National Republican., 1883-01-02

Y
suits Of the campaign of 1S70-'7i NJ. Gambetta
proved that one must not suppose that hence
forth wars, whether great or small, must be
| necessarily Ofshort duration. Those results only
prove that with the means now employed the
conditions of warfare have altogether changed
The conduct of NJ De Bismarck and his
| legions has forever banished from our future
conflicts the chivalrOus spirit that prompted
our ancestors TO make the gallant challenge,
Messieurs les 4ngldis, tirez les premiers' and we
know quite well that NJ. De Moltlle, who once
on time was regarded as n great soldier and
the inventor Of model staff corps, was rs a
factor Of success in the Franco German war
entirely distanced by the ordnance manu-
| facturer, Krupp. M. Gambetta knows this
and neither as a statesman nor as a military
organizer is he likely to forget it. When
tourists used TO visit Rhineland in bygone
days, their guide, pointing to ruined fortresscs
and dismantled castles, generally remarked,
| The French have passed that way 1t is our
| turn now TO say, "rhe Prussians have been
here Time does not respect what is done
without its aid. Our improvised armies
would no doubt, have acquired greater soldity
| If the war had lasted longer and It would
therefore have been fitting to steer between
the shoals, and prepare, with as little blood
| shed as possible, or, If it could be DONE with
no bloodshed at all, defnitive victory"
The power which M. Gambetta welded over
his followers during the crisis of 1877, to or
ganize legal resistance against an attempt to
re-establish personal government, stamped
him as a statesman of the highest order
Some months ago a writer in London Truth
| gave the following anecdotes of the deceased I:
ANECDOTES
Gambetta was born at Cahors, and is the
son of crockery-dealor in that town, who sent
| him to the seminary, intending he should be-
come priest. The Able Massabic, his uncle
on the mothers side-an excellent man who
| aNs I.I s.,N 4. Al
| principles of religion, and was pleased with
the lads impetuosity in mastering Scripture
history, which he mistook for holy zeal but
| young Leon had not been two years at the
seminary before he was expelled for repeated
acts of characterization, and the superior dole
| fully wrote to his parents: "You will never
make priest of him. He has an utterly un-
disciplinable character" Ono may compare
this with an opinion expressed many years
| later by M. Grevy, who bluntly said: You'll
die in the skin Of revolutionist"
Gambetta, on leaving the seminary of Ca
hors, proceeded to the Lycee of that town.
and he was still there when he met with the
accident which deprived him of an eye. lie
was playing in the shop of carpenter, his
fathers neighbor, one half-holiday afternoon,
when an apprentice whom he was teasing
made lunge at him with q pointed stick
and inadvertently poked the eye out of its
socket. This cruel mishap indirectly made
|
sight of both his eyes he would have studied
for the medical profession, whereas now it be-
came necessary TO prepare him for profess
sion where he would only have to use his
| tongue. Thus partial blindness converted
Gambetta into barrister, just as total blind
ness, the result of an accident, out shooting,
transformed Mr.. Fawcett into politician.
| Gambetta went to study law in Paris. He
| took his degree in 1859, and, having been
| called to the bar the same year, became secre-
tary to "the ugliest man in France" Isaac
Cremieux, the Jew advocate, who had been n
member of the provisional government of
| 1913. NJ. Cremieux had not chosen the young
man at haphazard; for NJ. Gambetta had al
ready acquired name in tho student world,
both for his fervid republicanism, and for tho
ascendency which he exercised over his COM
panions.
HIS woNDRoUs ELooUENcE.
He became famous and popular at once in
| December 1868, when speaking as counsel for
| the ReUiel which had been prosecuted for or
ganizing subscription to raise monument
to the Representative Baudin, who was slain
at the coup detat of 1851. He delivered a
harangue which was one long impassloned,
and scathing philippe against Napoleon III.
| Most people wondered that the Judges of the
sixth chamber should have allowed him to
proceed to the end of this denunciaton un-
checked but one must have heard Gambetta
speak to understand the enthralling charm of
his oratory. ] witnessed proof Of this in
| April, 1870, when he uttered his memorable
speech about the "irreconcilables," plainly
telling the olivier ministry that ne and his
followers only accepted the liberal concessions
of the empire as "bridge" toward the re-
public. In the ardor of his peroration he
| swept his hand over the ledge of the tribune
and knocked bowl of beef broth which had
been brought for his refreshment on to the
heads of two ushers beneath. In the case of
ordinary speakers this mishap would have
raised ineXtinguishabfe laughter but as it
was, no one even smiled, and the two ushers
wiped their hair, ears and coats in the mutest
resignation.
met him few days after the battles of
Woerth and Forbach, when tine empress regent
had put Paris in state of siege, and at part
ing said, Au revoir au Capitol" He shook
his head and answered that he thought Pal
iliao the prime minister, would try to l1idnap
him. "All my footsteps are dogged," said he,
land my poor aunt advises me to carry re-
volver about with me. But that would do no
good" The apprehension of being arrested
did not shake Gambetta's nerve or interfere
with his spirits. He had not taken to doing
Banting" in those days, and after every one
of those copious repasts in which he delighted,
and where Burgundy was the staple wine. he
would jest in a truly Babelaisian style about
his imperial enemies. One of the mistakes he
made at this time Che himself calls it the
Cdplldl DluuueTO Vi MS mo-, WuS 10 truSI III Du-
zaine. He worked with all his might
to get that traitor appointed comman-
der in chief and he succeeded. If the
truth must be told, he was fairly carried away
by the seductive eloquence Of Nine. Bazaine.
There was no resisting that dark eyed little
Mexican beauty, who chartered like n hum
ming bird, and amid weeping wringlng OF
hands, and ecstatic declarations of patriotism,
vowed her husbands willingness to die for
his country. Cant you understand what a
soldier like my husband must feel at seeing
the army commanded byan oaf like this third
NapoleonY p exclaimed Nine. Bazaine pas
sionately within an hour after she had kissed
the hand of the empress and protested her
allegiance TO tho throne). Yes" answered
Gambetta, and for chat one time in his life he
was weak
After the peace he took up his residence in
n third floor apartment of the Rue Montaigne,
where his aunt, Mile. Massabie, acted as his
housekeeper, and there he remained until his
proprietorshlp Of the RepubtiQne Frdncaise
having made him rich, he removed to more
suitable lodgings. The conservative journals
have poxed much fun at Gambetta, and tried
TO paint him as n greedy udventureri but
do not think it would bo possible to find a
man less wrapped up in self and more de-
voted to his party and its principles. The
dominant sentiment in his mind is the am-
btion to do what no one else has been able to
do, viz found the republic in France, Very
good natured, withal he refuses the co-operl-
tion of no one who can help him toward this