Raymond Joseph Paul, Count of SÉGUR-D’AGUESSEAU (Paris, 1803 - Lot 625

Raymond Joseph Paul, Count of SÉGUR-D’AGUESSEAU (Paris, 1803 – Château d’Oléac-Debat, Hautes-Pyrénées, 1889) Magistrate, Prefect, Deputy for the Hautes-Pyrénées in 1837 and 1849, and Senator—Autograph letter signed, Paris, January 13, 1852. 3 pages, in-8°: “My Dear Mr. MOCQUARD, it’s me again! What can I say? It’s not my fault; so please read this, not only without impatience but with interest—the matter is worthy of it. Here is a new plea from that poor woman whom an aunt of Madame d’AGUESSEAU cares so deeply about, Countess WITTGENSTEIN, whom we love dearly and who urges us to ensure that this second plea reaches the Prince President (Napoleon III) by the safest and quickest means possible… for it is urgent. This Adolphe TACHON, the petitioner’s fiancé, is, it seems, included in the first group to be sent to Cayenne, as he is said to have belonged to a secret society: He is already in Brest. She asks first for his pardon, but secondarily, to marry him before his departure so that she may be allowed to share in his exile. It is this secondary request that moves me deeply, and which I find difficult to refuse should circumstances—of which I am unaware—prevent a pardon from being granted. I am no more fond than you are of sentimentality, especially in matters of public safety, but I repeat: this is a secondary request dictated by a noble devotion that, it seems to me, it would be inhumane to reject… time is running out.... If you can, please write a few lines so I know if there is any hope.”