DANTON (GEORGES-JACQUES). "THE BATTLES I HAVE FOUGHT AGAINST - Lot 195

Lot n° 195
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DANTON (GEORGES-JACQUES). "THE BATTLES I HAVE FOUGHT AGAINST - Lot 195
DANTON (GEORGES-JACQUES). "THE BATTLES I HAVE FOUGHT AGAINST THE PRINCIPAL ENEMIES OF LIBERTY..." Autograph letter signed "Danton" to his wife Gabrielle Charpentier. Liège, December 17, 1792. 3 pp. in-4. VERY PRECIOUS DOCUMENT FROM ONE OF THE GREAT PROTAGONISTS OF THE REVOLUTION, ILLUSTRATING HIS POLITICAL COMMITMENT AND PRIVATE LIFE. "The courier who brought me your letter, my dear Gabrielle, is leaving in a minute, and I only have a moment to let you know how pleased I am to hear from you; don't forget to keep an eye on my trees in Arcis [his house in Arcis-sur-Aube] and to urge your father to hurry up the arrangement of my lodgings in his greenhouse house; give my little Danton [his son Antoine, born in 1790] a thousand kisses. Tell him that his father will try not to be long at dada. I have just received your second letter, in which I see that you have fulfilled what I wanted to recommend to you. I also find that L'AMI BRUNE has exaggerated things a little [the future Marshal Guillaume-Marie-Anne Brune, then a member of the Cordeliers Club like Danton, and a close friend of Danton] by giving you reason to believe that I will be detained for more than two months by my mission. I hope to embrace you on January 1st after spending a day or two in Arcis. I read in a public paper that A CERTAIN RIVAROL, in a conversation with Laporte, did me the honor of placing me in the class of those they could win over with dinners. Serois-[t]u donc assez faible d'avoir eu de inquiétude pour de pareilles sottises; TU SÇAIS QUE SI POUR SERVIR MA PATRIE MIEUX J'AI COURU LE HAZARD DE DINER AVEC CERTAINES GENS, J'AI SI BIEN TRAVAILLE A LEUR FAIRE DONNER LE BAL QUE NOUS SOMMES COMPLETTÉ QUITTES. You know how much my whole life and the battles I have waged against the main enemies of liberty put me in a position to confound all the malicious ones. All yours for life... Always write "Dumouriez's Army". I receive Brune's coat just as I've bought one. Hello to all our friends after dear father." Georges-Danton, then a representative of Paris at the Convention and a much-listened-to member of the Jacobin Club, defended the idea of extending France within its "natural borders". Between November and March 1793, he and other members of the Convention took part in three missions to organize the territories conquered in what is now Belgium, following General Dumouriez's victory at Jemmapes (November 6, 1792). Danton was extraordinarily attached to his wife Gabrielle, and was dealt a terrible blow when, on a mission outside Paris for the Convention, he learned that she had died in childbirth in his absence (February 10, 1793): he hurried home, and had her dug up to have her face molded by the sculptor Deseine, to preserve her features forever. ANTOINE DE RIVAROL (1753-1801), ANTI-REVOLUTIONARY ESSAYIST AND PAMPHLETARY, was also the brother of general Dumouriez's mistress. Danton, who had favored Dumouriez's career, was highly venal and, like Rivarol's sister, was said to have received secret commissions in supply contracts for Dumouriez's army. A FRIEND OF DUMOURIEZ AND CLOSE TO RIVAROL, ARNAUD DE LAPORTE (1737-1792), Intendant of the Civil List (under the King's Household), was also the organizer of the monarchist club "Le National", and was responsible for providing financial support for royalist propaganda. He was also responsible for distributing the funds used to organize the royal family's escape to Varennes. Extremely rare "LES LETTRES PRIVEES DE DANTON SONT TRES RARES: ON N'en CONNAIT TOUT AU PLUS QUE TROIS OU QUATRE" (Charles Vellay, in "Lettres inédites de Danton", Revue historique de la Révolution française, no. 10, Paris, April-June 1912, p. 177). Most of Danton's official autograph letters are in public custody. Provenance: former collections of Alfred SENSIER (Paris, Librairie Charavay frères, 1878, notes by Étienne Charavay, no. 201, "autograph of the greatest rarity", with partial reproduction on p. 32), Alfred MORRISON (1891, vol. II, p. 5, no. 2, with full reproduction pl. 60), Arthur MEYER (Paris, Drouot, Francisque Lefrançois and Noël Charavay experts, June 3-6, 1924, no. 129/autographes-3°); Christian Lazard (Paris, Drouot, Pierre Cornuau and Claude Guérin experts, May 19, 1967, no. 62); Robert Gérard.
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