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by Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
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In: Biographies·History - European·History - Religious
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #55070.
The work is the fifth volume of François‑René Chateaubriand’s six‑part Mémoires d’outre‑tombe, a sprawling autobiographical chronicle that blends personal letters, official dispatches and vivid diary entries. It opens in February 1829 with the French ambassador’s detailed observations of Pope Leo XII’s funeral and the ensuing papal conclave, interlaced with a series of letters to Madame Récamier and dispatches to the Comte Portalis. From the very first page the reader encounters a relentless catalog of diplomatic correspondence, courtly gossip and reflections on the political turbulence of the era, setting the tone for a memoir that is as much a record of European statecraft as it is a personal narrative.
Chateaubriand’s voice is that of a cultured, often weary aristocrat who writes with the polished, rhetorical flourish of early‑19th‑century French literature. His prose moves fluidly between formal diplomatic reports and intimate, sometimes sarcastic, personal notes, offering a window into the salons, embassies and battlefields of post‑revolutionary Europe. Readers who relish richly detailed historical testimony, enjoy the interplay of public and private discourse, and appreciate the elegant, occasionally baroque style of a Romantic-era statesman will find this volume a rewarding immersion in the mind of one of France’s most celebrated literary and political figures.
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The Roman Embassy continued--Letter to Madame Récamier--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Conclaves--Dispatches to M. le Comte Portalis--Letters to Madame Récamier--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Letters to Madame Récamier--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Letter to Madame Récamier--Letter to the Marchese Capponi--Letters to Madame Récamier--Letter to M. le Duc de Blacas--Letters to Madame Récamier--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Letter to Monseigneur le Cardinal de Clermont-Tonnerre--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Letters to Madame Récamier--Dispatches to M. le Comte Portalis--Fête at the Villa Medici for the Grand-duchess Helen--My relations and correspondence with the Bonaparte Family--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Monte Cavallo--Dispatch to M. le Comte Portalis--Letter to Madame Récamier--Presumption--The French in Rome--Walks--My nephew Christian de Chateaubriand--Letter to Madame Récamier--I return to Paris--My plans--The King and his disposition--M. Portalis--M. de Martignac--I leave for Rome--The Pyrenees--Adventures--The Polignac Ministry--My consternation--I come back to Paris--Interview with M. de Polignac--I resign my Roman Embassy.
ROME, 17 February 1829.
Before passing to important matters, I will recall a few facts.
On the decease of the Sovereign Pontiff, the government of the Roman States falls into the hands of the three cardinals heads of the respective orders, deacon, priest and bishop, and of the Cardinal Camerlingo. The custom is for the ambassadors to go to compliment, in a speech, the Congregation of Cardinals who meet before the opening of the conclave at St. Peter's.
His Holiness' corpse, after first lying in state in the Sistine Chapel, was carried on Friday last, the 13th of February, to the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament at St. Peter's; it remained there till Sunday the 15th. Then it was laid in the monument which contained the ashes of Pius VII., and the latter were lowered into the subterranean church.
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