COOPER Alfred Duff (1890-1954). L. A. S., Paris, 23 January 1946, to General de Gaulle; 2 pages small in-4 on British Embassy letterhead, Paris; in French. Interesting letter after the resignation of the General, whose return to power he hopes for. [Duff Cooper, former Minister of Information in Churchill's Cabinet during the war, where he was responsible for liaising between the British Government and the Free French Forces; he later served as British Ambassador to France from 1944 to 1947]. He recalls the "sudden departure" of the General (who resigned as President of the provisional government on 21 January 1946), whom he was unable to greet. "We had been associated for so long - I remember your first visit to the Ministry of Information in London in June 1940"... He wanted to tell him, "on a personal level, how sad I am about the decision you have taken"; and he hoped that they would "meet again before long". "Politics is a prison from which it is difficult to escape. Those who manage to do so are almost always recaptured after a short period of freedom and returned to servitude. Since 1940 I have been constantly convinced that the future of France was in your hands. It is a point of view that I have maintained even, at times, against the advice of some of my compatriots. Over the past two years, I have had the constant aim of further improving and strengthening the ties between our two countries. I regret that I have not been more successful. I will continue to work in the same direction and I hope that the time will come when we will once again work together for the same cause"...