crisis; the ministry of M. de Polignac had just been formed. Under a
merely political point of view, this was an advantage for Austria,
for the Russian system had been abandoned, and they had entered into
all the English ideas concerning the Eastern question; still a mind
possessed of so much penetration could not fail to entertain great
anxiety while watching so earnest a struggle between the political
powers in a country like France, which had been accustomed to give an
impulse to the rest of Europe. It is said that Metternich advised a
_coup-d'état_: does this idea evince an acquaintance with the spirit
of moderation and the capacity of the prime minister of Austria? A
_coup-d'état_ is too decided and too noisy a step ever to enter into
the mind of Prince Metternich: when a difficult situation occurs, he
does not attack it in front--he turns it; and, when he shews himself
very determined in a strong and firm resolution, it is because people's
minds are already made up, and there is no longer any risk in having
recourse to it. The Chancellor of the Empire was too well aware of
the folly of M. de Polignac, and of the want of firmness of Charles
X., to be ignorant that they were incapable of conducting a perilous
undertaking to a prosperous termination. In the Foreign Office there
is a despatch on this subject from M. de Rayneval, then ambassador at
Vienna, who details one of his conversations with Prince Metternich,
precisely upon these _coups-d'état_; it was much the subject of
conversation at Vienna, and the uneasiness entertained concerning the
system followed by M. de Polignac is revealed in more than one despatch
addressed to M. d'Appony, the Austrian ambassador at Paris.
Then broke out the revolution of July, an event of prodigious
importance. Europe had never been in so much danger; for what were the
ideas that led to the eruption? Was it not the spirit of the secret
societies?--republicanism again triumphant in France, the country
which, for the last forty years, had been accustomed to give the
general impulse to continental Europe? The Propaganda principles had
for their leader that old and obstinate spirit, General Lafayette, who
again went to make an appeal to the independence of the people, as he
had done in 1792. A few Frenchmen, and the tricoloured flag displayed
every where, might have caused a general conflagration. What was to
be done? A young, ardent, and inexperienced minister would, perhaps,
have engaged in a war; what a happiness it was for the friends of peace
that Prussia was governed by a wise king, whose mind was rendered
moderate by age, and Austria by a minister who had witnessed so many
storms without being frightened by them! One of the principal traits of
Metternich's character is his perfect freedom from prejudice, either
against or in favour of persons or events, so that he forms a judgment
of them all with a degree of superiority. He therefore awaited the
event of the revolution in a posture of defence; Austria merely held
herself in readiness, and military precautions, combined with the
renewal of political alliances, enabled her to oppose a barrier to all
the invasions of a revolutionary spirit. This moderation was carried
so far, that, as soon as a regular government was established in
France, Metternich hastened to recognise it, without expressing either
dislike or predilection, solely upon the principle that a regular
government is always a protection to order and public peace. Since this
time, Metternich has appeared to follow three rules of conduct, which
govern the whole tenour of his political life. First, to enter into
a close alliance with Russia and Austria for the suppression of all
disturbances in Europe, and, consequently, to renew all the military
contracts entered into at Chaumont in 1814, and Vienna in 1815;
secondly, to combat the spirit of Propaganda, under whatever form it
may appear; and this was a very laborious task, for the revolution of
July had not only dispersed mischievous principles in Europe, but its
money, its emissaries, its flag, and its hopes, had been circulated
in every direction; and, thirdly, the Propaganda spirit having been
every where diffused, Metternich had felt the necessity of augmenting
both the military forces of Austria, and also her vigorous police
establishment. The executive government has every where become more
severe, because it was exposed to more danger. Liberty has sometimes
been confounded with a revolutionary spirit in the system of strict
repression that has been adopted; and it was unavoidable, perhaps,
even necessary, in the complete overthrow of every thing that had been
contemplated.
