Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-03-19

ihatlc FORM. IL appeared, however, tpat
temperate utterance was not In accordance
with the popular demand, and - appeared
| that Congress was attempting to meet this
demand. He had had no objection to the
Senate resolution, except that it was con-
current. and not joint in form.
| THE HOUSE.
The galleries of the House, despite the
| inclement weather outside. Were well filled
! today in anticipation of the resumption
| Of the debate on the resolutions to censure
| Ambassador Bayard, which were called up
| Immediately after the reading of the
| journal.
Mr.. Taft (Ohio) took the 1oor in support
| of the resolutions.
Eir. Taft's Earnest Speech.
Mr.. Taft of Ohio, member of the commit
tee on foreign affairs. said:
Under the unwritten law of the land, Mr..
| Bayard as the American ambassador, was
| invited to deliver an address before the
| Edinburgh Philosophical Institution. He
accepted the invitation. and this privilege
privilege secured solely by his official posi-
| tion-he abused by attacking great politi-
cal party in his own country. 1 say politi-
cal party, because protection is the founda-
| ton principle of the republican PARTY.
1.-The complaint against Mr.. Bayard is not
| that he is a free trader in home politics, but
| that, as an ambassador of the American
people. he took his home politics with him
| to foreign country and exploited them
| before a foreign audience.
"-To crticise an American ambassador is
an ungracious duty. The American people
prefer to relieve their foreign representa-
tives from all criticisms whatever. especially
of a partisan characterize the end that
| those Representatives may feel strong in the
undivided support of their own country.
When an ambassador, however, abandons
| his non-partisan character he not only en-
barasses the executive, but also invites the
widest range of criticism on all his personal
acts. If Mr.. Bayard sees nothing repre-
hensible in those acts which are almost uni
versaly recognized by his own countrymen
as manifest violations of diplomatic et:-
quette, diplomatic duty and diplomatic
| honor, it must be because old age IS mellow
ing those mental powers, which Sevcra /
| years ago dictated stringent rules for the
government of our diplomatic service, and
which were keen to dispose of Lord Sack
| vile West for comparatively trivial Of
tense.
I'm censuring Mr.. Bayard the republican
party does not seek to weaken the 3tron e
natural bonds which exist bet Neen the two
! great branches of the Anglo-SaXon race, hu;
| rather to repudiate the idea that those bonds
can be strengthened by casting the slight
est faint upon the kin beyond the sea-"
Mr.. Taft quoted from the Edinburgh ad-
dress. and maintained that The Progress
which the country had made between the
years 1860 and 1872 was due to the ;rOt actiye
policy. and said it was difficult to see what
! excuse Mr.. Bayard had for the position he
occupied.
1T is further urged by way of exsenua ton
and defense. he continued, that the ad
dress was specially admirable on account
of its literary merit. Standards of literary
merit vary greatly. but l venture to assert
| that a vast majority OF those who have r. ad
| this address. and of those who have at
| tempted to read it. would JOIN issue on this
point at once. 1t was an unfortunate Gus
| TOM which forced Mr.. Bayard upon a lit
N eli ton, x,;.l
Mr. Lowell and Mr.. Phelps. Mr.. Lowel1s ad-
dress on democracy was a Masterpiece of
| literary workmanship; MIR. Phelps speech
on The Law of the Land was a splend;d
| Specimen of clear and cogent reasoning:
| Mr. Bayard's essay Oh individual freed DIN
| will be remembered chiefly for its stilted
pedantry and pompous verposity.
| The Language Quoted.
| Il have been taught to believe that the
| individual in this country had a larger
| range of personal freedom than in any
| other country on the hahitable globe Our
| self-esteem as a nation suffered a slight
| shock when our ambassador, in effect, in-
| s,sts that Anglo-SaXon civiliEa ton nurtures
| and develops individual freedom equally
| well everywhere without reference to the
! form or government. Undoubtedly the pro-
| pfieties OF the occasion required our am
| bassador to maintain that the individual
| freedom OF the EEgliShman was as grea,
| as that of the American, but in maintaininn .
th-s what right had he. in singing out his
| own people, to say: In my own country
nave witnessed the Unsuitable growth OF
| that form Of state socialism styled protec.
| ton" Then follow the statements and al
| legations which ought to cause the blush
| Oh shame to any American foreign repre-
| sentative publicly utter.ng them in a for
| egn country
In view of the fact that the Fifty-fourt!
| mouse. with It's remarkable republican ma
| JoTity, succeeded to the Fiity-third House
lnrl-,l II
| Mr. Bayard condescends to divide the men
| bership of the present House ;nto tw,
| classes, the jobberS and chafferers,' whc
| are pFotectton:sts and republicans and the
| statesmen who are free traders and dem
| ocrats. Every dollar of the salary which
Mr. Bayard will draw from the Unite
| states treasury during the coming yea,
ought to sink deep into his tender con.
| science, because the dominant party O,
! jobbers and chafferers,' controlling iegis
| lation in this House, passed that amount
to his credit in the diplomatic appropria
ton bill.
He closes this part of his address by al
leging that under the influence of protec.
ton personal liberty ceases to be the grea,
end of the government What a mon.
| strous libel upon his own republic!
| And yet this IS called a mere discussion
| or an economic theory upon an. academic
| platform. 1t was the arraignment Of his
own country before the assembled culture
| of Scotland; 1t was proclamation to Grea
| Britain that in the United States, where
| protection prevailed personal liberty had
| ceased to be the great end Of the govern
| ment.
| ITO be the more effective. and therefore
| the more censurable, not to say the more
| d:shonorable such an arraignment must be
| upon an academic platform If Mr.. Bay.
| ard, in yielding to the gentle and subtle in
| HueIce of old age, had circulated his ideas
| simply in the drawing rooms of arstocratis
| London little attention would have
| been paid to them, but our ambassado,
| proclaimed them Upon the platform of the
| Edinburgh Philosophical Institutions So
| ciety composed of learned men who give
| tone to public sentiment. For that reason
| he should be held to strict accountability
| for his statements.
| when the ambassador of the United
States has reached the point where ne is
| willing to secure personal appreciation al
the expense of the dignity of his own coun
| try, and when his self-importance has be-
| come so expanded as not to permit him te
| recognize that his own position and in
| fluence in foreign lands depends lpon the
| support of a united, dignifed and proud
| nation, it is high time that this House. in
| rejecting public sentiment, should, by reso
| lutions of censure, command him to main
tain the dignity of his own country and tt
l. subordinate his own personality to the in
| tefests and good name of the entire Amer
| lean people,