one
nothing for causes; his head was full of plans such as a political
party lays upon the shoulders of a leader,--matters of private interest
brought to an orator supposed to have a future, a jumble of schemes and
impractical requests. Far from coming fresh to his work, he was wearied
out with marching and counter-marching, and when he finally reached
the much desired height of his present position, he found himself in
a thicket of thorny bushes with a thousand conflicting wills to
conciliate. If the statesmen of the Restoration had been allowed to
follow out their own ideas, their capacity would doubtless have been
criticised; but though their wills were often forced, their age saved
them from attempting the resistance which youth opposes to intrigues,
both high and low,--intrigues which vanquished Richelieu, and to which,
in a lower sphere, Rabourdin was to succumb.

After the rough and tumble of their first struggles in political life
these men, less old than aged, have to endure the additional wear and
tear of a ministry. Thus it is that their eyes begin to weaken just as
they need to have the clear-sightedness of eagles; their mind is weary
when its youth and fire need to be redoubled. The minister in whom
Rabourdin sought to confide was in the habit of listening to men
of undoubted superiority as they explained ingenious theories of
government, applicable or inapplicable to the affairs of France. Such
men, by whom the difficulties of national policy were never apprehended,
were in the habit of attacking this minister personally whenever a
parliamentary battle or a contest with the secret follies of the court
took place,--on the eve of a struggle with the popular mind, or on the
morrow of a diplomatic discussion which divided the Council into three
separate parties. Caught in such a predicament, a statesman naturally
keeps a yawn ready for the first sentence designed to show him how the
public service could be better managed. At such periods not a dinner
took place among bold schemers or financial and political lobbyists
where the opinions of the Bourse and the Bank, the secrets of diplomacy,
and the policy necessitated by the state of affairs in Europe were not
canvassed and discussed. The minister has his own private councillors in
des Lupeaulx and his secretary, who collected and pondered all opinions
and discussions for the purpose of analyzing and controlling the various
interests proclaimed and supported by