Books and Manuscripts

La grange, (France), 21 Novembre, 1829. One sheet, 7 7/8 x 7 3/4 in. (200 x 197 mm). Autograph letter in French, signed by the Marquis de Lafayette, to a Colonel Carron, regarding Lafayette's recent ill health, as well as on financial and political matters. Trimmed along edges; creasing from old folds; unevenly toned. Lot includes two translations from previous cataloguers.

Less than a year before the July Revolution of 1830 that deposed French King Charles X, the 72-year-old Marquis de Lafayette writes from his estate at La Grange to Colonel Carron concerning his ill health and on financial and political matters. At the time Lafayette was an influential member of the Chamber of Deputies and was the most prominent and outspoken critic of Charles X's rule. Lafayette routinely gave rousing speeches from the Chamber, and at his estate at La Grange, denouncing Charles X's policies and advocating for American-style representative government. When the Revolution broke out later the following year, the Chamber made Lafayette head of the reconstituted National Guard, tasked with keeping order. Calls were then heard from across the country for Lafayette to use the position to take authority. When Charles X abdicated on August 2, Lafayette declined to take control as he deemed such an act was unconstitutional. Instead he helped appoint the Duke of Orleans, Louis-Phillippe, to the throne under the conditions of certain reforms. This, however, did not last as Louis-Phillippe quickly abandoned any reforms, and in December 1830, the National Guard was dissolved.