Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-10-04
SELEI IT.
GEN. WILLIAM Fl. K00NTZ.
He Speaks at the Independent
Meeting in Pittsburgh
Sept. 26th.
Record OF the Camerons Given in Detail
from the Beginning.
Reported for Pittsburgh Dispatch.

quent Somerset county Independent
was the next speaker. His orator
was very lengthy, and was mastery
review of the history of Bossism il
Pennsylvania. 1t was heartily re
ceived by the audience, the stro ne
points, with which the address fairly
bristled, meeting with round aftel
round of applause. Gen. Koontz re-
viewed for some time the politica
causes leading up to the existing stu
alton in Pennsylvania politics, and
next enumerated and pointedly dis
cussed the abuses and wrongs against
which the Independents protest. De
claring and proving fully that
THE sPoILs SYSTEM
in Pennsylvania had its origin in the
elevation of Simon Cameron to the
Senate, the speaker turned to the rec.
ord of the Camerons. Said he:
The record of other statesmen of that
day is known of all men. Lincoln,
with consummate tact, was reconcil.
ing the dissensions of contending fac
ti6ns, and with great ability was
guiding the affairs of the country ;
Seward, with mastery skill, was, as
Secretary of State, managing our
foreign affairs Chase, at the head OF
the Treasury Department, was matur-
ing his splendid financial system, which
was to prove one of the great aids in
the salvation of the country; Stanton,
the great War Minister, was organ
izing war as no man had done since
the days of Carnot; Greeley, at the
head of a great newspaper, was help
ing to mould loyal public sentiment,
and Sumner, with chaste and polished
diction, made the Senate resound with
his patriotic sentiments, while Thad-
deus Stevens, the great Commoner,
was marshaling the loyal forces on the
floor of Congress, and wisely mould
ing the laws of the country.
In this grand struggle by grand
men for the preservation of free insti-
tutions, where were the Camerons
Echo answers, Where
The record of their whole life is
made up, not of wise debate upon
great questions, not in instituting
great measures of public policy, but of
low intrigue for place and power for
themselves and friends,
THE 1857 ELECTION.
The manner of the elder Cameron's
election in 1851 and his attempt to
secure another election in the SEN
ate of the United States in 1868 are
matters of public history, and may
well cause every honest man to hide
his head in shame. Both took place
in times of great public excitement
and in periods momentous with the
well being of this country In 1857
the whole country was stirred through
out its length and breadth with the
slavery question. The Southern
oligarchy was using its vast power,
aided by the administration of James
Buchanan, to spread the institution of
slavery in our Territories and to fas-
ten the iniquitous Lecompton Consti-
tuition upon Kansas. In that great
contest where was Simon Cameron
Was he using his influence to resist
the further spread of that institution
Was he, either by voice or pen, or in
any other way aiding the cause of
human freedom ? If he was / am yet
to learn it. But one thing the pub
lie do know, that he was a candidate
for the United States Senate, that the
Democrats had a majority in joint bal
lot in the Legislature, that John w.
Forney was their candidate, and that
when the vote was taken three Demo-
Gratis, Lebo, Manear and Wagonseller,
deserted Forney and voted for Came
ron. In 1861 the kindhearted Lin
coin was induced to take him into his
Cabinet as Secretary of War, and af-
ter the rebellion was inaugurated, and
while the very life of the Nation hung
in the balance he was so reckless in
the expenditure of public moneys and
In the awarding of contracts that he
had to be removed from Lincoln's
Cabinet under vote of censure by
Congress. Was his son more patriotic
than his father If he did ANYTHING
more during that stormy period than
to expend his energies and intellectual
force in making profitable horse con-
tracts, it is unknown to history, and
we find another evidence of the fact
that history repeats itself when we re-
member that when the liberties of the
patriots of the Revolution were won,
ond nj hn ho+ 4hnxr
were rejoicing over their great triumph,
the voice of John Hook, as described
by Patrick Henry, was heard hoarsely
brawling through the American ranks,
"beef!' "beef!" and that when this
Nation was in the agony of civil war,
and when its very existence was i'm
periled, the voice of our imperious and
dictatorial Senator was heard only in
demanding horse contracts. Oh, for
some Patrick Henry to portray this
Pennsylvania Senator amid the blood
shed and agony of the civil war clam
oriDg for horse contracts, as he por-
trayed John Hook in revolutionary
times demanding the price of his beef
In 1868, when the rebellion still
threatened the very life of the Nation,
and one year before the Democratic
party in National Convention at Chi
cago had declared that the war for the
preservation of the Union was fail
ure, Simon Cameron was again candi-
date for the Senate. The Democratshad
a majority of one in joint ballot and
Charles Il. Buckalew was their NOM
inee, and Simon toiled and tussled
long with one DR.. Boyer, a Democrat,
to induce him to vote for him (Came
ROM for the United States Senate.
But this time his power of persuasion
failed, and Buckalew was elected.
OPPOSING THREE TERMS.
In 1875 Simon Cameron, then not in
very intimate relations with the Grant
administration, procured the passage
by State Convention of resolution
in OppoSitiOn m n third torn, for A.