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Letter From Senator Bayard

Letter From Senator Bayard image
Parent Issue
Day
26
Month
July
Year
1872
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The following letter addressed to his Constituents by Senator Bayard, of Deloware, who opposed to tho last the nomination of Gueelet and Bbown by tho Baltimore Convontion, should be road by every Democrat who is irrooonoiled to tho situation and inolined to turn hia back npon the party : My Dear Sir - Tho peremptory orders of my physician compol mo t obtain absolute rest and quiet, and for this reason I Ieavo the country. My passage has been engaged, and I shall sail for Europe on Saturday, tho llith instant. Although unfitted by my condition of health, I feit it to bo my duty to go to Baltimore as a dölegatu to the Convention, and it is in relation to the action of thut body thut I wish a few words with you, and through you, to my other party friends in Delaware, boforo I leavo. I Deed not say to you or to them with what astonishméut and disappointment I heard of tho nomination of Grocloy and Brown st Cincinnati, nor how steadily and opnnly I have at all timos exprossod rayself in opposition to tho adoption of thrit ticket Ty the Deuiooratic party at Baltimore. But the result has been aocomplished, howevor much against our will and effórts, and it is our duty, calmly and steadily, to confront the fact now presonted te our eyes. If the issues of the campaign were those only of revenuo reform, of oivil service reform - questions in which pocuuiary loss or gain to the public were involved - I inight bo willing to tiiko no part in tho Pres dential contest, bnt allow the deinoralizing courso pursuod by Grant and his adininistration to bo continued for four years longcr, trusting that the very extent itnd Üagitious nature of the abuses would in thomselves so inatruct tho people that they would reooil from plucing furthor trust in suoh hands. The natural oapacities of the soil and ulimate8 of our country, togother with thu industry and onergy of our people, render tho production of ■wcalth (mere wealth) almost boundless, and we can almost atford to boar the resulta of finunwel blunderg, and, so long as they are oonfined to official circles, of public robberios and peculations, providetl we can in tho end buy o.ur exporienco through tho usual mothods of loss and suffcring. Bat severe and painful though these abuses and their oonsetiuoncos uiay bo, they, ■weigi, to me, lightly comparcd vith tho destruction of all the limitations upon power which our written Constitution of govcrnment was designed to créate, and which General Grant and thoso who Msist him in administering the govornment, including ths Radical majbritiea in both houses of Congrcss, seem oither to totally disregard, or, as I have somotimes thaught, to take a scornf ui pleasure in trampling under foot. It is utterly impossible for mo, with the scènes which I have witnossod in the Senfttp of tlip TTnilfïd St.atna. risinïr boforo my eyes, not to fooi the gravest approhension and alarm at any prospect or Buggestion of allowing the policy of Grant and his administration toward the Bouthevn States and their whito inhabitanta iongor to continuo, if any honorable act of mino can tend to avert euoh a oalainity. Oan any man justly deny that the condition of the peoplo of the lthonish provincos, torn from Franco by the armed hand of Germany, is proferable todiiy in all that protocts porson and property to that of the white people of inany of the Southorn States undor the governments whieh Congress has set up over them under the so-called systcm of reconstruction, and which Grant has upneld cither by throats of the bayonot or its actaul presenoe in thoso communities ? Ho and his party have stood by for the last three yoars and ha've seen the South robbed, insulted and almost beggarod by motley crew, all of bis own politioal party, of unprihciplod political adventureis from the North and ignorant, and ■vicious negroos of the nativo population, and have utterod no word of disapproval ; but, on the contrary, have from time to time lent tho military power of tho governniünt (as in tho cases of the troops sent upon application of Governor Holden, of North Carolina; of Scott, of South Carolina, or his own brothor-inlaw, Cás9y in New Orloar.B) to maintain iü power tnaso rapacious and diahonest miers whoni tho sufferings and discontfint of their peoplo wore threatening to ejéct from office and power. Now, whethor I approvo Mr. Grecley persondly or no, whother ho had or not been the stoady and violent opponent of the political principios aud mensures whioh you and I have been upholding all our lives, yot if he has become, with or against our action or wishes, tho most likoly Or practical meana of restoring a bettor condition of feeling in tho North toward the South, and restoring security and justice to that oppressed región, I ghould feol myself as an American, without regard to tho name of party, but without tho sacrifico of any conviction iu relalion to my politicul principies, eompelled to assist in placing him in power. I say nothing now of his qualiflcations or personal fitness for the place ; I havo spoken of thnm heretoforo, and against ry wiEhcïond judgmont the representativos of tho party have placod him in the candidacy. If thero was any practical means of olooting a nian botter fitted for tho place, and one whose political caroer has been in harmony with your views and mine, I need not say to you that I should strivo to seo sueb. a ono choaon ; but ihe curront of popular opinión; in this vast country takos stranpe and oftfrntiines untoward directions, aiid for good or ill sweops us with it. Hixiy days ago the coudition of' affairs we now witnoss would havo bees doomed incrodiblo, and any man would have laughcd at, as absurd and impoeeible, -what wo now seo in fact and snlistance. Kvents as they now conl'ront us wero ghaped iu opposition to our offorts, and as they are we ar not roajonsible for tin-m ; but wo are responsiblo for our mode of doaling with them now ; and I hop our State Oonvention will promptly and deoidedly nomínate an electoral ticket in opposi-' tion to örant and AVilSon, ond in favor of tho ouly oandtdatet who, as mattors now stand, can Be hopefully expeoted to defeat them- linean Qieeley andBrown, fr whom I oxpect to voto on the öth of November next. I hopu to return home bj! the middle of September, with my fialth restorod, aod onoblcd to tako pat in the political oanvasa. The subjeot to whioh this letter relatos hns given me a freut doal of nnxiety nnd distross, which I know is shtirod by thonuanda of trae raen of the amo politioal party in this State ; trat I boliove thatmy dooision is tho right one, nd I know that it is founded upon honost motives. This only alternative to a whole or hnlf-way aid to Grant's re-eleotion inay be hard for ua to adopt, but I think it is'our duty, bo I trust will you and the entire Democracy of Delaware. Tour friond sincoraly, T. F. liAYAKD. Wilraington, July 11. 1872.

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Subjects
Old News
Michigan Argus