Kitabı oku: «Memoirs of the Duchesse de Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1831-1835», sayfa 14

Later on, we took the Prince to the ponds in the forest, by the side of which there was a great camp-fire.

Before dinner the Prince again desired some private conversation with M. de Talleyrand and then with me. Afterwards we played pool on the billiard-table. The scene was very animated, the ladies being of the party. Tea taken, the letters came, and announced the resignation of Marshal Gérard; and M. le Duc d'Orléans, retired, put on his travelling dress, and at half-past eleven, after saying many gracious things, he departed.

Although everything went off very well during his visit, and though the Prince was really perfectly charming to everybody, I am nevertheless much relieved now that he is gone. I feared every moment that some accident would happen, and for this reason opposed every idea of a shooting party; I feared disloyal cries, bad weather, a thousand things; and, besides, I was worn out with fatigue.

As I foresaw, the visit of M. le Duc d'Orléans has thrown some light on our future, for M. de Talleyrand said to him that there was no more for him to do in London. He pointed out Lord Palmerston's personal character, the line taken by the English Cabinet, the absence of all the haut corps diplomatique from London, and the evident tendency of all the Courts to cease acting in that capital and to choose another centre of high politics. Besides all this, the weariness of his legs made it impossible for him to return to England unless a reaction occurred which made him – M. de Talleyrand – a more suitable person than any other to conduct the affairs of France there. For the moment he thought that any one would do just as well, if not better, than he. M. le Duc d'Orléans said positively that he had been charged by the King to discover the intentions of M. de Talleyrand, and at the same time to express the King's desire to talk with him if he did not mean to return to London. His Majesty was most anxious that M. de Talleyrand should not abandon his interest and participation in the work at which he had laboured so much.

M. le Duc d'Orléans told me a curious thing – that eighteen months ago Lucien Bonaparte had written him a rather abject letter, begging him to obtain for him the post of French Minister at Florence!

I have just heard that the King has positively refused to call the Duc de Broglie to the Presidency of the Council in place of Marshal Gérard. It is clear that it was this Ministerial crisis which prevented the arrival of the three Ministers who were to have come here. I am quite glad it did, for this took away all political significance from the Prince's visit.

He spoke much of Rochecotte and of his desire to visit it again next summer.

Valençay, October 31, 1834.– M. le Comte de la Redorte is staying here. He is a man of undoubted erudition. He has studied a great deal, and travelled much. He remembers everything, but, unfortunately, instead of waiting till you knock at his door, as an Englishman would do, he throws it wide open and forces you to come in. Though his face is fine and his manners charming, and the sound of his voice delightful, he is simply a bore. He fills his conversation with facts, dates, and figures; he enters into the most minute details; he plunges head first into the heaviest economic topics, and wearies, extinguishes, and crushes his audience. His opinions, moreover, are cut and dried on every subject; his judgments are absolute; his expositions are all arranged beforehand. It is deadly dull! Our English party groaned under him! He left after luncheon, and as he was going M. de Talleyrand said: "There is a mind which stopped before it arrived." He said a rather sharp thing about Madame de Sainte-Aldegonde, who also left this morning. Speaking of her very dark eyebrows, which surmount rather expressionless eyes: "These," he said, "are bows without arrows."

Here is an extract from a letter from Paris, dated the 29th, which came yesterday: "The post-horses were waiting in M. de Rigny's courtyard on Sunday the 26th, and he was just about to leave with Bertin de Veaux, when the King sent for him and commanded him to put off his departure for a day. He never got another opportunity of getting away. Yesterday, at four, Marshal Gérard forced the King to accept his resignation. M. de Rigny has determined not to accept the Premiership which they wish to offer him. He thinks he has neither the talent nor the consistency necessary for the post. He cannot disguise from himself that the only reason for offering him the place is the difficulty of getting any one else; and if his refusal costs him his place he will console himself with the reflection that it is better to go out of office in this way than to go later on less honourably. And yet what will be the end of all this? What appears most probable is the addition of M. Molé to the Ministry. M. Thiers would much like to be Premier, but he does not yet dare to be openly a candidate. M. Molé would not remain long. His means, his character, his surroundings, will all combine to promote his speedy fall. This would be enough to enable M. Thiers to realise his ambition – at least he thinks so. He would, however, have been better pleased to see M. de Rigny undertake the part intended for M. Molé, but that even his eloquence could not achieve!"

