SOLDIER'S LETTER - CAMPAIGN OF FRANCE - Lot 135

SOLDIER'S LETTER - CAMPAIGN OF FRANCE L.A. to M. de Becquey-Beaupré (Lectoure), April 2, 1814. 3 pp. bifeuillet in-4 address on verso, black wax seal and postmarks. Correspondence on military events in the South, in Bordeaux and Toulouse, a few days before the Emperor's abdication. "(...) We have been as worried about your position as you may have been about ours, which is extraordinary, and without example in history, the English alone were capable of waging such a new and dangerous war against us (...)." He reports on the exemplary attitude of the English in the Midi, "lavishing the most eager care on our unfortunate wounded (...) The inhabitants ruined by the requisitions which took place last year, without hope of returning their wheat, were all astonished to see that the presence of the enemy brought them abundance instead of devastation (...). Lord Wellington, who has five times the force of Marshal Soult, after having defeated him at Orthès, directed Marshal Beresford to Bordeaux, where he captured the city on the 12th, leading with him the Duke of Angoulême, whom the mayor of the city received with the greatest pomp, the white cockade on his head and the white flag flying over the church of St Michel. The archbishop received him at the cathedral's main door, and a Te Deum was sung, proclaiming L(ouis) 18 (...). An enemy column is marching on Agen along the right bank of the Garonne (...). Another column, which passed through Loudun yesterday, is heading for Nérac (...). It is said that 2 or 3 cannons have been placed at the river crossing, but as there are very few troops, it is generally believed that they will be in Agen this evening or tomorrow. They seem to want to go up the Garonne towards Toulouse to ensure supplies (...). Marshal Sout, after a hundred battles in which he was always forced to yield to numbers, has at last managed to lock himself in Toulouse, through skilful marches and continual detours (...). Lord Wellington dragged his artillery along impassable paths (...), and allowed his cavalry to pass (...). The roads from Toulouse to Auch and Lombèz are in their power, and they have tightened their lines (...)". He fears that Soult's defense of Toulouse will ruin the city; "we estimate that 40,000 men can be put under arms (...). The English occupy the capital of our department; they have not come this far, but our authorities have abandoned their duties (...)". Etc.