Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord , commonly named Talleyrand , is a diplomatic Politician and French, born the February 2nd 1754 with Paris, died in this same city the May 17th 1838.

Groin of a family of the nobility, lame, it is directed towards the ecclesiastical career following his/her uncle, the archbishop of Rheims. He becomes priest then bishop of Autun. He gives up the clergy during the Révolution and carries out a laic life; he will go until marrying. Occupying of the stations political power lasting the major part of its life, it is general Agent of the clergy under the Ancien Mode, deputy and ambassador during the French revolution, Minister for the Foreign relations under the Directoire, Foreign Minister under the Consulat, Foreign Minister under the First Empire, ambassador and president of the Council of Ministers under the Restauration, ambassador under the Monarchie of July, and witnesses four crownings.

Acting most of the time like a man of influence, diplomat or adviser, it is famous for its spirit and its intelligence, carrying out a life between the Ancien Mode and the 19th century. Described like the “ lame devil ”, a traitor full with defects and corruption, or like a man of the Lights faithful to France, concerned of harmony and reason, admired or hated by his contemporaries, it causes many portraits and posthumous comments.

Origin and youth

The information sources most exploited on its childhood are the memories of Talleyrand; the version given by this one is however disputed by part of the historians.

Its family, the Talleyrand-Périgord, affirms to descend from Vulgrin I {{er}}, named count de Périgord and of Angouleme at the 9th century by Charles the Bald person, and of Adalbert, count of Périgord, partisan and Vassal of Hugues Capet in 990, by alliance with the family of the Grignols, even if the title of Périgord used by this one is disputed. In all the cases, it is resulting from a family of the nobility, which is attested by letters patent royal of 1475, 1613, 1688 and 1735. His/her parents, Charles-Daniel, count de Talleyrand-Périgord, and Alexandrine of Damas d' Autigny, occupy of the important loads during the reign of Louis XV, but are members of the branch junior by the family, and are silver plated little within sight of their row. He is the nephew of Alexandre Angélique of Talleyrand-Périgord (1736 - 1821), archbishop of Rheims, cardinal and archbishop of Paris.

See also: Family of Talleyrand-Périgord

Born on February 2nd 1754 with 4, rue Garancière, with Paris, it is baptized the same day, with his/her uncle Alexandre for godfather.

According to the version given by the memories, it is immediately given to a nurse who keeps it four years at her in the Faubourg Saint-Jacob, which is not the case of his/her brothers. Always according to the interested party, it would have been victim of a fall at the four years age: this infirmity is worth to him not to be able to reach the military functions and to be relieved of sound Droit of seniority by his/her parents, who then intend it for an ecclesiastical career. His/her Archambaut younger brother takes his place (elder wire having died in low age).

In its memories, Talleyrand “evokes his/her parents with one surprising antipathy”, according to Franz Blei:

This accident influenced all the remainder of my life; it is him which, having persuaded to my parents who I could not be a soldier, or at least the being without disadvantage, carried them to direct me towards another profession. That appeared more favorable to them to the advance of the family. Because in the large houses, it was the family which one liked, much more than the individuals, and especially that young individuals that one did not know yet. I do not like to stop on this idea… I leave it| Memories of Talleyrand

The majority of the biographers, like Jean Orieux, give reason to Talleyrand, which implies that his/her parents did not like it, not tolerating that it was “simultaneously club-foot and Talleyrand”.

Its relegation with the profit of his/her brother (who carries out a splendid marriage with wealthy heiress resulting from the noblesse de robe) can explain why, at the time of a homage in the honor of Mirabeau the day of its death, returned with the platform of the Assemblée, Talleyrand chooses to discourse on the equality of distribution of the inheritances and thus the suppression of the right of seniority.

After having remained of 1758 with 1761 at its grandmother in the Périgord, stay of which it has a moved memory, it is sent to the Collège of Harcourt (future Lycée Saint-Louis) of 1762 with 1769, then in his/her uncle archbishop, where one incites it to embrace the ecclesiastical career; it obtempère.

This version of its childhood is disputed by several biographers. If Michel Poniatowski speaks about a club-foot of birth, Emmanuel de Waresquiel goes further and affirms that Talleyrand suffers from a congenital disease (one of his/her uncles while being affected) and from the Syndrome of Marfan. Always according to Emmanuel de Waresquiel, Talleyrand became priest not because of a lack of affection of his/her parents, but of the will to place it in the succession of the richissime and powerful archbishop's palace of Rheims held by his/her uncle (prospect likely to overcome its reserves), his age placing it like the only one able to do it between the brothers. Thus, Talleyrand, would have blamed his/her parents only in the context of the drafting of its memories where it was to reveal its priesthood like having been forced.

