111. BONAPARTE (Joseph). Autograph letter signed... Lot 111

111. BONAPARTE (Joseph). Autograph letter signed by his initials, addressed to the countess Regnaud de Saint-Jean d'Angély, Laure Guesnon de Bonneuil. London, 27 October 1836. 4 pp. in-12. BEAUTIFUL LETTER ON THE LAWS OF EXILE THAT THE JULY MONARCHY, WHILE PAYING TRIBUTE TO NAPOLEON I, DOES NOT WANT TO ABOLISH. Concerning also the quarrels raised around the succession of Letizia Bonaparte and the sums given to Joseph by Napoleon I. "I am hastening to reply to your letter of the 14th, I only received it today, I am handing it to Mr. Bouchard de Mortefontaine [Captain Auguste Bouchard, deputy of Seine-et-Oise, former steward of the estate of Mortefontaine which belonged to Joseph Bonaparte until 1827], one of those rare friends, of whom you are the model I thank you for the sentiment which inspired you, I shared it and I proposed and obtained from Louis [his brother Louis Bonaparte, then settled in Florence], that we would both make a sacrifice which would allow us to offer our two younger children fifty thousand francs, in all one hundred thousand francs: One writes to me from Italy that the proposal was accepted, that thus this division which you feared, is prevented, these two cadets are Caroline and Jerome [his sister, widow of Joachim Murat, and his brother Jerome Bonaparte]. AS FOR THE LEGAL QUESTION, IT IS NOT ONE: MADAME [HER MERE LETIZIA BONAPARTE] MADE HER TESTAMENT IN ROME, UNDER ROMAN LAW, she was temporarily subject to the laws which govern the country where she lived, where she expired, and where her succession was [opened]: FRANCE IS CLOSED TO US, THOSE WHO GOVERN HER, SINCE HER MISTAKES, HAVE SO WILLED IT, AND THE GREAT NATION HAS NOT BEEN ABLE TO PREVENT US FROM BEING TREATED AS ENEMIES, GUILTY OF THE CRIME OF BEARING THE NAME OF THE MAN WHOSE STATUE SHE RAISES: If I die in America, or in England, the only truly free countries, it is quite certain that I am and will be subject to the laws of those countries, and during my life and at the time of my death, it was so with your mother. - She made a will. Her will is an accomplished fact, it no longer depends on anyone to redo her will, to annul it we must have recourse to the Roman courts, which would find no reason to overturn it, moreover, to do that we would have to accuse our mother of injustice, is it really up to Caroline to take this side. THE LAW OF EXILE IS AN INJURY, EVEN TO THE NATION WHICH DOES NOT CLAIM ITS ANEANTISSEMENT, AS IMPOSED BY THE ENEMIES OF THE COUNTRY, in my position, the honor is in resignation and I impose silence to myself: But what saddens my soul, as it does that of every good Frenchman who is abroad, is to read even in the good reception I receive from all classes of society, this benevolence which seems to want to compensate me for the indifference of my nation, this accusing benevolence cannot please me: IS IT THEREFORE TO NOT RETURN TO US THE EIGHT MILLIONS OF THE CIVIL LIST THAT THE EMPEROR GIVEN ME WHEN HE LEFT, TELLING ME "YOU WILL USE THEM AS YOU JUDGE THEM TO BE", that they keep the law imposed on France, in hatred of the Emperor Napoleon and of those who have the misfortune to bear his name: But let them keep the millions voted to us by the first and second branches of the Bourbons, as for me, I am content with his name, and will always prefer exile to the debasement that they would like to impose on me. They seek to divide us, they seduce some, they slander others, they want to take us by starvation, they honour the dead with a hipocritical incense, they proscribe the living, my sister was wrong to lend herself to the perfidious insinuations with which they surround her: The league starts from high places, it tends to debase a name which one seems to honour, what happens in Rome is a continuation of this infernal plot, I am at least happy that my sister escapes it for her part by listening to you, as well as her brothers, and your devoted friend... »