The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-09-29
Thomas Francis Bayard.

ROl VIII not III III ~ INV
" States a man of better American
blood than that which coursed
the veins of Thomas Francis
Bayard. Back through a line that IS
royal in the Ri h sense his family runs,
INTO colonial days; generation after
generation. the Bayards have rendered
to their country useful and brilliant
public service.
1t happened thai Thomas F. Bayard
fell upon times with which, in many inn
portant respects. his views were out Of
Joint. yet that fact did not detract from
his reputation as a jurist and a man of
splendid mental gifts. Mr.. Bayard was
moving into his prime-he was thirty
three years old-when the war of the
rebellion brought him into national no
tice. He opposed the war. he defended
secession, he advocated peace with the
South; he was a "copperhead'-and, at
that time, that designation was ruin
Gus for the reputation Of any man with
in the union lines. However, Bayard
was a resident of Delaware. as the gem
erations of Bayards before him had
been, ard, within five years after the
close Of the war. he sat in the federal
senate In later years Mr.. Bayard came
eminent men-within party lines no liv-
ing democrat %outranked him
Then, again, matters turned out adj
versely for him. He seemed to be fully
in line for the presidency when, a few
months before the eventful national
conventions of 1884. Grover Cleveland.
an unknown n a man not then
deemed worthy to unlatch a Bayard's
shoe, rose above the political h~orizonlik
a full noon. Bayard and Cleveland had
ii out in the democratic convention Of
1884. Cleveland proved surprisingly
strong. because nobody knew him well.
with 547 votes necessary to a choice,
Cleveland polled 1922 and Bayard 40
on the first ballot. Thurman, Randall,
Carlisle, Hendricks and Tilden also ran
that day. Cleveland was nominated on
the second ballot. A little later, Bayard
took the stump for democracy and. when
the Cleveland first administration was
set up, Bayard was its secretary OF
state.
1t is within the memory Of the reader
that, i'm the second Cleveland admins
tration. Bayard was ambassador at Lon
don. 1t is also within the readers rec
objection that, during that period, Bay
ard was the target for the shafts Of
criticism il a large part Of the Amer
lean press. That happened because
changeful public opinion in this country,
just at that time. was in the mood for
IL. Bayard was belitded, scoffed at,
ridiculed. His Americanism was chal-
lenged. He was set down as a toady.
| Perhaps he said. in the round OF public
remarks, some foolish things; he GER
tainly aid several eminently good
things, but. anyhow. 1t didn't suit the
notion Of some millions Of Americans,
just at that time. TO have Bayard say
or do anything that the Britishers liked.
John Hay. within two hundred days,
has been every whit as much an offend
or as Bayard was. but you haven't
heard anybody call Hay Town. on the
contrary, the run of sentiment, now
that Hay is returning home. is that he's
quite a man; yet in all the things that
combine TO make men eminent in the
realm Of American s~tatesmanship Hay
isn't knee high 10 what Bayard was.
OF late, Mr.. Bayard had passed quite
out Of view. Recent bulletins an.
~nounced his serious illness. He was
seventy years old; this mornings dis.