sentences:  Pétain admitted Darnand into his government as Secretary of the Maintenance of Public Order ("Secrétaire d'État au Maintien de l'Ordre").In August 1944, Pétain made an attempt to distance himself from the crimes of the militia by writing Darnand a letter of reprimand for the organisation's "excesses".The latter wrote a sarcastic reply, telling Pétain that he should have "thought of this before".