Valençay, November 1, 1834.– I hear from Paris that an article in terms very insulting to M. de Talleyrand and myself has just appeared in a periodical review. For many years I have been afflicted with insults, libels, and gutter calumnies of all kinds, and I shall be so persecuted till the end of my days. Living as I have done in the house of M. de Talleyrand, and in his confidence, how could I escape the licence of the press and its attacks in the most libellous age of journalism? It was long before I got used to it. I used to be deeply wounded, very much upset, and very unhappy, and I shall never become quite indifferent. A woman never could be, and would, in my opinion, be the worse for becoming so. However, as it would be equally absurd to allow one's peace of mind to be at the mercy of people one despises, I have made up my mind to read nothing of this kind, and the more directly concerned I am the less I desire to know about it. I do not wish to know the evil people think or say or write about me, or about my friends. If they do wrong, or if I myself am not all I should be, I am quite aware of the fact, and want to forget it. As for calumny, it disgusts and enrages me, and I see no reason why I should acknowledge the dirt thrown at those nearest and dearest to me.

There are so many pains and mortifications in this life, and so many are inevitable, that my only thought is how to avoid as many as possible, for I am sure that enough remains to test my courage and resignation.

Another of my motives for not investigating these malevolent incidents is that I find it too hard to forgive them, for if gratitude is one of the most prominent characteristics of the good part of my nature, I am always afraid that I have a compensating amount of rancour. I have never forgotten a service or a friendly word, but I have perhaps too often remembered an insult or an unkind remark. Thank heaven, my rancour does not go the length of revenge, but I suffer for it all the same. I know nothing so miserable in the world as bearing malice, and, silent and inoffensive as I remain externally, the feeling rankles within and I am quite upset by it.

Unfortunately, I have had only too many occasions to scrutinise, analyse, and dissect my moral self. Who is there who has not a chronic moral malady, like a chronic physical one? And who is there who, having passed a certain age, is not or ought not to be well aware of the rules he should follow, for the good of his soul, no less than his body?

Valençay, November 4, 1834.– I have just returned from an expedition which we made to Blois and its neighbourhood with our English friends, who were going back to Paris. The day before yesterday, we visited Chambord which seemed, as it in fact is, bizarre, original, full of interest and rich in detail. It is situated in an ugly country, and is in a deplorable state. The window of the oratory of Diane de Poitiers, on which Francis I. wrote his impertinent couplet about women,⁴² is still there, but the panes are broken. The verses were not creditable to a chivalrous monarch.

The place where the Bourgeois gentilhomme was first acted before Louis XIV. also exists, as well as the table on which the body of Marshal Saxe, who died at Chambord, was opened and embalmed. It is in fact the only piece of furniture left in the Château.

We got back to Blois rather late, and yesterday morning we visited the castle, which is now a barracks, and certainly one of the most interesting monuments of France. The four sides are in four separate styles of architecture. The oldest part dates from the time of Stephen of Blois, King of England of the Plantagenet stock. The second oldest dates from Louis XII. and bears his emblem, the hedgehog, with the motto: Qui s'y frotte s'y pique. Then comes the part built by Francis I. with its Renaissance elegance. It was here that the Duc de Guise was murdered, that Catherine de Medicis died, and here too is the hall where the celebrated States General of Blois assembled. You are shown the fireplace where the body of the Duc de Guise was consumed, and the dungeon where the Cardinal and the Archbishop of Lyons were imprisoned, the little niche where Henri III. placed the monks whom he ordered to pray for the success of the assassination, and the room where the widow of John Sobieski died. Lastly, the fourth side was built by Gaston d'Orléans in the style of the Tuileries, and was never finished. Near the castle is an old pavilion in which were the baths of Catherine de Medicis, and not far off is a shed which served as a retreat for the favourites of Henri III.

On returning here from this excursion, I heard the sad news of the death of Princess Tyszkiewicz, which took place the day before yesterday at Tours. I had to break the news to M. de Talleyrand. At his age such losses afflict the mind more than the heart, for they seem rather a personal warning than a sorrow. He was more startled than I; I was more affected than he, for I had a real affection for the Princess, and I was very grateful to her for all that she was to me long ago. Though she had survived herself, I cannot think without pain of the part of the past which is buried with her, for when one loses friends one loses not only them but a part of one's self.

M. de Talleyrand agreed with me that we could not allow this poor but illustrious lady, the niece of the last King of Poland, and only sister to the unfortunate Marshal Prince Poniatowski, to be laid to rest among strangers. She will be buried at Valençay.

A letter from Paris which came last night says, "nothing is settled about the Ministry. The thing grows ridiculous, and the intrigues show no signs of stopping. The day before yesterday it was thought that everything was settled, and that Thiers was going off to Valençay, but yesterday all was changed and things are as they were. There has never been such a dissolving force as Thiers; his oratorical gifts are costing us dear, but some conclusion must be reached. M. de Rigny is quite ready to retire, M. Guizot is still supporting Broglie for the Presidency of the Council, and Thiers is backing Molé."

