Smyrna times., 1886-09-01
Mr.. Bayard's Nemesis.

We give the following from the Cecil
wing to show the attention which has
been attracted to the politics of our
state, and the kind of comments that
are being made by our neighbors:
We recently took occasion to ex-
press the opinion, that one of the most
egregiOus errors of Mr.. Bayard's life.
was the use of his influence to defeat
the will of the people, who asked an
opportunity to say by their ballots
whether or not Rum and its multiplied
evils should longer affiict Delaware. It
Is IN evidence, that but for the poten-
tlal personal influence that Mr.. Bayard
exerted at Dover, the bill authorizing
the submission of the liquor question
to popular vote in that state, would
have become law, and the most strict
ly Democratic method of temporarily
settling that question would have been
adopted by the legislature of Delaware.
But such peaceable and legal methods
looking to the publication and morali-
zation of society were not in accord
with Mr.. Bayard's political plans. He
had already aided his party in practic-
ally dlstranchising large proportion
OF the voters of that state who were
opposed to him politically, and his
chief concern was the perpetuity of his
own personal power in the politics of
Delaware, by the overthrow of a rival
faction in his own party, and which
was seriOuly encrOaching upon the
Bayard prerOgative of autOcratic dicta-
tiOn in the local politics of that state.
Mr.. Bayard knew the value of Rum as
a political agency in the politics of
Delaware, and when his own ambitions
were involved, he did not hesitate to
lend it his aid and assistance. But as
an agency it has failed him, and al
though we do not assert that his atti-
tude on the liquor question in Delaware
was the sole cause of his recent morti-
lying defeat, we do maintain that the
offence Mr.. Bayard and his local agents
had given the moral classes of the peo-
pie of Delaware, by their open espousal
of the rum cause and their defeat of
the local option bill, lost him
the sympathy and support of a large
element of the best people of Delaware.
Because Mr.. Bayard has Intentionally
catered to the worst elements of society
in his struggle to maintain his political
supremacy in Delaware, we are glad
he has been defeated.
6 1t is high time in the politics of this
country, as well as in Delaware, that
men who are invested with the respOn-
sibility of political leadership, should
cease " STOPPING to conquer" by truck
ling to the lowest classes of society,
simply because bad men are more
numerous than good men. There will
come day in this country, and that
very soon, when the black jug" which
holds the balance of political power
must be broken. What a spectacle
every sharp political struggle either in
Delaware or Maryland disclOses Men
of the finest cloth and highest social
prominence, who would resent the
slightest affrOnt put upon their person
al honor, contribute their means liber-
ally to the whiskey campaign fund,
and wEile themselves sober, walk over
the PROSTATE bodies of drunken voters
to places of honor and trust.
Ah, what reformation is needed in
the practical politics of our times when
men who sit every Sunday in high
places in Gods sanitary, do not hesi-
tate for the sOrdid gains of partizan
politics, to debauch their fellow men
during the week with their too popular
agent-Ruml
"As Mr.. Bayard has in Delaware
made his bed SO let him lie in it. If his
agencies had been better and his meth
Ods higher, we might have overlooked
his personal incompetence and his Off
cial failures. Heaven has for some
reason punished him severely during
the past year. Personally all must
sympathise with the subjects of death
and bereavement. But weakness is
objectionable, and men will not over
look it. The State Department of this
government has been in Mr.. Bayard's
hands a lamentable failure. The meas
ure of ability needed to shape the des-
TIMES of the Democratic party in a
state with three counties, does not
meet the demands and emergencies of
the Prime Minister'S portfolio.
If Mr. Bayard's official career closes
in black darkness he has no one but
himself to blame. AS Lord Byron said
of Henry Kirk White he himself has
helped to plant the wound that laid
him low.' '"--Ceci Wing.