The Writings of Carl Schurz/From Thomas F. Bayard, April 8th, 1898
FROM THOMAS F. BAYARD
My dear Carl Schurz: You and I took our seats in the Senate in March, 1869, so that well-nigh thirty years have passed with all the chances and changes of life in this growing and active country, and I want to say another word of respect, admiration and sympathy for the part you have here borne and happily are now taking in the interests of good government and the higher civilization of the country of which we are both citizens. The impelling cause of these lines is the present crisis in our international affairs and the wise and just counsel you are giving to our countrymen in relation to the true status of our relations to Spain, and the unhappy island which is the cause and theater of so much that is inexpressibly horrible and sorrowful.
I will not attempt in this note to comment upon the unprecedented and distressful state of affairs, but only wish to touch your hand once more and thank you for what you have written and said and are yet to write and say to the American people in relation to the dangers that beset them and the real peril to free institutions that clouds our immediate future.
I came here a week ago to try the medicinal virtues of the baths, etc., but I fancy our gray-bearded Father Time is smiling at the efforts (so futile) to escape the results of his long companionship.
In a week I shall be back at my home in Delaware, and it would be a real joy to me to see you on my porch overlooking the blue Delaware and smoking the pipe of peace. It is an easy ride from New York, after business hours, to arrive at Wilmington, where I will meet you, and where a hearty welcome awaits you.
Dear Schurz, I remember so well thirty years ago, when you stepped out “solitary and alone” and struck the shield of organized and corrupt power in the Senate of the United States, and my heart has been with you from that day to this.