The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-10-17

Talk with the 'Fzrst Frenchman''-Elg
:, Personal Appearance.
Correspondence Of Philadelphia Pre-

| Correspondence of Philadelph Press,l
| pA9Is, Sept 13-Having several times met
rnost' i the Republican chiefs Of France
reeoi oa to send my card to Mr. Gambetta
| Amarcan :eetion Of the Exposition I sent
ud1, laet ,noefay, kindly undertook to present
| It. and Mr.. DAP betta at once responded. Yes
te,rd M Nv aft afte1no3nC n I called with Mr.: Simonn,
and IN f. the eacn,1d floor of the office of the
MKT ,nT ,ea onage in France The
fact | that M % Gsmbetfa ,eth bad come in from the
country, where he has btsh r. tesnlng 1, alter tne
wearing work Of the FrefGh tjas Hslreo ~ or
Congress, and the incessant u1aes ~, % journal
swarm of his friends, and the rom rom oQWn M'1
stairs was full Of them as we came in ~ ~ i
Gambetta is one Of the owners of the h2epusso- =
hque tfdnca1se which is printed in the building
Ill WhIch found him. 1t has great influence,
ana large circulation, and speaks, OF course,
for his, party. There was q newspaper air
about the whole place, even in the offices he
occupies himself. A well furnished room
back Of these is evidently his study, and into
ton. The man himself is the impersona-
ton OF self-poised resolution. large
short, square figure, with fine head a He,
brew nose, one defective eye, yet bright and
| inquiring face. Such is Leon Gambetta, On
| lngton, and on the wall some boxing gloves
and short rapiers, as ii for exercise, perhaps
for preparation. Dressed in deep black, and
neatly dressed: with strong, nervous hand
and took his place at my side holding me
gracefully by the hand to seal his spoken wpl
come, He was looking at my card, and then
began ire OF questions, in French, which
had heard of me; he had read some Of my
writings; ne knew many Of my friends, espe-
cially Charles Sumner, of whom he smoke as
an "a exalted, superb, magnificent Democrat.
An, yes, ne vas called too soon. He, at
pared for this. Gambetta, like Victor Hugo
and some more, has not forgotten how the
great body Of the American people sympa-
th1zed with Germany in the late Franco Ger
man war. [ met his hint squareIy and I saw
he was surprised. "Put yourself, Monsieur"
said, sin our place." after delicate alIusion
to the apparent coldness of the first reception
OF President Grant by the French. But who
began the var with Germany? Our foe and
army was equipped to g man, when he knew
otherwise? The monarch who tried to fasten
an empire on Mexico, Louis Napoleon,
WITH WITH Christian prince on its throne.
ana the French people, and by his false pie
bescltes turned your republic into a sys-
tenn OF aristoCratic oppression? I say LoI1is |
Napoleon, the same who tried to induce Eng
land TO Join him against the American Union, |
ana was constantly plotting with rebel |
agents in Paris to overthrow us. Can Won |
wonder, then, that we did not symDat6ize
with htm when he forced war with Ger |
many, 1t was new view of the question
to Gambetta, and i'm pressed him. sAnd Gen.
Grant what do you say Of him?'' I was was Glad clad
OF thls question. and [ replied II know Won
nave seen his visits to Prince Bismarck. as
indeed, you have to all the foreign nations
f1lo M1noSe guest ne had been in turn; but did you
also also notlce his refusal to meet the young
Prince Imperial, the patent pretender to The
french throne, on the ground that he did NOT
deslre TO meet the son of q man who
ma had betrayed the French people, and
oeverthrow the republic?' His whole BE
face lighted up, and before Mr.. simonin
could turn my English into French, Gambet-
ta caught the idea, and said: @Ah, very
But i5ut, What will you do with Gen. Grant in
1857 My own belief is that he will be
chosen by the Republicans as their candidate
Tor President, and I think he will be elected.
l. US; IS evident that if he will take the nomin-
stion IT he can get it. In fact. Mr. GamFetta,
1e s, Is our m only man; and if judge by myself
1eel that the American people are warming
o nm more and more every day" He then 8
'pened Mr. Chotteau's plan of q commercial {
abetta ae'Tsen is franfe and h Amerca ha
90 wise to make his own convictions
;ond1tlons upon others Here is where he {
lIiiers from the British free traders, who get {
iloIe h auarIelsofne with us the more we beat {
Mug
Help us, my dear friend help us in material i
IS you do in political development. You must t
oncede something to your Republican French {
,rothers. We will relax some of our duties i
[ you relax some Of yours. We must weld I
much to each other. We n ust be uncomDro- f
nising only in regard to the equality of the 7
.eople, TO free speech and a free press, to re- /
lglous federation and to the just right of la a
or and capital Together we can do much a
or each other and for the elevation Of man &
and. Let the past die; let all the disputes /
bout your sympathies with Germany be for 2
often; let US only remember how we helped o
acn other nearly q hundred years ago" And e
zen. with burst Of fiery e o1uence. he smoke 8
I the thousand millions of dollars France had y
ledged herself to exDend In ten years to i'm h
rove her harbors. canals, railroads. schools. Il
nd people people | spoke with all my heart about
10 order. and peace, and prosperity Of the
ifench fth people under the republic; how it up
tied me as | studied the great example: and
oW II Impressed strangers who visited the
xhlbition. God bless you. Mr.. Gambetfa Il
"a may you keep your health and live to SEQ L
10 French republic strong enough to DEFY ali | &
adYersaries." With these words which were | 4
earthly re-echoed, Mr.. Sinonin and myself left -
% edltorial and popular tribune; and I felt =
at L nad passed a pleasant and profitable VI
9ur. Gambetta will not be forty until next
Civil Service In Canada.