Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1836-1840
her kind, I think her quite anxious to please, but, like her mother,
she has a vulgar intonation and trivial expressions to which I cannot
get accustomed. It was a dull and heavy evening, in spite of the
enthusiasm of M. Thiers for Italy. He seems to be greatly struck by
the beauty of Valençay, and I think they are all very glad to be here.
Fortunately the weather is fine; I have never prayed for sunshine so
earnestly.
_Valençay, October 11, 1837._--Madame Thiers was very tired yesterday;
she went upstairs after lunch and did not reappear until dinner-time.
She would not go for a drive, and her mother kept her company. We took
the husband out with us, and he was in excellent spirits, with no
bitterness or hostility. He wishes to go from here to Lille without
crossing Paris, where he only wishes to arrive just in time for the
Chambers; he was also very sarcastic about the repeated proposals that
have been made to him for the greatest embassies.
_Valençay, October 12, 1837._--M. de Talleyrand yesterday took M.
Thiers to see M. Royer-Collard. They returned both well pleased with
their walk, whence I infer that they left their host equally pleased.
I have no great trouble with the ladies. The young wife appears for
meals, lolls in a drawing-room armchair for half an hour after lunch
and for an hour after dinner, then goes up to her room; she will not
drive, and only wishes to be left alone. Her mother is with her a
great deal, and her husband most attentive. The young wife governs
them all, but like a spoilt and capricious child, and I think that the
poor husband finds the path of marriage a somewhat thorny one.
_Valençay, October 13, 1837._--The Duchesse de Saint-Leu is dead. What
will become of her son? Will he be left upon our frontier?
Madame Murat continues to remain at Paris. General Macdonald,[80] who
was thought to be her husband, and who was greatly devoted to her in
any case, has died at Florence. To the universal surprise, this event
has not so far saddened her as to prevent her from going to the
theatre, nor does she show any of the grief that might have been
expected.
[80] Francis Macdonald had been appointed Minister of War at
Naples by King Murat in 1814.
Here people talk of nothing but the approaching elections; they seem
to be still very uncertain and to defy all calculations. I have always
noticed this to be the case at every dissolution of the Chamber. The
instructions of the Ministry are very capricious; on the whole the
Doctrinaires and progressive parties are to be proscribed, but with so
many exceptions here and there that unusual points of contact are
created. M. Thiers is quite calm, in excellent political spirits; he
talks a great deal of his forty years and of the frost of age;
however, I would not trust to that, and if he were provoked he would
be quite capable of entering the fray most vigorously. He has quite
abandoned his ideas of Spanish intervention, not as regards the past,
but for the present moment. I have never seen him so wise and
self-controlled--a condition only to be attained by those whose
inclinations are definite, and who have enough self-satisfaction not
to be ambitious for power. His wife unbends a little; she danced
yesterday evening in excellent spirits.
_Valençay, October 15, 1837._--The whole of the Thiers family went
away yesterday. Although the mother has been anxious to please, the
young wife amiable in her manner, and her husband witty, animated, and
tractable, as usual, I am not sorry to see them go.
_Valençay, October 22, 1837._--We are to have a second theatrical
performance. I rehearsed my part yesterday with M. de Valençay while
the rest of the company were out driving.
I have a very carefully written letter from Madame Dosne, from which
the following is an interesting passage: "Since our arrival the house
has been stormed by friends, inquirers, and interested people, who
wish to learn the attitude of M. Thiers. He has seen M. Molé and M. de
Montalivet, who are struggling for his friendship, and has been
effusively received by the royal family. You know better than any one,
madame, to whom he owes that. In short, his move to Paris has been
quite politic and successful. He is ready to defend the Ministry as
long as it lasts and to help it as long as he can, if they will
support his view with regard to the elections. To-morrow we shall
start for Lille, where we shall stay as long as my daughter wishes."
_Valençay, October 26, 1837._--Madame de Lieven writes to say that her
husband has sent his son Alexander to her to carry her off dead or
alive, but she has refused to stir, and that the son has gone back
again provided with all possible certificates from the doctors of the
Embassy stating the impossibility of moving her. She is loud in the
praises of Comte Pahlen and of my cousin Paul Medem. It seems that the
Autocrat told M. de Lieven that he would crush the Princess if she
persisted in remaining in France. I think she has some private means
which no one can touch, and which help her to hold out. Before long it
will become a regular drama.
I have a long letter from the Duc d'Orléans, in which he tells me that
his sister, the Duchess of Würtemberg, did not go immediately to
Stuttgart on leaving Paris, but went first to Coburg, and will not go
to Würtemberg till later. The Duc d'Orléans gives me excellent
accounts of his wife, and seems to regard her as a perfect friend,
which is the best certificate a woman can have from her husband, and a
guarantee of the most desirable future for her.
_Valençay, November 2, 1837._--I shall start presently to dine and
sleep at Beauregard. To-morrow I shall pass through Tours, and reach
my house at Rochecotte in time for dinner.
I have a kind letter from M. Guizot, who tells me that the new Chamber
will be like the last, and that if there is a difference it will be to
the advantage of his own views.
