Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1898-10-06

New York Evening Post
10 the public men of both America
and England, irrespective of party at
tachmeuts, the news of the death Of
Thomas Francis Bayard will come with
n sense of private grief and personal
loss. The frank and kindly eyes, the
warm pressure of the hand, the express
sion of love of country and love of
truth that he wore rs garment with
out aHectation, come before us again
rs We read the sad announcement, and
they will abide with us long after the
earth has closed over his mortal re-
mains. Mr.. Bayard was type of the
best class of tho older generation of
statesmen, of whom there are very few
remaining, and hardly any now in
public life. He came of a family Of
statesmen, to whom seat in the Son
ate of the United States was kind Of
heirloom. In the whole list of Bayards
| there was not one who filled that seat
more worthily. There was not one
who filled SO many other high places in
the country's service with such distin-
guished ability and approval. He was
born to the maxim "Noblesse oblige, :"
and he never forgot the responsibilities
which it imposed. His public career
began when his father retired from the
Senate in 1869, and it continued with
slight interruption until he was sue
ceedod by Mr. John Hay as Ambassa-
dor to England last year.
Mr.. Bayard was thirty-two years of
age when the Civil War began Being
Democrat in politics, in q slavehold
ing although not seeding State, il
is not surprising that he did not ap-
prove Of the doctrine of coercion" as
applied to the Southern Confectionery.
He made speech 10 his townsEeople
setting forth his views in opposition to
that policy. A good many people in
the North, and among them some
prominent Republicans, shared these
views. Mr. Bayard's speech was pub
lished in the newspapers. Read in the
light of the present day, it harmonizes
well with all that we have since learned
of Mr.. Bayaid's character. 1t was
marked by love Of country and of the
human race. 1t was plea for peace
and good will among brethren, and il
is honorable to Mr. Bayard that hi
never retractcd or modified syllable
of it, Yet this speech WIS probably
the one thing that prevented him from
receiving the highest honor that tn,
Democratic party could bestow, that o
J n Presidential nomination. There wa,
scarcely u national convention of tina
party after 1876 in which Mr.. Bayart
might not have been the successfu
candidate il he had not opposed tn,
: war before hostilities began. He wa
/ not in public life at any time durin,
the war. There is no reason TO suppos,
that he differed from his father, jaime
A. Bayard, in his feelings and senti
ments while hostilities continued. TIL
elder Bayard always professed loyalt.
I to the Union.
! When the war was ended, James A
> Bayard and Thomas f. Bayard, fathe
+ and son, were elected to the Senate o
: the United States ut the same time an,
by the same Legislature. Thomas +
Q Bayard was twice reelected, and Will
Y he WAS serving his third term he wa
D offered and accepted seat in Mr.
, Cleveland's cabinet as Secretary q
. State. While he was in the S6nat
o the two great questions of the da,
v were Greenbackism and Reconstruc
8 ton. Mr.. Bayard was the leader G
8 the sound money forces of his part
: from first to last. He was opposed alik
t to greeubacks and to silver. He be
j loved that the former ought to be pal
d and cancelled us past due debts of tn
e government. He considered the fire
@ coinage of silver as disguised form {
i reputation, and he abhorred it &c
b, ,cordingly. He voted against the infia
G tion bill, which President Grant vetoed
d and when the specie resumption ac
n was passed, he tried to get a provisio