New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-08-28
THLERS IND GAMBETTA.

In these feverish days as in the fiery time
after Sedan, the eyes of France are fixed upon
two leaders-One an old man, with wIinllled
| face and bristling white hair the other fresh
with the charms of early manhood-bOth Re
pubcans one from education and the other
! from instnct-Thers and Gambetta. Each
has Southern blood in his veins each was bred
TO the bar and abandoned it for journalism and
politics; each holds the Bonapartists, past and
present, in supreme contempt; each clings
to the Republic as the hope and glory Of
France If Theirs ridicued the politi
cal mumme1y by which Napoleon III. sought
TO dazzle the eyes Of his countrymcn and TO
cheat them out of their. sober senses, the first
great specch of Gambetta in the Corps Legis-
latf was aimed at the knavery of the plebis-
cite. If .ThieTs Was with the minority that
voted AGAINST war with Prussia, Gambetta laid
the burdens of that fatal policy upon the backs
OF the BonapaTtists. If Theirs opened peace
negotiations with Bismarck, and concluded an
aImistce while Gambetta was clam0ring IN
the Southern provinces for the prosecution Of
the war, and reproaching his cOuntrymen with
the ign0miny of peace, they labOred together
to liberate the soil, TO restore public order
and to establish the Republic upon broad foJn
datons. Now, as then, they are types OF two
generations of Republicanism. One has the
sagacity of old age, and the other the enthus-
asm of youth. One insists that the Republic
shall be Conservative, as not to create alarm,
while the other is apprehensiye lest 1t may be
too limp to protect itself against the unscru-
puous adventures who are plotting against
! France FOur-scOre and twO-scOre, each i'll his
own way, is loyal to the Republican cause.
! The characters of these two champions Of
| Constitutional Reform shine out in the speeches
which they have recently made in the political
canvass Gambetta was the first to break ST.
! lepce Ever since President MacMahon APP
pealed to the people through dissolution of
the Chamber this young orator has been urg
ing his followers to maintain self-cOntrol and
to bride their passions. But his fiery soul was
| in whitehead and when he found him
self face TO face with an audience of
French Republicans his anger burst into
blaze and there fell from his lips words like
b lrning Goals. He denounced the BOnapartists
as the army of invasion. The Presidents
himsy pretext for the dismissal Of Jules Simon
the accusation that Radcalism was latent in
the Chamber-he brushed aside as an ambiguity
| and a lie In a burst of imprisoned eloquence
he cred "When millions of electors make
their choice there will not be one whocan resist.
"When France prOnOunces her sovereign viii,
there must be either submission or surrender"
! Theirs would have condemned the speech as
| njudiciOus, unnecessary and violent but Gam
BETA was sOrely tempted Alarmed by the
| Presidents appeal to the army, irritated by the
plots of the reactOnary factions, enraged by
the audacity of the Cabinet, inflamed by the
menaces and petty tyranny of the Home Minis
ter, it Is not strange that he was overcome with
wrathful Indignation, and that he hurled
against his enemies the thunders of his
denunciation. Since 1871 he has been
an apostle of moderation, although he has
been Radical Republican as compared with
| Theirs, but he would not have been Gam
| beta if his soul had not famed out at Lille.
| And now the rumor comes that he is to be
prosecuted for these burning sentences If a
penny candle was enough to bum Moscow, the
/ prosecution of the leader of the 1868, who, as
| he has predicted, will come back 400, may be
enough to plunge France into anarchy. These
! Bonapartist consplrators know rs little about
the currents OF public opinion as ill-Omencd
birds know about the Gulf Stream and the
! tides.
The ex-Presidcnt of the Republic was more
cautious than the impetuous young orator.
! In addressing deputation last Friday at Sc.
! Germain he condemned the policy of his sue
cessor, and predicted the triumph of the Re
pubicans; but he admonshed them that popu-
| lar dstrust must not be aroused by Eadicalism.
! He il an old disciple Of the Monarchy, and
! has accepted the Republic only because
! the logic OF events has convinced him
that it is the safest and best Govern
ment for the Nation. On the eve of his
resignation he said: "My conviction is that
monarchy is impossible, since there are three
dynasties for single throne. Here is the ex-