FOUCHÉ (Joseph). Autograph minute signed... - Lot 22 - Osenat

FOUCHÉ (Joseph). Autograph minute signed with his initials, of a letter to Caroline Bonaparte. Trieste, November 16, 1820. 2 pp. in-folio, very numerous additions, erasures and corrections, yellowed paper. " ... IF I HAD A PRINTER AT MY ORDERS, I WOULD BEGIN BY CONFOUNDING THE DABBLER WHO HAS VENTURED TO WRITE TWO VOLUMES OF COMMON FABLES ABOUT THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON AND OF LIES ABOUT MINE. He overwhelms my mind with praises to tear my heart apart. Napoleon, he says, made him the confidence that I was a traitor, it is not discreet to reveal what one holds from a confidence, but this way has candor. I would not be surprised if Napoleon had thought it his policy to occasionally throw a few words of suspicion about me into the ears of the fools who surrounded him. He knew very well that they would not ask him any embarrassing questions; it never even occurred to them that their master was making fun of them or mystifying them. The disciples of Napoleon resemble the followers of Mohammed, with the difference that the followers of the Prophet made his fortune and those of Napoleon lost it by dint of reverence and flattery [This is probably a criticism of Pierre-Alexandre-Édouard Fleury de Chaboulon, who published in 1820 Memoirs to serve as a history of the private life, the return, and the reign of Napoleon in 1815, and in which he wrote in particular: "The emperor no longer doubted the treason of M. Fouché's treason, but he feared that revealing it would cause alarm and discouragement"]. IT IS NECESSARY TO HAVE A ROBUST FAITH TO BELIEVE THAT NAPOLEON MAINTAINED IN THE MINISTRY A MAN WHOM HE REGARDED AS A TRAITOR. Those who carried mountains did not have as much. I do not know if Napoleon was sometimes worried about my feelings, but it is known in Europe that he sought my services. I am even convinced that he would still seek them today. If he could have suspected my intentions, in moments of mood that the sincerity of my speeches gave him, it is certain at least that he generally showed a full security for my actions because HE CONFIDED ME THE MOST DEAREST INTERESTS OF HIS LIFE. Only fools doubt my fidelity because people... take courageous opposition for treason. If I had betrayed him I would be despised and I would deserve to be despised, but I would not be proscribed, because IN ALL PROSCRIPTIONS THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING THAT HONORS THE CHARACTER OF THE PROSCRIED AND THAT INTERESTS IN HIM.... " He then addresses the question of a project of marriage of the prince Lucien Murat, son of Caroline Bonaparte, with his first cousin Napoleone Baciocchi, daughter of Elisa Bonaparte. He writes to Caroline Bonaparte that he speaks to her with "FREEDOM AND FREEDOM": "THIS IS MY WAY WITH EVERYONE, it does not always please [...]. That's why I was constantly persecuted. I am too old to correct myself...". Refuge in exile, Joseph Fouché had found himself in Trieste. While he was being criticized from all sides, while newspapers like Le Conservateur or La Minerve were leading a press campaign against him, Caroline Bonaparte had written him a kind letter to thank him for what he had done for her husband Joachim Murat - whom he had even thought of helping to ascend the French throne. Joseph Fouché was to die of pleurisy on December 26, 1820.