Talleyrand in thwarting his ambitious habit, commenced a general conversadesigns at Vienna, and still more at tion on the state of the negotiation, the Treaty of the 5th January, con- and the mutual relations of the allied cocted by Talleyrand between Eng- powers. He observed that he was land, Austria, and France, against aware of the impossibility of disuniting Russia and Prussia. the four powers, now more closely alFour days after receiving the note, lied than ever, and that no resource declaring the demands of the allied remained but to have recourse to the powers, and three days after he had friendly aid of the Emperor Alexansent the answer above quoted, Talley- der. « Are you, then, gentlemen," rand resigned. He was driven from continued the king, “in a condition to office by the intemperate excesses of adopt such a course with any prospect the party of the Restoration, and the of a favourable result ?" Talleyrand, unbridled exactions of the invading easily perceiving the drift of this quespowers. He quitted the government be. tion, answered without hesitation, that cause, instead of enlarging and consoli- neither himself nor his colleagues were dating the liberties of the people, it personally agreeable to the Czar, and gave way to an immoderate spirit of that such a proceeding as that proposreaction; because, instead of maintain- ed by his majesty would be attended ing the integrity of France, as settled with great difficulties on their parts. in 1814, it permitted unresistingly, its This answer seemed to give great redismemberment; because, instead of lief to the king, who did not dissemble delivering the country from the pre- his satisfaction, and added sence of the invader, a permanent fo- “I can easily believe, gentlemen, reign garrison was established in it. what you tell me. The Emperor of He quitted power, in a word, because Russia has not concealed from me the he would not consent to promote the fact, that if I had entrusted the direcviolence of the counter-revolutionary tion of my government to other hands, party, nor to sign treaties which he the most favourable conditions would regarded as an humiliation to his have been granted to me, and that he country. He resigned office on the would himself have protected the in24th of September, 1815, two months terests of France in the councils of before the final signature and ratifica- the allies, especially against the exaction of a treaty which cost France tions of Prussia, which was most eighty millions sterling, and deprived pressing in her demands.” her of more territory than she had “ In that case,” Talleyrand promptgained in 1814. ly answered, “ I entreat your majesty The last interview of Louis XVIII. to allow me to withdraw from your with Talleyrand and his colleagues, councils, that your majesty may be which led to the reignation of the ca- free to place your confidence in more binet, is too characteristic of the sub- worthy hands." ject of this notice to be omitted here. The Duke de Dalberg and Baron When Talleyrand perceived in the Louis also tendered their resignations. manner of the king, and the move- The King resumed—“ You see how ments within the chateau, that a secret I am constrained by circumstances. intrigue was in progress, directed I thank you for your zeal. You are against him in the royal cabinet, he all free from blame, and nothing predecided at once that he would bring vents you from remaining unmolested the matter to a crisis. With this in Paris.” view, he caused a new diplomatic note, The indignation of Talleyrand was an ultimatum, to be prepared by his excited to an unusual pitch by the last secretary, M. Labernardière, designed expression, proceeding from one who to be transmitted to the plenipotentia- had been raised by his personal zeal ries of the allied powers, in case it and abilities to the throne of one of should receive the royal sanction. He the greatest nations of the globe. He presented himself, accompanied by the replied with a warmth which seldom principal ministers, his colleagues, marked his words or gestures with this note to the king. After the “ I have had the good fortune to note had been read by Talleyrand, render your majesty such services as Louis XVIII., without commenting are not likely to be forgotten, and I upon it, much less proceeding to cor- kuow not what should render it neces. rect or alter it, as was his invariable sary for me to leave Paris. I will re. main here, and shall be only too happy of royal ingratitude would excite at if your majesty's advisers may not home and abroad, declared to his mafollow a course which may compromise jesty that M. Talleyrand could not be your dynasty, and peril the country.” dismissed like any other minister, con The king affected not to attend to sidering the vast services he had renthese words, and uttering some com- dered to the House of Bourbon in mon-places of royal courtesy, brought 1814, and that no less a reward was the audience to a close. due to him. The Duke of Wellington, On leaving the king, Talleyrand, also, seeing with unmixed regret the highly excited, observed aloud to his injustice and ingratitude contemplated colleagues towards one who had been the source “ We have been tricked. The in- of such great benefits, interfered for trigue has long been planned." the same purpose. The retirement of Talleyrand was Talleyrand reposed in the splendour a source of infinite relief to Louis of his sinecure, and enjoyed, in his XVIII., who, notwithstanding