New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-06-06
European Republicans.
Emilio CasteIar's Portraits CT Rochefort
and Gambetta.

= and Gambetta.
The promised series of papers by Emil,
CASTELAR,, the Spanish Republican leader, i.
commenced in the June number of HrDe1'.
INdgg.iae, and will be continued through tn,
I. year. Senior CASTELAR, begins with review
of the work of the eighteenth century, pro
ceeds to an exposition of the Democratic ten.
denotes of Europe, and draws striking por
traits of Lamartine, Victor Hugo, I.amennais.
Raspail, Rochefort, and Gambetta. We copy
below his sketches of the two latter:
RoCHEFoRT.
Rochefort represented the ardent and cx-
treme wing of the Republican party. His
popularity, like his writings, had more bril-
liancy than solidity. a child ofParis, nurs-
ling of the Boulcvards, employed on light
and sparkling newspapers, gifted with the
Partisan faculty which converts into readable
articles the whispers ofthe cafe, with an irony
now trlilng, now savage, he was the first
who in France, in the heart of the capital,
dared to attack the omnipotent Caesar. and
twenty years ofhumiliation and slavery. Sa-
tire is /; powerful corrosive. Its bitterness
does not reach the lips without being filtered
| drop by drop throush4hc conscience, forcing
it to compare lis ideals of perfection with
vices Of the reality. And when that satire
| burst forth, and after the satire a universal
| Uomcrc laughter, and after the laughter the
anger of the iriitated victims, which augment
! ed the merrimcnt Of their amused and avenged
| enemies, it was plain that the death of
/ the enemies was near. The satire had not
| the Attic salt OF Rousseau nor the tragic in
| dionation of .juvenal, OF the refined and Bit
ter wit of NOtaire, but ii was the satire which
suited the Empire, vulgar as the enemy which
| it struck--an enemy wallOwing in the mre.
Satire, if it be eagerly read or listened to, is
the form of literature which announces the
death of decaycd religions, the agony of sick
empires. The first to strike the idol was
Rochefort, and the people repaid his audacity
with an election to the Chamber. This m-
mense service of Rochefort will never be for
gotten, let the faults of his character and the
vicis5itudcs of his fortune be what they may.
ltwould have been fortunate fhe had adopt
ed as the sole vocation of his life, the de-
struction by satire of C;csarism in the public
conscience, for then his name, altcrwari at
tackled and overwhelmed in the wave Of OPP
posing passions, would have suffered no i'll
jury, and would have been always united
with one of The most glorious works Of our
time. Bat Rochelort, in default Of speech
in the Chamber and of the action in the
streets, could not hold, either over his COM
panions in the Assembly or over the mass of
the people, more than fugitive and disputed
influence.
GAMBETTA.
The man destined to be The most powerful
influence in the Republican party was Gam
BETA. 1t is customary to criticse him Sc
verely because he remained standing when
others fell, because he believed when others
doubted, because he retained his faith when
France lost faith in herself, because he dicta-
torially prolonged a war which had become
impossible at the surrender of Sedan and the
treason at Metz, losing the campaign but saw
ing the honor OF his country. [ have never
belonged to the worshipcrs of success. [ do
not consider misfortune crime. Gambetta
saw himself abandoned by fortune, by VIC
tory What should he have done? He did
not seek the fate Of l}rlltus after the battle
of Phillippi, when, seeing that liberty was
expiring, the country was lost and his heart
was broken, while over him the stars shone
calmly as i'll the azure sky of Greece, he
doubted in the last hour of supreme anguish
of the existence of virtue. Gambetta is
man of his time, and knows that liberty is
sometimes cclipsed, but never cXtinguished;
that the country falls but does not die
and in spite of his misfortuncs, which were
the fault OF his time, and not of his intelli-
gence or of his character, believe Gmhbetta
to be among the first of the Republicans of
Europe, and | number him among those who
have contributed most to the diffusion of our
ideas.
| have studied often his intelligence and
his character. In that enormous head; in
that broad forehead; in the concentrated
brilliancy of the eye which remains to him !;
in the mouth, wrcathed by smile of benev-
olence; in his face, ruddy with n sanguinc
temperament i'll his form, which is herculean
in spite of his low statue !; in his whole bear
ing, you can see at once the happy mingling
of intelligence with force, Of high ideas with
energetic resolution.
Nature believes in division of labor, an d
variously groups the vacations ofmen. Usual
ly when she creates Il man of action, she
takes away from him the aptitudes of the
man of ideas. The latter is fond of spiritual
investigation, and the former Of material la
bors. The one loves retirement and the
other the world the one piece OF mind, and
the other the combat; the one great books
and the other great passions. Doubtless
Plato never could have been Pisstratus,
nor Montcsquicu have been Colbert. TO
unite thought with action, as in Caesar, is a
prodigy. TO unite energy OF speech with
energy of will, as in Danton, is n miracle.
Great qualities usually result from great
defects. TO balance in one person the idea
with the act--cnergy of intelligence with ac-
tivity Of life, is a gift which n allure has al
lowedin high degree to Gambctta.
srs