M. Thiers writes from Lille saying that the general electioneering cry
is "Down with the Doctrinaires!" and that he is asked by five
different departments to become a candidate, but that he will remain
faithful to Aix. Finally, M. Royer-Collard writes from Paris saying
that M. Molé has been tricked in the elections; that it does not,
however, follow that the elections will go in favour of the
Doctrinaires, but that they will not lack Ministerial support. Of
these three versions which is the most credible? I am inclined to
accept the last.
_Rochecotte, November 4, 1837._--Since yesterday I have been in my own
home. As I passed through Tours in the morning I found the poor
Prefect grappling with the electoral fever.
The confusion of the instructions is incredible, continually modified
or contradicted as they are by intrigues at Paris, alternating between
the influence of Guizot or Thiers; consequently I think the result
will be very far removed from that which was proposed at the
dissolution of the Chamber. Fortunately the country is calm, for the
dissolution was decided upon, not for patriotic reasons, but simply
for personal interest, and miscalculation upon that ground is a matter
of indifference. At the same time it is foolish uselessly to stir up
an infinity of local passions which, though they do not rise to the
danger and violence of political strife, none the less injure public
spirit by dividing the country more and more into parties.
_Rochecotte, November 5, 1837._--The comedies which we acted at
Valençay brought some life into the great castle, of which there has
been a prodigious lack during June, July, and August. I admit, to my
shame, that for the first time in my life since I rested from the
fatigues of Fontainebleau and Versailles I have been very bored. The
illness which we have all suffered one after another brought anxiety
in place of boredom, and I am glad of some small diversion to bring me
out of the groove.
_Rochecotte, November 11, 1837._--A letter from Madame Adélaïde
reached me yesterday. She seems fairly pleased with the elections, and
would be more so were it not for the infamous alliance between the
Legitimists and Republicans, which has brought success to the latter
party in several places. I use her own expressions. She also says that
Princesse Marie is delighted with her husband and her journey, with
Germany and with the reception which has so far been given.
_Rochecotte, November 24, 1837._--I am sorry for the Grand Duchess
Stephanie on account of the wrongdoing or misfortune of her daughter,
the Princess Wasa.[81] I never liked her, and was struck by her bad
appearance when I saw her at Paris in 1827 with her mother; moreover,
her husband, whom I also know, is a very ordinary person, and by no
means the man to guide a young wife.
[81] Princess Louisa of Baden, the eldest daughter of the Grand
Duchess Stephanie of Baden, had married a Prince Wasa. Her
household was constantly disturbed by quarrels, which the Grand
Duchess was continually trying to heal, though for a long time
without success.
The Duchess of Massa speaks with delight in her letters of the
hospitality and the distinction at the Court of Coburg, and of the
happiness of the Princesse Marie. I also hear that the Duc d'Orléans
constantly talks of his domestic happiness, in which he is entirely
absorbed. He is to give an entertainment upon the return of his
brother, the Duc de Nemours, the victor of Constantine.
I am more and more delighted with the life of Bossuet by Cardinal
Bausset. How fortunate it is that I put off reading this book at a
time when the taste for reading had passed away, and is now revived by
this excellent work! I have ordered a fine engraving of Bossuet which
I wish to possess; it is absurd that he should not have his place here
with my other friends of the great century, Madame de Sévigné, Madame
de Maintenon, Cardinal de Retz, and Arnauld d'Andilly. Although I
admire every personage of that great age, I have my preferences. I
want a portrait of the Palatine to complete my collection.
_Rochecotte, November 30, 1837._--My sister, the Duchesse de Sagan,
writes to say that she will come here shortly; I do not know whether
she will carry out her plan this time--not that I am altogether
regretful if she should fail, for I am never entirely at my ease with
her. I was accustomed to be afraid of her in my youth, and am still
somewhat overawed; but as the matter has been announced and arranged,
it is better that she should come.
_Rochecotte, December 2, 1837._--Yesterday in the _Journal des Débats_
I read the great memorandum of the Prussian Government against the
Archbishop of Cologne.[82] We must suspend our judgment until we hear
his defence; but the fact remains that so strong a measure as to
arrest an archbishop and imprison him does not look well in the case
of a Protestant Sovereign when dealing with a Catholic prelate in a
Catholic country. It has too strong an appearance of persecution, even
if it be justified at bottom. I am very curious to know the end of
this affair; it seems to me of serious import.
[82] The Archbishop of Cologne and the Prussian Government
differed on the question of mixed marriages. The Archbishop
wished to appeal to the Pope, and the Government had him arrested
on November 28, 1837. He remained a prisoner for four years at
Minden, and never re-entered his diocese, where his coadjutor
took his place on his death in 1845. The Archbishop of Cologne,
Baron Droste de Vischering, was born in 1773.
M. de Montrond tells M. de Talleyrand that the whole family of Thiers
profess such a redoubled affection for us since their stay at Valençay
that we shall be regarded as responsible for the acts and deeds of M.
Thiers during the coming session. I have urged this upon M. de