The empire of Austria is composed of so many different nations,
that political unity would be as impossible in that empire as in the
Russian, which extends over the half of two hemispheres. All that
can be looked for is liberty in their local constitutions, and in
establishments quite in accordance with the spirit of the States,
and more especially with their situation with regard to the Austrian
government. The most prejudiced people agree that no country can be
more peaceably governed than the hereditary states; the other provinces
which have been successively attached to it require more active
precautions and a more watchful police; but civil liberty, which is,
indeed, the first of all, is even there complete and entire. Let us not
exaggerate; I do not propose the Austrian government as a model--I am
too great an admirer of liberty and of the institutions of my country
not to remain deeply attached to them, but I also give their due to
the manners and customs of the people; and we well know that there are
some countries that require to be governed, because they are utterly
incapable of governing themselves. When travelling in Italy, I have
often asked myself whether all these nations, indolently at variance
with each other, who possess more genius than national vigour, more
liveliness and intelligence than strength and reason, could ever aspire
to a laborious liberty under the dominion of the greatly extolled
Unity, which must have been obtained sword in hand--in fact, if this
rich and lovely Italy, like a charming coquette, was not under the
necessity of submitting to the rule of some one, because she has not
sufficient energy to master either her love or her hatred.
The administration of Prince Metternich appears to be deeply imbued
with this sentiment, which has been severely put to the proof by him,
that if civil liberty is necessary to all, political liberty is only
desirable for a few, so far as it does not affect the character and
the safety of government. Protection should be granted to talent, but
it ought to be serious talent, which will not evaporate in pamphlets;
improvement, no doubt, is desirable, but it should take place without
turbulence. The house of Austria has a great dread of noise, she is
afraid of being talked of; never striving after _éclat_ or clamorous
liberty, she resembles those German professors who amass a store of
erudition and science in some dusty corner of the university, and who
only publish a few scarce copies of their works for the use of the
learned.
The private life of Prince Metternich has been repeatedly visited
with domestic affliction. Mourning has darkened his dwelling, and the
distractions of the busy world have not always been able to mitigate
his grief. In private society his manners are affable, and he enjoys
the repose of home after the fatigues of his vast ministerial duties.
A clever writer has observed that he spends great part of his time
in conversation; it is a propensity indulged in by men who have seen
every thing--they take pleasure in _talking history_ in their fireside
conversations, which are carefully preserved by their auditors. And
who has not listened with delight to M. Talleyrand, when he used to
give vent to his recollections? Prince Metternich has written long and
curious memoirs, full of justificatory notes, for he considers himself
at the bar of posterity. His work is a great one, and, as I said at the
commencement of this sketch, all the glory and all the responsibility
of it will rest with him. When we look back upon what Austria was
after the peace of Presburg, and that we contemplate her now, greater
than she had ever been, with her public credit, her ascendancy among
the European states, the peace and the government of her provinces,
her civil and military organisation, and then consider that all this
is the work of _one_ minister, who has governed the empire for the
last thirty years, we may easily form an idea of some of the judgments
of posterity. We are ourselves surrounded by ruins, both of men and
things; government, administration, ministry, every thing, has fallen
to pieces, and when, from the midst of the wreck the revolutions have
brought upon us, we turn our eyes upon a countenance which has remained
unmoved among all the ravages of time, it appears as if it did not
belong to the present period; we look back upon Richelieu, upon those
ministers who laid down a system, and then carried it onward to its
completion.
Prince Metternich has reached an advanced age, yet he preserves all
his faculties perfectly, with a ready wit that is admirable, and a
freshness of recollection, which turns with extreme pleasure to the
time of the French Empire and his embassy to Paris during the reign of
Napoleon. We have all some favourite period of our lives, and we love
particularly to dwell upon the days of our youth, before the illusions
which charmed us had entirely faded away. He always speaks with great
respect of the Emperor Napoleon, whose noble countenance exercised an
unspeakable influence over his future life. Wherever that great genius
passed, it left an indelible impression; and it was by the desire of
Metternich that the remains of the Duke de Reichstadt were placed
beside those of Maria Theresa and Francis II. in the vault of the
Capuchin Church. It is a fine idea of the emperors of Austria to choose
their last abode in the church of the most lowly of religious orders,
to humble their greatness before the poorest brethren of the Christian
church. The Capuchins have every thing in common, among them there is
no property, no distinction between mine and thine. Babœuf was only
a plagiary from them without the moral idea of heaven, which purifies
and sanctifies every thing.
