Volume V. of the _Mémoires du Prince de Talleyrand_, which were

published in 1892.

The _Journal des Débats_ announces M. de Talleyrand's resignation,[45] and for its own purposes tries to connect it with the Bassano Ministry. Assuredly, of all explanations this might have been the most plausible, but it has nothing to do with any of the people whose names have occupied the attention of the public during the last fortnight. The event might have been recorded in a more sincere and dignified way, but party spirit distorts everything for its own ends. Never mind, we need bother our heads about it no longer!

[45] Here is the full text of M. de Talleyrand's letter of resignation, which I give though it has already appeared in the _Mémoires_:

"_To the Minister of Foreign Affairs._

"MONSIEUR LE MINISTRE,

"When the King's confidence called me, four years ago, to the Embassy at London the very difficulty of the task made it a duty to obey, and I believe I have secured in a manner useful to France and to his Majesty two interests which I have always in mind. The peace of Europe has been preserved throughout those years, and this has simplified all our relations with foreign Powers. Our policy, formerly isolated, is now linked with that of other nations; it has been accepted, appreciated, and respected by honest men of every country. The co-operation of England, which we have obtained, has cost us nothing in independence, and has never offended our national susceptibilities. Such has been our respect for the rights of every one, such has been the frankness of our methods that, far from inspiring distrust, it is our guarantee which is now being sought against the propagandist spirit which is perturbing the older Europe. It is undoubtedly to the merits and abilities of the King that we must attribute results so satisfactory. For myself, I make no other claim than to have been the first to divine the profound idea underlying his Majesty's policy, and to have announced it to others whom subsequent events have persuaded of the truth of my words. But now that Europe knows and admires the King, and that, for this very reason, the principal difficulties are surmounted; now that England has perhaps as great need as we of our mutual alliance, and the line she seems disposed to take requires a mind whose traditions are less old-fashioned than mine; now I think that, without any want of devotion to the King and to my country, I may respectfully beg his Majesty to accept my resignation; and I beg you, M. le Ministre, to be so good as to present it to him. My great age and the infirmities which are its natural consequence, the repose which it demands and the thoughts which it suggests, make this step a very natural one and justify it only too well, making it, indeed, no less than my duty. I trust to the justice and kindness of the King to judge.

"I avail, &c., "LE PRINCE DE TALLEYRAND.

"Valençay, November 13, 1834."

This letter was published in the _Moniteur Universel_ of January 7, 1835.

It is stated that, during the Ministerial crisis, M. de Rigny behaved with great propriety, firmness and dignity. This was not so with everybody, and here is a detail the authenticity of which is certain. At the celebrated Council of ten days ago, when every one threw off the mask and M. Guizot tried to impose M. de Broglie on the King as Minister of Foreign Affairs, the King raised his hand and said, "this hand will never sign a decree recalling M. de Broglie to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Then M. Guizot called upon the King to state why he refused. "Because he nearly embroiled me with all Europe," was the reply, "and if any attempt is made to force my hand I will speak out." "And we, Sire," returned M. Guizot, "will write." Has the like ever been heard of? And after this is it possible that the same people can again assemble round the same green table to regulate the destinies of Europe?

_Valençay, November 19, 1834._--We heard last night by letter from London of the great event of the change of Ministry in England and the return of the Tories to power.[46] This morning did not pass without a despatch rider from the King, who brought a letter in His Majesty's own hand and one from Mademoiselle. These letters are full of caresses, prayers and supplications. My name even, which is frequently repeated, is invoked. Every kind of pressure is brought to bear on M. de Talleyrand, to resume his Embassy. The Prince Royal writes to me in this sense in the most pressing manner, and all the other letters we received by this post are in this key. Mrs. Dawson Damer writes that she hopes that the change of Ministry in England will induce M. de Talleyrand to withdraw his resignation, and that the Queen of England will never forgive me if it is otherwise. Lady Clanricarde says that she is all the more afraid that the Tories may fail in their task, as the result would be that England would again fall into the clutches of Lord Durham, and that she sees only one agreeable feature in the situation, which is the practical certainty of my return to London. This is very gracious but not convincing.

[46] The Whig Cabinet of Lord Melbourne fell on November 15, and was replaced by a Tory Ministry which was not destined to last more than three months. The Premier was Sir Robert Peel, and the Duke of Wellington replaced Lord Palmerston at the Foreign Office.

M. de Rigny writes excusing himself for his long silence. He seems to me much disgusted by the events of the last fortnight, and not very hopeful about the future of the French Ministry, though M. Humann has accepted office, and the process of patching-up is complete. He adds the regulation passage about the _impossibility_ of our not returning to London, and the King's _positive wishes_ in the matter.

M. Raullin, from his little corner, also thinks it necessary to swell the chorus. He says that Madame de Broglie's doctrinaires are of the same opinion, but all this coterie, like the Bourse and the Boulevards, are very much agitated by the news from England. He tells me some amusing things about the Duc de Bassano and M. Humann. The courier sent after the latter found him at Bar, and he said he would not answer till he got to Strasbourg. I like this Alsatian phlegm.

