French general and politician (1739-1823). Autograph letter signed. Madrid. 4to. 3½ pp. on bifolium. In French.
$ 210 / 180 €
(95407/BN62880)
Highly interesting, comprehensive letter sent from a secret diplomatic mission to Madrid, to his close friend and supporter Just-Antoine-Henry-Marie-Germain, marquis de Rostaing (1740-1826). Though it does not directly address the objectives of his mission, the letter provides valuable insights into Dumouriez's activities in Spain, his network in France, and the atmosphere in Spain less than two months after the banishment of the Jesuits. First, Dumouriez informs Rostaing that he wrote to Pedro Téllez-Girón, 8th Duke of Osuna (1728-87), then Spanish ambassador to the Imperial Court in Vienna, waiting for his response.
France was at the time seeking to strengthen its alliance with Spain, while the alliance with Austria had suffered from the defeat in the Seven Years War (1756-63). He further mentions that First Minister Étienne François de Choiseul (1719-85) had not yet reacted to his report on the Portuguese colonies and military strength. In this matter, he was hoping for the support of the general and governor of Languedoc Charles-Juste de Beauvau, Prince of Beauvau (1720-93), who had commanded French troops in Spain and Portugal in 1762, before the French ambassador in Spain and Choiseul himself. Another patron mentioned in the letter is the powerful courtier and later marshal of France Louis, the duc de Noailles (1713-93). Dumouriez asks Rostaing to place the two important men in contact with each other so that they might support him more effectively at the court in Versailles. He also laments problems with his pension payments, remarking: "to ask ministers for small graces at the same time as large ones is to provide them with loopholes and excuses". - In the second part of the letter, Dumouriez points out the widespread anti-Jesuit sentiment fueled by "a number of serious accusations, both true and false" before relating a "singular anecdote" that is almost certainly false but which he ascribes to the already mentioned Duke of Osuna as "an eyewitness", although this can be interpreted as an intended pun on the story's content. During the pillage of the Jesuit Casa Profesa of Madrid a small golden chest was found that contained "dust and a letter stating: here encased are the eyes of Don Juan". This Don Juan had subsequently been identified with John Joseph of Austria (1629-79), the illegitimate son of Philip IV of Spain, who served as governor of the Spanish Netherlands and, briefly, as regent of Spain for his half-brother Charles II. Don Juan was indeed a sworn enemy of the Austrian Jesuit Johann Eberhard Neidhardt (1607-81), who had accompanied Queen Mariana of Austria to Spain as her confessor and rose to become General Inquisitor of Spain under her protection in 1666. In 1669, Don Juan led a revolt at court against Neidhardt, forcing him into Italian exile. Eight years later, he led a successful coup against the Queen and replaced her as regent. After two years in power, Don Juan died, according to Dumouriez's anecdote "disgraced and poisoned", the latter being a mere suspicion, leading to the conclusion: "The Jesuits even went so far as to have his eyes gouged out after his death, to keep them as a trophy!". Dumouriez ambiguously comments on this early example of gothic literature with a quote from the Aeneis: "Tantaene animis caelestibus irae". - In closing, he mentions the efforts of Pedro Pablo Abarca de Bolea y Iménez de Urrea, count of Aranda (1718-98), then president of the Council of Castile, to change de gardens of the Buen Retiro palace based on the model of the Palais Royal in Paris. This he comments with a much ridiculed line of self-aggrandizing poetry from Cicero: "Ô fortunatam natam me consule Romam"..