Gambetta

Léon, (gam-běť'tah,) a French advocate and politician, B. at Cahors, 1838, of Genoese extraction. He early distinguished himself at the bar by his facile addre , and, entering into the political arena, became ore of the leaders of the advanced Republican party. Elected a member of the Corps Leg is lat if in 1869, G., on the fall of the empire, Sept. 4, 1870, became a member of the Government of National Defence; distinguished kim self by his energy, and on Paris being besieged by the German armies, did not hesitate to depart from that city by means of a balloon, in order to get to Bordeaux, from where, for some months, he exercised almost dictatorial power, continuing the war with perhaps more patriotism than prudence. On the election of M. Thiers as Pres. of the French Republic, G. again resumed his place in the National A embly, in the deliberations of which he has since continued to take an ct ive part. The circumstances attending the tenure of power of this young statesman are as yet so comparatively little known, that the value of his services cannot for the time being be correctly appreciated. [s. 394]