The diplomacy of Talleyrand
Congress of Vienna

  Talleyrand (Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord) was born in Paris in February 1754 into a family background of ancient nobility, wealth, and power, and with his father holding a high rank in the French Royal army.

  From infancy Talleyrand suffered from some physical distortion in his feet which proved to bring with it an impaired physical mobility. Given the circles, and the times, in which Talleyrand lived this inevitably placed some limitations on his likely future career. Talleyrand was even formally stripped of some of his birth rights (e.g. inheritance of titles and property) - these rights were passed to a younger brother who also became, in the estimation of their parents, the son through whom the aristocratic and military traditions of the ancient and prominent noble house of Talleyrand-Périgord were to be conveyed into the future.

  One of Talleyrand's uncles was an archbishop and, as his physical disability was not a disqualification for clerical life, he was educated in theology at the seminary of Saint Sulpice despite his not having had any religious vocation. He was ordained a priest in 1779, and in 1780 was appointed agent-general of the French clergy - a role that involved great responsibilities with the finances of the Church. In March 1789 Talleyrand was named Bishop of Autun. Later that year Talleyrand was present in the Estates General that convened at Versailles from May 1789 to make representations before the King in relation to how a deep financial crisis in the French Royal state should be addressed.

  There was an ancient tradition whereby an Estates General functioned in three sections - Aristocratic, Clerical, and Third Estate (or Commoner) - and Talleyrand initially opposed the proposal of 1789 that these three Estates should instead jointly convene as a National Assembly. Talleyrand found that, given the overall approach of those opposed to such a National Assembly and other reforms, he preferred to confine his own involvements to financial matters.

  In the event the initial meetings of the Estates General were followed by a number of developments over the following weeks including the formation of a National Assembly against the wishes of the King and by demands for a Constitution that would provide a legal framework for the governance of France as a Constitutional monarchy. In early August there was a dramatic renunciation of the previously feudal nature of French society. As the financing of the French state remained precarious Talleyrand, in turbulent times, proposed, on 10th October, that the lands of the church could be taken up by the Assembly into the service of the French nation.

  Talleyrand was one of the very few bishops of the Catholic Church who subscribed to the so-called Civil Constitution of the Clergy whereby the National Constituent Assembly sought to exercise authority over the Catholic church in France. In January 1791 Talleyrand resigned as Bishop of Autun and in March of that year was declared by the Pope to be an excommunicant.

  Robespierre and others secured the passing of a measure in the Constituent Assembly whereby members of that assembly would not be eligible for election to the assembly that immediately succeeded it. This meant that Talleyrand was faced with the necessity of finding an alternative outlet his talents and he sought entry into the world of diplomacy.
  In January 1792 Talleyrand was sent by the French government to London, where he conducted informal negotiations for a British-French alliance - he was able to tell his superiors that the general climate of opinion in Britain was, at that time, fairly favourable to France.

  In August 1792 at a time when the new French state was threatened with invasion the French monarchy (which had been compromised by unsuccessful efforts to flee to seek the protection of those who were now attempting to invade) was overthrown. In September 1792 there were some massacres of those within France who were believed to be opposed to the reforms secured by the revolution - many of these murdered persons were readily available to the hostility of their assailants as they had been living as prisoners.
  These developments tended to alienate British opinion. Talleyrand returned to England as a private citizen on 23rd September partly to escape the intensity of the course of events in France and partly in the hope of working towards preventing too wide a breach between France and Britain. Prior to his departure he received the appropriate passports signed by Danton.

  It happened that Talleyrand's private efforts at diplomacy were rendered ineffective by continued unprecedented developments in France including the execution of King Louis XVI. Active hostilities broke out between France and Great Britain in 1793 and Talleyrand was actually listed as an émigré by the French authorities. Such a designation had previously been applied to many Aristrocratic and other opponents of the revolution who had decided to leave France and hence carried portentous political implications.
  Talleyrand was also a suspect person in British eyes and as such was expelled from England in 1794. This expulsion prompted him to go to the United States where he was to live for many months up to November 1795.

  Talleyrand's eventual departure from the United States was prompted by his friends in France having secured a removal of his name from the list of émigrées. Upon his return to Europe Talleyrand landed in Hamburg and stayed several months with friends in the Germanies before returning to France in September 1796. In July 1797 he was appointed foreign minister under the Directory. This appointment being due in large part to the influence of Madame de Staël with the director Barras.

  In July 1799 Talleyrand resigned as foreign minister, and subsequently was instrumental in furthering Sieyès alliance with Napoleon Bonaparte leading up to the coup d'état of 9th November 1799 that established the rule of the Consulate under Napoleon, Sieyès and Ducos. Talleyrand was appointed as foreign minister. Before long Napoleon emerged as First Consul with Cambacérès and Lebrun as junior partners.

  In 1801-2 Talleyrand played a role in securing a Concordat between Napoleonic France and the Papacy. In June 1802 the Pope recognised that Talleyrand was no longer to be regarded as an excommunicant and further recognised him as having reverted from being an ordained person to being a secular person. All of this eventually allowing Talleyrand to marry his mistress Madame Grand (incidentally a divorcee) in September 1803.

  This marriage, it seems, took place at Napoleon's order - Napoleon made the case that Talleyrand's living openly with Madame Grand, whilst in an unmarried state, was a cause of scandal. Given that Talleyrand, as the foreign minister of France, had to interact in sensitive negotiations with the papacy and with foreign states and given that Madame Grand was often brought into social interactions with the wives of foreign diplomats it was desireable that the couple should enter into marriage.

  It is accepted that Talleyrand made a fortune out of traffiking in church lands on the east bank of the Rhine that were being secularised early in 1803 in order to compensate Princes of the (Holy Roman) Empire who had lost estates on the west bank of the Rhine to French expansionism.

  Napoleon often acted in ways that were not approved of by Talleyrand who was himself more inclined to moderation and to look to the future of France rather than that of Napoleon. Talleyrand had been responsible for much of the negotiation of the Peace of Amiens (signed March 1802) that was highly advantageous to France. Napoleon's continued aspirations contributed to the breakdown of this peace. He wanted to incorporate Piedmont into France whereas Talleyrand preferred that it should be restored to its legitimate ruler. In the event war was renewed in May 1803.

  The assumption of an Imperial title by Napoleon in May 1804 brought changes of title to many of his subordinates including Talleyrand who became Grand Chamberlain of the Empire. In these times the whole tenor of the French state was increasingly altered towards a new acceptance of titles of nobility, and of the awardance of military honours, and of a place for religion in the life of the state. Talleyrand worked toward the reconciliation of the new France - as formed by the revolution, with the legacy of old France - that had been continued from before 1789.
  He also hoped to work for the establishment of a peace - in his own words:-

  'to establish monarchical institutions in France which should guarantee the authority of the sovereign, to keep her within her just boundaries, and so handle the Powers of Europe as to make them forgive France her good fortune and her glory.'