The house of Austria is accustomed to be governed by old ministers,
and its traditionary spirit takes pleasure in it. In politics it is
often better to do well than to do a great deal, to act after due
deliberation than to act hastily, and then return to deliberate. Prince
Metternich is not an enemy to any form of government that has order
for its basis; and this offers an explanation of his conduct since
the revolution. When the Propaganda was heard every where, he decided
strongly in favour of war, and his expression to the French ambassador
at Vienna is well known: "If we must perish, it is just as well to die
of apoplexy as to be suffocated with a slow fire; we will declare for
war."
The wisdom of the French government, its salutary repression of
every Propaganda spirit, maintained peace. Since that period the
Austrian minister, in all questions of any importance, has preserved
the position of an armed mediator, with the invariable desire of
preserving peace, and what he terms the European _status quo_. He does
not consider the present time requires agitation, war, or conquest.
According to him, it is a season of organisation, and, by the position
he gives to his monarchy, he holds the balance even, so as to prevent
any conflict between the north and south of Europe. He said to me
wittily one day: "I am, to a certain degree, the confessor of all the
cabinets; I give absolution to those who have committed the fewest
sins, and I thus maintain peace in their souls."
In this situation it is easier for Metternich to employ himself
in particular improvements. Austria is in a remarkable state of
prosperity; we ought to be proud of our France, and it undoubtedly is
a fine country, but, with our national pride, we form singular ideas
upon the state of other people; and yet, among them also, we may every
where observe signs of very forward civilisation, commerce, industry,
railroads, with pleasing and kind hospitality, all are to be met with
in the Austrian states; without speaking of the intellectual movement
more sober, and as far advanced as in our country of little romances,
novels, theatrical, and literary critiques.
Men who like to bring circumstances together have sometimes instituted
a comparison between Prince Metternich and Prince Kaunitz, who was so
long at the head of the Austrian government. Although these parallels
are always rather arbitrary, and that the different shades in the human
character are innumerable, we may safely affirm in this instance,
that there never existed two minds more completely opposed to each
other; the only point of resemblance consists in the duration of their
administration. Prince Kaunitz, altogether weakened by the ideas of the
eighteenth century, allowed the Austrian empire to degenerate into a
state of supineness and indolence. Prince Metternich, on the contrary,
has reconstructed and consolidated this monarchy; he has retained
nothing of Prince Kaunitz's system, except its extreme moderation, and
the traditions of _status quo_, adopted after the great reign of Maria
Theresa. After Metternich, will Austria follow a different system? Will
the statesman that appears likely to succeed him adopt a less prudent
and more advanced plan? We do not believe it. It is in Austria with
the ministers as with the heirs of the throne in England; before their
accession they aim at popularity, and, when once at the head of the
government, they continue the proceedings of the former reign, because
reason and experience are of some value, and that the magnificent
part of Austria is to place itself as an idea of pacification between
empires which would strike against each other with too much violence.
M. DE TALLEYRAND.[7]
[7] M. de Talleyrand, who had naturally an inclination in favour of
ancient honours, preferred his title of duke of the old monarchy to
his principality; for the title of prince, unless in connexion with
the Blood Royal, was considered as of foreign extraction, and not to
possess any aristocratic importance.
One of the torments of a statesman who has played a great part in
politics is to see his conduct subjected to the judgment of ignoble
minds and the discussions of people incapable of forming a just
estimate of it. How much has been written concerning M. de Talleyrand!
how many _bons mots_, and how many rude sayings have been attributed to
him! His biography has been made a sort of _Ana_, for the amusement of
idle people; he has been represented as a kind of facetious personage,
almost a mountebank, abounding in all the little wit of society, and of
provincial towns. Few men have pierced through the mysteries of that
long existence; still fewer have read in the wrinkles of this old man,
and in his eyes, still sparkling under his slightly contracted brows,
the secret thoughts, the powerful motives that swayed his life, which
was one of unity and system.
