Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1836-1840
_Paris, March 4, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand is very agitated and very
weak this morning. He made a great effort, and whatever his success, I
fear he will have to pay dearly for it. His success was beyond my
expectation; the accounts of some fifty people who besieged my room
after the session leave me no doubt upon that point. He had recovered
his vocal powers, read excellently well, walked about, seemed younger
and entirely himself, and two hours afterwards he was overthrown and
incapable of making an effort. I do not know what the newspapers will
have to say of the speech, but if anything can disarm them I think it
should be the fact that a man at such an age and with so full a past
should display such energy in delivering in public farewells so noble
and so full of justice and good teaching.[86]
[86] For the speech of M. de Talleyrand _see_ Appendix.
_Paris, March 5, 1838._--The day has gone off better than I expected
for M. de Talleyrand. The _Journal Général de France_, which is a
Doctrinaire organ, contained the best, cleverest, and pleasantest
article upon M. de Talleyrand's speech. Some ascribed it to M. Doudan,
others to M. Villemain. The article in the _Débats_ was kind, but
dull; that of the _Journal de Paris_ good; of the _Charte_ stupid and
badly written; the _Gazette de France_ fairly good; the _Siècle_ and
the _Presse_ insignificant; the _National_ of no account. Against my
custom, which has been not to open a single newspaper since my return
from the country, I read them all yesterday, and shall do the same
to-day; then I shall resume my state of ignorance.
_Paris, March 6, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand had a fainting fit yesterday
before dinner. I think it was due to the excessively rigorous methods
of his dieting and to the catarrh of his chest and stomach, which
takes away his appetite. The blister which will be placed upon him
will relieve him, I hope. Yesterday's newspapers were not equally
satisfactory concerning his speech, but he was not disturbed on that
account, for the intelligent and right-minded members of his audience
have been really pleased. The house is constantly full of people
coming to congratulate him. M. Royer-Collard said to me yesterday: "M.
de Talleyrand has solemnly disavowed the unpleasant incidents of his
life and publicly glorified the good and really useful parts of it."
_Paris, March 7, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand had no further attacks of
faintness yesterday, but he does not look well, and I think him much
changed. I hear that his brother, the Duc de Talleyrand, my
father-in-law, is also in a very poor state of health; the Vicomtesse
de Laval is feverish with a bad cold and she cannot sleep. This is
all very sad, and these omens of death depress me greatly.
_Paris, March 8, 1838._--M. de Talleyrand had a better day yesterday.
We take great care of him: when I came back from a dinner given to my
sister by the Stackelbergs, and from the Queen, to whom I went
afterwards, I found him surrounded by fair ladies and in pretty good
spirits.
In the morning I took Pauline to ask offerings from the Archbishop. My
sister wished to accompany us, so that I was unable to speak with M.
de Quélen.
The Flahaut party have lost all touch with the Pavillon Marsan, except
the good graces of the Prince Royal, which they seem to be
monopolising. At the Pavillon de Flore there is a general satisfaction
at their departure, notwithstanding many fine phrases. The Flahauts do
not understand the truth, and throw the blame upon a Doctrinaire
intrigue, to which the Duc de Coigny is said to have lent his help.
They are soon starting for England, where I think they will make a
pretty long stay.
_Paris, March 10, 1838._--The Abbé Dupanloup came to see me yesterday.
He then asked to see M. de Talleyrand, to thank him for the copy of
his speech which he had sent him. Pauline took him there. He stayed
alone for twenty minutes with M. de Talleyrand, who did not open the
subject directly, but let some kind words fall, and when the Abbé came
back to my room he seemed to feel some hope. In any case, he has shown
great discretion and perfect tact, and I think he is entirely right.
He was the first to suggest that he should take his leave, and was
told that he would gladly be seen again. This is all excellent,
provided we are given time. It is not so much a case of illness as of
general depression and an obvious alteration in his features; but with
such a mind one cannot be hasty. What a task it is, and how terrified
I should be of it if I did not tell myself that the most unworthy
instrument which God is pleased to choose can become more powerful
than the greatest saint, if God's providence is not pleased to make
use of him!
_Paris, March 11, 1838._--The English Ministry has triumphantly
survived the crisis which was thought likely to become its overthrow.
Will ours pass equally well through next week's crisis, the question
of the secret service funds? Many batteries have been laid in position
against it, and a silent agitation is proceeding on all sides. It is
said that either extremity of the Chamber will direct a converging
fire upon the Ministerial benches, I suppose with the object of
afterwards shooting one another down upon the field of battle. It is
all very distressing.
_Paris, March 14, 1838._--I spent two hours yesterday with the
Archbishop. I was better pleased with his sentiments than with his
decisions. However, everything has been left for his meditation. He
asked me to write and tell him what I thought, and I hope, with the
grace of God, Who will cast light here and there, to reach some
satisfactory conclusion, both for those who are to leave us and for
those destined to continue their pilgrimage.
On leaving the Archbishop I went to the Vicomtesse de Laval, who is
weak and shaken in health, but alert in heart and mind.
