"FRIAND... A BRAVE MAN...WHO ENJOYS THE ESTEEM OF ALL THE MI - Lot 218

Lot 218
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"FRIAND... A BRAVE MAN...WHO ENJOYS THE ESTEEM OF ALL THE MI - Lot 218
"FRIAND... A BRAVE MAN...WHO ENJOYS THE ESTEEM OF ALL THE MILITARY..." DAVOUT (Louis-Nicolas). Autograph letter signed to his wife Aimée Leclerc. Liebemühl [now Miłomłyn in Poland], March 2 [1807]. 4 pp. in-4, one angular tear without damage to text. Marshal Davout, true proconsul of the Grand Duchy of Poland. After his brilliant participation in the Prussian and Polish campaigns (battles of Auerstaedt, Czarnowo, Golymin, Eylau), he was chosen in August 1807 to command the French troops stationed in the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Created by the Treaty of Tilsit despite strong reservations on the part of Alexander I, this political entity was to be placed in the hands of King Frederick-Augustus III of Saxony... who was slow to come and take possession of it. He performed his task with great mastery, and justified the Emperor's confidence: it was thinking of the administrative qualities displayed by Marshal Davout in Poland (and later in Hamburg) that Napoleon I made him his Minister of War in 1815. "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 a date. I begin my reply with the article on which you press me the most. Regarding Mr Léon de Galz de Malvirade, you can assure Mde La Forest that he is in perfect health, and that he is as well-seasoned for fatigue and danger as our old rector Uncle Beaupré, which is saying a lot. Young Malvirade's leaders and comrades are unanimous in their praise. This chorus of praise is reason enough for the benevolence of the 1st military chiefs, but his kinship with Mr and M[m]e La Forest can only add to the desire to support the zeal, intelligence, activity and bravery shown by this young man right from the start. Assure M[m]e de La Forest that I will gladly attend to her relative. [Baron Léonard de Galtz de Malvirade was then the Emperor's first page, and later his ordinance officer, and was the nephew of Catherine Marie de La Forest, the diplomat's wife; General Jean-Charles Musquinet de Beaupré, attached to the staff of the 3rd Corps of the Grande Armée, was Marshal Davout's maternal uncle]. I have no doubt, my beloved, that the Empress has received you with her usual benevolence, 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 of hopes. I long to share her caresses with you and enjoy her kindnesses. She is entering the age when a child is very interesting for a father. I'm not saying for a mother, especially one like you, they are even before they are born. The arrival of Friand [General Louis Friant, who distinguished himself at Eylau at the head of the avant-garde of the 3rd Corps, and who was Marshal Davout's brother-in-law], has made me suspend my letter. Tell his wife that he is in good health. Congratulate her on belonging to a brave man who enjoys the esteem of all military men and has a reputation for wit on a battlefield. The more I get to know him, the more I appreciate him. I hope, my little Aimée,... to have definitively 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 Beaupré. I have many things to say to you about your letter of the 2nd and the reproaches you make to me in it 1° about sending 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 deposed. In the end, I thought I was doing the best I could. [2°] The discomfort in which you find yourself affects me. I did what I could to come to your rescue. Beaumont will give you my savings. I hope at the end of this month or in the course of the next to be able to send you 10 to 15,000 f. [3°] As for the way you accuse me of having evaded asking [the Emperor for financial help in acquiring a new Parisian home] by not taking at face value the reasons I gave you, here is the truth. The enemy's movements, the uncertainty of the weather which made communication with Warsaw long, the bridges being frequently washed away, the Emperor's occupations, even my reluctance to ask him for a pardon at a time when I was doing my utmost to protect my country, were all factors which led me to ask the Emperor for financial aid.
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