Thus, for Franz Blei (as for Emmanuel of Waresquiel), if it is exact that it “did not have a paternal house full with safety and affection”, it is unjust towards his mother, which made only follow the uses of education of the time, before the fashion of the Emile of Jean-Jacques Rousseau; his/her parents had also very fascinating loads at the court.

Ecclesiastical career

In 1769, old fifteen years, it enters to the seminar Saint-Sulpice, where, according to his memories, it shows bad mood and is cut off in loneliness. That does not prevent it from attending openly an actress of the Comédie-Française, Dorothée Dorinville, with which it walks under the windows of the seminar:

His/her parents had made it enter in spite of it to the comedy; I was in spite of me with the seminar. Thanks to it, I soothsayers, even for the seminar, more pleasant, or at least more bearable. The superiors must well have had some suspicion but the Couturier abbot had taught art to them to close the eyes| Memories of Talleyrand

May 28th 1774, it receives the minor orders. The September 22nd 1774, it obtains rather a baccalaureat in Théologie with the Sorbonne, acquired thanks to its birth than with its work: its reader of the Sorbonne, Charles Mannay, writes his thesis, at least partly; he obtains a waiving of age limit which enables him to present it to 20 years instead of the 22 necessary one. At 21 years, on April 1st 1775, it receives the first orders, in spite of its warnings. “One forces me to be an ecclesiastic, one will repent it”, announces it. A little later on May 3rd, he becomes canon of the cathedral of Rheims, then on October 3rd commendatory abbot of Saint-Denis of Rheims, which ensures a comfortable income to him.

The June 11th 1775, it assists with the sacring of Louis XVI, in which takes part its godfather like Coadjuteur of the bishop consecrator. In spring 1778, it returns visit to Voltaire, which blesses it in front of the assistance. The December 18th 1779, in the morning of its ordination, his/her friend Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier tells (the anecdote is an invention, according to Emmanuel de Waresquiel) to have it prostrate overdraft and in tears. This last insists that it gives up but Talleyrand answers him: “Not, there is too late, it is not to move back more. ” No member of its family is present for ordination, but his/her parents attend his first mass. It is 26 years old.

The following year, in spring 1780, it becomes, thanks to his/her uncle, general Agent of the clergy of France; it is charged to defend the goods of the Church vis-a-vis the needs for money with Louis XVI. Thanks to this function, it is initiated with the businesses and with the diplomacy, takes note of wide of the richness of the clergy and valley of many relations among the men of influence of the time. Having managed the anger of the low-clergy by handling carrot and the stick and having intervened during the crisis of the Case of discount of 1783, he is congratulated by his pars at the time of his final report at the general meeting on September 1785, whereas he made them accept in 1782 a “free gift” with the king of more than 15 million books to cross short to the threats of confiscation coming from the crown.

He attends and animates the liberal living rooms close to the Orleans and ties many relations. Installed street of Bellechasse, it has as a Mirabeau neighbor: the two men bind friendship, of policy and businesses. It is then close to Charles Alexandre de Calonne, minister unpopular of Louis XVI; it takes part in the negotiation of the commercial treaty with England concluded in 1786 and belonged to the writers from the plan of Calonne to completely reform finances of the kingdom and which remains with the state of project because of the financial crisis and the departure of the minister.

Because of its life dissolue (its taste for the play and the luxury, its many mistresses) which shocks the king (Emmanuel de Waresquiel disputes this point) or because of his friendships hostile orleanists to the clan of the queen and the loss of influence of its family, it is disappointed in its hopes to obtain a évêché whereas grow its needs for money and that its old station of general Agent should quickly have propelled it to this position.

Of 1783 with 1792, Talleyrand has, inter alia, for mistress (and lives quasi maritally with) the Comtesse Adélaïde de Flahaut, which, at the great day, gives him a child in 1785, the famous Charles de Flahaut.

November 2nd 1788, it is named bishop of Autun, thanks to the request which his/her dying father addressed to Louis XVI. “That will correct it”, would have declared the king by signing the nomination. He is crowned on January 14th 1789 by Mgr of Grimaldi, bishop of Boundary-line. Ernest Renan tells, speaking about one as of its professors with Saint-Sulpice:

Mr. Hugon had been used as assistant with the sacring of Mr. de Talleyrand with the vault of Issy, in 1788. It appears that, during the ceremony, the behavior of the abbot of Périgord was more improper. Mr. Hugon told that he showed himself, next saturdays, of confession, “to have formed of the bold judgments on the piety of a saint bishop. ”| Ernest Renan, Memories of childhood and youth

Three weeks, elected appointed later clergy with the general states, Talleyrand leaves the town of Autun definitively.

