Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-07-28
II. GAMBETTTA IN THE CHAUSSEE
DANTIN.

In our paper of the 7th we ex-
pressed our regret that the author OF
the personal sketches which we have
been extracting from the London
World, had not given us a pen por-
trait of Gambetta, the ex-dictator of
France. AS if purposely to oblige
us and our readers, just such sketch
appears in the World of July 4th.
We now present it to our readers,
completing thus our collection of
sketches of French political celebri-
ties.
NJ. Gambetta's recent change of
residence may be taken as one of the
chief signs Ofa changein his manner
of strengthening his influence with
his party and the country. When
! he lived in the Rue Montaigne the
| eX-DictatOr was before all things the
parliamentary chief; and his resi-
dence was in what may be called
| the Semi-Official quarter. He was
within a stones throw of the Minis
try of the Interior, and consequent
| ly quite near the Elysee-tOO near it
considering the disposition shown
by its successive residents for the
| perpetration of cOuDS 0etdt. An or
der for the arrest of the great leader
of the Left could have been eXecu-
ted in ten minutes if the agents had
found him at home. In the Rue
| Montaigne he lived very simply; he
lives very simply still but then it
was the simplicity of party chief
who has but very distant prospect
of power. There was room in his
apartment for himself and a few
select visitors but its tenant had
evidently not arrived at that stage
of the housekeeping of greatness
which obliges a man to have open
doors for the human race. His Sec
retary alone stood between him and
his acquaintance; and the ante
chamber was so small that it was
impossible for the occupant of the
adjoining room to say that he was
not at home without the greatest
risk of being overheard.
Gambetta has now become a great
journalist as well as a great parlia-
mentary leader. In truth, journal
ism offers him still better field than
the Chamber for the display of those
qualities Of guidance in which he
eXcels. He has the italian genius
for combination, and that demands
for its free exercise a mode of work
ing which does not necessarily be-
tray the author OF the work. M.
Gambetta is one of the few writers
in Paris who never put their names
- n
is known to be his organ, but no one
can distinguish his articles from
those with which he may be sup
posed to have a general sympathy,
and he can thus often hit his hardest
without enabling his antagonists to
identify the author Of the blow.
They are struck-as he himself was
struck, in another fashion, at st.
Lazare a year or two agO-by one in
a crowd, but by which one it is i'm
possible to say.
He has followed his journal and
made his home under the same roof
followed it to nurse its latest off
spring, the Petite Bepubtiqlte Fran
caise, which has just come to life.
The offices are in the ChauSSee
d'Antin, and the virtual directOr-in-
chief lives on the premises. But,
although he has his own rooms, he
may more accurately be said to share
those appropriated to his infant
charge. He is with the paper all
the earlier part of the day, and he
returns to it again after he has taken
his walks abroad. The great Sdlle
deredactiOn is virtually his drawing
room, a use for which it seems to
have been originally designed.
Here, at one vast table, sit the writ
erS who are associated with him in
the undertaking, and who are al
WaysreadytO cover hisrespOnsibility
with their own. They are physi-
caIly " fine body Ofmen," and that
fact, it is well known, counts for
something in the composition of
French newspaper staff. The jour
naIism of Paris, in particular, is still
journalism militant; and many a
smOOth-SpOken person who calls at
the ChauSsee d'Antin may be suS-
pected to have come to have look
at a man who has written an ar
ticle against him before asking him
to fight. This first impression can
hardly be an unfavOrable one for
the person observed: the Radical
ism of Paris is always scrupulOusly y
well-dressed. 1t is in the traditions
of the faith that all should be meet
and seemIy in the VeStmentS of its
priesthood. The writers who come
forward to testify against Pierre BO-
naparte at the historic trial that
presaged the fall of the Empire
would have been positive dandieS
but for a TOO general fOndness for the
wearing of black in the daytime,
incompatible with our notions Ofthe
habits of the order. Their gloves,
if not their writings, were without
blemish, and the violence of their
opinions was not betrayed by the |
faintest want of Orderin the arrange
ment of their ties. The men who
work under NJ. .Gambettaa are as these,
due allowance being made for the
fact that they are not in the witness |
box every day, and that necessarily |
on all but themOst solemn occasions |
their coquetry of neatness is laid
aside,
The eX-DictatOr's room, the room |
in which he is more truly at home !
than in any other in the house, |
seems to be little better than form
er passage converted to its present |
use. 1t is almost as sparely furnish
ed as the cell Of one of the mOnkiSh
transcribers of the Middle AgeS-a
writing-table, a case of books, a
chair for himself, a chair for visi-
tor, and that is all. Judge of the
mans character by these surround |
ings, and you would say that he had
a horror of the superfiuOus, and
you would not be wrong. His Re
public, when he has fashioned it in
his own way, will not be the Re016-
Hqlte dnidbie of NJ. jules Simon,
but the RepubHQUe methOdiQlte. |
His disposition is shown in the ap-
pearance of his workable. He has
no litter of phamphlets, books,
manuscripts, about him, although he
receives some dozens of them by
every post. You see the sheet of
paper on which he is now writing,
his pen and the inkstand; but all that
he has written or read in the past is
neatly slowed away, either here or
in an adjoining room, with as much
precision as if it belonged to the
dOssierS of the department. of police.
If he preserves but a tenth of what
he receives, no other private cOllec-
tiOO can bR S9 rich in memories l)O3fy'