French statesman 1754

A project of the Anne S. Born into the high nobility, he was early destined for the Roman Catholic Church because of a childhood accident that left him partially lame.

Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand French Statesman An excommunicated bishop Talleyrand became an extraordinary diplomat, serving first as Foreign Minister during the French Revolution and later under Napoleon until resigning in At the Congress of Vienna he secured favourable terms for France. In he served as French ambassador to England. At that time, Harrison, governor of the Indiana territory, induced a number of individual tribes to give up great areas in the region that is now Indiana and Illinois. At a council in Vincennes in , Tecumseh demanded that land be returned to the Indians.

French statesman 1754

Talleyrand remains the classic case of a successful turncoat in politics. For half a century he served every French regime except that of the Revolutionary "Terror. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand was a masterful diplomat of the old school as ambassador and foreign minister. Admired and often distrusted, sometimes even feared by those he served, he was not easily replaced as a negotiator of infinite wiles. Talleyrand has been an extraordinarily difficult figure for historians to understand and appraise. His moral corruption is beyond question: he was an unabashed liar and deceiver; he not only took but sought bribes from those with whom he was negotiating; and he lived with a niece as his mistress for decades. He repeatedly shifted political allegiance without visible compunction and possessed no political principle on which he would stand firm to the last; and he was also at least technically guilty of treason, engaging in secret negotiations with the public enemies of his country while in its service. Yet closer scrutiny of what Talleyrand did shows an apparent steady purpose beneath the crust of arrogant contempt for the ordinary standards of mankind's judgment, expressed in the comment attributed to him on the kidnaping and execution of the Duc d'Enghien at Napoleon's command: "It was worse than a crime, it was a mistake. His fidelity to whichever persons happened to be at the head of the French state lasted at best only as long as their power, but this matchless cynic seems to have possessed genuine devotion for France as a country, and his apparent treasons can be seen as the products of a higher loyalty. Yet this picture of him may be false, for Talleyrand destroyed many of the records by which the truth regarding his career could have been more closely reached. It is easier to decide his guilt than to specify what he was guilty of, easier to affirm his deeper innocence than to prove it.

Revol Villeroy A. Succeeded by Marc Antoine Bourdon de Vatry. Collections Number Description Held by Reference Further information 1 misc corresp and papers.

After studying theology, he became Agent-General of the Clergy in In , just before the French Revolution , he became Bishop of Autun. He worked at the highest levels of successive French governments, most commonly as foreign minister or in some other diplomatic capacity. Those Talleyrand served often distrusted him but, like Napoleon, found him extremely useful. The name "Talleyrand" has become a byword for crafty, cynical diplomacy. He was Napoleon's chief diplomat during the years when French military victories brought one European state after another under French hegemony. However, most of the time, Talleyrand worked for peace so as to consolidate France's gains.

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French statesman 1754

Alexandre Maurice Blanc de Lanautte, Comte d'Hauterive — , a French statesman and diplomat, was born at Aspres Hautes-Alpes on the 14 April and educated at Grenoble , where he became a professor. Later, he held a similar position at Tours , where he attracted the attention of the duc de Choiseul , who invited him to visit him at Chanteloup. Hauterive came into contact with noblemen who visited the duke. One of them, the comte de Choiseul-Gouffier , took Hauterive with him on his appointment as ambassador to Constantinople in Hauterive was enriched for a time by his marriage with a widow, Madame de Marchais, but was ruined by the French Revolution. In , he applied for and received the post of consul at New York. Under the Consulate, however, he was accused of embezzlement and recalled.

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In his Memoirs , he linked this infirmity to an accident at age four, but recent research has shown that his limp was in fact congenital. In , the influence of Talleyrand's father and family overcame the King's dislike and obtained his appointment as Bishop of Autun , with a stipend of 22, livres. Talleyrand swore "that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to…the United States of America… " [22] Burr would later seek similar refuge in Talleyrand's home during his self-imposed European exile — In office 9 July — 26 September Emmerich Joseph de Dalberg. Yves-Alexandre de Marbeuf. Minister of Foreign Affairs — Talleyrand was instrumental in the completion of the Treaty of Amiens in Grand Chamberlain of France — France and other European countries were invited to attend, but were not allowed to influence the process.

Coming from a family of high nobility, suffering from a club foot, he was oriented by his family towards an ecclesiastical career in order to allow him to succeed his uncle, the archbishop of Rheims: ordained priest in , he was appointed in bishop of Autun.

Parliamentary Debates Hansard , H. This later was used as the site of imprisonment of the Spanish royal family in —, after Napoleon's invasion of Spain. Napoleon Bonaparte, whose expedition to Egypt Talleyrand had sponsored and whom he helped to come to power in the coup d'etat of 18 Brumaire Nov. More From encyclopedia. Add MS He offered to resign from the council in early , but Napoleon refused the move. Martin's Press. He proposed the appropriation of church lands by the state, endorsed the civil constitution of the clergy, and was excommunicated by the pope after consecrating two "constitutional" bishops. Other significant figures and factions. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. After resigning from his position as ambassador in London in November , Talleyrand stopped playing an active role in French politics. Grand Chamberlain of France — Succeeded by Louis-Mathias.