Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub
[blocks in formation]

I HAVE have been requested by the Editor of the Fortnightly Review to write a few memorial pages on the great Democrat and the great Frenchman, to whom I was attached as much by the links of personal affection as by those of political opinions. I should have hesitated to do this, so early after the premature death of my chief and friend, were it not for my conviction that the true story of his character and career has not yet been told, and that it were well it were told quickly. Among the tributes of admiration paid to his memory, none have been more generous than those which came from the English side of the Channel. His English friends and admirers in all classes of society

*This article is written by one of the most intimate friends and political followers of the late M. Gambetta. The author wishes his name withheld; but his ability, knowledge, and sin

cerity are obvious.

NEW SERIES.-VOL. XXXVII., No. 4

were numerous, and they have done their duty to his remains. To those who knew him only by his public acts, it will be a source of satisfaction to learn, from one who enjoyed his intimacy, that English sympathy was true in its instinct. No statesman in France entertained greater esteem and admiration for Englishmen and English institutions than Gambetta; no one did more than he to destroy old prejudices and establish the friendship of the two nations on a basis of something more than words, and I do not fear contradiction when I say that if France has been bereaved of a great statesman and a great patriot, England has lost in Gambetta a powerful and enlightened friend.

The present lines are written under the impression of deep emotion. Those who read them must therefore excuse the writer if they detect an absence of method in his impressions. They will

28

[graphic]

find therein rather information as to the man than criticism of his acts, and perhaps they will fail to discover the amount of impartiality without which a man of his breadth and power cannot be definitely judged. I will avow at once that I knew Gambetta too well to be wholly unprejudiced when his name comes under my pen. In making this confession, I probably indicate one of the reasons of the extraordinary ascendency Gambetta exercised not only over his countrymen but over all those whom he saw and who heard him. I have often tried to analyze the reason of that ascendency. It was due in a great part, no doubt, to his varied powers of speech; to his extensive knowledge of affairs of men ; to his insight into human character, which enabled him instinctively to treat each man according to his temperament. But, in addition to this, he was endowed by nature with the gift of imparting in a very few words and as few moments his faith to his hearers. Another source of personal attraction, and of his influence over men, was that he was devoid of prejudice as to the opinions, the origin, and the bent of those whom he met. Democracy, in his eye, was not a sect, a church-not even a party; it was France itself; it was the only form of government which he thought compatible with the greatness of his country: to establish this democracy on a firm basis, and thereby to contribute to the development of France, he was ready to work with anybody and everybody. No personal or political bias could keep him from extending his hand to a foe who would contribute to the success of the common cause. To a political friend he would say, "We cannot govern France with one class and a limited set of men; let us relinquish our prejudices and accept the services even of those who hold an opinion different from our own." To a political enemy, We differ in political creed, but we have one common object-the prosperity and greatness of the country. Strive toward that object. I ask no more of you." Hence the extraordinary influence Gambetta wielded even among the opponents of Republican institutions. Hence, also, the curious fact that beyond the pale of Republicanism there was

[ocr errors]

a

numerous camp of admirers who, although attached to other forms of government, were genuine Gambettists

ready to follow him almost on any ground, however much their opinions might differ from his. "He works for the Republic; that we know," they would say ; but then he works for France; he develops her powers; he loves the army. He is a Republican, but he is above all things a Frenchman." For this broad-minded generosity he was often blamed by his own partisans, or rather by that portion of the Republican party whose wisdom consists in the pure and simple application of a dogma, whether it fits or not the national disposition, with weakness and lax principles. They are now finding out that but for the great strength he exerted to conciliate opponents, or to disarm their ill-will, he could not have saved the French Republic, and afterward established it on popularity. I recollect the bitterness with which certain Republicans viewed his relations with certain generals known for the cruel severity they displayed in the defeat of the insurrection of the Commune. Many Republicans knew not, or would not understand, that, when M. de Broglie conspired against the national will in the period known as the crisis of the 16th of May, Gambetta, by his personal ascendency over those influential officers, prevented them from joining the conspirators, and thereby saved the Republic. I may tell you now, said to me one of those generals two days after Gambetta's death, that but for Gambetta we would have passed over to M. de Broglie and monarchy."

[ocr errors]
[graphic]

And yet such is the irony of events, and the folly of party prejudices, that this invaluable connection of Gambetta's with several influential members of the army was the chief cause of his most recent political failures, and of his celebrated check at Belleville. By conciliating and restraining generals who might at a critical period have turned the scales in favor of monarchy, he incurred the charge of preparing a coup d'état. Because he wished to teach his friends and followers that the first safeguard of French democracy was the organization of a strong constitutional government he was called a dictator.

