By JOSEPH REINACH.
On the very morrow of Gambetta’s death, and when that catastrophe had
been interpreted by the immense majority of European opinion, as also
by many Frenchmen, as the certain presage of the approaching triumph
of advanced Radicalism—triumph to be followed by violent interior
discords that would infallibly bring about the fall of the Republic and
the re-establishment either of Empire or of Royalty—I said that these
predictions would not be realized, and, moreover, that Gambetta’s death
would but serve to hasten the triumph of his political ideas and party.
I will cite, word for word, what I wrote at the end of January in a
paper that appeared in this Review on February 1:
“We even believe we may predict that the realization of several of
Gambetta’s ideas will meet with fewer obstacles, at least among a
certain fraction of public opinion, to-morrow than yesterday. A
formidable reaction will take place in favor of the great statesman
whom we weep, a reaction in favor of his theories and his principles.
In short, we shall most likely witness the contrary of what has taken
place for some years. It was enough that Gambetta should defend a
theory for it to be attacked with fury. From henceforth it will often
suffice that an idea was formerly held up by Gambetta for it to be
enthusiastically acclaimed. As in the story of Cid Campeador, it is his
corpse that leads his followers to victory.”
What I foretold six months ago has been fulfilled in every point. Those
very Castilians who during Cid’s lifetime suspected him of the darkest
designs and reviled him as a criminal—what did they do after his death?
They put the hero’s corpse in an iron coffin, and the black gravecloth
on the bier was the standard which, in the front rank of battle, led
the Spanish army to victory. And so has it been, or nearly so, with
French Republicans and Gambetta. The political history of our country
during the last six months may be thus summed up: Out of Gambetta’s
death-bed has arisen a first (not complete) victory for his ideas and
friends; from the party more specially organized by him have been
chosen most men now in office, that they may execute his will.
As a matter of fact, just after the excitement of the first few days,
as soon as it became necessary for the Republicans to unite and stop
the Royalists who thought the fruit already ripe, what ministers did
the President of the Republic call for? M. Jules Ferry, who for the
last five years had been, if not the direct coadjutor, at least the
most invariable and faithful political ally of Gambetta, was made Prime
Minister; M. Waldeck-Rousseau, the late Minister for Home Affairs under
Gambetta, and M. Raynal, the late Minister of Public Works, were both
recalled to the same offices. M. Challemel-Lacour, Gambetta’s most
esteemed and devoted friend, was named Minister of Foreign Affairs, and
M. Martin Feuillèe, Under-Secretary of State for Justice on November
14, Minister of Justice; M. Margue, Under-Secretary of State for Home
Affairs, resumed the same post. General Campenon could have been
Minister of War had he wished it. And a great pity it is he declined
his friends’ proposals. Thus, in its general bearings, the Ferry
Ministry is the Gambetta Ministry without Gambetta.
Except some secondary modifications made necessary by the change of
circumstances, the political program is about the same. Abroad an
active and steady diplomacy, the regular development of our colonial
politics, the consolidation of the protectorate in Tunis; at home
the constitution of a strong government, the methodical realization
of social and democratic reforms, the policy of _scrutin de liste_,
whilst awaiting the abolition of _scrutin d’arrondissement_. The
principal bills adopted last session, except the Magistracy bill, are
but legacies from the Gambetta Cabinet. Both cabinets are animated by
the same national spirit—national above all, but also progressist and
governmental. The halo imparted by the presence of a man of genius
is certainly wanting; but Carlyle’s _hero-worship_ is by no means a
democratic necessity. There is certainly reason for rejoicing when a
nation acknowledges and appreciates in one of its sons, sprung from its
midst, an intellect of the highest order. But when Alexander leaves
lieutenants profoundly imbued with his spirit, formed in his school,
most desirous and capable of continuing his work—when these men,
instead of being at variance, remain, on the contrary, more strongly
bound together than ever—there is certainly no reason for complaining
and giving way to discouragement.
Then it is not only in parliament that the _opportunist_ policy is
again getting the upper hand. Throughout the whole country it has
regained the ground it had lost by the intrigues of hostile parties.
The great majority of Republicans have now recovered from a number of
diseases for which Gambetta had always prescribed the remedy—remedy,
alas! that too many refused to stretch out their hand for. The mania
for decentralization is forgotten. The necessity for a strongly
constituted and vigorous central power is almost universally understood
and acknowledged. Demagogue charlatans are for the most part unmasked.
Our foreign policy is steadier—we are no longer afraid of Egyptian
shadows. Intransigeants of the Right and Left still continue to see
in our colonial enterprises but vulgar jobbing, and to denounce and
revile them in every possible way. But the great mass of the nation
is no longer to be made a fool of, and has understood the necessity
of extending France beyond the seas. There is a story of an English
peasant who locked the stable door after the horse had been stolen.
Happily for France she has several horses in her stables. If she has
lost, at least for a time, her beautiful Arabian steed on the borders
of the Nile, that is but an additional reason for taking jealous care
of the others.—_The Nineteenth Century._
* * * * *
IN 404 Honorius was emperor. At that time, in the remote deserts of
Libya, there dwelt an obscure monk named Telemachus. He had heard of
the awful scenes in the far-off Coliseum at Rome. Depend upon it, they
lost nothing by their transit across the Mediterranean in the hands of
Greek and Roman sailors. In the baths and market-places of Alexandria,
in the Jewries of Cyrene, in the mouths of every itinerant Eastern
story-teller, the festive massacres of the Coliseum would doubtless be
clothed in colors truly appalling, yet scarcely more appalling than the
truth.
Telemachus brooded over these horrors till his mission dawned upon
him. He was ordained by heaven to put an end to the slaughter of
human beings in the Coliseum. He made his way to Rome. He entered
the Coliseum with the throng, what time the gladiators were parading
in front of the emperor with uplifted swords and the wild mockery of
homage—“_Morituri te salutant._” Elbowing his way to the barrier, he
leapt over at the moment when the combatants rushed at each other,
threw himself between them, bidding them, in the name of Christ, to
desist. To blank astonishment succeeded imperial contempt and popular
fury. Telemachus fell slain by the swords of the gladiators. Legend
may adorn the tale and fancy fill out the picture, but the solid fact
remains—_there never was another gladiatorial fight in the Coliseum_.
One heroic soul had caught the flow of public feeling that had already
begun to set in the direction of humanity, and turned it. He had
embodied by his act and consecrated by his death the sentiment that
already lay timidly in the hearts of thousands in that great city
of Rome. In 430 an edict was passed abolishing forever gladiatorial
exhibitions.—_Good Words._
* * * * *
ALL merit ceases the moment we perform an act for the sake of its
consequences. Truly in this respect “we have our reward.”—_Wilhelm von
Humboldt._