The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-01-13
Rochefort and Gambetta.

There never was very much in the "Vicomte
de I,ucay, calling himself Rochefort." By
constitution hysterieal weakling; in intellect
a Htterateur, and nothing else, never states
man or a thinker, a politician through his an
tpathies alone and Liberal chiefly through
a disgust as much aristocratic as sensible for
the vulgar tawdriness of the Second Empire.
NJ Rochefort possessed in perfection the power
Of saying bitter DlOts, and as he had the cour-
age TO say them out he became q parsonage.
We do not believe that Eochefort undermined
the throne of Napoleon, for it never was under
mined. If one fact came out in 1870, it was
that there was no necessity for the war with
Prussia, that the peasantry had not lost their
belief in the Emperor, and that If he had re-
manned passive and cool he might have been
reigning no W. But Rochefort helped not only
to disenehant the Emperor in the eyes of Par
is, and Of the world capable of understanding
the LapterRe, but in his own eyes; his self
confidence Disappeared: and TO rehabilitate
himself with himself, as well as with his sub
iects, he rushed upon his fate. A flea is not a
great thing but it can turn you out of bed.
After that grand triumph M. Rochefort was
like the door which lets in the air that feeds
the fame He thought that his creaking had
done it all, aud on his return from New Gale
doria, whittier he had been sent as Com
muniSt, and after the pardon, secured for him
and the rest by NJ. Gambetta he set himself to
gain another and similar victory He knew of
only one path to swift success. 1t was his
role, he thought, to destroy great individuali-
ties, and the greatest individuality about was
then NJ. Gambetta. 1t was not very noble to
attack the statesman who had just risked his
ascendaucy to obtain tine general amnesty,
who had saved Rochefort's life by intercession
with NJ. Tliers, and who had headed sub
scription TO help him if he escaped from New
Caledonia; but a wit of that kind, especially
when much beauded, is apt to feel that bene-
fits, however deep, are but recognitons of his
merit, deserving praise rather than gratitude,
and NJ Rochefort struck at NJ. Gambetta with
a vigor which made observers, aware of his
former successes, prick up their ears in expec-
tation. The fiery darts fell short, however.
Not one sentence of Rochefort,s against his
new adversary seems to have told in Paris
certainly not one told in Europe; ana in his
vexation ho descended to PERSONAL abuse
which-it is a notable truth in modern politics,
and one not yet quite explaned--never has
Wiling NJ Gambetta as a conceived Dictator,
when his dictatorship had saved France from
dshOnor, and his one eye had seen clearer
than other mems perfect vision; or as ''oppor-
tunist' when he acknowledge ed the charge, or
as "GenoeSe' when Napoleon had been a
Corsican, or calling him descendant of Ital-
ian brigands? M. Gambetta did not plead
birth; and Paris, though it would have ridi-
culed him If he had, did not care one straw ii
he were the lineal male heir of Satan, pro-,
hat ha btu 10
France, which nobody questioned even in his
| mind. H-i@ ~. ID r34f-s-t -5'e} fli
| The fiery darts were harmless, but at last M. li
Gambetta, seeing them fall so thick, began to
| strike back, and with weapons very different
| from those of Napoleon III. He made no mar
| tyr of M. Rochefort, but with that occasional
| .fneSse which is SO striking in SO imperious
character, simply appealed to the French ap-
| probation of sentiment against the French ap-
probation of wit He caused some letters 10
| be published, which showed conclusively that
| NJ. Rochefort owed him much, his life, among
| other trifles; and by implication asked Paris if
| this assailant of his, with all his acid wit was
| not a bad-hearted fellow? Sentiment is in
! France the great antiseptic, and the immedi-
ate condemnation of Paris drove M. Rochefort
| into temper which found relief not in show
! ers of railiery, but in floods of Billingsgate.
| He even challenged NJ. Reinach, NJ. Gambet-
ta's private secretary, for publishing his letters
| but received only the crushing reply that
/ there could be no duel for there was no injury
| TO repair. III your own letter dlshonorS you
I how can help that?' We are by no means
| sure that the method OF warfare was the most
| digniied NJ Gambetta could have chosen.
| There are men in the world who would hardly
4 defend themselves by enumerating the bene-
! fits they have conferred ON an enemy, and
| they would in their reticence have been high
| er men than M. Gambetta, though he was APP
| pealed to, it must be remembered as head of
party, and not as private friend. The blow,
| however, had been provoked, and it was a
| deadly one. NJ. Rochefort will always be read
but scarcely again regarded by hiscountrymen.