Revolution

Constituent

During the general states, it adopts the Tiers state; the July 14th 1789 (renewed on September 15th), Talleyrand is the first member named with the Comité of constitution of the National Assembly, where he plays a very important part. He is besides signatory of the Constitution presented to the king and accepted by this one the September 14th 1791; he is the author of article VI of the declaration of the human rights, which is used to him as preamble:

The law is the expression of the general will. It must be the same one for all, either that it protects, or that it punishes. | Declaration of the human rights and the citizen of 1789

The October 10th 1789, it proposes with the constituent Assembly to use “the great ways” to reinflate the cases of the State: confiscation of the goods of the Church. According to him:

The clergy is not owner following the example other owners since the goods of which he enjoys and he cannot lay out were given not for the interest of the people but for the service of the functions.

Defended by Mirabeau, the project is voted the November 2nd. Talleyrand becomes for part of the clergy that which betrayed its order, the more so as its old station of general Agent shining makes it all the more hateful to those for which it is “the apostate”. December 4th 1789, it proposes to grant the statute of citizen to the Jews. February 16th 1790, it is elected president of the Parliament with 373 votes against 125 with Siéyès. Whereas the Constitution will be adopted, Talleyrand and the constitutional royalists are then with the apogee of their influence on the Revolution.

Talleyrand proposes with the constituent Assembly on June 7th, 1790 the principle of a festival celebrating the unanimity of the French. The king names it, and, the July 14th 1790, it celebrates the mass which takes place on the Champ de Mars at the time of the Fête of the Federation. As it on the occasion to celebrate the mass only one handle of time (of which its first as a priest and a his first as a bishop), Mirabeau, which followed the mass of time when it was in prison, the guide in its repetitions. The ceremony takes place in front of: 300,000 people.

December 12th, 1790, he proposes the adoption of the system of unification of measurements.

The December 28th 1790, it lends oath to the civil constitution of the clergy then resigns of its episcopal load. It is charged to crown the first two constitutional bishops (Expilly, bishop of the Finistere, and Marolles, bishop of the Aisne) then fourteen others, so called “talleyrandists”. The March 10th, in the brief Quod aliquantum of March 10th 1791, then Caritas of April 13rd, 1791, the pope Pie VI expresses its pain in front of this schismatic act and takes into account the resignation of Talleyrand of its load.

During the year 1791, helped of Pierre-Simon Laplace, Gaspard Monge, Nicolas de Condorcet, Antoine Lavoisier, Felix Vicq d' Azyr, Jean-François of the Toothing-stone, etc, it writes an important report/ratio on the state education, “with the most whole exemption from payment because it is necessary to all”. One of the consequence of this report/ratio is the creation of the Institut of France, with the head of an education system intended for all the layers of the company, embryo of State education.

To the beginning of the year 1792, Talleyrand is sent on mission diplomatic to London. It goes back there with François Bernard Chauvelin in order to reassure British monarchy on the French policy. In spite of the hostile atmosphere, they obtain the neutrality of the British the May 25th. It returns to Paris the July 5th.

Exile

Anticipating the Terreur, it sets out again quickly for London provided with an order of mission torn off the September 7th with Danton (after one month of requests), under the pretext of work with the extension of the system of weight and measurements, which enables him to claim that it did not emigrate: “My true goal was to leave France, where it appeared useless to me and even dangerous for me to remain, but from where I wanted to leave only with one regular passport, so as to me of not close the doors for always”.

The December 5th, a decree of charge is carried against the “above bishop of Autun” after the opening of the Armoire of iron which reveals the bonds between him, Mirabeau and the royal family; taking care well not to return to France, Talleyrand is related to the Liste of the emigrants.

Expelled of Great Britain in 1794 (the alien bill or “law on the foreigners”, to him is applied in January of this year), where he suffered at the same time from the lack of money and the hatred of the emigrants, it takes refuge with the the United States, where he exerts the trades of real prospector in the forests of the Massachusetts, then of produce broker.

He returns in September of year IV (1796) following the lifting of the decree of charge of the Convention in his opposition, Marie-Joseph Chénier having made a speech in this direction (with the support of Germaine of Staël with which Talleyrand corresponds and his/her lover Benjamin Constant). He is striped list of the emigrants and finds the France young whole Directoire.

Napoleonean period

Consulate

After the coup d'etat, it finds its role of minister vis-a-vis the courses of Europe, not very dissatisfied with the end of the Directoire. Bonaparte and Talleyrand agrees on the fact that the foreign affairs come under the exclusive field of the First Consul: the minister returns account only in Bonaparte. This last reaches the sights of Talleyrand and writes in a friendly way to king d' Angleterre, then with the emperor of Austria, who refuse in a foreseeable way the proposals of reconciliation, without very showing reception of the letters. The Tsar of Russia Paul I {{er}} is shown more favorable (a treaty is negotiated and signed) but it is assassinated in 1801, replaced by Alexandre I {{er}}.

