Giuseppe Primoli, autograph letter signed, Exile of Empress Eugénie, 1915

  
Giuseppe Primoli - Long autograph signed letter of 4 pages - WWI - Exile of Empress Eugénie - 1915. Long autograph signed letter from Giuseppe Primoli, addressed to a friend.

Written in black ink on two sheets of laid paper with a watermark, on Farnborough Hill letterhead (England), the place of exile of Empress Eugénie.

Primoli offers a striking account of the geopolitical and military situation of the time. He first describes his stay alongside Empress Eugénie, widow of Napoleon III, whom he emotionally calls “the Great Survivor.

” He describes the Empress’s revived trauma in the face of the German invasion:

“1870: It seemed to her that she was climbing her Calvary again... She opened a hospital in one wing of the house and the wounded who keep coming... keep us in touch with the battlefield.”

The letter also mentions the nearby creation of Kitchener’s army:

“one witnesses a marvelous metamorphosis: one sees arrive... disheveled men and a few days later one sees soldiers admirably equipped leaving for the front.

”

Primoli does not hesitate to voice fierce criticism. He attacks the pacifist ambiguity of Pope Benedict XV:

“I have my dome - that of Saint Peter - but that one I am sometimes tempted to renounce, for He who inhabits it seems to me, from the top of his loggia, to confuse the tomb with the Holy Spirit!”

He refers to the negotiations to bring Italy into the war, denouncing the presence of the German ambassador von Bülow in Rome, and hoping that German intrigues will collapse “like so many scraps of paper!” (a famous historical metaphor used by the German chancellor to designate the Belgian neutrality treaty).

He ends with a moving memory of Gaston Calmette (director of Le Figaro, assassinated by Henriette Caillaux in 1914):

“Do you remember our little, so peaceful dinner with Calmette - killed!”

Dimensions: 17.8 x 22.8 cm. See photos for more details.
Number of pages: 4 pages. I replied to you immediately regarding Jocelyn the diplomat without even consulting Guerrini; I was so sure of his intentions: I am still receiving this letter which confirms what I wrote to you. How happy I would be to see the dear couple again, to shake your hands, to unburden myself with both of you! How much we have to say to one another! However separated we may be from one shore to the other by the ever-threatening submarines, pirates, in this turmoil the hearts beat as one; we all commune together in our love for the beloved, invaded France! We feel ourselves becoming brothers in suffering the glorious wounds of our common Mother - we hurt in her very bowels - as Madame de Sévigné said!

Moreover, the vigorous hatreds felt against the same enemy double affections, trust, intimacy... There is no need to be in the same trench to feel like comrades and to share the same anxieties and the same hopes... I restrain my outpourings and I need to think of the imposing Dome so as not to let myself call you by the familiar tu...

It is true that I too have my dome - that of Saint Peter - but that one I am sometimes tempted to renounce, for He who inhabits it [Pope Benedict XV] seems to me, from the top of his loggia, to confuse the tomb with the Holy Spirit! If Italy decides to move, I will decide to return to Rome, from which I have been glad to stay away as long as the German blood seemed to flourish around Villa Bülow [residence of the German ambassador Bernhard von Bülow]. The roses of Villa Malta covered thickets of thorns, but I hope that at the breath of spring they will shed their petals like so many / scraps of paper!

[famous allusion to the German chancellor describing the Belgian neutrality treaty in this way] On several occasions I tried to return home, but each time I was kept here by the Great Survivor [Empress Eugénie], who else could? Unburden herself by recalling her memories of 1870: It seemed to her that she was climbing her Calvary again... She opened a hospital in one wing of the house and the wounded who keep coming and who are brought back to us from the front keep us in touch with the battlefield. Moreover, the nearby Aldershot camp where Kitchener’s army is being formed gives us the illusion of being in the wings of the theater of war: I assure you that one witnesses a marvelous metamorphosis: one sees men arriving from all parts of England and Scotland and Ireland, disheveled, and a few days later one sees soldiers admirably equipped and disciplined leaving for the front: it is true to say that throughout their youth they had been trained by those games that intellectuals do not have enough choice words to condemn.

You see, dear friend, that I am neither a discourager nor discouraged - If I pass through Paris I will try to see you for a moment before returning to Rome, but whether from afar or nearby count on the affection of your old friend. Tell Donna Giovanna, if she sees Mrs. Poincaré, to speak to her about me: I think of them!

Do you remember our little, so peaceful dinner with Calmette - killed! - Pleading the cause of Bégarrière who wanted to return to the army despite his amputation: he was killed among the first!”

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Giuseppe Primoli, Giuseppe Napoleone or Joseph Napoléon Primoli, known as Count Primoli, born in Rome on May 2, 1851 and died in the same city on June 13, 1927, was a Franco-Italian social figure of the late...

Thierry Maulnier, pseudonym of Jacques Talagrand, born October 1, 1909 in Alès and died January 9, 1988 in Marnes-la-Coquette, was a French writer, philosopher, and political columnist, who moved from L'Action française to Le Figaro.

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