Page:Rachel (1887 Nina H. Kennard).djvu/172

 debt of gratitude I owe those authors to whom a great portion of my success is due. Amongst others, I wished to give Cléopâtre. Beauvallet's indisposition frustrated my intention. You see, Madame, I have again been unfortunate, not ungrateful. I wish you to know this, so that no untrue account of the affair may reach you, and deprive me of that kindness and friendship with which you have always treated me. Ah! I wish I could thus easily rebut all the unkind insinuations that are being made by the public on the subject of my resignation. I would then feel strong in my resolve, for that public, which has encouraged me from the beginning and made me what I am, would then know that I still merit its esteem, and would shield me with its all-powerful protection.

First of all, it was said that my withdrawal was the result of caprice; then that the object I wanted to attain was to drag money concessions from my comrades. In other words, they accused me of saying to them, "Your money or your life!" On the contrary, I was willing to make considerable pecuniary sacrifices, if they would consent to give the reins of government into competent and able hands. Who can doubt my sincerity, when, after the Revolution of February, the day after the installation of a director, elected unanimously by our votes, and confirmed in his position by the Ministry, I offered to forfeit, if it were necessary to insure the services of competent pensionnaires, ten thousand francs of my income, and the whole of my congé of 1849. You must remember that my personal interests are bound up in those of the theatre. Its prosperity is as important to me as my own. This is why, as soon as the Ministry had selected a director [Lockroy] who was popular with all of us, I made it my duty to contribute as much as possible to the success of the new administration.

It was at that time difficult to drag the public from their political preoccupation. But did I not act four times a week? and did I not sing the "Marseillaise"—doing it all in the service of the Comédie? Whether my efforts were successful I will leave you to judge. I went on my congé, happy at the results attained, and at the gratitude of my comrades.

Little did I foresee that, in the month of June, the zeal I had displayed would have been looked on as excessive, and would be used as an argument against me. At the end of June the Minister of the Interior addressed observations of such a character to the Government nominee that he immediately sent in his resignation. From these observations it was to be gathered that the interests of the Comédie were sacrificed to mine, and that it exercised an unfortunate influence on the theatre.

I defy anyone to bring forward the smallest proof of the truth of the first statement. As to the second, I do not even reply, both on