It is also said that Admiral Duperré is very coy about accepting the Ministry of Marine. Till yesterday morning there were ministers only _in petto_. M. de Bassano was imperturbably signing things and working with great ardour at the Ministry of the Interior.

M. de Talleyrand has also received a great many letters. M. Pasquier, in reply to a letter of excuses for not being able to be present at the case,[47] insinuates a phrase about the immense services he is still called upon to render. Madame de Jaucourt writes a few lines, at the dictation of M. de Rigny saying, "Come, we can't do without you, and save us." Finally M. de Montrond, who has said nothing for a long time, writes that the news from England has fallen on every one like a flood of boiling-water. Every one is distracted, and Lord Granville takes the change in his country much amiss. He also says he is commanded by the King to make us understand the _necessity_ of our return to England, and that MM. Thiers and de Rigny look upon it as their one hope of salvation.

[47] Of Armand Carrel, of the _National_.

_Valençay, November 24, 1834._--M. de Talleyrand fortunately refuses to withdraw his resignation, but such is the singular prestige which he enjoys that stocks go up and down at Paris according to the greater or less probability of his departure for London. Letters from all parts call on him to come to the rescue, and any number of people whom we do not even know by name, write to beg him not to abandon France. The reason is twofold. The French public will never regard the Duke of Wellington as anything else but an ogre, or M. de Talleyrand as anything but a person whom the Devil will carry off some day, but who in the meantime, owing to an unholy bargain with the Prince of Darkness, has the power of bewitching the Universe. How idiotic it all is! The public is so credulous in its beliefs, so cruel in its revenge and its injustice!

_Valençay, November 27, 1834._--A letter from the King came yesterday, in reply to that in which M. de Talleyrand persisted in his resignation, and among other things contained the following: "My dear Prince, I have never seen anything more perfect, more honourable, or better expressed than the letter which I have just received from you. It has deeply touched me. No doubt it costs me much to recognise the justice of most of the reasons which make you refuse to return to London, but I am too sincere, and too much the friend of my friends not to say that you are right."[48]

[48] This letter, of which only the beginning is given here, is dated November 25, and is quoted in full in _Le Prince de Talleyrand et la Maison d'Orléans_, and also in Volume V. of the Prince's _Mémoires_.

This exordium is followed by a new invitation to come to Paris with all speed to talk over everything. M. Bresson writes to M. de Talleyrand a very witty and clever letter, in which he begs him to be so kind as to write him all the witticisms with which his _sudden apotheosis_ will no doubt have inspired him. He is anxious not to miss a single one.

M. de Montrond writes that the King says there can be nothing finer than M. de Talleyrand's letter, and that his reasoning is conclusive. For the rest, they are in great embarrassment, and look back to Marshal Soult with regret, and are even seeking to get him back. A new ignominy for our little Ministers! It appears that the Army is in a state of disorganisation.

The Poles who came here for the funeral of the Princess Tyszkiewicz are saying kind things about us, it appears, in Paris. Valençay is approved of only by the Prince Royal, being opposed by the Flahaut influence. M. de Montrond is furious at the kind things which are being said about Valençay, which he has always treated with ridicule.

_Valençay, December 1, 1834._--When I was passing through Paris three months ago I saw M. Daure who, in very bad company, was writing in the _Constitutionnel_, and seemed to me to be in very poor circumstances. I offered him my interest with M. Guizot to get him employment in the researches into the ancient manuscripts and charters of the South, with which the Ministry of Public Instruction is occupied. I went so far as to make an application on his behalf, which was well received. I left for Valençay and heard no more of M. Daure, nor of his application, till a fortnight ago, when I heard from M. Guizot that Daure had been nominated to the place for which I had applied. I at once wrote to Daure, forwarding the Minister's letter, but, not knowing his address, made inquiries at Paris which remained without result, and my letter was awaiting some light on the whereabouts of the poor man, when yesterday evening I received two letters with the Montauban postmark; one in Daure's handwriting, the other in a handwriting unknown to me, which I opened first. It was from an abbé, a friend of Daure, who in accordance with his last wishes, informs me of his death--and what a death! He has committed suicide! Daure's own letter, written shortly before his mad act, touched me deeply, and I will even say, made me very proud. He refers to the people whom he liked in London. I blame myself very much for not asking him to come here this year; it would probably have turned him aside from this dreadful end.

It recurred to my mind last night that last autumn, at Rochecotte, while walking alone with him on the way to visit my schools I spoke to him of his future, and lectured him about his carelessness and extravagance. He replied with much gratitude, and begging me not to be at all anxious about him as he had a resource in reserve of which he could not speak to any one, which he had prepared long since, and which he would have if everything else failed. He was not, he said, so improvident as he seemed, and was as free as possible from anxiety about the future. I thought he meant that he had saved a little money--fool that I was! He killed himself at the very moment that we were burying poor Princess Tyszkiewicz here. What a sad November it has been!

