. DAVOUT (Louis-Nicolas). Autograph letter... - Lot 3 - Osenat

. DAVOUT (Louis-Nicolas). Autograph letter signed to his wife Aimée Leclerc. Liebemühl [now Milomlyn in Poland], March 2 [1807]. 4 pp. in-4, one angular tear without damage to the text: "I am beginning, my little Aimée, to receive news from you, today's courier gave me your letters of February 2 and 5 and one without date. I begin my reply with the article you are most pressing me about. About Mr. Léon de Galz de Malvirade, you can assure Mrs. La Forest that he is in perfect health, that he is as well trained for fatigue and danger as our old rector, Uncle Beaupré, which is no mean feat. The chiefs and comrades of young Malvirade agree in praising him. This concert of praise is a reason which would suffice to determine the benevolence of the first military leaders, but his relationship with Mr. and M[m]e La Forest can only add to the desire to support the zeal, the intelligence, the activity and the bravery which this young man has shown from the beginning. Assure M[m]e de La Forest that I will take care of her relative with pleasure. [Baron Léonard de Galtz de Malvirade was then the first page of the emperor, of whom he would later become an ordinance officer, and he was the nephew of Catherine Marie de La Forest, wife of the diplomat, General Jean-Charles Musquinet de Beaupré, attached to the staff of the 3rd Corps of the Grande Armée, was the maternal uncle of Marshal Davout]. I HAVE NO DOUBT, MY GOOD LOVE, THAT THE IMPERATRESS HAS RECEIVED YOU WITH HER ORDINARY WELFARE and that you will not have forgotten to place at her feet the assurance of my respectful homage and devotion... Your details about my little Josephine [their eldest daughter, born in 1804] give me the best hopes. I long to share her caresses with you and to enjoy her kindnesses. She is entering the age when a child is very interesting for a father. I do not say for a mother, especially like you, they are even before being born. The arrival of FRIAND [Marshal Davout's brother-in-law, General Louis Friant, who distinguished himself at Eylau at the head of the vanguard of the 3rd corps], made me suspend my letter. Tell his wife that he is in good health. Congratulate her on belonging to A BRAVE WHO ENJOYS THE ESTIMATE OF ALL MILITARY PEOPLE AND WHO HAS THE REPUTATION OF HAVING SPIRIT ON A BATTLEFIELD. I ALSO GIVE HIM A LOT OF JUDGMENT IN ALL OCCASIONS, the more I know him the more I appreciate him. I hope, my little Aimée,... to be able to send you the advancement of Desessart [Marshal Davout's brother, General Nicolas-Marin Leclerc Des Essarts, chief of staff of the Friant division in the 3rd corps of the Grande Armée] and of Beaupré. I would have many things to say to you about your letter of the 2nd and about the reproaches which you make to me in it 1° about the sending of my horses. Beaumont [General Marc-Antoine Bonin de La Boninière de Beaumont, husband of the Marshal's sister, Julie Davout] will explain to you the shortage of forage. If they had followed me, these carriage and parade horses would have been deposited. Finally, I thought I was doing the best. [2°] The embarrassment in which you find yourself affects me. I did what I could to come to your aid. Beaumont will give you my savings. I hope at the end of the month or in the course of the next to be able to send you from 10 to 15,000 f. [3°] As for the way you accuse me of having evaded asking [the emperor for financial aid for the acquisition of a new Parisian dwelling] by not taking for granted the reasons I gave you, here is the truth. THE MOVEMENTS OF THE ENEMY, THE UNCERTAINTY OF THE WEATHER WHICH MADE COMMUNICATION WITH WARSAW LONG, THE BRIDGES BEING FREQUENTLY WASHED AWAY, THE OCCUPATIONS OF THE EMPEROR, THE REPUGNANCE, EVEN, THAT I HAD TO ASK HIM FOR A GRACE AT A TIME WHEN I WAS DOING WHAT DEPENDED ON ME TO EARN HIS TRUST AND HIS Favors, delayed this request to which I was nevertheless resolved by attachment for you, I needed nothing less than this motive to make me take this resolution, but the circumstances and the occupations of the emperor have become such that I would have thought I was sinning against delicacy to go and talk to him about a particular interest, convinced that my little Aimée would give me this advice if she had been present. EVERYTHING ANNOUNCES THAT WE ARE GOING TO ENJOY REST. THE ENEMY WILL REALIZE THAT IT IS NOT TO FLEE FROM HIM THAT WE HAVE LEFT 12 TO 15 LEAGUES OF RUINED COUNTRY AND NO LONGER OFFERING ANY RESOURCES. Then I will take advantage of the kindnesses of His Majesty to beg her to put the top off by granting me something which would make the happiness of the best and most adorable of women, a house, the one in the government which she lives in not being able to be housed anymore [the Davouts occupied an apartment in the Tuileries]. A thousand caresses to our Josephine, a thousand kisses to her excellent and beautiful mother. For life your lover and good sposo [husband in Italian] L. Davout ".