SAINT DOMINGUE. Letter signed DECRÈS Le Ministre de la Marin - Lot 434

SAINT DOMINGUE. Letter signed DECRÈS Le Ministre de la Marine et des Colonies (Printer's letterhead) - to General ROCHAMBEAU, Capitaine Général à ST DOMINGUE.) - to General ROCHAMBEAU, Capitaine Général à ST DOMINGUE - PARIS 29 Pluviôse An 11 (February 8, 1803) - 1 page 1/4 in-folio : "It has often happened, Citoyen Général, that news about the political, military or administrative state of St Domingue has reached the Government through the back channels of private Correspondence, whereas it is important that it be transmitted directly to the Government and that it be, as far as possible, the first to receive it. I therefore invite you to give the necessary orders so that each time a Bâtiment de Commerce or Bâtiment de l'État leaves for France from one of the Colony's ports, it is charged by the first local military or administrative authority with a package containing the Gazettes, Ordres du jour, and other acts which may have been published, since the departure of the last Bâtiment, as well as of an official Dépêche which transmits to me, on the State of the Colony and particularly of the place of departure and the surrounding Campagnes, all the authentic details likely to interest the Government. The Premier CONSUL desires that you or the Colonial Prefect pay the same attention in the City of your residence, and I have assured him in advance of the eagerness you will show in carrying out an order which is but further proof of his solicitude in favor of the country whose destinies are entrusted to you."