The treaties of Mortefontaine (pacification of the relations with the United States) and of Lunéville (peace with overcome Austria with Marengo) as well as the Paix of Amiens (peace with England and Spain) are negotiated mainly by Napoleon and Joseph Bonaparte: “The First Consul did everything, very written”. Even if he disapproves the brutal method of negotiation, Talleyrand approves general peace. It operates the Italians so that they elect Bonaparte chair Italian Republic. The hopes of the minister are however disappointed:

The peace of Amiens was hardly concluded, that moderation started to give up Bonaparte; this peace had not received yet its complete execution, which it threw already the seeds of new wars which had after having overpowered Europe and France, to lead it itself to its ruin| Memories of Talleyrand

In addition, Bonaparte wishes that the situation of its minister be standardized and that it leaves or marries his mistress, the ex- Mrs. Grand; itself, which requires only that, complains about its situation at Joséphine. However the Church is opposed to it. During the negotiations of the legal settlement, after sharp dissensions, the Pope, in a In short, makes it possible Talleyrand “to wear the dress of secular” but recalls that “no bishop never was exempted to marry”. The consuls, in a governmental act, interpret this papal brief and return Talleyrand to the secular life.

September 10th 1802, it Marie thus with the Old people's home of Incurable the, Street of Verneuil to Paris, with Catherine No5el Worlee, which he has known for three years. The witness is Pierre-Louis Roederer. Of Catherine No5el Worlee, Talleyrand perhaps had a girl, Charlotte, born in 1799 and declared of unknown father, that it adopts in 1803 and Marie towards 1815 with the baron Alexandre-Daniel de Talleyrand, his/her first cousin.

Worsen

Named Great chamberlain the July 11th 1804, it assists the December 2nd 1804 with the sacring of Napoleon Bonaparte. It is also named large cord of the Légion of honor at the beginning of 1805, in the first promotion.

In 1805, begins the Campagne of Austria. Talleyrand follows the emperor in his ways through Europe. On its arrival with Strasbourg, it attends a violent crisis of this last, which for Jean Orieux is connected with an epileptic fit. The shortly after the victory of Ulm, it sends of Strasbourg a report/ratio to the emperor on necessary moderation to be observed with respect to Austria in order to found a balance between the four (France, England, Austria, Russia - to which it adds Prussia). After the bright victory of Austerlitz and crushing it demolished of Trafalgar, Talleyrand unwillingly signs the Traité of Presbourg on December 26th 1805, announcing the creation of the Confédération of the Rhine, which it writes on order of the emperor but where it tries to soften the conditions imposed on Austria. By granting ten percent of reduction and the deadlines on the financial sanctions, it dissatisfied Napoleon, who it suspect to have been corrupted:

Austria, in the state of distress where it was reduced, could only undergo the conditions imposed by the winner. They were hard, and the treaty made with Mr. d' Haugwitz made for me impossible to soften them on other articles that of the contributions. wrote to me at some time from there: " You made me in Presbourg a treaty which obstructs me beaucoup." | Memories of Talleyrand

In 1806, it receives the title of “prince of Bénévent”, small principality confiscated with the Pape. The July 12th of the same year, it signs the treaty creating the Confédération of the Rhine, always on order of Napoleon. Amorçant the criticism of the warlike policy of this last without daring to defy it, it starts to communicate information with the tsar Alexandre I {{er}} via his/her friend Dalberg. In 1807, after a series of victories of Napoleon (Eylau, Dantzig, Heilsberg, Gutstadt, Friedland), it negotiates and signs the Traité of Tilsit and, “made indignant” by the reserved treatment with overcome, in particular the queen of Prussia, it makes certainly on this occasion the decision to resign of its post of minister on its return of Warsaw, where in addition it supports the bringing together between Napoleon and Marie Walewska. Its resignation is effective on August 10th, 1807.

Talleyrand is detached little by little from the emperor but remains however his adviser: he works with his divorce and his remarriage, by suggesting the “Austrian marriage to him”. He strongly disadvises to him starting the war in Spain, “by exposing the immorality and the dangers of a similar company”. The emperor does not take account of the warning and captures by the trick the infants of Spain; he entrusts their guard to Talleyrand, which sumptuously places them with Valençay during seven years.

In September 1808, to Erfurt, where Napoleon sends it to prepare the ground for an alliance with the Russia, it goes as far as disadvising to the tsar being combined with the emperor, while declaring to him: “French people are civilized, his sovereign is not it; the sovereign of Russia is civilized, his people is not it”. It is the “treason of Erfurt”, which it lengthily details in its memories, affirming to have operation one and the other emperors to preserve European balance (“with Erfurt, I saved Europe”) and which will be worth the enmity of the Bonapartists later to him.

