Born, 1754; died, 1838.
To give a description of the life and work of this statesman would far
exceed the limits of this biographical supplement; but the following
few facts may interest the reader.
The eldest son of the Comte de Talleyrand, as he was lame and slightly
deformed he could not enter the army, he was therefore compelled by
his parents to take holy orders; he had no vocation whatever for the
priesthood. He received valuable ecclesiastical preferment, and in 1778
was ordained Bishop of Autun. He joined the revolutionary party, and
was a member of the National Assembly.
On July 14, 1790, it was he who celebrated the Mass of the Federation
in the Champs de Mars, and in December of the same year he took the
constitutional oath. He ordained several of the constitutional bishops,
and was in consequence excommunicated by the Holy See, who declared all
constitutional priests and bishops schismatics.
He was sent to England in February 1792 as an envoy by the French
Government, with the idea of reconciling the British Sovereign and
his Ministers to the revolutionary changes being then carried out
in France. He did not, however, inspire any confidence in either
George III. or Pitt, with whom he had several interviews. He returned
privately to London in December 1792, and three months later was
accused of conspiring against the Republic. He continued to remain
in England until the death of Louis XVI., when, finding his position
intolerable, owing to the indignation the death of the King excited
against all supposed revolutionaries, he departed to America, where
he remained until his sentence of banishment from France was revoked
in 1795. He did not arrive in France till the following year; he was
accompanied by the then notorious Mdme. Grand, with whom he cohabited
for a considerable time before he married her. She was the divorced
wife of a merchant at Calcutta, and had created a considerable scandal
in India owing to her intrigue with Sir Philip Francis, the enemy of
Warren Hastings, and reputed author of the _Junius Letters_.
Talleyrand reached Paris, March 1796.
In 1797, by the influence of Barras, and notwithstanding the opposition
of Carnot (who was probably the only sincere and disinterested member
of the Directorate), Talleyrand was appointed Minister of Foreign
Affairs. He took a considerable part in the _coup d’état_ of 18th
Fructidor (September 4, 1797), by which the Directorate re-established,
in the name of liberty, most of the tyrannical excesses of the
Convention. He had already discovered the extraordinary genius of
Bonaparte, and from that time until the fall of the Empire was more or
less attached to the fortunes of the then youthful hero.
It was Talleyrand who drew up the treaty of Campo-Formio (October 17,
1794), which Talleyrand and Bonaparte concluded in direct opposition to
the desires of the Directorate. Talleyrand first suggested to Bonaparte
the idea of an expedition to Egypt, in lieu of that invasion of England
which was then the favourite scheme of the French Government.
Bonaparte endeavoured to persuade Talleyrand to accompany him to
Egypt; but this he refused, and remained in Paris during the Egyptian
and Syrian campaigns, carrying out unchecked his ingenious and tortuous
foreign policy. He it was who brought about the occupation of the
Papal States by the French, and the imprisonment and capture of the
Pope (_see_ Pius VI.), and he also caused the destruction of the
Swiss Republic, on the ground that its government was not sufficiently
democratic. By diplomatic ruses and threatened violence he extorted an
act of abdication from Charles Emmanuel, King of Sardinia, December 9,
1798.
During this time Talleyrand was obtaining in various ways large sums
of money for his own private use, more particularly from the Kings of
Spain and Portugal, who by lavish bribes to the French Minister of
Foreign Affairs hoped to prevent the invasion of their kingdoms.
These circumstances, coupled with the fact that the French army met
with defeat after defeat, and, since the departure of Bonaparte, lost
all hold over Northern Italy, brought about a violent movement against
Talleyrand, who resigned his office as Minister of Foreign Affairs in
July 1799.
The return of Napoleon changed the situation, and on November 22
Talleyrand once more occupied his old post, which he held until 1807,
when, a month after the treaty of Tilsit, he gave up the seals of this
office to Champagny, Duke de Cadore. He was promoted to the dignity
of a Prince Electeur of the Empire; he had been created Prince of
Benevento, with a fief granted from the Papal States in the previous
year.
He continued to hold the key of office as Lord High Chamberlain until
1809, but his intimate relations with the Emperor ceased from the time
he abandoned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His astute nature had
already foreseen the inevitable fall of the Empire, and he secretly
used every effort to hasten this catastrophe. He continued to act,
nevertheless, as Napoleon’s emissary with foreign Powers; gave up his
château at Valençay as a State prison for the Spanish Princes; was
present at the interview between Napoleon and Alexander at Erfurt, and
in an audience with the Russian Emperor, explained to that sovereign
Napoleon’s project for a divorce, and asked him, in his master’s name,
for the hand of the Grand Duchess Catherine Paulovna, sister to the
Czar.
In 1813, when the troubles of the Empire had reached their zenith,
Talleyrand was summoned to St. Cloud, and offered the portfolio of
Foreign Affairs. He consented to take it on condition peace should
immediately be concluded. His advice was not accepted.
During the winter of 1814 he was in secret communication with the
Bourbons; had much to do with the conclusion of peace in the April of
that year, and entered as Foreign Minister into the first Cabinet of
Louis XVIII. May 12, 1814, he represented France at the Council of
Vienna.
On the return of Napoleon, Talleyrand during “the Hundred Days”
absolutely refused to listen to any offer from the Emperor. After the
Second Restoration he took up his old office in the Cabinet, but his
opposition to the return of the artistic treasures with which the
Republic and the Empire had enriched the Museums of Paris, and his
efforts to prevent any cession of French territory, diminished his
credit with the Czar and the English commander-in-chief, who were at
that time the rulers of France. By their influence he was compelled
to leave the Cabinet, Louis XVIII. creating him the same day Lord
Chamberlain with a salary of 100,000 francs (£4000).
During the whole of the Restoration, Talleyrand was excluded from
taking any leading part in public affairs.
After the Revolution of 1830, to which he had contributed not a
little, Talleyrand, who had had for a considerable period a private
understanding with Louis Philippe, became his principal political
auxiliary.
In September 1830, Prince Talleyrand was sent as Ambassador from the
King of the French to the Court of St. James’. He remained in London in
that capacity for four years, and notwithstanding his great age showed
himself an astute and admirable diplomatist. He received a warm welcome
in all the higher circles of English society.
In November 1834 he retired from political life; but his mind was
still fresh and vigorous, and his life during the next four years was
occupied by social amenities and intellectual pursuits. On March 3,
1838, having entered his eighty-fifth year, he gave an address to the
Academy of Science upon the death of the Comte Reinhard, a celebrated
diplomatist.
A few weeks later he was suddenly attacked by a painful internal
malady, and died on May 17, aged eighty-four years and three months.
Before his death he received the Sacraments, signing a letter in which
he regretted his abjurations and sins against religion; this letter was
despatched to Pope Gregory XVI.