T

Even his private life was pried into and his personal honesty challenged. This will be considered by history as one of the dark pages of the growth of French democracy, and I would avoid referring to this strange period of folly were it not that it had a decisive influence on the destinies of Gambetta. When last year Gambetta was violently assailed by a large section of the Republican party, no one noticed that it produced any effect on his mind. I may as well say that his callousness on that occasion was only external, and that he was touched to the heart by the denunciations of the men whose battles he had fought and won. It was the only time, save on his mother's death, when he was seen by a few friends with tears in his eyes. For he was not as stoical as people generally believed him; his indifference at certain insults was only skin-deep, and was inconsistent with the chivalry of his nature. He could bear without flinching the insults of the enemies of Republican institutions, they only stimulated his powers of combativeness; but the obloquy of Republicans touched him deeply; on that occasion they went straight to his heart. Yet he was not prone to reckon overmuch on national thankfulness and personal gratitude, and he said recently to a friend, with a melancholy yet sarcastic smile, "You ask me why I forgive M. X-, who attacked me so wantonly after receiving so many boons at my hands; whom have I not had to forgive since these last ten years?" Gambetta forgave his accusers all save one, who now lives satisfied and prosperous. Yet even with him Gambetta was generous. He might have broken him as a reed. His revenge went no farther than to forbid him his door, deeming that on this earth he could never face him again.

He was infinitely generous and loving to his private friends, and even went to the length, on their behalf, of sacrificing his private means and risking his popularity. He might have profited by his public position to improve his private fortune; indeed he was credited by a large portion of the public with having done so. His personal wealth was put down at a million pounds at least; he leaves hardly a million francs-£40,000 -entirely derived from the premium

realized on his shares in the two newspapers inspired by him-the République Française and Petite République. Under the circumstances, no one will be surprised to hear that he was at some pains, considering the requirements of his position, to make both ends meet, and that the bloated millionnaire of Ville d'Avray, whose prodigalities and enormous fortune were so loudly denounced in monarchical and radical pamphlets, was not infrequently the victim of pecuniary embarrassment. This was to him no deprivation, for hard days, in his youth, had been known by the man of three-and-forty, who had risen like a blaze of fire to notoriety at his thirtieth year, and had ever since amazed the world by his superb gifts of energy, courage, patriotism and political acumen. Hard days were those when his family refused to allow him to leave Cahors and the grocer's shop for Paris. and the School of Law; when as a consequence of family displeasure the young Gambetta had to study and live on the scantiest means with his old aunt, Mademoiselle Massabie. But he never thought of fortune or money. He read hard and well, and never ceased to the last day of his life to study and learn. No doubt his rich, impetuous southern nature relished the enjoyments of life, but these were to him altogether secondary. He thought so little of himself, that the necessity of sparing his bodily strength never really struck him. For years, and particularly during his latest years, he seldom slept more than four hours a night, throwing away, for the benefit of his country and party, his strength, his health, and powers of existence. To his friends his ability to bear such a strain was a constant subject of wonder, but he bore it so well and so gallantly that they had got to believe that what he did was not beyond his strength of endurance. They were sadly mistaken. One small wound sufficed to cast down his fatigued frame, and was as the drop of water which makes the glass overflow.

It had been vain on their part to intercede with him and ask him to work after another system. To struggle, to throw himself body and soul in the strife, to be active with the pen and the tongue, to negotiate in the morning,

[graphic]

46

[ocr errors]

It

address multitudes in the evening, and discharge the duties of a diplomatist and a man of action, all this was life to Gambetta; of this thirst for work and action, he was hardly a master; and even had he been willing to divert some of his time from politics, the pressure of public business which bore down straight and sure upon him would have prevented him from doing so. It was felt everywhere in France that in his hands lay the veritable source of government, whether he was or was not in power. found him, with his manifold faculties and ardor of temperament, only too ready to answer the appeal. This impetuosity of blood," he once told me recently, I have constantly applied myself to quell, and I have not yet quite succeeded. It was my mother's gift; for my temperament, I know, I owe it almost entirely to her." Gambetta was closely attached to his old father, whose health and welfare were paramount in his mind almost to his last breath: but by race and temper he was far more a Massabie (his mother's maiden name) than a Gambetta. Yet the adjunction of a few drops of Italian blood had produced a deep impression on his Gascon nature. It had thrown in a power of self-restraint, a depth of calculation, and an indefinable charm of manner, the contrast of which, when compared with his impetuous and impulsive disposition and other attributes of southern French blood, always surprised and struck those who knew him longest and best. There was ever something new about Gambetta-something unforeseen and really genial to be got out of him. The numerous resources of his mind ever threw unwonted light on the question discussed in conversation as well as in the political arena. If a political combination failed to succeed, his mind, instead of losing time in the expression of bootless regret, was immediately at work to discover some other means of conquering the obstacles placed in his way or his party's.

One thing, indeed, never changed in him his extraordinary patriotism. His love for his country was intense and overpowering. Those who heard his patriotic outbursts, a mere reflex of the fame that burned within the orator, retain a vivid recollection of their fer

P

vency and fire. cannot imagine the climax to which, among intimate friends, he could attain when dwelling on this painful subject. Then it was dreadful and splendid to hear him speak of the eastern frontier; and now, as I am writing, it seems to me as if I had still in my ear the magnificent and heart-rending accents which revealed the depth of the wound which the fatal events of 1870-71 had wrought in his breast.

