General de Rochebouet, the first Minister and Minister of War
during the ephemeral " Ministry of Affairs," has resumed the command of the Bordeaux Division, and taken advantage of a visit from the Mayor of Bordeaux to disavow in the strongest terms anything like an intention to use force in the interest of illegal measures. The orders he gave, he says, were merely the repetition of those given by his predecessor, General Berthaut, and had reference to the proper defensive policy to be adopted in the event of popular disorders, but had no reference to any kind
of aggressive action. "I will not allow myself," he said " to be drawn into the path of illegality. I had no more idea than you have of striking a coup d'etat, either for the Bonapartists, my opinion of whom you know, or for others. You know as well as I do that they are out of the question. Never did the Marshal or his Cabinet think of striking a coup d'e'tat. On the contrary, the Cabinet advised the Marshal to form a Ministry from the Parliamentary majority." This looks- perfectly frank, and if it be so, the country owes something to the Cabinet of Affairs, whose advice must have really rendered it easier for the Marshal to accept the Parliamentary Cabinet with which he is now acting. But against one who hesitates at the meeting-point of two ways, suspicions will always be entertained, and on what would otherwise be very insufficient evidence, that he is yearning after the evil, just because he is so reluctant to- choose the good.
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