TALLIEN TALLOW-TREE. 



511 



land, to negotiate concerning the succession to the 

 crown of Spain on the death of Charles II. In 

 1702, Tallart was appointed to the command of the 

 French troops on the Rhine, and, soon after, was 

 honoured with a marshal's staff. He subsequently 

 defeated the imperialists before Landau, and, hav- 

 ing taken that place after a short siege, announced 

 his success to Louis XIV. in the following terms : 

 " I have taken more standards than your majesty 

 has lost soldiers." In 1704, he was opposed to 

 Marlborough; and, being taken prisoner at the 

 battle of Blenheim, was carried to England, where 

 he remained seven years. On his return to France, 

 in 1712, he was created duke; and, in 1726, was 

 appointed secretary of state. His death took place 

 in 1728. 



TALLIEN, JOHN LAMBERT, a French republi- 

 can statesman, born at Paris in 1769, was the son 

 of the porter to the marquis de Bercy, to whom he 

 was indebted for his education. He commenced 

 his political career as secretary to the deputy 

 Broustaret, and then published a daily journal, 

 called Ami du Citoyen, which was affixed to the walls 

 of the metropolis. The Jacobins furnished the ex- 

 penses of printing this paper, the object of which 

 was to excite the indignation of the populace against 

 Louis XVI. and his ministers. Tallien soon be- 

 came one of the most popular men of the revolu- 

 tionary party, and was deeply concerned in the 

 terrible commotions of the 10th of August, at which 

 time he was secretary of the commune which had 

 installed itself at the Hotel de Ville, and which 

 continued its sittings in spite of the assembly, be- 

 coming the centre and origin of the intrigues and 

 massacres of that disastrous period. Being nomi- 

 nated a deputy to the convention, from the depart- 

 ment of Seine and Oise, he often mounted the 

 tribune, and was the constant advocate of violent 

 measures. In the session of December 15, 1792, 

 he strongly urged the immediate trial of Louis XVI. 

 objected to allowing him counsel, and added new 

 charges to the accusation against him. He after- 

 wards voted for his death, and against an appeal to 

 the people ; and on the day of execution, January 21, 

 1793, he was president of the convention. He took 

 part in most of the sanguinary proceedings which 

 occurred during the ascendency of Robespierre; 

 and, after defending Marat, assisting in the destruc- 

 tion of the Girondists, and becoming the advocate 

 of the infamous Rossignol, he was sent on a mission 

 to Bordeaux, where he showed himself the worthy 

 associate of Carrier, Lebon and Collot d'Herbois. 

 He was checked in this sanguinary career by the 

 influence of madame de Fontenay, a woman remark- 

 able for her personal beauty, who, having been 

 imprisoned at Bordeaux, as she was going to join 

 her family in Spain, owed her life to the compas- 

 sion of Tallien. (See Ckimay.} He took her with 

 him to Paris, whither he went to defend himself 

 before the convention against the charge of moder- 

 antisin. After the fall of Danton and his party, 

 Tallien perceived that he should become one of the 

 next victims of Robespierre, if he did not strike 

 the first blow. Accordingly, at the sitting of the 

 convention of the ninth of Thermidor, 1794, he 

 ascended the tribune, and, after an animated picture 

 of the atrocities which had taken place, and which 

 he ascribed to Robespierre, he turned to the 

 bust of Brutus, and, invoking the genius of that 

 patriot, drew a dagger from his girdle, and swore 

 that he would plunge it into the heart of Robes- 

 pierre, if the representatives of the people bad not 



courage to order his immediate arrest. On the 

 morrow, Tallien had the satisfaction to announce 

 to his colleagues that their enemies had perished on 

 the scaffold. (See Robespierre.) Being elected a 

 member of the committee of public safety, the 

 Jacobins replaced his name on their list. At this 

 period he married his protegee, madame de Fontenay. 

 He took a part in all the proceedings of the as- 

 sembly, and used his power and influence to promote 

 the interests of justice and humanity. This was 

 the most honourable period of his life ; but the 

 recrimination and opposition which he experienced 

 prevented him from enjoy ing tranquillity. In July, 

 1795, he was sent, with extensive powers, to the 

 army on the coasts of Brittany; but after the 

 victory of the republicans at Quiberon, he returned 

 to Paris. He subsequently became a member of 

 the council of five hundred, under the constitution 

 of the year III. ; but his influence gradually declined, 

 and he was at length reduced to such a state of 

 political insignificance, that he thought proper to 

 retire to private life. Domestic uneasiness induced 

 him to wish to leave France ; and he followed 

 Bonaparte to Egypt, as one of the savans attached 

 to the expedition. He became a member of the 

 Egyptian institute, and editor of the Decade Egyp- 

 tienne, printed at Cairo; besides being adminis- 

 trator of the national domains. After Bonaparte 

 left Egypt, general Menou treated Tallien harshly, 

 and obliged him to return to France. The vessel 

 in which he sailed was captured by the British, and 

 he was taken to London, where he received much 

 attention from the leaders of the whig party. The 

 duchess of Devonshire having sent Tallien her por- 

 trait, enriched with diamonds, he kept the portrait, 

 but returned the diamonds. On revisiting his 

 native country, he discovered that he had lost his 

 wife, as well as the favour of Bonaparte, who was 

 then rising to sovereign power. He appears to 

 have been reduced to distress, but at length ob- 

 tained, through Fouche and Talleyrand, the office 

 of French consul at Alicant. He died at Paris in 

 1820. Madame Tallien, having been divorced 

 from her husband (by whom she had a daughter 

 named Thermidor), was married, in 1805, to Joseph 

 de Caraman, prince de Chimay. 



TALLOW; animal fat melted and separated 

 from the fibrous matter mixed with it. (See Fat.~) 

 Its quality depends partly on the animal from which 

 it has been prepared, and partly on the care taken 

 in its purification. It is firm, brittle, and has a 

 peculiar heavy odour. When pure, it is white and 

 nearly insipid; but the tallow of commerce has 

 usually a yellowish tinge, and is divided, according 

 to the degree of its purity and consistence, into 

 candle and soap tallow. It is manufactured into 

 candles and soap, and is extensively used in the 

 dressing of leather, and in various processes of the 

 arts. There were exported from Russia, in 1831, 

 4,091,544 poods (63 to a ton) of tallow. Large 

 quantities are also exported from South America. 



TALLOW-TREE (stillingia sebifera.) This 

 interesting tree is a native of China. It belongs 

 to the natural family euphorbiacete. The branches 

 are long and flexible ; the fob'age so much resembles 

 that of the Lombardy poplar, that it might readily 

 be mistaken, were the leaves serrated. The flowers 

 are inconspicuous, and disposed in straight, terminal 

 spikes. The capsules are hard, smooth, and brown, 

 divided internally into three cells, each containing a 

 nearly hemispherical seed, which is covered with a 

 sebaceous and very white substance. At the close 



