by A G Mogan
All of these things were signs that republicanism had began its to rise in an threatening way. Gambetta was at the head of this ascent to power; he was considered a rising star of republicanism with his fiery eloquence and his youthful confidence. He became the idol of the part of Paris known as Belleville, where artists and laborers united with crowds of citizens in hating the empire and in crying out for a republic.
Gambetta was the perfect man to represent the people. He didn’t have the polish of his later years and his unpolished manners made him more relatable to the men he lectured. A passionate admirer of Gambetta, M. Francis Laur, gave a picture of what he must have been like in his later years, but which was certainly not what we know to be true of him when he was just thirty years old.
When Gambetta was thirty years old, he was a powerful and vital man, with thick hair, olive colored skin and eyes that shot fire; he had a deep voice and anyone who met him or heard him speak was instantly drawn to his magnetism. He had unrefined manners and a love of oil and garlic; his enemies called him “the furious fool” due to his wild gestures. He was not the kind of man with manners reminiscent of those with good breeding and yet he had an excellent way of speaking that drew people to him.
In 1869, the Red Republicans to the Corps Legislatif elected Gambetta to office. The members of the chamber were ready to accept his passionate speech. The chamber itself was arranged like a great theater with the members occupying the floor and the public occupying the galleries. During each speech, the speaker would climb a sort of podium and face the assembly for their eloquent speech.
After Gambetta had spoken a few times, he noticed a tall, graceful woman, dressed in some neutral color and wearing long black gloves, which highlighted the beauty of her hands and arms. This woman paid closer attention to Gambetta than any other person gathered.
When it came to him to speak on another day, he once again saw her sitting in the same place. Gambetta saw this woman every day and one day after a particularly red-hot speech, he made eye contact with the mysterious woman and he could see that she was taken with the same enthusiasm as he was.
In the early part of 1870, Gambetta was speaking on the magnificence of republican government and his speech was more confident and more eloquent of a speech than he had ever given. The ministers of the emperor were dismayed at the violent fervor with which Gambetta flung sentence after sentence towards them.
Gambetta spoke so eloquently and was filled with intense feelings of victory at his triumph in his speech and he noticed that the lady in the gallery appeared extremely appreciative of his words.
Gambetta was struck with the decision to send a hastily scribbled note to the lady in the gallery. He ordered an official page to take the letter to her. It is obvious that a result of being carried away by his emotion, so that to him there was no one in the room except for this captivating woman and himself. But the mysterious woman was more discreet than Gambetta had thought to be. When she received the note, she took it quietly and tore it into little pieces without reading it and then she slipped through the crowd and disappeared.
The actions of this woman had demonstrated to him that she was a woman with self-respect.
Immediately after this incident, war broke out in Germany and the empire was shattered at Sedan. The republic was proclaimed in Paris and a massive German army surrounded the French capital. Gambetta was made minister of the interior and remained in Paris even after it had been blockaded. But the conditions of this position annoyed the fiery spirit within him. He longed to go into the south of France and stir his countrymen with a cry to arms against the invaders.
He reached the city of Tours after managing to escape in a balloon, and there he established what was practically a dictatorship. He threw himself into his position and organized and equipped armies before directing their movements. He did, in fact, accomplish wonders. His actions helped keep the spirit of the nation alive. Three new armies were launched against the Germans. Gambetta was everywhere and took part in everything that was done. However, he made several serious mistakes due to his inexperience in military affairs and his intolerance of advice. Despite these mistakes, his armies were able to practically defeat the Germans at Orleans and if Gambetta had gotten his way, even the fall of Paris would not have ended the war.
"Never," said Gambetta, "shall I consent to peace so long as France still has two hundred thousand men under arms and more than a thousand cannon to direct against the enemy!"
But there were less heated statesmen who were able to overrule him. After peace was achieved, Gambetta retired for a while into private life. If he had not succeeded in expelling the German hosts he had, at the very least, made Bismarck hate him, and he had saved the honor of France.
While the National Assembly at Versailles was debating the terms of peace with Germany, Gambetta once more delivered a magnificent and patriotic speech. As he was wrapping up his speech, he felt a strange attraction and his eyes met those of the same woman with the long black gloves, and he saw his fiery feelings mirrored back in hers.
Gambetta hurried to a lobby and hastily scribbled the following note:
“At last I see you once more. Is it really you?”
A discreet official slipped her the note. She pressed it to her heart and then slipped it into the bodice of her gown. But just like before, she left without making a reply.
The fact that she kept the note this time was an encouragement, but it did not give Gambetta the opening he desired for she never returned to the National Assembly again. He was still hopeful about meeting her in the future; his instincts told him that he would meet her again and she would be in his life. Even though he did not know anything about her, even her name, he was confident that time would bring them together.
