Gambetta was born April 2, 1838, in Cahors, in Southern France, and was therefore only in his forty-fifth year when he died. His father, Joseph Gambetta, was an Italian, and in business a grocer. The early educational advantages of the future statesman were good, and were well improved. When very young he was distinguished in school for his powers of oratory and his retentive memory. He graduated from a lyceum, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts at the age of eighteen, and was the winner of the first prize for French dissertation, in the competition for which five lyceums were represented. His studies were first directed with a view to his entering the priesthood; later he had medicine in mind as a profession; but finally he entered upon the study of law, and was admitted to practice in Paris in 1859. His first law case, in which he was an assistant in the defense of a man tried for conspiracy against the Emperor, gave him distinction, and he became one to whom persons in difficulty on account of Republican sentiments and hostility to imperialism looked for powerful legal aid. In 1868 certain French journals which had incurred the displeasure of the government, were persecuted, and Gambetta was engaged to defend the _Réveil_. His plea in this trial sent a thrill throughout France. A master-piece of oratory, it held spell-bound those who were gathered in that Paris court room. He spoke bold, fiery words against the empire and in favor of popular government. In spite of all precautions taken, the address was published and circulated everywhere. Other occasions were improved in a similar manner. His vehement, treasonable utterances produced a powerful effect. He became a popular idol, and leader of French Republicans.