Memoirs of the Duchesse De Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1841-1850

Rochecotte, July 10, 1842.– M. de la Besnardière came yesterday to spend a few hours here in the interval between the formation of committees and a vote of the electoral college of Tours. This department, which is generally so peaceful, has never been in such a ferment.

Rochecotte, July 11, 1842.– The great news of the district is that M. Crémieux, a Jewish lawyer, has been elected by a majority of thirty-five votes. M. Crémieux is a stranger to the district with which he has no connection. The result is really inexplicable unless it is due to his oratorical powers, for like a true lawyer he has talked so many hours on end that he filled the country people with admiration. If a similar result occurs at Loches, our department will be represented entirely by the Left. The Ministry, which will not admit its total neglect of the Prefect's requirements, will then blame M. d'Entraigues and perhaps we shall lose him, which would grieve me greatly. Moreover, these elections were thought likely to strengthen the Conservative reaction and if this expectation is falsified, the outlook will be extremely gloomy.

Rochecotte, July 12, 1842.– I have had a call from Dr. Orye and from M. de Quinemont. Both gave me a description of the disgraceful electoral scenes at Chinon, where M. Crémieux was carried shoulder high by the scum of the populace, who were unfortunately joined by Legitimists from the left bank of the Loire, in which district they are very numerous. The country electors were also largely influenced by the fact that they heard M. Crémieux speak for three hours on end without blowing his nose, spitting, or coughing, which they thought magnificent. I am very anxious to learn the general result of this reaction, which may have grave and serious consequences.

Rochecotte, July 14, 1842.– Alava came back here yesterday, and is full of election stories from Tours. Many disgraceful incidents took place. According to the newspapers, however, it seems that upon the general result of the elections the Ministry will have gained a few votes, and it is much that they have lost none. I must confess that I am very anxious to learn the final figures.

Rochecotte, July 15, 1842.– M. de Chalais had just arrived yesterday when I was expecting the Prefect, but instead of him a courier rode up whom he had sent to bring me the terrible news which has overwhelmed me, the news that the Duc d'Orléans was dead, in consequence of a fall from his carriage. I know no details except that he died at Neuilly on July 13, the day before yesterday, at half-past four in the afternoon. The accident took place the same day at midday at Sablonville. My thoughts are entirely occupied with this sad event, both as a matter of personal loss and as a public disaster. How will a long Regency be possible in a country so disturbed as France now is? Personally, I have to regret the friendship of which the young Prince had given me such honourable and flattering proofs. It is also a loss for my son Valençay. I really do not know whether the Prince's wife and mother will survive this terrible blow.

Rochecotte, July 16, 1842.– M. de Chalais went away yesterday at the end of the morning, and I accompanied him as far as Langeais. When I returned I found the house full of neighbours who had come to learn the details of this disastrous death. It seems to me more unfortunate and more likely to produce serious consequences at every moment. The details in the Journal des Débats formed the only complete and official account. I am also told that passers-by saw the Prince stand up in his carriage and look in the front of him to see if the horse which had bolted would meet any obstacle upon the road. There was nothing in the way and the same spectators saw the Prince calmly resume his seat, then lean out of the carriage and look behind him, as though to speak to the servant who was on the seat behind; he, however, had already jumped down, as the seat was empty. Probably the Prince thought that the servant had fallen and wishing with courageous kindness to help him, he then jumped from the carriage, for he did not make his spring until he had seen that his servant was not in his seat.

Rochecotte, July 18, 1842.– No one writes to me from Paris where I have but few correspondents at this moment; moreover, everybody is overwhelmed by consternation, but the newspapers are interesting and I search with painful eagerness for every detail touching our poor Prince and his unhappy family.

I am sorry to see that each newspaper, according to its political opinions, classifies the newly elected deputies upon different principles. The Journal des Débats announces a majority of seventy-three for the Ministry; others reduce the majority to three, and some even say that the Ministry is in a minority.

I also see that the press is already beginning to discuss the different forms of Regency, though the terms of the law in which the Government is preparing to deal with the question are not yet known. When the first shock has passed we shall see many sad results.