Valençay, November 6, 1834.– The other day M. Royer-Collard told me something that is very amusing because it is so characteristic of him. He said that the second Madame Guizot was reproaching him vigorously with having repudiated all religion, and with having refused to be its patron and protector. She said that by complaining, as he did, that he was claimed by the religious party, he caused much embarrassment to its members. She therefore begged him to cease attacking them and turning them to ridicule on every occasion, as he was in the habit of doing. "Ah, Madame!" he replied, "you wish then that I should leave the public in error, and thus deprive myself of my only consolation, and my only chance of revenge." She was furious. The one thing which annoys M. Royer-Collard, (and it annoys him very much) is Guizot and all his works. This annoyance is perhaps not altogether unfounded. He has no love for M. de Broglie whose lofty virtue did not seem to him adequate to the circumstances which recently arose, and as for Madame de Broglie he likes her even less, because her piety does not preserve her from any of the agitations of public life, and is even compatible with political intrigue. The contrast involved in this is displeasing to him.

Valençay November 7, 1834.– Here is an anecdote which is quite authentic, having been told me by an eye witness, and which struck me very much. M. Casimir-Périer, as is well known, died of cholera. Besides this he was completely out of his mind during the last ten days of his life; a tendency to insanity had already revealed itself in several members of his family. Well, several hours before his death two of his colleagues in the Ministry, with two of his brothers, were talking in a corner of the room of the embarrassment which the arrival of Madame la Duchesse de Berry was causing in la Vendée, of the resulting difficulties for the Government, of what ought to be done, and of the responsibility involved in doing it, and of the fear and reluctance every one had in assuming this responsibility. This conversation was suddenly interrupted by the sick man who sat up in bed and exclaimed: "Oh if only the President of the Council were not mad!" Then he fell back on the pillow and was silent. He died shortly afterwards. Is not this striking, and does it not make one shudder as one does at King Lear?

Valençay, November 9, 1834.– I went to Châteauvieux yesterday to see M. Royer-Collard. He had received letters from several of the Ministers who have resigned. From these he understands that no sooner were the five resignations sent in than they were politely accepted. The King sent for M. Molé, and entrusted him with the Presidency of the Council, and the task of recomposing the whole Cabinet. M. Molé asked for twenty-four hours to consider matters, and to see whom he could persuade to act with him. However, as everybody declined to share the task, he was himself compelled to withdraw, and so the whole situation has again become vague, and perhaps impossible.

Almost all the papers have again broken out against M. de Talleyrand. Some say he is dead, some that he is ill in mind and body, others insult him grossly and foully. M. Royer-Collard explains this new access of savagery to the fear that the Presidency of the Council will be offered to M. de Talleyrand and accepted by him. It seems that many people, struck by the absence of good men, wish the King to look to us, and that the terror which this inspires in certain others envenoms all that they do, or say, or write. It is a melancholy privilege to be the last resort of some people and the object of the detestation of others, and that at an age when the need of rest should be the ruling consideration, and the one aim in all things should be to make a good end.

Valençay, November 10, 1834.– Here is an extract from a letter from M. Royer-Collard received yesterday: "I will say in all seriousness to M. de Talleyrand that, after four years absence, I am not surprised that he attaches more importance to newspaper articles than they now possess. He does not know how much the prestige of the press, like all other kinds of prestige, is worn out. Any one who replied to a newspaper after the lapse of a day or two, would not be understood; the occasion would be forgotten. Violent language can no longer either exalt or abase any one. Amid torrents of praise or abuse one remains exactly where one was before. It is the characteristic of this evil age.

"No, nothing is settled at Paris, because nothing that will pass muster is possible. Here are seen the natural consequences of the last revolution. M. de Talleyrand was clever enough and fortunate enough to turn it to his glory, but he could not repeat the miracle. His last piece of ingenuity must be to choose the right moment for the end, I had almost said for breaking both with England and France, as this year has made them. I often come back to the idea that last year was the time he should have gone and put himself in a position of safety. It was natural to make the mistake; I made it myself. You, Madame la Duchesse, alone were right. From this very arm-chair from which I am writing to you to-day, I was blind enough to combat you, knowing nothing about it. You alone were in a position to know and to judge. I was wrong; this is yet another piece of homage which I am anxious to pay you."