Whereas one remains without news of the emperor from Spain, where the guerilla makes rage, and that the rumor of its death spreads, Talleyrand intrigues at the great day with Joseph Fouché to offer the Régence to the empress, by seeking the support of Joachim Murat. From Spain, Napoleon learns the conspiracy and runs to Paris. January 28th 1809, it insults Talleyrand before a cautious advice of circumstance (“You are shit in a silk stocking”), shows it treason and withdraws its post of great chamberlain to him. He does not dissimulate his opposition:

Napoleon had had awkwardness (and one will see the consequence later of it) to water dislike this character if untied, of a spirit if shining, a taste if exerted and so delicate, which, moreover, in policy had rendered services as many to him at the very least than I had been able to return myself of it to him in the high businesses of the State which interested the safety of its person. But Napoleon could not forgive in Talleyrand to have always spoken about the war of Spain with a disapprobative freedom. Soon, the living rooms and the boudoirs of Paris became the theater of a deaf war between the members of Napoleon on the one hand, Talleyrand and his friends of the other, war of which the epigram and the witty remarks were the artillery, and in which the dominator of Europe was almost always beaten| Memories of Joseph Fouché

Threatened of exile with its comparse, even threatened in its life, it is finally not worried, preserves its other stations and the emperor always consults it. For Jean Orieux, it is for “unbearable, essential and irreplaceable” Napoleon. In 1813, after the retirement of Russia, it encourages Napoleon to negotiate and grant important concessions; he refuses the post of minister of the Foreign relations which the emperor proposes to him again.

In 1814. during the fall of the Empire, member of the Council of regency, it makes so that the empress, regent, leave the capital all while not following it: in communication with Louis XVIII and the Allies, it awaits the arrival of the latter, which takes place on March 31st, 1814. This evening, the king of Prussia and the tsar arrive at his private mansion, and this last places there.

Restoration

First Restoration

The 1 {{er}} April 1814, it is elected by the Sénat “president of the provisional government”; the following day, the Senate déchoit Napoleon Bonaparte of his throne, and, on April 23rd, Talleyrand the convention of armistice signs with the Allies, which he considers “humiliating”, but without alternative, in exhausted France “men, of money and resources”. It remains at its station only a few days: May 1st, it joined Louis XVIII with Compiegne, where this one makes him make anteroom several hours then declares to him: “I am well ease to see you; our houses date from the same time. My ancestors were most skilful; if yours had been it more than mine, you would say to me today: take a chair, approach you of me, speak about our business; today, it is me which say to you: you sit and cause. ” In the same conversation, Louis XVIII asks him how it could see the end of so many modes, it what Talleyrand answers:

My God, Lord, I did not really do anything for that, it is something of unexplainable which I have in me and which carries misfortune to the governments which neglect me|Charles-Maxime Villemarest, Mr. de Talleyrand .

Talleyrand suggests the principle of the constitutional Charte but does not take part in its drafting. May 13rd, it is named president of the Council of Ministers and secretary to the Foreign affairs. May 30th it signs the treated of Paris, which it negotiated: peace between France and the Allies, and announces it congress of Vienna. The principality of Bénévent is returned to the Pape: the king does it “prince de Talleyrand” and Pair of France.

Congress of Vienna

Louis XVIII logically charges it with representing France with the Congrès of Vienna, and gives him four objectives:

to prevent the sights of Austria on Sardinia;
to make so that Naples returns in Ferdinand IV of Bourbon;
to defend Poland vis-a-vis in Russia;
to prevent Prussia from putting the hand on Saxony and the Rhineland.

The September 16th 1814 begins the Congrès from Vienna. Talleyrand arrives there on September 23rd. Held with the variation of the principal meetings which take place between the four (England, Austria, Prussia, Russia), it is however invited to a discussion where Metternich and Hardenberg employs the words “allied powers”. It reacts then:

Allied…, do I say, and against which? It is not any more against Napoleon: he is in the isle of Elba… ; it is not any more against France: peace is made… ; it is surely not against the king of France: he is guaranteeing duration of this peace. Dear Sirs, let us speak frankly, if there are still allied powers, I am of too here. And however, if I were not here, you would miss me primarily. Dear Sirs, I am perhaps the only one who do not ask anything. Great regards, it is there all that I want for France. It is rather large by its resources, its extent, the number and the spirit of its inhabitants, by the adjacency of its provinces, the unit of its administration, defenses whose nature and art guaranteed its borders. I do not want anything, I repeat it to you; and I bring to you immensely. The presence of a minister of Louis XVIII devotes here the principle on which all the social order rests. If, as already it is answered it, some privileged powers wanted to exert on the congress a dictatorial power, I must say that, containing me in the terms of the treaty of Paris, I could not agree to recognize in this meeting any supreme capacity in the questions which are competence of the congress, and which I would not deal with proposal which would come from its share| Memories of Talleyrand

Supported by England and Spain, Talleyrand obtains thus that the official reports of the preceding meetings are cancelled, being posed as a defender small nations, which attend as from this moment the deliberations. For Jean Orieux, no important subject is then tackled in the meetings and the small nations are wearied and end up more assisting to with it. Talleyrand remains whereas the true deliberations start: “Thus the committee of the Four became the committee of the Five”.

