St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-26
THE VOICE OF a MAN.

THE VOICE OF A MAN.
Every Democrat and every true man,
whatever his politics, in the country
has reason % be proud OF Ambassador
Bayard. He Is not to be cowed by
the action Of d proflgate and partisan
majority in the congress OF the United
States. He holds n trust that comes
from the people. and for whose faith
full discharge he is answerable to the
people alone. Ii II seemed true, when
he made his address a. Edinburgh. that
the protective system Is the most de-
moralizing form of state socialism
known to modern times, how infinitely
more forceful Is that position when he
sees the paid beneficiaries Of such a
system voting to rebuke him for tell
ing the truth, while their fellows are
raising an enormous corruption fund
from protected interests to purchase
an election, out of which they expect,
and intend to procure legislation that
Will reimburse them for this disgrace
ful expenditure, by taxes wrung from
the people.
Mr.. Bayard has reaffirmed his posi-
ton quietly, but with emphasis and
with dignity, In q speech delivered at
a banquet held in London on Tuesday.
He gives to the American congress the
rebuff that comes with propriety and
with telling force from man with
whom conviction stands higher than
the eXpediency or the passion of the
hour. He asserts for himself declara-
tion of independence that should make
every worthy American fill with pride
as he contemplates the spectacle of
nations representative who has not
learned, and will not learn, to wear the
collar or to bow the head at the nod of
our lords of misrule. Mr.. Bayard
voices the old and true Americanism
when he says that it IS the glory of
his government that it enables a man
to speak according to his own con-
science. He declares that he will say
nothing at home which he would not
say abroad, and that he has said moth
ing abroad which he would not say at
home.
His voice is on the side of eternal
truth. 1t is not with him a question
of majorities, or of trucking to the
commercialism that, just at this mo-
ment, swells its bloated body and blows
it's fetid breath above the free men of
the American republic. He has better
nd mora ap6I1rinor oopnantiOo of AOoar
lean manhood. For HIM might is not
right. For him. and for us, the des-
potism Of the money power, which has
found in the United States it's most
natural and most perfect expression
through the system of protective legis-
lation against the many for the benefit
of the favored few, is thing to be
fought at all hazards and at any cost.
Better, infinitely better for all that a
man suffer whatever may be of re-
proach, and die, if the need come, with
his face to this implacable foe of
republican institutions and of gov
ernment free from the influences that
have wrecked other nations since his
tory began, than that he acknowledge
the order of a degraded knighthood
when the golden sword of commercial
ism touches him on the shoulder.
There is something worthy of the
name of that older and more illustrious
Bayard, who has stood for centuries
as model of chivalry, in the attitude
of our representative at the court of
st. James. If this nation of ours rep
resents anything, it represents free
and incorruptible manhood. That is
what Mr. Bayard stands ror; and it is
! the voice of a man that comes back
to us in calm and imperrurbable de-
fiance across the seas, to say that dig
nifty and principle and loyalty to honor
and the true American conception Of
human liberty and human worth are,
and are yet to be, the only vital forces
in a world that still wages the ire
pressible conflict of liberty and virtue
against the forces Of Mammon