Reminiscences of Prince Talleyrand, Volume 2 (of 2)

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Reminiscences of Prince Talleyrand, Volume II (of 2), by Édouard Colmache, Edited by Madame Colmache
Transcriber’s Note
Cover created by Transcriber and placed in the Public Domain.
Index references to Volume I are not linked, as eReaders do not support them.
VOL. II.
REMINISCENCES OF PRINCE TALLEYRAND.
EDITED FROM THE PAPERS OF THE LATE M. COLMACHE, PRIVATE SECRETARY TO THE PRINCE,
BY MADAME COLMACHE.
IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II.
LONDON: HENRY COLBURN, PUBLISHER, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET. 1848.
“You have begun, malgré vous ,” said I to C., the next time we met tête-à-tête , “the vie anecdotique of the prince, which I have always felt sure would prove so full of interest. Your strange story of Madame de la Motte is quite sufficient to excite curiosity in those who love to see the truth established where prejudice and falsehood have reigned so long. It would be a curious study to follow in the same manner, step by step, the life of the Prince de Talleyrand, and give to those who seek for truth alone (and they are many) the real impressions made upon a powerful organization, like his own, by the wondrous changes in which he bore so conspicuous a part; the conduct of those with whom he co-operated in the great reform which, from the very outset of his career, it is evident he had at heart; and his own conduct with regard to the confederates with whom the strange circumstances amid which he found himself compelled him to associate sometimes, ‘ malgré lui et à son corps defendant .’”
“It would be difficult,” replied C., “to destroy prejudices which have taken root. Mankind in general cling to them with tenacity, and adopt ready-formed opinions with the greatest facility in proportion as they are improbable and absurd. The Prince de Talleyrand has been the victim of many such errors. From the great reserve, partly natural to his character, and no doubt strengthened by his clerical education, the motives by which he was guided, unexplained by himself, have been left to the interpretation of the mass; and the mass will ever be loth to yield conviction save to the evidence of facts alone. One of the most extraordinary delusions which exist in the public mind with regard to the prince, founded I should think upon no better authority than a brutal attempt at wit made by Napoleon, has been often adopted as a basis for the judgment of his character. ‘Kick Talleyrand behind,’ said the coarse-minded sabreur , ‘and look in his face, you will perceive no indication of any sense of the insult.’ The dictum , which was first uttered by the chattering buffoon of a Parisian salon , has been gravely quoted by more than one historian, and has in many cases gone forth as the standard whereby to judge one of the proudest characters that the Almighty ever sent among mankind!