Valençay, November 11, 1834.– Mr. Damer writes from Paris as follows: "Have you heard a horrible story relating to Madame and Mlle. de Morell, the sister and the niece of M. Charles de Mornay, of something which happened at the Military School at Saumur. A young man of that town called M. de la Roncière, not a particularly high-minded person, fell in love with Madame de Morell, who may, or may not, have given him some encouragement. I don't know exactly whether she did or not, but finally she dismissed him. On this he vowed vengeance, and transferred his attentions to the daughter, a young girl of seventeen. He wrote her frequent threatening letters, saying he would kill her father and mother if she did not listen to him, and one night she was found in a condition which amounted to insanity. On hearing of her condition, the young man fled from the school, but has since been arrested. He then produced letters, whether genuine or not, which he says were written to him by the mother and daughter, and which are exceedingly compromising. They say Charles de Mornay has come to Paris about this affair."⁴³

Valençay, November 12, 1834.– A letter written the day before yesterday from Paris, while the King was signing, in the next room, the order creating the new Ministry, which was too late to appear in the morning papers yesterday, arrived in the evening. The names are unexpected and almost new. If this were the case with all of them, it might not perhaps much matter, but one name is that of the Duc de Bassano, who grew grey in the splendours of the Empire, and who has been blamed for its fall. Another is that of M. Bresson, who will probably create a sensation and who, in the article of improbability, would have deserved the celebrated letter on the marriage of M. de Lauzun. I need not set down what we Londoners thought who witnessed the birth, ruin, and resuscitation of this person, all of which took place in such bewilderingly rapid succession. It is also needless to say that this arrangement of the Ministry puts an end to all M. de Talleyrand's irresolution, and will give wings to his resignation of the London Embassy.

Valençay, November 13, 1834.– Here is the impression produced on M. Royer-Collard by the new phase of the Ministry. "But this is a Polignac Cabinet! I expected anything rather than this adventure. I am much surprised that M. Passy, who is a man of parts with a future before him, should have enrolled himself in that troupe. The former Cabinet is now thrown into opposition, but whether it attacks or treacherously supports the new one, it is making a path for itself back to power. It seems inevitable to me that it will return." "Adventure" is indeed the right word!

Valençay, November 16, 1834.– We learned by last night's post that the fancy Ministry had literally lived "ce que vivent les roses, l'espace d'un matin." The comparison is not outrageous. On the evening of the 13th, MM. Teste and Passy handed the King their resignations, which they explained by a reference to the pecuniary position of the Duc de Bassano. It was inevitable that these resignations should be followed by others, and, as a matter of fact, M. Charles Dupin came and offered his the following morning. On this, M. de Bassano recognised that it was all up.

On the day before yesterday, the 14th, at four in the afternoon, nothing was arranged, or planned, or hoped. What a cruel and deplorable situation for the King! If one wanted to put this Ministerial crisis into a play, it would not be possible to apply the twenty-four hours rule!

I think the conduct of MM. Teste and Passy was unpardonable. It appears that it was they who had insisted at first that the Duc de Bassano should have the Presidency of the Council and the Ministry of the Interior, and certainly they did not then learn for the first time of M. de Bassano's financial position, which for two years has been well known to every one.

Valençay, November 18, 1834.– Here is the most important passage of a letter written yesterday by M. de Talleyrand to Madame Adélaïde. "What a relief! I cordially thank Marshal Mortier for having accepted the Presidency of the Council! I would fain follow his example and mount the breach once more, but for me England is out of the question. I should like Vienna doubtless in many ways, and, besides, it would suit Madame de Dino who, with all her devotion to me, is very sorry to leave London, where she was so much appreciated. But at my age one no longer seeks business so far afield. If it was only a question of a special mission to a congress, such as those of Verona or Aix-la-Chapelle, I should be delighted. And if such a case arises, as is by no means improbable, and the King thinks me still capable of representing France, let him issue his orders and I will leave instantly, only too happy to devote my last days to his service. A permanent mission, however, is now no longer possible for me, and especially not at Vienna where twenty years ago I represented the Restoration. Has Your Royal Highness thought of that circumstance, especially with reference to Charles X. and Madame la Dauphine, who often comes to Vienna, and who there receives all the honours due to her rank, her misfortunes and her near relationship to the Imperial family? In England, the Bourbons of the elder branch are merely private persons. In Austria they are Princes and almost pretenders. For the King's ambassador this makes an enormous difference which this or that person might not perhaps feel, but which is decisive for me, across whose career 1814 is written in large characters. No, Madame, there is now no other life for me but that of frank and complete retirement in privacy and simplicity. Perfidy alone can accuse me of any arrière pensée; at my age one occupies one's self only with memories.⁴⁴…"

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!

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.

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.

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

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.