, 1875-11-24

at last to realize the government of the
country by The country, OF which the
French Revolution brought the promise
aud the principles" NJ. Gambetta has
the means, through his allies in every
department, and especially in the South,
OF ascertaining the exact strength Of each
opinion, AMI he may very easily be per-
tectly light. That is to say, he NAV know
that in each ACCOMPLISHMENT the RtpubIi-
cans can win provided they conciliate the
Reds. The effect of that position would
be that, rather than let in a Bonapartist,
who is the only other opponent with real
strength behind him, the Republicans
de Raison will accept The Repub lean
sans RaisOn, " and leave the Moderate
out in the COLI. That is an extremely
probable co c~Iusiou, AID one which, if
NJ. Gambetta is honestly saying what lie
thinks, may be accepted as if it had been
an electoral calculation by the late Mr..
Spoforth. a..
But then is Gambetta honest Those
who ask that question misread M, Gam
betta's political aspirations altogether.
They think that he is only a shrewd
anarchist,-a man who is moderate only
because he has the brain to see that mo-
deration is e sential 40 his own career. M.
Gambetta, who is believed to be Hebrew
by descent, aud who has in his character
much OF the Italian aud Pr veneal tenaha9Bg,
NAV il secret hold extreme views about
the Church, but IN politics he is updoubt-
ediy a sincere Republican, whose single
temptation is a desire that he should
guide the d~estiuies Of the Republic he
approves. He does not want to be an
insurgent, but a ruler, supported, so far lis
possible, by all France, and securing nc
once his own greatness and the develop.
ment of his county. He will pardon
anybody, Legitimist or Communist, who
will accept the Republic aud he knows
that in a nation of freeholders the con-
dltlon OF acceptance is external order.
His habitual appeal is to the orderly Re-
publlcanS, and he has no more interest in
deceiving them than NJ Theirs has and
NJ. Theirs, who has hopes from them oniv.
having no Radical party to fall back on,
tells them precisely the same thing. 1t
comes to this, then, that the two ablest
politicians IN Franca--one by feeling q
Constitutional Monarchi>t, and one bv
feeling a Democratic Republican-alike
assert that the scrutin de liSte will establish
the orderly Republic. That is a most
important fact for the Left Centre to con.
slider, and one which may yet tempt
them TO risk all that Marshal MacMahon
may venture to try in the way of uncon-
stitutional Ministries. We ourselves
cannot quite follow them, believing that
any election held in any form must end in
the triumph OF the Republic but it is not
wise in Euglishmen, whatever their sym.
pathies, to pit their judgment on such
points against the Judgments of men
who have governed France, who may be
Presidents, and who are consequently
supplied with information as in France
only possible Presidents can be. u.
There is one other point to be noted
about NJ. Gambetta's manifesto, and that
is his daring assault on two favourite
prejudices of the French b%onrgeoisie. If
there is a financial subject on. which
that bourgeoisie is furious, it is the Income
tax, which half the moneyed men believe
would be public, and therefore ain ex-
hortation to the workmen to strike for
higher wages. Yet NJ. Gambetta boldly
declares that the Income-tax ought to be
the sheet-anchor of French finance. If
there is a social question on which the
bourgeoisle is r~esolute, it is that its sons
shall not serve as ordinary conscrints.