“ M. Daru was one of the most prominent of the organizers of the railways in France, but identified himself more closely with politics in December, 1851, when he was one of the most energetic opposers of Louis Napoleon's coup d'etat. For this, the Count was imprisoned in the Fortress of Vincennes, and on his liberation retired into private life until 1870, when the Emperor induced him to join Ollivier's LIberal Cabinet as Minister for Foreign Affairs. M. Daru, however, could not swallow the plébiscite. ”