Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-08-12
CAMERON AND LINCOLN.

HOtc Gen. Cameron Settled the Re Election
of Lincoln by q Coup dEtat.
From the Harrisburg pa. Telegraph.
Mr.. Lincoln's cabinet was not composed
of his personal friends, it having ambition in
it, disappointed great statesmen, who felt
that they ought to be in the first instead of
a second or subordinate place in the govern
ment. At the time Gen. Cameron was liv-
ing quietly at his country home, Lochiel,
near Harrisburg, taking but little part in
the intrigues of politics, though watching
the political chess-board with that intense
interest which has always characterized him.
Then it was that he conceived the idea of
making q move which would put the renomi-
nation of Mr. Lincoln beyond the peradven-
ture of a doubt In accordance with this
idea Gen. Cameron dictated a letter, drawn
with view to request Mr.. Lincoln to be
candidate for the Presidency second time.
This letter was prepared under the direction
and dictation of Gen. Cameron, and when Ii
had been completed to his satisfaction, at
his instance it was signed by every Republi-
can member of the legislature, speakers and
clerks of both houses (all being Republi-
cans), and the document thus pre-
pared was presented in person by Gen. ST.
mon Cameron to Abraham Lincoln, and the
fact telegraphed to all parts of the country
When the announcement was made that the
Republican majority of both houses of the
Pennsylvania legislature had united III re-
questing Mr.. Lincoln to be a candidate for
reelection, it excited the wonder and alarm
of all of Lincoln's opponents, while the Re
oublicans in the State legislatures then in
session hurried forward with similar adj
dresses, each anxious to be in second to
Pennsylvania in offering the highest honors
of the party to the illustrious character who
afterward became tue great martyr of equal
rights and exact justice on the western CON
tinent. When Gen. Cameron presented the
address of the Republicans of Pennsylvania
to Mr.. Lincoln, he sagaciously regarded it as
his winning card, and accepted the act as the
most sincere evidence of personal devotion
he had re eived since he reached the White
House. 1t silenced all his opponents and
squelched the intrigues started for his over
throw and without a doubt secured his re-
nomination. This is fact IN the political
history of the country never before brought
out, but it is fact nevertheless which can
be attested by living witnesses.
That Gen. Cameron's movement through
5ne pennsylvania legislature insured A1f.
Linccln's denomination was admitted at the
time by the leading journals of all parties in
the country. Mr.. Lincoln keenIy felt and
cordially acknowledged the great personal
devotion thus manifested for him, because
it instantly lifted him out of anything like a
personal effort on his part for the pla> for
a second term, and made him, by the united
voice of the representatives of the Republi-
cans of the Keystone State, the recognized
leader of national Republicans and the favor
lite candidate of its masses for reelection.
The entire movement originated with Gen.
Cameron. When the letter was proposed
by him, which the Republicans in the legis-
lature afterward signed, no human being
knew of its preparation but himself and his
secretary, and the first Republican who
signed it was the first man outside the me-
dunn of it's preparation who had any know
ledge Of its existence. This chapter of his
tory is well worthy of preservation, and we
now for the first time allow it to go forth
because the period for its publication has
arrived,