Here is a little piece of politics taken from one of yesterday's letters. "The position of the French Ministers will be decided in a week. They intend to seize the first opportunity (which will not be long in coming) to speak frankly of all they have done and all that has happened, so as to make their position tolerable, or else to go out. They have had their fill of degradation and do not wish to remain in power any longer on the present conditions. They must see what the Chamber means to do and what its attitude will be. There was some talk of a speech from the Throne but they decided that this would not do, and I think they were right."

_Valençay, December 2, 1834._--I am on the eve of a new trouble--the probable death of the Duke of Gloucester, which will be a real sorrow. How should I not mourn one whose esteem, confidence and friendship were so sincere and so thoroughly tried?

I hear from Paris that the new Ambassador in London will not be appointed till Sir Robert Peel has constituted his Government. Sir Robert, it is thought, was to pass through Paris yesterday. Another reason for not making the appointment for a week or ten days is that no one would dream of accepting it till there is some light on the fate of the French Ministry which is most uncertain. The slackness of Deputies in attending the Chamber is attracting attention as a symptom of their disinclination to interest themselves in the quarrels of the Ministers. These quarrels are subterranean but very real. There is always the same revolt against the arrogant pedantry of some and the tangled intrigues of others; it is only their fear of the Chamber which keeps them together at all.

They say the King is much depressed, and perhaps his Cabinet owe their remaining in office to the fact that he is as much afraid of the Chamber as they are. I hear that there is much ridicule of a letter from M. Bresson in reply to a remark of the _Quotidienne_. "M. Bresson," writes a friend, "has been giving us his genealogy and has been telling us that he has been an important person from the day when he handed the despatches to 'the unfortunate and too much misunderstood Bolivar,' to that on which he nearly became Minister of Foreign Affairs! We are very fortunate to be represented at Berlin by so considerable a personage! Can you understand this mania for writing to the newspapers? And can you wonder that the importance of the press is so great?"

M. de Talleyrand is quite furious because diplomatic communications are being bandied about at the Bourse and the Opera. This as well as many other things makes it impossible to serve some people.

_Paris, December 7, 1834._--Here we are back in Paris, whose exhausting and unquiet life is so bad both for M. de Talleyrand and for me. Yesterday we were already overwhelmed with visits and social duties.

At twelve I received M. Royer-Collard who, on his way to the Chamber, called to ask for me. He only came in and went out again, and the real object of his visit was, I think, to discharge a commission for M. Molé. The latter asked him to tell me that he wished to come to our house again, but on the first occasion to come to see only me and to see me alone. This meeting is fixed for tomorrow, Monday, between four and five.

M. Royer-Collard gone, M. le Duc d'Orléans arrived, and hardly had he sat down when he began to discuss a piece of Madame de Flahaut's gossip. It all passed off with great good temper and good manners, but I don't think I surrendered any of my advantages. I was quiet and restrained, without the slightest trace of animosity. This was my chief position: "Madame de Flahaut's remarks about me do not affect me. I pay no attention to them. It is impossible that two people whose circles, habits and positions are so different as ours, could ever come to quarrelling, or that I could be offended by her. What offends me is the harm she is doing you, Monseigneur."--"But my principal reason for liking her is that nobody else does."--"Oh, if you reckon it proportionately on that principle your Royal Highness must simply adore her!" We burst out laughing and the matter rested there.

He spoke of another subject, namely, how wrong it was of him not to write to us for so long after his visit to Valençay. I replied, "Monseigneur, in view of the great age of M. de Talleyrand it was not very good manners on your part, but you have a frank and graceful way of doing things which makes one charmed to forgive you."

He then came to general questions. He is much embarrassed and troubled by his present situation, annoyed with his dear friend Dupin for the curious way in which he treated the Monarchy last night, and astonished at Lord Brougham, of whom he tells the following story. On the day of Lord Brougham's arrival in Paris, M. le Duc d'Orléans met him at Lord Granville's. Unsuitable as the place was, in my opinion, for such a topic, the conversation turned on the Amnesty of which the ex-Chancellor declared himself a violent partisan. The Duc d'Orléans disputed this view but without apparently convincing him. The following day at the Tuileries Lord Brougham drew a paper from his pocket and, showing a corner of it to the Prince Royal, said, "Here are my reflections on the Amnesty which I am going to show to the King." This of course was another piece of ill-breeding on the part of a foreigner, but he did in fact hand the paper to His Majesty. It was found to be a violent argument _against_ the Amnesty! When mobility reaches a certain point it is, I think, an evident symptom of insanity!

M. le Duc d'Orléans concluded his visit by trying to make me feel that M. de Talleyrand was under an imperative obligation to attach himself in a public manner to the Government. I replied by a reference to the state of his legs. We parted on the best of terms.

When I came down again I found the Entresol crowded. There was Frederick Lamb, Pozzo, Mollien, Bertin de Veaux, and General Baudrand. In spite of the great variety of opinions represented they talked as freely of everything as if they had been in the street. The most animated was Pozzo, who poured scorn inconceivable on the French Ministry, pitying the King and speaking very well of him, bemoaning the embarrassment of his Ambassadors in foreign countries which is caused by what is going on here, and much annoyed by certain passages in a speech delivered last night by M. Thiers.

