Joseph FOUCHÉ Lot n° 19

(1759-1820) minister of police. L.A. (minute), Dresden May 9 [1816], to an Excellency; 1 page in-8. Draft letter from exile concerning the abbé de PRADT and his Mémoires historiques sur la révolution d'Espagne. Fouché thanks for the sending of the booklet: "it is written with more spirit than depth, there is sometimes in its reflections more research than discernment. What he says for the defense of the proscribed is weak. The necessity of obeying the authority which is established is the safeguard of all governments; it is for the even legitimate power the most assured pledge of the prompt submission of the people. The interview of Canon Escoïquiz with NAPOLEON confirms what experience has taught us only too well, that princes are often at fault and that they are almost always incapable of recognizing them. The note that he added since the fall of Napoleon is a blight. The canon thinks, no doubt, that what dishonors is more useful to rest and favor than the pride of the soul. I consider myself happy to be today a simple spectator and to have only to observe the foolishness of the others ". He asks for the brochure of the abbot on the embassy of Warsaw...