him, and even in the beginning of
1872 he tendered his resignation. It was not accepted; and his opponents
for a time suspended their intrigues. They were revived, however, in
1873, and resolved themselves into a resolute effort to limit the powers
of the president. This Thiers stoutly resisted. He made an appeal to the
country, but this course did not increase the strength of his following.
Finally, what he interpreted as a vote of no confidence was carried (May
24) by a majority of sixteen. He resigned, and his place was taken by
Marshal MacMahon. He lived four years longer, and never ceased to take
an interest in politics. In 1877 he took an active part in bringing
about the fall of the ministry presided over by the Duc de Broglie. He
now leaned to the side of the Left, and was reconciled to Gambetta, and
he might once again have played a prominent part in politics had he not
died of apoplexy on September 3, 1877, at St. Germain en Laye. He has
not left behind him the memory either of a very great statesman, or of a
very great historian. But he was a man of indomitable courage, and his
patriotism, if narrow and marred with Chauvinism, was deep and genuine.
He was, perhaps, the most successful of the large class of
journalist-politicians that France has produced, and that he was at
least a personal power in literature was evidenced by the great
influence which he wielded in the Academy, of which he became a member
in 1834.

LEON GAMBETTA

(1838-1882)

[Illustration: Leon Gambetta. [TN]]

Leon Michel Gambetta was born at Cahors on April 3, 1838. His father was
a tradesman dealing in crockery; his mother's maiden name was Massabie.
Leon's grandfather was a Genoese, who emigrated to France at the
beginning of this century; and as his name signifies, in the dialect of
Genoa, a liquid measure of two quarts capacity, it has been supposed
that it was conferred upon one of his forefathers as a sobriquet. Leon
Gambetta's grandfather was a poor man of no education, and his only
son, Leon's father, thought he had done very well for himself when he
set up a shop with the small dowry brought him by his wife, Mlle.
Massabie. The mother of Leon died while he was a child, and he was
indebted for his early teaching to his maternal aunt and to her brother,
a priest, who held a small benefice in a village near Cahors. It was at
first intended that Leon should follow his father's trade; but, as he
was a boy very apt at learn