WELLINGTON. "HIS MAJESTY WILL REVIEW THE RUSSIAN ARMY..." - Lot 234

Lot n° 234
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Result : 2 860EUR
WELLINGTON. "HIS MAJESTY WILL REVIEW THE RUSSIAN ARMY..." - Lot 234
WELLINGTON. "HIS MAJESTY WILL REVIEW THE RUSSIAN ARMY..." Autograph letter signed "Wellington" as Commander-in-Chief of the Allied occupation troops in France, addressed to General Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian occupation troops in France. Aix-La-Chapelle, October 6, 1818. One p. 1/4 in-4; trace of tab on verso. AT THE AIX-LA-CHAPELLE CONGRESS (June-November 1818). Since 1815, France had owed compensation to the Allies, and was undergoing a heavy military occupation at its own expense, which initially numbered over a million men, before being reduced to around 150,000, mainly in the north of the country. After three years, Louis XVIII asked for the situation to be lightened, and it was decided to hold a congress in Aix-La-Chapelle: the Duc de Richelieu represented France, Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington represented England, Tsar Alexander I and General Vorontsov represented Russia, Emperor Francis I represented Austria, and King Frederick William III represented Prussia. Among other things, it decided to end the occupation, and Allied troops began leaving the territory in November. "My dear general, Prince Wolkonsky has just left me [Pierre Volkonski, general aide-de-camp to Tsar Alexander I, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars]; and we have arranged for His Majesty to review the Russian army before the grand review. I am sending you the arrangement that has been made, except for the days to be definitively fixed according to the state of affairs. You will therefore set up your camp for the grand review, which I assume will be in the vicinity of Solesmes as last year, and you will take a plot of land between Solesmes and Valenciennes for the review of your corps. This arrangement will not inconvenience you for the grand review the next day, since you will be so close to your camp on both days. S[a] M[ajesté] will spend one day with you in Maubeuge. As soon as the days are set, I'll let you know. Yours always, my dear general, most sincerely..." GENERAL MIKHAÏL SEMENOVITCH VORONTSOV (1782-1856) fought in the Napoleonic Wars, and led Russian troops into Paris in 1814. He commanded Russian occupation troops in France from 1815 to 1818, and assisted the Czar at the Congress of Aix-La-Chapelle. Later, as an excellent administrator, he held positions on the periphery of the Empire as governor of New Russia and Bessarabia (1823), and, after taking part in the war against the Turks (1828), as lieutenant-general of the Caucasus (1844). He was promoted to Field Marshal in 1856. A liberal, however, he favored the emancipation of the serfs and was close to the Decembrists.
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