your own officers and soldiers subject to indictment and arrest when ever business, pleasure, or curiosity may induce them, after 5, ten, or 15 years, to visit that country which was the scene of their military exploits. It is a matter that must be provided for, so that men who, under the flag of their country, maintained its honor on the southern battle field and in camp, shall not be subjected to annoyance. It is true at the present moment your citizens are not likely to be annoyed as are those of the southern States who went into the Army and supported the national flag; but leave them to suffer, give them no redress, and believe me the time will soon come when