SWANSEATALLEYRAND. 



811 



the new method will prove of immense importance 

 to the prosperity, comfort, and improvement of the 

 northern nations and colonies of the Old World 

 and the New. 



SWANSEA; a town of South Wales, in the 

 county of Glamorgan, 206 miles W. from London, 

 and 86 W. by N. from Bristol. It is situated on 

 the west bank of the Taw, near the beautiful 

 natural basin called Swansea Bay, which here 

 opens into the British Channel. The tide rolling 

 over and retiring from an extensive beach of level 

 and firm sand, affords great facilities for bathing, 

 which have been duly appreciated both by resi- 

 dents and strangers. The town has only risen 

 into impoitance within the last thirty or forty 

 years. It is about two miles long, including the 

 suburb of Greenbill, and half a mile broad, and a 

 great proportion of the houses are well built. The 

 chief lodging houses for bathers are at Mount Plea- 

 sant and the Burrows. Swansea castle, a portion 

 of which still remains in the middle of the town, 

 was founded by Henry Beaumont, earl of War- 

 wick, who, after the manner of the Norman free- 

 booters, made a predatory war upon the sons of 

 Caradoc ad Jestyn, prince of Gower. After the 

 subjugation of Gower, Beaumont transplanted 

 hither a colony from Somerset, to whom he gave 

 grants of land, and whose descendants still continue 



distinct from the original inhabitants both in lan- 

 guage and manners, and with whom, like the Flem- 

 ings in Pembrokeshire, they seldom intermarry. 

 The Duke of Beaufort, the present lord of Gower, 

 is proprietor of Swansea Castle. The smelting of 

 copper forms a principal trade at Swansea, and the 

 inexhaustible supply of coal causes ore to be 

 shipped for this place from different parts of Corn- 

 wall, Wales, and Ireland.. Here are copper- works, 

 iron-foundries, and potteries; ships are built and 

 repaired here, which has occasioned the establish- 

 ment of roperies, and other consequent trades. 

 Tanneries, breweries, and soap manufactories are 

 conducted upon extensive scales. The surround- 

 ing district is replete with mineral wealth. It 

 contains veins of bituminous and stone coal, and 

 culm ; limestone is raised in great abundance ; 

 besides whicn, brick and fire-clays, rotten-stone, 

 iron-ore, and other mineral substances appear in 

 large quantities. A number of the population find 

 employment in the coal trade. The coals are con- 

 veyed to the town and harbour by means of canals, 

 and a rail-road passes along the shore from the pier 

 to the Mumbles. The harbour of Swansea is one 

 of the most beautiful and secure in the kingdom. 

 On the western pier are a watch-house and light- 

 house, with a spacious terrace. Population in 

 1841, 13,?22. 



TALLEYRAND, PRINCE. Charles Maurice de 

 Talleyrand Perigord, was born at Paris in 1754. 

 He was descended from one of the oldest and most 

 illustrious houses of France, which, during the 

 middle ages, were lords of the district of Quercy ; 

 and at an early age, as a younger brother, was 

 destined for the church. His ecclesiastical edu- 

 cation was formed at the seminary of St Sulpice, 

 and his talents for public business were already so 

 strongly developed, that in 1780 he was named 

 agent-general for the clergy. In 1788 he was con- 

 secrated bishop of Autun, and the year after was 

 elected deputy of the clergy of his diocese to the 

 states-general. At that momentous period Mira- 

 beau perceived the extent of his abilities, and sig- 

 nalized him as one of the most powerful and versa- 

 tile of the men of genius who then abounded in 

 Europe. He proposed several important measures 

 to the States, among others the suppression of 

 tithes and the appropriation of the property of the 

 clergy to the wants of the public treasury. In 

 1790 he was named president, and in the same 

 year officiated at the altar in the Champ de Mars 

 on the day of the National Federation. He sub- 

 sequently consecrated the first constitutional 

 bishops, and for this was excommunicated by pope 

 Pius VI. His resignation of the bishopric of 

 Autun, and his election as a member of the direc- 

 tory for the department of Paris, followed soon 

 after. He was left by Mirabeau as one of his 

 executors, and in 1792 was sent into England on a 

 secret mission, together with M. Chauvelin, the 

 ambassador. The English administration under 



Mr Pitt, after favourably receiving the French 

 envoys, subsequently ordered them to leave the 

 country within twenty-four hours. M. de Talley- 

 rand returned to Paris, the day after the 10th of 

 August, and was indebted to Danton for a narrow 

 escape from assassination. He then left France 

 for the United States, and remained there, engaged, 

 it is said, in commercial speculations, till 1796, 

 when he was recalled by a decree of the Conven- 

 tion. In 1797, after the 18th Fructidor, he was 

 appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs, and sup- 

 ported with the most imperturbable sang froid the 

 attacks made against him by all parties. Two 

 years afterwards the 18th Brumaire occurred. 

 Napoleon became First Consul, and M. de Talley- 

 rand continued as foreign minister. In 1802 a 

 brief from Pius VII. released the ex- bishop of 

 Autun from his ecclesiastical ties, and he shortly 

 after married Madame Grandt, of Hamburg. The 

 rivalry of Fouche and M. de Talleyrand then fol- 

 lowed, and to the ultimate advantage of the latter, 

 who, on Napoleon becomingemperorin 1806, wasele- 

 vated to the rank of prince of Benevento, and grand 

 chamberlain of the empire. The next year he was 

 succeeded as minister by M. de Charapagny, duke 

 de Cadore, and was named vice-grand elector; but 

 from this period his alienation from Napoleon may 

 be dated ; he disapproved of the emperor's aggres- 

 sions in Spain; and in 1814 was appointed presi- 

 dent of the provisional government of France, 

 until the arrival of the Comte d'Artois. He was 

 French commissioner at the congress of Vienna, 

 and on the final return of Louis XVIII. in 1815, 



