NIÈVRE. Marquis d’ESPEUILLES. Autograph letter signed by Ant - Lot 652

NIÈVRE. Marquis d’ESPEUILLES. Autograph letter signed by Antoine Théodore de VIEL DE LUNAS D’ESPEUILLES (St-Honoré-les-Bains, Nièvre, 1803–1871) Marquis d’Espeuilles, General Councilor of Nièvre, Mayor, Senator, and Agronomist. – A fine, friendly, and political letter written from the Château de LA MONTAGNE in St-Honoré-les-Bains, Nièvre, on March 29, 1852. 3 pages, in-8°: “Your letter could not have struck a truer note, my dear Abbé; I am leaving for Paris within a week. There I will meet Eugène de MAC-MAHON, who is leaving for Africa to spend some time with his brother, the General…. Your father is doing very well; he is not faltering too much under the weight of his advanced age… I held my first municipal meeting yesterday. St. Honoré (-les-Bains) seems satisfied… I am pleased to see that we are uniting to support NAPOLEON (III). You know he has always been my man, and I don’t know of anyone who could do better than him. That the Orléanists—now allied with the Socialists—may be unhappy about this matters little to me, but I admire a man who rescues us from the idle chatter of lawyers by doing something useful for the country every day, and whose motto is “Res non verba”… I am delighted to see that people are turning back to him. Legitimist opinion is an old machine that still creaks despite the oil we pour into it… A man who goes easy on the Legitimists, takes a swing at the Socialists, takes a swing at the Orléanists, and restores to the Church all that is due to it—even our back-stabbing scoundrels are finally willing to admit that this man has his good points. Just imagine what all those people would be like if Henry V were to return. They’d blind themselves with their white plumes. Everyone in my circle is doing well. Antonin (his son) nearly had his foot crushed by a cannon; its wheels cut the tip of his boot clean off. He’s a sergeant, and my son is… one of the most distinguished cadets at Saint-Cyr. Albéric is at boarding school. He’s been doing very poorly for the past month. Farewell, my dear Abbé…”