Combined to the Austria and the the United Kingdom (a secret treaty is signed on January 3rd, 1815), he is opposed to the Prussia and the Russia: the first does not obtain the Saxony and the sights of the second on the Poland are thwarted. On the other hand, Talleyrand cannot prevent that Prussia obtains a border with France: only the fourth objective is not achieved, but biographers see this failure as the cause of the future Franco-German wars. Talleyrand signs the final act of the congress the June 9th 1815.

Second Restoration

At the end of the congress, France preserves its conquests of 1792, but Napoleon Bonaparte returns from the isle of Elba, carried triumphs over it by the French, which ruins the opinion of Allied on their subject. Talleyrand follows Louis XVIII in exile during the Hundred Days, informant: “It is a question of weeks, Bonaparte will be quickly worn”. The Bataille comes from Waterloo; Fouché, president of the provisional government, hold Paris, supported by the republicans, while Louis XVIII does not want to intend to speak to compromise with that which for him is only one regicide. Talleyrand convinces the first to open Paris with the king and the second to name Fouché Minister for the Police force (what it denies in its memories), and to meet it. Chateaubriant tells the scene:

Then, I went to His Majesty: introduced into one of the rooms which preceded that by the king, I did not find anybody; I sitted in a corner and I waited. Suddenly a door opens: between silently the defect pressed on the arm of the crime, Mr. de going Talleyrand supported by Mr. Fouché; the infernal vision passes slowly in front of me, penetrates in the cabinet of the king and disappears. Fouché came to swear faith and homage to its lord; the ferroaluminium regicide, at knees, put the hands which made fall the head from Louis XVI between the hands of the brother of the king martyr; the bishop apostate was guarantee of the oath| François-Rene de Chateaubriand, Mémoires of In addition to-falls

Talleyrand preserves its station, and, on July 9th, 1815, it is named in addition president of the Council of Ministers, in spite of the opposition of the extremists. Fouché (which needs to give pledges to the royalists) and enter to him in conflict on the beginnings of the white Terreur the South, the Minister for the Police force paying of his post office this difference in opinion. The government also in vain tries to prevent the allied armies, which always occupy the country, from taking again the works of art plundered in all Europe by Napoleon. It also tries to return these armies out of the kingdom; the European sovereigns require exorbitant conditions to sign peace, that Talleyrand manages to decrease by lowering for example repairs from 100 to 8 million; France loses its conquests of 1792 however. It sets up hereditary peerage as well as freedom of the press.

After the elections which bring the untraceable Chambre, made up extremists, Louis XVIII incites Talleyrand to resign and names it Great chamberlain of France the September 24th 1815. For the first time since its return of the United States, it is not with the capacity. It is officially in disgrace (after an exit against the ministry for the duke of Richelieu, it is interdict to submit itself to the court) and separates from his wife.

Its political activity is limited to the writing of its memories and some speeches with the Room: he pronounces a defendant freedom of the press and is opposed of it to the Expédition of Spain, wanted by François-Rene de Chateaubriand. There approaches the liberals and orleanists, and remains the pet peeve of the extremists (its role in the assassination of the duke of Enghien is revealed). It is at that time that Adolphe Thiers is introduced near him by speaking in praise of the young person Eugene Delacroix. Talleyrand passes most of its time to Valençay with Dorothée de Courlande, married by him of the years before to its Edmond nephew (it makes in kind at that time that the two husbands are separated from goods), which is perhaps its mistress and whose girl Pauline would be then of Talleyrand.

The advent of Charles X, chief of the ultra party, removes to him its last hopes of return to the capacity; it continues its relations with the orleanists and the liberals.

Monarchy of July

In July 1830, whereas uncertainty reigns, Talleyrand dispatches messages with Mrs Adélaïde and Louis-Philippe of Orleans, advising to him to go to Paris, which makes the latter, helping it via Adolphe Thiers. Louis-Philippe, once king, quickly name Talleyrand ambassador with London, in order to guarantee the neutrality of England with respect to the new mode; its nomination reassures the courses of Europe, frightened by this new revolution. It goes to England on September 22nd (the duchess of joined Dino 30), whereas the Belgian Révolution bursts.

As of its arrival in the English capital, Wellington receives Talleyrand with a dinner where it evokes “the unhappy revolution of July”. At once, the ambassador raises the formula and declares with the Prime Minister that this revolution is a misfortune neither for France, nor for the other States, with which the new mode wants to have the best relations. A little later, it positions back the princess of Lieven, woman of the ambassador of Russia, which is indignant at a “obvious usurpation”: “You are right well, Madam. Only, which is to be regretted, it is that it did not take place fifteen years earlier, as wished it and wanted it the emperor Alexandre your Master! ”

Talleyrand is opposed to the minister Louis-Mathieu Molé: the two men try to follow a policy without holding account one of the other, the minister threatening to resign. Talleyrand preaches for example against Molé the evacuation of the Algérie, which the English wish; Louis-Philippe chooses to be maintained there.