all he magnificent hotel in the Rue St. Floowed to the great diplomatist, never rentin, all the social pleasures and high could conquer his antipathy towards consideration with which his great rehim. The continual presence and pre- putation, historic recollections, brildominant influence of an understand- liant wit, and ample wealth, surrounding so superior was more than Louis ed him. His office was the highest could endure. He complained, ac- dignity of the court. Being asked one cordingly, to his more intimate friends, day in what his functions consisted, he of the sway which Talleyrand exer- replied, smilingcised, rendered only more intolerable " In the first place, I am privileged by the perfect courtesy of manner and to put on the panels of my coach a respectful deference with which it was coat of arms, consisting of two gilt accompanied The king complained keys, crossed just like his holiness the that the minister had a way of ten- Pope. In the next place, it is I who dering advice which gave it the effect have the honor of handing his shirt of command. He would place a re- to his majesty, This is an honor port or an ordonnance on the table which I only yield to princes of the before Louis, and would merely say blood royal, or legitimate sovereigns. to him—“I assure your majesty that At the solemnity of the coronation, I this is quite indispensable.” draw the boots on his majesty, and put The king signed, but champed the on his tunic. Thus, you see, I limit bit. One day being unable to repress myself to the royal toilet. But all his vexation at his ascendancy, he said this is confined to the coronation, and to one of his favourites we shall not have one under this “ M. Talleyrand has hitherto had reign." all the tricks, but I have reserved my Although M. Talleyrand thus spoke trumps for him." with a tone of levity of his functions, When the opportunity occurred, he he nevertheless adhered with singular accordingly lost no time in playing his tenacity to their most minute observ. trumps, and winning the trick. ances ; none of his prerogatives were On his retirement, besides receiving permitted to become dormant. He an autograph letter of thanks from the never was absent from the Royal table, king for his services, he was appointed where he assumed his seat of honour to the highest court dignity, not con- behind the king's chair. On these ocnected with the political administra- casions it was the pleasure of Louis tion---that of Grand Chamberlain, an to inflict on such of his household as office which he formerly held under did not enjoy his personal favour an the Empire. The salary of this splen- incessant series of petty annoyances, by did sinecure was an hundred thousand word and look. All this Talleyrand francs, equivalent to four thousand bore with the imperturbable serenity pounds sterling. This act of justice of manner which characterised him. was forced upon Louis XVIII. by the He never forgot his position, or comDuke de Richelieu, who succeeded promised his dignity. He loved to Talleyrand as Premier. The king was appear on all public occasions in the strongly averse to it. The minister, discharge of the ceremonials of his of. however, plainly foreseeing the disgust fice, as if to throw into oblivion his and indignation which so signal an act real disfavour in the chateau ; and it was no small delight to him to count for the rough draft of the intended oramong the persons subordinate to him donnances, provided it were delivered the Duke de Richelieu, one of the first to him before their publication. The gentlemen of the chamber, who suc- fifty thousand francs were actually paid, ceeded him as President of the Coun- and the speculator played with his excil of Ministers. pected success for the fall. Rothschild, When Talleyrand would return to notwithstanding his influence, and exhis hotel, from these state observances, tensive sources of information, was he never failed to indemnify himself mistaken, and operated for the rise, at for the self-control he was compelled the moment when the country was to exert. There he was the centre, on the brink of a revolution. The round which assembled the most dis- Cabinet was, in reality, divided, and tinguished members of the constitu- Rothschild rested his faith on the mic tional opposition. He did not scruple nority. Although the ministers were to make the government of the Resto- unanimous as to the necessity for the ration, of which he was the founder ordonnances, and as to the right of the and creator, the victim of his most crown to issue them, they were divided bitter bon-mots. As a member of the as to the time at which the measure opposition, in the Chamber of Peers, should be executed, and Rothschild he delivered only two speeches, one acted on the aith of those who were against the censorship of the press, and of opinion that it ought to be postthe other against the Spanish war. poned for several weeks. On the night These produced an effect, which was so of the 25th July, Talleyrand sent for much the greater because of the rare one of his intimate friends, whose for. occasions on which he addressed the tune was largely involved in the funds, Chamber. Talleyrand, however, was and informed him, that in the course not a great parliamentary orator. The of the day he had gone to St. Cloud, Chamber was not the arena in which to seek an audience of the King, to he shone. His mots uttered in the sa- confer with him on the subject of the lons will be