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Tallyrand Biography

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TALLEYRAND-PÉRIGORD, Charles Maurice, Duke de, Prince of Benevento (1754- 1838). A French statesman, born in Paris. His father was an officer in the French army and fought through the Seven Years’ War. Charles Maurice was the eldest son; on account of an accident in infancy which rendered him lame for life, he was trained for the Church at Saint-Sulpice, the Sorbonne, and Rheims. He showed brilliant talents, but neither moral purpose nor a calling for the Church. He obtained, however, several ecclesiastical benefices, among them the abbacy of Saint-Denis in the diocese of Rheims (1775) in the year of his ordination. Appointed agent general for the clergy in 1780, a lucrative and important post which brought him into close connection with the government, he began a serious apprenticeship in public business, but led a notoriously licentious life. In 1788 his administrative abilities secured for him the bishopric of Autun. As representative of his diocese in the States-General of 1789, he favored uniting with the Third Estate and thus won the good will of the popular party. He was one of the commission to draw up a constitution for the nation. He assisted in framing the Declaration of Rights, proposed (Oct. 10, 1789) the confiscation of Church property as belonging of right to the nation, and on Feb. 16, 1790, became President of the National Assembly. He was among the first of his order to take the oath to obey the constitution and urged the clergy of his diocese to follow his example. Excommunicated by the Pope, he was compelled to resign his bishopric. In January, 1792, Talleyrand was sent to London in a semiofficial capacity, the object being to conciliate England. It was suspected that he was a person "disposed to serve the King," and he was put on the list of émigrés. He remained in England until January, 1794, then spent more than a year in the United States, and after the fall of the Terrorists procured the revocation of his banishment and in March, 1796, reëntered Paris, having paved the way for a favorable reception by a series of adroit and judicious intrigues. He attached himself to the group of constitutionalists and in 1797, mainly through Madame de Staël’s influence, was named Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Talleyrand shrewdly saw the significance of the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, attached himself to the young Corsican, and became his ally and confidant in the coup of the 18th Brumaire, when the Directory was overthrown. After this Talleyrand, who had been reappointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Bonaparte, directed his efforts towards consolidating the power and authority of his master. In diplomatic negotiations following the victories of France under the Consulate he had the principal part; he was the prime mover in the execution of the Duke d’Enghien and assisted in the establishment of the Empire and in the organization of the Confederation of the Rhine. For these services he was made Prince of Benevento in 1806. He opposed Napoleon’s disastrous policy with regard to England and soon after Tilsit (1807) laid down his office as Foreign Minister and after some intriguing retired from active life (1809), residing on his estates and preparing for the turn of the tide. When, after the French disasters of 1812, Europe rose against Napoleon, Talleyrand became the centre of a group of malcontents, whose influence grew with the advance of the allied armies, and finally communications were opened with the Bourbons. Talleyrand dictated to the Senate the terms of the deposition of Napoleon, and on the restoration of the Bourbons he became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first government of Louis XVIII. He represented France at the Congress of Vienna and played there a game of masterly politics, working on the jealousies of the Powers and by appealing to the principle of legitimacy gaining solid advantages for France. He had succeeded in bringing about a secret alliance between Austria, Great Britain, and France against Russia and Prussia when Napoleon’s return from Elba shattered his plans. Henceforth he had little part in public affairs. He resumed the office of Foreign Minister in May, 1814, after the Restoration, but soon resigned, owing to the hostility of the old nobility. After the July revolution Louis Philippe employed him as Ambassador at the English court, where he contrived to bring about a friendly feeling between the new monarchy and the English government and negotiated the Quadruple Alliance of 1834 between France, Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal. He returned to France in 1835 and died at Valençay, May 17, 1838. Talleyrand stands out preëminently as the type of the unscrupulous diplomat and politician. A skeptic in religion and a cynic in morals, he possessed a remarkable insight into the grosser nature of man and almost unexampled adroitness for playing on the lower motives. He had a rare talent for caustic epigram, and his disillusioned view of human nature is attested by numerous witty sayings which have become part of the world’s narrower wisdom.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XXI (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 811.