GAMBETTA, LEoN, a French lawyer and statesman, was b. on Oct. 30, 1838, at Cahors. His family was of Genoese descent. He studied law; and in 1859 joined the Paris bar. It was not till 1868 that his name came prominently before the public. He then acquired fame as counsel for defendants in political prosecutions. He showed himself an able and determined enemy of the second empire. He was in consequence returned to the chamber, both at Paris and Marseilles, at the elections of 1869. On May 5, 1870, he delivered a speech containing a panegyric of the republican form of government, which attracted great attention. After Sedan, he became minister of the interior, and he remained for sonic time in Paris after it was invested by the Germans; as he was anxious, however, to stir up the provinces, he contrived to escape from the city by a balloon. He came down at Amiens, and thence proceeded to Tours, where he was intrusted with the control of the war department. He assumed unlimited power, and made every effort to stir up the provinces in defense of Paris. Ile preached guerre a oatrance against the Germans, and denounced the capitulation of Metz as an act of treason on the part of Marshal Bazaine. When a national assembly was resolved upon.
in 1871, G. sought by a decree to give it an exclusively republican character by direct ing that no official of the second empire should take part in the election. The decree was canceled at the instigation of prince Bismarck, and G. resigned office as minister. He subsequently entered the assembly as a member for Paris, became the leader of the extreme left, and to the violence of a speech which lie delivered at Grenoble, was largely attributed the reaction which set in against republican government, and the retirement of M. Thiers. After this his political action became more skillful and moderate, and to his leadership the republicans greatly owed their success in the elec tions of 1877, and their defeat of 'the attempts of the conservatives to deprive them of its results. Yet in the same year he was twice prosecuted for undue outspokenness, and once condemned to imprisonment. On the elevation of M. Grevy to the presidency of the republic in 1879, G. became president of the chamber of deputies.