, 1875-04-14
THE NEW FRENCH MINISTRY.
From tie SPECTATOR

Wv
been put together without a delay which
casts an unpleasant light on the intentions
of the President. FIRST he published a
note in the Official Journal, declaring that
his policy would be precisely the seme in
the future as it had been in the past, and
limiting to the Bonapartist and the Leglti.
mist officials that they would continue to
WELD the powers of the Republic, however
loudly they might have sworn to betray
it. He next insisted that NJ. Buffet should
take some of his Ministers from among the
party which, by voting against the Senate
Bill, had made known that it would not
abandon the intention to restore a Monar-
chy. The, design was abandoned because
NJ. Dufauro firmly refused to serve IN the
same Cabinet with such colleagues, but he
was forced o accept the companionship of
NJ. de Meaux, a RoyaIist, who had abstain
ed from voting in the division on the Sen
ate Bill. The personal sympathles OF the
Marshal We're most O%mInouslY revealed,
however, by the negotiations respecting
the Ministry OF the Interior. That is the
keystone OF the Cabinet. The Minister OF
the Interior may muzzle or let loose the
Press Of any party. He may wink at the
designs of the ~BonapartIsts, or put down
their Committees with a strong hand. lie
NAV dismiss or retain the Legitimist and
the Imperialist Projects. In a contested
election he may use al the executive ma
chinerv of a Department--the Project,
the Sub-Prefects, the crowd OF petty
oficials-as so many agents OF the party
to which he himself belongs. And u few
months hence the power OF his Office will
be greater than it has been since the fall
of the Empire, because there must soon be
a general election, and the result may
immensely affect the WhoIefuture OF France.
So imnortaut is the post, that the Repub-
Iicans would gladly, we believe, barter the
three portfolios winch they have gained
for the single portfolio OF the Home Office.
Rnt for the same reason the OrleaniSts
were determined to keep it for themselves,
and thew seem to have first thought Of
giving it to their trusted agent, M. Bocher.
Although little known in this country,
and although he seldom takes part in de-
bate, Nj. Bocher is an important parsonage
at Versailles. He is believed to be a man
Of great ability, and he did give some
proofs of capacity during the Monarchy of
Louis Philippe. The Empire cast him IN
to private life, and now he usually keeps
in the background, because, it is said, the
state of his health forhids him to be an ac-
tive combatant. His counsel, however, is
highly valued, and he pulls many political
wires with an unseen hand. NJ. Bocher,
in fact. has much the same kind of reputa-
tion at Versailles as Mr.. Whitehead has
at Westminster. But he is an important
nersonage for another reason than the be-
lief in his ability. He was the trusted
agent of Louis Philippe, who had made
him administrator Of the property belong
inc to the House Of Orleans after the Revo-
luton of February, and he resisted the
decree for the confscation of that proper
tv with all the powers furnished by the
law. To the sons and the grandsons of
his master he is equally devoted, and he
nav be called their political mar OF BUSH
ness. Had NJ Bocher been Minlste6 OF
the Interior, all the administrative machl-
nerv would have been guided by the
Comte de Paris and the Due d'Aumale.
But the plainness of that fact would have
made any disaster embarrassing to those
superlatively prudent Princes, and SO M.
Bocher again pleaded l-health. It is not
necessary for us to believe that he i1smit-
ten with any other malady than political