Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1898-09-29
MIR. BAYARD's CAREER.
He and His Father Were ColIeapu
In tho National

He and His Father Were Colleagues
in the National Senate,
The Bayards of Delaware were for
several generations prominent in ma
tional affairs, and Thomas Francis
Bayard was the fifth in his line if we
count in his great-grandfather Gov
ernor Bassett, who sat in the United
States senate. Thomas f. was per-
haps the most eminent of his family.
Certainly the variety and length of his
public services were greatest.
He came of Huguenot stock, was the
son of James A. Bayard and was born
in Wilmington, Del, Oct. 20, 1928. His
father was a man of means, and con.
sequently when a boy Thomas F. did
not need to undergo the vicissitudes
and hardships of such a struggle with
adverse fortune as has fallen to the lot
of many an American public man in
early life. He was educated chiefly in
the Flushing school, established by
Rev. DIR. F. L. Hawks, and owing to
the atmosphere of affairs that per-
vaded the Bayard household early had
aspiration for public life Notwith-
standing this it was decided to fit him
for business life, and he was sent to
New York, where he entered the count
ing room of his brother-in-law, Angus
tus Van Cortlandt Schermerhorn, an
importer. There he learned the modus
operandi of the custom house and it's
inside machinery, a knowledge which
proved of the greatest value 80 years
later, when he was a member of the
senate committee to investigate that
institution.
At the age of 10 his elder brother
died and he was recalled to Delaware
and began the study of law. In 1851,
when he was but % years old, he was
admitted to the bar and soon built
mn a good and extensive practice. Two
years afrerward he was appointed
United States district attorney for Del
aware, but resigned the next year. In
1855 he went to Philadelphia and be-
came a law partner of William Ship
pen, but in 1857 he returned to his
practice in Wilmington, where he con-
tfnued in the law till 1865 when he was
elected to the United States senate.
During the first term in the senate
of the younger Bayard his father was
his colleague part of the time, both
being chosen by the same legislature
on the same day, Thomas F. for a full
term and his father to fill an unexpired
term. The service done in the senate
by this family was as follows: Richard
Bassett, years, from 1889 to 1893;
James A. Bayard, Bassett's son-in-law,
8 years, from 1906 to 1913; Richard H.
Bayard, uncle of Thomas F., Is years,
from 1886 to 1919; James A. Bayard, IS
years, from 1851 to 1869, and Thomas
F. Bayard, 16 years, from 1869 to 1885.
Thomas F. Bayard was especially ac-
tive in politics during the war, his
most notable utterance Of that period
being speech delivered befor public
meeting at Dover in favor of peace
with the south.
In 1867 Mr.. Bayard was a member
of the electoral commission, and he
was one of the firmest upholders of
the doctrine OF states rights and other
Democratic doctrines of his day during
his entire public service He was voted
for as candidate for the presidency at
the Democratic conventions of 1880 and
1884.
In 1885, when Mr.. Cleveland first took
the presidential chair, he made Mr..
Bayard secretary of state, and his SER
vices in that high office are well re-
membered in connection with the Behr-
ing sea disputes, the fisheries commits
sion, and most of all, the giving Of
his passports to Sackville. British min
lister to Washington, because of the
latters connection with the famous
Murchison letter. written during the
presidential campaign of 1888 1t was
in this latter year that political re-
verses came to the Bayard family in
Delaware. II arose from differences
between the Bawards and the Sauls-