Talleyrand argues near the English for non-intervention in Belgium whereas the Dutch army is pushed back; it signs the protocols of June 1831, then the treaty of November 15th, 1831, which officialize the independence of Belgium. It goes until passing on the orders of Paris while accepting, and even while negotiating, the safeguarding of the borders of the country (and not a division) and the choice of Léopold of Saxony-Cobourg like sovereign of the new neutral country. It approves the decision of the new Prime Minister, Casimir Perier, to militarily support this neutrality, threatened by the Netherlands. The new country makes dismantle the fortresses at the French border.

Talleyrand works on the project which is due to him for a long time in heart: the bringing together of the United Kingdom and France, bases Harmony. It regularly receives Alphonse of Lamartine, and maintains positive ratios with his friend Wellington and the whole of the cabinet. Its name is applauded the English Parliament, its refinement and its skill becomes famous in London. During this time, its reputation is with lowest in France: “The prince avoided in France the dismemberment, one owes him of the crowns, one throws mud to him”.

It is indeed at that time that the generalized hatred of the parties in its opposition begins. He becomes the “lame devil”, that which betrayed everyone:

It was called " Protée with the foot boiteux" , " Satan of Tuileries" , " Republic, emperor, king: it has all vendu" , read one in this poem with the fashion of the day, written with a feather torn off with the eagle of the exterminating angel, entitled " Némésis" (" Vengeance"). Its only merit was to cause an admirable answer of Lamartine was satisfied for any answer with this rapid comment, small masterpiece of concision and contempt: " Corruption generates the vers." |Jean Orieux, Talleyrand or the misunderstood sphinx

Talleyrand remains in station until August 1834, date on which it leaves the public stage and withdraws itself in its castle of Valençay. It receives Honore de Balzac and puts the last hand at its memories. In 1837, it leaves Valençay and turns over to settle in its Hôtel of Saint-Florentin cheese in Paris.

With the approach of death, it carries out a return to the religion and its close relations entrust to the abbot Dupanloup the responsibility to convince it to sign its retractation, which it will sign only four hours before his death, so that it can receive the extreme unction. At the time when the priest must, in accordance with the rite, oindre its hands with the Saint-chrism, it declares: “Do not forget that I am bishop” (because one in such a case owed the oindre on the reverse of the hands and not on the palms), thus recognizing its rehabilitation in the Church. The event, followed by all-Paris, makes say to Ernest Renan which it succeeded in “misleading the world and the Sky”.

When he learns that Talleyrand is with the anguish, the king Louis-Philippe decides, contrary to the label, to visit him. “Lord, murmurs it dying, it is an great honor which the king made at my house. ” He dies on May 17th, 1838, with 15:50.

Official and religious funeral is celebrated the May 22nd. It is buried in a vault close to the castle of Valençay, where its body is brought back the September 5th then buried in the family crypt. The marble plate which recovers the coffin carries the following inscription: “Here rests the body of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, prince duke of Talleyrand, duke of Dino, born in Paris on February 2nd, 1754, died in the same city on May 17th, 1838. ”

Contemporary glances and posterity

Talleyrand (Prince of): to be indignant against| Gustave Flaubert, Dictionary of the generally accepted ideas

Talleyrand was called the “lame devil” because of its infirmity and the hatred which some of its enemies dedicated to him, in particular within the factions: “extremists” (for whom he was a revolutionist), Catholic church (which remembered the confiscation of the goods of the Church), Jacobins (for which he were a traitor with the Revolution), Bonapartists (who reproached him the “treason of Erfurt”), etc

François-Rene de Chateaubriand, which often côtoyé Talleyrand during its diplomatic and political career, politically opposed to the prince (Chateaubriant is an ultra chief, while Talleyrand is liberal, and this last had been opposed to “its” war of Spain), expresses on each occasion in its memories all the evil which he thinks of Talleyrand:

These historical facts, most curious on the Earth, were generally ignored, it is still just as one created a confused opinion of the treaties of Vienna, relative in France: one believed them the iniquitous work of a troop of victorious sovereigns keen in our loss; unfortunately, if they are hard, they were envenimés by a French hand: when Mr. de Talleyrand does not conspire, it adulterates| François-Rene de Chateaubriand, Mémoires of in addition to-falls

In the same way, Victor Hugo, whose political course is a way of the legitimism to the republicanism, written at the time of his death:

It was a strange, dreaded and considerable character; he was called Charles-Maurice de Périgord; he was noble like Machiavel, priest like Gondi, défroqué like Fouché, spiritual like Voltaire and lame like the devil. One could say that all in him limped like him; the nobility which it had made maidservant of the republic, the priesthood which it had trailed with the Fields of Mars, then thrown to the brook, the marriage which it had broken by twenty scandals and a voluntary separation, the spirit which it dishonoured by the bassesse.

