Part 2 (1/2)
_Paris, June 20, 1832._--I expect M. de Talleyrand on the evening of the day after to-morrow.
I am seeing a great many people just now; in fact they are boring me to death. What absurdities, what mistakes, what misguided pa.s.sions!
Poor M. de Talleyrand; he is going to fall into a pretty mess of intrigue!
The present state of affairs, which is condemned by everybody, must necessarily change, at least so far as the Ministry is concerned. The outcry against ministers is general, and alarm is growing. La Vendee, however, is about over, and people believe that the d.u.c.h.esse de Berry has fled; that, if true, is a great thing. But the state of the Cabinet is pitiable. Its jerky, hesitating conduct of affairs, no less than the innumerable blunders which it makes, foreshadow its downfall.
M. de Talleyrand is expected to do great things, poor man!
The real difficulty lies in the character of the head of affairs. How ugly all this is! Sebastiani is day by day failing more; yesterday I was really grieved about him; he is quite aware of his condition, and it makes him very unhappy. To-night I am going with him to Saint Cloud, and I tremble lest he may fall dead by my side in the carriage.
Wessenberg writes to me from London that the Ministry there is cast down, anxious and embarra.s.sed by its triumph, and fears that it may soon fall. I see that in England they are disquieted about the state of Germany. Here the Corps Diplomatique are complaining of Sebastiani's double game in respect of events on the Rhine. In a word, no one is pleased, no one is at ease. We live in strange times!
_Paris, September 6, 1832._--M. de Talleyrand has letters which say that the coquetry at St. Petersburg was intended to detach England from her alliance with us, and that they had even gone so far as to propose to place Antwerp in the hands of the English. All this has miscarried and coldness has succeeded to civilities. All the difficulties about the Conference now come from Brussels, where the marriage[10] has turned everybody's head, and where they now think themselves able to force France's hand.
[10] Leopold I., elected King of the Belgians in 1831, married in 1832 Louise, Princess of Orleans, daughter of Louis-Philippe, King of the French.
_Paris, September 21, 1832._--It seems that M. de Montrond hopes to get Pondichery, and is very anxious to go there. Sebastiani's friends say he is quite restored to health since Bourbonne, and is steering adroitly among the difficulties of his ministerial career.
The King of the Netherlands is in an evil mood, and the King of the Belgians is no better. The Conference is flagging, and, they say, has much need of M. de Talleyrand to help it to recover its cohesion.
All the Cabinets are said to be much on edge about what is pa.s.sing between Egypt and the Porte. Every one shrinks from the consequences which are imminent in the North, South, East and West. They are clearly foreseen everywhere, but no one has the courage to meddle with them.
_Paris, September 23, 1832._--The horizon is gloomy all round. Strange events are happening in the East. The condition of Germany and Italy is precarious. The French Cabinet is disunited, there are complications in Portugal, and Holland is growing more and more obstinate. To all this must now be added the sudden death of Ferdinand VII., a civil war of succession between the partisans of Don Carlos and those of the little Infanta, the possibility of Spain interfering in Portugal, and consequently the appearance of France and England in the Peninsula.
Further, there is the change of ministry at Brussels, and the sudden departures of the Duc d'Orleans, Marshal Gerard, and M. le Hon for Belgium. Pandemonium reigns more than ever!
M. de Talleyrand is receiving many letters both from London and from Paris urging him to hasten his departure.
_Paris, September 27, 1832._--The resurrection[11] of Ferdinand VII.
is very mysterious. It is also very fortunate, for when there are so many complications, the disappearance of even one is something to be thankful for!
[11] In 1832 King Ferdinand VII. became so seriously ill that he was thought to be dead. Calomarde then joined the Carlists, and forced the dying monarch to sign a decree cancelling the declaration of 1830 abolis.h.i.+ng the Salic Law in Spain.
CHAPTER III
1833
_Valencay,[12] October 12, 1833._--M. Royer-Collard pa.s.sed part of the morning here. He was at once original and witty, serious and vivacious, showed much affection for me, and made himself very pleasant to M. de Talleyrand. He does not openly carp at the present situation, but it is not pleasing to him, and he speaks ill of it in his solitude.
[12] Valencay, where the d.u.c.h.esse de Dino had just gone, is situate in the Department of the Indre. The chateau and the park are magnificent, and the ornamental water is very fine. The house was built in the sixteenth century by the d'etampes family, from the designs of Philibert Delorme. In 1808 and 1814 it served as the prison of Ferdinand VII. and the Spanish Princes when they were detained by Napoleon I. The Prince de Talleyrand, who had bought the property at the end of the eighteenth century, was very fond of the place and lived there a great deal.
M. de Saint-Aulaire writes from Vienna: ”My summer holiday which I have been spending at Baden has not been disturbed by the meetings at Teplitz and Munchengraetz,[13] because I was not given anything to do, and because, for my part, I feel no anxiety about them. But M. de Metternich has just got back to Vienna; we must put our affairs in order, and my holiday is near an end. The measures considered advisable for Germany are apparently very sharp; were they otherwise the attempt would be futile. Will France be content to look on and do nothing? I think so, unless some independent sovereign cries for help in maintaining his independence. The King of Hanover would be a good leader in a movement of this kind, but if he will not come forward, I have no confidence in Prince Lichtenstein. I know that in England they think M. de Metternich has tricked us, and that he went shares with Russia in the Treaty of Constantinople of the 8th of July last. But I persist in maintaining that he was the dupe, not the accomplice. I hope I am right, not so much for my own self-satisfaction as because the game to play must vary according as the good understanding of Austria and Russia is apparent or real. Frederick Lamb told me yesterday in detail of the Duke of Leuchtenberg's campaign in Belgium.
I had heard something of it from the rumours of the town, but not a word from the Cabinet, which has the bad habit of keeping us the worst informed of the diplomatists of any country.”
[13] The three great allied powers--Austria, Prussia and Russia--held meetings in three successive years either at Teplitz or at Munchengraetz for joint deliberation on the European situation. There by a new secret compact they guaranteed to each other their respective possessions in Poland, whether against external aggression or internal revolution. They also considered the affairs of France and Italy, and the constant activities of Italian societies and refugees in French territory, which were then causing serious anxiety about the tranquillity of the Peninsula. It was finally decided that the Cabinets of Austria, Prussia and Russia should each send a separate note to the Government of King Louis-Philippe, urging a more careful surveillance of the revolutionary propaganda.
_Valencay, October 23, 1833._--The d.u.c.h.esse de Montmorency is quite fresh on the subject of Prague, her eldest daughter having told her much about it. Charles X. himself took his two grand-children to their mother at Leoben with the precise object of preventing the d.u.c.h.esse de Berry from coming to Prague; from Leoben it is said she will return to Italy. M. le Dauphin[14] and Mme. la Dauphine refused to go.