28 DECEMBER 1878, Page 2

N. Gambetta was entertained in Paris, on the 24th inst.,

at a grand banquet by the commercial travellers of France, and made a remarkable speech. He declared that the era of fear was over, and that the Republican majority in the Senate would be much greater even than was expected. He disclaimed in a very marked way any ambition of quitting his post as Deputy, a statement in- tended to reassure both M. Dufaure and the Marshal, and renounced on behalf of France any idea of propagandism. Other countries must choose the governments which suited them, the business of Frenchmen was to make a government for themselves. "We have a Constitution of our own, manners of our own, property based on immutable foundations, which the world may envy us." "Let us make a model government, a government really for the French, and for them alone." These sentences were intended, no doubt, to reassure Madrid and Rome, where some dread exists of French Republican Ambassadors, but they probably also express the conviction of M. Gambetta that the error of the first Republic was its propagandist spirit. Nevertheless, a solid Republic in Europe of the first class, peacefully reorganising its strength, can- not be without an appreciable propagandist effect. It is stated that the commis-voyageurs throughout France are Liberals, and have repeatedly been of the greatest service to the Republic.