It had done all that in its palate and, in this palate, like a spider in its fabric, it successively had attracted and taken hero, thinkers, great men, conquerors, kings, princes, emperors, Bonaparte, Sieyès, Mrs. de Staël, Chateaubriand, Benjamin Constant, Alexandre of Russia, Guillaume of Prussia, François of Austria, Louis XVIII, Louis-Philippe, all the gilded and radiant flies which bourdonnent in the history of these forty last years. All this étincelant swarm, fascinated by the deep eye of this man, had successively passed under this dark door which carries writes on its architecture: Hotel Talleyrand.

Eh well, day before yesterday May 17th, 1838, this man died. Doctors came and embaumé the corpse. For that, with the manner of the Egyptians, they withdrew the entrails of the belly and the brain of cranium. The thing made, after having transformed prince de Talleyrand into mummy and having nailed this mummy in a papered white satin beer, they were withdrawn, leaving on a table the brain, this brain which had thought so much of things, inspired so many men, built so many buildings, leads two revolutions, misled twenty kings, contents the world. The left doctors, a servant entered, it saw what they had left: Hold! They forgot that. What to make some? It remembered that there was a sewer in the street, it there went, and threw the brain in this sewer| Victor Hugo, Things seen

Thus, an anecdote circulates at the time according to which, Louis-Philippe having come to see it on its bed of death, Talleyrand would have said to him: “Lord, I suffer like one damné. ” “Already! ” the king would have murmured. The anecdote is incredible but it ran very early; she points out this word by which the Diable would have accommodated Talleyrand in hell: “Prince, you exceeded my instructions. ”,

Of alive sound, Talleyrand seldom denied itself the attacks, but it happened that his/her friends do it for him, like Alphonse of Lamartine (see higher) or Honore de Balzac:

Certain prince who is penguin only foot, that I look like a policy of genius and whose name will grow in the history| Honore de Balzac, the Father Goriot

Apart from the sliced opinions, very early, however, the complexity of the character intrigues:

The moral problem that the character of Talleyrand raises, in what it has of extraordinary and of original, consists entire in the assembly, undoubtedly singular and single with this degree, of a higher spirit, a good sense Net, an exquisite taste and a consumed corruption, covered with scorn, carelessness and of nonchalance| Charles Augustin Holy-Beuve

The 20th century saw, as a whole, a new analysis of Talleyrand, which makes him take off the dress of the traitor perjury and the “lame devil”, in particular by its many biographers, who, in general, saw a political continuity in his life.

Doctrines

Talleyrand and women

Works

Test on the advantages to withdraw new colonies
Memory on the commercial relations of the United States with England
Memories or opinion on the businesses of my time (4 volumes) ISBN 2743301708 (French HMSO):

Volume 1 (1754 - 1807) the Revolution ISBN 2849091103
Volume 2 (1807 - 1814) the Empire ISBN 2849091111
Volume 3 (1814 - 1815) the congress of Vienna ISBN 2849091243
Volume 4 (1815) the Restoration ISBN 2849091472

Is appeared a at the beginning of 2007 compilation of writings of Talleyrand, presented by Emmanuel de Waresquiel (see bibliography), containing the memories, but also the letters of Talleyrand to the duchess of Bauffremont:

Memories and correspondences of the prince de Talleyrand , Editions Robert Laffont, collection Books ISBN 2221105087

Cinema and theater

An adaptation of Sacha Guitry the met in scene in lame Devil .

The play the Supper (reporting a supper - imaginary? - between Joseph Fouché and Talleyrand, return day before of Louis XVIII on the throne, on July 6th, 1815) of Jean-Claude Brisville. This part was adapted to the cinema in 1992 by Edouard Molinaro, with Claude Rich in the role of Talleyrand.

Cinema

Sacha Guitry spends several times in Talleyrand scene in its films, playing it even twice, also entrusting the role to Jean Périer, which repeats in the same role two years later. Among the actors having played his character, one finds also Anthony Perkins, Stephan Freiss, Claude Rich or John Malkovich.

Theater

Jean Claude Brisville - the Supper (1989)
Sacha Guitry - lame Devil (1948)
Robert Hossein - It was Bonaparte (2002)
Sacha Guitry - Théâtre: Did Beaumarchais, Talleyrand, Mr Prodhomme live? (1962)

Appendices

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Va' has | Deykandi | Divénié | Ploughed for the third time | Large Bardou grocer