If you have ever travelled in the southern part of France, you must
have lingered in the Périgord, the province which still comprehends
the best and the most numerous nobility of very ancient descent in the
whole kingdom. There you will on every side meet with memorials of the
Bosons and the Talleyrands, the sovereign princes of the province of
Quercy: the keepers of the old records will recount to you the exploits
of the Bosons of Périgord, under the Wolf dukes during the Carlovingian
dynasty, who received this name from their wild exploits in the
forests. The families of Talleyrand and Montesquiou-Fezensac disputed
with each other the precedence over all the southern nobility. M. de
Talleyrand sprang from the younger branch of the Grignols, who were
of the stock of André de Talleyrand, Comte de Grignols, the youngest
branch of the Périgord family; the eldest branch became extinct upon
the death of Marie Francoise, Princess of Chalais, and Marchioness of
Exideuil.[8]
[8] The arms of M. de Talleyrand were, Gules, three lions, or, langued,
armed, and crowned azure, prince's coronet on the shield, ducal crown
on the mantle. Device, _Re que Diou_ (Nothing but God above us).
I have been particular in dwelling upon the high nobility of his
origin, because it greatly assisted his position in diplomatic affairs.
Noble birth, however people may declaim against it, facilitates
negotiations with European powers. Be it a weakness, be it a habit,
when a man takes his place as a titled nobleman, among so many
foreigners of illustrious birth, it is an advantage to his position; he
treats on a footing of equality, he obtains more because he is among
his peers, misfortune does not upset him, because he preserves his name
in spite of every thing; he cannot be degraded, for revolutions no more
deprive him of the nobility of his race, than the royal confiscations
that formerly took place could destroy the old family coat-of-arms.
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was born at Paris in the year
1754; his maternal grandmother was the clever and witty Princess
des Ursins, that eminent person who directed the councils of Philip
V. of Spain, as her friend Madame de Maintenon governed the mind of
Louis XIV. M. de Talleyrand, being the youngest of the family, was
intended for holy orders, according to the custom of the nobility,
who devoted themselves to the profession of arms, to the church,
or the manor; an active life was necessary to men of family. There
had always been a high prelate of the house of Talleyrand, and this
ecclesiastical dignity was intended for the young Abbé of Périgord,
who was accordingly sent at the age of fourteen to the seminary of
Saint-Sulpice. One ought to have heard Talleyrand himself, in his hours
of gaiety and unreserve, recount the pranks and first love-affair of
the young abbé; his scaling the walls, his visits to the roof of the
house,--all of them things little suitable to the serious profession
for which he was intended by his family. I think that in reading his
Memoirs in the year 1827-28, at which time he was out of favour, he
made some concessions to the little philosophers of the eighteenth
century, who surrounded him under the Restoration.
His ecclesiastical studies were limited; he occupied himself but little
with theology, but already very much with business. The situation of
general agent for the clergy was given him by the custom of his family,
which was a very lucrative appointment, for he might be considered
as the _chargé d'affaires_ of that great body, and he exhibited
great method and remarkable judgment in the skilful application of
the revenues of the church, which amounted to above one hundred and
thirty-six millions of livres. The clergy met in a chapter every year,
and the Abbé de Talleyrand gave an account of their revenues, of the
steps he had taken, and the duties he had performed with regard to the
court; his reports are remarkably exact, with a clearness of style that
is very uncommon.