Rochecotte, July 19, 1842.– Yesterday I received a heartrending letter from Madame Adélaïde. It is very good of her to have written so clearly. I had sent her a letter but did not expect any reply. M. de Boismilon, the secretary of the Duc d'Orléans, has also written a letter containing many details. No one as yet can think or speak of anything but the death of this unhappy young Prince.

M. d'Entraigues arrived here to-day; he will leave me to-morrow, for at the present moment every official is anxious to be at his post. He is very despondent on many accounts. The radicals of Tours have already given a banquet and did not scruple to express their delight at the death of the Duc d'Orléans.

Rochecotte, July 21, 1842.– Every one is agreed in predicting the fall of the Ministry as likely to occur immediately and M. Molé's name is in every mouth.

The Council wished the Duc d'Orléans to be buried at Saint-Denis, but the Queen has insisted upon Dreux. I think she is wrong.

Rochecotte, July 22, 1842.– I can think of nothing but the gloomy palace of Neuilly. The Queen is sublime; she spends days and nights in the chapel on her knees by the coffin. The King's time is divided between business and mourning. The Duchesse d'Orléans derives strength from her undaunted Methodist principles. The will of the poor Prince is said to be an admirable document: it treats the question of the Regency in full and the solution is in favour of the Duc de Nemours. The Duc d'Orléans had no very high opinion of his brother and he therefore showed an entire preference for the male sex and the right of primogeniture. At the same time the Duc de Nemours should be given his due: when the doctor Chomel met him and told him the details of an event of which he only knew the terrible telegraphic summary, he fainted and could not be brought round for a long time. His grief does him honour and is entirely justified by this dreadful loss; for the Duc d'Orléans whom I knew very well, was distinguished both as a Prince and as a man upon the whole, in spite of certain faults of mind and character. His good and striking qualities were numerous: for instance he had a profound respect for the responsibility which had fallen to him; his clear insight had taught him the necessity of a dignified bearing and he would have sacrificed at no price what he had gained in this respect; his judgment, if somewhat restless, was broad, rapid and fruitful in result; his habits of mind were marked by a certain depression, though he would never be discouraged; constantly thinking of the future, he was always preparing for it, though he had little real belief in it; his generosity was with him a point of pride, as also was the certainty and loyalty of his friendship; though by no means an emotional character, his courtesy made people forget his want of sensitiveness which was not a dominant feature in him and was only visible upon rare occasions; he was most courteous to those in whom he recognised any outstanding quality; for such qualities he was ever in search and deferred to them with his accustomed good taste. His reign would have displayed many features which are now wanting; there would have been vigour, stimulus and enthusiasm. When once engaged upon a task he would never have retreated: that, indeed, would have been the great danger, but he would have learnt prudence by means of the circumspection which was already obvious in him, and there was every reason to believe that notwithstanding his impetuosity, he would have learnt upon the throne to resist rash impulses. At the present moment every one seems to understand that with the loss of this link in the royal chain we have lost the guarantee of our security, and that our heads and our property are worth less than they were before; so profound is this impression that the Ministry hopes to find in it a means of continuing in office, but this is not my opinion. When the first days of astonishment are over, political feeling will make its way once more into the Chamber of Deputies, and will pass votes in accordance with the trend of opinion which has been manifested in the elections. People are generally agreed that M. Molé's chances are good; M. Guizot and M. Thiers are out of the question for the moment.

My niece Fanny and her governess started for Paris yesterday where I shall follow them in a few days.

Rochecotte, July 23, 1842.– I spent yesterday in making some preparations for departure. The King is described as looking very ill, with his features contracted and his complexion ashen. The Duchesse d'Orléans has had the dead man's uniform, sword and scarf placed upon the bier now lying in the chapel of Neuilly. When the King first saw these emblems on the fifth day after the event, he burst into sobs so loud as to drown those of the mother and sisters. It is said that the Queen's grief almost deprived her of consciousness. The sorrow of the Duchesse d'Orléans is gentler or as some say calmer. The Duc de Nemours is said to be so upset as to be hardly recognisable. The painter Scheffer is painting a picture which will show the room in the inn where the terrible disaster of the 13th was concluded. The Queen continually says to any one she sees, "Pray for him." Her despair is greatly increased by the thought that her son died before he could fulfil his religious duties. Not a single carriage enters the court of Neuilly and everything there seems to be walled up as if in a tomb.