In this instance, his instincts were spot on. Within a year after the last time he saw her, an old friend of Gambetta's met with an accident that confined him to his house. The statesman strolled to his friend's residence. The accident was an insignificant one, and the mistress of the house was holding a sort of informal reception, answering questions that were asked her by the numerous acquaintances who called.
As Gambetta was speaking, he was shocked to discover that the lady he had been dreaming about for years was right there in front of him. Both of them were nervous, yet neither one of them gave themselves, or their feelings, away to the others in the room. Gambetta approached her and they made some small talk. But they seemed to be able to see into each other’s eyes and know what their feelings were.
When the lady left the gathering, Gambetta followed closely. In the street he turned to her and said in pleading tones:
"Why did you destroy my letter? You knew I loved you, and yet all these years you have kept away from me in silence."
The girl hesitated for a moment. As he looked upon her face he saw that her eyes were full of tears. At last she spoke with emotion:
"You cannot love me, for I am unworthy of you. Do not urge me. Do not make promises. Let us say good-by. At least I must first tell you of my story, for I am one of those women whom no one ever marries."
Gambetta brushed aside her statements and begged to be able to see her again. She finally agreed, but she refused to meet him at her house. She knew that he had a lot of enemies and that everything he did would be used against him. In the end, she agreed to meet him in the park at Versailles, near the Petit Trianon, at eight o'clock in the morning.
When she had made this promise, he left her. Already a new inspiration had come to him, and he felt that with this woman by his side he could accomplish anything.
At the appointed hour, in the silence of the park and amid the sunshine of the beautiful morning, the two met once again. Gambetta eagerly seized her hands and cried out in a jubilant tone:
"At last! At last! At last!"
But there was sorrow in the woman’s eyes and she withdrew from him. But here is where we can see the impulsiveness of the meridional. He had just spoken to this woman for the first tim
e only two days before. He knew nothing of her station, he didn’t even know her name and yet, he knew that he wanted her for his own. When he mentioned marriage to her, she withdrew from him even more.
"No," she said. "I told you that you must not speak to me until you have heard my story."
He led her to a great stone bench nearby; and, passing his arm about her waist, he drew her head down to his shoulder as he said:
"Well, tell me. I will listen."
Then this young girl, who was only twenty-four years old, began to honestly speak to him why they must never see each other or marry. She was the daughter of a colonel in the French army and the death of her father had left her penniless and alone. When she came to Paris at the age of eighteen, a high officer of the empire seduced her.
She soon realized just how terrible her fate was and she was able to secure means of living modestly. She felt like she was being punished by her ignorant and foolish actions. She told Gambetta that her name was Leonie Leon. As is the custom of Frenchwomen who live alone, she styled herself madame. It is doubtful whether the name by which she passed was that which had been given to her at baptism; but, if so, her true name has never been disclosed.
When she had told the whole of her sad story to Gambetta he made nothing of it. She said to him again:
"You cannot love me. I should only dim your fame. You can have nothing in common with a dishonored, ruined girl. That is what I came here to explain to you. Let us part, and let us for all time forget each other."
But Gambetta refused to listen to what she said. He refused to lose her after he had waited so long for her. He grabbed her slender hands and covered them with kisses. Again he begged her to marry him.
She gave a surprising answer. As it turns out, she was a devoted Catholic and would not regard any marriage as valid, except for a religious one. On the other hand, Gambetta, though not unspiritual, was leading the opposition to the Catholic party in France. In his opinion, the Church was more of a political body than a religious one and he steadfastly opposed it. Personally, he had no objections to being married by a priest, but as a leader of the anti-clerical party, he felt that he must not recognize the Church's claim in any way. A religious marriage would destroy his influence with his followers and might even imperil the future of the republic.
They discussed their options for quite a long time, trying to discover a compromise. He suggested a civil marriage, but she declared that only a marriage according to the rites of the Church could ever purify her past and give her back her self-respect. In this, she was absolutely stubborn, yet she did not suggest that Gambetta destroy his influence by marrying her in church.
Through all this argument and discussion, the two grew even more in love. Then the woman came up with an extraordinary suggestion, one that would allow them to pursue the marriage the so desperately wanted, without either one of them giving up anything. She immediately dismissed a civil marriage, because a civil marriage was no marriage in the eyes of Pope. On the other hand, she did not want Gambetta to damage his political career by going through with a religious ceremony. She had heard from a priest that the Church recognized two forms of betrothal. The usual one looked to a marriage in the future and gave no marriage privileges until after the formal ceremony. But there was another kind of betrothal known to the theologians as sponsalia de praesente. According to this, if there were an actual betrothal, the pair might have the privileges and rights of marriage immediately, if only they sincerely meant to be married in the future.
The enthusiastic mind of Leonie Leon caught at this bit of religious law and used it with great ingenuity.
"Let us," she said, "be formally betrothed by the interchange of a ring, and let us promise each other to marry in the future. After such a betrothal as this we shall be the same as married; for we shall be acting according to the laws of the Church."