At the age of five-and-thirty, after having attained the majority
required by the Church, he was raised to the bishopric of Autun,--a
fine appointment, which would afterwards lead to the archbishopric of
Rheims and a cardinal's hat. The revenue of the see amounted to 60,000
francs, a magnificent situation for a young bishop, but such was the
custom of the nobility; nevertheless, the bent of his inclinations
led him to belong to the philosophical society, and the followers of
the English school, which began to appear upon the horizon in 1789;
among these were Mirabeau, Cabanis, Lally-Tollendal, and Mounier, in
fact all the men who were dreaming of a reform in France. People said
wittily that M. de Talleyrand, bishop of Autun, with his prebend and
his bishopric, looked upon himself as an abuse. At this time people
were animated with a glorious passion for suppressing themselves;
and when one recollects that the proposal to abolish the titles of
nobility was made by De Montmorency, De Montesquiou, La Rochefoucauld,
De Talleyrand, and Clermont-Tonnerre, those illustrious elders of the
French nobility, one must honestly confess that an incomprehensible
spirit of vertigo had taken possession of the French society. There
was in this something so insane, so eccentric, that I imagine the
ancient nobility must have been led by an interested motive towards the
suppression of titles: during the last three centuries so many patents
of nobility had been conferred, that the really illustrious families
were no longer distinguished: there were too many titled plebeians.
Now, if all titles were abolished by a decree, all this nobility of
a modern date would be entirely suppressed, for it depended solely
upon royal grants and letters patent written according to the caprice
of the sovereign; whilst those who bore a historical name, as the
Rochefoucaulds, the Montmorencys, and the Montesquious, had no need of
deeds to prove their genealogy; it was part of the soil.
The Abbé de Talleyrand was in possession of his rich bishopric of Autun
when the States-General were convened, and he was appointed deputy of
the clergy of his diocese to the Constituent Assembly, so remarkable
from its adventurous spirit, the boldness of its conceptions, and its
total want of connexion, and absence of all kind of unity or method,
either moral or political. The Constituent Assembly was a great chaos,
where the opinions of men of talent clashed with each other, where all
sorts of extravagances were proposed in the executive government, and
all the ideas most fitted to overturn the monarchy and the society of
France were encouraged; Rousseau's social contract was applied to a
people already old in its customs and civilisation.
The Bishop of Autun shewed himself the most zealous protector of all
these innovations; he proposed the abolition of titles, and vehemently
advocated the civil constitution of the clergy; he also introduced into
the public system of education all the ideas of false and mischievous
philosophy which the eighteenth century had diffused in human minds.
Along with the Marquis of Condorcet, and Cabanis, he was one of the
adepts, and of the friends of Mirabeau, whom that statesman and popular
orator used to employ for the furtherance of the interests of his
intellectual dictatorship. They were accustomed to meet in the evening
at Mirabeau's house, to prepare the projects which would resound the
next day from the tribune of the assembly. Without being very well
educated, the Bishop of Autun was gifted with an extremely fluent
style, and a mode of expression remarkable for its clearness, and its
elegant precision: the ancient high nobility certainly always possessed
great natural talents; they had but little information, and yet they
were eminently gifted with the power of expressing what they wished to
say.
The solemn festival of the confederation took place at this
period, a singular proceeding of which the spirit has been greatly
misrepresented: it was theatrical, for such is always necessary in
France. In the Champ de Mars an altar was erected, surmounted by
tricoloured flags, upon a scaffolding fifty feet high, ornamented with
ribands, also of the national colours. Then came M. de Lafayette,
at that time a very handsome man, with his courteous and somewhat
hypocritical countenance beaming with smiles, mounted upon his
snow-white, slender, prancing steed, and wearing the uniform of the
National Guard with long skirts and a three-cornered hat on his head,
as it was the fashion at the time of the American War. He was then
trying on his royal dignity. Around him crowded the deputations from
the Departments with their flags; there were many drunken people, as it
was natural there should be, and others tired with having wheeled earth
from the Champ de Mars; and there was a plentiful exchange of kisses
and embraces, according to the system so approved by Lamourette. At the
foot of the altar of which I have spoken appeared M. de Talleyrand,
bishop of Autun, dressed in his pontifical habits, his mitre on his
head, a crosier in his hand, and with manners as elegant, as much
refinement, and as studiously dignified a demeanour, as he afterwards
discovered when carrying his crutch stick into the assembly of the
corps diplomatique: kneeling beside him was the Abbé Louis (afterwards
Minister of Finance) one of the curates, in his alb and surplice.