His Excellency the Minister

This book was inspired by a state funeral for a Cabinet Minister who died in office. It led Claritie to consider the experience of a man from the Provinces, raised to the Ministry, and plunged into Paris and the realities of contemporary history. Claritie's Minister enters into the Cabinet with the determination to reform every abuse, to recast everything; to seek for honest men, to make merit and not faction, the touchstone of advancement, but his idealism doesn't long survive contact with reality.