In contradiction to the hackneyed image of an aristocratic and reactionary body, the recruitment of the high diplomatic corps has been deeply transformed during the first decades of the Third Republic. While traditional elites were still largely represented in the french department of Foreign Affairs, the diplomatic career was opened up to the middle class, especially to the educated and business bourgeoisie. The integration into the diplomatic service of persons alien to it, the lesser role of heredity and endogamy in the recruitment, the introduction of selection procedures based on the principles of knowledge and merit and finally the merger of the diplomatic and consular careers evidence that the staff of the Quai d’Orsay has experienced an evolution similar to that which can be observed in other branches of the high administration. The french diplomats maintain close relations with the other leading social groups, fostered by the diversification of their professional careers, the widening of their relations networks and the adjustment of their political position to the changes in the domestic context. They are won over to the new democratic regime while criticizing its institutional structural deficiencies. In conclusion they have reached an agreement with th Republic which is based on mutual respect and common objectives in the realm of foreign policy.