Later on we dined with Count Mollien, where there were M. Pasquier, Baron Louis, Bertin de Veaux and M. de Rigny, who came late and brought news of the vote of the Chamber, which is favourable if you like, but which will cost the Ministry dear, and from which, as M. de Rigny at least has the sense to see, nothing can be predicted as to the course of the Session.

It appears that after a speech by M. Sauzet, which is said to have been admirable, the House wavered and the Ministry gave themselves up for lost. M. Thiers feared to put it to the touch, but finally did so almost in despair. He spoke, it is said, _miraculously_, and sent everybody on the other tack. His speech the night before had been a fiasco, and the English were furious with him on account of his strange, and, indeed, inexcusable phrase about England. Yesterday, however, he seems to have triumphed completely.

Here is a curious fact of which I am quite certain. M. Dupin had promised the King three days ago to support the order of the day. The day before yesterday he voted against it; yesterday again he spoke against it but voted _for_ it. Why? Because after M. Sauzet's speech the Ministers thought they were lost, and said to M. Dupin: "M. le Président, prepare yourself to go to the King and have your Cabinet ready, for, in an hour from now, we shall have resigned." M. Dupin, much upset, said: "but I didn't think that all this would be so serious; I have no wish to see you fall, for I do not at all desire that the burden should again fall on my shoulders." With these words he tried to escape and leave the Vice-President in his place, when Thiers taking him by the arm said: "No, M. le Président, you shall not go till the question is settled; if it goes against us you will go nowhere else but to the King where you will be condemned to be Minister."

This, no doubt, is very interesting, but what an atmosphere! What people!

_Paris, December 8, 1834._--Yesterday, when I got back at four, I was astonished to see the Duc d'Orléans, whom I supposed to be already on his way to Brussels. He was not to leave, however, for another hour, and he came to tell me that Sir Robert Peel had passed through Paris, and had sent his brother to him (the Duc d'Orléans) as an intimate friend, to beg him to make his excuses to the King for not requesting the honour of an audience. His Majesty would, however, easily understand that in the circumstances hours were centuries. We drew two conclusions from this: first, that Sir Robert Peel had decided to accept the Premiership, for an ordinary private individual would not have considered himself of sufficient importance to send such a message; secondly, that the courtesy of his language proved a feeling rather friendly to France than the reverse.

Speaking of Sir Robert Peel, I had a letter from him yesterday, written from Rome, about the Bassano Ministry, very civil and kind in its terms, in which he says that what alarms him most in this combination is that it may prevent M. de Talleyrand from returning to London.

_Paris, December 9, 1834._--Frederick Lamb, who came to see me yesterday morning, told me several curious things. He gave me a worse idea than ever of Lord Palmerston; incredible details, for instance, on his conduct with regard to the Eastern Question, and many other matters of which in London we could only form a superficial opinion. He told me that at the time of the quarrel between England and Russia about Sir Stratford Canning, Madame de Lieven had wanted the matter to be arranged so that Frederick Lamb should go to St. Petersburg and Sir Stratford Canning to Vienna. This was proposed to Prince Metternich, who replied: "This arrangement will arrange nothing, for the one ambassador whom we will never agree to accept is Sir Stratford Canning."

He told me also that M. de Metternich said of Lord Palmerston: "He is a tyrant, and the age of tyrants is over."

Frederick Lamb detests Lord Granville, but he does not believe that the Tory Cabinet will succeed, though he does not think that the Radicals will necessarily be their successors. He thinks Lord Grey will come back, and is looking for means to extrude Lord Palmerston and Lord Holland. Like Pozzo and M. Molé, he says extraordinary things of M. de Broglie. If we may believe them, no one ever made such blunders.

When I got back yesterday, at four, I received M. Molé. It all passed off as if we had parted only yesterday. He spoke to me, as he used to do, of himself, his affections, friends, attitude of mind--all with the charm which is peculiar to him. He told me that I was much more amiable even than I was four years ago, and he stayed nearly an hour. I have always thought that nobody's conversation is so good, so rapid, or so agreeable as his. He is in very good taste in an age in which good taste is unknown. Perhaps he is not high-souled enough to rule, but he is high-minded enough to refuse to be degraded, and that is already much.

Many names, many facts and deeds, were passed in review during that hour, and I was much pleased with the natural manner in which he approached every topic. He told me that my mind was so just that even those who feared my enmity were reassured; and, in fact, all went off excellently. I am not sure that this will be so between M. de Talleyrand and him. I have undertaken to arrange a meeting, and both parties have begged me to be present at this first interview, which is rather amusing.

M. Molé told me that he yesterday refused an invitation to dine with M. Dupin on the ground that the latter had given a distorted version in the tribune of the purely unofficial relations between them a fortnight ago. M. Molé added that he had no thoughts of the English Embassy--as some people were saying--for he did not wish to accept anything from the present Ministry.

