Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/778

768 Documents "This list was brought to me by General Borel, who knew Freycinet during the war. He felt that the latter was unjustly criticized. He was not a Napoleon, but he accomplished much. General Borel defended him before the Commission of Enquiry on the Conduct of the War. Later on, Freycinet, who was grateful to him, proposed to him that he should have him (Borel) named one of the seventy-five life-members of the Senate. But Borel, who belonged to the Right, did not wish to be in any way pledged to the Left So as Borel did not wish to be on this ticket, another general had to be found. It was General Gresley, whom I like very much, and who is a very distinguished man. "You understand that it is impossible for me to let my ministry be formed by Gambetta, and as M. Gambetta has proposed M. Duclerc, I shall not accept the Duclerc combination. " There are, moreover, other reasons. I like IM. Duclerc very much. He has rendered us great services as President of the Bankruptcy Court. He always wished to bring Gambetta and me together. One day he proposed to me an interview, and, in order that it should excite no remark, I was to meet him, as if by chance, in the Bois de Boulogne, with M. Gambetta. But I did not wish it, any more than I should have wished any other inter-iew. The Count of Chambord came one day to Versailles, even into my ante-room, within twenty steps of my cabinet. He was with one of my friends, who came and told me that the Count of Chambord was there. But I replied that I could not see him, in spite of my great respect for him. His grandfather treated kindly my family, who came originally from Ireland, and he also created my father and my brother peers of France. But as President of the Republic, I could not see him, neither did I wish to do so. Prince Napoleon also asked for another interview with me which I refused. " I will not therefore take M. Duclerc ; but since I accept M. Jules Simon, what more can be asked of me ? " M. Waddington remarked that the important thing to know was, whether they were strong enough to fight Gambetta. It was very certain that he led the Chamber. One could try to deprive him of this leader- ship, but could M. Dufaure resume his own sway ? Thereupon the Mar- shal interrupted him by saying : " But if you do not want M. Dufaure, what do you wish me to do ?' ' M. Teisserenc replied that he was the intimate friend of M. Dufaure, and that the point was not to know whether he or his friends wished to be with M. Dufaure (about which there could be no doubt whatever), but whether M. Dufaure could reappear before the Chambers with a cabi- net in which M. de Marcere, Minister of the Interior, would be simply replaced by another minister for that department. Public opinion had set General Berthaut, Minister of War, and M. de Marcere, in opposition to each other. If M. de Marcere were rejected, and General Berthaut were to remain, there would at once be an interpellation in the Chamber. The Marshal replied that he made no point of honor in politics, as he had already remarked, and that one of his friends, who was a very