Rochecotte, July 24, 1842.– My letters say that nothing was more mournful than the reception of the visits of condolence. The King sobbed as one who could not restrain himself. The political horizon is already growing dark with clouds. I shall certainly start for Paris to-morrow morning.

Paris, July 27, 1842.– I have already seen a large number of people: first of all Valençay and Fanny, as they were coming back from the royal reception, where the King's sobs rent everybody's heart. Every one is talking of the infinite grief of the Royal Family and the unpopularity of M. Guizot; however, M. Molé does not think he will be overthrown in the short session of the Chambers now impending.

Paris, July 28, 1842.– Yesterday morning was a very painful time: most of it I spent at Neuilly and stayed more than an hour with Madame Adélaïde who deeply touched me with her kindness. She treated me as the one who regretted the poor Prince most profoundly apart from her own family. She took me into the little chapel which is almost entirely filled by the bier and is entered by very few people, to pray and sprinkle holy water. This mark of kindness is largely due to the fact that in the will of the dead Prince, very honourable reference is made to myself, to judge from the words of his aunt, while a souvenir which he has left me is also mentioned. Madame gave me no other details because, as she said, the Duchesse d'Orléans wished to give me them herself. I am to see both her and the King and Queen after the funeral. The sadness at Neuilly is impossible to describe. It is a vast tomb and a visitor would think himself in a mausoleum. By the Queen's desire the psalms of the priests are continued day and night: they can be heard in every part of the castle with terribly gloomy effect; every face is downcast and tear-stained.

When I returned home I found M. de Barante, the Duc de Noailles and M. de Salvandy who were waiting for me. I heard no news from them except that M. Thiers, who wishes to secure his position and his favour with the King, is exhorting the Left to a mild and moderate attitude. There is an official despatch from M. de Flahaut who says that in consequence of his fall last year the Duc de Bordeaux is not only permanently lame but that an abscess has formed in his thigh which will not allow him to go to Trieste for the sea bathing and that he has countermanded the house which he had taken there. Berlin and Vienna have displayed a very correct attitude on receiving the news of the death of the Duc d'Orléans.

I then had a long interview with poor Boismilon who is overwhelmed by the death of his Prince. The evening before the accident the Duc d'Orléans, who was preparing for camp, said to his old German valet who has never left him, "My dear Holder, you are getting worn out; come with me this time only and then I know a position where you will be able to rest without leaving me; I will ask the King to appoint you keeper of the vault of Dreux." Such were the actual words, for Boismilon was there and heard them.

Sainte-Aulaire came to talk to me to-day. He has a great admiration for England but regrets the bad relations subsisting between the two Governments and says that ours is absolutely in the wrong. He says that if things go on as they have done the Embassies of London and Paris will be occupied only by Chargés d'Affaires.

The Duc de Noailles is wearing mourning and receiving letters at Neuilly on grounds of cousinship. He believes that the Duc de Poix has written to the King on the occasion of this sad event. The Legitimist party is greatly shattered and disunited, and had it not been for the death of the Duc d'Orléans, which has shaken all confidence in the stability and permanence of the present state of things, most of the Legitimists would have rallied. As things are, unless the condition of the Duc de Bordeaux becomes worse, and this seems to be possible, I see little chance of an agreement, although the Legitimists do not follow any definite system or direction. It is simply another element of anarchy.

Paris, July 30, 1842.– M. Royer-Collard came to see me yesterday. In character I think him precisely what he has been in recent years, but physically he is greatly changed. This he feels himself and thinks chiefly of the life beyond.

To-day the remains of the Prince Royal were solemnly carried to Paris. It was a quiet, grave and calm ceremony in which the clergy took a very large part; the first time for twelve years that the clergy have appeared in public. The experiment produced no bad result. All the shops were and are closed.