On my return I found M. de Talleyrand depressed and uneasy; he
recovered his spirits after a talk with me. The last few days he has
eaten a little better. In the evening he was not so weak, and I have
just heard that he had a quiet night. I am swayed incessantly between
hope and despair, but supported by the sense that I am useful, and
perhaps even necessary. If my strength is to fail me, I trust that it
may last to the end of my task, after which the sacrifice will have
been made, as I made it during my illness at Rochecotte.
_Paris, March 15, 1838._--Yesterday I accompanied my sister, who
wished to go once more before her departure to the Chamber of
Deputies. I felt greatly bored. M. Molé spoke very well; M. Barthe was
unbearably superficial; M. Guizot gave us the most wearisome of all
his sermons; M. Passy was coarse without being clever; M. Odilon
Barrot was very clever and witty, and left neither Thiers nor Berryer
anything to say, but his delivery is so oratorical and so badly
sustained that it is hard work to listen to him. On the whole the
honours of the session remained with M. Molé; or, to speak more
accurately, if the Ministry gained nothing its adversary lost a great
deal, which amounts to the same thing at the present moment.
_Paris, March 16, 1838._--I took Pauline yesterday to mass, to the
sermon, and to the salutation, after which she made her collection.
Two funerals interrupted the collection, preventing any one from
coming out, and they were also delayed by a driving rain, so that we
remained standing at the church door for an interminable time.
However, the sermon of the Abbé de Ravignan,[87] concerning
indifference in religion and its various causes, pleased me greatly,
and if it is not one of the best sermons I have read, it is at any
rate one of the best that I have ever heard.
[87] The Abbé de Ravignan had taken the place of Lacordaire in
the pulpit of Notre-Dame.
M. Molé, who was dining here, said that this morning in the Chamber,
during the formation of the official bodies, the alliance between men
who were enemies a few months ago was notorious.
_Paris, March 17, 1838._--I spent a long time yesterday morning at the
Seminary of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, of which the Abbé Dupanloup
is the superior. The good Abbé pleased me greatly, and also expressed
his satisfaction with the little document which I showed him.[88]
[88] The reference is to the letter which the Prince de
Talleyrand wrote to Rome retracting the errors of his life, which
had incurred the censure of the Church.
In another month we shall have a new poem by M. de Lamartine, called
_L'Ange déchu_,[89] then the _Mélanges littéraires_, by M. Villemain,
and a work by M. de Chateaubriand on the Congress of Verona; in short,
enough reading for the whole summer.
[89] Better known under the title of _La Chute d'un Ange_ (_The
Fallen Angel_), the opening of the poem called _Jocelyn_.
M. de Talleyrand says that on May 1 he will go to his estate of Pont
de Sains, in Flanders, stay there for the summer, travel to Nice by
easy stages, starting on September 1, and return to Valençay in the
month of May 1839. Such extensive projects are decidedly rash, and it
is unreasonable for him to expose himself to the damp of Flanders
after May 1. I tell him so and trust to Providence.
The motto, or rather the conclusion of a letter, which I find in an
old book seems to me very pretty: "Be with God." I have adopted it.
_Paris, March 22, 1838._--Princesse Marie, who has been here since the
19th, nearly had a miscarriage yesterday, as the result of too long a
drive; while the Duchesse d'Orléans can only avoid one by remaining in
her long chair.
M. de Rumigny, our ambassador at Turin, has brought a foolish dispute
upon himself--a personal quarrel with the King over a matter of
etiquette. Complaints concerning him have come to hand. It is the most
foolish business conceivable, as it is all about the black or white
headdresses worn by the women. Sardinian etiquette allows the Queen
alone to wear them. How absurd it all is!
A coalition between MM. Thiers and Guizot seems likely, but there is
such an outcry against this combination that either party is
embarrassed, and it will probably come to nothing. M. Guizot in
particular is experiencing the evil results of it, because his
reputation is suffering greatly, and upon that, rather than upon his
talent, he regarded his importance to be based. The fact is that
notwithstanding all that has been said on either side in the speeches
which closed last session and the discussions that have filled the
interval there is something too abrupt in this alliance, which M.
Royer-Collard calls an impious coalition.
There is much talk of a journey to be made by the King to Nantes and
Bordeaux for the month of June, which would bring us back to Berry and
towards Touraine. Hitherto M. de Talleyrand contemplated only Pont de
Sains, a calamitous idea.
_Paris, March 25, 1838._--Yesterday I defied an equinoctial storm to
go and see the Archbishop. By degrees we came to an agreement, in the
terms of the letter, and I hope that we shall arrive at some useful
result, but we require time and the help of outward circumstances
which do not depend on us and must be asked from a greater Power than
ourselves. In any case, if heaven can be importuned by the prayers of
earth, the petitions sent up on this subject should be efficacious.
_Paris, March 28, 1838._--Yesterday I had a most important
conversation with M. de Talleyrand, and found him in a state of
open-mindedness which seemed miraculous. I now hope to be able to push
steadily forward, and though the goal is still far away I trust that
no precipice will form an obstacle to my progress.
Death comes upon people here in a terrifying way; M. Alexis de Rougé
was carried off in twelve hours by a sudden stroke of apoplexy. His