The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-01-28

! function, and the moSC tranquil OF
all" as Littre says, was not here
recognized. Judging from the bed
cover, the deeeased's stomach must
have been awfully swollen.
DR.. Charcot is to weigh and mould
Gambetta's brain; it ought to be
massive, judging from the head.
CARAT has taken splendid photo
graph; Bonnat and MeissOnnier,
excellent sketches, and Falguieres
has succeeded with the moulding.
The, apartment is simplicity it
self: Gambetta being a MAJ
terialist, there is no religious
emblem; at the head of his
bed, where ordinarily in France a
cruci6x is suspended, thermome-
Il ter hangs; there Is portrait of
Mirabeau near the foot of the bed,
and around numerous bi6elotS sug-
gestive Of the bachelors or collie
CLANS life; his favorite authors,
Rabelais, Moliere and La Fontaine,
were on the night table. The villa
is a wigwam devoid of luxuries.
The deceased often expressed the
wish to be inferred beside his
mother, who died year ago at Nice.
Likely his father will yield to the
desire of a national funeral, similar
to Theirs, and burial in that real
Pantheon, Pere Lachaise. M r.
Gambetta was so far Italian as to
be eminently superstitiou9; he be-
lieved for some years that he would
die by the hands of woman. He
frequently consulted a somnambu-
list in the Rue Tournon, and
shortly before the accident that
fair creature warned him to be pre-
pared for a catastrophe. His
mother, too, was superstitious.
When en- cie7lte with him a fortune
teller predicted the coming little
stranger would be boy, and des-
tined for high things; hence why
the mother made every effort to
make Leon scholar, instead of a
grocer like his father.
In private life Ganbetta was q
Jolly fellow, and ever kept the table
lin roar. None laughed heartier at
q broad story, and none surpassed
him in relating one. In his high
fortune he rested ever the same to-
wards his early friends, and despite
his rough diamondness, knew how
to attract, to keep together, and to
group men. He was not exactly a
learned man, but had marvellous
Aptitude for instantly selling
knowledge. He was fond of the
theatre; cared little about music ;but
was authority on the fine arts.
Gambetta died too early or too late.
j His life may be said to have been
\ a battle and a march. In 1888 he
fought the empire; in 1870, the
Prussians, and up to 1878, the coal
esced foes of the republic. ElO-
quence was his weapon; none sur
passed him in an intuitive knoWl-
ledge Of his auditors, and in mould
ling into a formula the pent up
feelings Of millions. In tact he was
supreme, and his eloquence intox-
icated his hearers. He swept all
before him, and his reparties to
interrupters had the crack of the
kl1oWt. His mind was initiative
and audacious, bat he aimed to be
the master, not the servant of dem
ocracy. That was the source of al
his woes.
His apogee was during his visit ia
Cherbourg, where he eclipsed Pres
ident Greyy, and to his native town
of Cahors, where his voyage was a
royal triumph. His fall dates from
the late elections at Belleville, when
those who had elevated him to
political fortune, repudiated him,
and who now express indecent ex-
ultation over his premature death.
But then, it must be admitted, Gam
betta's views, not those of his cleo
tors, had changed. He had prom
ised them when in opposition, re-
forms, that when in power, he could
not realize; hence, he became
an "opportunist" : Rochefort
coined the name. He COM
menced to trim; to advocate half
measures. This explains why the
republic he created is still in
monarchial sWaddling clothes. He
has left no successor he was himself
a party and a programme.
The republic does not expire with
Gambetta. There will be a new
grouping of parties, and circum-
stances will create the leaders.
Jules Ferry may temporarily sue
coed him, but the bulk of his fol-
lowers will drift to Clemencesn, an
able but a too advanced politician
The nation will have no master, to
all appearances. but itself. It il
not its role to obey, but to
be obeyed, and so the present
ministry may count upon respite.
Gambetta gave but poor idea of
craftsmanship, when reluctantly
forced, from pulling the wires be-
hind the scenes, to act in full day
and on his own responsibility. He
has stirred up much religious ami
mostly, without settling any re-
ligious difficulty. In his death, the
republic loses its grand elector, He
was also the spectre of revenge for
the poor Alsatians, who like him,
counted upon a collision between
L ermany and Russia. But Gam
BETA was not the less a great and q
; pure patriot. Formerly there was
not a woman in France, however
: poor, but gave spindle full of flax
to make up the ransom money foI
Duquesclin; there is not a French,
man but might we'll give, were ii
; possible, an hour of his life to pro.