Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1881-04-01
lamraster frltelAgerlrer.
FRIDAY EVENING. APRIL 1. 1881.
Where He Does Not Shsne.

Senate, and tie circumstance IS unusuai
enough to be noteworthy. Mr.. Gamer
on's ability as speech-maker is not
great, and he serves the state no better
by it than by his silence. We have never
observed in our senator any states
man-like qualities, and he does not en-
Joy any reputation for them. Mr.. Cam
eron is generally and correctly judged to
be man of good sense and of very re-
markable obstinacy, whose special apti-
tude in public life is to shine as thor
ough-going and entirely INSCRIPTIONS
partisan. All his acts and utterances
are of this kind. He believes thoroughly
in the right of the party, which manages
by hook or by crook to obtain power, to
use it with an eye single to its own good
and that of its partisans. Mr.. Cameron
would not think of denying this to he
his doctrine; he affirms it and defends it
and is proud of it. But manifestly
from such platform he speaks
to the country, when he does,
with voice which does not in any de-
gree command its attention. They rec
ognize the fact that he speaks only for
his party, iustifying any act or policy
which he considers beneficial to it. He
now comes forward to patronize Riddle
berger and support Malone.
Mr.. Cameron may always be found
backing up his political friends. 1t
is his strong point. He is for
them right or wrong. You will
always know where to find him
in political battle. You never need t"
inquire who is right, but only which is
the party. Quite possibly Mr.. Cameron
thinks he is always fighting for the right.
Partisans are apt SO to delude them.
selves. He ventured in his latest speech
in the Senate to declare that the Repub-
lican party was for Malone because it
was always for the right. That shows
plainly enough the sort of spectacles lie
wears to view things. He further de.
velopei it when he declared that his
party was always in favor of the
rule of the majority, and that
the Democratic senators who would
not let the majority have its
own way in the Senate were very bad
men indeed. 1t is very good for a party
to be always right and always for the
majority, and Mr.. Cameron could give
no stronger defense Of his position as Z
Republican than by claiming this doc
trine for his party and proving it to bt
entitled to it. If he only could persuade
his fellow citizens that he believed him
self what he declares, they could even ap
plaud his partisanship. But, unfortu
nately, Mr.. Cameron is not chicken o.
q child. 1t is quite impossible for hi:
fe!low-citizens to believe him to lie thu
innocent that he would paint himself
His record does not enable him to de-
clare his devotion to the right and hi:
submission to the majority, with an!
reasonable expectation that he will b'
believed 10y those who know that he de
fines right to lie might, and considers TIN
will of the majority to be properly reat
out of stuffed ballot boxes and in th'
dOctored returns of election boards.
The discovery which Mr.. Cameron la:
made and announces is that the Repub
lican senators propose to give their votes
for Riddleberger for sergeant-at-arms
as an earnest that their party was moi
sectional. He did not take occasion t.
explain why they picked out this partic
ular Hancock electOr for these favors
nor why they did not prefer Southern
Democrat who had not been q champion
of reputation in his state. We do not
gather from Mr.. Cameron's speecl
whether or no he and his party have
concluded to favor reputation in deter
mining to vote for regulators. Mr..
Cameron said he had been i'll and fol
that reason had taken a trip to Fortress
Monroe after declaring that hi!
party was going to make the pend
ing question in the Senate ;
struggle of physical endurance
Mr.. Cameron is, Furthermore, said t.
have been very nervous i'm making hi:
speech and to have shook like an aspen
leaf. We readily believe it. He wOult
have needed to he of brass indeed to have
stood mistaken i'm his place, while first
avOwing his party's devotion to thu
right and to a fair ballot and the rule O
the majority, and winding up with put
ting its support of Malone on its patri
otic desire to put down sectiOnalism
The man who wrote that speech for oul
senator was incOnSiderate. He knew
the orator had a strong stomach, but
still he should have remembered that
the senator was human after all, and he
should not have required from him the
audacity which would have enabled him
to make such discourse from hi:
place in the Senate unsllaken and undis
mayed. 1t requires Il great deal of cour
age in Il man unused to public speaking
to stand i'm such a presence and speak the
best thoughts of his mind and give ut
terance to the nOblest feelings of his
heart. Sustained by the calm conscious
ness of the wisdom and honesty Of his
speech he may summon courage enough
to deliver it with composure. But when
he knows he is uttering nonsense and
speaking falshood, he most naturally
and unavOidably trembles and shakes,
A man needs plenty of experience in
public speaking, one would say, before
he can calmly exhibit himself in the
United States Senate as a knave and a