He never sees the Duc de Broglie at all now. He thinks Rayneval is the only possible Ambassador for London just now, and intends to speak about it to the King, with whom he says he is on very good terms. He is scarcely on bowing terms with Guizot, and his relations with Thiers are very cold.

_Paris, December 10, 1834._--Yesterday evening M. de Talleyrand was overwhelmed with a procession of visitors. A great many things were said, of which the following seemed to me the best.

They come from Frederick Lamb, who came first, and with whom we were for some time alone. He talked a great deal of M. de Metternich and of his remark made four months ago about King Louis-Philippe: "I thought he was an intriguer, but now I see quite well he is a King." He also told us that on the day of the fall of the last English Ministry Lord Palmerston sent the news to the British _chargé d'affaires_ at Vienna, and asked him to acquaint M. de Metternich, adding: "You will never be in a position to make to M. de Metternich a communication which will give him more pleasure." The _chargé d'affaires_ took the despatch to the Prince, and for some unknown reason read the whole of it to him, including even this last phrase. M. de Metternich made the following reply, which, I think, is in very good taste: "Here is another proof of Lord Palmerston's ignorance of men and things. I cannot be pleased at an event the consequences of which I cannot yet measure. Tell him that I receive the news not with joy but with hope."

_Paris, December 12, 1834._--I dined yesterday at the Tuileries; besides M. de Talleyrand, there were the Molliens, the Valençays, and Baron de Montmorency. I sat between the King and the Duc de Nemours; the last-named has conquered his shyness a little, but he is still very timid. He is as white and blonde and pink and slim and transparent as a young girl, and not pretty in my opinion.

No conversation could be more interesting than the King's, especially when, deserting politics, he plunges into the innumerable memories of his extraordinary life. I was struck by two anecdotes which he told extremely well, and though I fear I may spoil them in the repetition, I will put them down. There was in the room a portrait of M. de Biron, Duc de Lauzun, which the King has just had copied from one lent him by M. de Talleyrand. This naturally led the talk to the original of the portrait, and the King told how, when he came back to Paris in 1814, he saw at his first reception an old man, who approached him and asked for a few minutes private conversation away from the crowd. The King placed himself in the embrasure of a window, and then the unknown drew from his pocket a ring mounted with the portrait of the Duc d'Orléans, the King's father, and said: "When the Duc de Lauzun was condemned to death I was at the Revolutionary Tribunal, and as he was going out M. de Biron, whom I had met several times, stopped before me, and said: 'Monsieur, take this ring and promise me that if ever occasion offers you will give it to the children of M. le Duc d'Orléans, assuring them that I die a faithful friend of their father and a devoted servant of their House.'" The King was naturally touched by the scrupulous fidelity with which after so many years the commission had been discharged, and asked the unknown his name. The latter refused, however, saying: "My name will not interest you, and might even awake painful memories. I have carried out the promise I made to a man about to die. You will never see or hear of me again;" and, in fact, he never reappeared.

This is the second anecdote. When the present King was still in England with Louis XVIII. and the Comte d'Artois, the last-named insisted absolutely on his cousin wearing the uniform of the French _emigrés_, and especially the white cockade. This the Duc d'Orléans persistently refused, and said he would never do. He appeared always in civil dress, which gave rise to many bitter discussions. In 1814, the Duc d'Orléans, following the whole of France, adopted the white cockade, and the Comte d'Artois took the uniform of Colonel-General of the National Guard. The first day on which the Duc d'Orléans appeared at the Comte d'Artois', the latter said to him, "Give me your hat." He took it, turned it over, and, playing with the white cockade, said: "Ah, ah! my dear cousin, what is this cockade? I thought you were never going to wear it?" "I thought so too, Monsieur; and I thought also that you were never destined to wear the coat I see you in to-day. I am very sorry you have not adopted the cockade, which suits it best." "My dear fellow," replied Monsieur, "do not deceive yourself. A coat matters nothing. You may take it or leave it; it is all the same. But a cockade is a different thing; it is a party symbol, a rallying point; and the symbol which you adopt must never be withdrawn." What I liked in the King, as he was pleased to recount this scene, was that he hastened to add: "Well, Madame, Charles X. was right, and what he said was cleverer than might have been expected." "What the King says is true," I replied. "Charles X.'s explanation was that of a man of honour and a gentleman, and it is certain that in him there was much of both." "Assuredly there was," added the King; "and besides that he has a very good heart." I was very much pleased to see justice done to him in that quarter.

At nine I went with Madame Mollien to the Comtesse de Boigne's. She had been to see me first, and had caused me to be told at Madame Mollien's that she would be much flattered if I would come and see her sometimes in the evening. Hers is the leading _salon_ at present; the one good house which belongs, I will not say to the Court, but to the Ministry, as that of Madame de Flahaut belongs to the Duc d'Orléans, and that of Madame de Massa to the Court proper. There is no fourth. At Madame de Boigne's there is a reception every evening; politics is the leading subject, and they talk of nothing else. The conversation seemed to me strained and rather embarrassing owing to the direct questions which the speakers rather indiscreetly hurled at each other. "Will the Duke of Wellington be able to go on?"--"Do you think that Mr. Stanley will join Sir Robert Peel?"--"Do you believe that a reconciliation between Lord Grey and Lord Brougham is possible?" These are specimens of the interrogations with which I was naïvely assailed. I escaped by pleading absolute ignorance, concluding with a laugh by saying that I did not expect to have to solve questions of conscience on a festive occasion. The matter ended there, but I got a disagreeable impression in spite of the excessive graciousness of our hostess, and I was glad to get away.

