[45] Here is the full text of M. de Talleyrand's letter of resignation, which I give though it has already appeared in the Mémoires:
"To the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
"Monsieur le Ministre,
"When the King's confidence called me, four years ago, to the Embassy at London the very difficulty of the task made it a duty to obey, and I believe I have secured in a manner useful to France and to his Majesty two interests which I have always in mind. The peace of Europe has been preserved throughout those years, and this has simplified all our relations with foreign Powers. Our policy, formerly isolated, is now linked with that of other nations; it has been accepted, appreciated, and respected by honest men of every country. The co-operation of England, which we have obtained, has cost us nothing in independence, and has never offended our national susceptibilities. Such has been our respect for the rights of every one, such has been the frankness of our methods that, far from inspiring distrust, it is our guarantee which is now being sought against the propagandist spirit which is perturbing the older Europe. It is undoubtedly to the merits and abilities of the King that we must attribute results so satisfactory. For myself, I make no other claim than to have been the first to divine the profound idea underlying his Majesty's policy, and to have announced it to others whom subsequent events have persuaded of the truth of my words. But now that Europe knows and admires the King, and that, for this very reason, the principal difficulties are surmounted; now that England has perhaps as great need as we of our mutual alliance, and the line she seems disposed to take requires a mind whose traditions are less old-fashioned than mine; now I think that, without any want of devotion to the King and to my country, I may respectfully beg his Majesty to accept my resignation; and I beg you, M. le Ministre, to be so good as to present it to him. My great age and the infirmities which are its natural consequence, the repose which it demands and the thoughts which it suggests, make this step a very natural one and justify it only too well, making it, indeed, no less than my duty. I trust to the justice and kindness of the King to judge.
"I avail, &c., "Le Prince de Talleyrand.
"Valençay, November 13, 1834."
This letter was published in the Moniteur Universel of January 7, 1835.
[46] The Whig Cabinet of Lord Melbourne fell on November 15, and was replaced by a Tory Ministry which was not destined to last more than three months. The Premier was Sir Robert Peel, and the Duke of Wellington replaced Lord Palmerston at the Foreign Office.
[47] Of Armand Carrel, of the National.
[48] This letter, of which only the beginning is given here, is dated November 25, and is quoted in full in Le Prince de Talleyrand et la Maison d'Orléans, and also in Volume V. of the Prince's Mémoires.