New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-02-24
A SENATOR ON EDUCATION AND SUE
FRdGE

The speech of Mr. Bayard, delivered in the
Senate on wednesday, the 10th inst, was one
of those pre-Adamite productions which one
peruses. in the report, with a kind of curious
interest, as he would regard megatherium. or,
if crcdulous, the Cardiff giant. OF Mr.. Bayards
main arguments it is not our purpose ut pres
ent TO speak; but we desire to call attention
to the remarkable views entertained by INN
of Suffrage and Education. Mr.. Bayard says
distinctly that so far as either is to be made
general in the body polite and part OF the
civil polity, he is not n believer in Its neces-
sity. its right or its policy. This is frank,
but it also indicates an eccentric blgotry. Just
AZ some physicians refuse TO use anes-
thetics, lust as some lawyers have their
brains spotted over with black letter, just as
some clergymen fear an incompatibility be-
tween science and revelation, this Delaware
Senator dIstrusts the very democratic principles
by virtue of which he Is a Senator ut all. lie
wears his laurels only to protest against the
soil from which they sprung. We would do no
public or private man injustice, and Mr.. Bayard
is entitled to an exposition of his own doctrines
in his own language. 1t is the opinion OF the
Senator that future generations may discover
that unlimited suffrage is not benefit to
the people of State that a restricted SUI
frage is wiser for the people of State;
that our system of universal education Is not
the valuable system we suppose IL 10 De- Dut
"is injudicious and unreasonable, operating
unfayorably upon the mental ana moran
health of the people" Mr.. Bayard indicates
his own opinion when he says should they
discover, as IL may weH be they routd."
Now, we do not propose, at this late day, to
enter into q defense either OF Suffrage or OF
Education. There are certain fundamental
principles which, in all our political discussions
at least, we must take for granted. Mr. Bay
ard ignores the fact that lie is living under a
democracy, and fancies that ho is an aristo-
cratic citizen of limited republic, of that kind
which in the very beginning of the nation was
considered, weighed, and finally rejected for a
broader andI more liberal scheme. Democracy
q government by the whole people,
subject to certain limitations of age and
sex which have formed part of all political
systems in the past, whatever may be the dis
position of them in the future. The question
is not whether restricted system would
be, as the Senator says, wiser" but
whether we shall be courageously true to
the system in which we have avOwed belief
and to which we have sworn a fealty-whether
we shall say that all men are equal, and then
proceed by law to establish an inequality.
This is not matter of policy. but of truth and
falsehood, and in q perfectly consistent adj
herence to the former is our only safety; for
if we commence restriction of suffrage no
man knows what the end thereof will be; no.
body can be sure that the governing class will
not become gradually smaller, until all power
may subside into the iron hand of an oligarchy,
or until continued restriction may result In
royal rule. When any nation has based It's
upon doctrine, it is mcaner than
mean and ialser than false not to allow that
doctrine fair play. The limitation OF fran
chises is the beginning of predestlnate
Again, apart from moral considerations, with
which we have here nothing to do, the policy
of universalleducation, which the Senator with,
in this case, perfect consistency condemns, Is
necessary result of the system Oh uniVersai
suffrage Mr. Bayard. with that perversity
which men of refined character Ike his nave
not seldom displayed, thinks it better that
some should be learned, and that Others should
be ignorant lie clings to this last desperate
notion of the Stakeholder albeit Shareholders
have become extinct. lie echoes the drivel of
Gov Wise, and protests that in poor people
reading and writing are fiat felony. Again we
reply. that this is a question which is no longer
open. Education is the armor OF Lib
erty, without which she would perish
in the irregular embraces of her own
An ignorant democracy implies
political uncertainty. great natural mis-