The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 2 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe, volume 2Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
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The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 2 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe, volume 2
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de, 1768-1848
"I know," says the Duc de Rovigo, "that in the early days
of the Restoration, in 1814, one of M. de Talleyrand's
secretaries was incessantly making researches in the archives
under the gallery of the Museum. I have this fact from the
man who received the order to pass him in. The same thing was
done at the repository of the War Office for the documents of
the trial of M. le Duc d'Enghien, of which only the sentence
remained."
[Sidenote: Talleyrand's complicity.]
The fact is true; all the diplomatic papers, and notably the
correspondence of M. de Talleyrand with the "Emperor" and the "First
Consul," were transferred from the archives of the Museum to the house
in the Rue Saint-Florentin[635]; part of them were destroyed; the
remainder were put into a stove, to which they forgot to set light;
this was all that the Minister's prudence could do against the Prince's
indifference. The documents that were not burned were recovered; some
one thought it was right to preserve them: I have held in my hands
and read with my eyes a letter from M. de Talleyrand, dated 8 March
1804, and treating of the arrest, not yet carried out, of M. le Duc
d'Enghien. The Minister invites the First Consul to deal vigorously
with his enemies. I was not permitted to keep the letter, and I have
retained only these two passages in my memory:
"If justice obliges us to punish vigorously, policy exacts
that we should punish without exception.................... I
will suggest to the First Consul M. de Caulaincourt, to whom
he might give his orders, and who would execute them with as
much discretion as fidelity."
Will this report of the Prince de Talleyrand one day be published in
full? I do not know; but what I do know is that it was in existence no
more than two years ago.
There was a meeting of the Council for the arrest of the Duc d'Enghien.
Cambacérès, in his unpublished Memoirs, declares, and I believe him,
that he opposed the arrest; but, while recording what he said, he does
not say what the others replied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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