Delaware gazette and state journal., 1895-12-26
MR.. BAyARD'S EDINBURGH ADDRESS.
Boston, Mass, Herald.

Permanence, delivered before the
Edinburgh Philosophical Institution
ON the 7th of last November This ad-
dress was made in consequence OF an
invitation sent to Mr.. Bayard by the
society and was carefully thought out
and prepared philosophic argument.
In what he said, Mr. Bayard seemed
desirous of emphasizing the fact that
there had never been a time when the
need of individual freedom OF action
within the limits of law was greater
than at the present day We were, as
he asserted, in a state of anxious OK
pectancy. Never was speculation so
rife; never were opinions more diverse
at no stage in history was it more i'm
portant to call to mind the great prin-
ciple that government is means and
not an end, Old dynasties were drift
ing helplessly on the surface OF events,
while the governments of other coun-
tries were marked with the sanguine
confidence and luety vigor Of their
people. In other countries there were
associations, both OF labor and capital,
organized, equipped and supported in
a manner never known before, and in
many instances those who should be
CO. partners in productive industry were
| lOuDu IN opposing RANKS.
when, said Mr.. Bayard, contem.
plate the autocratic power that is eX-
| ercised in some countries to-day, and
behold the organized and associated
power Of wealth in numbers welded in
such an overwhelming phaanX in
| others, | ask whero is the safety and
personal freedom of the individual?
How is it to be guarded and secured,
| ba g .ts, s,,.l lt,,t,
ber6 is the essential basis of the free
| dom of the State. The movement of
the day. sometimes open, sometimes
concealed in the robes of philanthropy
and paternalism, but more often dis.
cernable in policies of eefishness, is
toward State socialism as an opposing
force to autocracy. But either is des-
potism and fatal to the individual
freedom OF mans mind and soul. "
| In carrying out this idea Mr.. Bayard
made frequent illustrations from the
experience of his own and other coun-
tries. Speaking of the Federalist
essays he said:
OF the three great Hamilton,
Madison and Jay-whose names adOrn
this volume, and have shed undying
lustre on themselves and upon tho
annals of their country, Alexander
Hamilton is justly held to be the fore
most. His memory is em-
balmed in the grateful hearts of the
people, who received from him services
in council and field second to none OF
her cons, for Washington was tho
Father of his Country The debt
Of the United States TO Scotland for
the men of virtue and ability she has
contributed in the establishment and
maintenance of good government under
REPUBLICAN, institutions is happily
great, but no other single benefit
known to me has outweighed in value
the presence in that country at the
crucial period of its existence of
| Alexander Hamilton. -"
Further on he said: "In the plan of
those who founded American society
the right of the man to self develop
ment was held TO be essential. primer
dial and inviolable, with the single
limitation that he should not infringe
e rights of others. The government
he was expected to support was not
intended TO enrich or support him,
but its powers limited and delegated
in trust, and always terminable, were
never 10 be exercised to create unequal
privileges or trammel his lawful efforts
to contract and labor for his self
advancement. He was TO be protected
against violence and injustice from
without and within, and 10 contribute
equally TO the common defence and
general welfare of the community of
which he was an integral part. T.
Personal conscience is marked in every
line OF the Declaration of Independence
by the American colonists, and each
| nF atF4 Il 70
lind reasons 10 Justify the result They
appealed TO the Supreme Judge of tho
world for the rectitude of their inten-
tions, and, in reliance upon his protec-
tion, they mutually pledged their lives.
their fortunes and their sacred honor
to secure the great ends for which
government was ordained, life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. These
were all such appeals as individuals
alone could make, and could alone
carry such declarations into effect. -
Those statements concerning the need
of personal liberty in order to secure
national happiness were supported by
quotations from decisions of our su.
nreme Court and other American pUliti-
cal experiences. In opposition TO this
stands, in Mr.. Bayard's opinion, the
various forms OF state socialism, against
which the noto of warning must be
raised, as they are frought with danger
to the principle of individual freedom.
After referring to the testimony on
this subject given by Adam smith,
Edmund Burke and others, and the de-
mands of abstract justice, Mr.. Bayard
said:
3" In my own country have Witnessed
the Unsuitable growth of that form OF
State socialism styled protection. which
believe has done more to foster class
legislation and create inequalities If
fortune, to corrupt public life, to Danish
men OF independent mind and charnc-
ter fIom the public councils. to lower
the tone of national representation,
blunt public conscience, create false
standards in the popular mind, ia
familiari2e it with reliance upon State
aid and partnership in private affairs,
divorce ethics from politics and place
politics upon the low level of "A mrrcen-
ary scramble, than any other single
cause. Step by stop, and largely owing
to the confusion Of civil strife it has
succeeded in obtaining control of the
sovereign power of taxation, never hesi
tating at any alliance or to resort ID
any combination that promised to
assist its purpose Of perverting public
taxation from rs only trua justification
and junction of creating revenue for
the support OF tho government of the
whole people into an engine for the sell
fish and private profit of allied bene-
ticiaries and combinations called trusts.
Under It's dictatiun Individual enter
prise and indcpendcnCe have been op-