Chapter I: Preface

This history is composed of notes made in England during the Embassy of the Prince de Talleyrand and of fragments of letters addressed by my grandmother, the Duchesse de Dino (afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), during a period of thirty years, to M. Adolphe de Bacourt, who gave them to me by her desire.

Some months before her death in 1862 my grandmother, who was then fully aware of her condition, herself told me of the precious legacy which would be transmitted to me when she was gone by M. de Bacourt, her executor, and added her final instructions and advice.

A just judgment on conspicuous ideas and persons is possible only after the lapse of many years, and so I should willingly have postponed the publication of these Memoirs. But some years since, my niece, the Comtesse Jean de Castellane, published the story of the early years of the Duchesse de Dino, and as many readers desire to have the continuation, I have decided not to withhold it any longer, and it will be found in the following pages.

The book throws more light on the last years of the Prince de Talleyrand than any previous publication, and it speaks so well for itself that I need say nothing for it. The place which the Duchess occupied in the European Society of the first half of last century is also too well known to need to be recalled here. Her personal charm, like her intellectual distinction, has rarely been equalled, but the moral fascination which she exercised on all who knew her is less well known. Intellect is a great source of strength, but nobility of soul is a greater; and it was assuredly this which helped the Duchess in many difficult passages in her history.

It is this sense of nobility and distinction which, in my opinion, is the chief characteristic of her Memoirs.

CASTELLANE, PRINCESSE RADZIWILL

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I
PAGE

Paris, May 9--A crowded drawing-room--Eridge Castle--Trouble 1
in Paris--A Naval Spectacle.

CHAPTER II

A Visit from the Duke of Wellington--Politics at Paris--The 12
King's Birthday--The Princess Victoria--European
complications.

CHAPTER III

M. Thiers' Marriage--Talleyrand summoned to Paris--Return 19
to London--Lady Jersey and the Duc d'Orléans--Dinner
with the King.

CHAPTER IV

Warwick Castle--Queen Adelaide--The Duke of Wellington--London 27
at its best--Woburn Abbey--M. de
Lieven's recall--A rift in the Cabinet--Lord Brougham--Dinner
with Palmerston--Lord Grey's difficulties--Palmerston's
methods--Oxford and the Duke--Kings
in exile--A jovial monarch--Mirabeau--Talleyrand's
Memoirs--The King's health--Don Carlos and
Court--A Schism at Almack's--Resignation of Lord
Grey--Don Carlos escapes--Lord Melbourne's position--Revolutionary
politics--European politics--Spanish
affairs--Palmerston's incivility--A scene at the levée--Last
days in England--Talk with Louis-Philippe--George
Sand--English visitors--A royal visit--M. de
Talleyrand resigns--Lord Brougham in Paris--A State
trial--Talleyrand's successor.

CHAPTER V

A Court at the Tuileries--Cabinet making--Triumph of 224
M. Guizot--Talleyrand and Church--Fieschi's crime--English
politics--Thiers' difficulties--The King's
courage--General Sébastiani--A clever secretary--Marriage
projects--State prisoners--British affairs.

APPENDIX I 287

APPENDIX II 288

BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX 291

MEMOIRS OF THE

DUCHESSE DE DINO