_Paris, December 14, 1834._--Lady Clanricarde came to breakfast yesterday, and at half-past eleven we left for the Académie française. M. Thiers, who was being received, had secured the best places for us, which I was grateful to observe were far from those occupied by his family, who were with the Duchesse de Massa in an elevated gallery. In our neighbourhood there were only Madame de Boigne, M. and Madame de Rambuteau, Marshal Gérard, M. Molé, M. de Celles, and Madame de Castellane. The last-named has got stouter, heavier, and thicker, but she retains her pleasant face, the mobility of whose lower parts is so attractive. She seemed so delighted, so moved, and so touched on seeing me (I used to be intimate with her and knew all about her affairs, so much that the imprudence of her subsequent quarrel with me was incredible) that I was quite touched too, and we shook hands. She said, "May I come and see you again?" and I answered, "Yes, with all my heart."

Here is the story. When the Tuileries were against me under the Restoration, Madame de Castellane turned against me, and, without thinking of the injury it was in my power to inflict on her, she broke with me. I was deeply hurt, because I was very fond of her; but to revenge myself would have been mean, and, in spite of all my faults, I am incapable of doing anything so low as that would have been. I think that at the bottom of her heart she was grateful to me for having spared her.

M. de Talleyrand, as a member of the Institute, came into the hall leaning on the arm of M. de Valençay. The effect of his entry was unbelievable. Every one rose with one accord in the galleries, as well as on the floor of the house, and this, no doubt, with a certain stirring of curiosity, but also with an impulse of respect, of which he was deeply sensible. I know that in spite of the crowd which obstructed the approaches every one made way for him.

The sitting began at one. M. Thiers is so small that he entered without being seen, being surrounded by Villemain, Cousin, and some others. No one noticed him till he stood up alone to begin his speech. He spoke with the best possible accent, and pronounced everything distinctly. His voice was sustained, and his gestures rare. He was not over voluble, and for the first few moments he was as pale as death and trembling from head to foot. This made a much better impression than if he had displayed the insolence with which he is often reproached. In spite of the disagreeable tone of his voice, he never offended the ear; he was neither monotonous nor shrill; and, in fact, Lady Clanricarde went so far as to think him splendid!

M. de Talleyrand and M. Royer-Collard were opposite to him, and he seemed to speak only for them. His discourse was brilliant. I do not know whether it was precisely academic, though it was full of wit, of good taste, and fine language in certain places, but there is no doubt that it was political, and he spoke it much more as if it was an improvisation than as if it was a lecture. Certain of his movements, too, recalled the tribune, and on the audience the effect produced was much more parliamentary than literary, but always favourable and sometimes even enthusiastic. M. de Talleyrand was quite moved, and M. Royer-Collard moved his wig up and down in a way that signified the most lively approbation! The passage on calumny was spoken with a conviction and an intimacy which was contagious, and was received with a salvo of applause.

The discourse is in the highest degree anti-revolutionary. He is orthodox in his literary principles, he is--and this is what I like in him above all--he is penetrated through and through with a sentiment of honesty which greatly pleased me, and which should be useful to M. Thiers throughout the remainder of his career. This fine speech did not require the tedious reply of M. Viennet to bring out its excellence; no one listened to him, and he only succeeded in drawing attention to the fact that the hour was very late and that it was dreadfully hot.

It is said that during M. Thiers' speech M. de Broglie was making merry jests. M. Guizot was cross, and not very well satisfied, I think, to see his rival make a double success--political and literary--in the same week.

_Paris, December 16, 1834._--Yesterday I paid several calls, and found Madame de Castellane in. She had missed me when she came to see me. She insisted on my hearing her history during the past twelve years; and she tells it so well that I thought she must have had some practice in pouring it into the ears of others than myself in these cooing tones. She has lost all her youth, and is a large, short, squat person. Except for her smile, she is no longer the same person that I once knew--physically, that is. Morally, I thought she had made up her mind to be grave, rather than that she had become serious. She is witty and caressing as ever, and she talked a great deal; I very little. My heart was full of many old memories; and though she was kind I could not recover my old confidence in her. However, I received all she said well, and I am not sorry to be on good terms with her again.

_Paris, December 17, 1834._--Yesterday I allowed myself to be persuaded to go with her to the Court of Peers. We sat, not in a conspicuous box, but in that of the Duchesse Decazes, which is in a retired position, and from which one can see and hear without being seen. I had never been there, the sittings not having been public till 1830. The proceedings of yesterday had been very much advertised and excited general curiosity, so the House was full.

Whenever one comes to Paris one is always sure of finding some scandalous drama in progress for the amusement of the public. Yesterday it was the case against Armand Carrel of the _National_.

