Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-01-03

tended by incApables, but thought somehow thA1
Gambetta and French patriotism were equal TO
German grit and discipline. In this he read his
age and nation wroRg, as many . patriot haa
done Just before the downfall OF the empire
Gamhefta is reported TO have said In answer 10
the question II Paiikao deserved all the truss
reposed In him; YES. because he is a traitor"
When the grand disaster at Sedan came NJ. Cam
beta at once assumed place at the side Of
favre as one OF the two leading spirits at the
Government OF Defense being charged with the
duties Of the Minister of the Interior
On october 9TH N. Gambetta LEFT the invested
capital In q balloon. and. after perilous yoy-
age landed near Mont Didier, where he harely
escaped falling into the hands OF the Prussans.
He proceeded first TO Amiens, twenty-o miles
distant. and went from there to Rouen which
place he LEFT on the Sth. arriving at Tours. the
seat Of government out side Of Paris, on the same
day. He had been entrusted with the ministry
OF war as well as that of the interior and I'm this
double capacity became and remained until the
fall OF Paris the virtua! dictator Of France out
side of the capital His first act was the iseu-
ance OF proclamation, In which he said a. Let
us rise en- masse and let us die rather than sub
NIT disgracefully 10 ACKNOWLEDGMENT Through
all our disasters and under all the strokes of III
fortune there remains Tor us the sentiment Of
the unity OF France aud the indyisihilitv Of the
the republic. Paris asserts most lloriOusly again
that immortal motto which calls once more upcn
all France-'B Long live the nation Long live the
republic one and indivisible,'" He organized mr..
dssensions among the leaders. and in short
fairly accomplished wonders. When the great
disaster ut Metz came he did not despair: hut,
hurting the charge of treason against Marshal
Bazlne. refused To lose faith in the impregnabii-
fty of France. Proclamatious followed In quick
succession after each defeat of the French arms In
which the nation was urged not TO despair hut
to redouble its energies for defense. For long
period during November and December
he remained with the Army Of
the Loire. which he left on December
IL. He then vsitedthe Army OF Lyons. aud at
the close OF the year repaired ~ Bordeaux. t.
which place the capital had been removed. At
the first battle of lie Mans January TO- he was
again with the Army of the Loire after which
he journeyed To Lille. I'm the North to encour-
courage Fadherbe's army with his presence.
He is then reported to have made a secret visit
TO BRUSSELS to confer with the French and Italian
Ministers, arriving on January g. He then re-
turned to Bordeaux. where he stiT remained
when the grand elimination OF disaster came in
the equalization of Paris
GAMBETTA IN THE NEW CHAMBER
At the succeeding election he was chosen in
nine departments, choosing TO represent that Of
the Bas-Rhin, which was a little later ceded 10
Germany. In the new Chamber he was more
moderate than his friends had expected No
vember 5, 1871 appeared the first number of the
Repu5lique Efdncaise, q newspaper Of which hs
was the power behind the throne During the
political excitement in the early part Of iS72 no
visited Southern France and made several MEM
orabie speeches At the end Of 1874 and begin
ming OF 1875 Gambetta took the foremost part in
the attempts at reconciling the various factions
OF the Left and OF the Right Center TO bring
about harmony for adopting the constitutional
laws. Gambetta increased In power and began
openly In his newspaper TO call for the with
drawal of the Marshal President. In the early
winter OF 1878 he visited Italy. holding inter
h.A 1ln.t Cfpt.A Nsat.
Emmanuel, and even dining with the King and
French Ambassador. On his return at Marseilles
he said significantly: 1.-The Republican party
must become ministerial. For myself have
always maintained. am a man of governments
ana not man of opposition. One year of power
is more fertile than ten years of heroic opposi-
ton"
PRESIDENT OF THE CHAMBER
After the convocation Of the Chamber he waa
again chosen to preside the budget com
mittee. On November Is, 1878, he fought a duel
with FOurtou the ex-minster, to whom he had
given the lie, but both oembatants returned
from Plessis-Picquet unframed. After the tn
ennial renewing Of the Senate Gambetta IVES
used to enter the Cabinet soon to be formed,
but he declined. Soon after. on January 20,
1879. MacMahOn having resigned and Grevy
having been elected In his place, Gambett was
chosen president of the Chamber by Sl4 votes to
ton, Freycinet and Lepere represented the Re-
publican Union The year was spent I'm Parlia-
mentary reforms, in granting full amnesty to
communists, IN promoting educational meas
ures. and in lighting the Jesuits. Towards Ito
Close Freyclnet became Premier and Gambetta'o
preponderance became more and more marked
Bonapartist paper La Pdys called him Mon
seur Gambetta. Dctateur." The Orleanist SoleG
said: 1.-The Ministers are nothing; the President
of the Republic is less than nothing. Gambetta
inA -
the Republic. He Is more than that; he il the
Republic ITSELF" On all sides, open or tscftly
his power was acknowledged. On August g.
lSS0, at banquet at Cherbourg he declared
must reclaim her lost provinces. This speech at
tracoed great attention, especially In Germany.
GAMBRErTA IN OFFICE.
The question was: Did he speak for himself
merely. or for France? Grevy and FreycInet
did what they could to counteract the excite
ment by characteriZing Gambettas apolicy Of
sdvnture. Then thu Freyclnst cabinet gay away
to Ferry. AT length the Tunisian expedition
which had been covertly planued since 1873,
made 1t necessary for Gambetta to assume
power. In August, 1881, the election for a new
assembly took place. In preparation Tor that
event a bill was introduced replacing the
scrutin in Acknowledgement by the scrutin de
liste. The object OF this measure was to re-
turn compact, homogeneous republican ma
jority. with definite program. instead Of
the divided factions. The measure was de-
feated In spite Of Gambetta's efforts but at the
election his party was victorious. 460 republic
cans, Of all shades, were returned and only 90
BOnapartists and Monarchists combined
In November, Ferry having resigned Cam
BETA took Office. with himself foreign min
lister. His associates. except Paul Bert, were
insignificant He set himself to work to push
the scrutin de liste. but its opposition to the
measure was still strong, and, having made IL
q test question. he was defeated and resigned
January 20, 1882. After that time he lived
more i'm retirement, watching events aad pre-
pairing to come again to the front when the ia
pOrable moment arrived. He was largely In
strumental in overthrowing the Freycinet min
istry by attacking the weak policy towards the
Egyptian rebellion. and for the past few months
his influence with the Duclerc ministry has been
20 marked as to be well nigh equivalent to Q
new control.
GAMBETTA SHOT.
On November "a, 1882 the wound which
caused his death was received. Gambetta was
at his country seat at Vile d'Avray His house
being issolated he was in the habit OF sleeping
with loaded pistol by his bed He examined
II TO see whether it was too much rusted for the
trigger to work well. He only saw one of the
two balls In the chambers and discharged IL out