Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1872-07-19
Letter from senator Bayard.

Letter from Senator Bayard.
The following letter has been addressed by
Senator Bayard to friend in Delaware:
MY DEAR SIR The peremptory orders Of
my physicians compel me to obtain absolute
rest and quiet, and for this reason l leave the
country My passage has been engaged, and
l shall sail for Europe on Saturday, the 18th
instant. Although untitled by my condition
of health, feltit to be my duty to 60 to Bal
timore as delegate to the Convention, and it
is in relation to the action of that body that
wish few words with you, and, through you
to my other party friends in Delaware, before
+ leave. need not say to you, or to them,
with what establishment and disappointment
| heard of the nomination of Greeley and
Brown at Cincinnati, nor how steadily and
openly have at all times expressed myself
10 opposition to the adoption of that ticket by
the Democratic party at Baltimore.
But the result has been accomplished, how
ever much against our will and efforts, and it
is our duty, calmly and steadily, to confront
the fact now presented to our eyes. If the
issues of the campaign were those only of rev.
enue reform, of civil service Neutrality-suspicious.
in which pecuniary loss or gain to the public
were involved-I might be willing to take no
part in the Presidential contest, but allow the
dem ralizing course pursued by Grant and
his administration to be continued four years
longer, trusting that the very extent and fla
9itious nature of the notorious abuses would
IN themselves so instruct the people that they
would recoil from placing further trust in such
hands. The natural capacities of the soil and
climates of our country, together with the in
dustry and energies of our people, render the
production of wealth (meSe wealthy almost
boundless, and we can almost afford to bear
the results of financial blunders, and, so long
as they are confined to official circles, of pub
lilo robberies and populations, provided we can
in the end buy our experience through the
usual methods of loss and suffering. But,
severe and painful though these abuses and
their consequences may be, they weigh to me
lightly compared to the destruction Of all the
Limitations upon power which our written
Constitution of Government was designed to
create, and which General Grant and those
who assist him in administering the Govern
ment, including the Radical majorities in both
Houses of Congress. seem either to totally dis
regard, or, as have sometimes thought, to
take a scqrnful pleasure in tramplng under
font
It is utterly impossible fer me, with the
scenes which have witnessed 10 the Senate
of the United States rising before my eyes,
not to feel the gravest apprehensions and a.
larm at auy prospect or suggestion of allow
ing the policy of Grant and his Administra-
ton toward the Southern States and their
white inhabitants longer to continue, if any
honorable act of mine can tend to avert so
great calamity. Gao any man justly deny
that the condition Of the people 10 the Rhen-
ish provinces, torn from France by the armed
hand of Germany. is preferable to-day in all
that protects person and property to that of
the white people in many of the Southern
States under the government which Congress
has set up over them under the so-called sys-
TEN at reconstruction, and which Grant has
upheld either by threats of the bayonet or its
actual presence In those communities? He
and his party have stood by for the last three
years, and have seen the South robbed, To-
suited and almost beggared by a motley crew,
all OF his own political party of uuprincipled
political adventures from the North, and ig-
norant and vicious negroes of the native pop
Hfation, and have uttered no word of disap-
= proval; but, on the contrary, have from time
to time lent the military power of the Gov
eminent las in the cases of the troops sent
upon the application of Governor Holden, of
North Carolina Scott, of South Carolina, or
bis own brotber-in-law, Casey, in New Or
seans) to maintain in power these rapacious
and dishonest rulers whom the sufferings and
discomfort of their people were threatening to
eject from Office and power Now, whether
4 approve Mr.. Greeley personally, or not,
whether he had or not been the steady oppo-
nent.of the political principles and measures
which you and | have been UNFOLDING all our
:afyes, yet ii he has become, with or against
our action or wishes, the most likely or prac-
t'cai means OF restoring better condition of
feeling Ia the North toward the South, and
restoring security and justice to that oppress-
ed region, should feel myself as an Ameri-
Can, without regard to the name of party, but
without the sacrifice of any conviction 10 re-
iation to my political principles, compelled to
assist 10 placing him in power.
l.say nothing now of his qualifications or
personal fitness for the place.. | have spoken
OF them heretofore; and against my wishes
and judgment the representatives of the party
have placed him in the candidacy. If there
was any practical means of electing man
better fitted for the place, and one whose DO
4ltlcai career has been in harmony with your
views and mine, | need not say to you that
should strive to see such one chosen but
the current OF popular opinion in this vast
country takes strange and oftentimes unto
ward directions, and, for good or i'll, sweep us
with It, Sixty days ago the condition of af-
fairs We now witness would have been deem
ed Incredible, and any man would have laugh
ed at, as absurd and impossible, what we now
seek In fact and substance Events as they
now lss1 confront US were shaped in opposition to
our efforts, and as they are, we are not re-
sponsihle for them but we are responsible for
our mode of dealing with them now; and ]
nope our State Convention will promptly and
decidedly nominate an electoral ticket in OBJ
position to Grant aud Wilson, and in favor of
aheonly candidates who, as matters now stand,
can be hopefully expected to defeat them
mean Greeley and Brown, for whom I expect
to vote on the fifth day of November next
hope to return home by the middle of Sep
fcmber, with my health restored, and enabled
10 take part in the politichl canvass. The
SUBJECT to which this letter relates has given
me great deal Of anxiety and distress. which
know is shared by thousands of true men of
sfe same political party in this State; but
believe that my decision is the right one, and
know that it is founded upon honest mo-
tives. This only alternative to whole or
half way aid to Grants reelection may be
hard for us to adopt, but | think it is our
duty, and SO trust will you and the entire
Democracy of Delaware.
Your friend, sincerely,
-. L. #. BAYARD.