{
  "schema": "https://archive.neruda-archives.org/files/context/public-context-v1.schema.json",
  "identifier": "NRA-L-000058",
  "language": "en",
  "status": "published",
  "title": "A recommendation that could not overcome the rules",
  "deck": "Ministerial patronage, eligibility and the end of Imbert's application in 1858",
  "reviewed_on": "2026-07-30",
  "version": "1.0",
  "sections": [
    {
      "heading": "A repeated request",
      "paragraphs": [
        {
          "text": "The Minister of Finances, Pierre Magne, was answering a renewed request on behalf of Monsieur Imbert, a primary school teacher at Turny in the Yonne. General Count de Goyon had again recorded his interest in the petitioner. Magne referred back to his own reply of 7 November 1856 and stated that service as a primary school teacher did not qualify a candidate to compete for a tax collection post.",
          "sources": [
            1,
            2,
            3
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "Office and influence",
      "paragraphs": [
        {
          "text": "Pierre Magne was Minister of Finances during the Second Empire from 1855 to 1860. Charles-Marie-Augustin, Count de Goyon, was a general of division and had served as aide-de-camp to Napoleon III from 1853. The letter thus shows a recommendation reaching the minister through a figure close to the emperor, but still meeting an administrative refusal framed in terms of eligibility.",
          "sources": [
            1,
            2,
            3
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "heading": "The refusal passed on",
      "paragraphs": [
        {
          "text": "A handwritten note on the document says that the answer leaves Imbert no further hope because reasons have been given for the refusal. The folded address side and its postal marks show the official reply continuing onward to Imbert at Turny. The document therefore preserves both the ministry's formal decision and the brief personal language in which its consequence was communicated.",
          "sources": [
            1
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "evidence_limits": [
    {
      "text": "The context reports the eligibility rule exactly as Magne states it in this case. It does not establish that wording as a complete general account of every contemporary route into tax collection service, and no independent biographical identification of Imbert has yet been confirmed.",
      "sources": [
        1,
        2
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "source-1",
      "kind": "Primary source · official letter",
      "citation": "Neruda Archives, NRA-L-000058, Ministry of Finances letter signed P. Magne, 9 September 1858, with marginal note and postal address to Imbert.",
      "url": "https://archive.neruda-archives.org/NRA-L-000058",
      "link_text": "View the archive record",
      "support": "Supports the renewed recommendation, stated eligibility reason, marginal refusal note and forwarding to Imbert."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-2",
      "kind": "Parliamentary biographical record",
      "citation": "French Senate, “Magne, Pierre,” former senator of the Second Empire.",
      "url": "https://www.senat.fr/senateur-2nd-empire/magne_pierre0653r3.html",
      "link_text": "View the Senate record",
      "support": "Confirms Magne's identity and his service as Minister of Finances from 1855 to 1860."
    },
    {
      "id": "source-3",
      "kind": "Parliamentary biographical record",
      "citation": "French Senate, “Goyon, Charles-Marie-Augustin,” former senator of the Second Empire.",
      "url": "https://www.senat.fr/senateur-2nd-empire/goyon_charles_marie_augustin0141e2.html",
      "link_text": "View the Senate record",
      "support": "Confirms Goyon's identity, rank and appointment as aide-de-camp to Napoleon III."
    }
  ],
  "claims": [
    {
      "id": "NRA-L-000058-claim-01",
      "statement": "Magne rejected a renewed recommendation for Imbert because primary-school service did not meet the eligibility conditions stated in the letter.",
      "evidence_type": "stated_in_document",
      "certainty": "documentary",
      "source_ids": [
        "source-1"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "NRA-L-000058-claim-02",
      "statement": "Pierre Magne was Minister of Finances and Charles-Marie-Augustin de Goyon was a general and imperial aide-de-camp.",
      "evidence_type": "independently_confirmed",
      "certainty": "confirmed",
      "source_ids": [
        "source-2",
        "source-3"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "NRA-L-000058-claim-03",
      "statement": "The available evidence does not yet identify Monsieur Imbert beyond the occupation and place stated in the document.",
      "evidence_type": "unresolved",
      "certainty": "open",
      "source_ids": [
        "source-1"
      ]
    }
  ]
}