New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-01-15

Ingenious and totally misleading version OF the pol
lev and purpose of This Ministry. Gambetta pierced
the tine-spun net with word" son tres haDhe Gu
tres perfide discours"-and the house thrilled 10 the
word "perfde, which everybody felt exactly char'
acterized the Dues performance. 1t went 10 the
verge Of parliamentary permlssibility, nut IL was
not challenged. Then came an apostrophe 10 the
Duo. You pretend to serve cause, but now h"'o
YOU served itf When you set your FOOT on ran0e'
when for five months you left no art untred 10 COT
rupt, oppress terrify and coerce tho electors Vi
every De0artmentd did you think what heritasooi
infamy YOU would leave to your childrenT You
..apd here to-day TO defend It'll vous est facile
d,anporer c, ayec votre elegance de grand seigneur
vos 6perammes ionguenent prepare ss'-but 1T is to
France YOU have to yer, and eplgrams are pot
enough. Aud then came the sentence referred 10
above as Gambettas own account OF himself: DE
suis I'M HON ne de mon temps; vous n'etes pas un
honme dc votre temp"
And 80 no went on, the speech gathering In
volume and force as it proceeded. Ganbetta III
his ouiefer moments was rapid enough: he spoke ih
public and in private with extreme velocity, Dut
when he became impassioned the words followed
each other at such pace that only the singular
dstnctness of his articulation maze them audible at
all The voice was sonOrOus full and varied; llablt'
ike Mr. Brgh Is, 10 become husky, but wnile at lis
best. musical and deep. The gesture was large and
free sometimes violent not always stately but
always significant aud despotic. When he was
reused the movement of the head became frequent,
the hair was tossed away from the forehead che
chm was upifted, the nostrils expanded, ike those
OF a man who opens his lungs to fresh breeze.
That piercing glance swept from side TO size ana
missed nothing as it roaned over the upturned
faces The Monarchists OH the right had shown
themselves disposed at first 10 Interrupt, but OF
interruption Gambetta, contrary to his habit would
take no notice other than q defiant and se"rntuI
look So presently that section of the hall grew
quiet again.
The one great storm which broke out was toward
the middle of the speech. During the long contest
Gambetta had somewhat confidently foretold the
election of the full number OF Republican Deputies,
to whom the party stood pied ged, 1863. When the
returns came in the number proved considerably
less-I think In all 80. As the orator touched
upon the figures he was tainted with TINS raining
off. Without an lnstants pause he hurled the an
swer full in the face OF the Ministers who sat IN
front of him. "TIue; but we failed to allow for
fraud and robbery o-of the ballot boxes that is
The whole Right rose III .tumult. For Gamoetta
for once was COOL he leaned back against the
Presidents Tribune benind him. squared his
shoulders, said not word and regarded the raging
sea beneath him. Far on the back bench somebody
was heard shouting at the top OF his voice some ILL.,
sultng epithet. perhaps that's Deputy for Vau-
cluse who interrupts" cried Gambetta. Ana IL
was The frauds and Ministerial pressure had no.
toriousy been more fragrant in the Vauelns' thdn
In any other Department. The four Dtpules
elected were no5odIes, and new men, but Gam
beta in these first few days OF the SESSION hau
found time to make himself acquainted with the
faces of his foes, and turned ON them with re-
tort the more crushing because of the civil scon
- nd nafn Of fSslf q
specimen of the immense pains he took TO master
the political facts OF every new SITUATION
Til. speech was but just over an hour long.
have always been disposed to think ii the greatest
single effort OF oratOry l ever heard Five years
have passed and the impression is hardly les VIVID
in my own mind than 1t was the next day, though
am only too well aware that the difficulty OF con-
veying it to others Is vastly greater WIN
the lapse Of time. The broad outlines one car
still reproduce the delicate lights and shades
of that strangely picturesque scene are hardly to be
caueht | asked Gambetta's friends, who had
heard him often. if he had made greater speech
.'Neyer, was the uniform answer. He was then
thrty.nine wears DID, and his Oratory answered OK
sotly and fully 10 that maxim of the great orator OF
Greece who demanded first. second and third as
the condition of successful sDeakIng-energy. But L
don't conceive that any of US az the moment thought
of Gaa BETA as an orator. No critical attitude
could be taken or kept till atterwsrd. 1t IS not
me GEOLOGICAL observations that you care about at
the heipht of a hurricane in mid-Atantlc. Inc
con,ummate art. the finish of dicion, tine argu-
mentative weight, the per ectlon OF delivery and
method O. the speech became impressive to you
alter the speech was done. But at the moment II
was the tremendous sincerity, earnesness and force
of the man which absorbed everything else Ii
was not debate, it was battle, and this man was
leading the legons of France, his life IN his hand
and the life of the Republic bound up with his
That crowded and brilliant assembly, those benches
where sat the Deputies of the Republic, those gal
leries where the beauty and chivalry OF France heI
Youngest loneliness and her Oldest nobility, were
gatbered-over all these passed the spell OF that re-
sstless eloquence and far more resistless force oil
character, and of that all-surrenderng devotion
which, during that hour, inspired orator and audi
ence alike.
/ will add this only, that the speech though de-
voted to the destruction of corrupt Ministry ahd
60 necessarily aggressive in form, contained pro-
gramme. Gambetta never was content with mere
criticism, which be pronounced sterile, however
useful. His mind was constructive. He said OF
himself. 81 an man OF government. A year OF real
power is worth more than life OF opposition" He
bungered for power, and his enemies, OF whom no
man had more accused him OF ambition. No doubt
he was ambitious, but his ambition was to make q
free and powerful France, Independent OF King OF
Pope self-tcaching and self goyerniDg. Andnothng
in this magnificent speech was more obviously
genuine and more terrible to ite victims than the
final sentence, in which he Denounced the guilty
schemes of the Due de Broghe as the offspring of
personal and selfish lust for rule: " Yours Is not
ambition: 1t is gluttony Of Office"
Well. he is dead He leaves behind him men of
ability. of experience, of knowledge strong Minis
ters adroit politicians. leaders of this section and
that, in bis own party and 10 other parties. But
the one statesman In whom capacity for fars was