Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-10-15
COMMENT ON Mr.. BAYARD'S LETTER.
HOSTILE TO THE CHICAGO PLATFORM.

that he is unalterably hostile to the
platform and the tickst set up by his
party at Chicago. He says that a con
stitutional" Democrat canuot, In any
degree, give his sanction to such a
platform and such nominees, because
under the legislative powers claimed
the credit OF the nation and the peace
and order OF society would inevitably
perish. Having paid his respects to
his own political household, he extends
his condemnation to the Republican
party, and urges his friends to support
Palmer and Buokner. This is aa far as
Mr.. Bayard could be expected to 60 in
opposition to reputation and spolia-
ton, and we do not feel like INDUCING
In harsh criticisms of bis position. 1t
was not expected that he would urge
his sound-money brethren to vote for
Mckinley and Hobart though In that
way every sound money Democrat can
make his vote count twice in the poll.
But We repel as utterly untrue Mr..
Bayard's statement that the Republic
can party Is in any way responsible for
the rape of the Democracy by the free
silver men and Populists at Chicago.
| We are reminded by that statement of
his prior statement In 1861, that the
Republican party was responsible for
| the secession of the slave States. Such
statements in the light of history are
| OF the same weight of the plea Of a
| cold-blooded murderer, In which no
puts all the blame on his victim. 1t
| ID not creditable to even a moderate
statesman to hold the Republican party
responsible for the downfall Of the
Democracy at Chicago. And We must
remind Mr.. Bayard, that his own party
leaders in that convention declared
| that under the lead of such Democrats
| as he and Mr.. Cleveland the party had
become destructive to free government.
| We shall also have to remind him that
| Mr.. Bryan is daily charging the gravest
crimes against the Democratic party,
or the faction of that party to which
Mr.. Bayard belongs. We must further
remind him that in striking hands
with the Altgelds, the Lewellings and
| fellow Democratic leaders invited ex-
actly what has followed. But this was
only history repeating itself. The same
leaders were willing to strike hands
| with the slave oligarchy every four
years from 1888 to 1860. solely for the
privilege of controlling Federal patron
| age. They not only made secession
| possible, but actually instigated it,
| and the fearful waste of life and prop
erty from 1861 to 1865 was the work of
| such Democrats as the Bayards and
| the Saulsburys. They allied them
selves with the foes of liberty and
| human equality, and when tho jnevita-
BILE end came, where did they stand?
Well, they did not stand for the
Union and the Constitution. That is
certain. They stood apart, and charged
the responsibility for the rebellion
:, upon the Republican party. The entire
history OF the Democratic party from
1896 to the present time is a history of
plumbers unparalleled and fragrant
crimes against the true spirit OF liberty.
True, there have been lucid intervals,
such as that of lS4S. of the war Democ-
racy, and now of the sound money
Democracy. But the party for half a
century has, as unity, simply demon
strated the incapacity to govern even
itself, much less the country. We can
not accept counsel from such men as
Thomas Il. Bayard. We have no mind
to be led by blind men into the inevita-
Bile ditch. The party found its last
ditch at Chicago. and we take great
pleasure in acknowledging that even
| Mr.. Bayard refuses to take that ditch.
So far as he goes he is lucid. His error
| is a common error-when a Demucrar
caroms against history.
THE VOICE OF A GENUINE DEMOCRAT.
| New York Times.
Nobody can dispute the right of
| Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware, now
our Ambassador in London, to speak for
the Democratic party Of this country.
| For a generation he has been one of
the ablest, most consistent, upright,
| and earnest representatives of its
principles. Nobody understands better
the policy upon which that party was
| founded and for which it has stood
| through the vicissitudes OF nearly a
century of political history. II was to
| be expected that man with his deep
and firm-set convictions, his sincerity
| aud courage and his fidelity to his
own sense Of duty would be heard from
in this campaign when the party of his
lifelong fealty is found in such a
strange position.
| In the letter to a citizen of Whining
ton, which is just now published, Mr..
Bayard states so clearly and forcibly
his own attitude in regard to the
issues of this campaign that II seems
to clear away the mist and confusion
that Populism has thrown over the
| political conflict and to carry us back
to the time when National honor and
personal honesty could not be made an
issue between parties. 1t is not neces-
sary to reiterate the language of Mr..
Bayard, or to state his position in re-
gard to what Bryan stands for in
| finance or what Mckinley stands for
in taxation. Every American voter,
and especially every Democratic voter,
should read the words for himself.
But the most solemn Significance of
this communication from distin-
| guished American in foreign country
lies in its appeal to patriotism and the
responsibility of citizenship. He says:
In these seasons of excitement,
alarm. and passionate unreason, which
are almost inevitable In the history of
any nation, a patriotic, sincere, and
self.respecting man will hear and heed
the summons, and will feel the real
trial of his soul to support. in the
| hour of their Distress the truths be
has deliberately weighed and avowed it
to be his duty to sustain for the well
fare of the country to which his faith
and allegiance have been plighted.
As Democrat to whom the currency
policy of Bryan and the tariff policy Of
Mckinley are almost equally repug-
nant, Mr.. Bayard regards the candi-
dacy of Palmer and Buckner as afford
ing "citadel and an asylum for the
| noIitiral ronacianca 0f any man