October 6.
Council at 2. Talleyrand was presented. He backed to the window and read a speech in which there were several erasures. He declared the determination of France to pursue the course so wisely followed by England of non- interference. He spoke of himself as 'Ministre d'une Royaute votée à l'unanimité.'
The King did not much like receiving him, and was a little nervous. To what Talleyrand said about noninterference the King answered it was a very good thing, especially when exercised de bonne foi. This he said by Aberdeen's advice.
I read the King of the Netherlands' letter. He asks distinctly for military assistance.
Cabinet dinner at the Duke's. The Prince of Orange is gone to Antwerp. This the Duke thinks the very worst step that could have been taken; the only mistake the King has made. In fact the King was unwilling, and ever since the affair of Brussels there has been a coolness between the King and the Prince. The Duke fears the consequences of the Prince's going, because he is a man devoted to popularity-vain. The Duke and Talleyrand were talking about popularity. The Duke said those who loved it never loved it with moderation. Talleyrand said, 'Il n'y a jamais de modération, où il n'y a pas de goût—et il n'y a pas de gout dans l'amour de la popularité!' The Duke asked Talleyrand what sort of a man the Duke of Orleans was. 'Un Prince de l'Ecole normale.' Of the Queen he said, 'Elle est bonne femme, et surtout grande dame—c'est ce qu'il nous faut.'
Talleyrand said he had given the King a piece of advice, 'to go to
Neuilly'—that is, to rescue himself from the vagabond cortége.
Talleyrand is very well pleased with the letter sent to Paris, and the foreign Ministers are satisfied.
The King (our King) seemed to me to be very weary to-day. Aberdeen said he was a good deal distressed at the state of Europe, and rather anxious.
Lord and Lady Holland and Rothschild appear to be the only people besides the Ministers who have called on Talleyrand. Lord Holland is very much with him. Lord Holland is doing all he can to save the lives of the French Ministers—for the interest of the French Government, not of the Ministers themselves. He has written to La Fayette and to the King.
October 7.