M. Gambetta's hasty decree declaring all the Imperialist pre- fects
and agents ineligible to the National Assembly has been an- nulled by the rest of the Government at Paris, and a deputation sent to Bordeaux to outvote him. For a time it seemed doubtful whether Gambetta, who was strongly supported by the extreme party, and would have been obeyed by his own Generals, would yield or not ; but he was too tree a patriot to hold out when there seemed a real danger of civil war, and his resignation was given in on the 8th February, and accompanied by a despatch of extreme moderation and good sense to the prefects, recommending them not to resign, but to carry out themselves the elections of February 8,—a course by which they would " render to the Republic a supreme service." M. Gambetta's administra- tion has not been without errors, of which France in her present extreme timidity appears to be only too sensible ; but unless a new man turns up, M. Gambetta will be felt by the Assembly, even if not trusted with power, as quite the foremost man in the country, the only one who could suffer disaster without losing hope as well as courage, and who radiated energy and resolution as the sun radiates heat.
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