repeated when his most apprehensions entertained by England, successful efforts in parliament will be to which proceeding he had been, forgotten. doubtless, prompted by the English The revolution of July, and its con- embassy, of which, as well as the sequences, soon recalled Talleyrand British Cabinet, he had the confidence. from his retirement, and brought him He was not allowed to see his Majesty. once more, and for the last time, on The familiars of the Chateau managed the great stage of European politics. matters so, that he was obliged to reWith his usual instinctive sagacity, he turn to Paris without the audience foresaw the fall of the elder branch of which he sought, and, from what he the Bourbons. When the events which had observed, he had no doubt that immediately preceded that catastrophe the crisis was imminent. "Jouez à la were developing themselves, the agita- baisse,” said he to his friend—“on le tion on the Bourse was extreme, and peut. His friend did so, and was sucspeculation assumed vast proportions. cessful. A coup d'etat had long been expected, It may easily be imagined with what and financiers left no effort untried to interest the retired minister and di. gain the earliest and most correct in- plomate, and the chief actor in all the formation of the movements of the Ca- great revolutions of the last half cenbinet and the Chateau. The emissaries tury, observed the progress of the of the great bankers besieged all the "emeutes" which ended in the expul. avenues of the throne. The sacred sion of that dynasty, in the overthrow functionaries of the church were not of which, in 1790, and the restoration left untried, and the gold of commerce of which, in 1814-15, he had so great was directed to elicit the disclosures of a share. On the day of the 29th July, the confessional. Those who had the after the troops of the line had mani. ear of the ministers were subsidised. fested their indisposition to fire upon It has since became known, that in one the people, and the Swiss mercenaries instance a great financier, who had had been repulsed in the courts of the risen to wealth under the Empire, and Louvre and the Place du Carousel, under the Restoration, had actually a general retrogade movement, marked executed articles of agreement before by much disorder, took place, and the a notary, to pay fifty thousand francs armed force retreated, pell- mell, through the garden of the Tuilleries, of a line of kings-the acknowledged the Rue de Rivoli, the Place Louis and legitimate sovereign of FranceXV., now called the Place de la Con- was still within a few leagues of corde, towards the Champs Elysées Paris, with an army of twelve thousand and the Barrière de l'Etoile. Talley- men, devoted to his orders. This sorand, in his salon, in which formerly vereign, the crown torn from whose sate the allied sovereigns, listened to head was now offered to the Duke of the confused noise. His valet, im- Orleans was, moreover, the near relapelled by irresistible curiosity, ventured tive, the kind friend, and even the be. to open one of the double casements nefactor of the duke. The duchess, which look upon the Place and the a conscientious and amiable lady, regarden. “ My God, Monsieur Kei. coiled with undissembled pain and disser!" exclaimed his more cautious gust from what appeared an act of master, from the inner extremity of baseness and ingratitude; not to menthe sumptuous apartment, " what tion the danger attending it, in the are you about ?-are you going to contingency of any reaction or relaxaexpose the hotel to be pillaged?"- tion on the part of the populace, which “ Fear nothing,” responded M. Kei- had obtained a momentary success. ser, “ the troops are in full re- The difficulty of the duke, amidst these treat, but are not pursued by the po- conflicting considerations, was extreme. pulace.” “ Indeed!” observed Talley- The inconveniences of a premature rand, with a contemplative air ; and, acceptance of the crown on the one walking slowly to the magnificent time- hand, and the hazard of letting it slip piece, which formed part of the orna- from his brows by a formal refusal on ments over the fire-place, he paused, the other hand, cruelly embarrassed and added in a solemn tone_" Take a him. Being, however, urgently pressed note, that on the 29th of July, 1830, by the deputation, he solicited a few at five minutes past twelve, the elder minutes' delay, that he might obtain branch of the Bourbons ceased to counsel in so important an emergency, reign in France.” and withdrew with M. Sebastiani to In the proceedings of the Three his cabinet. Shut up there, the duchess Days Talleyrand took no share. It trembling with apprehension at his side, was a question between the govern- as well as Madame Adelaide, his sister, ment and the people, and Talleyrand who had already, under the same roof, was no tribune. Had sovereigns been witnessed the drama of the great Reparties to the affray, he would have volution, he decided on taking the been called to take a prominent part. counsel of the safest and most sagaBut, as matters stood, he was hostile cious living adviser. With this purto the dynasty, and unsuited to the pose he despatched M. Sebastiani to the populace. When, however, soon after- Rue St. Florentin with a verbal mission, wards, the throne, vacated by the un- to obtain the counsel of the great difortunate Charles X., was offered to plomate. When M. Sebastiani arrived the Duke of Orleans, that personage at the