Lot 1292 , Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), first consul of France; dictated letter, signed Bonaparte, to Citizen [Jean-François Aimé, Comte] Dejean, Councillor of State, Department of War administration; 21 Messidor Year 10 [9 July

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), first consul of France; dictated letter, signed Bonaparte, to Citizen [Jean-François Aimé, Comte] Dejean, Councillor of State, Department of War administration; 21 Messidor Year 10 [9 July 1802] Corrupt practices are at their height in Italy, be it in the Italian Republic or in Piedmont. The markets in bread and food are carried on in such a manner that the suppliers are making a profit of 50%.

I should like Councilor Berenger to go to that country, gather all necessary information on the spot, visiting every departmental capital so that not a single moment is lost in putting an end to these corrupt practices.

[Inserted]: Let me know if you can do without Councilor Berenger; I should like to see him before he leaves.

I should also like you from this moment to take over the responsibilities which Vanlubergth was given, to begin on the 1 Vendémiaire Year 11 [22 September 1802], of the provisioning department (service des vivres), so that there is only one administration in the whole of Italy. It is a business that he must stop as soon as possible, so that he can begin to make his purchases. There is so much wheat in Italy that the administration of the country has asked me to authorize exports.

I salute you

Bonaparte

Bifolium, 232 x 183 mm; engraved letterhead, representing on a flat stone, the edge of which is inscribed BONAPARTE 1E CONSUL DE LA REPUBLIQUE, a robed seated female figure, wearing a cap of liberty and holding a rudder in her right hand and in her left a laurel wreath; AU NOM DU PEUPLE DE FRANCE inscribed on the side of the chair. Drawn by [Jean-Claude] Naigeon l’Ainé and engraved by B[arthélemy] Roger. Wafered red wax seal

Written from dictation by a secretary, perhaps Louis-Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (1769-1834). Annotated by S P Cox, Farningham, Kent with a note of his insertion of a copy of the letter in the Gentleman’s Magazine for October 1841 [page 358].

An obituary of Solomon Penway Cox (1794-1850) of the Inner Temple and Farningham in Kent, antiquary and collector, appeared in the Gentleman’s Magazine for March 1850, page 338.

The letter was written in the context of the creation of the Italian Republic, with Napoleon at its head as president, on 26 January 1802. Piedmont, formerly part of the kingdom of Sardinia, was united with France in 1798, briefly occupied by Austria and Russia and returned to France after the battle of Marengo in 1800.

Jean-François Aimé, Comte Dejean (1749-1824) entered the French army as an engineer officer in 1766. During the Revolution he embraced the principles of moderate reform. He performed a variety of important diplomatic missions, including to Genoa, where he lived for nearly two years with the title of minister extraordinary; doubtless his experience of Italy was valuable in the context of the proposed investigation. He was recalled to Paris in 1802 to take the portfolio of Minister of War, a position he held until 1809.

Jean Bérenger (1767-1850), son of a pastor from Grenoble, studied medicine at Montpellier from 1786 to 1788. An anti-Jacobin, he survived arrest in 1794 and became an active participant in Napoleon’s coup d'etat of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799). In 1801 he was appointed to the Council of State and became a member of the board of directors of war in 1802.

For the artist Jean-Claude Naigeon, 1753-1832, see Natalie Motte Masselink Jean-Claude Naigeon, 1753-1832 : les dessins d'un artiste du siecle des lumieres (Paris, 2012).

Offered with Anon., Military Maxims of Napoleon the 1st interspersed with copious explanatory notes, translated from the French; Meerut, printed by J J Robinson at the Mofussilite Press, 1861; 101 pages.
£1,400-1,600

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