Ministry of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

Talleyrand Ministry
Cabinet of France
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
Date formed	9 July 1815
Date dissolved	26 September 1815
People and organisations
Head of state	Louis XVIII of France
Head of government	Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
Total no. of members	5
Member party	Doctrinaire, nonpartisans
Opposition party	Ultras
Opposition leader	François-Régis de La Bourdonnaye
History
Election	August 1815
Predecessor	French Provisional Government of 1815
Successor	First ministry of Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis de Richelieu

The Ministry of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was formed on 9 July 1815 after the second Bourbon Restoration under King Louis XVIII of France. It replaced the French Provisional Government of 1815 that had been formed when Napoleon abdicated after the Battle of Waterloo. The cabinet was dissolved on 26 September 1815 and replaced by the First ministry of Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis de Richelieu.

Formation and actions

The Prince of Talleyrand was again called to form a government by Louis XVIII, after the arrival of the King in Saint-Denis on 7 July.

Talleyrand formally formed his government on 9 July, keeping for himself the office of Minister of Foreign Affairs. The cabinet was composed mainly of Doctrinaires, liberal royalists who formed a moderate group inside the Chamber of Deputies, opposed to the more radical Ultras.

However, after 2 months and 17 days, Tallayrand resigned for three reasons:

• His refusal to sign the Second Treaty of Paris, considered too humiliating for France despite the conditions of peace negotiated during the Congress of Vienna.
• The pressure exercised on Louis XVIII by Tsar Alexander I, who disliked the presence of many ex-Bonapartists in the new government, and called for the creation of a conservative government
• The results of the August elections, that permitted the creation a parliamentary majority of Ultras (350 out of 400 seats), who were hostile to ex-Bonapartists Talleyrand and Minister Joseph Fouché, a regicide who was ousted from office in September 1815 and exiled.

Ministers

Portfolio	Holder		Party
President of the Council of Ministers		The Prince of Talleyrand	Constitutional
Ministers
Minister of Foreign Affairs		The Prince of Talleyrand	Constitutional
Minister of the Interior and Justice		The Baron Pasquier	Constitutional
Minister of War		Marshal Marquis of Saint-Cyr	None
Minister of Finance		The Baron Louis	Constitutional
Minister of the Navy and Colonies		The Count of Jaucourt	Constitutional
Minister of Police		Joseph Fouché	None

Sources

• Muel, Léon (1891). Gouvernements, ministères et constitutions de la France depuis cent ans: Précis historique des révolutions, des crises ministérielles et gouvernementales, et des changements de constitutions de la France depuis 1789 jusqu'en 1890 ... Marchal et Billard. Retrieved 14 April 2014.