Wilmington daily commercial., 1875-10-20
THE LACK OF REPUBLICAN INTEREST IN
MIR. RhYARD.


Delaware Republicans do or ought to have deep
interest in the election OF Senator Bayard as
President of the United States, either because
NJ the personal interest they may take in the ad-
ysncement OF the Senator's fortunes, or because
Of the supposed honor to be thereby cast upon
the State. Such considerations may influence peo-
pie of the nainby -pamby, goody-goody sort, With
no clearly defined Opinions on political ques-
tons, or without strong convictions OF political
duty, but We respectfully submit that the Re
publcana Of Delaware are not made OF such
ntur. They :nnst change their character or
acquire ready forgetfnlness, before they can
take the position suggested.
It can hardly be expected that at the end OF
bare decade from the overthrow Of the Rebel
lion, the Republicans Of Delaware would view,
with any degree of satisfaction, the passing of
the executive authority of the Republic into the
hand. OF one whose political sympathies and
views OF Constitutional Interpretation led him to
pnblicly denouuce the attempted suppression Of
tho Rebellion az "a crime" They would not be
w!lling-nay, the country is unwillug-to trust
the Presidential authority to any man identified
with the Rebellion, such as General Gordon, or
joombs, or Jen Davis, and yet Mr.. Bayards
views and theories do not differ from theirs. 1t
IL an open secret that his friends
confidently rely upon the almost undivided sup.
port Of the South in the Democratic National
Convention, because the Southern politicians
recognize in him one whose heart was daily and
hourly with them in their struggle to destroy
the Government They know that only the ge-
osraphical position OF Delaware kept him from
rat,ipoant or broada in, THAR rrnv
that followed the stars and bars. 1t would hard
~ be wondered at that Republicans either Of
the State OF elsewhere Gnd nothing in these facts
to commend tue Senator to their favor.
Believing too, they do, that the policy upon
which the States in rebellion were restored to
their position in the nation was dictated by the
highest considerations of necessity..and wisdom,
they will hardly be inclined to help make one
President who opposed the reconstruction acts at
every stage and step, and who heHitated not to
denounce them in the last Democratic National
Convention at Baltimore, in spite of the seal Of
approval put upon them by that Convention.
Accepting al the Republicans OF Delaware do
the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth
Amendments OF the Constitution as the final
settlement OF the great principles established
by them they will not be disposed to help elect
President who in theory and in act holds and
treats them as unconstitutional, and who, just
az in Delaware he has resisted their enforcement
IN the Courts, would az President, by his policy
snl his appointments, systematically seek to
nnlify and destroy them.
II the Democratic party ask them to believe
that it has accepted in good faith tho amend
uenta To the Constitution, and il entrusted with
power, will in equal good faith carry them ont,
they will require of it some better evidence OF
sincerity, than the nomination for the Presi-
dency Of one who is the very final expression
"f American Bourboni1m, who ia admitted to ,be
a man OF convictions, but whose profoundest
convictions arc. that those amendments should
be destroyed
To be sure, Mr.. Bayard ia personally honest
aud free from the faint OF corruption, but 10 il
senstor Salisbury and 20 is Congressman vii.
ilAms and We have yet to hear of their being on
thtiisccount nominated for President Honesty ia
IN Delaware not so novel characteristic and
while it IL Unnecessary, it has not yet become in
'tself a suiicient qualification for high station.
50, too, Mr.. Bayard maintains his opposition
10 measures OF imitation, in the abstract-thonph
he II not di=tant in sympathy from some Of the
Fneasnres which the infationista propose
remembering how he opposed the surrender to
Greeley at Baltimore, and then embraced not only
the candidate bnt the platform, and returned
from beyond tho hcas to support both, what rea
son have We TO expect that his firmness or his
consistency will he any greater at this juncture :?
We may say in brief that Mr.. Bayard has es-
tabllshed no claim upon the regard Of Repub-
icauH. HE whole public record il an offence to
their convictions Of principle. Few, even among
tho Democracy hive more systematically con-
tsmnod all that Republicans have desired and
advocated. Al we instanced, recently, he can
not, even in formal letter, speak OF tho
leading Republican Senators, his colleagues
and his equals, in terms OF ordinary civ
i.ty. From u standpoint az far removed
from that Of Hepublicana as the limitations of
American politics would permit he has regarded
thom with superciliou4 and unmixed dislike.
The measure Of Mr. Bayard in so small State
may seem large, bat in the broad area Of the
Republic it grows infinitely less That his par
ty may nominate him for the Presidency seems
lay highly probable but few candidates whom
1t eau select wonld be more vulnerable to attack
ar more certain to be defeated. 1t can scarcely
he possible that the people are yet ready to
elect to the Presidency any representative of
the theories and schemes which organized the
rebellion and carried it forward, or that while
they reject the Gordohs and the Toombseu, they
the actual wearing OF the gray uniform fully as