Charles X, Count of Artois, signed autograph letter, triumph of royalism, 1821

  
CHARLES X [Comte d'Artois] - Autograph letter signed - Triumph of royalism - 1821. He would seek to embody the continuity of the State and the monarchy after the revolutionary period.

Autograph letter signed “Charles Philippe” (then Count of Artois; he would become Charles X in 1824 upon the death of Louis XVIII), Tuileries, 2 April 1821, red wax seal preserved, address on the back. The assassination of Marshal Brune, the execution of Marshal Ney, and various uprisings in the provinces fueled Bonapartist conspiracies up to 1821. The assassination of the Duke of Berry (1820) worsened the situation and unleashed the royalists.

The various laws of 1820—prior authorization for the press, suspension of the individual liberty of persons suspected of conspiracy, and double voting in favor of the most highly taxed citizens (nobles and large landowners)—did not bring calm. The legislative elections of November 1820 brought the ultras to power. The White Terror was carried out against the Bonapartists, especially in the south of France. It was in this context that Louis XVIII, in April 1821, entrusted Marshal Duke of Bellune with an inspection mission in the departments most troubled since 1816: Saône-et-Loire, Ain, Rhône, and Isère. The marshal had the full confidence of King Louis XVIII, who entrusted him with this mission, knowing his devotion to the royal government. This letter testifies to the confidence placed in the Duke of Bellune’s personality in carrying out his mission for the triumph of royal power against the Bonapartists.

“I truly regret, my dear Marshal, not to see you before your departure; but I thank you with all my heart for not having risked harming your health. We all need to follow and keep for a long time men as devoted as you, for us and for France. I fully adopt all the opinions you indicate in your letter, and I hope that your firmness on the ground and your just zeal on your return will be of great use in ensuring the triumph of the principles you profess. Safe journey and a speedy return, my dear Marshal [.