Year: 1877

OI DGTISGb S0GFOCN HI luC 1ICe1ICTs II


is statesman and journalist;


the general public wish to know hi


views in the one character, let then


listen to his speeches; if in tn


other, let them read his paper. TIL,


on dts in regard to his unpublished


opinions are, as rule to be received


with extreme caution, as the mer,


fact of their being put into circula


tion tends TO convict the person Wht


reports them either of a direct breacl


of confidence or of deliberate inven


ton. IntervieWers may therefort


spare themselves the trouble of in


truding on his privacy, for Gambetts


is not to be drawn.


The prime characteristic of his ap


pearance and manner is robustness


With his burly build he is some


thing of a Danton in frame; his


voice is loud, clear, and decisive


and its accents and the substance OF


his talk give you the impression


always invigorating to those whoare


looking to another for their cue-that


hei strong enough to disdain. f11eSSe


Yet it would, perhaps, be more ac-


curate to say that he is strong enough


to disdain the appearance of 1.-THE


effect is the same for the majority OF


mankind. He is really, if one might
go behind immediate appearances
and Judge by what one knows OF


his past, a politician as ruSe as Bis
mark or as M. Theirs only he diff
fers from the latter (and resembles
IN, IL
tuteneSs before the world. M. Thiers
at first mistOOk the purpOrt of this
reserve, and was even disposed to
think that there was nothing to be
hid. His estimate of Gambetta as a
fOI flGTieltr may continue to serve
party purposes in this generation,
but in the next it will be seen to be
wholly wrong. It's author has vir-
tually admitted his error by stalking
his chance for the next Presidency
on the support of the man he SO
rashly condemned. Grossly as he
blundered, however, hewas out only
by a word, and by hardly so much
as a sound. Gambetta is certainly
no .fOu f1trieuc; !; but call him a fdat.c
tttTielGr (DOltr Le bon motif, and you
will not be far wrong. There is in
more difference between the
two, it may be observed, that be-
tween tweedledum and tWeedledee.
A .fdaLr tatTieatr, in the sense in which
it is now applied to him in politi-
cal salon in which he is always most
received, is one who keeps
a cool head for the guidance of a
warm heart-one who, without be-
has his passion under COM
and who knows when the
time has come to let it loose, and
when and how to stop it in its full
course. NJ. Bonnet DuYerdier, for
an instance to the contrary, is very
not a tdltT .f1grielGr, though
the other appellatiOn might suit him
to a nicely whenever the ex-Dicta-
tors enemies consent to divert it
from its present use. Feeling wrath
with the Marshal, he spluttered out
an absurd accusation about coward
ice and cunning at Sedan. M. Gam
beta is at least as angry with the
head of the State as the President of
the Municipal Council, but he takes
care to set both of them a perfect
example Of discretion. He thunders
at him in his paper, as from the tri-
bune; but while his every word on
the subject is a masterpiece. of elO-
gent denunciatiOn, he takes care to
say nothing to put himself in the
wrong. Your fdur .fiTielGc, indeed,
are your only successful rulers of
men: there must be passion or how
will you touch the feelings, the inn
aginatiOn of the mass, and obtain
your motive power? There must
be the predominant policy; or how
are you to direct that power to an
end? The two qualities are natural
grOWths of Gambetta's mind for
you cannot be with him five minutes
without finding one and the other
appear. When you catch fire from
his own enthusiasm, he is ready to
put out in an instant by some cold
dOuche of fact or calculation which
you have not taken into account.


His character has of course been
largely modified by circumstances
since first he came before the world.
The change is shown in his social
habits quite as much as in those of
public life. The author of one of the
best accounts of his earlier days ever
written-a period to which the per-
Sopal knowledge of the present writ
ar does not eXtend-has told us how
the young Gambetta used to employ
his somWhat too abundant leisure
before he was known to fame. He
has taken us into the famous Cafe
PrOcOpe to show us " a dark Italian
DIoOded young Frenchman, blind
with one eye, not over Well-dressed,
but with a voice astounding as brass.
1t was the magic of the man, this
voice. When silent he looked in
significant enough, but once he be-
gan to speak the rather Bohemian
crew of friends around him woke to
The desultory custom
9rs scattered about the other tables
would prick their ears, and the land
ord would hurry up in a sacred
fashion to beg the impetuOus orator
to speak lower, because-And here
4 whisper. But he with the ringing
voice would shrug his shoulders at
The "because," even when there
was NJ. Pietri's name tackled on to


It. He held the evening newspaper


IN his hands with the report Of a
speech delivered by some one of
hat tWenty-three-say Jules Favre
Dr. Ernest Picard-Who breasted in
the Corps LegiSlatif the mob of NJ.
Rouher'S blatant henchmen; and
until the speech had been read
through from end to end, with SON
DrOus braves at the telling points,
there was no stopping him with
Tread of feaVesdroppers. Then, when
the paper was laid down, more
of beer would ensue than
perhaps the matter strictly required,
md the barrister would blaze out
into flashing comments on what he
had read, adding what he would do
and say if the chance were afforded
him. Nor did his Bohemian friends
smile at this. Each man among
them felt in himself that Iimitless
which impecuniOsity be-
gets, and they were also firmly per-
5uaded that if their companion
could only find the opportunity, he
would soon set mems tongues rat
ling about him."


The famous cafe knows Gambetta
no more, and the Bohemia of law
and letters has to mourn a personal
loss in what has been the gain of all
the rest of France. He is in a new
e0uche sociaIe, it was inevitable; and
when he goes out now it is among
those whose position, while it still
permits them to aspire, also enables