Yesterday I heard that M. de Zea has lost all credit and favour with Queen Christina. The Infanta Carlotta has so attracted her niece Isabella, that Espartero is becoming anxious; he wishes to send this formidable Infanta away from Madrid, and the ladies concerned in this intimacy have already been removed from the neighbourhood of the young Queen.

The Duchesse d'Orléans shows not the smallest regret at the loss of the Regency: her thoughts are entirely occupied with her position as guardian of her children and with her rights as mother; she wishes to have full liberty of action on both of these accounts and to smooth down beforehand any difficulty or controversy on this matter, both for the present and for the future, which the King's death will complicate and make more important.

Paris, August 1, 1842.– Yesterday I called upon the Marquise de Jaucourt whom I found in a poor state of health. She had heard yesterday evening from the Prefect of the Seine that the brothers of the Prince Royal had run great risks during the transference of his remains to Paris: barrels of gunpowder had been placed in position to blow them up, but the matter was discovered in time and no sensation will be made. The poor Queen daily receives anonymous letters which state that assassins are dogging the King to a greater extent than ever. What dreadful monsters!

Paris, August 2, 1842.– The King has had a somewhat lively interview with M. Molé, and reproached him with bringing disunion and discord upon the Conservative party: M. Molé replied that he was sorry to displease the King, but regretted that he could not obey him, as the immediate safety of France depended upon the fall of M. Guizot. Madame de Lieven is embittered by this reply, and is even less self-restrained than before.

The Duchesse d'Orléans causes some astonishment by her anxiety concerning her position. She shows no wish to be the Regent of the minority, but seems anxious to hold that position when the majority is attained, which will be fixed or has been proposed at the limit of eighteen years. There are many intrigues in progress and all minds are active.

The Dauphine was to go to Vienna for the birthday of the Emperor as usual, but on learning of the death of the Duc d'Orléans she wrote to excuse herself, and to say that in such circumstances she could not appear at any festivity and would stay in the country. I think she has shown excellent dignity and good taste.

Paris, August 4, 1842.– The ceremony at Notre Dame was magnificent, splendid, simple and imposing. There was no untoward incident except the noisy chattering of the deputies; and M. Laffitte, whose duty it was as the oldest member of the Chamber to sprinkle holy water on the bier, bowed neither to the Archbishop, from whom he took the sprinkler, nor to the coffin. The Duc de Nemours looked very handsome and bowed most gracefully. The same is true of the Prince de Joinville also, but not of the other two princes. Visconti had decorated and arranged Notre Dame most successfully, and the black drapery increased the effect of the noble architecture instead of hiding it. The plain-song, far from spoiling the effect, was more suitable than any other form would have been, so well was it performed. There was indeed nothing to criticise, and if every one did not feel the same degree of emotion, emotion was at least visible in every case.

My niece Hohenthal writes from Teplitz to say that the Duc de Bordeaux is receiving much benefit from the mineral waters and the baths, but people were disagreeably surprised to see him at the play on the very evening when the news of the death of the Duc d'Orléans arrived.

Paris, August 5, 1842.– Yesterday I went to the Sacré Cœur to say farewell to Madame de Gramont. She had just received letters from Kirchberg68 which told her that the day after the news of the Duc d'Orléans' death had arrived a black mass was said at which the Dauphin, the Dauphine and Mademoiselle had both been present and had communicated, in prayer for the soul of the deceased. I have heard of nothing more touching or more Christian.

From the Rue de Varennes I went to say good-bye to the Princesse de Lieven at Beauséjour. I found her greatly agitated by the Ministerial crisis which is in the air, very angry with M. Molé, and delighted because the King was exasperated with him. She also asserted that M. Guizot will not retire until he has induced the Chamber to pass a definite vote expressing what is known as his unpopularity: she also says that he will not retire when an opposition President has been nominated; that he will oppose the Address and the law upon the Regency; that he will then demand explanations from the Chamber, and that the Chamber will only dissolve when he has been directly and clearly rejected. The King wishes that such shall be the course of events.

