Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-02-03
GAMBErrA,y PLEBusCIrE.
The Immense Popular Honors Of His
Funeral.

The Immense Popular H0nors Of His
| Funeral.
Richard whiteing's Paris Letter in New York World.
| cannot pretend to give you description of
that scene of Saturday at the funeral Of Gam
beta. and happily the telegraph will have done
that for me- The whole city was in mourning,
the whole country seemed to turn out to follow
the car In such cases figures are eloquent.
The procession walked from the Chamber of
Deputies to Pere-a- Chaise-that is. with certain
allowances. from one end of the city to the
other. or from three to four miles. All this way
| the people stood five, six. ten, dozen Deep and
all the way up from basement to hOuse-tOp. The
procession took nearly two hours and half to
pass given spot. and when the head had
| reached the cemetery the rear was still at the
Louvre. Generally such monster gatherings
Will not bear Analysing; this one WILL and it is
more wonderful when looked at in detail than
when looked at in gross. There were many
soldiers in 1t who went because they were told
TO go, but there were many more private per-
sons who were there of their own accord, and
who came from all parts of the country. Some
looked quite tired out, rs though they had been
| travelling day and night. 1t was, as take it,
| vast review of the republican forces of France
The 'prOletariat" was perhaps wanting but
am now talking OF the forces that rule the France
of to-day. 1t was the Gambettist following
and we saw for the first time how large and how
iIiIucHtiE! liiit IOllOWInp was. WTen all CnOSc
banners and crowns passed inscribed with the
names of cities and towns and hamlets and car
ried by almost every species of assOcatiOn indus
trial. commercial. official when the ministers
went by holding the pail: when Alsace-L lorraine
sent, | think, siX-and-thirty deputations; when
the government Offices and the railways and the
great companies OF credits and the diplomatic
corps were each and all represented. then one
can form some idea of the grip this strong hand
had laid upon France. In spite OF all that has
had his plebiscite like Napoleon ILL.,
1t came ate. for it was plebiscite
of death, but here was in manner his
appeal to the nation and this was how
the nation answered. Most of us expected
something of the sort. but none. I think. had
imagined it as it was seen in that procession.
What other name could have brought so many
and such diverse people together? Here was
the result OF all the steady work that had gone
on for years and years in the politcal laboratory
always seemed to have the minister of the day
in his pOwer-he could pull strings in so many
different directions. He, touched bell in the
Rue de la Chaussee dAntim, and the vibration
was felt all through France.
The main character of the crowd showed the
man he vast was bourgeois like himself. and
in that lay its force Most of the people locked
"cOmmOn; they did not wear mourning they
were in all kinds of coats: black gray. and
brown. They shuffied along. they trotted
for al! that they were most of them somebodies.
mayors. chairmen of committees for managing
elections country editors. small EMPLOYERS,
schOOlmasters. commercial trayelers-whO do
a little political prOpagandsm for the
republic in their spare time-and some were
very considerable persons indeed. These were
the men that Gambetta had brought into
pOwer-lttle Gambettas akin to the little
Napoleon who as Emerson finely saws, made
the great one what flawas. Each in his own
a cd OIL If no Efo Of
free and Joyous course. not disdainng the good
things OF existence, and mingling with that a
sound. wholesome concern for political regene-
ratiOn-a kind of apOstleshp that does not ex-
clude joke. This was his strength he took
politics out of the region of austerty. The diff
ference between him and VI. GuiZOt was that NJ.
GuizOt wore his cravat i'm three folds round the
neck: Gambetta wore his only in one. 1t was a
slight difference and yet the greatest in the
world In his appeal to all these men he was
distinctly human and not of a high and unat-
tainable pitch. He made the ideal easy :: any
man might hope to be the Gambetta of his vii
lage.
1 return to that funeral have never seen
the like of it the funeral of Theirs was not so
grand: it was more official. People went be-
cause they had to go; it wholly lacked the rich
variety Of representation. All sorts and cOnd-
lions of men came to this one; and more
strange still, even the day after the funeral a
hundred thousand people went to Pere-la- Chase
to look at the provisional vault in which he was
laid. Remember that more than five times a
hundred thousand had turned out to see
the last OF him the day before. and the day
before the wreaths had been piled in
wagon loads as though all the winter flowers
In France had been used up for the OCCASION
But the second crowd brought Just as many
flowers more. AS they threw them down in
front OF the vault they made heap 800 meters
long. am astOunded at the whole thing, and
as yet do not know what to make of it; but
time will help. Of the ceremony, remark this
that it was the most striking demonstration for
infdelity that We have yet had in France. Every
class, profession and interest was represented
In this funeral cOrtege but one, the priest.
From first to last he was neither seen nor heard
They halted the body at the cemetery gates and
there made their speeches over It, and when all the
speeches were over and the crowd gone dozen
men quietly put 1t away in provisional vault.
as though they were laying it by in cupboard.
The cross at the gate was hidden by the decOra-
lions. No word was said in the name of any re-
ligiOn. 1t was the line of Pope with a differ
ence:-They never mentioned God to ears
polite" Once more say nothing for or against
Il merely note a fact. suppose it would have
been impossible in any other country to hold
state ceremony of that magnitude with such
formal and deliberate omission. Here it is so
much accepted that it has excited no remark
beyond sort of protest d'usage In the clerical
papers. and that very absence of remark shows
how completely infidelity has acquired it's right
Of citizenship among this singular community
1t diminishes nothing Of the respect due to
man; 1t is put on the same tolerant footing as
the creeds; you are a Catholic or Protestant or
Jew or a MahOmetan or an unbeliever; your
responsibility is consistent with all.
Shall There BE Bangs!