Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 19.djvu/23

TALLAHASSEE. Georgia, Florida and Alabama railroads (Map:, D 1). It is finely situated on an eminence, in the vicinity of several picturesque lakes, and has wide, beautifully shaded streets. The Florida State College, occupying a site overlooking the city, the Florida State Normal and Industrial College for Colored Students, and the Leon County Academy are the leading educational institutions. The State Library has 9500 volumes; and there are also in the city the Supreme Court Library, with more than 7000 volumes, and the David S. Walker Library (formerly the University Library), with 6000 volumes. Other prominent features are the State Capitol, the court-house, the post-office, and Bloxham Park. The vicinity is especially adapted to the production of cotton, tobacco, and sugarcane, and also has important dairying and stock-raising interests. Cottonseed oil and cigars constitute the principal manufactures. The government, under the revised charter of 1869, is vested in a mayor, chosen annually, and a unicameral council. Tallahassee was laid out in 1824 on a site selected two years earlier as the seat of the Territorial Government, and was incorporated as a city in 1827. Population, in 1890, 2934; in 1900, 2981.  TALLEMANT DES RÉAUX,, (1619-92). A French writer, born at La Rochelle, and connected through his mother with the famous Rambouillet family. He took his degrees in law, but refused to fulfill his father's wish that he should go into the magistracy. He employed his leisure in literary work, wrote verses in the taste of the time, and began a tragedy of Œdipe. But he is chiefly remembered by his Historiettes, a series of biographical, anecdotal, and character sketches of contemporary personages. Light, witty, somewhat cynical, and usually less restrained than modern taste demands, they are an invaluable document of the period, and particularly of the Hotel de Rambouillet. They have been collected by Monmerqué, Levavasseur (1840), and Techener (1860). Tallement also began the Mémoires de la Régence d'Anne d'Austriche, intended to throw light upon the administration of Cardinal Mazarin. These, however, have not come down to us.  TALLEYRAND-PÉRIGORD,, , Duke de, Prince of Benevento (1754-1838). A French statesman, born in Paris. His father was an officer in the French Army, and fought through the Seven Years' War. Charles Maurice was the eldest son; on account of an accident in infancy which rendered him lame for life, he was trained for the Church at Saint Sulpice, the Sorbonne, and Rheims. He showed brilliant talents, but neither moral purpose nor a calling for the Church. He obtained, however, several ecclesiastical benefices, among them the abbacy of Saint Denis, in the diocese of Rheims (1775), in the year of his ordination. Appointed agent-general for the clergy in 1780, a lucrative and important post which brought him into close connection with the Government, he began a serious apprenticeship in public business, leading at the same time a notoriously licentious life. In 1788 his administrative abilities secured for him the bishopric of Autun. As representative of his diocese in the States-General of 1789. he favored uniting with the Third Estate, and thus won the good will of the popular party. He was appointed one of the commission to draw up a constitution for the nation. He assisted in framing the Declaration of Rights; proposed, October 10, 1789, the confiscation of Church property as belonging of right to the nation; and on February 16, 1790, he became president of the National Assembly. He was among the first of his order to take the oath to obey the Constitution, and urged the clergy of his diocese to follow his example. Excommunicated by the Pope, he was compelled to resign his bishopric. In January, 1792, Talleyrand was sent to London in a semi-official capacity, the object of his mission being to conciliate England. It was, however, suspected that he was a person ‘disposed to serve the King,’ and he was put on the list of émigrés. He remained in England until January, 1794, then spent more than a year in the United States, and after the fall of the Terrorists procured the revocation of his banishment, and in March, 1796, reëntered Paris, having paved the way for a favorable reception by a series of the most adroit and judicious intrigues. He attached himself to the group of constitutionalists and in 1797, mainly through the influence of Mme. de Staël, was named Minister of Foreign Affairs.

With his usual shrewdness Talleyrand saw the significance of the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, attached himself to the fortunes of the young Corsican, and became his ally and confidant in the coup of the 18th Brumaire, which resulted in the overthrow of the Directory. After this Talleyrand, who had been reappointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Bonaparte, directed his whole effort toward consolidating the power and authority of his master. In the diplomatic negotiations that followed the victories of France under the Consulate he had the principal part; he was the prime mover in the seizure and execution of the Duke d'Enghien, and assisted in the establishment of the Empire and in the organization of the Confederation of the Rhine. For these services he was made Prince of Benevento in 1806. He opposed Napoleon's disastrous policy with regard to Eng- land, and soon after Tilsit (1807) laid down his office as Foreign Minister, and after some intriguing retired from active life (1809), residing on his estates, and preparing for the turn of the tide. When after the French disasters of 1812 Europe rose against Napoleon Talleyrand became the centre of a group of malcontents, whose influence grew with the advance of the allied armies, and finally communications were opened with the Bourbons. Talleyrand dictated to the Senate the terms of the deposition of Napoleon; and on the restoration of the Bourbons he became Minister of Foreign Affairs in the first Government of Louis XVIII. He represented France at the Congress of Vienna and played there a game of masterly politics, working on the jealousies of the powers, and by appealing to the principle of legitimacy gaining solid advantages for France. He had succeeded in bringing about a secret alliance between Austria, Great Britain, and France against Russia and Prussia when Napoleon's return from Elba shattered his plans. Henceforth he had little part in public affairs. He resumed the office of Foreign Minister in May, 1814, after the restoration, but soon resigned, owing to the hostility of the old nobility.