Even they, however,

II.

Gambetta's public career has measured exactly thirteen years. It is within this extraordinarily short period that he did everything which secured him the attention of the world. For the name of Gambetta was unknown before the Baudin affair, save by a few private friends and schoolfellows who long before had marked him out for fame. Among the qualities he displayed during his rapid passage through French contemporary history, few hitherto have remained unchallenged. I will presently deal with the various criticisms upon him. There is, however, one superiority which is nowhere contested, his mastery in the art of speech. That he was the greatest orator of his age," the greatest orator of continental Europe," said the Daily News, none who have read his speeches will deny. Many of these speeches I have read in the text just after hearing their delivery. Masterly as they are, they give but an incomplete impression of the effect produced on those who listened to them. There are many sorts of eloquence; that of Gambetta was of a peculiar kind. Eloquence in him was a native gift; it came without preparation, in private conversation, at the tribune, in parliamentary committees, at the breakfast-table. He spoke as Patti sings, spontaneously, without effort, and his oratory constantly varied in color, in accent, in intonation. Gifted with an organ of great compass, which adapted itself exactly to the particular emotion or passion felt by the orator, he was equally impressive when speaking almost in a whisper or replying to an opponent with a sharp and caustic repartee, as when the demon of eloquence raged within him and goaded him to the most passionate outbursts.

[ocr errors]

The sight he offered when in the tribune. "I feel no emotion when I ascend the of the House of Deputies, particularly tribune," he answered; "it is 'only in in these last years, will ever be remem- great debates, when I catch the Presbered by his contemporaries. Surely ident's eye, ten minutes before opening no modern Frenchman ever gave such a my mouth, that I am affected. Then I picture of strength and grandeur. He am shaken by an internal tremor about usually began in a thick, husky voice, in the head and spine, which is extremely a few heavy sentences; then suddenly painful, but does not last more than he seemed to cast aside, as if by one half a minute, after which I am myself effort, all carnal trammels, and he again." That his speeches were not rushed off impetuously into his brilliant previously studied and prepared, I had course, which henceforth nothing could myself a conclusive proof last year. It check or embarrass. The short, thick- was on the 26th of January, on the day set, bull-necked athlete, who had pon- of the parliamentary collapse of the derously ascended the steps of the trib- Gambetta cabinet over the scrutin de une, was another man. Pacing the liste question. The sitting was to comtribune with alacrity, his enormous head mence at two o'clock; at twelve a few sunk in his shoulders, his single eye friends, among whom I was, were flashing fire, his hands clutching the talking at breakfast with Gambetta of marble slab of the tribune as if he would the probabilities of the forthcoming crush it to powder, or raised above his battle. Our host grew by degrees head in tragic gesture, he struck his animated, and, impelled by objections hearers with fear, anger, or admiration; intentionally put forth, he said what he and then, with an enormous effort, he intended to say in the House, and made would carry away friends and foes- an admirable speech. My surprise was Monarchists, Imperialists, and Repub- great, a few hours later, when I heard licans-into a wild burst of enthusiasm. him deliver from the tribune a speech Madame de Staël relates how she once wholly different. It was admirable went to the National Assembly to hear also, and the gist of it was the same; Mirabeau attack her father, Necker. yet it was quite a different speech. This She hated Mirabeau, and listened at first curious instance of improvisation was to his denunciations with pangs of fierce the commentary of what he told me on and malignant anger; but, as the another memorable occasion-his speech speaker's eloquence rose higher and on the Egyptian question. "I never higher, she forgot her father who was prepare my discourses; I never think of being trampled under foot, herself, her the speech itself. The speech is nothing feelings, everything, and madly ap- to me; the idea I want to put forth and plauded him. Such, doubtless, was the demonstrate is all that I think of in case with Gambetta's political enemies advance. For the remainder I trust to when he wrung from them their ap- myself, to whatever advantages I may plause. And in his loudest and most derive from opportunity." He never violent outbursts there was nothing cultivated eloquence for the sake of elotheatrical, nor vulgar, nor excessive; it quence. was all genial and spontaneous. Then, unexpectedly checking himself, he would enter into the elucidation of a point of political or administrative business; alter his manner, his voice, his attitude; point out the fallacies of his opponent's thesis

is; recur, by degrees, to his former manner, hurl his adversary violently to the ground, and in one final burst carry everything before him. That he felt in the tribune none of that emotion which affects some of the boldest and most practised speakers was obvious enough. I questioned him once on the subject after the delivery of one of his speeches.

On

Such was Gambetta as an orator, one of the greatest, perhaps the greatest master of oratorical power who ever appeared in French political assemblies. His masterly eloquence has become so identified with his individuality that it has, to some extent, thrown in the shade his qualities as a statesman. this subject I will say of him what he said of himself: his gifts of speech were only a means, not an object. He had undertaken to found democratic institutions on a firm basis, to reform the spirit, the ideas, and, above all, the political method of the Republican

« AnteriorContinuar »