M. Carrel did not at all correspond to my expectations. No doubt he was impertinent, but not with that kind of bold and energetic insolence, that verve and talent which impress you even while you are offended with the man himself. The effect of the speech he had written was very feeble, and he made an impression which was positively painful when he tried to speak extempore. It was General Exelmans who vociferated about the _assassination_ of Marshal Ney, and scandalised every one. His manner was that of a drunken man, and was all the more ridiculous as no one could help remembering the platitudes he used to utter during the Restoration; which, I understand, were very cruelly cast up against him last night at the Minister of Marine's party. In the morning in the House of Peers he was supported only by M. de Flahaut, who was in a great state of excitement, and whose behaviour was most improper.

He disgusted everybody by his cries of "Go on! Go on!" addressed to Carrel when the President wished to bring him to an end. It was this encouragement which made Carrel resist M. Pasquier and argue that he had no right to stop him when a member of the Chamber and, in fact, one of his judges, pressed him to continue.

On this occasion I learned from every one that M. de Flahaut was universally detested for his arrogance, ill-temper, acrimony, and ignorance. He will soon become as unpopular as his wife.

M. Pasquier presided with firmness, moderation, dignity, and coolness. I confess, however, that I agree with those who would have preferred him to stop M. Carrel when he spoke of "the young men who had fought gloriously in the troubles of last April," and not when he referred to the case of Marshal Ney. The first question dealt with--material interests--would have found more sympathy both inside and outside the House.

We had a dinner yesterday--a dozen people, my daughter Pauline being the twelfth. It is not a bad thing that she should learn to listen to serious conversation without being bored. She has a good manner in society, where her open countenance and kindly manners seem to please. After dinner people came to pay visits just as if we were Ministers. The fact is that it was Thursday, the reception day at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Marine, and I suppose that people took us on the way going or coming.

_Paris, December 19, 1834._--M. le Duc d'Orléans is returned from Brussels; he came to see me yesterday, and invited me to a ball he is giving on the 29th. He stayed only a moment, when he was sent for by the King; the reason for which I learned later.

M. Guizot was the next visitor. He seemed less at his ease than usual, and tried to compose himself by prosing about England, France, and all sorts of things, but he must have found me a very unworthy listener. As a matter of fact, I listened without enthusiasm, for he was extremely tedious, and soon departed.

Madame de Castellane then came, quite out of breath, from M. Molé, in order that I might warn M. de Talleyrand of what was going on. M. le Duc d'Orléans, carried away by the deplorable Flahaut influence, proposed at the opening of the sitting of the House of Peers to-day and the reading of the minutes of last meeting, to protest along with his group against the _assassination_ of Marshal Ney, and to demand the revision of the case. Fortunately, M. Decazes was warned, and went and told M. Pasquier. He rushed to M. Molé, who is one of the twenty-three survivors of the peers who tried the Marshal. There was a great and well-justified tumult in the camp. They went to Thiers, who hastened to the King, who knew nothing of the affair, and was very angry. He sent after his son everywhere, and after a very lively scene he forbade him to do anything. His great argument was as follows: "If you demand that Marshal Ney's case shall be re-opened, what will you say to any Carlist peer who comes (as some one very well may) and asks that the verdict against Louis XVI.--which was assassination if you like!--shall be reversed?" I heard the last part of the affair from M. Thiers, who came to see M. de Talleyrand quite at the end of the morning. Bertin de Veaux, who had got wind of the thing, also arrived quite out of breath.

Finally, the King's good sense prevailed and put a stop to this nice business. But that it should ever have entered any one's head to propose such a thing is one of the extraordinary features of this age!

_Paris, December 20, 1834._--Yesterday I got a letter from London, dated the 18th, and took it at once to M. de Talleyrand. I read him a passage about the terror caused by the suggestion that M. de Broglie might be sent as Ambassador to England, and the necessity of nominating M. de Talleyrand's successor. He quite saw the point, and at once wrote that he wished to see the King. At this very moment M. de Rigny arrived, bringing him another private letter to see. M. de Talleyrand has been urging the choice of Rayneval, which, I think, has not pleased M. de Rigny, if I may judge by what he said to me at dinner: "There is a very strong reason for not sending M. de Rayneval to London, but that is the secret of the Minister of Foreign Affairs; if it was the Admiral's secret I would tell you." I did not insist.

I know that at five o'clock it was arranged with the King that Rigny should write a letter, confidential but producible, to London, in which he should say that the King would choose Molé, Sainte-Aulaire, or Rayneval, and that they would be glad to know which of the three would be most agreeable to the Duke of Wellington. I went so far as to say to M. de Talleyrand that this seemed to me a very maladroit proceeding, as if the Duke chooses Rayneval it will be very difficult not to appoint him, and if he wants Molé, Molé will refuse, and they will, in fact, have to take Sainte-Aulaire, who is not wanted either by the King or by the Council, or by the Duke. How badly everything is directed and managed here! There is no common sense or simplicity, or elevation of mind anywhere, and yet they pretend to govern not only thirty-two millions of subjects, but also all Europe!

