in
which he was personally a blunderer and a tyro. Talleyrand was a
distinguished and typical aristocrat of the old French school,
elegant, adroit, smooth-spoken, and sharp. He was an unequaled
courtier, influential by his moderation in word, gesture, and
expression, but a feeble adviser, and utterly incapable of broad
views. His character, being unequal to his skill, was not strong
enough either to curb or guide a headstrong master, for his intellect
was neither productive nor solid. No treaty ever made by him was
lasting, and he must have known that even the peace of Tilsit would
begin to crumble almost before the papers were signed. The balance of
Europe was disturbed but temporarily by that agreement, not
permanently, as had been intended; the attempted seclusion of Prussia
by Napoleon destroyed her old antagonism to other German powers, and
marked the beginning of amalgamation with all her sister states for
the reconstruction of an avenging German nationality.

Something may be forgiven to an adventurer in the storms of
revolution, but Talleyrand trimmed his sails to every wind, outrode
every storm, and made gains in every port. He was a trusted official
of the Republic, the Consulate, the Empire, and the restored monarchy.
Wise in his day and generation, he had long before made ready to
withdraw, if necessary, from active life, by the accumulation of an
enormous fortune, heaped up by means which scandalized even imperial
France. He had been embittered at the close of the Consulate by
Napoleon's determination that his ministers should not be his highest
dignitaries, his arch-officers. The title of "prince," with two
hundred thousand francs a year, was a poor consolation when men like
Lebrun and Cambaceres had the precedence as arch-treasurer and
arch-chancellor, while--most unendurable of all--they drew salaries of
three hundred and fifty thousand francs. Berthier, the Prince of
Neufchatel, had recently been made vice-constable to represent Louis
Bonaparte, who, though still constable, had left Paris to become Louis
Napoleon, King of Holland. This was Talleyrand's opportunity to resign
from the ministry on his own initiative. He demanded a dignity for
himself similar to that accorded to Berthier. The Emperor told him
that, accustomed to power as he had become, he would be unhappy in a
station which precluded his remaining in the cabinet. But the minister
knew his role in the little comedy, and, persisting, was on