The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-02-04
DUB FRENCH LETTER.
Special correspondence eff the HsaAID.)
PARIS, January 10, 1888.

PARIS, January 10, 1883.
The funeral of Gambetta, a VIII
iage grocer's son, cast into the shade
that of Louis XVIII, the last
reigning monarch buried in France.
The deceased empire buried ex-King
Jerome with all the pomp and cir
| cumstance of-soldiery, and in
TERED in 1865, the Duo de Morny
| with all administrative nonors. In
both ceremonies, soul was wanting;
the people, the country, there took
no part. Gambetta's obsequi es
were an explosion of patriotism;
the resurrection of 1870-71, with all
its sufferings, its lessons, and its
hopes. The picture of the country
mutilated, followed the hearse, in
the symbols of Metz and Strasbourg ;
the hope of the country's future,
was cheered in the populations Of
the colleges and the SCHOOLS. There
was striking unanimity in thus
clarifying TWO epochs. It was a
patriotic convolutiou, and exhibited
France to be one and indivisible
that manifestation round the repre-
sentative of its greatest symbol, and
which consecrated and solemniZed
the resistance of 1901.
Let there be no mistake about the
meaning and the moral of the fun
eral. The 100000 of people, who
came from every part of France,
from every corner of Paris, to line the
route of the cortege, did not arrive
to honor the doctrines Of Gambetta;
to mark new triumph for the re-
public, or the official recognition of
| free thought as one Of the "relig-
ions"-excuse the paradox of the
state. No, it was the apotheosis of
patriotism; Of a patriotism superior
to politics and religion, incarnated
in the man of France, and not the
chief of a party or the leader Of a
creed.
| Respecting the procession, it was
mortuary fairy spectacle. In the
words Of Bassuet, s'the honors
wanted in nothing, save him, to
whom they were rendered" From
the Palais Bourbon to the cemetery
Of Pere LaChaise, is between three
and four miles, and the procession
starting at 10 O'Clock, arrived at 80,
the tail of the cortege was at the
Palace Bourbon when its head was
at the cemetery. It was well or.
gained. Along the route the win
dows were filed, not with mourn.
1rS; but curious; the crowd in the
street was silent-reserved rather
| it displayed neither sorrow, Joy, re-
veHge nor hope. But it may not the
less have experienced all these.
Heads uncovered when the bier ar
rived, as is the courtesy ever rem
dered to death. The working pop
ulation, say half a million, were
bare-headed, that being their every
day toilette. There was no smoking
in the crowds; no testing. An in
tense feeling of curiosity domino
ted, mingled with the satisfaction
or the grandeur of the splendid
spectacle. The flags in mourning
attested very extensive sympathy.
The Populations and delegations,
with their 5000 crowns, represented
France; not its industrial institu-
tions. Louis Blanc had workmen
for mOGrners; Ledru Rollin, cleo
tors; Theirs, republicans, but Gam
BETA had all these, for he meant
France. He taught his countrymen
to be French, not cosmopolitans,
and the people retained for Gam
BETA a secret complaisance and a
profound respect. The thousands
including political adversaries-
Paul de Cassagnac and the Due de
Broglie, who visited his remains at
the PalaiS Bourbon. attest this. The
decoration of the facade of the
Chamber of Deputies-a black Grape
scarf drawn across, with the colLr07l-
mes strewn on the majestic steps,
the ushers ranged in front of the
| pillars, and the Illuminated lamps
yelled, was most effective. The
hear5e was neither new, nor rich :;
it was uncommon. That which
had served to inter the Bonapartist
de Morny, was considered out of
place for the grand patriot, though
| ~ hou COuNCy0O Gu0 I6IudlQS Oh
Theirs. But the republicans were
not then in Office. Out-riders, in the
form of undertaker's men on horse
back, were a novelty. The Free
Masons wore bouquets of immorteZ-
les; these they took from their
button-holes, and threw on the
coffin, as they bid their supreme
adieu to their brother of the
mystic tie. The students wore an
ivy leaf, and the representatives of
Alsace and Lorraine carried
branches cut in their native vii
lagos thai they had just left. The
statue of Strasbourg in the Place
de la Concorde, which has ever re-
manned draped in mourning since
the cession of Alsace, had the Grape
unexpectedly raised off the head of
the symbolical figure as the coffin
passed by, and a sudden CLEAN of
sunshine lit up tie stony features