OLLIVIER (ÉMILE). - Lot 34

Lot n° 34
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Result : 129EUR
OLLIVIER (ÉMILE). - Lot 34
OLLIVIER (ÉMILE). Autograph letter signed to Ernest Daudet. Saint-Tropez, November 8, 1865. One p. 3/4 in-8. "My dear Daudet, let me begin by congratulating you on your fine preface to Consalvi [the work Ernest Daudet was to publish in 1866, Le Cardinal Consalvi, 1800-1824]: the content is irreproachable, and the form is both ample and concise; it does not offend the ear and it satisfies the logical demands of the mind. I've been delighted with it, and look forward to your success. Why don't you finish it? If it weren't for the absorption in which my work keeps me, I would have written to you earlier, but I don't want to arrive in Paris until I've more or less settled the question of banks and workers' companies. I hope to be in a position at the end of the month to arrive in Paris in the first days of October. I need a few days in Paris to prepare for my [parliamentary] session. I haven't thought of anything yet. I am incapable of preparing a speech until I am on the battlefield. I can only establish and reflect in general. I TOO HAVE BEEN ENCHANTED BY THE IMPERATRICE. THE DAY SHE NO LONGER DEFIES FREEDOM, WHAT AN INCOMPARABLE SOVEREIGN. SHE HAS A SPRING AND A NOBILITY THAT, WITH THIS FETISHISTIC PEOPLE, WHATEVER THE FEARFUL MAY SAY, WOULD ALLOW HER TO WORK MIRACLES. But I'm afraid they'll leave the beautiful capital unproductive. They'll do nothing this session, nor the next, nor the others; they'll let the moment pass, and they'll go into the elections with the status quo. Not a clever move. But whining won't change that. That's the way it is. You have to organize your politics accordingly. I'm not surprised by the language of the person you're talking about. Girardin [press owner and politician Émile de Girardin] had sent me the article in question. As for me, here's my rule. I have, according to a piece of advice from Montaigne, my back room, into which I only introduce those to whom I give myself entirely. Once you've left it, no matter how much later it may appear otherwise, you never go back. As for the boutique, where one is pleasant without giving oneself, anyone can enter, even those who have left by banging on the door or throwing stones at the windows...". INSTIGATOR OF THE LIBERAL TURNING OF THE SECOND EMPIRE, ÉMILE OLLIVIER (1825-1913) had initially pursued a career as a lawyer before entering politics, especially from 1857 and his election as a Republican deputy. In 1869, Émile Ollivier was called upon to form a government by the Emperor, who wished to give political expression to the parliamentary domination of the liberals and republicans, and initiated a major constitutional reform approved by plebiscite in May 1870. Although hostile to the war, he decided to approve it, and was overthrown in August 1870 after the first military setbacks. He devoted the rest of his life to writing, notably his monumental historical, political and memorial work, L'Empire libéral : études, récits, souvenirs (Paris, Garnier, 1895-1918, 18 volumes). Brother of Alphonse Daudet, Ernest Daudet (1837-1921) published numerous literary and historiographical works.
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