Rash's Surname Index
Notes for Thomas Francis BAYARD
BAYARD, Thomas Francis, diplomatist, was born at Wilmington, Del., Oct. 29, 1828; son of James Asheton Bayard, senator. In 1841 he entered Dr. F. L. Hawks's famous school, St. Thomas hall, at Flushing, L. I., where he remained until the school finally closed, in 1843. On his return from school he passed a year and a half in the counting-room of his brother-in-law, Augustus Van Cortland Schermerhorn, in New York city, removing at the end of that time to Philadelphia, where he entered the employ of S. Morris Wain, a merchant. He returned to Delaware in 1848, where, after studying law, he was admitted to the bar, in 1851. His first public office was that of United States attorney for Delaware, to which he was appointed in 1853, and which he resigned in 1854, and removed to Philadelphia, where, in co-partnership with William Shippen, Jr., he resumed the practice of the law. Upon the death of Mr. Shippen, in 1856, Mr. Bayard returned to Wilmington, Del. In 1861 he made a memorable peace speech at Dover, Del., and succeeded his father as United States senator on the expiration of his term, March 3, 1869, his election being on the same day and by the same legislature that elected his father to fill out the short term made vacant by the death of Senator Riddle. He was re-elected in 1875 and in 1881. During his senatorial career, which lasted until 1884, he was prominent on the most important committees of that body. In 1876-'77 he was one of the commission to decide the electoral vote of the disputed states. He was nominated as a candidate before the Democratic convention for the presidency of the U.S. in 1880 and 1884. In 1885 President Cleveland appointed him secretary of state, and he served with great ability throughout Cleveland's first administration; at the close of which, in 1889, he retired to private life. In 1893 he was appointed by President Cleveland ambassador to Great Britain. Lord Salisbury, in 1896, sent Mr. Bayard an advance copy of the official reply of Great Britain to the inquiry of the U.S. government concerning the Venezuelan dispute, and this courtesy was considered symptomatic of the high measure of esteem accorded him in British official circles. In 1895 Lord Sackville, the British minister, who had been recalled at the demand of President Cleveland in 1889 for an official indiscretion in writing a political letter during the presidential campaign of 1888, issued a pamphlet attacking Mr. Bayard; the British press and people strongly condemned Lord Sackville's action, the result being an accession of popularity on the part of Mr. Bayard. In December, 1895, Representative Barrett of Massachusetts asked for the impeachment of Mr. Bayard for "high crimes and misdemeanors," because of utterances in certain speeches made at Edinburgh, Scotland, and Boston, England, which were construed into an attack on the policy of protection. The words "by impeachment or otherwise" being struck out, the amended resolution, after the preamble had been withdrawn, was adopted and referred to the committee on foreign affairs. The freedom of the city of Dundee, Scotland, was presented to Mr. Bayard, Nov. 13, 1895, and at the opening of the Haashalter water-color exhibition in London. Mr. Bayard made the inaugural speech. The degree of D.C.L. was conferred upon him by Oxford university, June 24, 1896, and he was further honored in the peaceful adjudication of the Venezuelan trouble. He died at Dedham, Mass., Sept. 28, 1898. Interment at Old Swedes Church Cemetery, Wilmington, Del.
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