NEWS OF THE WEEK
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THE accounts of M. Gambetta's health have become alarming.
He wounded himself recently in the hand with a revolver, :and although the wound healed, the symptoms of constitutional disturbance perplexed the doctors; while a certain secrecy ob- 'served upon the subject alarmed the public, Renter declining rather sharply. It is now certain that M. Gambetta suffers from inflammation of the cmcnm, a disorder which, in a man of full habit, with a constitutional tendency to fever, is decidedly dangerous. It is feared that an operation may be necessary ; but the doctors, in view of the patient's constitution, hesitate to sanction one. Should the disease not take a favourable turn in a few days, the danger will be great, and the Republic may miss one of its most energetic defenders, a man, too, whose history gives him special influence in the Army ; while France would have lost a great reserved force. The Premiership of M. Gambetta diminished his reputation for judgment, and it is possible that he is better suited to exceptional times in which he can act as dictator, than to regular administration ; but the existence of a man who can wield a dictatorship, yet detests coups d'gtat, is in any country an advantage. Fortu- nately, there is no danger of a political cataclysm.