Gambetta was ecstatic at giving her this promise. A betrothal ring was purchased; and then, her conscience being mollified, she gave herself completely to her lover. Gambetta was sincere. He said to her:
"If the time should ever come when I shall lose my political station, when I am beaten in the struggle, when I am deserted and alone, will you not then marry me when I ask you?"
And Leonie, with her arms about his neck, promised that she would. Yet neither of them specified what sort of marriage this should be and neither one of them found it an important question to ask at that precise moment.
The reason why they did not bother to think about what would happen of Gambetts ever lost his political station was because was very powerful and it seemed he would stay that way for the foreseeable future. He led his party to success in the election of 1877. Again and again his victorious rhetoric mastered the National Assembly of France. In 1879, he was chosen to be president of the Chamber of Deputies. He towered far above the president of the republic, Jules Grevyand, and his star had reached its peak.
Throughout this period, he and Leonie Leon were careful to hide their intimacy from others. She lived in a plain but pretty house on the Avenue Perrichont in the quiet quarter of Auteuil, but Gambetta never came there. Their meeting place of choice was a carefully guarded secret held by his closest associates, but they managed to meet on a perpetual basis and they grew more and more in love every year. Leonie thrilled at the victories of the man she loved and he found joy in the hours that he spent with her.
Gambetta had a great need for rest as he had a tendency to work at the highest pressure. Bismarck, whose spies kept him well informed of everything that was happening in Paris, and who had no liking for Gambetta, since the latter always spoke of him as "the Ogre," once said to a Frenchman named Cheberry:
"He is the only one among you who thinks of revenge, and who is any sort of a menace to Germany. But, fortunately, he won't last much longer. I am not speaking thoughtlessly. I know from secret reports what sort of a life your great man leads, and I know his habits. Why, his life is a life of continual overwork. He rests neither night nor day. All politicians who have led the same life have died young. To be able to serve one's country for a long time a statesman must marry an ugly woman, have children like the rest of the world, and a country place or a house to one's self like any common peasant, where he can go and rest."
The Iron Chancellor chuckled as he said this, and he was right. And yet Gambetta's end came not so much through overwork as by an accident.
One possibility is that the ambition of Mme. Leon stirred him beyond his powers. Early in 1882, when he was defeated in Parliament on a question that he considered vital, he immediately resigned and turned his back on public life. His friends soon deserted him. His enemies jeered at the mention of his name.
His career had ended in a way that fit with the vision he had foreseen nearly ten years earlier. So he turned to the woman who had remained loyal and loving to him; and he turned to her with a feeling of peace.
"You promised me," he said, "that if ever I was defeated and alone you would marry me. The time is now."
It was at this time that this man, who had once been reminiscent a dictator and commanded armies, now looked for a peaceful home in the country. He fell in love with an estate that once belonged to Balzac that was in desperate need for repair; this home was known as Les Jardies. The small sum that it cost Gambetta, twelve thousand francs, was practically all that he had. Gambetta was delighted to find peace after working so hard for so long; he was exhausted and was happy to live at a home he considered a refuge, a place where he might live in the country with the beautiful woman who was soon to become his wife.
Not much is known about the type of marriage they finally decided to have. It is possible that she agreed to a civil ceremony or maybe he felt that he could now be married by the Church since he was out of public life. Gambetta was already at Les Jardies when they finally set a date for their wedding; however, there was a rumor that he had been shot and it wasn’t long before the rumors stated that he was dying. The people of Paris immedi
ately spread the story that he had been shot by a jealous woman.
But what actually happened was an entirely different matter. Gambetta, in arranging his effects in his new home, decided to clean his pair of dueling-pistols. Unfortunately, Gambetta did not notice the one remaining cartridge in the pistol and as he held in his hand, the cartridge exploded and the ball passed through the base of his thumb.
The wound was not very serious, but now the prophecy of Bismarck had been fulfilled. Gambetta was not as vital as he once was; before long, he developed a fever and he died soon after of internal ulceration.
This was the end of a great career and of a great romance. Leonie Leon was devastated at the death of the lover who was so soon to be her husband. She wandered for a while after his death before arriving at a convent; after her stay in the convent, she went back to Paris and withdrew into the slums. Leonie Leon wished that she had died with Gambetta, whose glory had been her life. Friends of Gambetta found her and cared for her until her death in 1906.
She lived upon the memories of the past, of the swift love that had come at first sight, but which had lasted unbrokenly; which had given her the pride of conquest, and which had brought her lover both happiness and inspiration and a refining touch which had smoothed away his roughness and made him fit to stand in palaces with dignity and distinction.
As for him, he left a few lines which have been carefully preserved, and which sum up his thought of her. They read:
“To the light of my soul; to the star, of my life—Leonie Leon. For ever! For ever!”
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