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LOT 981:
FOUCHE JOSEPH: (1759-1820)
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Sold for: €1,300
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FOUCHE JOSEPH: (1759-1820)
‘I desire them as much good as they wanted to do me harm’
FOUCHE JOSEPH: (1759-1820) 1st Duc d'Otrante, 1st Comte Fouche. French statesman and revolutionary who served as Minister of Police (1799-1810, 1815) under Napoleon Bonaparte. A good manuscript draft of an autograph letter, signed with his initials, JF, two pages, 8vo, Prague, 25th October n.y. (1816), to the Princess of Vaudemont. Fouche writes, in part, 'Do not pity me for being in Prague, we are quiet here and I have enough fortitude to remain here motionless. Sacrifices that are imposed on me, it is no doubt a very great one, to be separated from a few true friends, but I find it pleasant enough to be freed from the sight of a crowd of people who cannot inspire only feelings of disgust. I desire them as much good as they wanted to do me harm; events will only avenge me too much for their injustices….If I were permitted to speak to you of political affairs I would tell you my whole thoughts on the measure that dissolved the Chamber. I know France, it is quite indifferent today to the form of its government. As long as it believes in its stability it cannot exist without justice, without good faith, what has been done to reconcile opinions and to unite interests around the throne? It is only blind people who collide at the whim of fate and who trample under foot the corpse of the fatherland. I congratulate myself on having satisfied your wishes by the explanation I gave you. I cannot yet publish my memoirs, it would be necessary to resolve to deletions which I do not want to make. I prefer esteem to favour moreover, I have the project of dedicating them to the King, that is to tell you in what spirit they are written. Farewell, preserve your health and hope since hope is not yet prescribed. However, I think much more of the ills of France than of my personal privations. I am in no hurry to return there, I have suffered so much there that I fear my own impressions…..' A manuscript of interesting content written in the wake of Fouche being proscribed after the royalist authorities had deemed Fouche's services useless. Some light overall age toning and minor staining, about VG
