and is very anxious to go there. Sébastiani's friends say he is quite restored to health since Bourbonne, and is steering adroitly among the difficulties of his ministerial career.

The King of the Netherlands is in an evil mood, and the King of the Belgians is no better. The Conference is flagging, and, they say, has much need of M. de Talleyrand to help it to recover its cohesion.

All the Cabinets are said to be much on edge about what is passing between Egypt and the Porte. Every one shrinks from the consequences which are imminent in the North, South, East and West. They are clearly foreseen everywhere, but no one has the courage to meddle with them.

Paris, September 23, 1832.—The horizon is gloomy all round. Strange events are happening in the East. The condition of Germany and Italy is precarious. The French Cabinet is disunited, there are complications in Portugal, and Holland is growing more and more obstinate. To all this must now be added the sudden death of Ferdinand VII., a civil war of succession between the partisans of Don Carlos and those of the little Infanta, the possibility of Spain interfering in Portugal, and consequently the appearance of France and England in the Peninsula.

Further, there is the change of ministry at Brussels, and the sudden departures of the Duc d'Orléans, Marshal Gérard, and M. le Hon for Belgium. Pandemonium reigns more than ever!

M. de Talleyrand is receiving many letters both from London and from Paris urging him to hasten his departure.

Paris, September 27, 1832.—The resurrection[11] of Ferdinand VII. is very mysterious. It is also very fortunate, for when there are so many complications, the disappearance of even one is something to be thankful for!

CHAPTER III
1833

Valençay,[12] October 12, 1833.—M. Royer-Collard passed part of the morning here. He was at once original and witty, serious and vivacious, showed much affection for me, and made himself very pleasant to M. de Talleyrand. He does not openly carp at the present situation, but it is not pleasing to him, and he speaks ill of it in his solitude.

M. de Saint-Aulaire writes from Vienna: "My summer holiday which I have been spending at Baden has not been disturbed by the meetings at Téplitz and Münchengraetz,[13] because I was not given anything to do, and because, for my part, I feel no anxiety about them. But M. de Metternich has just got back to Vienna; we must put our affairs in order, and my holiday is near an end. The measures considered advisable for Germany are apparently very sharp; were they otherwise the attempt would be futile. Will France be content to look on and do nothing? I think so, unless some independent sovereign cries for help in maintaining his independence. The King of Hanover would be a good leader in a movement of this kind, but if he will not come forward, I have no confidence in Prince Lichtenstein. I know that in England they think M. de Metternich has tricked us, and that he went shares with Russia in the Treaty of Constantinople of the 8th of July last. But I persist in maintaining that he was the dupe, not the accomplice. I hope I am right, not so much for my own self-satisfaction as because the game to play must vary according as the good understanding of Austria and Russia is apparent or real. Frederick Lamb told me yesterday in detail of the Duke of Leuchtenberg's campaign in Belgium. I had heard something of it from the rumours of the town, but not a word from the Cabinet, which has the bad habit of keeping us the worst informed of the diplomatists of any country."

Valençay, October 23, 1833.—The Duchesse de Montmorency is quite fresh on the subject of Prague, her eldest daughter having told her much about it. Charles X. himself took his two grand-children to their mother at Leoben with the precise object of preventing the Duchesse de Berry from coming to Prague; from Leoben it is said she will return to Italy. M. le Dauphin[14] and Mme. la Dauphine refused to go.

They say that Charles X. is much broken, and the Dauphine is aged and very thin and nervous, always in tears. Certainly, however strong her character may be, her misfortunes have been such as to break the highest courage and the most masculine spirit. Beyond doubt she has been more persecuted by destiny than any character in history.

M. de Blacas is in supreme command of the little Court, and is more opposed than any one to the proposal that the Duchesse de Berry should settle there.

I have seen a letter from M. Thiers, who says, referring to his marriage: "The great moment is at hand. I am agitated, as is proper; and I am fonder of my young wife than is fitting at my age. This shows I was right to make up my mind at thirty-five rather than at forty, for then I should have been even more absurd. In any case it matters little; I can banish false shame, but there is one thing which I find insupportable, and that is to expose those who are dear to me to the insults and the malice of the world. For myself I am inured, but (great as is the necessity) I shall never become inured to the sufferings of those I love. The world must work its will; it would be foolish to wish that so huge a machine should alter its eternal motion to suit one's convenience."

I sincerely hope that his philosophy will not be tried too severely; but, as the proverb has it, "the sin brings its own punishment."

Valençay, November 3, 1833.—I am greatly surprised that the Duc de Broglie has not once written to M. de Talleyrand. He has written three times to me on private affairs, and each time promised a letter for M. de Talleyrand, which has never come.

Mme. Adélaïde has written twice, very kindly expressing her desire that M. de Talleyrand may go back to London, but without any definite inquiry on the subject. I think, however, that she and the King wish it much more than the Duc de Broglie does; and I believe that it is owing to some intrigue between Lord Granville and Lord Palmerston that the King's wishes have not so far been more clearly expressed.

M. de Talleyrand has come to no decision. There are so many real inconveniences in entering on active political life. On the other hand, there are so many real inconveniences in staying in France that even if I wished to advise I do not know what advice it would be best, in the interests of M. de Talleyrand, to give him. He fears—and I think with reason—the isolation, the ennui of the provinces, and the slackness of country life. Paris he thinks impossible, as he would there be invested in the eyes of the people with political responsibilities which it would not be either in his interest or in his power to discharge. On the other hand, he is under no illusions as to the gravity and the difficulty of the situation which he would find on his return to London, and which would be aggravated by the character of the people with whom he would have to deal on both sides of the Channel.