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ROBESPIERRE (Maximilien de). Autograph manuscript signed at …
See original version (French)
25
-
ROBESPIERRE (Maximilien de). Autograph manuscript signed at …
See original version (French)
Estimate €6,000 - €8,000
Voluntary lot
Description
ROBESPIERRE (Maximilien de). Autograph manuscript signed at the top "de Robespiere" entitled "Générosité espagnole". 18 May 1776. 4 pp. in-4 on azure paper, some erasures and corrections.
Historical dissertation on King Philippe II of Spain, devoted more specifically to the trait of character of this one which could honour the merits of the duke of Alba in spite of the detestation that this one inspired to him. Robespierre concludes his reflection with an ambitious (impertinent?) apostrophe to the Duke of Alba.
" ... To quell one's resentment and forgive an enemy is an effort of generosity that everyone admires and that few know how to imitate, but let an irritated sovereign shower with honours a subject who has incurred his indignation, that he prefers him to a thousand courtiers whom he honours with his favour, that he himself sends him to victory and that he is not afraid to owe recognition to the one who is the object of his courtship, what praise is not beneath such magnanimity! But if this heroic action honours the sovereign, how much more glorious is it for the subject that his king dares to cause him further discontent at a time when he is providing him with the means to take revenge!
Generous warrior, if you had been less magnanimous, the monarch, who knew the rules of politics so well, would have been very careful not to show you his feelings; the more bitter his hatred, the more careful he would have been to conceal it, but your virtue exempts him from this constraint and these precautions, it means that your loyalty does not depend on the love or hatred of the sovereign and that, hated and persecuted, you will serve him with no less zeal than if you were fulfilled.
A PIECE OF RHETORIC THAT IS BOTH FLAMBOYANT AND ICY, FORESHADOWING THE MANNER THAT WOULD CHARACTERISE HIS SPEECHES IN THE REVOLUTIONARY PERIOD.
PROBABLY THE OLDEST KNOWN AUTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENT BY ROBESPIERRE On this date, the man who would become the Incorruptible was a pupil in the logic class, the beneficiary of a grant from the Abbé de Saint-Vaast which enabled him to study in Paris at the "Collège d'Arras", an establishment attached to the Collège Louis-le-Grand.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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