A great diplomat

This biography does not overlook French diplomat Charles-Maurice Talleyrand's foibles, but it also brings out his achievements.

THERE is no finer guide to an understanding of the nature of international relations than a study of European diplomacy between the Congress of Vienna (1818) and the Congress of Versailles (1919). It threw up statesmen of the highest eminence, wise, skilful, dignified and elegant. They were bon vivants; they ate well, drank well, dressed well and were accomplished conversationalists. At the apex of power the palm must go to Otto Von Bismarck because he knew when to stop. As the head of the Foreign Service, Sir Eyre Crowe, Permanent Under-Secretary in the British Foreign Office, stands very tall indeed. His Memorandum of January 1, 1907 on the balance of power remains a locus classicus on the subject even a century later. In between comes the Foreign Minister and here the claims of the celebrated Charles-Maurice Talleyrand (1754-1838) are unrivalled.

An unfrocked bishop, an aristocratic revolutionary, champion of press freedom, a promiscuous lover, a refined gourmet, a bibliophile and a talented intriguer and manipulator, he was incapable of being loyal to any man or woman. He served every ruler of France since before the Revolution and after, Napoleon as well as Louis XVIII. Disgraced by both, he was brought back to power after the Revolution of 1830 by Louis Philippe.

He enjoys a deserved fame as a skilful intriguer and a wit who coined bon mots that are still recalled; particularly the famous caution against zeal and "speech was given to man to disguise his thoughts". He had an India connection, once removed. Francis Grand, a member of the Indian Civil Service, arrived in Calcutta in 1776. A year later, he married a ravishing beauty. She was less than fifteen and was stupid. She was seduced by Philip Francis, celebrated as Junius, master of invective, whom Grand successfully sued for "criminal conversation" with his wife. The lady surfaced in Europe where she met Talleyrand and became his mistress and, later, his wife.

Napoleon humiliated her consistently but received a devastating retort when he reminded Talleyrand that he was a Prince of the realm: "Sir, I have only to present to her the example of Empress Josephine." He said once "intelligent wives compromise their husbands; stupid ones, only themselves".

The British diplomat Duff Cooper wrote an excellent biography of Talleyrand. Robin Harris, an historian specialising in France and writer on politics, has written a biography based on massive research. The subject's immorality, private and public, his foibles and the rest are not overlooked. But he is careful to bring out Talleyrand's qualities and achievements, his foresight and his progressive views, which were far ahead of the times. He believed in political moderation and the entente cordial. At the Congress of Vienna he had a weak hand to play, but managed to restore France's prestige. The Congress of Vienna devised a structure that ensured the longest period of peace Europe had known.

Talleyrand knew how "to balance delay with speed" in executing Napoleon's orders. His brilliance did not blind him to the need for discipline in the working of the Foreign Office. Nor did techniques obscure his vision. His vision of a viable international order that ensures peace is relevant still. His foresight was remarkable. "He even envisaged that America would eventually become a great power, one capable of intervening in Europe with effects that he, as a Frenchman, feared. While in exile he had toyed with the idea of an international order of mutually respectful sovereign states, whose good relations were underpinned by free trade. But he soon forgot such projects and concentrated instead on determining and asserting France's place in Europe...

"His calculations about how to advance French interests in a European context have been largely shared by modern French politicians since (and including) de Gaulle. They, like Talleyrand, have regarded acceptance of some constraints within Europe as worth while, because the European framework itself allows France to limit the power of its rivals and to exert greater international influence". But he was also prepared to invoke, as he did at the Congress of Vienna, "the traditional concept of a European-wide `public law' in order to resist the rule of force... France could not prevail without alliance with one or more other powers. French interests required careful management, rather than attempted domination, of the other states of Europe. Napoleon refused to accept this" - and ruined himself.

The men who preside over the affairs of the most powerful country in the world remind one of Talleyrand's remark: "Nations would have been horrified if they knew what petty people rule them."