Reminiscences of Prince Talleyrand, Volume 2 (of 2)Colmache, M., active 19th century
History
Reminiscences of Prince Talleyrand, Volume 2 (of 2)
Colmache, M., active 19th century
Talleyrand-Périgord, Charles Maurice de, prince de Bénévent, 1754-1838
The recognition of these rights is
at once the security of thrones and the guarantee of public freedom.
These rights may and can be enforced without popular convulsions; but,
in proportion as the rights of mankind are disavowed or withheld, the
more violent will be the struggles to recover them, and in the end
these struggles will prove triumphant. This is my opinion, and it will
remain unaltered to the latest day of my life.
LETTER TO HIS MAJESTY KING WILLIAM IV., FROM PRINCE TALLEYRAND, ON
HIS BEING APPOINTED AMBASSADOR FROM FRANCE.
“SIRE,—His Majesty the King of the French has been pleased to make me
the interpreter of the sentiments he cherishes for your Majesty.
“I have joyfully accepted a mission which gives so noble a direction to
the last steps of my long public career.
“Sire, amidst all the vicissitudes through which I have passed during
my long life—amidst all the changes of good and ill fortune I have
undergone during the last forty years, no circumstance has afforded
me such perfect gratification as the appointment which brings me back
to this happy country. But how great is the change between the period
when I was formerly here and the present time! The jealousies and
prejudices which so long divided France and England have given place to
enlightened sentiments of esteem and affection. Unity of feeling rivets
the bonds of amity between the two countries. England, like France,
repudiates the principle of intervention in the internal affairs of
neighbouring states; and the ambassador of a sovereign unanimously
chosen by a great nation, feels himself at home in a land of freedom,
as the missionary to a descendant of the illustrious house of Brunswick.
“I feel that I may with confidence implore your Majesty’s kind
consideration of the subjects which I am commanded to submit to your
attention, and I beg, Sire, to offer the homage of my profound respect.”
OPINION OF PRINCE TALLEYRAND ON THE PLAN OF LAW RELATIVE TO JOURNALS
AND PERIODICAL PUBLICATIONS.
_Delivered in the Chamber of Peers, in the sitting of Tuesday,
July 24, 1821._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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