_Paris, December 21, 1834._--I heard the following facts on excellent authority: (1) They don't want to send Rayneval to London as ambassador; (2) it is Broglie's doctrinaire group who are opposing it; (3) London was yesterday offered formally and officially to Molé, who formally and officially declined it; (4) this morning they had got to Sébastiani but nothing was settled.

_Paris, December 24, 1834._--Sébastiani was being talked of yesterday as if his appointment would be in the _Moniteur_ of to-morrow, but the more public his name is made the greater clamour it excites. M. de Rigny is dying to resign his Ministry and ask for the London Embassy, but they are afraid that the machine might go to pieces under the difficulties caused by the resignation of an important member of the Cabinet. It seems that it is the condition of Rayneval's financial affairs which prevents his being appointed. He is said to be over head and ears in debt and almost bankrupt.

_Paris, December 28, 1834._--I heard through M. Molé that M. de Broglie had an astonishing influence on the present Ministry, which was unsuspected by the King, that M. Decazes used to go every morning and tell him all that went on; that M. de Rigny and M. Guizot allowed themselves to be much influenced by him, and that no choice was made without being previously submitted to him.

Will it be believed that in the _Journal des Débats_ they translate all Sir Robert Peel's speech and leave out--what? The complimentary passage about the Duke of Wellington which certainly contained nothing offensive to France. And this when the Duke is Foreign Secretary, and is extremely well disposed to France, and when the _Débats_ is reputed the semi-official organ of the Government. Truly people here are extraordinarily maladroit in spite of the French wit!

_Paris, December 29, 1834._--Poor little Madame de Chalais died last night. She was such a happy person; with that good and regular happiness which it is given only to some women to experience. Life forsakes those who are weary of their pilgrimage all too slowly; it always goes too quickly from those who are enjoying the journey. In whatever way one importunes Providence, whether one fatigues one's self with prayers or allows one's wishes to be divined in discreet silence, the answer is almost always no, and the sentence usually irrevocable.

What grief at Saint-Aignan! There she was the darling of all the inhabitants. I seem to hear the cries of all these old servants whom I know and for whom she represented the third generation they had served. The poor, the sick, the well-to-do--all idolised her. She was so helpful, so kindly, and so gracious! It is more than a death; it is the destruction of a young happiness and of an ancient and illustrious race. I am profoundly shaken by it.

_Paris, December 31, 1834._--Yesterday morning I had a good long visit from M. Royer-Collard. He told me the whole history of his professorship, and gave me a glimpse of his system of philosophy; then he talked a great deal about Port Royal. The hours he gives me are really precious, but too rare and too short for all that there is to learn from a mind like his.

Madame de Castellane came afterwards; if I were to allow it for an instant she would constitute herself my sick nurse! She told me that M. Molé was writing his Memoirs, and that there were already five volumes.

Then came M. le Duc d'Orléans; he told me a great deal about his Ball of the night before, of which the following, among the rest, remains with me. The greatest elegance was blended with the utmost originality. The company was brilliant, the supper superb; there were flowers, artistically grouped statues, lights enough to blind you, white and gold everywhere, new liveries, grooms-of-the-chambers in full dress with swords by their sides, clad in velvet and powdered. The women were covered with diamonds; the Queen was charmed and Madame Adélaïde jealous, saying, "This is pure Louis Quinze." All the men were in uniform, but in boots and trousers, while M. le Duc de Nemours, who wore the coat of a general officer covered with gold lace, and came in short breeches, stockings, and shoes, was voted by every one extremely distinguished and good-looking. M. le Duc d'Orléans asked me whether I did not prefer boots and trousers for a soldier, and I replied, "The Emperor Napoleon, who gained a few battles, when he dined alone with the Empress wore silk stockings and buckled shoes every evening."--"Really?"--"Yes, Monseigneur."--"Ah, that is different." Here is the reverse of the medal. The Deputies invited (invited I mean as Deputies only, for there were others who were asked as Ministers and Generals), of whom there were only: MM. Odillon Barrot, Bignon, and Etienne, came in ordinary evening dress in order to be more conspicuous.

The Prince Royal is full of singular contrasts. There are, for instance, his aristocratic tastes and pretensions, and his detestable politics. Yesterday we had a crow to pluck for the first time on the subject of the Duke of Wellington. "How like the King you are," said the Prince. "My father knows you are always talking to me on his side, and so he likes you very much."--"Monseigneur, I never talk except on my own side and on the side of your interests: but all the same I am very proud of the approbation of the King." It all ended very kindly, for he asked leave to add his portrait to those which I have collected at Rochecotte.

Here, then, I end this year 1834, memorable in my life because it closes the English period. The four years which I have just passed in that country have placed me in a new frame, given me a new point of departure, and directed me towards a new series of ideas. They have modified the view taken of me by the world. What I owe to England will, I hope, never leave me, and will remain with me till the end of my life. Now let us lay up a provision of strength for the evil days, which probably will not fail to come, and for which it is well to be prepared.