Brownlow published this circular for the "Loyal Men of Tennessee" to protest the appointment of General Longstreet as Surveyor of Customs for the Port of New Orleans and to refute Andrew Johnson's suggestion that he had received funds from Johnson to start a Union newspaper in Knoxville. Brownlow presents his protest by sharing the speech he had made before the U.S. Senate wherein he described Longstreet's actions against the federal government. His refutation is reprinted from a letter he wrote to the editor of the Chronicle in order to explain that the newspaper funds came from the U.S. government. It also stated that Andrew Johnson had compelled rich rebels to pay him money while he was military governor of Tennessee. There are two copies of this circular in the collection.