M. Royer-Collard came to see me this morning; he was tired, spoke of his approaching death, and gave me the impression that he felt it to be at hand. This was depressing, and I was not in good spirits at Maffliers where, in company with M. de Valençay, I dined with the poor Périgords, whose household has been greatly saddened by the failing health of Madame d'Arenberg.

Paris, August 7, 1842.– Yesterday at two o'clock I went to Neuilly in accordance with the orders of Madame Adélaïde. I took my leave of her, and as the King was kind enough to wish to see me, he came into his sister's rooms. I found him looking very ill, and was the more moved to compassion as his grief is manifested most naturally. Sometimes he will speak of indifferent subjects, and then a word will recall his loss and he weeps bitterly. The Queen's grief is said to be the most vehement. She was so good, as was also the Duchesse d'Orléans, as to send very kind messages and regrets that she could not see me, but they feared, and with reason, that many other ladies might also ask an audience of them if they made any exception. Since her misfortune the Queen has seen no one except her family, her household and the Ministers.

After leaving Madame I went to see Mesdames de Dolomieu and de Montjoye. The former was out, but the latter was at home. She showed me a copy of a letter written to the Queen by one of her chaplain-bishops which was admirably consoling, and touched me greatly. The Queen is growing calmer upon this terrible question, the more so as a few weeks before his death, when the Duc d'Orléans was alone with his mother one day, he told her that she was wrong if she thought him indifferent upon religious matters and could be assured that his ideas in that respect had greatly changed.

The King has just received news from St. Petersburg from M. Périer. His despatch says that the Emperor Nicholas has assumed mourning without waiting for official notifications, and that he had sent Count Nesselrode to M. Périer with his condolences, telling him he was ordered to write a despatch to M. de Kisseleff, which the latter would convey to M. Guizot, containing the same compliments. Similar forms were observed upon the occasion of the death of the Duchess of Würtemberg. Apart from this no special notifications have passed between the two Courts. This breach of etiquette was begun by Russia at the time of the death of the Grand Duke Constantine, the first event of the kind since 1830, and one which the Russian Court did not notify to ourselves according to the old forms adopted in such circumstances.

Jeurs, August 9, 1842.– I left Paris yesterday after lunch. The heat was great but it is cooler here. M. and Madame Mollien are as kind as ever, but I found him greatly changed.

Maintenon, August 11, 1842.– I arrived here yesterday in time for dinner, after leaving the good Molliens in the morning, who had showed me their invariable hospitality. Before my departure letters from Neuilly had reached Jeurs stating that the Royal Family would spend the month of September at the town of Eu.

There is an ancient celebrity here in the person of Madame Récamier, who cannot speak in consequence of a neuralgic affection in her face. She wears a perpetual smile which is somewhat wearying. M. Ampère, a distinguished professor and a great favourite of Madame Récamier who takes him about with her, is a witty and lively character, though with no distinction of manner. M. Brifaut, a pale member of the Academy and also a satellite of Madame Récamier, is here reading old tragedies of his own composition. There are also here M. de Vérac who is growing very deaf, and Madame de Janson, sister-in-law of the Bishop of Nancy and sister of the Duchesse de Noailles, intellectual and clever but shy and reserved.

Rochecotte, August 16, 1842.– I left Bonnétable the day before yesterday after the Sunday service and Tours yesterday after the mass of the Assumption, and lunched at the Prefect's house. I thought I should arrive roasted. I can never remember being so hot in my life.

I hear from Vienna that Prince Metternich has gone to Königwarth, that he has then to reach the banks of the Rhine at the same time as the King of Prussia, but that he is by no means well, looks ill and has grown very thin. Barante writes as follows: "I have some further details concerning the impression produced upon the Emperor by the death of the Duc d'Orléans. It was very keen. Horace Vernet, who arrived the other day from St. Petersburg and who was formerly on intimate terms with him, told me of some assertions remarkable even from the political point of view. I am not greatly surprised at his narratives; at other times and on other occasions the Emperor has expressed himself in nearly the same terms, but he has adopted a position, established it by certain forms without any consequent inconvenience to himself and so will not change. However, he does not wish to aggravate matters, and a mutual return of ambassadors will be arranged."