When the Assembly sought to impose on its members an oath of obedience to the new decree, Talleyrand and three other bishops complied out of the thirty who had seats in the Assembly. The others, followed by the greater number of the clergy throughout France, refused, and thenceforth looked on Talleyrand as a schismatic. He did not long continue to officiate, as many of the so-called "constitutional" clergy did; for, on Jan. 21, 1791, he resigned the see of Autun, and in the month of March was placed under the ban of the church by the pope.
Just before his resignation he had been elected, with Mirabeau and Sieyes, a member of the department of Paris ; and for some eighteen months he supported the cause of order in the turbulent capital. Though he was often on strained terms with Mirabeau, their views generally coincided. Talleyrand's reputation for im morality, however, was as marked as that of Mirabeau. While excelling Mirabeau in suppleness and dexterity, Talleyrand lacked the force of character possessed by the great "tribune of the people"; and his influence was gradually eclipsed by the Girondins and the Jacobins.
Debarred from election to the second National Assembly (known as the Legislative) by the self-denying ordinance passed by the "constituents," Talleyrand, at the close of 1791, sought to enter the sphere of diplomacy for which he was well equipped by his mental qualities and his clerical training. The condition of affairs on the continent seemed to French enthusiasts to presage an attack by the other Powers on France. In reality those Powers were far more occupied with the Polish and Eastern questions than with the affairs of France; and the declaration of Pilnitz, drawn up by the sovereigns of Austria and Prussia, which ap peared to threaten France with intervention, was recognized by all well-informed persons to be "a loud-sounding nothing." The French foreign minister, Delessart, believed that he would check mate all the efforts of the émigrés at the continental courts pro vided that he could confirm Pitt in his intention of keeping Eng land neutral. For that purpose Delessart sent Talleyrand, well known for his Anglophil tendencies, to London, but in the unoffi cial or semi-official capacity which was rendered necessary by the decree of the Constituent Assembly referred to above. Talley rand arrived in London on Jan. 24, 1792, and found public opinion so far friendly that he wrote off to Paris, "Believe me, a rapprochement with England is no chimera." Pitt received
him cordially; and to Grenville the envoy stated his hope that the two free nations would enter into close and friendly relations, each guaranteeing the other in the possession of its existing terri tories, India and Ireland being included on the side of Britain. The British government returned no definite answer to this pro posal, but Talleyrand was convinced that Great Britain would not intervene against France unless the latter attacked the Dutch Netherlands.
He returned to Paris on March 10, to persuade the foreign minister (Dumouriez now held that post) of the need of having a fully accredited ambassador at London. The ex-Marquis Chauvelin was appointed, with Talleyrand as adviser. But the overthrow of the monarchy on Aug. io and the September mas sacres rendered hopeless all attempts at an entente cordiale be tween the two peoples ; and the provocative actions of Chauvelin undid all the good accomplished by the tact and moderation of Talleyrand. The latter now sought to escape from France, where events were becoming intolerable; he succeeded in obtaining a passport to leave Paris on Sept. 14, and landed in England on the 23rd, avowedly on private business, but still animated by the hope of averting a rupture between the two governments. In this he failed. The provocative actions of the French Convention, especially their setting aside of the rights of the Dutch over the estuary of the Scheldt, had brought the two nations to the brink of war, when the execution of Louis XVI. (21st of Jan. 1793) made it inevitable. Talleyrand was expelled from British soil and made his way to the United States. There he spent thirty months in a state of growing uneasiness and discontent with his sur roundings.