hotel, he was instantly ushered would not venture to act in so impor- into the dressing-room of Talleyrand, tant a matter without the counsel of who was then at his toilet. His valet the Hotel de St. Florentin. On the 31st being dismissed, and the object of his July, at eight o'clock in the morning, visit being briefly stated by the envoy a deputation from the Chamber of from the Palais Royal, Talleyrand Deputies presented itself at the Palais paused for a moment with an air of Royal. M. Sebastiani, on its arrival, meditation, but it was only for a moentered the cabinet of the Duke of ment—when he raised his eye to the Orleans, and informed him of its ar- messenger, with his usual apathetic rival. The moment was critical, and manner, and said _" QU'IL ACCEPTE." even the prudence and sagacity of Ten minutes after this, the Duke of Louis Philippe did not inspire him Orleans re-appeared from his cabinet in with sufficient self-reliance to prompt the salon, where the deputation waited, him to an independent decision on the and with promptitude of manner, and course to be adopted. A crown was an air of decision, signified his acceptproffered to him and his posterity—a ance of the sovereignty of France. gift not to be lightly rejected. On the The proclamation was drawn up, other hand, Charles the Tenth, the and signed on the spot, and on the direct descendant and representative same day was published in Paris. LEGAL EDUCATION. * a а ac That “there is no royal road to learn. a man in a position, than which, in the ing” is an ancient adage. True, as whole circle of human affairs, there is applied to the generality of subjects none more arduous—where the life, the within the range of the human intel- liberty, or the fortune of a fellow crealect-most true with respect to Law. ture may be committed to his hands“ Nil magnum est, sine labore,” was is the mastication of a certain number the maxim of the ablest and the most of dinners eaten at certain periods, accomplished lawyer that ever sat on and the course continued for a definite the woolsack. Avowedly and reso- number of years. lutely, with earnest and devoted spirit, did this great man work out his share • The science of jurisprudence,” says of our common destiny, leaving to Edmund Burke, “is the pride of the huthose who follow in the same career a man intellect, which, with all its de fects, redundancies, and errors, contains bright example to cheer and guide the collected reason of ages-combining them in their rugged and toilsome the principles of original justice with path. the infinite variety of human concerns.' To become a thorough lawyer, "one must live like a hermit, and work like The paths which approach this a horse,"is, we fear, but too true a de- science are of course beset with scription of the difficulties which beset innumerable difficulties, and although those who would aspire to eminence, in we hold with Lord Eldon, that they this profession, and the histories of are to be overcome but by labour these men who have attained distinc- alone, we are yet, we confess, unable tion afford a convincing proof of the to discover any rational cause why justness of this observation. A study these difficulties, enormous as they are, confined, for the most part, to th should be increased, and why that toil quisition of difficult and minute details should be multiplied a hundred-fold, -requiring, in order to gain a tho- in consequence of the complete and rough mastery of the subject, the most total want of some sound system of incessant and vigorous exercise of the legal education, which, without de. intellect, must necessarily be one of creasing the wholesome amount of laextreme difficulty ; and considering all bour absolutely essential for implantthis, it is a somewhat curious fact, that ing in the mind the principles and while to the members of almost every the rules of an abstruse science, would other profession, abundant opportu- yet have the effect of making the nities are afforded for acquiring a pro- amount of labour employed go furper and scientific knowledge of its de- ther, and be more profitable in the actails, we leave the young aspirant for quisition of knowledge. the honours of the bar to flounder al- We are glad to see that this subject most in a vast wilderness-a labyrinth, has at last attracted, in this country, without a clue. We wonder much the attention of sensible and compewhat would our Continental jurists tent men. Previous attempts had been say?- The Russian, whose course of made, not, however, calculated, in our preliminary studies occupies six years ; opinion, to effect the desired object, the German, who is under the neces- such systems must carry with them sity of a seven years' application to the the impress of the authority of men of learning of his profession; the French- eminence and consideration in their man or the American-all of whom profession, in order to possess the conhave to undergo a most searching and fidence of the public. notice of the trying ordeal—what would be the public will be attached to the pamphlet amazement of these men could they be upon legal education, by Mr. Joy, a got to understand (of which we enter- copy of which is now before us. We tain some doubt) that all that is re- know the writer to be a man well quired in these countries to establish qualified in every respect for fulfilling " Letters on the present state of Legal Education in England and Ireland.” By H. H. Joy, Esq. Dublin : Hodges and Smith. 1847. |