Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-01-02
Leon Ganbctta.

-0dihhtlAd II uCdu. Int AAANhho Va
freedom will hear the tidings with regret;
for whatever the great agitator lacked IN
discretion, his heart was true to France
and his rapid rise from obscurity to dis
tinction attests the power Of the man.
Leon Gambetta was of Genoese-Jewlsh
descent. and was born in Cahars, October
30. 1893. He studied law, and became a
member of the Paris bar in 1853. He soon
became prominent as an ultra Liberal,
and denounced unsparingly the arbitrary
measures Of Louis Napoleon.
In 1869 ne was elected Deputy for Paris
and Marseilles by the IrrecOncilables.
owing to illness he did not take his seat
until 1870. He protested in the Corps
Legislatif against the Imprisonment OF
ROchefort and the new plebiscite of Ma
poleon. which he declared was violation
of the constitution. ON the surrender OF
Napoleon at Sedan he was among the first
to proclaim the Republic, September 4th.
On the Jth he became Minister of the In
terror in the provisional government.
He provided for calling the electoral
colleges, but as Paris was invested by the
Germans. no election could be held. He
escaped from Paris in balloon, and
loined his colleagues at Tours. He took
charge Of the War. Interior and Finance
Departments, and made desperate efforts
to raise new armies, issuing false reports
Of victories. After the armistice Gambetta
issued decree i'm January, 1871, disfran-
chising all functiOnaries OF the Second
Empire. ThiSwas declared null and void
by his colleagues, and he rendered his
resignation. which raised him in the es-
TEEN Of the people. ON February
he was elected to the National
Assembly by ten departments, in
Guiding several that We're to Ice partly
annexed to Germany. He selected Bas-
Rhin. ON July , he was elected by the
Departments of the Seine. Var and
Bouches du Rhone, and took his seat for
the last named, which he had formerly
sat for.
In November his special organ, the
RepUJIigUe FTdBciSe appeared, and he
became recognized as the leader of the
Radicals. From 1872, onward he was agi-
tating the public mind. He denounced
Theirs and the BOnapartists, and
insisted on the removal of the
government from Versailles to Paris.
He strOve vainly to uphold Theirs when
the majority in the Assembly resolved
upon his overthrow. He opposed the pro-
lOngatiOn of McMahOn's Presidency, and
came out of the contest the foremost man
in France. He might have been Presi-
dent had he been less of an agitatOr,
and it was, perhaps, best for France that
he continued the great party leader that
he was. His failure to hold a majority
when he took office was Notifying, in
that it cost him much of the prestige of a
necessary man. which he had up to that
time enjoyed. The past year found him
at its opening the hope Of his followers.
Its close found him on his deathbed.
\ curious version of his accident is
given in La Petite France, NJ. Wilson's
organ. According to the Paris cores
pendent of this journal, Gambetta was
wounded by person who came to his
house at 8 O'Clock in the evening, and be-
tween whom and himself a violent alter
cation arose. Eventually the visitOr-a
woman-drew from her pocket a'revOlver.
which she presented at him. Gambetta
nau Just time TO seize the arm ana ueIlect
its aim; but the trigger having been al
ready raised, the pistol went off and
wounded the hand with which he held it.
The bullet followed the line of the thumb
aud came out at the forearm, midway be-
tween the wrist and the elbow. The
whole thing was the work of moment.
Blood poisoning, brought about by sup
pressed erysipelas, is the cause of death
assigned by the doctors, but whether the
autopsy Will develop other causes remains
to Ice seen.
--Tle public were-.RQt. Prepared. until
within a few hours of his death, for the
fatal tidings. Ii is a striking proof of the
caprice of Fate that this child of destiny
should be the last of the contingent of
greatness called during the past year
to recruit the legiOns of the
tomb. The Republic of France owes him
much. 1t remains to be seen whether he
helped to build better than he knew. for
to the view of the thoughtful he quilted
the arena. where he figured so prominent
~. on the eve of great events.