I
Speech made on October 6, 1830, by M. de Talleyrand on the occasion of his presenting his credentials to the King of England as Ambassador of France at the Court of St. James's. See page [270].
Sir,
His Majesty the King of the French has chosen me to be the interpreter of his sentiments towards Your Majesty, and I have joyfully accepted a mission which sheds so much lustre on the end of my long career.
Sir, of all the vicissitudes which I have seen in the course of my long life, in all the changes of fortune which I have experienced during forty eventful years, nothing perhaps could have so completely satisfied my desires as an appointment which would bring me back to this happy country. But how times change! The jealousies and prejudices which so long divided France and England have given place to sentiments of esteem and enlightened affection. Common principles bind the two countries even more closely together. England in her foreign policy repudiates, like France, the principle of interfering in her neighbour's foreign relations, and the Ambassador of a Monarch who is the unanimous choice of a great people feels himself at ease in a land of liberty in the presence of a scion of the illustrious House of Brunswick. I appeal, Sir, with confidence for your countenance in the duties with which I am charged at your Majesty's Court, and I pray that your Majesty will be pleased to accept the homage of my profound respect.