DESAIX (Louis-Charles-Antoine). "Si... les Anglois faisoient - Lot 42

Lot n° 42
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DESAIX (Louis-Charles-Antoine). "Si... les Anglois faisoient - Lot 42
DESAIX (Louis-Charles-Antoine). "Si... les Anglois faisoient quelque gros débarquement... je serois dans la joie d'aller culbuter les dans la mer..." Autograph letter signed to General Henry Clarke. Toulon, 15floréal anVIII [5mai 1800]. 2pp.1/2 in-folio, address on spine, cuts without missing and marginal wetness due to prophylactic measures in the lazaretto;trace of tab. "I have just arrived from Egypt, my dear Clarke, I received there at the moment of my departure from Alexandria a letter from you which gave me the greatest pleasure. I saw that you had not forgotten me, that you still had friendship for me. I wasn't surprised, but very pleased. I was very upset during my voyage, I had thirty days of crossing, continually in storms, and quite ill. I was about to enter Toulon, when the English arrested me and took me to Livorno [Admiral Keith took General Desaix prisoner despite the safe-conduct he had received from Admiral Sydney Smith]. I was furious, enraged, said nothing but despaired of wasting precious time doing nothing. I spent 30 days in a cursed lazaretto in Livorno. I cursed my existence, badly treated by the English, sending no officers... The day of my deliverance finally arrived. Searched en route by Barbary pirates, I expected them to violate the laws of war much more than the English: not at all, they [did] not hold us back, they were very honest. At last I arrived yesterday. I am the happiest of men. Thanks to the Government, my mother is rich and happy; she has a pension of two thousand pounds. Thanks to the new organization, my family, which was divided, is reunited and living together. I have nothing left to desire. What a beautiful day I've had. And you, my dear Clarke, are you the same? Please tell me. I presume so, I hope so, I like to think you are well. I have heard that General Bonaparte has called you to his side, that he is employing you as usefully as you deserve. I'm delighted. I have to spend 30 days in quarantine, and I am patiently waiting for the end of it, but I would like to know during this time where I will be employed, and what will become of me, so that while this time is passing, I can immediately prepare what I need to enter the campaign. I don't want to lose a moment; we must do everything to end the war quickly, and I want to be part of it. I assure you that I don't care what anyone wants me to be, all ranks are equal to me. I'm afraid of being given too high a rank, as you know I don't like them. I will tell you quite confidentially that to be in a well active army in good condition and to serve in it, would be my happiness at the moment. I am a little tired to go to a disorganized army. I beg you, my dear Clarke, to give your care that I be employed at the Rhine. If, for example, the English were to make some large landing on the coast, I would be delighted to go and knock them into the sea. You can't imagine how angry I am with them for the way they've treated me. I have a strong desire to take revenge on them for everything they have done to me. Finally, my dear Clarke, in two words here is what I wish to know: where I am employed so that I can be ready immediately, secondly to go to the Rhine where I am used to waging war, thirdly if there is a large Anglo landing, to be one of the first to thrash them and from there to run to the hottest. Teach me what I can hope for, but first of all give me details of your affairs, remember that I am a revenant, that I know nothing, that it is only a short time ago that you entrusted me with everything that happened to you. Are you still living in Neuviller [Neuwiller-lès-Saverne, in the Bas-Rhin], are you happy in your family, are you married, in short, where are you with all this? You know I'm an old confidant. Where is my dear Bellavène, and how is he? And your friends Hastrel, Lahorie? I remember them all with interest [General Jacques-Nicolas Bellavène, and future Generals Étienne d'Hastrel de Rivedoux and Victor Fanneau de LaHorie]. Adieu, mon cher Clarke, je vous suis très attaché..." In fact, after his quarantine in the port of Toulon, General Desaix would be called to Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy, where he would perform brilliantly but lose his life at the battle of Marengo. General Henry Clarke, Napoleon's future Minister of War, had been dismissed from the service in 1798 and had recently been transferred to the Dépôt de la Guerre (cartography office and military archive).
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