De Gaulle himself greeted the Agreements with characteristically cynical realism. To his cabinet the following day he remarked: “It’s an honourable exit. It’s not necessary to write an epilogue on what has just been done, or not done…. That the application of the Agreements will be capricious [aléatoire] is certain…. As for France, it will be necessary for her now to interest herself in something else.” In his mind the subject of Algeria was now dismissed.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1599